Amazon

[Slamz]

You call that a problem, I call that genius. It's the Apple "halo" effect. Someone buys an iPod or an iPhone, loves it, and goes looking for other Apple products like a mac or a iPad.

I call it the Apple "tar pit" effect. Someone buys a Mac, loves it, and goes looking for accessories or add-ons for it and discovers that much of the wide world of manufacturing and invention is sealed off from them. If they see anything they want and Apple doesn't make it (or doesn't make a reasonably priced version of it) then they'll have to dump Apple entirely in order to use it. e.g., your selection of hardware upgrades (like video cards) is very limited and your ability to use 3rd party accessories (programmable mice, keyboards, headsets) can depend on if the manufacturer made a driver for Mac or not.

Also, would you like an iPhone with a little bit bigger screen? Little bit smaller? Want an SD card slot? Tough! (Although Maxell will sell you an incredibly overpriced one because it has to double as a Wi-fi network in order to talk to an iPhone.) You have Apple's few options and that's it.

Meanwhile, someone invested in Android no longer likes their HTC phone -- well they can go out and see what's offered by Samsung or Motorola or others. Might not be great from HTC's perspective, but it's good from the consumer point of view. (It's certainly good for Amazon, who is more interested in content sales anyway. Don't have a Fire? No problem! They'll sell to your Samsung tablet too. Samsung gets out of the business? No problem! Their stuff will work on Motorola.)

This is why I think investors are jittery about Apple. What you see as "genius", I see as "precarious". I can only guess what the bulk of investors see that makes them continue to under-buy Apple stock, but I'm guessing the opinions I've shared here may play a big part of it.

Apple is playing a high-wire act and while that may have been a necessity 10 years ago, it's a real puzzler today.

Refrigerators? Garden furniture? Chocolate bars?

Digital content providers? Enterprise servers? Enterprise software?

Amazon continues to branch out in sensible ways. Apple keeps things close and their vision for the future seems to be "my way or the highway". There's a risk that it'll be the highway.