Apple is now the most valuable US company of all time

[Dallas]

Wow, could one post ever have contradicted itself more? It's not a toy, but it Hello Kitty? Sure, Ok.

It was sarcasm, or meant to be. My apologies to you if you took it literally. My sarcasm more often than not gets taken literally. I've come to live with that.

 

[Dallas]

Winner, Winner. Chicken dinner.

The Mac vs PC debate is beyond asinine. Use what works for you and shut the hell up already. :laugh2:

Is someone forcing you to come to the threads and post your grumpiness? You could easily avoid these threads but that wouldn't be so fun huh? Much more satisfying to come in and tell folks how asinine they are. You funny! :

 

[masomenos]

Because for the most part, they're not huge sellers due to business, but average consumers who spend more time yapping, texting, gaming and watching movies than actual business usage. If these devices were primarily business devices the market would be much smaller. I work for a very large corporation and yes I see people look away from their actual work to goof off on the iPhones and Pads.

It's basically proven by how Apple now treats their towers, which are primarily business machines. You can't carry a tower around and the sales of towers is not at all Apple's bread and butter any more. In fact they've pretty much ignored really upgrading the Mac Pro's because they've started focusing on consumer goods.

Aren't those same things the average consumer uses a laptop for? Didn't you see people getting distracted from work and goofing off on the Internet before iOS devices came out?

Those just don't seem like very good tests.

 

[vta]

Aren't those same things the average consumer uses a laptop for? Didn't you see people getting distracted from work and goofing off on the Internet before iOS devices came out?

Those just don't seem like very good tests.

The test is in the market itself; who's buying and what they're doing with it. The consumer market is much larger than the business market and Apple has shifted it's model from business to consumer for that very reason and has doe well with it. When they competed in business Microsoft crushed them.

It doesn't matter what preceded - goofing of on a laptop, surfing the web, etc. These things just helped make those things more expedient. They're entertainment devices, and yes to a point that makes them toys.

There are valid uses, I see Doctors and Art Directors with iPads, but like I'd mentioned, if that were the primary market and buyer, Apple would be a lot less lucrative.

If the market for business-end products were as large as Apple's, the word recession wouldn't even exist. It would mean all the majority of the people using these things for business are doing business, which would generate and stimulate the economy. All it's stimulating is Apple.

Go to an Apple Store: then go to Staples. Stores and companies catering to business have no where near the crowds as stores catering to entertainment.

 

[masomenos]

The market isn't a good test either, for at least two reasons:

1. If the market was the test then any product that was primarily intended for individual consumers would be toy. Clearly, that's not how we judge products.

2. Businesses, especially large businesses, are slow to adopt new technology because it is expensive and risky to switch frome one platform to another. After being on the market for only 3 years, the iPad accounts for 11% of all enterprise sales. That's a small number but given the newness of the product it is significant rate of penetration. Looking at a snapshot while ignoring the trend doesn't provide an accurate story.

The iPad (and tablets in general) is a computer, just in a new form factor. Like traditional computers, it is a device that can be used for productivity, for learning, and for entertainment. It's a tool that can be used in various ways to achieve multiple ends.

 

[theogt]

Last numbers I recall seeing showed that the iPad alone had more market share in the enterprise segment than all Android products combined.

 

[vta]

The market isn't a good test either, for at least two reasons:

1. If the market was the test then any product that was primarily intended for individual consumers would be toy. Clearly, that's not how we judge products.

2. Businesses, especially large businesses, are slow to adopt new technology because it is expensive and risky to switch frome one platform to another. After being on the market for only 3 years, the iPad accounts for 11% of all enterprise sales. That's a small number but given the newness of the product it is significant rate of penetration. Looking at a snapshot while ignoring the trend doesn't provide an accurate story.

The iPad (and tablets in general) is a computer, just in a new form factor. Like traditional computers, it is a device that can be used for productivity, for learning, and for entertainment. It's a tool that can be used in various ways to achieve multiple ends.

1. isn't true. Appliances and furniture aren't sold as toys. We can tell the difference.

2. Isn't this what I've been saying? They're not primarily business machines, their sales aren't primarily garnered from business; they're sold to consumers, based primarily on the entertainment aspect of their use. They're sold to consumers as entertainment devices, not businesses slowly adopting them: toys. If who buys and why they buy isn't a good barometer for how a thing is defined, what is?

 

[masomenos]

Let me put it a different way:

A gun is a tool. It can be used for defense, or survival hunting, or recreation. It is nothing but potential. When it is used for recreation it does not become a toy, it remains a tool that can revert to its other potential uses at any given time.

An iPad is a tool. It can be used for business, education, or entertainment. It is nothing but potential. When it is used for entertainment it does not become a toy, it remains a tool that can revert to its other potential uses at any given time.

 

[vta]

Let me put it a different way:

A gun is a tool. It can be used for defense, or survival hunting, or recreation. It is nothing but potential. When it is used for recreation it does not become a toy, it remains a tool that can revert to its other potential uses at any given time.

