As goes the economy so goes Apple

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 17:52

Opinion and Analysis

Despite some notable exceptions of late, the smartphone of choice for business users is still the Blackberry. As for the rest of us - well most of just want a mobile phone and in tough times don't want to pay a premium for an all singing and dancing slightly too big for your hand gadget.

When times are good and the money's rolling in everybody wants to buy out the entire stock of items on display in an Apple store. When money's tight there's nothing in those stores that people can't do without.

One might argue that the same thing in tough economic times applies to the computers and electronics industry generally. Well yes and no.

Certainly people will put off buying new computers as long as they can. But businesses need them for productivity, kids need them at home to do schoolwork, families need them to get information from the web and they still keep getting cheaper.

People will certainly stop paying through the nose for 50 inch HD TVs but they be able to justify buying a cheap 32 inch LCD TV because sitting at home and watching it is the cheapest form of entertainment.

I'm not saying by any means that bleak prospects for Apple in 2009 are a certainty. The market may have bottomed, real estate prices may start trending upwards again and the global economy may come roraing back.

However, if we do happen to be headed for a prolonged deep recession then Apple is one company in the IT industry that will feel it more than most. Along with Apple, we can only hope that yesterday's awesome bounce in global markets was not simply a flash in the pan.