The conventional wisdom has been that Apple’s vaunted ecosystem will protect it against the competition. The conventional wisdom is a myth.
The ecosystem that surrounds iPhones, iPads, and Macs consists of iTunes, high quality facilities for external developers, thousands of well-developed apps, Siri and iCloud. Once a user gets locked into this ecosystem, the user is not likely to switch to competing products, or so goes the widely-held thesis.
It makes all the sense in the world. It is certainly a lot easier if one is using an iPhone, an iPad and a MacBook Air laptop.
Until recently I also subscribed to the conventional wisdom. My investment method focuses on change and attempts to quantify qualitative items such as Apple’s ecosystem moat into numerical values using a methodology that is consistent across all stocks.
I consistently attempt to validate my analytical research with empirical research. During a recent trip to Asia, I discovered that the conventional wisdom is wrong and now in a rare instance I will need to change my long-term model for Apple.
I saw that the favorite device combination most often used by movers and shakers was Samsung Galaxy Note II for a phone, iPad 2 for a tablet, and a Windows laptop. These are three disparate systems; Samsung Galaxy Note runs on Google (GOOG) Android, and Windows is from Microsoft(MSFT).
I witnessed first-hand how easily these movers and shakers were able to synchronize all their work between three disparate devices…Read more on Forbes
