Intel Doubles Profits, Apple Triples them!

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3623795.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3623795.stm</a><br /><br /></div>Let the good times roll. The BBC reports that "A recovery in global computer spending has helped chip giant Intel report an 89% increase in first-quarter profits. For the three months to 27 March, the Californian-based company made a profit of $1.7bn, almost double the $915m recorded for the same period in 2003." Which is not bad at all, until you compare what the BBC <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3627425.stm">has to say about Apple</a>. <br /><br />"Computer group Apple has seen its profits more than triple, thanks in no small part to the ongoing success of its iPod personal music player. The firm earned a total of $46m in its second quarter ending 27 March, up more than 300% from the $14m it achieved for the same period a year previously. Way ahead of expectations, Apple's revenue also increased to £1.91bn. During the most recent second quarter the company sold 807,000 iPods, a 909% rise on a year earlier."<br /><br />909% growth? 8O So that's the reward you get for being a cultural icon! Apple has sold more than 2.8 million iPods since they were introduced in 2001. With their epic profit margins, no wonder Apple are raking it in at the moment. Roll on the <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26351&"> Truly Teeny Tiny Hard Disks</a> in Pocket PCs. Who needs a dedicated Music player anyway? :wink:

[JustinGTP]

Ohh! A milltion! What's a milltion? :?

Anyways, I think the iPod is ugly!

[guilmon]

Of course they'll see major profit gains, the ipod is waaaay overpriced. You can acquire an archos hard disk based mp3 player for almost half the cost of the same capacity of an ipod, or you can get a higher capacity model, and pay the same for an ipod with half the space.

edit: After scoping out a few online retailers, I've also found that you can get an archos that will play movies on screen, for the same price as the ipod of the same capacity, 20 gb. $399.99.

[adamz]

Maybe there should be a separate ipodthoughts.com site for this kind of news. :)

[Aerestis]

the ipod was neat when it first came out, but I think people buy them now just because they are... I don't get it at all. Do you think apple uses subliminal messages?

[tthiel]

The iPod blows away everything out there. Archos...what a hunk of junk.

[ombu]

Face it, iMac and iPod and OS X and iTunes and ... whatever, all those products sell well enough and make profit.

Why?

Is Apple a cult brand?
Does Jobs know exactly what he does when launching a new product?
Are those products backed with innovative design and quality?
Are those products overprized?
Is Apple running a succesful (and permanent) market research plan?
Do people like Apple's ads?
...

The answer to every question above is in company's figures, of course everybody is free to disent, but numbers are numbers.

There's still a question a PPC lover like me recalls from time to time:

Why is there no Apple PDA? (and will not as read on several statements)

A last one, a media-content provider called Disney breaks ties with a tech-media-content provider called Pixar, there are just a few projects pending, why? Some would say it's Disney's inner problems, other may think Pixar grew-up enough to go it's own way, a few are smelling Sony just arround the corner and one or two lunatics swear this Sony scent will reach Apple, making it to Sony what Ferrari is to Fiat, but don't panic, they're just lunatics, one, maybe two. :twisted:

Regards.

[Mojo Jojo]

OKay, I am a Apple person. So feel free to call me biased or what not as I pose this question. Heck even call me a zealot if that makes you feel better.

Apple makes a profit, profit means there are buyers, buyers usually mean people like their products. Where does this ingrown fear and loathing of Apple and Apple products come from? Why do people bash Apple for being Apple?

'They cost too much' but people are buying them.

'They have horrible hardware' but the retention of Apple products is good and people keep them alot longer then competitor products.

'Their software is horrible' but they have a very stable platform with good security and low virus/trojan/worm issues (nearly none).

and now...

'They are crappy because they made a profit'.................. no comment.

Okay. If you don't like Apple machines, software, cost thats fine. Everyone likes different things and no one thing is right for everyone. I think what Apple needs to do is RENT their machines. Let people try them out. A lot of PC columnist and reviewers who have been able to become objective have found that Apple isn't half bad, some say even good and switched.

So, the question. Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and sounds like a duck but you call it a dog, who is right?

I think (and using only facts given in this article) that 2.8 million sales by people who bought an iPod will disagree with you that Apple products are over priced, unreliable, horribly written software products.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Ohh! A milltion! What's a milltion? :?

:confused totally: Pass. You tell me,

[Jonathon Watkins]

Maybe there should be a separate ipodthoughts.com site for this kind of news. :)

Well, I was interested in the fact that tech companies are making serious money again, and in the possibility of using PPC as music players with the new generation of small hard drives. It seems that folks want to talk about iPods though. :lol:

[Mojo Jojo]

(gets prodded back on topic) HEy!!!!

Okay, my fault, just a button with me.

Let me just say that if a PPC maker would add a hardrive internally I would be thrilled. That in itself would be great. I would even trade the wi-fi and bluetooth additions to get that in and still pay the high price.

However small harddrives have been out for awhile, and companies seem reluctant to make them included. I am excited (and maybe the only one) about MS getting into the portable media player (video and sound) in the next year or so. If they had that plus a few PPC apps I would be in heaven. The Archos is the right idea but they really need to shave a lot of bulk off it to be convient to me. When we talk the dimensions of say the iPaq 5xxx series then I will be there.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Let me just say that if a PPC maker would add a hardrive internally I would be thrilled. That in itself would be great. I would even trade the wi-fi and bluetooth additions to get that in and still pay the high price.

