Re:Apple Now The Most Valuable Company In The World
by hackingOnAJet on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @11:51PM
(#2866673)
Apple has not demonstrated any interest in buying its own manufacturing facilities. Doing so would not provide the company with the flexibility and agility required to stay ahead of the market. Instead, Apple uses cash incentives to allow its manufacturing partners to invest in new technologies earlier than market demand would have otherwise made feasible. In exchange, Apple signs deals for exclusive purchasing rights to these new technologies.
By providing incentives to third parties instead of assuming the manufacturing risk internally, Apple can accomplish the same goals with comparable payoff while taking on much less risk.
This strategy is, in part, one of the reasons why Apple is able to offer tech like the retina display in the iPhone 4 long before its competitors.
Re:Apple Now The Most Valuable Company In The World
by balakk on Wednesday August 10, 2011 @01:57AM
(#2866959)
I was thinking bigger.. how about a new car? electric of course. Completely different from what we know. A mobile computer we can travel in.
Re:Apple Now The Most Valuable Company In The World
by marknutter on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @10:22PM
(#2866445)
Please let it be a watch (dead serious).
Re:Apple Now The Most Valuable Company In The World
by r00fus on Wednesday August 10, 2011 @01:57AM
(#2866960)
The current iPod Nano with bluetooth would have been killer. Wireless headphones tied to your watch... now that's wearable computing.
Re:Apple Now The Most Valuable Company In The World
by Game_Ender on Wednesday August 10, 2011 @01:45AM
(#2866933)
As a watch wearer I agree. I would love for someone to really reinvent the product into something better.
Long term: although Apple is defending its current properties, I think it is setup to routinely create new categories of products. This is where Apple's talents are most valuable (especially combining hardware and software to push the envelope), when new things are still difficult; they don't seem to be good at commodities (e.g. cheaper phones) nor want to be. They've gone iPod, iPhone, iPad. They're also trying TV hardware. What's next? Maybe a game console; a watch; a much smaller smart phone; an ARM/iOS laptop or desktop; or something I haven't imagined.
But yes, the question is whether they can manage it without Jobs.