Apple reported huge earnings. Although I have an iPhone, I’ve never been a huge Apple fan. Mainly because I don’t like the conrol, nor do I like the basic mindset on which Apple was built.

I do, however, have the utmost respect for what they do and how they do it. My mom is an Apple fan and she now goes to the Apple store to drive the Apple people crazy instead of me when she has a problem. The associates at the Apple store are always more than willing to help.

I’ve always found that Apple was best at marketing, which is why their earnings are so good. This alone is priceless:

A Goldman Sachs analyst questioned whether Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet–and other low-cost iPad alternatives like it–might actually be turning people on to Apple’s iPad or making an impact on Apple’s sales.

“In terms of our competitiveness, the ecosystem for iPads is in a class by itself,” Cook said. “I think people really want to do multiple things with their tablet, and therefore, we don’t really see these limited-function tablets and e-readers [as] being in the same category.”

First, I own two e-readers and I prefer dedicated e-reading devices when I’m reading. I don’t want distractions.

Second, I own a Nextbook Premium 8 tablet and it does everything and more than some basic iPads do. I paid far less for my Nextbook and I have no complaints whatsoever. So I’m not exactly sure what Apple is talking about with “ecosystms” and “classes.” This sounds more like marketing hype than actual fact. The only thing missing from that answer was “research says,” and “studies prove.”

But they know what they are doing at Apple, especially when it comes to people who don’t understand technology and they want things to be simple. They also know all about status and class peer pressure, and how seriously some people cling to those things.

I might even think about buying an iPad someday. But only if the prices came down. I can think of far better ways I can spend my money…like making an extra mortgage payment to pay down my home, or just putting that money in the bank for a rainy day…than buying something that costs three times the price of what something else can do just as well.

There’s an old saying about money I try to live by:

“It’s as important to learn how to make money as it is to learn how to hold on to it.”