The Jaded Consumer

American Drones Kill 4 Americans On Purpose

2013-05-22T16:38:00.001-05:00

The Attorney General says that four Americans were killed by drones, of which one was specifically targeted.

The good news? They're not in the U.S. (so you're still safe?) and they were at least allegedly working with the enemy (though they were never formally accused and never tried and will never be allowed to mount a defense to anything they might possibly have been accused of doing).

We'll keep following this.

Property Rights in China

2013-05-16T10:10:00.002-05:00

A few years ago, China amended its constitution to provide an express right to private property. Presumably, this was intended to reassure foreigners that their investments would be safe from seizure by government officials.

But what does it mean for individual Chinese? Apparently, very little. When police showed up at the home of Shen Jianzhong after it was beset by a mob of 50 thugs bent on running him off the property to facilitate a developer's plans, the policy told him to sign their contract.

The Jaded Consumer has covered China's official oppression over supposedly-protected property before.

Rebels Plea For Aid: Send Forks?

2013-05-14T20:58:00.001-05:00

A Syrian rebel appears on a video eating the heart and liver of a felled government soldier. Questioned by outraged observers of the video, the rebel – whose identity is not masked – defended his snack as revenge for atrocities committed by Assad's vicious regime. This raises a whole new question regarding the form that should be taken by international aid requested against the oppressive government regime.

The religious overtones of Middle Eastern conflict can't be escaped, even in a civil war as obviously about freedom from government oppression as the conflict in Syria has been. On the video, off-camera supporters are heard shouting "Allahu Akbar!" I didn't think that meal was Kosher in Islam. Anybody have authority to offer on the matter?

Japanese Politician: Sex Slavery "Necessary" to War Effort

2013-05-14T20:38:00.000-05:00

He may not actually represent the official position of the Japanese diplomatic corps, but the sitting Mayor of Osaka (Japan's third-largest city after Tokyo and Yokohama) says sex-slaves captured and systematically raped across the Pacific theater during the Second World War were a "necessary" result of the needs of Japanese soldiers who risked their lives for their country.

During the War, hundreds of thousand females were enslaved as "comfort women", a Japanese euphemism referring to military-governed sex slaves. Japan's official support and funding for the maintenance of "comfort women" battalions was in direct opposition to the nation's purported position on slavery taken when it ratified the International Labor Organization Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labor in 1932. Unlike consumer protection statutes in Texas, which have teeth because they provide individuals with a civil remedy for damages upon proven violation, the Convention Concerning Forced Labor asked all signatories to enact criminal statutes – so that the government would protect rights enshrined in the Convention. Since Japan enacted no criminal statutes to punish violations of the Convention, the nation's officials were free not only to violate it with impunity, but to profit in human trafficking designed to fill the ranks of the "comfort women" battalions.

National leaders continue to take absurd positions on the records of their own countries. The gulf between law and justice is vast.

Butcher Announces Next Dresden Files Title

2013-05-02T15:13:00.000-05:00

At Jim Butcher's web site, the title of his next book in the Dresden Files. There's a reason this series' main character is in the sidebar on the right, and if you ~~look at some of the reviews I've written here about~~ buy the first of his books you'll get an idea why.

The next title is Skin Game. At the time of this posting, there's no content there other than the title announcement. When Ghost Story ended, we knew what was happening next and it was easy to interpret the next-announced title Cold Days. (The first time I read the title announcement on that one, I was sure it was Cold Day, which I liked even better. I wonder whether I was mistaken, or why it changed. Alas.) But the end of Cold Days left enough to happen next that it wasn't evident where it'd pick up, making the interpretation of the title more of an adventure.

But I'm keeping my theories to myself. I wouldn't want to spoil anything for an unsuspecting reader. But you can always email to share theories about Dresden :-)

I especially won't spoil things in previous books, like what Butcher must be teasing regarding the name of the oldest queens of Summer and Winter. Muhuhahaha! And so we wait for the publication of the next Dresden book – let the suffering begin!

