Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#391

Post by bigtunacan » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 8:48 PM UTC

raverbashing wrote: post #387

bigtunacan wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately I have a life saving medical device that only is compatible with the iPhone. I switched from Android to the iPhone 7 because of this.

Somehow I can't understand how a life saving medical device would require a smartphone of a certain brand, but even if this is the case you could have gotten the iPhone 6 for example

I'm a type 1 diabetic. There is a device by Dexcom known as a continuous glucose monitor that reads my blood sugar via interstitial fluids and then transmits the information via Bluetooth.

When I get unexplained low blood sugars in my sleep, which is believed to be the cause of Dead in Bed Syndrome, it sounds an alarm on the iPhone to wake me up before it's too late.

As for going with the iPhone 6

1) my money would still have gone to Apple

2) I didn't think about what a pain it was until after I bought them

Side notes

1) I have contacted Dexcom regarding an app for Android, but it doesn't seem like it will happen anytime soon.

2) I also tried an open source version for Android, but after purchasing 4 phones in a row that it had varying problems with I decided my life was worth more than being able to stay on Android.

[EDIT]

Diabetes is the number 7 leading cause of death in the United States and low blood sugar is the number one reason for ER visits by Type 1 diabetics.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#392

Post by pdimitar » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 8:49 PM UTC

beezle wrote: post #380

pdimitar wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much this, damn. 2016 felt like everybody was just walking backwards. I share your sentiment about Google. They look like they only do the minimal effort possible for Android not to die -- and since they get a lot of user data and ad revenue, they're not trying very hard since they're not taking hits in the wallet. That's not good enough for me, and IMO many other people. I personally have been witness to 3 tech-s…

"They look like they only do the minimal effort possible for Android not to die" I can understand some Android users have frustration over carrier issues. But every version I have used has been a significant improvement over the prior, especially under the hood. I suppose one can argue that Android allows for too much end user customization (directly or by third party) but I would rather suffer that than the alternat…

Android is an awful offender in terms of allowing every app under the sun to run in the background however. Does stock Nougat have a system app that allows you to white/black-list which apps can/cannot run in the background?

Samsung's SmartManager allows you to do so and it improved my battery life. Not by 100% but having in mind how notoriously bad Android's standby battery life is, even 2 more hours of SOT is a huge win.

What I am trying to say -- and I don't disagree with all your arguments, please have that in mind -- is that Google can step it up a lot more on the front of the housekeeping, yet they don't.

How long is gonna take for all us techies to realize that the non-tech people hate maintaining tech? Why doesn't Android (and iOS) have mechanisms for never allowing the device's cache to exceed a certain amount, for example?

Again, I don't disagree with you: your arguments are fair, but I believe mine are too.

EDIT: One of the things that seriously alienated me from Google's "vanilla" take on Android is them never allowing mobile Chrome to have content blockers. The amount of trash scripts and popups/popdowns out there on the web is astounding. Actions speak louder than words. I guess they don't want their scripts being blocked as well. That, or they are incompetent.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#393

Post by newscracker » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 9:24 PM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #141

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thoughts exactly. Push forward in to where? And I think this is great for users. In the same way that my Core 2 Duo ThinkPad running Windows 7 (with SSD) does everything I need, I don't want to have to upgrade my phone every 12 months due to planned obsolescence. I think one of the glaring areas for improvement is battery life. Won't someone give us the option of a 10+mm thick phone with a huge battery in it. Plea…

Apple has a real opportunity to modernize iOS a lot and kick Google in the nuts since they are very content sitting on their ass doing practically nothing for Android. - Dark theme. Customization = good. Sends a good message. - More separate volume controls. For me one volume level for notifications and phone ringer is absurd in 2016. - LCD displays, really? The iPhone 7/Plus and the iPad Pro 9.7" are first of Apple'…

> - Dark theme. Customization = good. Sends a good message.

I'm not sure if the customization option would come anytime soon, but a dark theme would very likely come out in 2017 when Apple releases an iPhone with an OLED display. It most likely wouldn't come if the lineup is all LCD (as it has been so far). This is all about battery life, which Apple obsesses about a lot. Assuming there's just text on the screen, with LCD, black text on white background would be better for battery life, whereas on an OLED screen, having white text on a black background would be better for battery life.

Edit: While Apple has shipped (LCD) iPhone models with new versions of iOS and sometimes darker wallpapers, my point above is more about many of the Apple apps, including Settings, Mail, Reminder, and so on.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#394

Post by bobbyi_settv » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 9:30 PM UTC

neotek wrote: post #361

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing the headphone jack is just to get more money and control. First by selling dongles. Second after many people moved to new headphones they will introduce a license program for headphone vendors "Built for Apple" which costs say 10% of the headphone. Other headphones will no longer work (see what Sony did with PS4 bluetooth headphones).

