"Apple is playing to Win"

"Steve Jobs' Apple will not be satisfied with anything less than the biggest piece of the pie that it can possibly take, in terms of profits, revenues, and unit sales. With the iPod, Apple has proven that all of those numbers can be well above 50 percent—without compromising product quality.

"In the mobile market, the goal is the same. Apple is playing to win."

The above is from John Siracusa's excellent Ars Technica article, Can You Buy Me Now? Apple and the War for the Mobile Market.

I agree that Jobs/Apple isn't satisfied with where they are in any segment of the markets they compete in. They absolutely want to grab the biggest share everywhere. That's what capitalists do.

But I don't think it's foremost in the mind of Apple. Money, in the shape of profits, revenue, share price, is a by-product, not a *primary* goal.

Siracusa credits Gruber with "(market share) is just be a convenient way for industry observers to "keep score." While Gruber may have said it, he certainly wasn't the first. A lot of people, myself included, have been saying it for years. As a Matter of fact, Steve Jobs has echoed the sentiment on many occasions.

In my opinion, it's one of the key reasons why Apple is having the success they are having. By taking money out of the equation - not worry (too much) about the share price, the revenues, the profits, it frees the company and its employees to focus on other aspects of business.

It's a model that has worked well for Apple these past 10+ years.