back to article World IT sales up 15 per cent in Q4 ... er, 5 if you remove Apple

The tech sector fared well in Q4 largely due to channel bullyboy Apple's unstoppable sales juggernaut - but IT distributors are missing out on this boom. According to the Tech Titan Index by beancounter Canalys, the combined sales growth of Cisco, Dell, EMC, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Lexmark, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Apple was …

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  1. andreas koch
    Paris Hilton

    Comparing, well, Apples to pears

    I still think that comparing Apple's turnover to the turnover of companies like IBM, HP, CISCO and Oracle is a bit wrong.

    Apple should be in competition with Benetton, Cartier and Yves Saint Laurent. They're a fashion or entertainment company, albeit a very, VERY successful one.

    All tablets* are somewhat of an 'the Jones' have one, so I must, too' article. The amusing thing though is the justification banter: Instead of saying 'I wanted one because it's a cool toy' like they do when they buy a Playstation or a XBox; most people give a load of reasons that wouldn't stand up to a flea's flatus and try to convince you that owning a tablet instantly turns any old part-time barista into a creative genius. Turning a lame photo of your cat into an oil painting by prodding a button labelled 'artistic' is not art.

    The best lot though are the Apple customers. They are not just sure that they have a superior product (which is, is some way, not wrong; iPads are well built), they are also sure that it makes them themselves better. It's a Veblen Good (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good), a status symbol that has to be acquired to show that one is not just swimming with the stream, but a pacesetter in the society.

    All kudos to Apple for shaping and exploiting a market, but there is no IT-angle in here.

    Here is where the Paris Hilton angle is.

    * I'm sure there are exceptions and really useful applications out there; although using it to count traffic instead of the old mechanical counter (£5.99) is not one of them.

    1. FanMan

      Re: Comparing, well, Apples to pears

      Andreas you are generalising so fatuously I'm not sure I can be bothered to refu zzzzzzz

      1. andreas koch
        Devil

        Re: Re: Comparing, well, Apples to pears

        Of course I overdo it; of course I overgeneralise. This is an established technique to drive home a point of view.

        And clichés do usually, even if they have a tendency for hyperbole, have a foundation in some kind of truth...

        But thanks for the reminder. I'll try not to bore you so much in the future.

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