News - Apple profits soar as iPad and iPhone sales rise in Q1 2012

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Net profit doubles for Apple as consumers snap up iPads and iPhones.

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Read more.

Shows how much people are prepared to pay over the odds really doesn't it.
Before I get flamed I'm not having a go at Apple par se, but they are making extremely large profits compared to everyone else with arguably lower performance parts.

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Originally Posted by 3dcandy

Shows how much people are prepared to pay over the odds really doesn't it.
Before I get flamed I'm not having a go at Apple par se, but they are making extremely large profits compared to everyone else with arguably lower performance parts.

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Apple are the masters of selling a product, not a box full of parts.

My first thoughts were:

1. They can afford to pay their workers / manufacturers more
2. Are they getting lazy? Could they have put better spec'd devices together?
3. Wow a lot of people are buying Apple stuff, presumably on credit.

Answers to these thoughts

1. Why bother
2. Why bother
3. Yup... Apple's marketing team are pretty incredible at selling people stuff they don't need; the tablet market still amazes me, I'm still yet to find the USP of a tablet :)

Apple will make things, people will buy them, if enough people buy them at a certain price then who are we to argue with Apple selling them.

Granted I dont like the attitude of the company but if they are making money hand over fist then why would they want to change?

Microsoft actually has higher margins than Apple!

Apple made around $13 billion on $46 billion of sales in the last quarter.

Microsoft had a worse last quarter than the last,and still made $6.5 billion on sales of $20 billion.

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Originally Posted by streetster

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3. Yup... Apple's marketing team are pretty incredible at selling people stuff they don't need; the tablet market still amazes me, I'm still yet to find the USP of a tablet :)

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Agreed - Apple's marketing is first class.
USP for a tablet? If you make screen cleaner then the tablet was the best thing since sliced bread (cancel cynic mode) :rolleyes:

Tablets - from what I've seen - have plus points that they're "accessible" in a way that a desktop/laptop/netbook isn't. "If you can point then you can drive it" seems to be the mantra and I've certainly seen folks who shy away from a Windows7 desktop being quite happy to iPad. The fact that they're typically left on means that they're ideal for that "I need to Google that" moment. Since they're also single user devices that adds to the perceived simplicity.

Watching someone yesterday bought that home. They needed to check their emails, so powered up their Windows7 laptop, while it was booting however, they got impatient and put (still setting itself up) laptop down, grabbed their TouchPad and was able to check mail after unlocking the screen. Laptop took about a minute to get to the point they could read their mail (boot, login, fire up Outlook), whereas the tablet was about ten seconds (unlock and launch TP email client).

Apple pushes "design" whereas others push technology. E.g. Apple say "on iPad we'll make it this easy to get your stuff", Motorola says "Xoom has 10" screen, dual core processor, Android 3.0, etc".

Absolutely, though as I have a smart phone which does email/maps/light browsing and I can pull my laptop out and it be at the Windows desktop in < 60 second (SSD, thanks work!) I'm not sure where a Tablet would fit in... and I'm sure that a lot of people are like that; blackberry for emails/texts/facebook/maps, laptop/pc for anything more.

I've been getting the train into London these last few weeks and half the carriage is reading [insert Newspaper here], and the other half of the carriage is reading [insert Newspaper here] but on a tablet (usually iPad).

They then do the same thing on the way home. No idea what they do with it in the daytime, presumably stick it in their briefcases and get on with work on a PC :)

Last night there was a guy playing a golf game on it. He looked absolutely ridiculous. I went back to reading my book and smiled inwardly.

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Apple pushes "design" whereas others push technology. E.g. Apple say "on iPad we'll make it this easy to get your stuff", Motorola says "Xoom has 10" screen, dual core processor, Android 3.0, etc".

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Very true... it reminds me of the Volkswagen adverts "...like a Golf"... everyone is trying to beat an iPad in either price or technology, and for the most part they are... but "it's not an iPad" still seems to be enough of an argument against the Xooms/TouchPads/etc

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Originally Posted by streetster

Very true... it reminds me of the Volkswagen adverts "...like a Golf"... everyone is trying to beat an iPad in either price or technology, and for the most part they are... but "it's not an iPad" still seems to be enough of an argument against the Xooms/TouchPads/etc

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One of the "screwdriver and soldering iron" guys just reminded me of a USP for a tablet - a 7" 32GB tablet is ideal as a way of carrying all those manuals and technotes you invariably need to install/service servers/printers/etc. The size makes it ideal to slip into a toolbox (in a protective sleeve of course) and the long battery life and the fact that most charge from a USB slot (apart from the Transformer as far as I know) mean that it'll probably still be available at the end of the day. Compare with a normal laptop where it's shorter battery life, larger, heavier (although Ultrabooks change this) and needs a proper mains outlet to recharge.