Siri Can't Find Asia Café

2013-04-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

In the Heights area of Houston is a restaurant with the not-very-innovative name "Asia Café". Ask for it by name, and Siri says"I can't find things in Asia. Can you be more specific?"

If you get more specific by explaining that you are looking for a restaurant called Asia Café, it tells you about a Jade something-or-another, which is an Asian restaurant.

Ask Siri how to get to the intersection of I-10 and Bingle, , and she says, "Got it." But Siri doesn't get it. And as Steve Jobs once said of Microsoft's lack of taste ... I mean that in a really big way:

Slavery Alive and Well Today

2013-04-14T14:00:00.002-05:00

I was recently speaking to some kids whose school left them with the impression that slavery was "over". As mentioned here before, slavery is alive and well in the modern world both abroad and in the U.S. Recently, two teen girls were busted for keeping a stable of sex slaves in Canada.

People need to understand that the Civil War didn't end slavery, it merely led to its illegalization in the U.S. Like theft and murder, slavery itself is still going strong.

Snipes Released After 3-Year Misdemeanor Tax Sentence

2013-04-09T15:38:00.001-05:00

The definition of a 'misdemeanor' used to be a crime for which punishment could not exceed a year. So it's with some surprise that I read Wesley Snipes was just released following completion of a 3-year federal sentence imposed following a criminal failure to file or pay taxes. No, I wasn't surprised a person could be locked up for nonfiling – I was merely surprised that the 3-year sentence arose from a misdemeanor conviction.

On closer examination, the conviction turns out to be three convictions for the same charge – that is, one year per conviction – plus a year of probation. One charge per failure to file. The sentence, handed down by a judge, followed a jury's decision not to convict Snipes for any of the felonies with which he was charged.

Occasionally, when you hear the United States has a "voluntary" tax system, think of Snipes.

Apple: Some Perspective

2013-03-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

This piece nicely illustrates the effect of a few years on tech giants' mudslinging. Microsoft's bravado of 2010 is embarrassing to review in light of 2013.

And on another front, a longtime Linux advocate describes his experience as a user – rather than during his day-job as a developer – to describe why Linux fell to Apple on the desktop like some argue MS-Windows has. (Of course, Linux seems to rule the realm of servers. Look in particular at the million busiest sites surveyed by Netcraft. For Microsoft, it seems a slow slide in favor of freeware.)

Anyone care to take bets on units and profit numbers for the next few years?

Archdiocese: Girl May Kick Ass

2013-03-14T19:49:00.000-05:00

The Archdiocese of Philadeplhia has relented. Reversing its girl-excluding policy that prevented Caroline Pia from playing football with the Catholic Youth Organization team on which she played successfully, it has agreed to allow the 11-year-old to keep on the field.

There may be good reasons not to play football, but "you're a girl" isn't one. Good for CYO, and good for Caroline.

Drone Update

2013-03-07T18:07:00.001-06:00

To stop a Senate filibuster on the confirmation of John Brennan as the Director of Central Intelligence, Attorney General Eric Holder answered Rand Paul's latest question on the current administration's view on its power to use drones against citizens:

The interesting thing is just how narrow the question is, and the fact that it offers no indication of the standard of proof to be applied in ascertaining whether some limit applies to stop a proposed drone strike. Given that Holder has previously taken the position that an extra-judicial decision within the Executive branch of government was capable of ascertaining whether an American should be killed for making war against the United States (notwithstanding the Constitution's position on such matters), one wonders just how much security Americans should feel in even the clearest-sounding reply to a question so heavily qualified and lacking in standards. (Not engaged in combat? According to whose allegation? And this limit applies only on American soil?)

