Apple Profit Falls 22% But iPhone Sales Are Up

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Apple Profit Falls 22% But iPhone Sales Are Up

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday July 24, 2013 @02:14AM from the everyone-needs-five-iphones dept.

New submitter marcushoward writes in with news of Apple's quarterly results. From the article: "Apple on Tuesday reported fiscal third-quarter revenues of $35.3 billion and profits of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per share. The revenue number is basically even with Apple’s results from a year ago, but its profits were off by almost $2 billion. Revenues were mostly in line with Wall Street’s expectations of $35.09 billion and slightly above its earnings per share expectation of around $7.31. Apple itself had predicted revenues between $33.5 billion and $35.5 billion." Compared to this quarter last year, sales of Macs are about even, iPad sales dipped slightly (14.6 million vs 16 million), and iPhone sales are up quite a bit (31 million vs 26 million).

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Cynic...? by Chrisq · 2013-07-24 02:16 · Score: 1, Flamebait

Apple (headline) profits fall, just as they are being asked to pay tax.
1. Re:Cynic...? by MrHanky · 2013-07-24 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  Sales are down, for everything except the iPhone. Not cynic, just stupid.
2. Re:Cynic...? by cod3r_ · 2013-07-24 02:29 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  boo hoo.. Only made 6.9 BILLION in PROFIT... the headline should be "HOLY FUCKING SHIT THEY MADE 6.9 BILLION IN PROFIT"
3. Re:Cynic...? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:36 · Score: 0
  
  Except none of the drops were close to 20%, and the iPhone is the serious profit driver for Apple and the iPhone was quite a bit higher. Sounds like the problem is weak app sales.
4. Re:Cynic...? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:36 · Score: 0
  
  Dopey, profits are evil! Software/Computer people are the greediest as well.
5. Re:Cynic...? by sribe · 2013-07-24 02:39 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Apple (headline) profits fall, just as they are being asked to pay tax.
  During the depths of the recession they were able to negotiate really sweet deals on their huge purchases of components. Those contracts expired, and they're now having to pay more, but they certainly can't raise prices. Of course they explained all this and warned investors of the coming drop in margins about a year ago, but much easier for the irrational Apple-haters to ignore the perfectly sensible explanation from Apple itself, and start looking for strange conspiracies instead...
6. Re:Cynic...? by the_B0fh · 2013-07-24 02:41 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  It's more like this:
  Everyone else is losing money. Apple makes $6.9 billion. Die, Apple, Die!
7. Re:Cynic...? by TWiTfan · 2013-07-24 02:49 · Score: 1
  
  I'm pretty sure Samsung made a few bucks too.
  
  --
  The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
8. Re:Cynic...? by mmcxii · 2013-07-24 02:55 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  While this article was brought to Slashdot for flame war fodder there is another reason this is news elsewhere. What it comes down to is that businesses, regardless of actual profit, are largely looked on as weak by investors if they're not showing growth.
  
  I'm not one of these people who beat on the idea of capitalism but I do see it as a failing of the perception in that endless growth just isn't possible in the long term. Sadly it's endless growth that drives a majority of today's investors. Most of today's investors don't see their dollars as a building block to better companies with long term goals and good public relations, they see their dollars are something they need to "flip" fast to make it worth their time. That's been a failing of the Wall Street economy for several decades and it only gets worse as time trods on.
  
  Apple will take a hit because of this. It's not because they're technology is weak but because there is enough competition in their field that push investment dollars to the short term gains. And this isn't to say other players in the field aren't really offering anything but their long term outlook is secondary to what they'll offer up in the next quarter or two. Apple hasn't planted itself well enough as a long term solutions company to keep the market interested like IBM, Oracle and Microsoft did. They'll survive and maybe make a bigger comeback some day but they will have to suffer through this lull like every other market leader has to from time to time.
9. Re:Cynic...? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:57 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Yes, you will have things like the weaker app market, however Apple is offering iPhones going back to the iPhone 4 yet which is free on contract. So while Apple still gets paid for that phone the amount they are making from the sales of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S to the carriers is likely significantly less than the iPhone 5.
  I'd suspect a lot of the increase in iPhone sales likely came on the lower profit margins for the iPhone 4 and 4S which would work to eat in to the overall profit of the company. Still they are making a decent margin and plenty of money, many companies would love either the nearly 20% margin or nearly 7 Billion in profits.
10. Re:Cynic...? by Xaedalus · 2013-07-24 03:00 · Score: 2
  
  This is a very good observation. Wish I had mod points. I've seen the same thing with Tech companies in general: if you're not growing q/q then you're "dying" in the eyes of the investment analysts. So even though your company may be stable and have good market share, and has managed to stay afloat, if you're not growing then they're taking their money elsewhere.
  
  --
  Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
11. Re:Cynic...? by datavirtue · 2013-07-24 03:13 · Score: 1
  
  I agree, for those who have held Apple for a significant period this will trigger profit taking.
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
12. Re:Cynic...? by Anubis+IV · 2013-07-24 03:19 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  In addition to that, their product lineup has changed since a year ago. The iPhone 5 has significantly lower margins due to the higher cost of manufacturing than the iPhone 4S that it replaced, and the iPad mini, which they introduced to fend off competing small form factor tablets, has lower margins than its big brother. As you said, they've been advising investors right from the start that this would be happening.
  On top of that, the retina iPads were still recent in the year-ago quarter, so it's actually pretty astounding that sales were even as good as they were this quarter, considering that they haven't had a major product releases in any of their product lines (other than MacBook Air) for a number of months now. Typically they space product releases throughout the year, but they've acknowledged that they're going to have a packed autumn this year, which could work out for them since they'll likely have a number of new product releases going into the holiday season.
13. Re:Cynic...? by easyTree · 2013-07-24 03:19 · Score: 1
  
  One step closer to a reality where everywhere i look someone isn't attempting to incite me to buy or win an iPad.
  
  --
  Requiem for the American Dream
14. Re:Cynic...? by rockout · 2013-07-24 03:21 · Score: 2
  
  Yeah, profit takers are going to dump the stock. Apple's up 6% this morning. Hey, can you manage my portfolio? I feel like losing a lot of money day trading, and you sound like the guy to do it for me.
  
  --
  I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
15. Re:Cynic...? by nojayuk · 2013-07-24 03:39 · Score: 1
  
  Google announced their quarterly figures last Thursday, profits up 19%. Yay! Except the haruspexers in the financial press were expecting more and the share price fell off a cliff, down about 4% on opening Friday morning. Same with MS last week, bottom-line numbers up quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year but the share price tanked although only to about the level that it had been a few months ago.
16. Re:Cynic...? by Time_Ngler · 2013-07-24 03:41 · Score: 1
  
  The endless growth isn't possible in the long term meme is kind of silly. A company that is growing often does so by cannibalizing sales from other companies, which means its becoming dominant in its space. So while it's growing, other companies are shrinking. A company that is beating its competition, or is about to beat it, is far more valuable than a similar company (in size and profits) that is losing to its competition.
17. Re:Cynic...? by i_ate_god · 2013-07-24 03:41 · Score: 1
  
  Why does Apple need their money in the first place? Doesn't it have a problem with having too much cash as it is?
  
  --
  I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
18. Re:Cynic...? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:49 · Score: 0
  
  It's more like this:
  Everyone else is losing money. Apple makes $6.9 billion. Die, Apple, Die!
  I don't understand this reaction that is coming from several her. These numbers are facts, and they are down, but nobody are saying that Apple are dying. You are the ones bringing that up.
  Apple can have reduced profit and sales and still be a successful company. Samsung can sell more phones than Apple and Apple can still be a successful company, and extremely few if any are actually claiming they are not. These are facts that don't contradict each other. But people seem to read something implied negative to Apple into it and jump to Apple's defense for something that isn't actually claimed. You are attacking a straw man with this line of argument
  Btw on everyone else losing money: Samsung made $8.3 billion operating profit last quarter. Apple's operating profit was $9.2, so higher but not by that much.
19. Re:Cynic...? by interkin3tic · 2013-07-24 03:57 · Score: 1
  
  This is nothing unique to capitalism. The red queen hypothesis applies in evolution: organisms need to reproduce, adapt, and evolve not to get ahead but merely to exist when all other life is likewise trying to expand and evolve. Seems stupid, sure, but if it's a process that worked to get life to this point, I suppose it's not absurd that it works in business as well.
  
  The short-term focus on the other hand, and willingness to sacrifice long-term for the short payoff, yes, that seems positively stupid and damaging. Though I suppose life does that too. Bacteria are winning at evolution by most standards, and individual microbes don't live a thousandth of how long turtles live.
20. Re:Cynic...? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 04:03 · Score: 0
  
  This is confusing. You start out with a statement that makes it look like you disagree with the idea that endless growth isn't possible. Then you follow up with proof that endless growth isn't possible. If your primary method of growth is beating out the competition, then you stop growing when there is no more competition to beat. Consistently winning discourages new competition from arising. Therefore, self-fulfilling prophecy.
21. Re:Cynic...? by rhsanborn · 2013-07-24 04:12 · Score: 1
  
  You hit on it exactly. There are other companies looking to eat up your profit. Additionally, the growth investors are investing because they hope the company can post large growth numbers. The stock price as it stands represents investors' beliefs that the company is going to grow. The value of the company is more than their assets and estimated profits because people are investing in growth. If you don't grow, then your company wasn't worth that higher rate. It may very well be a stable, productive company worth investing in, but it's going to be at a lower rate.
22. Re:Cynic...? by CadentOrange · 2013-07-24 04:16 · Score: 1
  
  These are the very same people who do not understand that engineering programs can take years from start to finish. As these programs to not contribute to the quarterly bottom line until they are complete and shipping, you get the silly pressure from the top for engineers to cut corners and ship quicker! Long term viability just goes out the window.
23. Re: Cynic...? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 04:26 · Score: 0
  
  Why are you cheering on Google? Unless you work there, I do not understand. They a worse than Apple in nearly every possible way.
24. Re:Cynic...? by Samantha+Wright · 2013-07-24 04:29 · Score: 1
  
  The trick is that bacteria reproduce quickly—it's akin to a business strategy of a small company spinning off half its staff and assets every time it passes a certain size threshold. Inevitably there's never enough work for all these little companies, so most go bankrupt, but by pure statistics the most aggressive survive. Without a doubt this business model would satiate short-term profiteers, but I wouldn't say they're winning the game of life, per se; we live long for the same reason businesses (try to) do: it's less wasteful and more stable.
  
  --
  Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
25. Re:Cynic...? by Time_Ngler · 2013-07-24 04:45 · Score: 1
  
  What I mean is that when investors look for growth, they aren't doing so with the expectation that an individual company will grow forever. However, they do have the expectation that there always will be a company somewhere that is in the midst of growth.
26. Re:Cynic...? by Nemyst · 2013-07-24 05:00 · Score: 1
  
  Well yeah, but investors don't care about that. Reasons and explanations? Pah, just excuses I tell you! If you're not showing impossible growth each quarter, you're a failure. It's funny because Samsung, arguably Apple's biggest competitor by far, has had a similar backlash from investors because they didn't meet expectations despite showing something like 20% growth from the last year. Stock markets and investors are really absurd. Profit isn't enough, you need to make more than last year/quarter, and on top of that you need to beat expectations from often absolutely idiotic "analysts".
27. Re:Cynic...? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 05:06 · Score: 0
  
  So you're just restating what the GP already said but trying to make it look like they're wrong and you have an insightful twist on it? Interesting. If you hadn't noticed the GP was talking about Apple and not the entire market. You're confirming the meme you called on the very metric in which it was presented here!
28. Re:Cynic...? by SeaFox · 2013-07-24 05:13 · Score: 1
  
  During the depths of the recession they were able to negotiate really sweet deals on their huge purchases of components. Those contracts expired, and they're now having to pay more, but they certainly can't raise prices.
  Why not? They raised prices in Japan less than two weeks ago.
29. Re:Cynic...? by UnknowingFool · 2013-07-24 05:48 · Score: 1
  
  Also it's not just Apple that is hit with lower profits. Samsung and HTC also reported lower earnings on their phones as well.
  
  --
  Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
30. Re:Cynic...? by interkin3tic · 2013-07-24 06:03 · Score: 1
  
  Argh! Why is it whenever I try to relate biology to something on slashdot, you come along and top me and then get all the precious mod points?!? It hasn't happened yet, but it will! Curse you and your superior biology knowledge!
31. Re:Cynic...? by Jane+Q.+Public · 2013-07-24 06:05 · Score: 1
  
  "Sales are down, for everything except the iPhone. Not cynic, just stupid."
  But why are they down? That is the question.
  
  There is always the sluggish economy, of course. AND the fact that desktop sales are down across the board. But there are two other relevant facts to consider:
  
  (A) Apple has been neglecting its desktop market to some degree, to concentrate on phone development and sales. That is bound to have diminishing returns due to competition in the phone market. The iPhone is not the be-all end-all that it used to be. Their overall sales may be up but market share is down. Which brings up (A1): A lot of people are getting fed up with Apple's "walled garden" and want a more open ecosystem. Their products may be (are) great in many ways but they're turning off people and market share with their "me me me" all the time.
  