Apple made $230 BILLION in revenue last year, of which less than one fifth of one percent came from MFI licensing fees. Removing the headphone jack had absolutely nothing to do with selling dongles and everything to do with Apple doing what it always does: seeing which way the wind is blowing and dragging everyone kicking and screaming into their vision of the future. They did the exact same thing with the floppy dri…

Apple has been wrong about this sort of thing way more times than it has been right.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#395

Post by raverbashing » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 9:49 PM UTC

bigtunacan wrote: post #391

raverbashing wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somehow I can't understand how a life saving medical device would require a smartphone of a certain brand, but even if this is the case you could have gotten the iPhone 6 for example

I'm a type 1 diabetic. There is a device by Dexcom known as a continuous glucose monitor that reads my blood sugar via interstitial fluids and then transmits the information via Bluetooth. When I get unexplained low blood sugars in my sleep, which is believed to be the cause of Dead in Bed Syndrome, it sounds an alarm on the iPhone to wake me up before it's too late. As for going with the iPhone 6 1) my money would s…

Thanks for the clarification, and yes, T1 Diabetes is dangerous.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#396

Post by pdimitar » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 9:53 PM UTC

newscracker wrote: post #393

pdimitar wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has a real opportunity to modernize iOS a lot and kick Google in the nuts since they are very content sitting on their ass doing practically nothing for Android. - Dark theme. Customization = good. Sends a good message. - More separate volume controls. For me one volume level for notifications and phone ringer is absurd in 2016. - LCD displays, really? The iPhone 7/Plus and the iPad Pro 9.7" are first of Apple'…

> - Dark theme. Customization = good. Sends a good message. I'm not sure if the customization option would come anytime soon, but a dark theme would very likely come out in 2017 when Apple releases an iPhone with an OLED display. It most likely wouldn't come if the lineup is all LCD (as it has been so far). This is all about battery life, which Apple obsesses about a lot. Assuming there's just text on the screen, wit…

I love it that they are obsessed with battery life. It seems very few OEMs remember what a mobile device is these days. I like Apple for it very much.

That being said, I would buy the OLED iPhone in a heartbeat but only if it has bezels and has no curved screen. These fads are making normal human usage of the phones a huge annoyance and really need to die.

I'm very sad that I am seeing exactly the opposite: many people FINALLY got their brains warmed up and figured "Hey! Samsung did it, look how well their S7 Edge sold! Let's do the same!"... that's awful, sigh. They absolutely don't get it.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#397

Post by jrnichols » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 9:55 PM UTC

legodt wrote: post #263

ihuman wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just keep mine connected to my headphones, since I use them more with my iPhone than a computer. Also someone made a cool keychain to attach it to if that works better for you. [1] > expensive spare dongles They're only $10 USD. [1] https://uncourage.com/

Why are people so desperate to defend this clearly user hostile move? A dongle is a poor user experience and continues to degrade user experience over time. The fact that there was a market demand for a "cool" keychain shows how unnecessary the removal of the jack was. Believe it or not, people enjoy using things without unnecessary accessories that you have to keep track of and swap around

> Why are people so desperate to defend this clearly user hostile move?

Partly because even months before the iPhone 7 came out, sales of wireless headphones overtook those of wired.

http://qz.com/745108/wireless-headphone-sales-just-hit-a-tip...

People are already using it without unnecessary accessories.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#398

Post by jrnichols » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 10:00 PM UTC

bobbyi_settv wrote: post #394

neotek wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple made $230 BILLION in revenue last year, of which less than one fifth of one percent came from MFI licensing fees. Removing the headphone jack had absolutely nothing to do with selling dongles and everything to do with Apple doing what it always does: seeing which way the wind is blowing and dragging everyone kicking and screaming into their vision of the future. They did the exact same thing with the floppy dri…

Apple has been wrong about this sort of thing way more times than it has been right.

Here's where people pile on and say [citation needed]

Maybe I'm just forgetting things today, but i'm not thinking of any.

ADB? FireWire? Which ones?

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#399

Post by aeontech » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 10:11 PM UTC

erdevs wrote: post #187

aeontech wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10% or more reduction in the quarter after the holidays is always to be expected. This is just more of the usual "we need to write about _something_" journalism. Sigh. (PS: anecdotally, 3 family members upgraded to 7s/7s+ in the last month. No complaints about headphone jack, it's really only a huge issue in the internet echo chamber while ordinary people in their vast majority don't care and just use whatever buds c…

The article isn't talking about quarter over quarter growth, but year over year. Quarterly sales will likely decline, as they do most every year in the period and as is perfectly natural for this market. The story is that year-over-year growth may be lower than expected and that iPhone 7 component orders are being trimmed down.

I don't see anything in the article that says it's a 10% cut compared to last year, but maybe I missed it, can you clarify?

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#400

Post by jdietrich » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 10:38 PM UTC

grzm wrote: post #319

jdietrich wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple seem to have a terrible blind spot for mice. Ive-era keyboards have been consistently excellent, but the mice have been consistently awful. Remember the horrendous hockey-puck mouse that shipped with the iMac?

The USB mouse ("hockey-puck") was particularly bad, as it wasn't easy to orient. The Might Mouse trackball was pretty bad, too. The others didn't have major deficiencies in my opinion. What in particular do you find fault with the others?

The Pro Mouse had one button when five were becoming standard. The Mighty Mouse would only right-click if you lifted your index finger off the mouse entirely. The multitouch on the Magic Mouse is woeful in terms of discoverability and frustratingly erratic. Ergonomics have been consistently poor, owing to Apple's refusal to make a mouse that actually fits the human hand. None of their mice are comfortable in palm grip, because they're needlessly low and flat. The rounded edges and gloss plastic of the Mighty Mouse and Pro mouse are difficult to control in fingertip or claw grip.

By comparison, Microsoft achieved near-perfection in mouse design with the venerable Wheel Mouse Optical 1.1a. After more than a decade, that mouse is still perfectly usable for competitive gaming. Contemporary high-end mice from companies like Steelseries and Zowie imitate the shape of the WMO very closely, because it's exceedingly comfortable for a wide range of grip styles and hand sizes.