Yes, that saying originated in the 1960s and 70s when IBM dominated firstly the mainframe market for business-critical applications, and latterly the embrio PC market. But even IBM eventually woke up to realise that other far more dynamic businesses were doing those things better than they did, and IBM sold off and withdrew from those markets.
You're the one making that comparison here Danidl... So if we were to complete your analogy, maybe Bosch and Apple, like IBM, have also had their day? (watch the hate voting ensue!).
It's easy to be blinded by brand loyalty... BMW and Mercedes also aren't the strong brands they once were... they are today far from the solid, quality, reliable marques many once believed them to be, yet people still aspire to owning them.
Today, a lot of Bosch product (domestic, professional) is made in the same Chinese, Maltese, Polish factories as lesser brands where once they were made in Germany by Germans - when perhaps it was worth paying a premium for that. The fact that your overpriced premium iPhone is made in the same Chinese factory that Tesco have their cheapy own-brand tellies made? Who is kidding who about "premium" brands?
That Bosch stage an e-bike race at the Nurburgring which they fully expect to win hands-down, and then get slaughtered by some upstart Chinese Company called Bafang, says what about Bosch paying attention to how the market has - in fact - moved on whilst they've been asleep?
It says a lot about blinded loyalty when someone wants to buy an e-bike solely because it has a premium "brand" on it rather than what might actually be the better ebike.
I can accept the broad tenor of your remarks but just a few objections.
IBM quit the pc market, because of the low profit margins. The existence of cloned bios and the plethora of below cost sales a by a glut in the market forced their hand With PS2 range, they had designed really clever manufacturing systems. The inside of those machines have not yet been bettered. They did an honourable transaction with Lenovo, a Chinese firm, provided them with their design and manufacturing tools. Lenovo are now the premium Chinese brand.
Whether Apple have had their day, does not concern me in the least, I'm not a fanboy. My children bought me an itouch mediaplayer which I eventually upgraded and still have. I did buy an ipad2, for a significant birthday, and it still works and I did have a iPhone 4, for a while until either my fingers got thicker, or my eyesight weaker, and I replaced it with a bigger screened, android. What I will say in their favour is that the apple kit is pretty robust, the batteries last and the cameras are ok.
Whether the same plant is used to assemble other phones along with the apple product is irrelevant, the same parts are not being used, and most likely different QA processes are used.
I have no comment to make about German cars, d8veh who has a background in QA made references on that topic some time ago.
Not everyone has the time to become an expert on everything, so they want shortcuts, buying a premium brand, be it in coffee, pullovers, ebikes TVs etc , is a shortcut and assures a level of performance. They read a few reviews maybe, like the colour of the paint, They are happy to make the trade-off of money for time and maybe street cred. And in the main they are right.
