Century of the Self (documentary):
Marketing was invented by Freud’s nephew, applying wartime propaganda technics and his uncle discoveries to peace time and raising people interest into consuming beyond basic needs.
Gross margin in 2012 was outrageous.
Last quarter, profit margin “shrinked” to 2011 levels: 37-39%. This quarter, the gross profit margin is the same: 37.5% while it was 47% (!) one year ago.
Especially, the iPad mini has a lower margin and eats into Apple profit.
So, the good news are:
- The margin is stable since the introduction of the iPad mini so the shrinking is due to the new products and not competition or other issues
- Sale numbers are still growing. iPhone growth is not spectacular but still brings metric tons of money to Apple (while a lower cost iPhone might sell in higher numbers but with even lower margins). iPad growth is incredible (+65%).
