By letting you know who's been stalking you, that makes it less creepy and more transparent than Facebook. So 10 recruiters and a handful of people with stealth accounts saw my LinkedIn profile.... I only use it to keep my resumé out there anyways. It's not like they're going to get the latest updates on what I think about [insert politically/socially charged topic here].

You claim that Apple's market-share is nowhere near collapsing while at the same time comparing them to RIM making money while their market share was collapsing. This seems like a faulty comparison to me. You shouldn't need to see explosive increases in revenue. Those are unsustainable over the long-term. Look at the raw numbers behind the percentages. Apple has grown significantly in terms of # of customers since the days when they had nearly 50% of the Smartphone and Tablet markets.

Comparing Apple (a single company) to all of Android (many Manufacturers) is faulty to start with. A fairer comparison would be Apple vs Samsung vs Motorola vs LG vs HTC vs ....... Lumping them all together and then using that to judge the health of Apple is misleading and dishonest.

Market Share != Profit Share.... Hell Market Share doesn't even imply Profit Share. The two things are completely unrelated. Sometimes (maybe even most of the time) there is a correlation, but so far that has not held true in this particular market. Apple has never had more than 20% of the "PC" market and yet they're the most profitable (and in my mind, most successful) "PC" Manufacturer on the market (and I'm using "PC" in the Generic and not the Microsoft-specific form). They've proven you don't need to have 80%+ Market Share to be a success or a hit or wildly profitable. Android has proven the opposite in that having 80% market share doesn't mean it's a gigantic party for all involved.

Samsung makes money hand-over-fist by almost literally copying Apple. They focused on a handful of models that they update annually (the Galaxy S/Note/Tab lines), just like Apple has with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. They started an Ad campaign poking fun at Apple, just like Apple did with the Mac vs PC ads back in the day. Samsung owns most of their own supply chain to minimize production costs, while Apple relies on bulk purchases and promises of future business to drive down prices in their supply chain (they both also use Foxconn for some of their manufacturing).

Everyone else in the smartphone and tablet market is struggling. Some are making money, but its pennies by comparison to Apple or Samsung.

Apple and Samsung had a combined Profit Share of 104% last quarter.... They have this impossible seeming share because most (read: not all) competitors are either making very little profit by comparison or are taking losses. In the case of LG, HTC, and Motorola, some of Samsung's "major" Android competitors, they're all skating on thin ice or have been taking losses for some time.

There is a reason Apple stopped focusing on Android in general when it comes to their Patent Litigation, and the same goes for Samsung.... They're focusing on each other and not the rest of the Android community. If it were Apple vs. Android in terms of Profit Share (Market Share is worth nothing if your Profit Share is shit), then Apple is winning.... If it were Apple vs. Samsung.... Then the battle is very close, and it is hard to determine a clear victor... and as a consumer and a software dev, I don't want there to be a clear winner. Competition is a GOOD thing. When will you jack-holes get that through your heads? Seriously. Android is all the better now BECAUSE of Apple, and the reverse is also true (iOS is better because competing with Android has forced it to be).

The problem with RIM was that their entire business was tied up in Mobile Devices. They were the "King of the Market" (meaning they had no real competition and could basically decide the market's direction at will) for a LONG time. Then, as if overnight, they weren't and they didn't know how do deal with that. They made a lot of bad moves. Apple has yet to go anywhere near that path. They know they aren't the "King of the Market", though they might like to be. The same goes for Samsung and Google... They know Android isn't the "King of the Market", but they want it to be. This is a good thing, as it forces both groups to innovate new software and hardware features.

I can hate a product without hating the parent company that creates/owns the product.

Basic logic... Try it sometime.

How is Google profiting from Android? Maybe Google Play is profitable, but it's profits pale in comparison to the Apple App Store since most apps on Play are free and the one's that aren't don't see nearly the number of downloads they do from Apple.

And that's mostly because Samsung owns most of their supply chain (reducing production costs) and has started to focus on the Galaxy S/Tab/Note lines for mobile devices (reducing design costs). Everyone else has a bunch of different product lines and release new models every few months (reducing consumer confidence in them).

And yet most Android manufacturers are taking a loss right now... so having a larger market share isn't working out too well for them... The one exception seems to be Samsung, but only because they borrowed a page from Apple's Marketing department and started making fun of the competition (from a conceptual point-of-view the Samsung ad's making fun of the lines for the latest iDevice aren't that different from the Mac vs PC ads). Samsung is even starting to follow Apple's device announcement/release schedule.

People keep saying Android is eating Apple's lunch, yet Apple had revenues of $35.6 Billion of which $6.9 Billion was profit... And that was during a down quarter when they had no new devices released and sales started to drop off as people wait for the next iDevice. $6.9 Billion... with a 'B'.... That's a lot of money. They're hardly in any financial pain over Android's growth.

How does hating Java lead to hating Oracle?

There was a TED Talk on Motivation a few years ago... RSAnimate got a hold of it and made this YouTube video. It pretty much backs up everything you just mentioned.

Apple is dishonest for offering people pre-launch access to a new device for review purposes? Last I checked this is a common practice in consumer electronics. It's also something I've never heard of Apple actually doing. IIRC, for the first few iterations of the iPhone it was a cause for grumbles among the "media elite".