Do we have a rule of law, or just the law of the jungle? I don't expect to see neighbors blown from their homes in the near future by drones, but I do expect Americans to hold concern for simultaneous disregard of the fundamental protections the Constitution affords those accused of treason: a fixed standard of proof and a public trial in which a jury decides the truth of the allegations made by the Executive branch. Secret decisions in the Executive to conduct executions based on Executive-branch decisions about the guilt of Americans accused of waging war against the United States are not just against the plain law laid down by every State ratifying the Constitution, but contrary to the American traditions for which we have spilled so much of the blood of our best.

Buffet On His Own Tax Rate

2013-03-04T12:25:00.003-06:00

Buffett says his 2012 tax rate is lower than his secretary's. "I'll probably be the lowest paying taxpayer in the office."

Is he right, or just using creative math?

Regulatory Capture in the IP Market

2013-03-01T07:40:00.002-06:00

You've seen it in the defense industry, environmental regulators, and health care – now, Samsung demonstrates the phenomenon of "regulatory capture" in the intellectual property arena.

This stuff is just heating up.

Gruber: Apple Hater Hammers See Only Apple-Bad Nails

2013-02-28T21:22:00.005-06:00

John Gruber (of "Daring Fireball" fame) writes of a recent Apple's Reign Is Over article that When All You Have Is an ‘Apple Is Doomed Without Steve Jobs’ Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail. Although the focus of the article is on product comparisons between Apple and a supposed new King (which hasn't actually netted money in hardware yet), the Apple Isn't Over thrust of the article is reminiscent of the Jaded Consumer's piece last year On The 'Decline' of Apple, which responded to (and laughed at) a piece by the CEO of Forrester Research called Apple=Sony.

Apple = Sony is about as real as Google > Apple, which Gruber laughs at in his new article by focusing on hardware offerings and their relevancy in the consumer market. While a rebuttal isn't possible for every silly opinion piece on Apple, Gruber's comparison is perspective-building. Expect more of the same anti-Apple drivel from other click-baiters fishing for Apple haters – just don't expect long-term bets on such theses to pan out well.

White House Tries Intimidating Bob Woodward

2013-02-28T12:01:00.002-06:00

Unhappy with Bob Woodward's article on the administration's handling of forced federal spending cuts, a senior Obama official wrote the Watergate reporter saying that he would "regret" writing it.

Is this the way a democracy handles private purveyors of opinion?

Sex Traffic Alive and Well in America

2013-02-27T20:35:00.000-06:00

Pimps troll social networks for victims to coerce into slavery. This isn't new, but it's not the "slavery" Americans think of simply because no war's been fought over it. It's overlooked. It's not a feature of the thugocracy thriving in the former Soviet Union, it's right here in the U.S.

Mac Growth Shows Error Of Projecting Last Quarter's Numbers

2013-02-26T21:27:00.002-06:00

Apple's results last quarter included a decline in Mac sales, and the cry was immediate: Apple's past it's prime. But today's news on Mac sales is that January's sales are 31% up from same-period sales last year. And its highest-end iMacs are still in short supply. Expect iMac sales to do even better as availability improves.

On another note (ba-da-boom), the recorded music industry grew revenue for the first time since 1999. The net growth is due in large part to 9% growth in digital revenue. Apple holds a large share of the digital music market, so the market's growth is of interest to Apple. Particularly as Apple sells in markets like India, where the for-sale music market is under pressure from IP thieves and Apple's hardware sales growth is in high gear.

ACAS' Discount and Aquisition Prospects

2013-02-26T08:34:00.003-06:00

Over on at Seeking Alpha, the article Understanding American Capital's 4Q2012 Earnings Announcement has attracted an interesting comment by Not My Business. It suggests that ACAS' discount (relative to Net Asset Value per share ("NAV")) makes it attractive for an outsider like GE Capital to acquire. Buying ACAS below NAV would deploy capital at attractive returns, so why not?