Totally agree. I remember the excitement a while back when it looked like Toshiba were making a PPC for Japan with a built in 1Gb Microdrive - until it became apparent that it was a standard PPC with a bundled 1Gb Type III CF Microdrive. :?

However small harddrives have been out for awhile, and companies seem reluctant to make them included. I am excited (and maybe the only one) about MS getting into the portable media player (video and sound) in the next year or so. If they had that plus a few PPC apps I would be in heaven. The Archos is the right idea but they really need to shave a lot of bulk off it to be convient to me. When we talk the dimensions of say the iPaq 5xxx series then I will be there.

Yes, it is odd no-one has made the leap yet. Still, there seems to be hope with the current diversification of devices on offer with PPC2003SE.

[Mojo Jojo]

The optimist in me says it is coming soon. With the relax in standards, plus new screen orientation native, it seems like the next logical step would be to add larger media storage as these changes make it convient to bring video to the handheld.

I hear rumors and some photos of things to come and I am hoping someone makes a 4 or 4.5 inch screen, landscape 640x480 vga default (buttons and directional on left) 4 gig drive, seperate video and audio chip for 30 to 40 frames per second playback, and say a 300 or 400 mhz processor for some app work.

Wi-Fi and bluetooth are nice but I could do without as cell prices for airtime are higher then I am willing to part my money with. Wi-Fi in my area are non-exsistent and if I am in my house or work I use a regular desktop pc anyways.

So I guess I am looking for portable entertainment. Video, Music, e-books, news. Stuff I can fill commute and downtime with.

[Jonathan1]

Ohh! A milltion! What's a milltion? :?

Anyways, I think the iPod is ugly!

Apparently you are the only one :razzing:

[Ed@Brighthand]

For a while there, handhelds and dedicated music players were on a pretty even footing, until Apple put a mini hard drive in the iPod. Since then, handhelds have been left behind. Why settle for a few hundred MBs when you can have GB of storage? That's why I'm hoping we'll see several handhelds with mini hard drives in the next year or so. The first (http://www.brighthand.com/article/Archos_AV500_Will_Combine_PDA_with_PVP) of these has already been announced, but isn't expected until later this year and isn't a Pocket PC or a Palm. With their built-in screens, handhelds can function as both music and video players, leapfrogging plain old music players.

[Mojo Jojo]

That is the idea I am looking at Ed@B. Can't say that the look of the model is appealing though. Clean and business like will do. (Okay, so I like the look of the original Casio e-100 :) )

Sadly, I haven't seen a lot of Linux apps that meet my needs. So I will keep my eye on it but keep my fingers crossed for the main stream platforms to follow suit.

[stevehiner]

Which is not bad at all, until you compare what the BBC has to say about Apple.

What on earth makes you think it's harder or more impressive to triple $14M vs doubling $915M?

When I graduated from college and got a real job I tripled my income. Does that somehow make me fiscally equivalent to Apple? I think not.

[DarkHelmet]

Here we have yet another example of pointy headed, elitist thinking.

I think (therefore I am) that some of us seem to forget that the industry that brings forth the gadgets we fall in love with has been hurting.

Whether or not you like the iPod, a succesful, profitable Apple Computer, Inc. in the market place - is much better for the industry, than a [more] marginalized, and profitless company.

It's a principle at work here - market diversity spawns innovation.

To the iPod specifically, it's not just the hardware - it's a hardware & software solution that seems to work pretty well. The current version is the 3rd iteration is the best yet - buy one and see!

[Jonathon Watkins]

Which is not bad at all, until you compare what the BBC has to say about Apple.

What on earth makes you think it's harder or more impressive to triple $14M vs doubling $915M?

It is generally considered that tripling something is harder than doubling it. :) OK, so Apple were starting from a lower starting point, but they still did it. As this Inquirer article (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15333) makes clear, the Intel results were considered "disappointing".

[When I graduated from college and got a real job I tripled my income. Does that somehow make me fiscally equivalent to Apple? I think not.

Apples and Oranges Sstevehiner. :wink: No-one is arguing that Apple is fiscally equivalent to Intel. All the figures are there for people to read.

[Zack Mahdavi]

I strongly believe the iPod is the best digital music player available today. There's a lot of cheaper devices out there, but the user interface of the iPod makes up for the price difference!

I'm glad Intel is getting back on the ball. It's a good thing, as the outlook looked gloomy for Intel at one point.

Regarding the Pocket PC hard drive, I've said in many threads, I'd love to have a Pocket PC with a 4GB small hard drive. Come on HP! :mrgreen:

[griph]

I strongly believe the iPod is the best digital music player available today. There's a lot of cheaper devices out there, but the user interface of the iPod makes up for the price difference!
The other point not made so far, is that cost is not the only consideration when it comes to a consumer. If we bought cars on the basis that the function needed to get from A to B were the only concern, we would all be driving round in basic vehicles, BMW, Audi, Ferrari, Lambourgini etc etc just would not get in there! Design is very much a consideration, as is 'Cool' perception. Clearly with so many sold, a great many iPod owners would agree. And speaking as one - the iPod is a great looking gadget that does its job really well, easy to use and looks really good too (specially in its Vaja case). Thats why I have to hide it when travelling cos too many are being ripped off in muggings - I do not use the telltale white headphones!