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Apple’s 2016 in review

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Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#71

Post by mrmondo »

majormajor wrote: post #62
mrmondo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not propaganda, it's my experience (and actually the guy sitting next to me at work as well, although he said his girlfriend has gone through a MacBook charger and her current one although working is looking tired but not broken yet).

It moves past being just your experience when you add in the bit about "I always assume when I hear of people with this problem that they're disrespecting their hardware by jamming it in doors / desks or perhaps have pets that chew on them." It's fine to say you don't have issues, but if six other people are saying they have issues, and know people with issues, it's rude to write them all off like that. ----- EDIT: r…

That's not a direct quote of that I said, the sentence I wrote is phrased in the past tense with the intent (and you'll just have to take my word for it) of surprise and / or previous thoughts on the matter up until the time of writing it. When you quoted me there you actually changed the construct of the comment to become an argument or judgement which was not the intent.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#72

Post by fdsfsaa »

aresant wrote: post #33

Apple is the world's most profitable business - twice the profits of #2 (JP Morgan Chase) and almost a 4x magnitude over Google.(1) I agree with the author's final assessment - "meets expectations with some areas that need improvement" - and I think this is the key. They are stoking the fire, keeping it burning, but clearly their focus seems to be diminished on their core business. And even companies of this scale ne…

> My suspicion is that Apple / Tim Cook knows something BIG that we don't that they are going to get PERFECT while they still have the cash fire hose of the iPhone to drive the engine.

Possible --- but it seems to me much more likely that Apple is just another big company suffering from the classic combination of innovator's dilemma and big company internal politics. What special immunity would Apple have to the problems that bring down every big tech company in its old age?

Tech companies are like people. They get old. If they don't die suddenly, they eventually succumb to general systems frailty and self-aggrandizing cancers. Sure, Apple might be one of those rare 80 year old marathon runners, but why would you expect it to be?

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#73

Post by sporkologist »

lowbloodsugar wrote: post #8

In 2009 I bought my first Apple product: an 8GB 13" MacBook Pro that cost $3000 ($1000 for the extra 4gb, like a dumbass). Quite soon after I got an iPhone 3GS. Now every computer in the house (family of four) is an Apple. Every phone is an Apple. Even AirPlay was an influencing factor in selecting a hi-fi receiver (HTR7065). Apple TVs sit next to actual TVs. Yesterday I replaced our fleet of TimeCapsules and Airport…

> Now its just incremental phone updates.

Don't forget the watch, and the advances in dongle technology.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#74

Post by LargeCompanies »

I just got a Google Home speaker and for me it feels like how the iPhone felt in 2007; a revolution in computing!

But Apple is so far behind with the horrid Siri it's laughable. I've used Siri almost daily since 2011 and after using Google Now I cant stand to use Siri as her accuracy is 90 percent if lucky vs. her competitors 100 percent.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#75

Post by triangleman »

wineisfine wrote: post #52
loosescrews wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve was a notoriously hard person to work with. Realistically, anyone who Steve was likely to name as his successor would be a follower, someone who went along with whatever Steve said and told him what he wanted to hear. What Apple needed was another person like Steve, but unfortunately, by letting Steve select that person, they ended up with someone completely unlike Steve.

This is a very clever analysis. Thanks for that, it makes a lot of sense. It also explains why it's shifted from being a computer company that makes gadgets (Jobs) is now becoming a gadget company that happens to make some computers as well (Cook). In all this, the gates are wide open for Microsoft to score some good points here towards devs.

How do you figure there has been a "shift" like you said?

In 2007 Jobs was using the phrase "post-PC", and by the time he died in 2011, more than half of Apple's revenue was iPhone/iPad/etc.

To me it seems that Cook is just continuing the trend.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#76

Post by flukus »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #57
tsujamin wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm onto charger 4 now I think? Usually have to replace it every ~12 months due to either cable sheath detatching from the inner cable and then splitting as I wind it up. Atleast two of them have also shorted out or only charged my macbook tl;dr they're pretty trash, but maybe so are other chargers.

Why not just patch the cable with some electrical tape? Buying an entire charger just because the cable is fraying seems excessive.

You really expect a mac user to value function over form?

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#77

Post by rcthompson »

tajen wrote: post #51
aresant wrote: post #33

Apple is the world's most profitable business - twice the profits of #2 (JP Morgan Chase) and almost a 4x magnitude over Google.(1) I agree with the author's final assessment - "meets expectations with some areas that need improvement" - and I think this is the key. They are stoking the fire, keeping it burning, but clearly their focus seems to be diminished on their core business. And even companies of this scale ne…

> My suspicion is that Apple / Tim Cook knows something BIG That's what everyone has been hoping for years. That's why I was hung up to the last keynote, up to the last second, hoping for Tim Cook to say "One more thing", and launch a new product line. And the one more thing was, no kidding, Lady Gaga. And everyone is now despairing that there is anything to wait for. At least we have the emoji bar on the keyboard no…

Isn't one of the theories that the "something BIG" is Apple becoming a payment processor/bank/whatever financial entity, supported by the presence of a fingerprint reader & secure enclave in all their mobile devices (including laptops courtesy of the Touch Bar)?

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#78

Post by wyclif »

richardboegli wrote: post #7
adjkant wrote: post #4

If you're browsing this and say "Great, another developer article shitting on Apple after the Pro release who thinks they have figured out everything about the company", please do read this. I was truly surprised at the depth, fairness, and considerations in this article. I'm very curious to see how Apple plays out in the next few years and will likely look back at this article to compare, if I remember to. As a deve…

But the Macbook Pro was meant to be for Power Users?

The MacBookPro now seems like a sideline for Apple. They put a lot of design and development into the iPhone because they sell so many of them. It makes sense from a business standpoint, but it's disappointing if you're a developer or power user.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#79

Post by AnthonyMouse »

ekianjo wrote: post #14
ams6110 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Henry Ford: "If I asked people what they want, they'd say 'faster horses'"

So what? The key take out here is "faster", so asking questions is not necessarily irrelevant, instead of focusing on making one's horses shinier or more economical. You need to find out what problem to fix.

> The key take out here is "faster"

Even that part is mostly wrong. A fast horse can run more than 40MPH which about all you can expect from a car in a city. The main reason most people don't own a horse isn't that a car is faster.

Users ask for things that are obvious. No kidding faster is better. Can we have it cheaper and more reliable too?

If you ask most people in 1870 how to improve those aspects of a horse they'll tell you all about horse breeding but that doesn't get you a car.

Re: Apple’s 2016 in review

#80

Post by mrmondo »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #54
mrmondo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all the MacBooks, MacBook Pros and idevices I've had over the years (including my still running perfectly Jan 2011 MBP) I've never had a single issue with any power cord tearing / breaking or power supply even fail as far as I can remember. I always assume when I hear of people with this problem that they're disrespecting their hardware by jamming it in doors / desks or perhaps have pets that chew on them.

Same here, and I used to think people were being careless... until I started working remotely from places like coffee shops where I had to bring my charger every day. Turns out the thinner MagSafe cable will fray after a while if you unpack and pack it on a daily basis. I bet it's due to winding the cord around the brick. I use the little legs you can flip out (they've been removed on the new charger). The last few m…

Yeah, interesting - that's certainly not and never has been my use case (ultra / daily portable), there must be some sort of rating for number of insertions / connections similar to the varying USB standards over the years - I wonder if that's published somewhere, if so we could probably do the math and come up with a - moves per week rating for a charger?
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