The funds management contracts described in SEC filings by ACAS' managed funds MTGE and AGNC seem to make change in control a situation in which managed capital clients can depart with the managed funds. It'd be awful for American Capital Ltd. (ACAS' funds-management subsidiary) to lose all its funds management business overnight. The fact that ACAS' funds-management subsidiary is also ACAS' largest single holding (by "fair value") seems to act as a poison pill for ACAS: unfriendly takeover could destroy a significant and growing funds-management business that contributes both to NOI and to NAV.

So, maybe a buyer wants to buy a managed funds from ACAS, in the same spirit of the transactions years ago when ACAS sold a 30% stake of its whole portfolio to investors who wanted ACAS' management of funds. If someone like GE wanted to buy a portfolio from ACAS, ACAS would want to make good money on it rather than to sell it for a song. Would GE want to pay ACAS to manage funds for it? I haven't seriously considered this, but my first impression is that GE Capital has managers whose pride and confidence would work against pitching to their superiors – as their capital deployment idea – the idea of paying of third-party managers to do things they themselves theoretically do for their salaries.

If ACAS restructured so that it had a big externally managed bond fund – and that fund traded below NAV – then I can see institutions becoming interested in buying at a discount for a margin of safety. But this wouldn't be a purchase from ACAS' inventory, it'd be a purchase of shares of a company that's paying ACAS a management fee based on assets' "fair value". It would, in essence, be like an investment in MTGE or AGNC (which early in their lives both traded below NAV, too).

ACAS would like to have institutions interested in its managed funds, of course. So restructuring to place investment holdings into an externally-managed, publicly-traded BDC seems an interesting way to attract institutional interest, and broaden demand for ACAS-managed funds.

If AGNC and MTGE offer any example, the new fund would likely trade at a NAV discount until its dividend is seen as reliable. One way for ACAS to create this structure might be to raise new money in a new investment vehicle, then buy the assets from ACAS at "fair value" to get them off ACAS' books and onto the books of the new entity. ACAS could participate in the deal by supplying capital for the new entity just as it did with AGNC and MTGE (each of which ACAS since exited). Once the fund traded at a premium to NAV, ACAS could exit and deploy its returned capital elsewhere, while continuing to enjoy funds-management fees.

Some questions would be: will lenders require ACAS to guarantee debt? Will the new BDC get lending terms as good, without the additional safety of the funds-management business and the equity of the portfolio companies? Real roadblocks could kill the idea, even if it were of interest to shareholders.

But I don't see ACAS being bought out. I believe management wants to stay in the funds management business, and that the fallout of a buyout would wreck ACAS' value in a hostile takeover. I much more credit the idea of ACAS restructuring to allow asset classes the market might value favorably to stand apart from the parts of ACAS that are historically not accorded much value (e.g., non-dividend-paying equity). The restructuring has some good precedent in the development of ACAS' funds-management business through AGNC and MTGE, and serves as a plausible model for future fundraising in an environment that prices ACAS' own shares below NAV.

The Rest of the Globe May Be Warming ...

2013-02-25T23:24:00.003-06:00

... but not the Texas panhandle.

On ACAS' 2012 Earnings

2013-02-21T19:14:00.002-06:00

At Seeking Alpha, the latest Jaded Consumer article on American Capital is available: Understanding American Capital's 4Q2012 Earnings Announcement. (What's more, it's an Editors' Pick!) Frequent commenter Not_My_Business returned to the theme that the company might unlock shareholder value through a restructuring that would spin off an interest-bearing-debt company, externally managed by ACAS, to pay dividends to shareholders (and create demand by dividend hounds). While I don't see this in the immediate future, the freedom to restructure in this fashion is exactly what I think keeps ACAS' debt:equity so low: it's interested in maintaining the freedom to do this (which secured creditors with an interest in the debt would veto).

One thing to like in spinning out some debt ACAS wants held for the long term is that ACAS can get a management fee for keeping funds from the permanent capital pool invested in suitably attractive debt instruments. ACAS can itself be a co-owner of this fund, making it like the pool ACAS sold years ago when it sold 30% of all its investments into a pool it managed – except that the pool is public, strangers can invest, and ACAS can raise money in it.

