[Ben]

Have you seen the latest numbers from Apple? I don't know the words to describe my own amazement!

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/18/apple-reports-q4-2010-profit-of-4-31-billion-on-20-34-billion-revenue-best-quarter-ever/

14.1 million iPhones sold in a quarter. They outsold the entire BlackBerry product lineup with, more or less, one device.

Love this:
Q: Aspirations for iPhone and iPad? Looking for a Mac-like model of lower market with higher prices and quality or iPod-like market dominance and low pricing?
A: Jobs: Nokia makes $50 handsets. We don't know how to make great handsets at that price. So our goal is to make great breakthrough products but also drive costs down. As you know, we have low share in phones, and high share in tablets. But we don't think about it that way. We're not not making a 7-inch tablet because we don't want to hit a lower price point. We're just believe it's too small to hit the user experience people want. When we make decisions, it's not about cost, it's about value when you factor in the software. We're all about the best products at aggressive prices.

Sorry, but it's a formula that Apple should stick to. They don't need to make cheap products and sacrifice the quality of the user experience - there are plenty of other manufacturers to do that. Some people still protest that Apple sell overpriced rubbish. How some people still fail to understand what Apple is all about bemuses me to my core.

[miffed]

LOL , the funny thing is , everwhere you look , someone has an opinion on what Apple are doing "so wrong" :D

Interesting news WRT to the Mac too - especially as this area has not been in the spotlight so much recently , Looks like the iPhone is working really well as a "gateway" product here ! I have seen it with my own eyes too , people that would never have considered a mac after a few months of iPhone use suddenly asking all sorts of questions about macs.

Certainly proves that Flash and Bluetooth file transfer are not as important to the masses as the few would try and imply.

[Ben]

Apple's 'my way or the highway' approach certainly draws a fair amount of resentment, but it doesn't seem to be doing them any harm. Flash and BT are good examples.

I see Steve's comments made during the call have been all over the media today. He is becoming rather outspoken. Still, I don't think he misstepped - he dismissed the current tablet threat with such ease that manufacturers will probably dial down production on 7" tablets regardless of whether they're proving a commercial success, and he grabbed the one serious flaw that we all know Android has and ran it up a flag poll. That flaw being, of course, fragmentation.

[The Mullet of G]

I doubt anyone will be dialing down production of a commercially successful device just because Steve Job's doesn't think its a good idea, I like to think the people making them are older than 12. Also are they shipping all of those extra Mac's to a storage depot somewhere as they aren't showing up in the usage or market share data outside of Apples own sales figures.

[Ben]

Also are they shipping all of those extra Mac's to a storage depot somewhere as they aren't showing up in the usage or market share data outside of Apples own sales figures.
Eh? Substantiate?

[The Mullet of G]

Eh? Substantiate?

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/os_x_loses_market_share_fourth_straight_month

That is all.

[Ben]

Ah ok, lol, I've seen the figures elsewhere now.

OS X market share continues to grow in Apple's core markets (ie the ones it has stores in...) such as the US and UK. The global fall will be due to faster growth in other OSs in non-Apple markets. iOS, on the other hand, is now the third largest OS, despite similar constraints.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics 'ey?

Still, hopefully the new Air notebooks and, next year, OS X 10.7 (with it's iOS UI) can help return the Mac OS to global growth.