Comments on: Motorola’s Loss Is Apple’s Gain: That $2.1 Billion Sucking Sound Is Coming From The iPhone

By: SYG

SYG — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:11:19 +0000

Just because Apple’s gain is approximately equal to Moto’s lost, doesn’t mean they are related in the least. How do you know that the Razr customers are upgrading to Apple and not simply buying other feature phones? The data you present is interesting however suggesting A therefore B without any customer behavior data to back it does both journalism and data analysis a disservice.

By: dingo

dingo — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:55:51 +0000

Erick,

I think you’re comparing Apples and Oranges here (no pun intended).

The fact that Apple revenue = $2.3B and Motorola loss = $2.1B is a coincidence only. Apple is making their money selling a small (in mobile market terms) number of phones for a very high price, while Motorola primarily competes in the mid-tier market.

Motorola’s losses this quarter went to Samsung and LGE, who build equivalent phones.

By: dibber

dibber — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:37:45 +0000

any company which makes a phone that deletes the text message your writing when you get a phone call deserves to go under.

By: Rajiv Singh

Rajiv Singh — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:28:00 +0000

Another sucking sound comes from TechCrunch on Jobs’ member. Are you payed or just simply Mactards?

By: Charnchon

Charnchon — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:42:08 +0000

why’s the correction here?

Apple made last quarter over the past three quarters on

By: Motorola’s Loss Is Apple’s Gain: That $2.1 Billion Sucking Sound Is Coming From The iPhone | Erick Schonfeld | Voices | AllThingsD

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:08:13 +0000

[...] Read the rest of this post Print all_things_di220:http://voices.allthingsd.com/20080425/motorolas-loss-is-apples-gain-that-21-billion-sucking-sound-is-coming-from-the-iphone/ Sphere Comment Tagged: Erick Schonfeld, mobile device, TechCrunch, Razr, iPhone, Motorola, Apple | permalink [...]

By: TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Motorolaの遺失利益がアップルへ：$2.1BのごちそうはiPhone分

TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » Motorolaの遺失利益がアップルへ：$2.1BのごちそうはiPhone分 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:13:13 +0000

[...] ［原文へ］ [...]

By: Edd Mills

Edd Mills — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:38:43 +0000

That is the most pathetically tenuous link ever, Motorola’s losses are so
unlinked with the iPhone it’s untrue considering how different their devices are in almost everyway. The pure fact that you felt the need to post this is enough to make me vomit.

By: WIRELESS « Daily Marauder

WIRELESS « Daily Marauder — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:36:08 +0000

[...] phone business. Mobile device revenues in the quarter dropped $2.1 billion compared to last year. (http://www.tech...cking-sound-is-... [...]

By: joecab

joecab — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:15:08 +0000

While I don’t doubt the iPhone for a good chunk of their loss, I don’t think a similarity in the figures proves anything. I’d bet a lot of those people just switched from a RAZR to something else since RAZRs just don’t have much of a cachet anymore and have their own problems.

By: Angela Hayden

Angela Hayden — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:56:08 +0000

I want to fire verizon wireless right now. I certainly don’t want another cell phone after my contract expires.

The whole cell phone industry is a scam.

By: Jono

Jono — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:01:36 +0000

Not surprising at all. I purchased a Motorola phone a few months back after my Nokia died and cant stand it any more. It takes 40 seconds to load and the GUI is soooo retarded. It takes 3x as long to send sms messages etc.]

Never again.

By: jro

jro — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:38:38 +0000

iphone has taken some of that, but the assumption that dollars vs. dollars as an equal shift is erroneous, as the devices sell at different price points. So, it’s not an apples-to-apple comparison (pun intended.)

But the major point — revenues off 39%? WOW. Talk about market forces at work.

With as skewed as the US mobile market is with oligopoly lock-in type practices, the slightest dose of competition and innovation really can clobber those who don’t improve their products. Motorola got what they had coming to them.

By: John

John — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:24:28 +0000

Motorola is in the shitter but I don’t think you can say that it’s solely due to the i-phone. The people who bought an i-phone probably would have bought another smart phone not a razr.

