Hey, here’s a fun experiment! Let’s see how long it takes us to find something dumb in this ReadWrite piece by Matt Asay, shall we?
[record scratch]
Oh, jeez, we can’t even get through the title!
If you think the iPhone 5c is fading, the Macalope thinks you might have a surprising holiday season. Is it selling as well as the iPhone 5s? No. But forget the fact that that’s much better than the reverse. And forget the fact that part of the point of the plastic iPhone 5c is to up-sell people to the iPhone 5s. Here’s the thing: The Macalope doesn’t remember anyone doing end-zone dances when the iPhone 4s and 4 failed to outsell the iPhone 5 last year. It’s the second-tier phone. It’s not supposed to sell as well.
Is the 5c selling as well as Apple expected? Who knows? The point is, the company is still selling gobs of phones.
[We now return you to the title, already in progress.]
“… Firefox OS And Android Square Off In Emerging Markets” (tip o’ the antlers to John Molloy).
The Firefox OS juggernaut is squaring off against … uh …
Oh, God, what is this?
The mobile market is about to get interesting.
That’s a relief! It’s been so dull up to now.
For years, Apple has dominated both market and profit share …
Wrong! Apple never dominated in market share. Ever. Not once.
… with Google’s Android more recently having severely cut into Apple’s market share while also taking a bite out of profits.
Also wrong! “Android” is not taking profits, Samsung is taking profits.
If only punditry employed a “three strikes and you’re out” policy. Unfortunately, three strikes is more of a minimum to get in.
“MUST BE THIS STUPID TO WRITE ABOUT APPLE.” [Arrow pointing to a picture of Rob Enderle drinking out of a juice box.]
Meanwhile, almost completely forgotten in the mix is Firefox OS …”
Funny how things that barely register tend to be forgotten.
… Mozilla’s browser-centric mobile OS, which has been making gains of its own lately.
And is there any greater sign of success than “making gains”?
That link goes to another ReadWrite piece that says:
There will be more Firefox OS smartphones on the global scene, as Mozilla and its partners provide a near-steady stream of product launches for devices similar to the Alcatel One Touch Fire and the ZTE Open.
Sigh. Must the Macalope link to this piece by The Verge’s Chris Ziegler once again, whoops, too late, he already did:
To be blunt, they’re not very good: the ZTE Open and Alcatel One Touch Fire look and feel like low-end handsets from two or three years ago. The operating system—which is “made of the web,” as Mozilla proudly proclaims—seems to struggle at times to overcome the cheap silicon it’s been saddled with.
So, pardon the Macalope for not getting all weak in the knees over the thought of more Firefox OS devices “similar to the Alcatel One Touch and the ZTE Open.”
Given Apple’s unwillingness to compete in low-margin markets, we’re about to see a serious scuffle between Firefox and Android for the future of mobile computing.
Possibly. Anyway, enjoy your low-margin business!
… Cook believes Apple can dominate the richer half of the market while Android and others scrap it out for supremacy in the low-end smartphone world.
Well, it’s worked pretty well so far.
In other words, the iPhone 5S may be outselling the iPhone 5C 3-to-1. That doesn’t bode well for Apple to be able to compete anywhere except in the premium tier of the market. Very profitable, but ultimately not very big.
HOW LONG CAN APPLE CONTINUE TO SURVIVE BY JUST MAKING CRAPTONS OF MONEY?
Dubbing such markets “junk” is not productive.
Oh, what, marketing is not productive now? Is nothing sacred, Matt?