Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple’s China Problem

stratechery.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 190 posts

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#21

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

yabatopia wrote: post #16

I don't know if most people really consider the OS to be that important anymore, as the author strongly believes. The Windows Surface Laptop is no threat to Apple because it doesn't run macOS. Samsung's smartphones are no threat to Apple because the phones don't run iOS. Then he continues with the WeChat factor to explain the shrinking market share of Apple in China. If you consider China the trendsetter in tech, tha…

Are you kidding? It's like every other day we hear about a new Android exploit or security flaw. At least Apple is committed to strong encryption and privacy. The OS - and the hardware integration - is an enormous selling point to me. As much as I oppose Apple's direction as of late for many business decisions (iPhone 7 headphone jack for example), the reasons stated above are why I still cannot see myself switching.

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#22

Post by gvb »

dilemma wrote: post #7
macintux wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not saying that Apple has a monopoly on smartphones; he's saying it has a monopoly on iOS. His overall point is that while iOS has a strong lock-in effect for people already on the platform, in China the real platform is WeChat, so the iOS monopoly isn't as useful.

No, he is saying that Apple has a smartphone monopoly in the quoted paragraph.

First sentence of paragraph two states the premise of the article: "...the company has a monopoly on not just MacOS but even more importantly iOS."

The article does not assert that Apple has a monopoly on smartphones.

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#23

Post by smcl »

noja wrote: post #15
ramshanker wrote: post #14

In India, dual SIM support is the best advantage Android has over iPhone. That holds many people away. People are not letting ONE of their number go away.

What do they use the second phone number for?

I know that many of the local shops in Edinburgh owned by Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi guys prominently advertised SIMs with special rates for calling numbers in those places. Perhaps it's something like 1 SIM for local every-day stuff, and another for calling your uncle/cousin/sister who's studying or living abroad? Also India is pretty huge perhaps some of the further apart states are considered sort of "abroad" for billing purposes by the carriers.

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#24

Post by rjsw »

kharms wrote: post #20
noja wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do they use the second phone number for?

(1) It's often cheaper/free to call numbers on the same network. (2) Business phone/family phone. Edit: speaking from my experience in Eastern Europe. I assume it's similar in India.

Even Western Europe, I have UK and French SIMs.

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#25

Post by [deleted] »

iplaw wrote: post #17
ganfortran wrote: post #3

Don't forget that China has biggest and most competitive smartphone market in the world, both in specs and price. iPhone is kinda underwhelming in the past year.

Too bad the phones from ZTE, Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc generally suffer from horrendous build quality. From my experience, even their flagship devices feel more like a toy and less like an actual phone. The iPhone and Galaxy, and perhaps a few one offs from other companies, set build quality and craft benchmarks.

[deleted]

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#26

Post by johncolanduoni »

Devid2014 wrote: post #10
staticelf wrote: post #2

> None of that lock-in exists in China: Apple may be a de facto monopolist for most of the world, but in China the company is simply another smartphone vendor, and being simply another smartphone vendor is a hazardous place to be. Don't get that part. I live in Europe and sure a lot of people has an iPhone but I believe strongly that more people have an Android. Doesn't Android have like 80% or more of the world mark…

"Apple may be a de facto monopolist for most of the world" May this is how some peoples from USA see Apple ? But here in EU Apple is just another smartphone vendor and most peoples are using Android.

AFAICT they're not a monopoly here either; most of the numbers I see are in the neighborhood of 40%.

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#27

Post by awjr »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #21
yabatopia wrote: post #16

I don't know if most people really consider the OS to be that important anymore, as the author strongly believes. The Windows Surface Laptop is no threat to Apple because it doesn't run macOS. Samsung's smartphones are no threat to Apple because the phones don't run iOS. Then he continues with the WeChat factor to explain the shrinking market share of Apple in China. If you consider China the trendsetter in tech, tha…

Are you kidding? It's like every other day we hear about a new Android exploit or security flaw. At least Apple is committed to strong encryption and privacy. The OS - and the hardware integration - is an enormous selling point to me. As much as I oppose Apple's direction as of late for many business decisions (iPhone 7 headphone jack for example), the reasons stated above are why I still cannot see myself switching.

Android enables you to install apps from 3rd party stores and specifically warns people about being careful about doing this. It is not so much that Android has more exploits, but that it is more exploitable if you choose it to be.

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#28

Post by awjr »

iplaw wrote: post #17
ganfortran wrote: post #3

Don't forget that China has biggest and most competitive smartphone market in the world, both in specs and price. iPhone is kinda underwhelming in the past year.

Too bad the phones from ZTE, Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc generally suffer from horrendous build quality. From my experience, even their flagship devices feel more like a toy and less like an actual phone. The iPhone and Galaxy, and perhaps a few one offs from other companies, set build quality and craft benchmarks.

I've been very impressed with the OnePlus 3T. Cannot fault it at the price (£400).

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#29

Post by victornomad »

iplaw wrote: post #17
ganfortran wrote: post #3

Don't forget that China has biggest and most competitive smartphone market in the world, both in specs and price. iPhone is kinda underwhelming in the past year.

Too bad the phones from ZTE, Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc generally suffer from horrendous build quality. From my experience, even their flagship devices feel more like a toy and less like an actual phone. The iPhone and Galaxy, and perhaps a few one offs from other companies, set build quality and craft benchmarks.

it used to be like that but nowadays they are superb. I own a Huawei P9 and even the Google Pixel looks cheapo compared to it.

Re: Apple’s China Problem

#30

Post by imron »

staticelf wrote: post #2

> None of that lock-in exists in China: Apple may be a de facto monopolist for most of the world, but in China the company is simply another smartphone vendor, and being simply another smartphone vendor is a hazardous place to be. Don't get that part. I live in Europe and sure a lot of people has an iPhone but I believe strongly that more people have an Android. Doesn't Android have like 80% or more of the world mark…

> but I believe strongly that more people have an Android.

If you go by people, Android has more market share. If you go by profit, iOS has more market share. https://www.macrumors.com/2017/03/07/apple-global-smartphone...

> None of that lock-in exists in China

This is true. If all your friends and family use iMessage and PhotoStream, then once you start using that too it creates lock-in specifically tied to software that only runs on Apple devices.

As an example, all my family use iPhones. We use PhotoStream to share pictures of family events and children and the like. If I were to switch to Android then I would lose all of that interaction, and so it's a big driver in keeping me (and other family members) on iOS.

Contrast this with China, where even on Apple devices, people generally use WeChat for doing that, rather than the Apple equivalent. WeChat also runs on Android and so you can happily switch platforms and you'll still have access to your same WeChat account with everything there.

Post reply on HN