  (B) Their expected upgrade to the MacBook line has been delayed, and the new Mac Pro, while a very nice machine in many ways, appears at this time to lack upgradability and is also very late.
32. Re:Cynic...? by Time_Ngler · 2013-07-24 06:12 · Score: 1
  
  No, the point is that endless growth is possible provided you are able to determine the future winners vs the future losers, and change your investment accordingly. Today's investors aren't "failing" by trying to get the most profit as fast as possible, rather than "see their dollars as a building block to better companies with long term goals and good public relations". They've been seeking maximum profit as quickly as possible as they always have done.
  I find it funny how one group always thinks that another group should voluntarily just do what they consider the right thing, regardless of the sacrifice.
33. Re:Cynic...? by thetoadwarrior · 2013-07-24 06:25 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly, you can't grow forever and the idea that you must grow each and every quarter is ridiculous. Most investors are morons but it would be nice if someone in the media or even school would teach people to realise it's a moronic mentality.
34. Re:Cynic...? by oh_my_080980980 · 2013-07-24 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  Umm no, it comes down to expectations...."Apple said today that sales rose to $35.3 billion from $35 billion in the fiscal third quarter ended in June. Profit was $7.47 a share, down from $9.32 a year ago. That topped the expectations of analysts, who were expecting expecting sales of $35.01 billion and profit of $7.32 a share." http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2013/07/23/apple-to-report-third-quarter-earnings-live/
  
  So Apple did well. Sales are obviously down but then most analysts expected this. Apple can't keep up the record sales with competition from Samsung and other Android manufacturers. The market is getting saturated.
35. Re:Cynic...? by Samantha+Wright · 2013-07-24 06:58 · Score: 1
  
  Hey, it's not that much of a one-upping in this case—your sea urchin analogy from yesterday was basically the same idea.
  
  --
  Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
36. Re:Cynic...? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 07:02 · Score: 0
  
  Apple is failing even harder than Microsoft, lol.
37. Re:Cynic...? by interkin3tic · 2013-07-24 07:33 · Score: 1
  
  Hmm... I've never thought about the sea urchin numbers and red queen as being the same thing. DAMNIT, you one upped me again!
38. Re:Cynic...? by Samantha+Wright · 2013-07-24 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  No, I mean sea urchin reproduction is similar to the bacterial reproduction strategy. Both involve high numbers with a small chance of survival. The Red Queen challenge is more generic; any organism that is not currently being driven to extinction, no matter how numerous or scarce, is handling itself sufficiently.
  
  --
  Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
39. Re:Cynic...? by swillden · 2013-07-24 08:05 · Score: 1
  
  I do see it as a failing of the perception in that endless growth just isn't possible in the long term.
  I don't see that such a perception exists. Investors fully understand that growth stocks aren't growth stocks forever. At some point growth declines and they become something else. Those that continue being reliable generators of income, often by diversifying, become blue chip stocks. Some decline. Some become cyclical.
  Of course, once it becomes clear that a company is no longer in its growth phase, investors looking for growth stocks will leave, and those looking for income or wealth preservation will come in, depending on the characteristics of the company. This isn't because those growth investors believe that perpetual growth is possible, but it is because they're looking for ways to grow their money. At 40 years old, that's certainly what I want my retirement investment portfolio to be doing, growing! Isn't that what you want?
  
  Most of today's investors don't see their dollars as a building block to better companies with long term goals and good public relations
  Of course not. That would be ridiculous. My investment goal isn't to build better companies. My investment goal is to get a good return so that I can live comfortably when I can no longer work. Other investors have other goals, but none of them are focused on benefiting the companies.
  
  they see their dollars are something they need to "flip" fast to make it worth their time
  Nonsense. Well, certainly there are some who are focused on flipping. HFT, day trading, etc. But long-term buy-and-hold investors who are looking for growth are also going to buy companies who are growing and get out of them when the growth slows. Not because the investors are stupid, but because they're smart and want their money in stocks that match their goals.
  
  Apple will take a hit because of this.
  Apple is up 5% today.
  
  --
  Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
40. Re:Cynic...? by amiga3D · 2013-07-24 08:51 · Score: 1
  
  I know a lot of companies that wished they could suffer through 35 billion in sales and nearly 7 billion in profit in just one quarter. Poor Apple.
41. Re:Cynic...? by amiga3D · 2013-07-24 08:55 · Score: 2
  
  Samsung did even better than Apple with over 8 billion in profit but their stocks fell sharply because they didn't "grow" as much as was expected. I can't figure out what the hell is going on with these people. Companies that suck ass go up while companies rolling in dough drop. Hell of a world.
42. Re:Cynic...? by Xaedalus · 2013-07-24 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  Culture--Apple as an institution remembers the bad old days of the 80s and somewhere there's a policy or a mindset in Cupertino that says being really liquid is a good thing, and so is having a large rainy day account. Engineering--takes a lot of cash to do R&D, retain top-level talent, and pay for all the materials and manufacturing processes, even on existing concepts. Defense--if anyone wanted to buy Apple (and there are those who theoretically could), they also have to "buy" all the cash that Apple's sitting on, and that's a hefty chunk of change.
  
  --
  Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
43. Re:Cynic...? by antifoidulus · 2013-07-24 13:30 · Score: 1
  
  Actually bumping up the lower end iphone from the 3gs to the 4(s) was probably a bigger margin eater. While the 5 does cost more than the 4s, the difference is probably relatively small when comparing the 3gs to the 4(s), I wouldn't be surprised if the margin for those phones is less than half what it was on the 3gs
  
  --
  Monstar L
44. Re:Cynic...? by nobodie · 2013-07-27 01:07 · Score: 1
  
  Well, here is my 2 cents: On the ground, in my classroom of foreign students from Russia, Ecuador, China and Vietnam this summer (in an expensive three week "summer camp/pre-university" kind of thing), all (as in every single one) of the students had an iPhone, one had an iPad as well.
  Interestingly, most of my colleagues have dumped their last gen iPhone and replaced it with an Android flavor. Most of the other 45,000 students at our uni.... I can't tell, too hard to guess what the stats would be on that sample.
  
  --
  Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
Margin compression by benjfowler · 2013-07-24 02:20 · Score: 3, Insightful

The industry analysts and pundits have been predicting this for ages: that while Apple led for ages, and reaped windfall profits as a consequence, there would be a stampede into the smartphone market, and Google would barge in, turn smartphones into a commodity, and crush Apple's margins. This is not a surprise. Happens in markets all the time, and had previously happened in the PC market, where nowadays, it's impossible to make serious money on PC hardware, and the only people selling parts are people happy to sell huge volumes on razor-thin margins.
What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked. Maybe that suggests that Android on tablets has matured somewhat from the early days of few, clunky tablet apps, and that tablets are commodities now too.
1. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:25 · Score: 0
  
  What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked. Maybe that suggests that Android on tablets has matured somewhat from the early days of few, clunky tablet apps, and that tablets are commodities now too.
  What it says to me is that Apple's most innovative tablet was the Retina Ipad, and that is over a year old so anyone who wants one has one. Since then, they haven't innovated (just like the Iphone 5 was barely distinguishable from the iPhone 4). This is what happens when you take a year off. Across the industry, smartphone sales are ballooning (and Apples share is shrinking) and tablet sales are leveling off, meaning anyone selling a product that's a year old is not going to do well at all.
2. Re:Margin compression by earlzdotnet · 2013-07-24 02:27 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked. Maybe that suggests that Android on tablets has matured somewhat from the early days of few, clunky tablet apps, and that tablets are commodities now too.
  No, it rather means that people are finally understanding that a tablet is a novelty. The only time I hear someone talking about how great their iPad (or other tablet) is when they are talking about how much their (less than 10 year old) kid enjoys it
3. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:32 · Score: 0
  
  iPad sales haven't tanked. They are selling fewer because it's been 24 months since a legitimate upgrade and you can only sell so many to a full market. How can 3.6 million iPads a month be considered a failure. Only to 'industry experts' who only consider 30% growth every quarter a success.
  Android tablets continue to suck.
4. Re:Margin compression by goombah99 · 2013-07-24 02:33 · Score: 1
  
  Not margin compression. Bussiness cylces, dividends, and investment in facilities (they are making some macs in the US now, they are building a new campus, they are gearing up for a new product line)
  One biggy is that apple took out a loan to pay their dividends. 3% of their stock prices is about 15% of their margins! so it might be the whole 22% of profits.
  Apple doesn't seem to be discounting much and the cost of production is going down mostly. I think maybe people are substituting some cheaper devices for more expansive ones (ipad mini for ipad) but those will also likely turn over at a higher rate (people buy newer ones sooner if they are cheap).
  
  --
  Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
5. Re:Margin compression by poetmatt · 2013-07-24 02:33 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  tablet's are a partial novelty, but they do have a specific function; they replace the need for portable computing (notebooks, laptops, etc). To think that it's just some toy people purchase is extremely ignorant of the usage.
6. Re:Margin compression by the+computer+guy+nex · 2013-07-24 02:35 · Score: 1
  
  The iPad hasn't "tanked". They broke the constant upgrade cycle with the iPad 4th gen last fall. That means this quarter doesn't have the benefit of a brand new iPad 3 (like last year) and the channel inventory is much lower due to an impending iPad 5.
7. Re:Margin compression by AlreadyStarted · 2013-07-24 02:37 · Score: 2
  
  Aaaaand not even that. After adjusting for channel inventory reduction (in order to increase retail efficiency or prep for new product cycle) the actual sales are pretty flat (down 3%). Here's the statement from Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um, as quoted by AppleInsider.
  
  "As for the iPad, shipments were down 14 percent year over year, but when adjusting for reductions in channel inventory, the true drop-off was just 3 percent. Um believes iPad sales were likely soft in the U.S. and Europe, as Apple highlighted double-digit growth in China, Japan, Canada, Russia, Latin America, the Middle East, and India."
8. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:38 · Score: 1
  
  What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked. Maybe that suggests that Android on tablets has matured somewhat...
  Tanked? No. Slowed down. They stated that the drop is primarily changes in channel inventory (stores recognizing that they shouldn't be loading up on stock when a new iPad is around the corner - see below). Sell-through only declined 3% which is hardly in the realm of "tanked" (and can also easily be attributed to consumer awareness that a new iPad is around the corner - again, see below).
  And that suggests that maybe Android tablets have matured? Given the usage numbers than just recently came out (iPads account for 7 of 8 tablets in use) what it more likely suggests is a slowdown in sales as people put off purchasing a tablet in anticipation of the soon-to-be-announced iPad 5th gen. Many people have figured out Apple's release schedule is typically on an annual cycle and we're getting awfully close to the point that Apple's going to announce their new iPad so why buy one now when you can wait a couple months and get the latest-and-greatest.
  Most of their numbers make absolutely perfect sense if you apply a hint of logic.
9. Re:Margin compression by Alomex · 2013-07-24 02:39 · Score: 1
  
  No, it rather means that people are finally understanding that a tablet is a novelty.
  
  Precisely. SmartPhones are useful and as soon as alternatives were available the market for those grew rapidly, as people find the concept useful and they'll buy it from any supplier so long as quality is comparable.
  Now think of the iFad: one rarely sees Android tablets out there, even though they are as good as iPads. In fact, most people seem to prefer Phablets.
  Why? because fads are tied to one supplier, e.g. any of the trendy labels in fashion on a given year, and it is not about the shirt, but about owning the Desigual shirt or the Super Dry shirt.
10. Re:Margin compression by the+computer+guy+nex · 2013-07-24 02:40 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  What plane do you live on? The iPhone 5 was barely distinguishable from the 4? It had a larger screen, replace glass with an aluminum unibody shell, removed the metal band around the edges, and introduced a 2-toned color look to the back. Only a buffoon can't spot these differences a mile away.
11. Re:Margin compression by alen · 2013-07-24 02:41 · Score: 0
  
  no, android still sucks
  i have an ipad 2 with broken glass and still very happy with it. i might fix the glass and use it for another 2-3 years. games work OK, email works and you don't need a quad core with the latest GPU to read a book on it
12. Re:Margin compression by AmiMoJo · 2013-07-24 02:41 · Score: 1
  
  The other side of the story is that the iPhone is getting cheaper. It was released last year and wasn't cutting edge at the time. At this stage it gets sold cheap with bundles, much like similar age phones like the Galaxy S3.
  It shows that there is demand for a cheap but current iPhone, even if it is significantly less powerful spec wise than the competition. I expect Apple will launch such a phone that is basically an iPhone 5 when the iPhone 5S is released.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
13. Re:Margin compression by Nadaka · 2013-07-24 02:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Its not a replacement for portable computing... Its a replacement for portable netflix, web browsing, and stupid little kiddie games/apps.
14. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:42 · Score: 0
  
  You should actually read the report - Morningstar is a good source for transcripts. Apple's gross margins are 36-37%. IPad sales of 14 million may be slightly down, but not significantly. iPad accounted for 84.3% share of tablet web usage by customers in the U.S. and Canada its highest level this year.
15. Re:Margin compression by serviscope_minor · 2013-07-24 02:44 · Score: 1
  
  they replace the need for portable computing (notebooks, laptops, etc).
  Well, that all depends on what you do on the road really.
  
