

Apple=Sony: brace for the coming post-Steve Jobs decline - wslh
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2012/04/25/apple-sony/

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nilium
Overall, my biggest problem here is that George Colony (the author) doesn't
point to any specific evidence for why Apple should decline now. It will
decline, and I think it's fair to grant that as an inevitability, but I'm not
sure Jobs's death will bring it about. The theory he holds up is nice and
maybe handy, but unless he's got some special knowledge of exactly how Apple
works (and he may, but then he's failing to show it), it's all speculation.
Just seems like guess-work and link-baiting to me.

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nekojima
While the article makes mention of new product design and other issues where
Apple could become like Sony, perhaps the two biggest near-term future risks
for Apple are disruption to its China-focused supply chain and a significant
narrowing of the margin it earns on its current products. The China supply
chain risk is often overlooked, but even if the disruption is short term, it
could have significant impact on current and new product introductions. The
margins Apple current has on iPhones, iPads, iTunes and apps are likely to
face significant pressures in the coming 12-24 months from competitors,
perhaps excluding iTunes & apps, unless the iOS market share also shrinks.

The uniqueness has been a significant factor in driving past high net earnings
and could be quickly lost. I wonder how long it will be before Apple loses its
"cool" factor, if it already hasn't begun with established key support bases,
because of the near-ubiquitous of its products and the increasing lack of user
uniqueness.

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dr_
The big difference is that I was never tied, in any way to Sonys ecosystem,
because their never was one. I am more tied to Apples, with my collection of
music, videos and apps. Sonys products were nice, but ultimately replaceable,
devices with something pretty much similar. They were purely a hardware show.

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gwright
It seems like Steve Jobs was aware of this pattern and actively worked to
prepare Apple for a post-Jobs era.

The fact is that Apple is in uncharted territory from a business perspective
so I'd be cautious about any sort of prediction (good or bad) about the
'ultimate' fate of Apple.

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malkia
He founded Pixar, and without him for many it proved to be one of the best
animation studios in the world.

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patrickaljord
Isn't it a bit soon to make this kind of prediction?

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malkia
And who was the charismatic figure behind Sony?

~~~
WildUtah
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Morita>

