All smart-phones have a pretty insane mark-up ...

The Google Nexus 4 is sold for $300 and still turns Google a healthy profit, is one of the most advanced smartphones on the market, and the primary feature it is lacking (4G LTE) is the result of Google's partners not wanting a $300 phone with that feature enabled.

While I could be wrong, I suspect the actual manufacturing and delivery cost of most smartphones is in the $150 to $200 range, most Android smartphones charge $400 to $500 to give a healthy profit to the manufacturer and retailer, and the $800 price tag associated with the iPhone is mostly profit for Apple.

Yeah, googles 'burnt earth' strategy with Android isn't making them any money.

I'm not sure I know what you're trying to say ...

All the manufacturers are trying to make money, but Google's approach is different (and a little more honest IMO) than Apple's. Google and Apple both know that there isn't much of a market for phones over (about) $300 so Google prices their phone at $300 and Apple prices their phone at $800 knowing telecom companies will sell it for $300 when you enter into a contract and pay 1000% markup on their services.

Office isn't necessary, but it's by far the most popular "office suite", which is why most people do use it and why it's used in most businesses. Apple made their iWork suite specifically to have something for their platforms OS X/iOS. Even now their not updating Safari for PC.

I personally use OpenOffice on my desktop (win7), on my iPad I have pages/numbers, and on my MacBook I have Office:Mac 2011 (Home & Business). I use my Mac for writing documents for work, so it's nice to have complete compatibility as we have MSOffice on all the computers.

It's pretty common knowledge that Apple's profit margin on products is significantly higher than any other manufacturer. Thats why the whole law that's currently coming through meaning Apple have to disclose what % of their price is profit will be interesting.

Will people still be happy to shell out £700 for an iPhone when they find out it actually costs less to manufacture than the high end Androids that are £500? Will people finally see Apple's tactic is sell high on low spec due to a closed format? Probably not. But at least on the phone front people will finally realise that the iPhone 5 isn't superior to the high end Androids.

He thinks Office is unwieldy and mind boggling to use.

L

O

L

To first unseat Microsoft, you have to have a relevant market share. Apple does not have that by a country mile.

Really?  Have you never heard of the following?

Google Play: 30%

Amazon: 30% (Amazon used to charge magazines 70% before Apple got in the game -- now that's steep)

BlackBerry: 30% (was 20% until two years ago)

Steam: 30% (was 40% until last year)

Windows Store: 30%, sliding down to 20% for successful apps

Note that out of these, the Windows Store is the one which is seriously desperate for content.  While 30% is evidently not the lowest price around, it certainly seems to be reasonable by default.

yeh... but its not is it.. 

That depends on how you think of market share:

http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23849612#.UNDon6Uhw3E

http://www.asymco.com/2012/12/13/below-the-surface/

People are doing an awful lot of personal computing on devices where Office isn't even available. Every single iPad that gets deployed in enterprise is proof that work can get done without full Office compatibility. Microsoft's most powerful marketing tool is the conceit that work can't get done if it isn't Windows and it isn't Office, and mobile is blowing that assumption apart.