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Apple is a traditional business

bloomberg.com

21–30 of 248 posts

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#21
post #12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. I love their commitment to privacy and security, but I only wish their platform wasn't so locked down. The only reason I went with Android in the first place was so I could side-load personally-built apps. IIRC (I could be wrong), if you want to write and side-load your own personal iOS apps, you have to pay a $99 fee and they deactivate after a week.

You don't need to pay anymore.

They still stop running after seven days.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#22

> ...this is a time when Amazon is pushing innovations that don’t solve any real-world problems but may create some: like smart speakers, with their threat of big brother-style surveillance in exchange for a minimal increase in convenience, or complex and expensive cashierless stores that won’t deliver much of an improvement to our shopping experience but may cost underprivileged people their jobs. This is a time whe…

I occasionally loose sleep, wondering what products were lost due to Jobs' early death.

Edit: Ok, fine. I loose sleep wondering what ideas were out there that languished because Jobs wasn't around to see their potential and capitalize on them. The argument "he wasn't that important because he didn't actually invent X" is played out, and it fundamentally misses the point.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#23
I'm very fond of Apple's business stance; my concern is not with it, but with their technological stance. Apple products are built on lock-in; they are proprietary and closed, not open. Frankly, at this point they're not even really all that good (in fact, sometimes embarrassingly bad — something not limited to Apple!).

I want the freedom to tinker, the freedom to review, the freedom to extend. That's why I use Linux.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#24

I probably now fall into this camp as well. I made fun of Apple for years, but while I still hold an emotional and likely completely irrational dislike for their products, if someone were to ask me for a recommendation on a phone today, the only phone I could recommend in good conscience is an iPhone, because it's the only option that takes privacy and security seriously right now.

I have an iPhone, but it is soooo painful to me that my awesome as hell MacBook Pro for work has USB C for everything, including power, and yet my phone does not. Meanwhile my team lead, sitting directly across from me, has an android phone that charges with USB C.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#25
What a strange article. He spent most of the time saying, "I could criticize Apple for .." which seems like a criticism shrouded in something else or backhanded compliment (if that). Also, what's this infatuation between good and evil? Why does that even belong in a tech conversation?

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#26

I probably now fall into this camp as well. I made fun of Apple for years, but while I still hold an emotional and likely completely irrational dislike for their products, if someone were to ask me for a recommendation on a phone today, the only phone I could recommend in good conscience is an iPhone, because it's the only option that takes privacy and security seriously right now.

Ubuntu phone? (I had one, but it wasn't very good, as it just didn't have the apps).

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#27
I only wish the author hadn't forgotten to mention the quintessential non-Apple company: SNAP[0]

Many say the current game of musical chairs is overdue for a pause. My money (not literally) is on Tech stocks taking the biggest hit. But as the article put it, Apple isn't a Tech company -- it's a manufacturer (and superb retailer!) of products that are observably differentiated, as they clearly command higher prices for virtually the same functionality as their competitors.

[0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-02/snap-s-sl...

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#28
post #7

(Disclosure: I hold AAPL) Great article but a couple of points: On Tuesday’s call, there was just one question about innovative offerings, and it concerned health applications, an important driver of Apple Watch sales but not a potential world-beating sensation. Apple appears to be happy to think small and focus on its shareholders, not on pie-in-the-sky ideas, like other tech companies, including industry leaders. T…

> They don't burn cash on new ideas just because they can

How much was spent on Project Titan (The car)?

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#29
Apple's main endeavor is to develop an actual product. They design and engineer something in the hopes that people buy it.

The honesty - and arguably, quaintness - of that consumer relationship separates Apple from the rest of the valley.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#30
post #23

I'm very fond of Apple's business stance; my concern is not with it, but with their technological stance. Apple products are built on lock-in; they are proprietary and closed, not open. Frankly, at this point they're not even really all that good (in fact, sometimes embarrassingly bad — something not limited to Apple!). I want the freedom to tinker, the freedom to review, the freedom to extend. That's why I use Linux…

I'd settle for iMessage and FaceTime being open...
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