I'm thinking that perhaps the temporary (but lengthy) period in which the iPhone was the most popular phone was, for the most part, an aberration.
Apple generally just does it's thing where it doesn't go for the largest market share, but because they were unusually innovative/lucky with the iPhone, they had a period of popularity. The fact that the iPhone 5C isn't the cheap phone we expected seems to confirm this.
It seems quite possible that things are 'normalizing' again, and Apple will end up comfortably occupying a big chunk of the high-end space. Maybe they're trying to come up with another killer product category to dominate in, but I wouldn't be surprised if internally this isn't and hasn't ever been their goal.
Now, investors might feel different, of course, and I find that interesting to observe.
What's amazing to me is how apple has resisted the temptation to go for market share with the iphone. That said, apple got and sustained a dominant share of the music player business against everyone's expectations and without compromising on quality (although i don't see apple doing an iphone shuffle).
It might be that microsoft's success with windows was the aberration. After all DOS and then windows were inferior products that achieved critical mass and widespread success because IBM got them into the enterprise and apple was asleep at the wheel.
Hmm. I think much of Microsoft's success has more to do with the fact that Apple's emphasis on simplicity in design, ease of use, and computer-as-a-lifestyle-product has only recently started paying off, as computers have become more mainstream and provide 'lifestyle value'.
I remember growing up a really shoddy looking computer in the house, but nobody cared or wanted better because it was in my dad's office and mostly used for work (and only occasionally for a game or two).
Apple generally just does it's thing where it doesn't go for the largest market share, but because they were unusually innovative/lucky with the iPhone, they had a period of popularity. The fact that the iPhone 5C isn't the cheap phone we expected seems to confirm this.
It seems quite possible that things are 'normalizing' again, and Apple will end up comfortably occupying a big chunk of the high-end space. Maybe they're trying to come up with another killer product category to dominate in, but I wouldn't be surprised if internally this isn't and hasn't ever been their goal.
Now, investors might feel different, of course, and I find that interesting to observe.