  --
  SJW n. One who posts facts.
16. Re:Margin compression by the_B0fh · 2013-07-24 02:44 · Score: 0
  
  Come on, you're not being a fashionable ihaternista by trying to apply a hint of logic to this. The fandroids and ihaters won't recognize logic even if you side load it into them.
17. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:48 · Score: 0
  
  Then listen closely - I, who am not a 10 year old kid and haven't been for over 30 years, absolutely love my iPad and use it on a regular, daily basis for everything from work-related tasks to leisurely enjoyment.
18. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:53 · Score: 0
  
  What plane do you live on? The iPhone 5 was barely distinguishable from the 4? It had a larger screen, replace glass with an aluminum unibody shell, removed the metal band around the edges, and introduced a 2-toned color look to the back. Only a buffoon can't spot these differences a mile away.
  Yet, Samsung phones look like both of them.
19. Re:Margin compression by erp_consultant · 2013-07-24 02:53 · Score: 2
  
  These days I'm using my laptop more like a desktop and my tablet more like a laptop. I barely ever use my laptop unless it's plugged in and connected to an external monitor. Heck, the battery could die on it and I might not even know. And yes, I still use my desktop computer. It performs the same function it always has - high powered workstation with huge monitors for serious work.
20. Re:Margin compression by MightyYar · 2013-07-24 02:53 · Score: 1
  
  Tanked? It was a 10% drop...
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
21. Re:Margin compression by Holi · 2013-07-24 02:54 · Score: 1
  
  If all you do with your laptop is read email, browse the web and watch video then yes it is a replacement. If you do any content creation on your laptop then the iPad is a piss poor substitute.
  
  --
  Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
22. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:57 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Its a replacement for portable netflix, web browsing, and stupid little kiddie games/apps.
  That IS portable computing for the majority
23. Re:Margin compression by Alomex · 2013-07-24 02:58 · Score: 1
  
  But if all you do with your tablet is read email and watch video then a smartphone or phablet is even better.
24. Re:Margin compression by Holi · 2013-07-24 02:58 · Score: 1
  
  Then listen closely, I am basically the same age as you. and try as I might, I have not found a compelling use for a tablet, They are too expensive for their limited ability.
  Though you can use them for some work functions they are not work machines. The are content consumption devices and that is how they were designed from the ground up. The problem with android and windows tablets is that they try to be more.
  
  --
  Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
25. Re:Margin compression by ducomputergeek · 2013-07-24 02:58 · Score: 1
  
  More likely market saturation rather than competition. Basically at this point most people who want a tablet have one. And unlike phones, people don't seem to be as in a rush to replace them with the latest and greatest. I know a lot of people who bought iPads as attempted laptop replacements and found that it almost worked. I know I went out and got a new laptop.
  Ironically I'm on my iPad at the moment waiting for people to arrive and get a meeting started. The presenation and everything is on the iPad. I left the laptop at the office yesterday and felt no need to drive downtown to get it for this meetin this morning. The iPad will work just fine.
  
  --
  "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
26. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:59 · Score: 0
  
  What plane do you live on? The iPhone 5 was barely distinguishable from the 4? It had a larger screen, replace glass with an aluminum unibody shell, removed the metal band around the edges, and introduced a 2-toned color look to the back. Only a buffoon can't spot these differences a mile away.
  Golf clap. You are either a very clever troll or a complete apple shill, and you are so subtle about it that I can't tell which.
  In case you are being serious, the screen is the one "innovation" that might matter to users, and they changed it by making it about a third of an inch bigger in _one_ direction while other handset makers are offering a range of sizes to suit any need. Its really no wonder they are being outsold 2:1 in the market that "apple invented".
27. Re:Margin compression by Arrepiadd · 2013-07-24 03:05 · Score: 1
  
  What plane do you live on? The iPhone 5 was barely distinguishable from the 4? (...) Only a buffoon can't spot these differences a mile away.
  Not the AC that wrote the text, but I want to contribute anyway. I'm by no means an ignorant when it comes to phones and stuff, but I'm not following the checking all the pics and following all the news on new phones. I guess I would call myself average on this field.
  With that said until you described the differences (which I may now use to recognize it), the only way I knew to distinguish both was based on the connector. Small on the 5, big on everything else.
28. Re:Margin compression by Archangel+Michael · 2013-07-24 03:08 · Score: 2
  
  Tablets are Entertainment Consumption devices. Reading, Music, playing games, surfing the internet, youtube etc etc etc.
  They pretty much suck as content creation devices. You can create using them, but if your business is creation of content, you're not going to be served well by a tablet. iPad with Keyboard and case is 2/3 as expensive as a low end MacBook. Guess which one works better for which?
  iPad $500 + $100 professional style case w/keyboard = $600
  Macbook = $930
  If the price difference for a general computing device isn't worth $300, then chances are you aren't creating content.
  
  --
  Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
29. Re:Margin compression by beltsbear · 2013-07-24 03:11 · Score: 1
  
  "The industry analysts and pundits have been predicting this for ages: that while Apple led for ages, and reaped windfall profits as a consequence, there would be a stampede into the smartphone market, and Google would barge in, turn smartphones into a commodity, and crush Apple's margins."
  Wake me up when this happens. So far it has not. Apple sold MORE phones this quarter than before with a 36%+ profit margin. Apple makes more profit in smart phones then all other players combined. Sure, it is time for Apple to come out with something new, but it will be a long time before the IOS/iPhone platform is not hugely profitable. If Apple introduces a new iPhone in time for sales this quarter they will continue to GAIN market share in the USA and in many other countries.
30. Re:Margin compression by Type44Q · 2013-07-24 03:14 · Score: 1
  
  If all you do with your laptop is read email
  Reading email? Sure. Writing email? I don't know about the rest of you but I certainly have no desire to type out my emails on a virtual keyboard...
31. Re:Margin compression by Arrepiadd · 2013-07-24 03:15 · Score: 1
  
  Replying to myself... always nice! At least it's for a clarification about the state of the world when it comes to iPhones.
  I knew, unlike what my previous comment indicates, the differences in the size of the screen. But, quite frankly, they seem minute enough that I can't distinguish them unless they are next to each other. Individually, I can't spot the screen differences (once again, I haven't had enough time with either to figure that out).
32. Re:Margin compression by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 03:16 · Score: 1
  
  Is that where we are now? Every new tech product goes from profitable business to lost cause in five years because Google wants more eyeballs to serve ads to?
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
33. Re:Margin compression by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 03:18 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe people don't talk about them because they stopped being novelties and started being an unremarkable part of the computing landscale? I don't talk about how amazing computer mice are any more, but that doesn't mean that they're a novelty that's destined for the bin.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
34. Re: Margin compression by samkass · 2013-07-24 03:19 · Score: 1
  
  In this quarter last year the retina iPad was released. In this past quarter there was some inventory draw-down in anticipation of future models, and no new models. Actual iPad sales appear to be pretty steady, and there's certainly little evidence of overwhelming moves to Android. If anything, the worry would be the tablet market saturating earlier than some expected.
  
  --
  E pluribus unum
35. Re:Margin compression by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 03:19 · Score: 1
  
  What do you think most people use computers for? There's a reason computer use exploded around the time the web went mainstream.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
36. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:20 · Score: 1
  
  And yet people buy them hand over fist. More than any previous iphone model, just like with all previous releases.
  You say "barely distinguishable" like it's a bad thing. Perhaps a lot of people LIKE that the iphone 5 is mostly like the 4, only better.
  All of your apps carry over. All of your music. Settings. Email accounts. Messages. Everything. All of that built in, by design. The UI isn't radically different, and works the same way it did on your old phone.
  None of the above can be said for android. UI's aren't even consistent between devices in a single manufacturer.
  That said, I don't hate andriod. I own several android devices (Two tablets, pc on a stick.) But I don't think I'm going to move away from the iphone simply because it's the one device I don't have to fuck with constantly. It just works. All the time. At work, in my car, at home, on the road (cycling). And you know what? When I upgrade from this 4 to the soon-to-be-released 5s, that will work too. I won't have to do a fucking thing other than log in and let my cloud backup synch to my new phone.
37. Re:Margin compression by nine-times · 2013-07-24 03:22 · Score: 1
  
  Well either way, it may just indicate market saturation. When you introduce a new product, nobody has one, and everyone who wants one buys one. After a few years, many of the people who want one already have one, so you sell fewer of them.
  Even if they're a novelty that are only used by 10 year-olds, that's still a market, and lots of people were buying them and happy with their purchase.
38. Re:Margin compression by datavirtue · 2013-07-24 03:24 · Score: 1
  
  They can be used for taking notes but they are best for accessing information quickly. People who take notes on them are distracted. I love tablets for accessing information in meetings but fooling around in note apps is just too much. I can jot notes on a paper notebook without thinking or paying attention to the tools (pen and paper). You can scan or capture the notes later with your tablet if you like.
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
39. Re:Margin compression by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 03:24 · Score: 1
  
  For $229 you can buy a computer the size of a small book that connects wirelessly to the internet. If you can't find interesting things to do with something like that I worry for your imagination. I'd already dreamt up a dozen uses for something like that when I was a teenager and it was a ridiculous space-age fantasy.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
40. Re:Margin compression by datavirtue · 2013-07-24 03:26 · Score: 1
  
  AppleInsider. Is that like Dickens Cider? Sorta?
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
41. Re:Margin compression by datavirtue · 2013-07-24 03:28 · Score: 1
  
  The problem with android and windows tablets is that they try to be more.
  Insightful.
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
42. Re:Margin compression by BasilBrush · 2013-07-24 03:29 · Score: 1
  
  More likely market saturation rather than competition. Basically at this point most people who want a tablet have one.
  In 3 years? Don't think so. The truth is that the year ago quarter was boosted by the new Retina iPad 3. And the 6 month ago quarter was boosted by the iPad Mini. This last quarter didn't have a new iPad, so of course it isn't one of the peak sales quarters.
  The next iPad will come out this quarter or next, with iOS 7, and once again it'll be a record quarter for iPads.
43. Re:Margin compression by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 03:29 · Score: 1
  
  You'd be surprised. I could touch-type with my thumbs within a month, and I'm not exactly an avid texter. I imagine hunt-and-peck people might have a problem with the lack of feedback though.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
44. Re:Margin compression by datavirtue · 2013-07-24 03:35 · Score: 1
  
  (people buy newer ones sooner if they are cheap).
  [citation needed]
  
  --
  I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
45. Re:Margin compression by BasilBrush · 2013-07-24 03:39 · Score: 1
  
  Now think of the iFad: one rarely sees Android tablets out there, even though they are as good as iPads. In fact, most people seem to prefer Phablets.
  The Android tablets that are sold, especially the "phablets" as sold because they are cheap. And cheap mostly means terrible. They end up unused, and THAT'S why you don't see them out there.
  http://www.news.com.au/technology/usage-study-shows-ipad-proves-to-be-the-one-tablet-to-rule-them-all/story-e6frfro0-1226684205587
46. Re:Margin compression by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 03:39 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That's a bit like arguing that a computer's a terrible content creation tool because it's no good as a woodworking lathe or sewing machine. No, a tablet's no good for doing multi-track video editing. (Most single-display computers aren't any good at it either.) However it's a remarkable tool for gathering, organising and triaging information. (Papers, the science literature tool, is its killer app in my environment.) It's the swiss army knife of desk references. It's an x-windows client I can pass around at a scientific meeting. It's the world's least annoying way to deal with email.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
47. Re:Margin compression by Anubis+IV · 2013-07-24 03:39 · Score: 1
  
  Two points:
  1) iPad sales didn't tank. They were down, but that's to be expected considering they had a major product release (the 3rd gen iPad which introduced the retina display) that helped to drive sales in the year-ago quarter, but no corresponding release this quarter to drive sales similarly. If anything, I found it astounding that sales were only down about 10%, given that they're working with a nearly 9 month old product (the 4th gen iPad was released late last year), rather than a brand new one with a marquee feature.
  2) Regarding the PC market and making money, Apple's low-volume/high-margin approach has allowed them to capture about 45% of the profit in the PC market (a plurality), despite their slim market share. To say the least, their share of the pie rather conclusively disproves your notion that the only way to survive in the space is with high-volume/low-margins.
  I do agree that the analysts have been predicting that their margins would be compressed quite a bit, but Apple has been acknowledging that for quite awhile as well, ever since they introduced the iPhone 5, which has a rather high manufacturing cost, as well as the iPad mini, which has significantly lower margins so that it can compete more easily with other tablets in that space. Even so, their margins have remained relatively stable since the introduction of those products last year, and their sales have remained in line with or above what one would expect when you look at what products were actually released (i.e. few to none). Considering they've already acknowledged that they'll be having a rather full fall quarter in terms of product releases since they haven't been spreading them throughout the year as they typically do, it's not particularly surprising that they were down this quarter.
48. Re:Margin compression by BasilBrush · 2013-07-24 03:42 · Score: 1
  
  Though you can use them for some work functions they are not work machines.
  Tell that to pilots and doctors for example.
  If your work consists mostly of sitting at a desk doing keyboardy things, then of course a tablet isn't much good for you. But not everyone's work is like that.
49. Re: Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:51 · Score: 0
  
  Tablets are not novelties. I use my iPad for 50% of my work, my iPhone for a good 20%, a small Samsung dual SIM for travel and good overseas rates, and my MacBook Pro Retina and an iMac for the remainder. I am at "C" level and a director at several startup. Maybe if you sit on your butt all day and have to weave wool you need a estoppel, but otherwise "adding value" works however you can communicate.
50. Re:Margin compression by berj · 2013-07-24 03:51 · Score: 1
  
  What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked.
  