The problem I have with AINV isn't that it's an externally-managed fund, but that it combines high fees with willingness to issue equity below NAV. That's why I concluded Berkshire was a better use of capital. Berkshire has discipline, and AINV's management doesn't.

Assuming ACAS launches such a fund, it'd be interesting to see how it's valued by the market. The question is: if ACAS can syndicate debt from One Stop Buyouts into its public bond fund, will it fight as hard for deals that arms' length buyers would buy or will its managers settle for deals it can do this quarter? Without the constant pressure to get third parties to support ACAS' deals in the syndicated-debt market, what will ensure the deals have the metrics and prospects that will really perform for investors? Will we rely on ACAS doing deals more and more within specific spheres of expertise? Will ACAS have some other method of keeping its managers demanding in their tastes for suitable risk-adjusted returns?

Can anyone remember the name of that search engine optimization company that ACAS invested in right before Google changed its algorithm and obliterated its business? We need to avoid more of that kind of boondoggle. ACAS needs a scheme to detect it early. Investing in what you know is some protection – ask Berkshire – and the movement toward concentrating in areas of expertise like energy/infrastructure, and healthcare, may help ACAS in that direction. Does the plan go deeper?

UPDATE: Geosign collapsed weeks after ACAS' acquisition for $130 million plus affiliate money for a total of $160,000,000. Then, Bam! Google wised up to its business model – click arbitrage, selling Google advertising more expensively to Yahoo! – and killed it with algorithms that detected Geosign's violation of Google's Terms of Service. Rebellion Media Group, which apparently succeeded Moxy Media, which apparently received ACAS' part of Geosign's assets, was last listed with a fair value of $24.8 million. What a difference a few weeks makes. Remember Rule One.

On Violence Policy

2013-02-17T13:56:00.001-06:00

Looking at news stories about violence in Chicago and its impact on Chicago gun control politics, it seemed worth looking into whether Chicago's highly-publicized murder rate for the partial-year 2013 placed it in a different league than other cities, and whether there was reason for optimism that the murders rate would be affected by the laws being proposed.

First: Forbes lists America's top-ten most-dangerous cities in order of violent crime rate – which is different than the murder rate. In the United States, our violent crime rate is generally lower than it is in the UK, but our murder rate is higher. That is, we have less violence, but its likelihood of proving fatal is higher when it does occur. With that in mind, Forbes claims Detroit tops America's most-dangerous cities (violent crimes occur 2.137 times per year per 100 population). Tenth on the list is Buffalo, with 1.238 violent crimes per year per 100 residents. Forbes doesn't give particulars, though, on the involvement of firearms or the extent of fatalities in the cities it lists. All the places on the list have hundreds of thousands in population, but the four largest cites aren't on the list. It offers little insight into Chicago.

Second: U.S. News and World Report looks at several years of historical data, including property crime data, to list America's eleven-most-dangerous cities. Of interest is that its ranking is based on an index in which 100 is the national average; the score, therefore, shows the percent of risk faced in the city, all things being equal. Tied for tenth place are Cleveland and Minneapolis with an index of 331. Interestingly, Minneapolis' murder rate is described as declining; it's the overall crime rate that drives the "danger" there. The same is true of Cleveland: over the 2006-2010 period of the data driving the rankings, Cleveland's homicides dropped 40%. According to US News & World Report, only burglary increased – and that was a 2% rise. In common with the Forbes list are several other cities, such as Baltimore (index 339), Memphis (index 361), Detroit (index 369), Birmingham (index 380), and Atlanta (index 484). But Atlanta isn't really a particular risk for violent crime. "violent crime rates in Atlanta were only slightly higher than the national figure. But property crimes were markedly higher, with motor vehicle theft 55 percent greater ... and burglary 38 percent greater." This list doesn't really help with the firearm-homicide question that drives the gun control debate.

