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Comment by LaSombra | Hacker News Reader

It's interesting how people compare Apple's sales of different categories to its competitors single category.

They're comparing it because people are starting to use mobile devices as replacements for PCs. Apple wants you to buy an iPhone or iPad over a Mac because it has higher margins, but the point is that Microsoft has a steadily decreasing share of the "computing" market which could have been potential Windows/Windows Phone licenses sold.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgTIjxNCUAA-Dw_.png

In that case they need to include Android phones and tablets, Windows phones and tablets and Blackberries.

Since when did android phones or blackberries run windows?

Maybe when Bill quits curing malaria and gets his hacker groove back.

I think he was getting at the licensing fees that Android manufacturers and Google pay to Microsoft on a per-phone basis.

That's a far-fetched reason to include android devices in the category of windows pcs.

> They're comparing it because people are starting to use mobile devices as replacements for PCs

Sure, if you spent all your time on Twitter and Facebook and you like 4" keyboards it's great.

The only interesting comparison here would be between tablet and notebook sales, because they are the only 2 markets that somewhat overlap.

How many people do you know who own an iPhone and don't have a computer as well? Saying that people buy new computers less often because they spend some of that money on smartphones could make sense, but saying smartphones are taking over sounds kinda silly.

My first thought was similar to yours, but reflecting that most of Apple's iDevices cost as much or more than a low- to mid-level laptop or PC, I don't think the comparison is so unfair.

The trend may be even more important than the absolute numbers.

Comparing apples to oranges yield better understanding than apples to apples.

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