Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Apple Losing Favor?
This article in the Economist talks about Apple possibly being past its prime in the technology world. I personally feel that Apple, innovation wise, has not been especially exciting this year or last. Their software isn't particularly good (think: apple maps). The analysts are setting the expectations for Apple higher than they might be able to achieve. Is the Apple brand finally becoming less important? Do you think that they will finally be beaten out by Samsung and lose favor as their innovations continue to let us down?
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Veronica I think it is very possible that Apple has lost favor considering the way their stock price has dropped over the past months. However their earnings are still incredibly high, and they have a great brand image in the social world which makes them popular regardless if some of their recent innovations are not stellar.
ReplyDeleteApple has moved from 'incredible' to 'normal', for a couple of reasons. Mainly, emerging competitors have dispersed demand for new high tech products. Instead of only being able to go to Apple for the best phone/tablet/computer today, many rival companies have found traction in selling nearly identical products. (*Cough*, substitution effect) Apple will never see profits like they did in 2000, unless they come out with avant-garde innovation once again. The market is chalked full of competitors now.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of future investment vivacity, I would still buy Apple stock as an investor. Just not so much of it as I would have in 2001.
The plan for a new, cheaper Iphone may be their highest profit generator this year. Because their profit margin is a glutenous 38.6%, they can certainly afford to cut retail prices. Even if this means curtailing some product features, it still stands to vastly expand their market audience.
Knowing that the stock price has slightly dropped over the past few weeks is a telling sign that Apple has seen better days. Although I do think Apple is still the superior product and brand name out there. Losing Steve Jobs will have a tremendous impact down the line. But as of right now, I think Apple is just fine. If they can continue to out duel competitors and come out with products that every Apple customer needs, there is no need to worry at this point.
ReplyDeleteI think despite dropping stock prices, Apple is still the most competitive company in the market. The apple symbol alone is a powerful selling point that other companies cannot match. Apple is an image more than a product anymore. I still think their products are the best as I type this post on a MacBook Pro while texting from an Iphone. Apple is everywhere and will not be denied in the foreseeable future.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Forbes, Apple is now on top of the world's 25 Most Valuable Companies. I think Apple brand never loses its value and its attraction to consumers around the world. Apple under Tim Cook will be different from Apple under Steve Jobs. iPad Mini is defining Tim Cook's Apple and Apple's 128GB iPad is giving every android tablet manufacturer a headache. This shows it is not easy for Samsung to beat Apple.
ReplyDeleteEven though apples stock has been down recently, i do not think that they will be overtaken by anyone for a long time. Their brand name and image today is unparallel and people keep buying their products regardless of how technologically advanced they are. An example is the iphone 5. From a purely marketing standpoint, they changed little things like the charger, so people that buy the iphone 5, have to buy a new charger too. Things like this do not impact the phone very much at all but people keep buying these products. I believe apple will be atop the industry for a long time.
ReplyDeleteIn this case I think it's all about the name. Even though Apple might not have the best products, people will continue to buy them because Apple is "popular". Although other companies continue to improve their products to compete with Apple, I think it will take a long time until other companies surpass Apple's success level.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the Apple brand is less important in any way, but they are definitely stagnant in sales and innovation. Steve Jobs, the co-founder and CEO of Apple, was too innovative for other exec's to handle, and left the apple company in 2011. I think that his influence on the company and the products was a big part of their rising sales. In organizational behavior we are learning about bureaucratic org's and how some leaders look to numbers and systems too often and leave innovation last, and when Jobs put innovation and discovery first, it scared those people. I think that Apple could bounce back, and should start looking more towards innovative ways to create new products instead of playing it safe and going from the iPad to the iPad mini... I mean really...
ReplyDeleteLike others, I don't think Apple is becoming less important, but maybe its technology might be not as much great as it was in few years ago, since there are so many chasers coming after them.
ReplyDeleteI bought my Samsung laptop last summer, right before I came to the states, after comparing Apple Macbook Pro and Samsung's Ultrabook.
For some reason, I thought Macbook had much better hardware, but after some research, I learned that it was better to purchase Ultrabook which had larger storage, better cpu(?), and even lighter than Macbook Pro as they were almost in the same price.
As an iPhone and iPod user, I am a big fan of Apple. But as mentioned, but I guess Apple should work on inventing more technology and increase its competitiveness based on simple comparison, even though Apple won't never become less important in the near future, at least because of its really good brand image.