An article at the Huffington Post in December compares Chicago's higher homicide rates to New York's falling figures. Bullet points include that Chicago blames gang violence for the murder spike and says 80% of victims are African-American. New York's stop-and-frisk policies seem to reduce deaths and shootings. The contrast between the nation's largest cities seems enormous: near the end of December, as Chicago approached its 500th murder of the year, New York – with three times the population – had suffered fewer overall murders with a record low of only 414 (since reliable records were first kept in 1963). Both New York and Chicago have histories of draconian gun-control laws, so the vast difference between their murder rates isn't attributable to official tolerance of armed citizens. New York's homicides included a 20% drop in deaths from bullets, down to 237 people. New York's achievement in homicide reduction is apparently attributable to prevention: Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly cites stop-and-frisk as successful in removing 8,000 illegal weapons from the streets, including 800 firearms. Shopkeepers like Dmitry Novosyolov report that when he sees kids, he sees them with parents; he attributes crime reduction to the presence of families rather than loners.

Chicago's homicides are down from the 928 Chicago recorded in 1991 when it was a felony to own a handgun and handguns were defined as unregisterable firearms. The current number is, however, the first time since 2008 that Chicago passed the 500 benchmark. At Northeastern Illinois University, assistant director of Inner City Studies Lance Williams attributes the increase in violence to the unraveling of societal fabric associated with ongoing trends in public housing and school policies in the West Side and in the South Side of Chicago – which every fan of Jim Croce knows "is the baddest part of town." While firearms are described as widely-available, that's a claim people have laid nationwide. The longstanding hostility of Chicago law to handgun owners (and its requirement that all firearms be registered with a government office) seems to work against the claim that a handgun ban would have a material impact on Chicago violence.

The bigger problem in Chicago seems to be social. Violence is concentrated in parts of Chicago that are socially and geographically associated with trends unrelated to firearm legality, that have resulted in a resurgence of violence. New York seems to prove that enforcement of existing law is effective in preventing violence, just as Chicago proves that more draconian laws have little practical effect on the behavior of criminals.

Gun control is an area in which people reason with their gut more than with their brains, though. The cure for the problem is better data. Without solid data, we have little hope to develop rationally-founded policy.

Olymipc Masters To Dump Wrestling?

2013-02-17T10:41:00.000-06:00

The International Olympic Committee – the folks who've brought us all those wonderful bribery scandals and outrageous outcomes in judged events over the years – has apparently not been paid enough by the advocates of traditional, old, Classical-Olympics-era sports like wrestling. So, effective 2020, they're dumping it.

Wrestling isn't a high-tech sport requiring lots of infrastructure to practice; it's accessible to people who have nearly no means at all. Countries can be competitive despite small size. Wrestling is exactly the kind of sport we want to see – a sport that rewards athletes, not high-dollar sled design or high-tech equipment. Wrestling isn't made easier with slick suits, and you don't need expensive facilities to practice.

Wrestling is a real man's sport – a a real woman's. Wrestling is, in a nutshell, exactly what the Olympics is about.

Like Mike Downey says, Don't drop wrestling from the Olympics.

If low-overhead individual sports like wrestling are dumped because they lack star power or don't have enough sponsor funding, the result isn't hard to imagine. The Olympics will become indistinguishable from franchises like the NBA and Pro Golf and the numerous purveyors of equipment and dietary supplements for triathlon competitors. Sport drink vendors and apparel brands will dominate an event that should be about the struggle and triumph of individuals and teams. The Olympics will end up a collection of games athletes can't crack without access to elaborately manicured golf courses, or years-long basketball training programs complete with modern facilities and big organizations of teams to ensure regular inter-organization competition and maintain year-long funding for the marketing machines needed to sell tickets and apparel needed to keep their back-end operations running, or essential funding for engineering teams needed to keep aerodynamic and steering technology in the same league as competitors' in sports involving boats, bicycles, sleds, and so forth. Resources rather than skill alone will determine who can walk in the doors of the games. What a sad world is that.

