Data in the second half of this year showed that the growth rate of iPod sold by Apple for eight years declined for the first time. Does this mean that Apple's products will also fall into recession?
Actually, it's not. For Apple, the most important thing from the iPod is not the sales volume and revenue, but the "aperture effect". Music players cultivated by iPod are increasingly abandoning Microsoft's PC and consuming Apple's Mac computer, and hundreds of millions of iPod owners around the world are the most realistic potential consumers of iPhone in the future.
Based on this, Business Weekly published the article "Apple: ripe, you can pick it". On1October 20th, 2008, 165438, Apple's share price was only $80.49, compared with $202 52 weeks ago. In fact, in the past year, Apple's business has not decreased by 60% like its share price, but has increased substantially. According to the latest quarterly data, the sales of Apple's iPhone reached 5 million units, and the sales of Mac computers also reached nearly 3 million units. For Apple, the quarterly income is $8 billion and the net profit is $65,438+0,654,380+0 billion, which is indeed the season for stock selection.
On June 29th, 2007, Apple's iPhone appeared. On July 1 1 this year, the 3G version of iPhone was officially released in 22 countries and regions around the world. In the recent third round of sales, the global footprint of the mobile phone will increase to 73 countries. According to the IMEI number of iPhone collected by AFB, it is concluded that in more than a year, the number of two generations of iPhones has exceeded 6.5438+million, of which the 3G version has reached 7.6 million. Apple will not produce so many mobile phones for no reason. If the current production and sales speed is maintained, the iPhone is likely to surpass the sales of the Ipod. If so, Apple is destined to subvert not only the mobile phone world, but also the entire digital world including Microsoft and Intel.
Many people remember the day when Jobs returned to Apple 10 years ago. At that time, as in the past and now, Apple made the best computer in the world. However, due to the poor software and hardware supporting Apple, it is isolated. "If Apple wants to survive, it must re-recognize the ecosystem in which we live. We need the help of other partners and have the responsibility to help other partners. " This is the core point that Jobs said that day.
In order to make this view deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the arrogant Jobs made an incredible move. In the video conference, he invited his arch-rival Bill Gates to take the stage to talk with him, and announced the details of the agreement reached between the two parties: Microsoft offered $65.438+$50 million as compensation in exchange for Apple's abandonment of patent litigation, and Microsoft promised to continue to launch common office software compatible with Mac computers.
Today, it seems that Bill Gates paid the price for his promise. Apple's Mac operating system achieved the biggest monthly increase in the past two years in June 5438+065438+ 10, with a market share of 8.9%. And IDC's data shows 9. 1%.
Is 9% terrible? Yes, this figure is enough to subvert the well-known secret of "developed" companies. Since the "Wintel" PC standard of Microsoft and Intel rose in1980s, it has been generally recognized that the market will be dominated by giants who can formulate technical standards and benefit from the competition of thousands of other enterprises to manufacture products on these standard "platforms", just like the monopoly position formed by Microsoft in the operating system field and Intel in the microprocessor field. In other words, in the past 20 years, almost 100% of IT companies in the world are related to this monopoly system.
Now things have changed. In 2006 and 2007 alone, more than 200,000 software manufacturers returned to Apple, including giants such as game maker electronic arts and fast-growing enterprise software suppliers such as VMware. At present, the sales growth rate of Apple computers is still three times faster than that of personal computers.
Jobs didn't want to be an "ally" and set a standard for unifying the rivers and lakes. Its strategy is simple: focus on making the best products, and the rewards will follow.
As a product, iPhone obviously attracts other partners from another angle. At&T Company. T, Google and Salesforce.com don't want to miss it.
Obviously, Jobs not only used the existing ecosystem, but also gradually became the power center of future system operation.
Author: Wu Jinyong | Source: Business Weekly