Apple Versus the World?

Google, Microsoft 'challenged' vs. Apple, says Goldman Sachs

Google and Microsoft will face an increasingly dominant Apple in the coming years, a Goldman Sachs study says.

by Brooke Crothers

December 12, 2012 11:39 PM PST

The iPad 4, iPad Mini, and iPhone 5. Loyalty to Apple is increasing in the age of 'multiple device ownership' says Goldman Sachs.

(Credit: CNET)

Google and Microsoft will struggle to vend off Apple's smartphone-tablet juggernaut, according to a recent study by Goldman Sachs.
Titled "Clash of the titans," the 75-page study depicts Google and Microsoft as "challenged" in their bids to compete with Apple.
Some salient points made by Goldman Sachs, which based many of their findings on internal survey results:

• Well positioned v. challenged: In the "context of platform adoption," companies that are defined as "well positioned" include Apple, Facebook, Samsung. Amazon is "straddling the line." Google and Microsoft are "challenged" in platform adoption.
  
• Google: "Tablet share loss leads to smartphone share defection." Android tablet share (excluding the Kindle Fire) will drop to 21 percent next year from 33 percent this year. Android smartphone share will decline next year to 53 percent from 55 percent this year. "We ultimately see Google as trying to find a way to stay just as relevant in the new compute paradigm as it was during Web 1.0 and 2.0."
  
• Microsoft: Market share of "total consumer compute" has fallen from 93 percent in 2000 to an expected 20 percent in 2012 due to smartphones and, more recently, tablets. Though Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 tablets will help the company "reclaim some share in coming years," the consumer PC market will be flat in 2013 and Microsoft "would have to sell roughly 5 Windows Phones or roughly two Windows 8 RT tablets to offset the loss of one traditional Windows PC sale."
  

Apple comes across in the report as a technological juggernaut that will be hard to stop.
Spending on complements (products or services that sit on top of the platform) is rising and Apple continues to lead, Goldman said.
"We believe loyalty to the company's ecosystem is only increasing and this should translate into continued growth going forward...In particular, we see the potential for Apple to capture additional growth as existing iOS users move to multiple device ownership."
With new devices such as the iPad mini and lower priced iPhones, Apple's market share in phones "has room to rise much further, and that its dominant tablet market share appears to be more resilient than most expect."

Topics:

iPhone,

iPad

Tags:

Goldman Sachs,

Windows,

iPad,

iPhone,

Android,

Microsoft Surface,

Apple,

Microsoft,

Google,

iOS,

clash of the titans

Brooke Crothers

Brooke Crothers writes about small devices and the hardware inside. He has served as editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.

end quote from:

Google, Microsoft 'challenged' vs. Apple, says Goldman Sachs ... - CNET News

Though Apple Products are very "Zen" and simpler and easier to use than Microsoft or Google software I'm not entirely sure what this article says is right. 

The way all this usually worked in the past is the "Techies" usually make their choice and everyone else follows. Techies generally don't like Apple Smartphones because they are too simplified and are not able to do many of the things that Google Software and now Microsoft Software can do. However, for the average person, who isn't a techie, most people would rather take two days to learn how to use an Apple IPHone, IPad etc. rather than take 1 or 2 weeks to learn to effectively use Android and Windows smartphone or tablet software.

So, maybe if this article is true then it is no longer whatever techies use the world then follows?

Maybe instead, people just want simple smartphones and want Ipads and Macbook Pros because of all the APPS available for free and ease of learning how to use these devices. However, in the long run I think the Windows 8 and beyond platform will be once again the worldwide standard on PC's just like they always have been since the 1980s and people who use it on their PCs might also migrate to Windows Smartphones and tablets. However, Apple has a very special, simple and Zen like simplicity that is relatively easy for people to use of any age. But, for example, a few years ago I chose an Iphone4, my wife chose a Blackberry Curve, my older son chose an Android and my older daughter chose an Android. So, young people between 20 and 40 who are more educated and technically oriented might choose Android whereas younger users (under 20) or older users (over 40) might choose IPhones and Ipads because of ease of use and not spending a couple of weeks learning the operating systems. And the only reason I don't have my Iphone4 is that I accidentally left it in my jeans and ran it through the wash. But even then I chose to replace it with an IPad and an inexpensive old phone I used to use that only does phone calls and text messages that is an early touchscreen phone. By getting internet anywhere on my Ipad in addition to my older style phone I now have what is comparable to my Iphone in my Ipad which has really high resolution with a larger screen that is much easier for me to read at age 64.  

So, is the above article factual or does Goldman Sachs just have a whole lot invested in Apple?

I don't really know the answer to this question, I only know what my family chooses and a few friends. Most people I know are choosing Apple Iphones that I know because they aren't as technically savvy as my older kids and I about technology. So owning an Iphone is something doable for them whereas most non-tech people would be lost trying to navigate an Android or Windows Smartphone without going in for lessons in how to use one beyond phoning and texting.

Also, my wife recently replaced (or should I more realistically say my son and I replaced) my wife's Blackberry curve because it had become outdated and wasn't working well with the network anymore. So, my son and I bought her a Galaxy Android. So, if she wanted to she could do email or internet. However, she keeps all that shut off because she doesn't really know how to use it because she is a technophobe more than a technophile like my son and I and my oldest daughter. However, if we are traveling and I forget my IPad for some reason I can always use her phone for GPS navigation or to check which roads traffic is heaviest on or to search for a restaurant or gas station or motel or anything else with it. So, there is a family method to all this in getting her a Galaxy so not only she is covered, so are the rest of us.

I always had at least one Windows driven PC or laptop from about 1987 to around 2005 or 2006. I finally switched over to Apple Computers like Imac desktops and Macbook Pros because I was really tired of viruses and Windows PC computer crashes all the time. So, mostly I have been pleased ever since moving to Apple Products around 2005. But, I started in 1987 with MS Dos on an IBMClone AT from Silicon Valley and an Epson Printer. Something like this in 1987 cost around 2500 to 3000 dollars. My very first computer was a TRS-80 in 1978($600) that had all of 4k memory and used Cassette tapes for memory storage of programs. With the TRS-80 I taught all of my oldest kids how to program in the BASIC Language so they created their own games that they played with through the Basic language in the early 1980s.