If Motorola plans to stay in the cell phone game, here’s a suggestion: open source the design (physical design, software design…maybe even hardware) and allow anyone to build apps for it.

By: Presidents Race

Presidents Race — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:23:41 +0000

You are giving waaayyyy too much credit to Apple. The iPhone is a tiny fraction of cell phone sales.

Yes, Motorola has been displaced as the default phone offered by every major carrier; but the newer, better, cheaper devices are coming from Samsung, Sony Blackberry, LG and HTC — not from Apple.

Don’t get me wrong. The iPhone is generating a ton of profit. Kudos to them for that. But in terms of units, it’s a nit.

By: Apple’s Dramatic Risks and Ambitions - Sramana Mitra on Strategy

Apple’s Dramatic Risks and Ambitions - Sramana Mitra on Strategy — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:54:26 +0000

[...] moment, most of Apple’s market share wins are coming at the expense of Palm’s Treo and Motorola’s RAZR, another product that we have two of in our house. Those two, in due course, are also moving on to [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:53:09 +0000

I thought the deferred revenue was required for accounting purposes so they could give new features without charging for them? Also wouldn’t the payment from carriers item be the money they get for monthly subscriptions?

Apple’s share of the monthly subscription fee isn’t deferred revenue, it’s revenue that they don’t even have yet – so they can’t really book it, let alone defer it. This is also why the deferred revenue lists the Apple TV.

By: zellius

zellius — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:40:07 +0000

If you’re one of the people in the previous posts waiting for your 2yr AT&T contract to expire so you can get an iPhone: you don’t need to.

When you buy an iPhone, your contract date is pushed to 2yrs after you bought it, regardless of what your current contract is. So, if you have 1yr left on your contract and you buy an iPhone today, your contract will expire 2yrs from now without any additional fees.

Of course, if you’re with a different carrier waiting for your contract to expire so you can switch to AT&T, that’s a different story.

By: Boring Market

Boring Market — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:27:37 +0000

Motorola is on a downward spiral, it has been for a while…right after I bought into it. Though I was also smart enough to buy into Apple right before the iPhone release. The difference between Apple and Motorola is an obvious one, Motorola banked on their past success in the handset market while Apple was practically new to the market and banked on their computer sales.

Apple seems to outshine everyone else now, other companies blame the current weak consumer spending while Apple fights against that notion by adapting.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:27:19 +0000

“So not only has the iPhone replaced Motorola-class phones as the mobile device of choice among consumers…”

Um, you may want to look at Apple’s sales figures again as there are +250M mobile phone subscribers in the US.

Give the other companies time, and they will produce something similar (probably not as good) to the iphone.

Palm and Motorola’s mobile phone division are in trouble. They could even merge. Or, Motorola’s phone business may go to Dell. We will see some consolidation for sure.

By: Zach

Zach — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:03:47 +0000

That sucks! What the hell am I supoosed to do now? I still have two years untill i get my next phone.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:02:29 +0000

@2, I don’t necessarily need them. That doesn’t mean I don’t want the features. It’s the same choice as the old Mac vs. Windows 3.0 choice.
Do I want one that’s closed and open only to web apps or one that I can actively develop for and get a double feature out of?

The gPhone functionality, is topically similar to what widgets on Facebook do.

I decided I don’t want a phone that is as obscure as openMoko, but I do want a phone I can share my own applications with. I think it’s worth waiting a year or so for that. RAZRs can browse the web and can do a lot anyway.
The money isn’t burning a hole in my pocket, and I can wait to make the smarter choice.

By: Johnson

Johnson — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:57:12 +0000

browse, i myself am sick of all these plans. I had 2 year contract with Motorola and when it was done i went to Virgin Moblie strait away. im pleased with my no contract. You should give it a try.

By: Johnson

Johnson — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:53:52 +0000

Good riddence! They haven’t given me any reason to miss them.

By: browse

browse — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:53:42 +0000

good riddance. my razr v3m has been hell. the fucking thing dies after a 45 minute conversation. as soon as my 2 years is up, im getting an iphone.