[Twisell]

It’s always the same issue when trying to compare Apple products vs others. Apple sell a lot directly to customers via their own on-line and physicals stores.

So before Quaterly results sales figures are pure speculation from analysts (and to be even worse Apple often don’t even reveal précises sales figures for new segments, melting number in the "others" category).

On the other hand competing manufacturer don’t do a lot of direct sales and communicate sales to resellers (so a sales don’t mean the product was actually bought and used by a real customer). Meanwhile Tim Cook was the architect of a zero stock policy so for Apple sale figures, every unit produced are put into a real customer hands.

So at the end of the day it’s usually only after one or two year after Apple entered a new market that you can really mesure success. In case of success Apple can’t hide benefits of the new line in the "other" category and you start to have real metrics. And if competitors stay on resellers inventory you start to see big discounts while their financials results decline.

In case of Apple faillure (like "fatboy" iPod or the "tin can" MacPro) Apple let the product slowly die and ultimately revamp it’s product line. Meanwhile competitor financial trajectory is unnafected.