| Once the China folks find a way around Apple, they will
undercut Apple world
wide and maybe you will find these
products hanging on a peg board display at
your local
grocery store selling for $30-$50 or so, cheap. Or, even
cheaper? Any bets? I bet we will see that happen one day
in the future. If
not tomorrow, then within 5-10 years,
easy to imagine.
Commodity tech
pricing at a dollar store. Yep. Profit,
then, is all kept in
China feeding
60 cent wages at
"army ant manufacturing
sites" Where they can wake up 8,000
worker from
dorms, feed them tea and
a muffin, send them out to work a
12 hour shift, then without an effort, or
talking to a
Union, just build 10,000 iPhones in 96 hours
(including
re-fitting the assembly line due to Apple changing a design
mid-production.
Oh there will be a profit margin for retail store, is along
the same profit as
to what is already on the peg board for sale, they will not
care, will be just another thingy they can sell, and if it
sells, they just
put more up on the peg board.
So, then Apple's stock (if it can't protect
it's designs)
falls. Or falls, if the folks in China do a design that
consumers buy here, because it is ok, and it is the only
thing that they can
afford due to the Economy.
Wal-mart's quarterly report in August showed a
trend in
their international stores (1/4 of their revenue is from
international stores) where consumers in UK and other places
are now "clearly
stretched" and are spending on a Paycheck-
to-paycheck cycle (same trend that
started in US a Wal-mart
quarterly reports prior to 2007 crash).
See:
Wal-Mart: 'Paycheck' Cycle Spreads
Retailer Reports Higher Quarterly
Results and Raises Full-
Year Estimate, but Says Shoppers Run Low on Money
Quickly
Still, customers living paycheck-to-paycheck
"remains
pronounced" in the U.S,
said Chief Executive Mike Duke.
Wal-Mart
cautioned that it is now seeing in international
markets the same
"paycheck
cycle" it saw in the U.S., where customers buy immediately
after
payday and then make
smaller purchases as money runs out. The trend has become
particularly pronounced in the U.K.,
where customers at Wal-Mart's Asda grocery
stores are
"clearly stretched," Chief Financial Officer Charles
Holley said
during a conference call with reporters Thursday
morning.
(from
pay-walled Wall St Journal site, so google it)...
OR
Sales at Wal-
Mart, Though Still Rising, Suggest Wary
Shoppers
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/17/business/wal-marts-
earnings-suggest-stra
ined-shoppers.html
So, folks WORLD-WIDE, if we can see this report as a
reflection of what is happening, are only buying during
payday, rest of week
not spending because they don't have
money until *the next* payday. The
product(s) that will
sell during these
"obviously tougher" times, will be the
one that is OK, and
cheaper. I don't believe that patents will be enough to
support Apple's higher pricing - as they will not be able to
totally kill
Android. Microsoft, they will use their
corporate lock-in income to subsidize
their way... but, will
be challenged to match commodity pricing that consumers
will
demand, as that will be what they can afford.
If there is another
hic-cup (like 2007 fuel price increases)
world-wide, then *that* will be
another story in itself that
will challenge the sale figures of all companies,
including
Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.
Look for an iPhone knockoff to
show up near a grocery store
check-out cash register near you... soon! [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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