Apple is a traditional business • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#31

Post by whatok » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:33 PM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #20

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

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.

> because it's the only option that takes privacy and security seriously right now. iPhones are a luxury. If you can recommend them it means you already belong to the richest part of the planet. For the rest, they jut can't afford it, and Apple was never interested in making anything cheap.

21% of Apple's quarterly revenue was from China. China is not well-known as one of the richest parts of the planet.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#32

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:34 PM UTC

oflannabhra wrote: post #11

> ...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…

[deleted]

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#33

Post by emodendroket » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:34 PM UTC

fhood wrote: post #22

oflannabhra wrote: post #11

> ...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.

Steve Jobs did not single-handedly invent the iPhone.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#34

Post by pseudometa » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:35 PM UTC

Having been a fan of Apple for over a decade now, over the last year I've come to the opposite point of view. Their iPhone and airpods are great products and of course they can ride a long time on those, but in every other area from Macs and accessories I feel they are falling flat on delivering great user experiences. From FaceTime to Siri, to crappy Apple TV remotes, Home Kit... there are just a LOT of mediocre products that sit idle for years. Of all times, the company is at the point most worth criticizing. I do blame Tim Cook for this stagnation in product development. And indeed their lack of ideas means they have nothing better to do with their cash, that they are buying back shares. Ehh, I'm so jaded these days on Apple.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#35

Post by 0xcafecafe » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:35 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #17

deweller wrote: post #8

The author of this opinion piece is praising Apple for its willingness to NOT innovate. I strongly disagree. The best solution to privacy concerns is not to stop innovating. Surely there are better solutions. Apple is leading the way on some consumer privacy issues and I applaud them for that. But surely if Apple halts innovation, it will die as all companies do. Let us hope they are smarter than that.

I think the point here is that Apple is not innovating in "stupid" areas(for the author) - like cashierless stores, automated cars, surveillance speakers etc. In a way, yes, that is admirable - I think all other tech giants are going in the "wrong" and harmful direction, while Apple still concentrates on making good hardware with matching software(their abysmal attempts at MacOs fixes notwithstanding).

Isn't it naive to criticize cashierless stores and automated cars as "stupid areas"? Arguing that those will cost jobs is akin to saying a 100 years back that the "iron horse" will cost jobs. Mankind has to continue to innovate and it is disingenuous to argue that a cashierless store is a "minor convenience".

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#36

Post by RyanShook » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:36 PM UTC

Apple’s market cap will keep rising for the next few years without any innovation through buybacks and service revenue from existing devices. But the fact that they’re not talking about new products or hinting at anything down the line concerns me...

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#37

Post by jxdxbx » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:36 PM UTC

Lionsion wrote: post #9

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

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.

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.

If you are a paid developer your apps don't expire (at least not for a year or so).

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#38

Post by greedo » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:36 PM UTC

michaelt wrote: post #13

I've been an Android user for years; I recently decided to change to iPhone, and this article really captures the reason why: Apple seems to be the only company for whom a cloud backup of my phone book is a liability, not an asset to be monetised.

Shouldn't that be inverted? Your iCloud Addressbook backup isn't a liability.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#39

Post by seanmcdirmid » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:37 PM UTC

whatok wrote: post #31

ekianjo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because it's the only option that takes privacy and security seriously right now. iPhones are a luxury. If you can recommend them it means you already belong to the richest part of the planet. For the rest, they jut can't afford it, and Apple was never interested in making anything cheap.

21% of Apple's quarterly revenue was from China. China is not well-known as one of the richest parts of the planet.

China has a lot of rich people even if they are far from a majority. It isn’t poor taxi drivers and ayis using iPhones, but more like those who are driving black Audis.

Re: Apple is a traditional business

#40

Post by noxToken » Wed, May 02, 2018, 3:37 PM UTC

fhood wrote: post #22

oflannabhra wrote: post #11

> ...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.

>...like smart speakers, with their threat of big brother-style surveillance in exchange for a minimal increase in convenience

It seems like everyone in this thread is forgetting that the HomePod[0] is a thing. Apple's privacy practices are better than the other listed companies, but they do have a smart speaker just as capable as the others.

[0]: https://www.apple.com/homepod/