Mobile Handset Makers & Profits

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... or lack thereof, if your company's name is not "Apple" or "Samsung". 

Apple and Samsung continue to soak up all the industry's profits, McCourt says. Apple claimed 87.4% of phone earnings before interest and taxes in the fourth quarter, he said. Samsung took in 32.2% of industry profits. Because their combined earnings were higher than the industry's total earnings as a result of many vendors losing money in Q4, Apple and Samsung mathematically accounted for more than 100% of the industry's earnings.

A year ago, Apple accounted for 77.8% of mobile phone industry profits, followed by Samsung with 26.1%, McCourt said.

Mobile phone market hits 'the great moderation' - Investors.com

Given that they tally to roughly 120% of the mobile handset profits, and they make rather a lot of profit, a 20% loss across HTC, Nokia, Motorola, Sony, etc. is huge. Not only is no one else making money, but no one else is even close to being a viable competitor.

I suspect the biggest reason Samsung is so competitive among the Android handset makers is that it's able to control its own supply thanks to its semiconductor, memory & screen fabrication business.

Life on an iPad

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Apple launched a site that shows how people use the iPad in their daily professional lives.

Not only does it showcase how people like professional speed skater Bridie Farrell use the iPad, but it also highlights some of the apps (like Dartfish Express) that they use do do so. I'm particularly fond of Dr. Itaru Endo's story. It highlights not just how transformative the device is for the user, but also the people who directly benefit, the patients.

"The iPad app [co-developed by Dr. Itaru Endo], which is moving through clinical evaluations, provides comprehensive access to three-dimensional surgical data. The app uses augmented reality to overlay complex vascular systems during operations. This reveals liver perfusion patterns that are invisible to the human eye, giving greater insight into the exact location of certain blood vessels."

To me, this is the way to sell products - show what the product will do for you, what it will do for your business, and what it will do to make your life better. Though the iPad Air and new Mini are ridiculously fast and have gorgeous displays, advertising them isn't about the specs, it's about how you will use them.