Wrestling is so traditional that its ejection should be immediately viewed with suspicion. Its requirements are so basic, and the nature of the competition so tool-free and fundamental, that it should be viewed as democratizing a Games lately dominated by equipment-driven performance analysis (ever notice who's in the diving and ski-jumping competitions?) and equipment (who's in the final rounds of the luge and bobsled events?).

Unlike basketball, soccer, baseball, and other sports the Olympics plans to retain, the international wrestling bodies actually use the Olympics to identify the world champion wrestler. Bicyclists and triathletes and marathoners have other world-profile events with which to select their leaders, but wrestlers actually use the Olympics to name their world champion.

Shouldn't wrestling get a break?

It's hard to believe the IOC isn't kicking wrestling simply because it's not able to sustain the kind of bribery that drives favorable rulings from the IOC and its subordinate bodies. If wrestling poured more cash into IOC coffers, we'd never see this kind of thing.

Google Can't Be Trusted With Your Personal Information, Either

2013-02-14T09:05:00.001-06:00

Now, we learn that Google can't be trusted with your private information, either. When you buy through Google Play, vendors get personal information with which to target you with attention you had no desire to invite. This is interesting in light of Google's prior explanation that of course it won't disappoint users with its privacy practices, or they'd refuse to use Google.

This seems to continue a negative trend. Recently I wrote about Google apparently misusing my credit card info, then offering no way at all to ascertain why it was making charges to my credit card. Unable to get relief from Google, I had to tell my credit card company to deny all transactions from Google in the future.

So much for Don't Be Evil.

Apple's Disproportionate Profit

2013-02-14T08:23:00.001-06:00

A new report credits Apple with over 70% of all smartphone profits globally last quarter, on over 40% of the world's smartphone revenues. It continues an existing trend in which Apple (AAPL) smelts a minority market share by units into an outsized profit. It's the inverse of the lesson Dell taught us – with huge sales volume and minuscule profits – that unit share isn't profit share.

Apple's outsized profitability in the mobile market has been in evidence as far back as 2009, when Apple and BlackBerry (BBRY) (née Research In Motion) together shared less than 3% of the market's unit sales but reaped 35% of its profit. Since 2011, Apple's smartphone profits have exceeded those of all other smartphone makers combined.

The 72%-of-all-smartphone-profits metric is all the more astounding in light of the press declaring that Apple is suddenly floundering. Apple's "share" isn't in jeopardy now more than last year. Apple's last quarter wasn't the anemic result one would infer from headlines; when the truth catches up to Apple, it'll be a wind ride. Again. With huge advantages in the international market – where the growth is – Apple is looking good as its business heads into the future.

Apple: Eating Microsoft's Lunch?

2013-02-13T20:44:00.001-06:00

The climb of Macs in market share has placed Apple in the top tier of PC vendors in a number of industrialized countries, though Apple remains too low in unit sales to be a top-five vendor by volume globally. If one counts tablets among PCs, Apple leads the world in PC unit sales. But being the biggest manufacturer by volume doesn't mean Apple's platform sells more units than platforms that are distributed by multiple hardware vendors: when tablets are considered PCs, Apple's share of the PC market is 20%. So is this a big deal, or not?

At Asymco, Horace Dediu illustrates how the dominance of Microsoft's platform has eroded since 2004. Particularly when one considers phones and tablets, Microsoft's platforms no longer show the dominance they once held. This is particularly true as one considers that Apple holds the top-end of the markets in which it competes: Microsoft appears in many cases to be selling to a less desirable and less profitable customer. As recently illustrated by its huge iTunes sales numbers, Apple's ability to generate post-sales revenues on content easily surpasses that of Microsoft.

Canalys goes further: the Wintel share of the computer market – the share occupied by Microsoft Windows running on Intel-compatible hardware – is set to fall 65% in 2013. What people thought of as a "PC" through the '90s won't really be the face of the PC at all any more.