He was also saying about some app that's out there that lets an engineer use the camera on the tablet to scan an asset barcode and then bring up the history/details/manuals for that server automatically. Not sure how this'd work though because the last two datacentres I've been in both banned cameras, whether standalone, on phones, laptops or presumably, tablets.

Off topic I know, but one thing's always bugged me about the VW "like a Golf" advert ... at one point they show a group of guys huddled around the engine bay of a tricked out car (in metallic purple). Maybe my eye's are deceiving me, but the car in question looks very much like a Mk 2 Golf (GTi?) So of course that one would be "like a Golf" ... because it is! :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by crossy

Off topic I know, but one thing's always bugged me about the VW "like a Golf" advert ... at one point they show a group of guys huddled around the engine bay of a tricked out car (in metallic purple). Maybe my eye's are deceiving me, but the car in question looks very much like a Mk 2 Golf (GTi?) So of course that one would be "like a Golf" ... because it is! :rolleyes:

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All of the cars are..


I can see where the tablet market comes from, and I for one would like to see where Win8 tablets come in, if they power up and come out of standby as quickly as current ones do then I'll be getting one.

For me my Xoom is an idea bit of kit and tablets have replaced, so far in my house tablets have replaced a netbook and a semi decent spec laptop.

The only person in the house who uses a laptop (Fusion based) is the boy who does his moshy monster stuff on it and watched wrestling vids on youtube.

Someone above says that the laptop can be booted and ready to go in less than 60 seconds, I can pick up my tablet, press the power button, unlock the screen, fire up gmail app, sync, read and put it back down again in the time it takes you to get to the desktop.
Yes its nice to have all your office apps and whatever else you do on it but I tried that with a netbook but it was still too slow even with a ram upgrade an an SSD..

TBH 60s is a long estimate. For my cheapo laptop with an SSD added in, if I have it with me I tend to have just used it and then put it to sleep. Then if I need to look something up, it's a matter of flicking the screen and pressing the power button and I'm on the logon screen within 5s, and it's ready to use in another 10. Those figures would be less if I got away with the logon screen (which I imagine many would).

Granted, a cold boot takes longer, but then.. ever tried cold booting your tablet? I can't remember the last time I booted my portable laptop, because all I ever do is put it in standby.

Oh aye, tablets are dire when it comes to a cold boot, but on the flipside I took my Xoom away with us for a weekend last year, the kids watched 5/6 films on it and I was on the web for a few hours, it lasted all weekend and had over 20% battery life left when I got it home..

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Originally Posted by [GSV]Trig

Oh aye, tablets are dire when it comes to a cold boot, but on the flipside I took my Xoom away with us for a weekend last year, the kids watched 5/6 films on it and I was on the web for a few hours, it lasted all weekend and had over 20% battery life left when I got it home..

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I thought my Transformer was bad, then my missus got an HP TouchPad - you've got time to make a cup of coffee and drink it (slowly!) while waiting for that to boot. That said, the TP seems to have good battery life, which goes a long way to persuading to leave it on all the time. We've now got one Transformer and three TouchPads in the house, and while the Transformer is shutdown when I've finished with it, all the TouchPads are "always-on".

Above discussion is maybe off-topic, but it does lead me to wonder whether the iPads are "quick boot" - certainly all the folks I know with them claim they are, but still seem to leave them powered on all the time.

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Originally Posted by streetster

I've been getting the train into London these last few weeks and half the carriage is reading [insert Newspaper here], and the other half of the carriage is reading [insert Newspaper here] but on a tablet (usually iPad).

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Most of the ones on my train seem to be reading the Metro, or their Kindles. And the ones with the new Kindles looks just as smug as the iPad guys when they pull them out and see that yours is last year's model...

Anyone see last night's South Park? The one with the HumanCentiPad? Very fitting, I though...