  It's really too early to be able to proclaim that. The drop in sales could be attributed to the fact that there was no new iPad model released this quarter whereas there was one last year. Sales always spike when there's a product launch and languish when one is expected in the near future (presumably this fall).
51. Re:Margin compression by nightfire-unique · 2013-07-24 03:55 · Score: 1
  
  No, it rather means that people are finally understanding that a tablet is a novelty. The only time I hear someone talking about how great their iPad (or other tablet) is when they are talking about how much their (less than 10 year old) kid enjoys it
  I use my Nexus 7 daily. Some of the things I use it for:
  - Kindle
  - Web browsing / youtube out on the deck
  - Advanced planning / 2nd head ship navigation while sailing (Navionics)
  - Advanced route planning while in the backcountry (Locus Pro)
  - Movies in bed
  - Google magazine (Backpacker, Sailing World, etc)
  My girlfriend also uses it at school when painting so that she doesn't have to print images out.
  Admittedly, there is a lot of crossover potential with my S3. But to suggest that it's a novelty is a little silly at this point, don't you think?
  
  --
  A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
52. Re:Margin compression by Belial6 · 2013-07-24 03:55 · Score: 1
  
  I find my Nexus 7 to be awesome for VPNing into my server and doing a screen share so that I can fix problems while out and about. No, I am not a full time administrator for a fortune 500 company, so carrying a full laptop around with me to type a few commands or reboot a server is massive overkill. Yes, using the on-screen keyboard is less convenient than having a full keyboard, but carrying a laptop around is WAY less convenient than using the on-screen keyboard.
  
  Besides, web browsing is how a huge number of corporate applications are delivered these days.
53. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:56 · Score: 0
  
  I disagree.
  I use my iPad daily, whether it's for streaming / watching TV shows, playing games. It is also especially useful aboard the train / plane where it's more convenient to use than a laptop.
  It's also great as a "quick on" device when you need to lookup info fast : schedules, weather... If it broke I would buy a new one ASAP.
  Unfortunately Slashdot has become a place where quick generalizations such as yours are held up as some sort of truth and modded up.
54. Re:Margin compression by obarthelemy · 2013-07-24 04:03 · Score: 1
  
  I rather prefer my Android tablet to my brother's iPad. What bugs me with iPads (apart from price,I/O) is the totally inconsistent UI: Android has a menu key and a back key, and that's where stuff gets done. iOS doesn't, so there's buttons all over the place, sometimes even off-screen. Shades of single-button vs 2-button+wheel mice ...
  
  --
  The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
55. Re:Margin compression by Belial6 · 2013-07-24 04:08 · Score: 2
  
  That is a myth. Huge numbers of corporate applications don't require paragraphs of text to submit content. In fact, the need for huge amounts of typing is often the sign of a poorly made application. Sure, writing a budget proposal is going to suck on a tablet, but there are huge amounts of content that is created without the need for that much writing. Think about the UPS guys. They create huge amounts of content without a laptop. I know that a lot of restaurants are starting to use tablets as order pads. You might not count a dinner order as content, but that doesn't mean it isn't.
  
  Tablets are particularly great when you need portability to create content that consists of large numbers of small data.
56. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 04:12 · Score: 0
  
  Actually, this is what happens when you get people used to a short release cycle on a single device. The only way to get people to buy the next one is to come up with new ideas. If you use your new ideas that quickly, you run out of them that quickly. And there aren't exactly a lot of new ideas floating around in the first place, as far as mobile devices go...
57. Re:Margin compression by GodfatherofSoul · 2013-07-24 04:22 · Score: 1
  
  I used mine for college to take notes on and read textbooks via Kindle. Now, YOU might not see a use for them (and I was that guy 2 years ago), but that doesn't mean they're just for games.
  
  --
  I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
58. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 04:22 · Score: 0
  
  Do you hear people talk about how great their blender is? or refrigerator?
  Tablets have gone mainstream, they are selling tons of them and they are becoming just another gadget. But they aren't going anywhere and are not a novelty because to non-geeks they do just about 100% of what they need: Web browsing, social media, email, media consumption, photos, and games.
  No one ever wanted to buy a desktop in the first place. They were forced from lack of alternatives. Even laptops are a PITA for most non-geeks
59. Re:Margin compression by tlhIngan · 2013-07-24 04:28 · Score: 1
  
  Tablets are Entertainment Consumption devices. Reading, Music, playing games, surfing the internet, youtube etc etc etc.
  They pretty much suck as content creation devices. You can create using them, but if your business is creation of content, you're not going to be served well by a tablet. iPad with Keyboard and case is 2/3 as expensive as a low end MacBook. Guess which one works better for which?
  iPad $500 + $100 professional style case w/keyboard = $600
  Macbook = $930
  If the price difference for a general computing device isn't worth $300, then chances are you aren't creating content.
  Guess what? Most people are NOT content creators. Unless you mean by content creators Grandma who posts a photo on Flickr every once in a while.
  And a laptop is a great tool, but there are times it may not be the most appropriate tool - because its formfactor gets in the way (if you want to read a book, it's easier on a tablet than a laptop, ditto a movie - the keyboard on both gets in the way).
  In fact, the ultimate in content creation people often use tablets! Check out any filmmaker and you'll see them often using tablets - to hold scripts, storyboards, animatics, and dailies.
  And yes, sometimes if you only need a minor fixup, a tablet beats waking up the laptop and fixing it there (unless you use an Apple one where Apple seems to be turning them into instant-on devices - Windows still seems to want to take 30 seconds or so to settle down after waking up).
60. Re:Margin compression by narcc · 2013-07-24 04:30 · Score: 1
  
  It's the world's least annoying way to deal with email.
  This one true.
  ---
  Send from my iPad
  (Which is why this message is so short.)
  
  --
  Required reading for internet skeptics
61. Re:Margin compression by Kielistic · 2013-07-24 04:31 · Score: 1
  
  That's a bit like arguing that a computer's a terrible content creation tool because it's no good as a woodworking lathe or sewing machine
  If you bought a computer to replace a lathe or sewing machine you probably would have that complaint. Fortunately nobody does that because it's a stupid idea (and a pointless analogy). There may be a handful of things a tablet is better at than a computer (I'm unconvinced of any of them) but there are a million things a computer is better at than a tablet. Nobody would genuinely refer to that as a "replacement".
  Can we stop with this pointless defense bogging down every discussion that involves tablets? Your argument of how good they are for content creation was "look at all this stuff I can look at on it". That's not really content creation- it's pretty much content consumption.
  It's a nice way to read email. It's terrible for composing an email larger than "OK".
62. Re:Margin compression by Kielistic · 2013-07-24 04:34 · Score: 1
  
  I could touch-type with my thumbs within a month
  At at most a fifth of the speed and probably a lot slower. I use all ten of my fingers and not just two of them when typing emails on a keyboard. I imagine someone who couldn't type at all might not notice a different though.
63. Re:Margin compression by Kielistic · 2013-07-24 04:37 · Score: 1
  
  Not to rain on your parade or anything but what you refer to as "phablets" are not cheap. The main "phablet" player is the Galaxy Note line and they are anything but cheap and I've seen quite a few of those in the wild.
64. Re:Margin compression by cheesybagel · 2013-07-24 05:00 · Score: 1
  
  Apple sold more phones but their profits dropped. That tells me their margins are shrinking. They are going to shrink more once they release their low end phone model.
65. Re:Margin compression by Nemyst · 2013-07-24 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  I've yet to meet a single person who's been able to entirely replace their computer(s) with a tablet. Those who own one almost always have a "backup" in the form of a desktop or chunky laptop which they use when they want to do "real" work. Tablets are a novelty and will remain one until they can actually replace notebooks, which they can't right now, partly because of software limitations (lackluster multitasking, few office applications, etc.) and hardware limitations (keyboard, screen size, etc.). For most people they're entertainment devices which excel at browsing the web, watching videos, reading emails and so on; consumption, essentially. Production is still terrible.
66. Re:Margin compression by UnknowingFool · 2013-07-24 05:55 · Score: 1
  
  For the vast majority of consumers, that is all they need computing to be. They are not compiling the latest Linux kernel or writing TPS reports at home.
  
  --
  Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
67. Re:Margin compression by ColdWetDog · 2013-07-24 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  Righto.
  Sent from my iPad
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
68. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 06:01 · Score: 0
  
  I have a hard time with these numbers regarding iPads. I personally have little use for tablets but virtually every small business I visit is using one these days.
  They seem to be taking over the point of sales terminal. Maybe I am projecting too much based on the places I have visited, but it sure seems the iPad is making huge inroads in businesses as a customer interface. Even the gym uses the iPad as a way to fill out waivers etc.
69. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 06:37 · Score: 0
  
  tablet's are a partial novelty
  so i's put'ting apostrophe's where onl'y an uneducat'ed idio't like yo'u woul'd put them. Fucking morons, when did the uneducated start showing up here?? I never used to see that sort of idiocy outside a Fox News forum or some construction worker marking a beer sign in a bar ("Todays special's" in Converse Street Bar, Springfield is an especially egregios one, the apostrophe in "today's" is missing, but stuck where it doesn't belong in "specials".
  Can anyone point me to a site where I can discuss nerdy topics with people who have actually been educated, or at least have finished high school??
70. Re:Margin compression by halofan_sd · 2013-07-24 06:54 · Score: 0
  
  it's more like this: once you have a 5-inch phone, what's the appeal of a 7 or 10 inch tablet?
71. Re:Margin compression by luis_a_espinal · 2013-07-24 06:58 · Score: 2
  
  Its a replacement for portable netflix, web browsing, and stupid little kiddie games/apps.
  That IS portable computing for the majority
  Indeed. Pathetically, the nuisance is missed to most self-proclaimed computing geeks.
72. Re:Margin compression by luis_a_espinal · 2013-07-24 07:00 · Score: 1
  
  Its not a replacement for portable computing... Its a replacement for portable netflix, web browsing, and stupid little kiddie games/apps.
  If you do not think that is portable computing for the common 21st century person (which is the definition that matters the most), you need to revisit your understanding of computing as a whole.
73. Re:Margin compression by Bill_the_Engineer · 2013-07-24 07:01 · Score: 1
  
  What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked.
  You have a different definition of tank than most of us. TFS talks about a drop of only 8.75% (14.6 mil vs 16 mil previously). It suggests that while Android tablets have become an alternative for some, it hasn't dramatically affected the iPad's sales.
  
  --
  These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
74. Re:Margin compression by oh_my_080980980 · 2013-07-24 07:07 · Score: 1
  
  LMOL - ever hear of a smart phone? 'Cuz that can't shop, bank, take and share photos, send email, play music, watch TV and movies from their smart phone or tablet...oh wait. So what the fuck do they need a desktop or laptop for???
  
  Apple and oranges Potsy. What a person does at work is quite different than what they do at home. For most people at home, they don't need a computer. At work, it depends. Because, unlike you, I know people who use tablets and know about initiatives to have tablets replace desktop/laptops. It doesn't work for everyone but then that's not the point. It's using technology where it is appropriate. So for alot of people, even in business, a tablet will fit the bill nicely.
75. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 07:10 · Score: 0
  
  If you really owned an iPad, you'd known that that back button and the menu button are consistently on the same spot of the screen. I actually own an iPad and an Android tablet. I like both but the older iPad is still more responsive than my 2 month old Android tablet.
76. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 07:11 · Score: 0
  
  Worse, it's been years since these devices became mainstream, and they just willfully refuse to get it.
77. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 07:13 · Score: 0, Insightful
  
  And the iPhone 5 obsoleted all of my accessories.
78. Re:Margin compression by mosb1000 · 2013-07-24 08:02 · Score: 1
  
  Your argument of how good they are for content creation was "look at all this stuff I can look at on it"
  It that's not a part of your content creation process, I wonder if maybe you should consider adding it? You may find it helpful. . .
79. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 08:16 · Score: 0
  
  What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked. Maybe that suggests that Android on tablets has matured somewhat from the early days of few, clunky tablet apps, and that tablets are commodities now too.
  Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that millions of people now own them and it's no longer an untapped market, eh?
80. Re:Margin compression by Kielistic · 2013-07-24 09:32 · Score: 1
  
  Of course research and reading are part of the creative process but by definition cannot replace the creative process. Hence content consuming devices cannot replace content creation devices. I don't know what kind of cursory level research you do but I'd much prefer to have many documents/resources open across many large screens than be limited to one document in one instance of an "app" on a 7-10 inch screen. Which I can quickly navigate through by mouse or keyboard (which ever was more convenient to access at the time).
81. Re:Margin compression by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 09:36 · Score: 0
  
  If I was making a baseball bat, I'd want the lathe
  If I wanted to make a suit, sewing machine
  Ipad vs notebook is more like handsaw vs lathe.
82. Re:Margin compression by mosb1000 · 2013-07-24 09:54 · Score: 1
  
