Hacker News Reader

Comment by vijayr | Hacker News Reader

Almost 43% gross margin, for a (mostly) hardware company !!

Apple is a platform company. Would you call facebook a hardware company if it came out with a phone to help propagate its platform?

Apple (or Microsoft) sells a platform. Samsung sells hardware. Intuit sells software.

I don't really understand how people keep calling Apple a hardware company. Yes, they make their own hardware (in some cases) but on the record, repeatedly, everyone at Apple says, all the time, that they treat themselves as a software company.

Says people who probably work in the software areas.

The fact is Apple is a PRODUCT company. Meaning they do the software, hardware and most importantly everything in between the two.

To call Apple a hardware or a software company is to miss the point entirely. Is Ford a wheel company or an engine company?

That's not fair, both wheels and engines are hardware ;)

In all seriousness Apple isn't either. They make better software than any hardware company I know of, and better hardware than any software company I know.

My point is that both wheels and engines are simply components of what Ford actually makes, which is cars. Likewise hardware and software are just components of what Apple actually makes.

Totally agree that Apple isn't either, which was exactly my point.

So they're a computer company. Right.

Because that's what they sell... Look at the revenue figures. Yes they make two operating systems, but they produce little direct revenue (iOS updates are free, the next OS X version is $20).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com