A report out today from Goldman Sachs today shows that Apple, with only about 3 percent of the total, global handset market, is set to generate twice the profits as all the rest of the industry combined.
In the process of discussing the success and potential of the iPad, Goldman Sachs generated a sleeper graph that’s astounding. It shows, since the iPhone was launched, the Apple Earnings before Interest and Tax (EBIT) compared to the entire rest of the mobile phone industry (RIM, Nokia, HTC, and Sony Ericsson) combined.
Recently, the market share and app growth has been a focus for the Android OS, but if manufacturers can’t achieve good profits in the long run, other OSes won’t remain sustainable. Apple, meanwhile, can roll its huge profits into R&D in order to stay ahead of the competition. It’s an interesting game of profits, R&D, innovation, and eventually stealing any price umbrella the competition might have, squeezing the other, weaker manufacturers out of the market.
Apple’s success is proving to be embarrassing to the other handset makers and is not lost on investors.