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Apple’s Errors

stratechery.com

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Re: Apple’s Errors

#111

Post by fauigerzigerk »

oflannabhra wrote: post #110
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If all (or most of) the growth is in services as Apple claims, why hike hardware prices so much that it could over time erode their installed base? I believe the answer is that Apple doesn't really believe that service revenue will grow fast enough to compensate for longer hardware replacement cycles. And that belief is probably justified because their service offering doesn't seem very robust at this point.

Apple didn't just raise prices, for the sake of raising prices. Their takeaway [0] from the iPhone X was that customers were willing to pay for more advanced and more expensive features. FaceID, OLED, stainless steel, etc. Apple is making more expensive products (not just raising prices), because people have shown that they want to pay more for more value. Lots of people on HN, as well as elsewhere, will take issue w…

>I don't think this quarter indicates that the devices are too expensive

I don't claim that it does. My point is that there is a trade-off between increasing the average selling price of hardware and broadening the user base so you can sell more services to more people.

Apple's market share is now dangerously low in some parts of the world, including some rich European countries. It makes features and services that are restricted to Apple devices completely useless or far less valuable.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#112

Post by dkonofalski »

graeme wrote: post #84
zozbot123 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's also much better for the platform that there isn't such a wide range between screen sizes. Not a wide range? What about the iPad and iPad Pro? iOS apps need a responsive interface anyway.

Ipad apps are separately purchased apps though.

No they're not. They can be but there's nothing requiring them to be.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#113

Post by graeme »

josefresco wrote: post #96
graeme wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but if you were content running an iphone 6 on ios 11, then it’s certainly faster this year on 12.

Not really. Source: iPhone 6 user. Couldn't upgrade to iOS 12 because of lack of space. Finally made room and after being told 12 would speed my device I had high hopes. Turns out, I don't notice any difference. App launch times, keyboard launch times, and overall responsiveness is just barely tolerable. 6S devices feel like light speed in comparison.

You may be right actually. I looked for speed tests, and apple insider showed that some apps were faster, some slower.

I do have an old 6, but its not my main phone. I thought it was faster, but haven't used it enough to say.

I would check your battery health under battery settings. If it's under 80% that could be causing the issue.

The 6s has 2 gb of ram, which is a big part of the difference.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#114

Post by edmundsauto »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #111
oflannabhra wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple didn't just raise prices, for the sake of raising prices. Their takeaway [0] from the iPhone X was that customers were willing to pay for more advanced and more expensive features. FaceID, OLED, stainless steel, etc. Apple is making more expensive products (not just raising prices), because people have shown that they want to pay more for more value. Lots of people on HN, as well as elsewhere, will take issue w…

>I don't think this quarter indicates that the devices are too expensive I don't claim that it does. My point is that there is a trade-off between increasing the average selling price of hardware and broadening the user base so you can sell more services to more people. Apple's market share is now dangerously low in some parts of the world, including some rich European countries. It makes features and services that a…

In non-US locales, aren't iPhones a major luxury item and status symbol? Increasing pricing to decrease the number of users feeds into this marketing strategy.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#115

Post by scarface74 »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #111
oflannabhra wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple didn't just raise prices, for the sake of raising prices. Their takeaway [0] from the iPhone X was that customers were willing to pay for more advanced and more expensive features. FaceID, OLED, stainless steel, etc. Apple is making more expensive products (not just raising prices), because people have shown that they want to pay more for more value. Lots of people on HN, as well as elsewhere, will take issue w…

>I don't think this quarter indicates that the devices are too expensive I don't claim that it does. My point is that there is a trade-off between increasing the average selling price of hardware and broadening the user base so you can sell more services to more people. Apple's market share is now dangerously low in some parts of the world, including some rich European countries. It makes features and services that a…

You can’t discount both the older generation phones that Apple still sells, the used market, and hand me down phones effect on the installed base.

Every phone that Apple has introduced since 2013 is still getting updates. The 2015 iPhone 6s still runs circles around midrange Android phones and is even faster than flagship Android phones in single core performance.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#116

Post by scarface74 »

edmundsauto wrote: post #114
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't think this quarter indicates that the devices are too expensive I don't claim that it does. My point is that there is a trade-off between increasing the average selling price of hardware and broadening the user base so you can sell more services to more people. Apple's market share is now dangerously low in some parts of the world, including some rich European countries. It makes features and services that a…

In non-US locales, aren't iPhones a major luxury item and status symbol? Increasing pricing to decrease the number of users feeds into this marketing strategy.

In most industrialized countries, the iPhone market share is above 30%

https://deviceatlas.com/blog/android-v-ios-market-share

Definitely not a status symbol.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#117

Post by scarface74 »

bluedino wrote: post #75
skellera wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone really think Apple hasn’t done market research to determine which size phone would be best for them to sell? As mentioned in one of the other comments, SE was using the production lines of the 5/5s. It probably isn’t worth it to keep those going for an older phone and the R&D for a new smaller phone is a huge cost. I’m sure it’s been proven that most people want larger screens at this point. I mean, even…

I went from a 6S to an 8 Plus last year. I dind't go with the X because it was a first-generation product. The 6S feels comically small now. But, the Plus is too big. I think taking the bezels off the top and bottom would be the perfect size phone. Maybe a little smaller. I upgrade in the fall, so I'm interested to see what comes out. I'm looking forward to going back to a smaller phone, but the SE and 6S are too sma…

I have an iPhone 8 Plus and it is larger than I like and heavier. I bought it because I needed the larger screen to watch tutorial videos on the go that had a lot of text and the battery life was better than any other iPhone.

But the X size phone is tempting. But I don’t see myself buying another phone for 3 years.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#118

Post by graeme »

droussel wrote: post #106
graeme wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ipad apps are separately purchased apps though.

Not always, a lot of apps are universal and can be installed on both iPhones and iPads, with the UI being adapted to each.

Oh interesting. If there is a separate install is it still potentially a universal all? I guess I was wrong.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#119

Post by malshe »

graeme wrote: post #88
malshe wrote: post #15

It's amazing that how everyone but Apple knows how to run their business.

The author of this piece did predict their China problem, so you might want to give them a bit of leeway. They’re not some armchair commentator.

I think such predictions are pretty much useless in most situations. For example, there are so many experts now who predicted the stock market crash. I follow a guy on Twitter who has been predicting global economy meltdown forever. These days he is suddenly looking like a prophet even though the meltdown has not totally started yet! Saying that Apple will have problems in China means nothing unless someone provides estimates for the losses.

This article uses all the data that is publicly available and yet claims that somehow Apple executives missed all that.

Re: Apple’s Errors

#120

Post by graeme »

malshe wrote: post #119
graeme wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author of this piece did predict their China problem, so you might want to give them a bit of leeway. They’re not some armchair commentator.

I think such predictions are pretty much useless in most situations. For example, there are so many experts now who predicted the stock market crash. I follow a guy on Twitter who has been predicting global economy meltdown forever. These days he is suddenly looking like a prophet even though the meltdown has not totally started yet! Saying that Apple will have problems in China means nothing unless someone provides…

They're also one or two of the most highly regarded Apple commentators. And they provide examples of how apple execs missed stuff in the past. And apple clearly did miss stuff this last quarter: their guidance was uncharacteristically way off.

Stratechery isn't some random site, but you're comparing it to a guy on twitter.

A precise estimate isn't necessary. His claim was that they would shrink measureably in the first S year after a redesign.

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