[ always along the motto: extension of you, part of you. The new Apple under Jobs was NOT an overnight success! It build on its differentiation, strong base, a cult, a Tribe, 1000 True Fans, and build on it stride by stride. Most capitalistic company out of SV, no counter-culture out of largest corp on world. & can pull of iAd coup because it has monopsony! & Duopoly w Android. ] Many people love Apple, others despise it. But, even without Jobs, it cannot be ignored. There simply is no other company that combines such a high-quality hardware line with such well-regarded software platforms. A faltering Samsung has the former, but not the latter. A strong and admirable Google has the latter, but not the former. If you didn’t believe that before, this week’s event made it crystal clear, with once-bitter rivals like Microsoft and Adobe showing up onstage to boast about how well their products worked with new Apple hardware and software. [ sw & hw iteration = leverage comp advantage ]

Analysis: Android manufacturers (mostly Asia based) can't compete eye to eye with iPhone quality because they don't have the money for R&D and talent in design/UI/UX. &! Just to make the R&D/talent aspect for the hard things that are hard: hardware. Apple Patents New Liquidmetal Techniques For Manufacturing ( tcrn.ch/1TjN6uS ) vs. Xiaomi buying patents for "Patent War Chest to Launch in U.S." ( bloom.bg/1CG3s9S ) And even Microsoft and Apple make money off Android device sales because of patents (patents for technology, inside Android devices, that Microsoft or Apple own). // Apple's aspirational product - status anxiety - vs - Free. Downside with Free Of Android being a Privacy Sinkhole. & underfunded Android HW manufacturers vs only, marginally LG, Samsung, Lenovo who have other businesses. But hardware itself was turned into commodity business! // HTC trade below book value (12/08/15) - bit.ly/1JULi5t &! wrd.cm/1MkhnUw // &! Fragmentation - bit.ly/1q4iXyk

bloom.bg/1WbUffA // Internet hyperbole (and financial analysis) have rendered HTC, a once high-flying mobile brand, essentially valueless. In short, the company is trading below cash on hand. So if you bought all HTC stock, the company would have to pay you, the buyer, to take it over. This means the company’s factories, stock and brand are worth nothing, at least on Wall Street. [...] However, the modern phone marketers like Samsung and HTC only want to sell flagships – big, tentpole phones that lend themselves to big marketing budgets and fancy commercials. [...] When your only competitor is also ostensibly the most expensive phone on the market, there is little value in highlighting your cheapest models. [...] Now it’s iPhone and everyone else. The cell phone buyer’s market is saturated. Even the upgrade cycles have grown longer. In short, people are holding onto their expensive phones longer or buying wildly cheap ones. There is no middle ground. // PS Biggs is Apple Fan Boy

Apple Stores recruiting fashion/luxury experts ahead of Apple Watch debut — We've already seen how Apple is presenting the upcoming Apple Watch, which it calls its most personal device yet, as not just another technology device but also a piece of jewelry that the fashion world will be proud to embrace. // Apple really positioning itself into the upper market segment with watch. ... as hardware prices & manufacturing becomes something you can't compete on/with. it's a no-win-margin game, to compete nowadays with just-hardware. Apple marketing it's devices and brand (as well itself) as aspirational products. Starts from the physical stores, to the apple store (screening of apps for quality standards) to communication/pr/marketing, ... ends at internals, things you don't really see as average consumer, like the hw design where compromise is a word they don't use. et al. etc etc.

Apple knows that competition is catching up faster and faster in terms of design and functionality etc etc. They hired 2 fashion people already (burberry and from LVHM). And to differentiate the brand further (price/status symbol - above middle class) and to keep selling it's Apple Products ... including wearables (Watch & Headphone) they hired those key people or b(r)ought them into the mothership. They could have long ago bought personal cloud storage companies and other stuff to add to its portfolio bla bla bla.... but that 'Software', you can't display - show off - walking around downtown manhatten. Wearables, phones, tablets - you can. ... Apple focuses on their core competencies - software like iTunes is only 2nd class, that is why it still doesn't stream. >> “They want Jimmy and they want Dre,” said the source. “He’s got fashion and culture completely locked up.” ( http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/22/apples-beats-deal-is-happening-and-its-a-dre-acquihire/ ) + !!! v=NP0P2BT0vTc !!!

Yet according to interviews with two dozen industry watchers, Silicon Valley investors and current and former employees at both companies — most of whom requested anonymity to protect their jobs or business relationships — the clash between Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Jobs offers an unusually vivid display of enmity and ambition.

Knowing how things developed, it's surprising that Schmidt stayed on Apple's board for so long. He resigned on August 2009, just as the war started to go open, first with Google grabbing mobile advertising company AdMob from Apple's hands (which forced Apple to buy Quattro Wireless). Then with Apple pissing on Google's parade by stealing Lala, the music streaming service that Larry and Sergei wanted to have.