[lostlogin]

Do you measure BMW, Rolex and Gucci, by market share? Or profit share? There are more meaningful measures than market share and picking a measure the company isn't particularly interested or aiming for in is a strange choice.

[rednukleus]

I wouldn't describe any of those companies as "in total control of their industry" I would call them nice high end niche products.

[seanmcdirmid]

If Apple has 20% market share but 50+% profit share, then what does that mean?

BMW is definitely in control of the luxury car industry, which is quite huge worldwide in terms of revenue and more importantly, profit. It depends on how narrowly you define "industry."

[arethuza]

"BMW is definitely in control of the luxury car industry"

I think VW Group and Mercedes-Benz might argue with that.

Of course, it depends how you define "luxury" but with Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche and Audi brands, VW Group seem to be doing pretty well.

[w1ntermute]

> If Apple has 20% market share but 50+% profit share, then what does that mean?

Except it doesn't: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/07/26/samsung-dethrones-app...

You Apple fanboys are constantly moving the goalposts. First it was who sells more devices, then it was who had more revenue. Now you've lost the "who has more profits" argument as well. What's it going to be next? Who uses more aluminum in their devices?

[dragontamer]

I never understood why people are so proud of a company having significantly higher margins than their competitors. Unless I owned _stock_ in a company (and then refused to buy their products), I'd rather buy my stuff with as razor-thin of a margin as possible.

But thanks for the link, I'll be using these statistics in future debates against the iCult.

[Supermighty]

People want to be on the winning team.

[seanmcdirmid]

Margins are an indication of how good the product is. Either you compete on quality, or you compete on price, basically. Also, value != price alone, or even the margin the company is making on the product (they could just be more efficient and better at execution than their competitors).

[albedoa]

In case you don't know, Strategy Analytics are the ones who define "units sold" as "units shipped". I'd imagine they are capable of taking similar shortcuts with profit share estimates.

[josteink]

> If Apple has 20% market share but 50+% profit share, then what does that mean?

It may keep the shareholders happy, but ultimately it means nothing to anyone else. I don't see why people keep brining up this retarded meme.

[sbuk]

They bring it up on response to the inevitable Android market share meme.

[rednukleus]

Sure, if you define it narrowly enough, then you can call almost every large company "in total control" of the niche in which they operate.