"Myth of the Market Share" article is from January 2007, a couple months after Wii was released. Now almost a year later doesn't Wii have the most marketshare now, the most buzz, and profits? Before Halo3 came out wasn't Wii outselling Xbox360 and Playstation3 combined?
Not too long ago, Sony PS2 was the hot console and Nintendo GameCube was the flop. PS2 has sold over 100 million units. When it was hot, Sony was making profits while Nintendo's profits were dropping.
"For over a decade now, they've been the most profitable computer maker in the US."
It all depends, up until 2003 Apple was not the most profitable company around and Mac sales were essentially flat. Things went better (operating income, op. margin, net income, net profit margin) in 2004, mostly thanks to the iPod.
The iPod has a 70 prct marketshare in the U.S. and is a profitable business (you can eat you cake and have it too), Apple is not working on losing marketshare. The computer business is gaining marketshare too.
Ugh...you're reading far far far too much into this. I worked at Apple in the bad times and now the good times. First let me say that a company can remain VERY profitable all the way until it closes its doors. Profitability means NOTHING other than your costs are in line with your revenue. Easy! What hurt Apple, because of low share, was software availability. We were VERY VERY close to not only loosing MS Office but also Adobe because these companies couldn't make money off our low user base. There also were no Techs in companies that understood the Mac so they were replaced adding additional pressure on software sales.
Second, the Wii is the PC of the gaming console world. It made it's mark by being a PRICE leader. They make a cheaper and less capable device that for the average user us just fine, or "good enough". Gee...where have we mac users heard that before! It's no where near the power and utility of a PS3 or a xBox360 but it's great for what it does. So it sells! Hummm...sounds a bit like Windows 95 heh?
Anyway, my point is Apple's history, failures, and past, present and future success are far more complex creatures than this.
"We were VERY VERY close to not only losing MS Office but also Adobe "
And now Adobe's in trouble. They don't know it yet. They just had a great quarter. But Apple could put them out of business any time they want, with minimal effort, using Preview and Core Image.
Commenting by HaloScan
