Two articles in the New York Times illustrates the strength of a company that makes top-flight products and pushes the envelope with functionality and design versus a company that churns out products of the lowest common denominator that routinely disappoint.
First, on Apple:
Apple said robust sales of iPods and laptops buoyed the company amid a terrible holiday shopping season that hurt nearly all other technology and consumer electronics firms.
Apple said its quarterly profit jumped to $1.61 billion, or $1.78 a share, from $1.58 billion, or $1.76 a share, a year earlier.
Revenue increased to $10.17 billion, from $7.9 billion. Analysts had expected Apple to announce revenue of $9.74 billion and profit of $1.39 a share.
The news sent Apple’s stock up more than 9 percent to $90.70 in after-hours trading.
“Where many of the other consumer-facing companies are missing their expectations and seeing their revenues decline, Apple continues to see growth,” said David Bailey, an analyst at Goldman Sachs. “It is gaining market share in every category and, given the premium price of their products, that is a significant achievement.”
Next, on Microsoft:
With sales of computers deteriorating by the day, the PC industry’s dominant players — Microsoft and Intel — have arrived at the stark realization that the slump in sales could last a long time, perhaps years.
“We are certainly in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime set of economic conditions,” Microsoft’s chief executive, Steven A. Ballmer, told investors Thursday in a conference call to discuss the company’s dismal second-quarter financial results. “Our model is not for a quick rebound. Our model is things go down, and then they reset. The economy shrinks.”
To help it cope with that lower base of demand, Microsoft said that it would lay off up to 5,000 employees, or about 5 percent of its work force — the first significant cuts in the company’s 34-year history. The layoffs follow a rare decline in sales of Microsoft’s Windows operating system for personal and business computers in the second fiscal quarter. Net income for the period, which ended Dec. 31, fell 11 percent to $4.17 billion.
I’ll take my “over-priced” Apple products any day of the week, mainly because I can depend on them for years and not have to worry about shelling out extra money to fix them, replace them or maintain them.
Plus, I like the way they look, work and feel better than just about anything Microsoft produces. (I am, after, a fan of the Xbox 360…)