  Some people find other environments more stimulating than when they are sitting at their desk. Sitting at the beach, or on the couch, for example. So, even though a tablet has less screen space, the tablet is the preferable option in cases where it may be used.
83. Re:Margin compression by Kielistic · 2013-07-24 10:06 · Score: 1
  
  the tablet is the preferable option in cases where it may be used.
  A tablet is the preferable option in extremely few content creation situations. Researching / day-dreaming / etc. are not content creation activities even if they are essential in the creation process. Name just one real creation activity where a tablet is preferable and not just an accessory.
  A real text-entry device is always going to be preferred to anybody that is seriously entering text. Graphics manipulation is infinitely better on a computer with a Wacom tablet (my Android tablet event has a Wacom built in and a computer is still better).
  Every example of "on the couch" or "at the beach" would be better served with a small laptop than a tablet if you are doing anything more than reading. I love my tablet but I still recognize that it's only marginally above the "toy" level.
84. Re:Margin compression by beltsbear · 2013-07-24 11:24 · Score: 1
  
  You didn't read the fine details. They sold more phones but less other items. Their margin was 36.9% which is astounding. For next quarter they are expecting similar or higher. What you are expecting is not happening.
85. Re:Margin compression by mattack2 · 2013-07-24 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked.
  Since when is 14.6 million sales (not SHIPMENTS) in a quarter tanking? (From summary: "iPad sales dipped slightly (14.6 million vs 16 million)")
86. Re:Margin compression by poetmatt · 2013-07-24 12:30 · Score: 1
  
  Are you unaware that google docs works well on a tablet? Journalists write whole articles on them, etc.
  is it that hard for you to accept that it does something?
87. Re:Margin compression by poetmatt · 2013-07-24 12:31 · Score: 1
  
  to this I would agree. It is not a fit all/catch all, but it is not without purpose in addition to being a hell of a lot easier to transport.
88. Re:Margin compression by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 18:35 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, exactly. You wouldn't use a lathe to cut two-by-fours and you wouldn't use a handsaw to make a bannister. You're going to need both to make a house.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
I don't get it by slashmydots · 2013-07-24 02:21 · Score: -1, Troll

The Samsung Galaxy phone is better and any tablet in the world is better than the iPad. As soon as people realize it has no HDMI, no micro-SD port, and no USB port for flash drives, they can go spend 5x less on a tablet that can or get the vastly superior Galaxy tablet for the same price. My long time Apple fanatic roommate just dumped is iPhone 4 for a Samsung Galaxy and admitted it was far better. Plus, his 4's soldered-in battery just failed so I think there was a valuable lesson there too. So how could their device sales possibly be going up? And with Windows 8 out, how could their desktop sales be going down?
1. Re:I don't get it by goombah99 · 2013-07-24 02:25 · Score: 1
  
  You are correct, you don't get it. Lame.
  
  --
  Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
2. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:25 · Score: 0
  
  iPhone batteries are not soldered in. If you're so confident that Samsung phones are better why make stuff up?
3. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:29 · Score: 0
  
  The Samsung Galaxy phone is better and any tablet in the world is better than the iPad. As soon as people realize it has no HDMI, no micro-SD port, and no USB port for flash drives, they can go spend 5x less on a tablet that can or get the vastly superior Galaxy tablet for the same price. My long time Apple fanatic roommate just dumped is iPhone 4 for a Samsung Galaxy and admitted it was far better. Plus, his 4's soldered-in battery just failed so I think there was a valuable lesson there too. So how could their device sales possibly be going up? And with Windows 8 out, how could their desktop sales be going down?
  For the millionth goddamn time in one of these Apple threads, the sales bear out that Joe Bagodonutz doesn't give a crap. Some other people perceive value differently than you do. What's not to "get"?
4. Re: I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:31 · Score: 0
  
  You wrote:
  "...vastly superior Galaxy tablet..."
  The PC industry has proven that geeky might sell to geeks, but usability sells to the masses. I don't know any non-geek buying Windows PCs anymore. Everyone now wants a Mac desktop or laptop based upon superior usability.
  The same thing will happen with phones. Google has no clue when it comes to design, usability and customer needs assessment vs " fill it with geek features the average person won't use."
5. Re:I don't get it by the_B0fh · 2013-07-24 02:34 · Score: 0
  
  iPhone 4 is nearly 3 years old. Comparing it against a S3 or a S4 is weak sauce. One would hope that Samsung can at least create a phone that can beat a 3 year old phone. Also interesting how android forums is full of how the galaxy's are still jittery and have laggy gui.
  And soldered in battery? Really? Is it really that difficult to remove 3 screws and swap a battery that's dead? No, you can't change batteries on a daily basis, not easily, but the battery also doesn't die in 4 hours like the Galaxy.
  http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+iPhone+4+Battery/3141/1
6. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:34 · Score: 0
  
  Must suck to live in a world where EVERYONE is an idiot except you. If only everyone would WAKE UP and stop being so stupid. Thank god you saved your roommate from the follies of buying Apple.
7. Re:I don't get it by kthreadd · 2013-07-24 02:39 · Score: 1
  
  And if screws is not your thing, then you can have Apple change it for you.
  http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html
8. Re:I don't get it by alen · 2013-07-24 02:42 · Score: 0
  
  i just got a galaxy s3
  it sucks. laggy turd compared to my ipad 2 and iphone 5
9. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:50 · Score: 0
  
  Their device sales are up, because a lot of people like iDevices just as much as you like Samsung. Desktop sales are down, because that's the industry trend.
10. Re:I don't get it by dc29A · 2013-07-24 02:54 · Score: 1
  
  As soon as people realize it has no HDMI, no micro-SD port, and no USB port for flash drives, they can go spend 5x less on a tablet that can or get the vastly superior Galaxy tablet for the same price.
  
  Vastly superior? If by that you mean pixelated screen and lower battery life then yes, you are right. Try reading books on Galaxy Tab vs iPad and tell us with a straight face that there is no difference or that the Galaxy Tab is superior.
11. Re: I don't get it by danbob999 · 2013-07-24 02:57 · Score: 2
  
  . I don't know any non-geek buying Windows PCs anymore. Everyone now wants a Mac desktop or laptop based upon superior usability.
  Last time I checked Macs had about 10 or 15% market share worldwide. So either the world is 85-90% geek, or you need to get out of your basement more often.
12. Re: I don't get it by Virtucon · 2013-07-24 03:01 · Score: 1
  
  Google has no clue when it comes to design, usability and customer needs assessment vs " fill it with geek features the average person won't use."
  Uhm, that's why they license to third parties. They may not know about rounded corners and sleek looks but that's what other manufacturers are for. I've bought 7 Android devices in the past year. Most for developing software and personal use. In our house we have one iPhone 5 and that's getting traded out here shortly because my son hates the Apple "way." He hates the new App Store, iTunes is constantly giving him grief, me? I just download my mp3s from Amazon.. NO problem. I don't see apple cutting prices but Microsoft has floundered in the phone/tablet space and unless they right the ship, they'll be left with the Server O/S tier and Desktops which are fading. Laptops will still use Windows but fundamentally Microsoft shouldn't be building its own products, much like Google. They don't know what it takes to build a killer design in terms of look/feel.
  Also for all those "Geek" features, my wife uses a Galaxy Note 2 and loves the multi-window, she's not a CS grad either but she likes to be able to easily see and do two things at once. Oh yeah, multitasking, another missing link in the iOS evolutionary path.
  
  --
  Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
13. Re:I don't get it by ericloewe · 2013-07-24 03:06 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  As much as I dislike Apple's products and philosophy, I absolutely hate Samsung's philosophy. In my experience, it's either copying (much more than would be reasonable) successful products or throwing tons of crap at the wall to see what sticks (the galaxy cameras come to mind). Either way, their products are designed to what seem to be very poor standards with atrocious quality control.
  Out of 11 Samsung products:
  Two were dead on arrival (Ativ Smart PC Pro, a camcorder whose model I don't recall) - they did turn on, but were not in a condition anyone would call useful (dead touchscreen and autofocus, random stability issues, not to mention the fact that the tablet's replacement, like all other units I've seen, had plastic covering one of the keyboard dock's pins and a misaligned speaker grille).
  One (40" LCD) developed some unusual dark areas on the screen.
  One (Refrigerator) suffers from an ice dispenser button that gets stuck if operated with a single finger, its shelves' plastic is cracking and there's rust developing on some parts of the outside finish.
  One (Monitor, Syncmaster 940BW) has a driver issue (seriously. Google it and wonder how it's possible...) under Windows 7 where a driver is automatically installed that includes a bad color profile that causes White to be displayed as Yellow in color-corrected applications, unless a different profile is manually chosen.
  One (Dual-SIM phone with crappy resistive touchscreen) was never a decent phone, but its touchscreen decided to crap out one day, for no apparent reason, making it impossible to use.
  Another phone (Wave I think it was called... ) was a phone whose hardware showed potential but was running Bada or whatever that OS was called. Not pleasant to use.
  Only 4 / 11 Samsung products never gave any reason for complaint (besides limitations that were obvious when buying it - like a screen that is at a fixed height - those were knwon and expected, so there's no reason to blame Samsung): Two 830 SSDs (one 128GB and one 256GB), another monitor (Syncmaster BX2450) and a Blu-Ray drive.
  I'm sure someone can give me a comparable amount of Apple horror stories, but I'd bet that most of them are actually limitations that one knows they're buying - like support for newer versions of OS X / iOS being a gamble. The products themselves don't tend to start failing in unpredictable ways, most failures are predictable, in my experience.
  tl;dr I won't be buying Samsung again anytime soon (and I wouldn't buy Apple anyway, so don't bother with that angle)
14. Re:I don't get it by wzinc · 2013-07-24 03:13 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  HDMI == AirPlay
  SD-slot / USB == iCloud
  
  That's how Apple handles those issues.
  
  Also, I don't believe any iOS battery is soldered; they all have detachable connectors.
15. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:16 · Score: 0
  
  Didn't you hear? Apple fanboys aren't allowed on slashdot.
16. Re: I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:18 · Score: 0
  
  He's so far in arrogant Apple fantasy land, it's not even worth going to get him at this point.
17. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:44 · Score: 0
  
  wah wah wah wah wah. Typical Apple fanboy whining. Fuck off.
18. Re:I don't get it by slashmydots · 2013-07-24 03:48 · Score: 1
  
  Every iphone for a 3 year period had a screen that was roughly twice as likely to break as the one before it accordingly to actual phone insurance companies. The newest ipad has been officially rated heavier, hotter, and with a worse battery life than the one before it after they improved something that nobody was complaining about (the graphics power and screen res). Then there's the purple flare, the "you're holding it wrong" antenna problem, the craptacular performance of itunes and icloud on windows desktops, etc. So Samsung isn't the only company who perpetually makes stupid mistakes with big products.
19. Re: I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-24 03:54 · Score: 1
  
  An awful lot of those PCs are bought by businesses and other organizations.
20. Re:I don't get it by slashmydots · 2013-07-24 04:08 · Score: 1
  
  Oh boy, nobody supports Airplay but Apple and iCloud kills your data plan or even on a 10 megabit wireless local connection, it's still 56x slower than my class 10 samsung micro SD card that's in my tablet (it's 70MB/s read speed). What a great improvement in technology!
  And I don't follow Apple products (shocker) but something somewhere has a soldered in battery. I don't care what it is because regardless, it's classic Apple design strategy.
21. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-24 04:13 · Score: 2
  
  Every iphone for a 3 year period had a screen that was roughly twice as likely to break as the one before it accordingly to actual phone insurance companies.
  "A" screen? No, you're confused. The iPhone 4 has a glass back. Two sides that are glass accounts for the increase in dropping causing cracked glass. The screens themselves have not got more prone to cracking.
  And in drop tests iPhones were far less breakable than Samsung Galaxy's.
  
  The newest ipad has been officially rated heavier, hotter, and with a worse battery life than the one before it after they improved something that nobody was complaining about (the graphics power and screen res).
  Yes, they vastly improved the graphics, to the extent of 4 times as many pixels. The best on the market. And that needs more battery power. Your premise is that if you assess that people aren't complaining about a particular thing it shouldn't be improved? The iPad 3 flew off the shelves. That's the fundamental reason why a year later (with no new iPad released) iPad sales are down.
  The antenna problem is yesterdays news. It affected the iPhone 4.
  The purple flare is not an issue. No cameraphone camera is flawless. They all have their own artifacts that you will get if you look for them.
  These issues are well known BECAUSE they happen on iPhones. And people care about iPhones. That makes them newsworthy. Every other phone manufacturer also has issues with their phones. But they don't make the mainstream geek news because hardly anyone cares.
22. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-24 04:21 · Score: 2
  
  It's still 56x slower than my class 10 samsung micro SD card that's in my tablet (it's 70MB/s read speed). What a great improvement in technology!
  You have to wait whilst it saves to SD card. There's no waiting to save to iCloud. Thats the difference between file system saving and background syncing.
23. Re:I don't get it by AvitarX · 2013-07-24 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  It's not about streaming at home, it's about watching videos when I travel. Airplay doesn't help there, requiring me to bring more stuff, at that point, a large perk over a laptop is lost.
  
