At the peak, Microsoft's profit margins on their core products where hovering around 90%. If I remember right, Apple's profit margins on the iPhone peaked at a bit short of 75% with the 4S, and have generally been sub-60%.
Furthermore, Apple hoards cash in a way that Microsoft never did. What this means is that Microsoft was sinking the cash into other business ventures - in other words they created a heavy reliance on those wide profit margins by creating a bunch of units that needed to be subsidized by other units' wide profit margins to survive. By contrast, Apple's taken a strategy of building up an enormous nest egg that they can use to help get them through the lean times should that ever become necessary.
Who'd you say is living at greater financial risk? Someone who makes an enormous salary but is only a brief period of unemployment away from foreclosing on their palatial house and having their Porsche repossessed? Or someone who relatively recently fell into a very high-paying (if not quite so enormously lucrative) job but has stuck with a relatively frugal lifestyle and instead devoted the extra money to investing in more liquid assets?
Someone who makes an enormous salary but is only a brief period of unemployment away from foreclosing on their palatial house and having their Porsche repossessed?
So, in this part of your analogy, it seems Microsoft is the company you're comparing to a person that is ready to have their possessions repossessed. Is that right? If so, I humbly invite you to look at the facts regarding Microsoft. Microsoft's most recent quarter saw literally record revenue and they blew away everyone's profit expectations.
Microsoft wasn't always so prudent with its money. I was meaning to compare to when Microsoft's favorite thing to do with cash was to burn it. Remember Skype?
I wouldn't be surprised if this (welcome) new strategy isn't at least partially inspired by observing how Apple does things.
What is this Skype thing you speak of? I can't tell if that's the burning of cash or planting a tree... since that business unit will likely be decent on paper until it becomes pretty great on paper. I mean who would be using some voice/video calling software over their existing data connections instead of paying for per-minute land line rates through their telco's?
Also, for enterprise & institutions using Exchange, many seem to be loving Lync, etc. for IM+ services. Skype seems like a decent long-term play. Also, good for the IP.
Furthermore, Apple hoards cash in a way that Microsoft never did. What this means is that Microsoft was sinking the cash into other business ventures - in other words they created a heavy reliance on those wide profit margins by creating a bunch of units that needed to be subsidized by other units' wide profit margins to survive. By contrast, Apple's taken a strategy of building up an enormous nest egg that they can use to help get them through the lean times should that ever become necessary.
Who'd you say is living at greater financial risk? Someone who makes an enormous salary but is only a brief period of unemployment away from foreclosing on their palatial house and having their Porsche repossessed? Or someone who relatively recently fell into a very high-paying (if not quite so enormously lucrative) job but has stuck with a relatively frugal lifestyle and instead devoted the extra money to investing in more liquid assets?