An iPad is a tool. It can be used for business, education, or entertainment. It is nothing but potential. When it is used for entertainment it does not become a toy, it remains a tool that can revert to its other potential uses at any given time.

Ok. Uncle.

(I still will look at them askance).

 

[YosemiteSam]

Let me put it a different way:

A gun is a tool. It can be used for defense, or survival hunting, or recreation. It is nothing but potential. When it is used for recreation it does not become a toy, it remains a tool that can revert to its other potential uses at any given time.

An iPad is a tool. It can be used for business, education, or entertainment. It is nothing but potential. When it is used for entertainment it does not become a toy, it remains a tool that can revert to its other potential uses at any given time.

An iPad (or any pad type tablet) can be used for business. That said, its usefulness is minimal. It can do certain things, but as a true business tool, it's a rather weak one compared to a true laptop.

I ride a train into Manhattan every morning. 90% of the people who ride with me work in the financial district. Most of the ones that aren't over 60 have some type of pad tablet. When I ask them what they use it for, most say to read digital newspapers. When I ask if they use it for business, they say not really.

The Cowboys can use iPads for playbooks. Real Estate agents use it to show pictures of other houses. The point being, this pad tablets main business use is basically being a digital book.

There is one other use I think that could become a serious tool for these types of tablets. That is as a thin client for things like kiosk type registers, but in the current state of these tablets, you are never going to be able to do serious business with them. They are an information consumption device. That inherently makes them not very functional as a true business device. It makes them perfect for a consumer device. (an entertainment toy)

 

[masomenos]

As I previously said, "Even if you classify the iPad purely as a consumption device, I don't think it can be described as a toy. Books are consumption devices. Newspapers are consumption devices. Radios are consumption devices. TVs are consumption devices."

Just because something can be used as a consumption device, that doesn't make it a toy. What do you do when you're reading a textbook? You're consuming information. What do you do when you're looking at sales data? You're consuming information.

 

[YosemiteSam]

As I previously said, "Even if you classify the iPad purely as a consumption device, I don't think it can be described as a toy. Books are consumption devices. Newspapers are consumption devices. Radios are consumption devices. TVs are consumption devices."

Just because something can be used as a consumption device, that doesn't make it a toy. What do you do when you're reading a textbook? You're consuming information. What do you do when you're looking at sales data? You're consuming information.

I consider consumption devices entertainment devices. If it's entertainment, I think it can in a sense be classified as a toy.

 

[masomenos]

I consider consumption devices entertainment devices. If it's entertainment, I think it can in a sense be classified as a toy.

Then I refer you back to the gun analogy. Entertainment is simply one of the possible modes of utilization.

 

[arglebargle]

I consider consumption devices entertainment devices. If it's entertainment, I think it can in a sense be classified as a toy.

Your anti Apple edge showing through, I think. Stigmatizing it as a 'toy' anyway. You could probably say that about most of the early early home computers, and look where that got us. Me, I am happy with the form factor, as I've been wanting a desktop replacement with a touch screen for years. Not quite there yet, but it will come.

If you go back and look at the discussions of the iPad prior to launch, you can find a host of 'tech savvy' people talking about what a failure it was going to be and how people didn't want something like this. Oops.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Your anti Apple edge showing through, I think. Stigmatizing it as a 'toy' anyway. You could probably say that about most of the early early home computers, and look where that got us. Me, I am happy with the form factor, as I've been wanting a desktop replacement with a touch screen for years. Not quite there yet, but it will come.

If you go back and look at the discussions of the iPad prior to launch, you can find a host of 'tech savvy' people talking about what a failure it was going to be and how people didn't want something like this. Oops.

I was just being argumentive. I grouped all pad type tablets in my argument, so you can't say I was being anti-Apple in that argument.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Mrs CCF has an IPAD and while I use it on occasion, I hate the fact there is no built in keyboard. She bought one for herself but I don't use it enough to plug it in etc.

I heard Microsoft is coming out with a table that will have a built in keyboard and will be better for bus as most businesses still have microsoft programs.

I still have a Blackberry because of the keyboard. Of course RIM is about ready to die.

 

[theogt]

Mrs CCF has an IPAD and while I use it on occasion, I hate the fact there is no built in keyboard. She bought one for herself but I don't use it enough to plug it in etc.

I heard Microsoft is coming out with a table that will have a built in keyboard and will be better for bus as most businesses still have microsoft programs.

I still have a Blackberry because of the keyboard. Of course RIM is about ready to die.

The Microsoft tablet has a keyboard that attaches to the tablet. They have those for iPad too.

 

[TheCount]

Mrs CCF has an IPAD and while I use it on occasion, I hate the fact there is no built in keyboard. She bought one for herself but I don't use it enough to plug it in etc.

I heard Microsoft is coming out with a table that will have a built in keyboard and will be better for bus as most businesses still have microsoft programs.

I still have a Blackberry because of the keyboard. Of course RIM is about ready to die.

Just get a bluetooth keyboard case for her iPad, problem solved.