Apple Overtakes Microsoft

While it may seem gimmicky, you have to give credit to Apple for some things. They've led the market in electronics design for the past ~5 years. When the iPhone came out, the Motorola Razr was considered the coolest phone design ever conceived. It was everywhere. Now every smart phone is trying to look like an iPhone. When the iPod came out, the best you could do was a little 20-30 song solid state plastic gizmo. Now, Zune and others have all tried to copy the iPod's design. When the iMac came out, people laughed at the thought of putting the computer hardware and the display together. Go into Best Buy now. Count how many "me too" all-in-one machines there are. Look at laptops. Nobody did brushed metal or seamless designs until Apple. Now everyone's trying. Look at their notebook keyboards, and then go look at PC keyboards over the last few years. Look how many laptops are trying to copy the design of Macbooks and Macbook Pros. iPad? First tablet to market. Microsoft and HP canned their entire tablet projects in response, because their design wasn't as good. (Courier and Slate are both cancelled.) There might be an Android tablet at some point next year, but not right now, and the conceptual designs all look... wait for it... exactly like an iPad. The point is, the reason Apple is doing well is that they've managed to successfully set the bar on design for the past five years. Google, Microsoft, whoever they are... yes, they can be arguably better? With more features? For cheaper? But they keep coming to the party late.

Why not just wait?

Apple Is No. 1 in Tech, Overtaking Microsoft

"SAN FRANCISCO — Wall Street has called the end of an era and the beginning of the next one: The most important technology product no longer sits on your desk but rather fits in your hand. The moment came Wednesday when Apple, the maker of iPods, iPhones and iPads, shot past Microsoft, the computer software giant, to become the world’s most valuable technology company."

"As of Wednesday, Wall Street valued Apple at $222.12 billion and Microsoft at $219.18 billion. The only American company valued higher is Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $278.64 billion."

Why wait? If the company can afford to make advancements, however small, why limit the consumers' options? The fact that apple is now more valuable than microsoft clearly reflects this strategy's success.

If people bought my hardware for 2-3 times the price of my competitors items and I re-released the same item every 3-6 months convincing my customers that they simply cannot live without the minor upgrades, I might also be the world's richest technology company too. I'm going to go out on a limb and say microsoft still has a MUCH larger percentage of users. Apple makes a lot because they charge a lot.

O.o I have no reason to use an alt to argue with a user. Why would I do that?

I love that guy.

And really I still do everything on my laptop and PC that are a good 7 years old. Macs you replace how often?

It would be hilarious if Jaerik was secretly Vigor.

I was genuinely interested in why you thought it would be better to wait.

I didn't mean to bash anyone's views, I was genuinely interested in why you thought it would be better to wait. I don't usually post on the forums, so maybe I came across as abrasive. I was aiming for something more light-hearted.

Also, why do I have the strangest feeling that Sahjya is Jaerik?

I didn't mean to bash anyone's views, I was genuinely interested in why you thought it would be better to wait. I don't usually post on the forums, so maybe I came across as abrasive. I was aiming for something more light-hearted.

Money. Having a more complete, finished, better product maybe.

sonic, Toshiba, maybe Yamaha.

Microsoft produces Operating Systems. Apple produces Computers with their own operating system.

Apple Is No. 1 in Tech, Overtaking Microsoft

"SAN FRANCISCO — Wall Street has called the end of an era and the beginning of the next one: The most important technology product no longer sits on your desk but rather fits in your hand. The moment came Wednesday when Apple, the maker of iPods, iPhones and iPads, shot past Microsoft, the computer software giant, to become the world’s most valuable technology company."

"As of Wednesday, Wall Street valued Apple at $222.12 billion and Microsoft at $219.18 billion. The only American company valued higher is Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $278.64 billion."

I do have a tendency to overuse the commas. I hear what you're saying, and it's entirely possible that they would make more money by spreading product releases out over a longer period of time. My argument is that the facts support apple's current strategy as a success, whereas your argument relies more on speculation.

Oh there strategy definitely makes them money. It's just at the cost of stupid people wanting 1 shiney thing that gets replaced 5 seconds later.

It is a very consumer oriented strategy that could horribly flop once people realize they don't have the money to keep buying the same thing over and over again