  --
  Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
24. Re:I don't get it by Kielistic · 2013-07-24 04:42 · Score: 1
  
  no micro-SD port, and no USB port for flash drives
  Yeah, your Nexus 7 sure has that iPad beat in those areas. Er wait.
25. Re:I don't get it by ericloewe · 2013-07-24 04:56 · Score: 1
  
  Indeed, those are stupid issues. Partially because of them, I will not be buying Apple in the near future if I can avoid it. However, those problems are pretty much known beforehand (you could argue that the purple flare is a Samsung-ish problem).
26. Re: I don't get it by Belial6 · 2013-07-24 04:57 · Score: 1
  
  That is the funny thing. Mac market share is closer to Linux desktop market share than it is to Windows. Heck, it is only slightly ahead of Vista. It looks the 10%-15% is an inflated number. The numbers I usually see tend to put it in the 7%-8%.
  
  http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8&qpcustomd=0
  http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-ww-monthly-201206-201306
  
  Now, there is no doubt that hey are making money on that 7%-8% market share, but claiming that everyone is now buying Macs is pure fantasy.
27. Re:I don't get it by mbourgon · 2013-07-24 05:07 · Score: 1
  
  No, actually... he's referring to the original slashdot review of the iPod.
  "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
  And yes, while accurate on the tech specs, it fails to point out the true difference was the UI, how to load it up (iTunes), etc.
  TL;DR - tech specs aren't everything. YOU care about them, but most people just want something that works well.
  
  --
  "Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
28. Re:I don't get it by codepunk · 2013-07-24 05:08 · Score: 1
  
  Welcome to the wonderful world of native code execution vs virtual machine laggy turdness.
  
  --
  
  Got Code?
29. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 05:08 · Score: 0
  
  You're carrying around additional devices to enable you to use your tablet, undermining one of the main reasons for using a tablet. You're like Taco when he thought an iPod was lame because he happened not to care that other mp3 players with good storage were too big to fit in a pocket. Good for you, but you're kind of clueless as to most people's priorities.
30. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 05:09 · Score: 0
  
  Surely you jest. It is ridden with them. That might have been true a decade ago but today they are more obnoxious than the MS shills and astroturfers used to be. Just check the moderation scores.
31. Re: I don't get it by cheesybagel · 2013-07-24 05:12 · Score: 1
  
  Google has no clue when it comes to design, usability and customer needs assessment vs " fill it with geek features the average person won't use."
  Bullshit. Google has some of the best usability experts in the market second only to Apple's. They have a lot of people dedicated to this specific task. But sure keep deluding yourself.
32. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 06:07 · Score: 0
  
  Would you like to expound on how a remote storage solution has "no waiting to save" yet a local storage device requires "you to wait whilst it saves to SD card?"
  You mean, in the interface? or the actual act of saving?
  There is no world where saving to the cloud is anywhere faster than a local storage device, of the types in discussion.
  What you mean is that saving to iCloud is done in the background. While you **wait**.
33. Re: I don't get it by Bill_the_Engineer · 2013-07-24 07:15 · Score: 1
  
  You have muddled things up a bit. Apple sells hardware with software. Microsoft mostly sells software. I know a lot of colleagues that purchased a MacBook Pro and run Windows 7 on them. They like the build of the Apple laptop but prefer to stick with the same OS as work.
  You can actually purchase Apple hardware and still be in the Windows marketshare.
  
  --
  These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
34. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 08:22 · Score: 0
  
  They also sell adapters for both of those ports, for those who actually need the "old school" solution.
35. Re:I don't get it by dinfinity · 2013-07-24 08:28 · Score: 1
  
  You have to wait whilst it saves to SD card. There's no waiting to save to iCloud. Thats the difference between file system saving and background syncing.
  Please be joking, please be joking..
  Let's join hands and pray, my fellow Slashdotters.
36. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 08:36 · Score: 0
  
  Your fanboy rage is showing.
37. Re: I don't get it by danbob999 · 2013-07-24 10:51 · Score: 1
  
  About half of them, actually.
  Still, many non-geeks work in these organizations and are behind the decision to purchase PCs over Macs.
38. Re: I don't get it by Belial6 · 2013-07-24 11:20 · Score: 1
  
  That is going to be a very small number and just hopeful thinking to think that it is affecting the numbers in any statistically significant number.
39. Re: I don't get it by Bill_the_Engineer · 2013-07-24 12:32 · Score: 1
  
  Normally I would immediately agree, but haven't you seen a college class room lately? Guess what the students are using.
  
  --
  These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
40. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 00:02 · Score: 1
  
  Wow! Background syncing gives you instant access to 1Mbps video stored in iCloud when your network is giving you 10 kbps?
  I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
41. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-25 06:34 · Score: 1
  
  It's no joke. What I said is absolutely correct.
42. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-25 06:36 · Score: 1
  
  You seem to be confused between save and load.
  Save is instantaneous. Load is instantaneous. Save on one device and then load on another isn't. It's good engineering, not magic.
43. Re: I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-25 06:39 · Score: 1
  
  About half is an awful lot. And typically the IT dept is full of geeks. They're the ones that typically advise management.
  Though of course management often ignore the geeks.
44. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  But can't watch 1 mbps movie when getting 10 kbps data rate, despite your attempts to skirt the issue.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
45. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-25 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  iCloud is a syncing service. If it's on iCloud it's also on your device. So of course there's no bandwidth barrier to watching said movie.
46. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 07:12 · Score: 1
  
  And the 64 gb micro SD card is NOT a synchronizing service. It actually increases the amount of data that can be addressed without "killing " the data transfer quotas most mobile connections have. Which was being discussed before you butted in. Read the context, idiot : http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4011029&cid=44370439
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
47. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-25 07:22 · Score: 1
  
  And the 64 gb micro SD card is NOT a synchronizing service.
  Now you've got it.
  
  It actually increases the amount of data that can be addressed without "killing " the data transfer quotas most mobile connections have.
  By default it works when you have a wifi connection. Perhaps you should find this stuff out before you post your false complaints.
  
  Which was being discussed before you butted in. Read the context, idiot
  I was neither replying to that post, nor to any post of yours. If anyone is butting in, it's you. And it's ill-informed butting in at that.
48. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 07:52 · Score: 1
  
  It's called context. Do look it up sometime.
  Meanwhile, SD cards are usable when outside range of wifi (even cellular) . "iCloud" is not. So your statement that one has to wait for saving to SD card is idiotic because even before that one has to wait for wifi (or cellular data) . But mentioning that would get your shill salary deducted.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
49. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-25 08:04 · Score: 1
  
  Meanwhile, SD cards are usable when outside range of wifi (even cellular) . "iCloud" is not.
  Yes it is. Again, that's the nature of syncing. You didn't take the advice to look stuff up before you make an ass of yourself.
  
  So your statement that one has to wait for saving to SD card is idiotic because even before that one has to wait for wifi (or cellular data)
  No, that's when the syncing updates happen. It's not when you have access to the data.
  Fundamentally, the whole concept of trying to compare saving to external flash to a syncing service is stupid. The kind of ill-informed bollocks Android fanboys come up with.
50. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 08:10 · Score: 1
  
  And what is more, you completely ignored "download" part when saying one has to wait for data to be stored TO micro SD card. Speed of micro SD card is much higher than most internet connections in both directions - upload and download. For download, the device HAS to wait for iCloud - like I said, to play 1 mbps movie.
  But again, you have to do it for your shill salary.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
51. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 08:17 · Score: 1
  
  http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4011029&cid=44384797
  Lack of expandable storage in certain classes of devices causes people to think of horrible workarounds - e.g. using iCloud to replace SD cards. Which is what started the discussion and which is the very basis of this discussion. So while stupidly impractical, iCloud as a replacement of SD cards will remain the underlying topic.
  If you did not read the thread context, ask your shill manager to deduct your salary.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
52. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 08:22 · Score: 1
  
  Again, that's the nature of syncing
  And yes, that is the nature of this thread - the stupid comparison between SD cards and iCloud. You didn't take the advice to keep up with the discussion subject before butting in.
  So access to the data that is NOT on device memory when needed is being discussed. In one case it is acquired from iCloud, and from the SD card in the other case.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
53. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-25 08:29 · Score: 1
  
  And yes, that is the nature of this thread - the stupid comparison between SD cards and iCloud
  Then stop comparing them.
  
  So access to the data that is NOT on device memory when needed is being discussed. In one case it is acquired from iCloud, and from the SD card in the other case.
  No, it's NOT acquired from iCloud. How many more times? It's a sync service. It's NOT a download service.
  Just stop trying to discuss a technology you don't understand.
54. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 08:39 · Score: 1
  
  Then stop comparing them.
  You are replying to a thread of which the BASIS is the comparison between iCloud and SD card. Got it? Stop comparing them yourself, by saying "You have to wait whilst it saves to SD card. There's no waiting to save to iCloud". Then get the hell out of the thread if you still think they are not comparable.
  
  No, it's NOT acquired from iCloud. How many more times? It's a sync service. It's NOT a download service.
  1. Put data on one device.
  2. Sync to iCloud
  3. Re-download to another device. *IT IS ACQUIRED FROM ICLOUD*
  Download speed limited to wifi-speed / cellular / whatever.
  Comparison to micro SD card was made as a similar data flow exists there too (although million times more convenient, and much faster)
  1. Put data on SD card
  2. Watch movie directly from SD card as it supports 70 Mbps.
  Sync cannot happen without a possibility of download.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
55. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 08:58 · Score: 1
  
  If it's on iCloud it's also on your device
  No, it at least once was on at least one of my devices.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
56. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-25 09:01 · Score: 1
  
  1. Put data on one device.
  2. Sync to iCloud
  3. Re-download to another device. *IT IS ACQUIRED FROM ICLOUD*
  Download speed limited to wifi-speed / cellular / whatever.
  Comparison to micro SD card was made as a similar data flow exists there too (although million times more convenient, and much faster)
  1. Put data on SD card
  2. Watch movie directly from SD card as it supports 70 Mbps.
  You quote the degenerate case of sync, where you have one device with a file and you want it on another immediately. Obviously the entire file needs transmitting. That does not mean that iCloud is a download service.
  Further more you compound the stupidity of your blow by blow comparison, you've entirely left off tha fact that in the equivalent scenario you have to remove the back of each of the two Android devices, and take the SD_card out of one and put it in the other.
  
  Sync cannot happen without a possibility of download.
  ... in the degenerate case only. Sync doesn't require entire files to be transferred. Only the changed parts. In the case of a new movie, that will be the entire file. But the degenerate case is not what defines what a thing is.
  And in the normal case happens without you noticing. Because it happens without you needing to ask for the download. The sync service has already done it for you.
  None of this happens in with SD-cards. You've talking manual downloads, and sneaker-net. Other than capacity, nothing more advanced than transferring files with a 1970s floppy disk.
  Chalk and cheese comparison.
57. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-25 09:13 · Score: 1
  
  You quote the degenerate case of sync, where you have one device with a file and you want it on another immediately
  Not immediately after putting it on one device. But immediately before (say) watching the movie.
  
  Further more you compound the stupidity of your blow by blow comparison, you've entirely left off tha fact that in the equivalent scenario you have to remove the back of each of the two Android devices, and take the SD_card out of one and put it in the other.
  No, SD card is mostly part of the same device. Just that you get much bigger storage capacity than without SD card. For which capacity one would need to use iCloud in the degenerate case on some SD-card-less devices.
  
  But the degenerate case is not what defines what a thing is.
  Just FYI, this is not a "define iCloud" shill training session going on. No one attempted to "define" iCloud here.
  So far you were maintaining there is no download happening. Now when that didn't work, this becomes a "degenerate" case? This is the topic of this discussion, whether degenerate or not. Go to some other thread which has the topic "define iCloud".
  
  And in the normal case happens without you noticing. Because it happens without you needing to ask for the download. The sync service has already done it for you.
  Thank god it has decided which movie I want to watch. The choice might have killed me.
  
  None of this happens in with SD-cards.
  
  Yes, store the movie when you have it, watch the movie when you want to.
  
  Other than capacity,
  
  Yes, other than the topic being discussed, your post is applicable to everything else.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
58. Re:I don't get it by dinfinity · 2013-07-25 11:19 · Score: 1
  
  No. No, it wasn't.
  So you're editing a file.
  You press: 'save'.
  Which leads to the device saving the file from memory to SD-card.
  Which can be performed in the background, just like 'saving to [cloud service]'
  Remember that you are defending iCloud as a replacement for an SD-card (which is pretty fucking ridiculous to begin with, but let's not get into that).
59. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-26 06:02 · Score: 1
  
  Now when that didn't work, this becomes a "degenerate" case?
  http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=degenerate+case&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=cr&redir_esc=&ei=I7nyUdXMBsGrhAfE94H4Dw&safe=strict
  
  For which capacity one would need to use iCloud in the degenerate case on some SD-card-less devices.
  Again, you demonstrate you still don't know what iCloud is. It's NOT extra capacity. Not even in your misunderstanding of what degenerate case means.
60. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-26 06:15 · Score: 1
  
  Remember that you are defending iCloud as a replacement for an SD-card (which is pretty fucking ridiculous to begin with, but let's not get into that).
  That's precisely the opposite of what I'm doing.
61. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-26 14:40 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly, it's not giving "extra" capacity. But you have to butt in like an idiot and compare it to an SD card which DOES give extra capacity, by saying that one has to "wait" for files to go into SD card, and not for saving to iCloud.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
62. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-26 14:51 · Score: 1
  
  It's like saying one has to wait for a phone call to go through from an iPhone, but no waiting is required if you use cow-dung instead of iPhone.
  True but idiotic in the context.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
63. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-27 01:36 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly, it's not giving "extra" capacity.
  Finally you understand.
  
