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by johnnyanmac 841 days ago
sure, trillion dollar company invested hundreds of billions over a decade to secure their own supply chain from parts to distribution.

But I don't think every other OEM would have the same success even if it ended up being higher quality.
1 comments
carlosjobim 841 days ago
They became a trillion dollar company by doing that. There was nothing stopping other enormous companies to compete on quality and customer service, but they decided against that. Follow the money indeed...
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johnnyanmac 841 days ago
>There was nothing stopping other enormous companies to compete on quality and customer service, but they decided against that.

I mean, are we pretending that Microsoft also isn't a trillion dollar company? They are the only one with an incentive to do that strategy, but they probably got a good share of money from licensing their platform to other OEMs.

The next closest thing to "full OS vertical integration" are game consoles. Specialized devices focused on entertainment instead of general purpose ones.

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carlosjobim 841 days ago
Microsoft became a trillion dollar company with another approach, yes, you're right. Walmart became a trillion dollar company doing completely different things. Nobody is pretending anything.

But when somebody says "follow the money" as the explanation to why other brands make crap laptops, I think it is fair to point out that most money goes to the company that makes laptops that aren't crap.

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johnnyanmac 841 days ago
>Microsoft became a trillion dollar company with another approach, yes, you're right. Walmart became a trillion dollar company doing completely different things. Nobody is pretending anything.

your point here more or less argues with your point above and goes back to what I was trying to tell you. "Follow the money" doesn't mean "follow the money of the biggest companies that you only tangentially compete with". It means "understand the business in question and use their motivation for money to figure out their priorities".

Take a look at what makes Microsoft money, then what makes HP/Acer/Lenovo/Razer/etc. money, and even what makes Intel/Nvidia/AMD money. Now ask how much "fixing a proper sleep mode" will make any of these entities. That probably gives some clue on why no one has solved this yet.

>I think it is fair to point out that most money goes to the company that makes laptops that aren't crap.

I think I explained this above, but I should emphasize that we both know the best product doesn't always make the most money.

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carlosjobim 840 days ago
>I think I explained this above, but I should emphasize that we both know the best product doesn't always make the most money.

Look at the thread title, look at what specific products are being discussed in the thread. There is no dispute that for laptop computers, the best product is making the most money. And I'd argue that it is the case for smart phones as well.

There is a market that is probably in the size of millions of people who would love to buy a non-Apple laptop that was a bit closer to the Macbook in quality. But other manufacturers don't seem to give a damn, even though Apple has demonstrated that it pays off making quality products and caring for the customer. Everybody would benefit from better competition.

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