Note that the first graph shows research and development as a percentage of revenue (to scale the spending by company, since revenues differ so greatly). This next graphic can help you conceptualise the revenue and R&D gap:
A Few Interesting Notes:
• Now, Microsoft spends about 17 per cent of their revenue on R&D. Sony spends about 8 per cent. Apple spends less than 4 per cent.
• If you were to break down the amount of R&D that goes purely to physical (non-software) products sold by Apple and Sony, Sony would spend about $US11.5 million per product while Apple would spend about $US78.5 million per product. (Of course, that’s rolling the cost OS X and iPhone OS development into Macs and the iPhone, which could be seen as inflating their per product spending.)
• Microsoft just spends a lot of money in R&D, period – about $US9 billion this year. In terms of percentage growth over the last decade, Apple’s R&D has grown the most (nearly quadrupled) while Sony’s has grown the least (not quite doubled).
In light of these bare numbers, is it any surprise that Sony is struggling the most to capture the hearts and minds of a public hungry for gadgets?
Sources:
Apple
Microsoft
Sony
Research by David Chaid
Vladimir Popov
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 5:59 AM“In light of these bare numbers, is it any surprise that Apple is struggling the most to capture the hearts and minds of a public hungry for gadgets?”
You could say so… Their numbers are lower then what Sony has.
Karl
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 1:51 PMTheir numbers are lower…but look at their growth in revenue… has barely backed off compared to Sony.