  But you have to butt in like an idiot
  
  As already established, the thread shows clearly if anyone "butted in", it was you. And on a topic you know nothing about.
64. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-27 01:57 · Score: 1
  
  As has been proven, it was YOU who had no clue iCloud could download to the device, you repeated it many times until I informed you. You seem to be a beginner shill - still being taught the "definition" of iCloud so you are fixated on definition.
  And it was YOU who (continued to) compare SD card and iCloud by stating just one difference between them (have to wait! huh!)
  And it is still YOU who does not understand the context of the thread - you replied to a reply of (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4011029&cid=44384797), which not only compared but equated, falsely, SD card and iCloud. Your reply was to a post made in that context - the false equality of SD card and iCloud.
  And of course, quoting my next sentence would cause deduction from your shill salary as it amounts to confessing being idiotic, wrong and unable to follow simple discussions. So you didn't quote it, without affecting these traits of yourself, of course.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
65. Re:I don't get it by BasilBrush · 2013-07-27 02:38 · Score: 1
  
  As has been proven, it was YOU who had no clue iCloud could download to the device, you repeated it many times until I informed you.
  You don't download with iCloud. It syncs. In the degenerate case that may mean an entire file. It's implementation might be a background download in that case. But you are not downloading.
  But you've demonstrated over and over again that all you have is lack of knowledge of the topic and a bunch of insults.
  Clearly nothing is going to educate you about it because you are being wilful in your misunderstanding.
  Your posts are worthless, so bye.
66. Re:I don't get it by bingoUV · 2013-07-27 03:14 · Score: 1
  
  You don't download with iCloud. It syncs
  Sync sometimes involves data coming towards a device. Educated people call it "download". When you move to second shill class, they might tell this to you.
  
  It's implementation might be a background download in that case. But you are not downloading.
  I never said "I" or "you" am or are downloading (explicitly). Read again.Even in the last post, I said "iCloud could download (the file) to the device". Download happens, as you now admit.
  
  Your posts are worthless, so bye.
  You've been proven wrong so many times, it is pitiful. Send your supervisor shill.
  I know you shills just HAVE to come in - but this was extreme. While asking me to stop comparing iCloud to SD card -you are yourself comparing them. Hope they fire you soon - much better shills have been sent to Slashdot.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
Extra costs? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:23 · Score: 0

So, where did the extra costs come from?
Does it take so much more power to run the RDF after Jobs death?
cyclic by goombah99 · 2013-07-24 02:24 · Score: 2

Apple's cyclic not a steady force. I'm looking forward to the Liquid Metal Iwatch. I worry a bit about the smaller iphones. On the one hand they boost new sales in foreign markets (pity Nokia) and probably spike sales everywhere. But they will canibalise some new sales of the older higher margin phones. Or will they? perhaps they will have higher margins. Or perhaps people who save money on the smaller one will pick up an ipad. Or perhaps sales of the full sized iphone are saturated anyhow so there's little to canibalize. All I know is that they won't lose money!

--
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
1. Re:cyclic by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 03:11 · Score: 1
  
  Apple doesn't have a choice: cheap Android and Windows Phone devices are becoming highly competitive on price, both with less demanding, mainstream users and more technically proficient, hack-seeking buyers. So those sales are going away. The only question is whether they're going to go to rivals, or to Apple's own cheaper product. It's just another part of the product cycle; I recall that Apple made more money on the iPod Mini/Nano than they ever did on the classic iPod, although it was exactly the same kind of self-cannibalising move.
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
2. Re:cyclic by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:18 · Score: 0
  
  Apple's cyclic not a steady force. I'm looking forward to the Liquid Metal Iwatch. I worry a bit about the smaller iphones. On the one hand they boost new sales in foreign markets (pity Nokia) and probably spike sales everywhere. But they will canibalise some new sales of the older higher margin phones. Or will they? perhaps they will have higher margins. Or perhaps people who save money on the smaller one will pick up an ipad. Or perhaps sales of the full sized iphone are saturated anyhow so there's little to canibalize. All I know is that they won't lose money!
  LOL@ "full size iphone". What are they going to do, shrink the battery life so it goes from 3/4 of a day to 1/4 of a day? Or maybe shrink the screen since it was so easy to read things on that 4" version before.
3. Re:cyclic by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 04:46 · Score: 0
  
  cool story, bro.
4. Re:cyclic by cheesybagel · 2013-07-24 05:22 · Score: 1
  
  I'm looking forward to the Liquid Metal Iwatch.
  I was looking forward to the Nokia Morph myself. Oh wait.
5. Re:cyclic by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 05:42 · Score: 0
  
  Do you personally own apple stock? otherwise I don't see why someone would worry about how some hardware vendor is doing financially. There is a whole world of valuable knowledge and things worth doing out there. Don't make your gadgets/tools your hobbies.
NSA Prism by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:27 · Score: 0

Apple joined PRISM in October 2012. If you buy an iPad/iPhone it spies on you for the NSA.
If you really believe the NSA is tracking 800,000 suspect terrorists (and growing) and not 800,000 mostly innocent people wrongly accused by an out of control General then good luck to you with that Apple kit. Perhaps you'll be lucky. Perhaps your particular Apple kit won't be used against you. Or perhaps you'll say something bad on Slashdot and be among the 800,000.
Let me predict the future.
A bill will be introduced that required remote turn on of the microphone and camera, perhaps as a 911 requirement. What if you are injured and managed to dial the number but not speak into the phone? Or some such ridiculous idea. You will have to watch what you say around your phone, in case the microphone is turned on, or the camera is watching you.
Why not just call the next Apple product an iTelescreen?
STUPID Appstore changes Sept 2012 by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:35 · Score: 0

Apple changed the Appstore from a simple list view where users could scroll through hundreds of apps, ie buying choices to a STUPID SINGLE PAGE left and right where most users only ever scroll through about 5 apps most of which they have already bought.
I mean what absolutely stupid muppet thought this was a good idea????
Knocked more than 30% off of all app sales over night.
There's their problem in a nutshell.
Sheer genius!
rgds
1. Re:STUPID Appstore changes Sept 2012 by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:42 · Score: 0
  
  Not surprising. Tim Cook is a vision-less, clueless, bean-counting moron who rules with kid gloves. He let out the leash a bit and now that slack is going to manifest. Jobs and his iron fist would never have allowed that to happen.
*Gasp* Maybe they are spending money on R&D! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 02:41 · Score: 0

Ooops. Apple is in deep shit now! They've committed the sin of actually investing in their company!
Wall street is going to break out the pitchforks! Shareholder lawsuits incoming! Better fire 20% of your workforce to keep those investors happy!
What's that? New iphone imminent? One that will be sold out for 6 months after it's release, just like all the previous iphones?
Nevermind. This is a hatchet piece designed to drive stocks down before the inevitable boom that comes post product release.
Better depends on use case by sjbe · 2013-07-24 02:43 · Score: 5, Informative

The Samsung Galaxy phone is better and any tablet in the world is better than the iPad.
Nothing against the Galaxy but "better" is a pretty ill defined term. For my Grandmother, who mostly wants to play solitaire and facetime with her grandkids, the Galaxy is a demonstrably worse choice. For your needs or mine it might be the better choice. "Better" depends on what you are doing with it.

As soon as people realize it has no HDMI, no micro-SD port, and no USB port for flash drives, they can go spend 5x less on a tablet that can or get the vastly superior Galaxy tablet for the same price.
There is a market for tablets with those connectors but it is, for better or worse, a minority. My several of my family members have iPads. Most of them would never use any of those ports and in fact most of them don't even know what an HDMI or micro-SD port is. That's not to imply that a tablet with those ports would be pointless. For someone like me they might actually be an attractive feature but I have no illusions that most iPad buyers would need or want them. Furthermore those extra ports add cost, complexity and opportunities for hardware failure. Furthermore there are other ways to accomplish things like file transfer, video display, etc without those ports so it is unclear why they would be necessary in most cases. You don't need HDMI to display video. You don't need USB to store or transfer files. I'm sure some people appreciate those ports but I'd wager a tidy sum that most of the time they go completely unused.
1. Re:Better depends on use case by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 06:44 · Score: 0
  
  Who needs ports when you can saturate your wireless interfaces just fine and be done with your tasks an order of magnitude later. *sigh*
Or maybe by Virtucon · 2013-07-24 02:55 · Score: 0

People are waking up and buying products from other manufacturers. Samsung's profits were up in the current reported quarter about $8.5B, guess at who's expense and the fact that Apple isn't doing well in China doesn't bode well for them.
Yeah, I think unless Apple comes out with a line of adult sex toys, it'll see profits fall. iVibrator anyone? What it'll have rounded edges!
Plus, it's lost the recent price fixing case in books, yet they'll appeal so I'd rate Apple as underperform.

--
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
1. Re:Or maybe by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 03:12 · Score: 0
  
  People are waking up and buying products from other manufacturers
  Yea wake up and support ad network Google and friendly state sponsored competitor Samsung! Wake up sheeple! /s
2. Re:Or maybe by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 04:01 · Score: 0
  
  iVibrator anyone? What it'll have rounded edges!
  Congratulations! I'm sure you're so proud of yourself, maybe next you can graduate up to big boy pants.
3. Re:Or maybe by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 05:25 · Score: 0
  
  Samsung's profits were up in the current reported quarter about $8.5B, guess at who's expense
  Nokia?
4. Re:Or maybe by cheesybagel · 2013-07-24 05:48 · Score: 1
  
  Apple has an ads platform as well. I guess you never heard of iAds. As for Apple they use indentured servants from China to manufacturing their iPhone at Foxconn. At least South Korea is a democratic regime.
WTF? by Udo+Schmitz · 2013-07-24 02:57 · Score: 5, Insightful

The industry analysts and pundits have been predicting this for ages
Ages huh? 15 years ago Apple was “beleaguered”

that while Apple led for ages
The iPhone went to market only in 2007. *Six* years ago, Apple was late to that game. It was only that the other players were caught with their pants down.

reaped windfall profits as a consequence
Their insane margins were more a testament of Tim Cooks logistics expertise, the reason Steve Jobs hired him.

Google would barge in, turn smartphones into a commodity, and crush Apple's margins
Maybe in bizarro land. Apples only competitor is Samsung. The rest of Android phones replace the feature phones of old.

the PC market, where nowadays, it's impossible to make serious money on PC hardware
Uhm, except for Apple?

What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked.
Tanked. Yeah, right. Yoy 16 to 14.6 million. With FQ3/12 being the quarter with the brand new retina iPad.
Wish /.mods would cut back on dope.
1. Re:WTF? by jkflying · 2013-07-24 03:26 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, but HTC hasn't been able to keep up with demand for the One, so I'd say that HTC is back in the running. Just because they didn't go insane-advertising-huge-prestock doesn't mean they aren't selling like crazy.
  
  --
  Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
2. Re:WTF? by Sockatume · 2013-07-24 03:41 · Score: 2
  
  They haven't been able to keep up with demand for the One because their component suppliers looked at their past performance gave them a low priority, so they literally couldn't make them.
  http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/4122798/htc-one-delayed-because-of-component-shortage
  
  --
  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
3. Re:WTF? by Anubis+IV · 2013-07-24 03:51 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Sorry, but HTC hasn't been able to keep up with demand for the One
  Sorry, but that's because they had manufacturing issues with the camera, not because demand is insanely high. In fact, sales were below expectations, causing them to lose a rank or two in the smartphone market, and the One's sales are actually expected to drop off sharply in the next quarter, which would lead to an even greater decline. The One had a lot of promise, but has failed to deliver on it.
4. Re:WTF? by Belial6 · 2013-07-24 04:42 · Score: 1
  
  I have really liked HTC phones. I have owned 3. The myTouch. It ran mostly well, but was a bit klunky when pushed. The reason was that the hardware was just a bit to low for the OS it was trying to run. I knew that when I bought it, but felt that what Android offered over iOS was worth the bit of klunk. The second was the Nexus One. That phone was awsome. It ran Android great and was sleek. We still use the Nexus One as music player, even though I have upgraded my phone twice since I got it. The only reason the I wouldn't still consider the Nexus One a currently good phone is that it doesn't have enough memory to run a lot of current apps. The third was the G2. The G2 wasn't as sexy of a phone as the Nexus One, but it was a good performing solid phone with a hardware keyboard. The only regret with the G2 was that it was the first phone I got that had Swype. I got the G2 because I wanted a hardware keyboard, and Swype was the soft keyboard that made the hardware keyboard obsolete. So, I ended up with a phone that was thicker than necessary. That certainly wasn't a problem with the phone.
5. Re:WTF? by cheesybagel · 2013-07-24 04:58 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe in bizarro land. Apples only competitor is Samsung. The rest of Android phones replace the feature phones of old.
  What a load of bull. Samsung, HTC, Sony, Motorola, and even LG have plenty of high end smartphone models.
  There are low end vendors like ZTE, Huawei, Acer, etc. Apple also competes with those vendors by selling their old iPhone 4S which still remains in production. Allegedly they are making specific model to target the low end of the market as well. It would be interesting to redo this conversation in 3 years and see how great you think Tim Cook is then. People without vision focused on bean counting don't last long in the technology sector.
6. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 05:25 · Score: 0
  
  Samsung, HTC, Sony, Motorola, and even LG have plenty of high end smartphone models.
  Of the manufacturers you mentioned, which ones are selling in significant volume and making a profit?
7. Re:WTF? by cheesybagel · 2013-07-24 05:33 · Score: 1
  
  Apple has been losing market share for quite some time now. Q1 sales results. That their sales have now stalled while the market keeps growing is revealing enough.
8. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 06:52 · Score: 0
  
  Like SONY???? Idiot
9. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 08:01 · Score: 0
  
  A few years qualifies as "ages" in the tech world; it moves really fast.
  Having no competition is a great way to have insane margins.
  Apple doesn't make money on its hardware; it manufactures in China like everyone else. The software and the experience account for the markup and thus their profits.
  Most people would consider a ~9% drop pretty large considering it's all about the mobile computing these days.
  Get back on your lawn, gramps.
10. Re:WTF? by cheesybagel · 2013-07-24 09:50 · Score: 1
  
  So the Xperia Z is not high end for you but the iPhone 5 is?. Pathetic. Perhaps you are waiting for a fancy new smartwatch from Apple? Yeah they are really innovative.
11. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-30 14:41 · Score: 0
  
  An Apple fanboy modded up by fellow Apple fanboys. What a surprise.
  By the way, do check some of the other responses to your nonsense. You're wrong on nearly every count.
Six of one; Half dozen of the other by fuzznutz · 2013-07-24 03:00 · Score: 1

Which is better, iPhone or Android?

