Last week’s sales figures provided the world with evidence that Jobs’ Mob is getting a good kicking from Samsung and failing to keep up.
Since Jobs left the company to go somewhere hot, there have been all sorts of excuses made for the cargo cult’s malaise. There have been even attempts by Apple loyalists in the Tame Apple Press to pretend that the company is doing well.
The sales figures themselves were poorly reported last week possibly because they showed that Samsung had 32 percent of the global market in Q3, the same share as a year ago. Apple, meanwhile, had only 12 percent of the market, down from 14 per cent a year ago.
Apple fanboys have been trying to tell the world+dog that Apple does not need large sales figures or market share because it is flogging expensive phones to rich Americans who do not have much sense. Samsung is selling phones to cost conscious people, particularly in developing markets.
If that is true then Apple is really doomed. In other words Apple no longer sells products at price points that appeal to the growth segment of the market.
Firstly, the US market is saturated and the only way forward for Jobs’ Mob is to expand into developing economies, such as China. The only problem for Apple is that it is too expensive and its products with their one-year warranties fail to interest the cash strapped.
In other words, the arrogant elitism which made Apple great is now choking the company. Even if Apple can convince the world that it has an edge in quality its gadgets are considerably more expensive than Samsung, Google, and Amazon.
What is worrying for Apple is that those rivals are starting to produce good gear and that will erode Apple’s market share still further.
Some analysts think that Apple’s one price fits all plan is really not working. It needs to start selling its phones at prices which are more competitive with local competition. The iPhone 5C proved that people do not really want to buy a cheaper version of an iPhone, they want to buy an iPhone cheaper. This will mean that an Iphone 5S will be cheaper in China than it is in New York, but that hardly matters. Apple might lose some sales to the grey market, but right now, it is losing a lot of Chinese sales anyway.
It is not as if Apple has not got enough cash to spend to work its way into the Chinese market, what is causing it to stuff up is its corporate culture and arrogant belief in its own marketing.
Source: TechEye