It depends on what your needs are. Apples mail client and calendar app are VASTLY superior to Android. You have to go all the way back to IOS ver 2 to have a worse mail client than Android 4.22. However, Firefox (and plugins) rock on Android. And Swype is a killer app.

For me, the decision to abandon my investment in IOS apps was easy when I went to a prepay phone. My Nexus 4 was half the cost of a new iPhone. The iPhone certainly is not twice as good.
This is a good troll post, please mod up by Xaedalus · 2013-07-24 03:10 · Score: 1

This is excellent trolling, please mod up.

--
Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
1. Re:This is a good troll post, please mod up by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 04:05 · Score: 0
  
  Is that really the case over in your Apple-land false reality? Get off slashdot
Two things stand out... by erp_consultant · 2013-07-24 03:23 · Score: 1

1) 31.2 million iPhones sold...well ahead of estimates.
2) 14.6 million iPads sold...well below expectations.
Here's my theory on the iPhone sales. I think that many people had earlier models of the iPhone and when it came time to upgrade they decided to try Android phones, were unsatisfied, and switched back to an iPhone on the next upgrade cycle. Android has a lot of nifty features but I have to admit that the iPhone is a lot slicker and easier to use. For a lot of people, ease of use wins out.
I suspect we might see the same thing occur with the iPads in the near future. There are a lot of cheap Android tablets out there and most of them are crap. The exception being the Samsung Galaxy, which is very nicely done. I think that a lot of people that really wanted an iPad settled for a cheap Android tablet and are discovering that you get what you pay for.
right on the money by SethJohnson · 2013-07-24 03:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

I'm not one of these people who beat on the idea of capitalism but I do see it as a failing of the perception in that endless growth just isn't possible in the long term. Sadly it's endless growth that drives a majority of today's investors.
This is also the reason why manufacturing industries in America have shipped their jobs overseas. Once a company has reached its peak growth in sales, leadership is under pressure from investors to continue to demonstrate growing profits. So, they look around and quickly seize on their own labor force as ballast.

The American workers are / were thrown overboard to expand profit margins and satiate investors' demand for "growth".

--
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
1. Re:right on the money by Nemyst · 2013-07-24 04:57 · Score: 1
  
  What scares me is that there's going to be a point where we just can't grow anymore. Exponential growth is unsustainable, anyone with a little bit of math knowledge would be able to tell you that. When Wall Street and co. realize that their expectations cannot be met anymore and investors start panicking, we could see a big market crash again, perhaps worse than ever before. I really hate how our entire economy rests on what is essentially a bunch of petulant children.
2. Re:right on the money by uniquename72 · 2013-07-24 05:16 · Score: 2
  
  we could see a big market crash again, perhaps worse than ever before.
  That's over a hundred years away. People said in the '70s that growth was going to stop and we'd all be eating dirt. It didn't happen. Why? Because the world doesn't just consist of the U.S. and Europe. Massive growth in Japan, China, and India over the past 5 decades has fueled greater earnings on Wall Street than ever before.
  
  So what happens when we can't count on growth from Asia? Nothing -- we still have Africa and South America for cheap labor, a rising consumer class, and vast (mostly untapped) resources. And this doesn't even take into account any new technologies that could further reduce corporate expenses (substantially cheaper energy, for example).
  
  So yes, eventually additional growth will be impossible, and the system will collapse (unless we've moved substantially away from our current system). But we'll all be long dead by then.
3. Re:right on the money by Kjella · 2013-07-24 06:19 · Score: 1
  
  What scares me is that there's going to be a point where we just can't grow anymore. Exponential growth is unsustainable, anyone with a little bit of math knowledge would be able to tell you that. When Wall Street and co. realize that their expectations cannot be met anymore and investors start panicking, we could see a big market crash again, perhaps worse than ever before. I really hate how our entire economy rests on what is essentially a bunch of petulant children.
  Wall Street may be those causing the waves by moving jobs, but they're not the underlying cause. From 1970 to 2000 literacy rate in China rose from 53% to 91%, that's 400 million learning how to read and write with higher education to follow. The western world no longer has a monopoly on a skilled workforce so the premium is getting harder and harder to justify, relatively speaking a US worker is not as valuable as he once was. Chinese wages are also on the rise, but that means prices are on the rise as well. We're not going to come back to the glory days where Americans earned lots of the almighty dollar to be traded for dirt cheap things made in the third world, this time they're looking to join the "first world" club.
  I should also point out that even if "locally" the US median real income hasn't been moving much, the world has seen a huge economic growth overall and the number of people living in extreme poverty has been reduced for each year, even through the financial crisis, to take the trend from 1981-2010: 52-47-42-43-41-35-34-31-25-23-21%. Undernourishment is also in decline, though it has been slowing down. Yes, for the "leading billion" it might not have been that fantastic the last few decades but for the middle five billion a lot has happened, while there's a billion at the bottom that still has huge issues. But the gravity point is that big (HUGE) countries like China, India etc. are dragging themselves out of the mud.
  
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  Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
New MacPro, iPhone 5S, retina iPad Mini by Andy_R · 2013-07-24 03:48 · Score: 3, Insightful

I wonder how many people are in the same situation as I am? I'm a self confessed Apple fanboy, but there just wasn't much reason for me to give Apple any money last quarter.
I won't replace my iPhone 4 just now because there is bound to be a new model along soon. I can't replace my 2008 MacPro because they don't sell them in Europe any more, and even if they did, it would be foolish to invest in another cheesegrater when the black bin has already been pre-announced. I like the idea of a tablet, but I'm waiting on the inevitable retina iPad mini. For me Apple isn't tanking, they are just deferring revenue.

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A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
There's zero chance I'd consider by aussersterne · 2013-07-24 04:05 · Score: 2

using anything other than MacOS on the desktop/laptop right now, but as Jobs himself once said, the post-PC era is upon us, and weirdly, that's where Apple is struggling a bit. After a burst of market innovation during the second half of the '00s, they've basically said "pass" the last several product cycles.
My first iPhone absolutely floored me and there was nothing else like it on the market. Same with my first iPad. But early this year I replaced my iPhone 4 with a Samsung Galaxy Note simply for features reasons (large display, widgets) and ended up going with a 7-inch Galaxy Tab rather than an iPad mini because the Galaxy tab can be had for less than half the price but offers "good enough, similar enough" functionality to the iPad Mini for me.
If Apple wants to stay on top of the post-PC game, they're going to have to:
(1) Tackle the mid-level market more directly or at least differentiate themselves from it, and
(2) Pay attention to the features that the market is paying for
I'm a big believer in Apple quality and Apple design, and in the Apple ecosystem, so it's a bad sign that right now (a) there is no iPhone that I prefer to this hunk-of-junk Android phone whose quality pales in comparison, and (b) the price difference in other lines is so significant (more than 2x — $180 for a Galaxy Tab w/40GB and higher display density but just-as-good build quality out the door at retail, vs. $350 for an iPad Mini w/16gb) that I just can't justify the Apple premium.

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STOP . AMERICA . NOW
They are showing growth by SuperKendall · 2013-07-24 04:17 · Score: 1

What it comes down to is that businesses, regardless of actual profit, are largely looked on as weak by investors if they're not showing growth.
Apple did show growth - 1%. That's after about half a year with no new products introduced. And of course there are a large array of things coming up in the fall, you'd have to be a fool to not see the real growth has merely been displaced.
Apple will take a hit because of this.
Stock's higher than it has been in weeks. Even institution investors cannot continue to ignore the growth ahead.

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"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Only $7 billion in profit last quarter? by Trashcan+Romeo · 2013-07-24 06:17 · Score: 1

Fuck, they've hardly got any reason to even bother staying in business any more.
Comment removed by account_deleted · 2013-07-24 06:27 · Score: 1

Comment removed based on user account deletion
hi by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 06:31 · Score: 0

my classmate's step-mother makes $77 every hour on the computer. She has been without wovrk for 5 months but last month her income was $15088 just working on the computer for a few hours. Read more on this web site...... bay92.com
subjectivity. by luis_a_espinal · 2013-07-24 06:56 · Score: 1

What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked. Maybe that suggests that Android on tablets has matured somewhat from the early days of few, clunky tablet apps, and that tablets are commodities now too.
No, it rather means that people are finally understanding that a tablet is a novelty.

No. You are being subjective here. What is a novelty for some (you), it is a commodity for others.

The only time I hear someone talking about how great their iPad (or other tablet) is when they are talking about how much their (less than 10 year old) kid enjoys it
So, it is a commodity then. It has a function, though not one that was originally envisioned (and which goes in tandem with typical definitions of marketable products as items with potentially alternative uses.
Also, how many people (ordinary people that is, not of the otaku kind) talk how great their laptop is, or their lawnmower, or car, or I dunno, vibrator? In opposition to your original premise, when things stop being a novelty and yet retain some time of value or alternative usage, then it becomes a commodity, an item that renders some utility and value that you now take for granted and yet you wish to keep.
For me, I rarely use my either laptop or development desktop at home anymore (both development environments with relative powah!). I simply use my tablet to do what I typically used to do with a laptop or computer at home before - consume information, email, facebook, banking, tracking my sells and purchases on ebay, amazon and gunbroker.com, reading my kindle books, etc.
I've also find my internet consumption more productive since the restricted nature of a tablet prevents me from engaging in thread discussions (compared to the rate I used to before I had a tablet.) One thing that certainly has suffered is my rate of producing content (blogging, mostly.)
It is no longer a novelty, and it has become a commodity, and quite an invisible one to say the least. I've seen other people engaging in similar patterns of media consumption with their tablets (be them ipads, galaxy tabs or whatever.)
And I never really talk about how awesome my tablet is. I don't think I ever did even when the technology was just a novelty. People who have tools that they use successfully and transparently for doing things that are now part of their mundane, daily lives, they don't talk about them. That's a fanboi geek trait (from a particular view of geekery), not a trait of general living.
Manufacturing to U.S. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-24 07:07 · Score: 0

Max Keiser @maxkeiser 14m
Apple could move manufacturing to U.S. and pay workers in $50 bucks an hour and still have more than $100 bn. in cash sitting idly in bank.
Interesting? by tgibbs · 2013-07-24 07:16 · Score: 1

What's interesting about this story, at least for me, is that iPad sales have tanked
If you compare a quarter just after a new iPad model was introduced to a quarter where the last new iPad model is anticipated in the near future.
How could it be otherwise? What is interesting or meaningful about that?
Where is the mention of the iPad? by elabs · 2013-07-24 10:17 · Score: 1

The real story here isn't about the lower revenue or the increase in iPhone sales. The real story here is the drop in iPad sales. in a time where tablets are supposed to be eating the PC's lunch, the iPad is dropping in sales faster than the PC. Why wasn't that the headline?
Autonomous or dependant? by See+Attached · 2013-07-24 10:33 · Score: 1

Does Airplay and iCloud make the user dependant on outside services, or a protocol being ubiquitous? Taking something that already exists and making it seem new is sad. Sorta like when compressed music files became iTunes and sending them over an interweb connection became a podcast... decommoditizing -> Monetization - the new genius. Seems Aapl users are guided into a dependant role whereas connectors (predictable ones like HDMI and USB) guide a user into a more adaptable usage. Did they really need to change the base connector? How did that make everyone feel? Sure the predictability of the iOS experience is tightly controlled, and perhaps is more stable, but, co-opetition is better for an evolving ecosystem. Having replaced the earphone jack on iPhone 4s, I've not been impressed by the Design-for-manufacture. Modularity could be much better. Might Android be buggier? Shame on Googles development process. Is seems like another Cathedral vs. Bazaar story...

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Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.
Most impressive tidbit by antifoidulus · 2013-07-24 13:33 · Score: 1

Probably the most impressive thing about the report was that mac sales were flat...which doesn't seem impressive until you realize how much the rest of the industry is shrinking.

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Monstar L