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Why are you people defending Apple?

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Re: Why are you people defending Apple?

#201

Post by raganwald »

neutronicus wrote: post #6

"And finally, there’s the related notion that anyone who doesn’t like Apple’s rules can pick up and move to another platform, like Android. Which is ridiculous." What? Ridiculous how? This claim is ridiculous. Suck it up and use Android. You'll live. I did.

People used to say that about Windows and OS X. And indeed, many of the people who are allowed to choose for themselves have chosen to suck it up and replace Windows machines with OS X machines.

So yes, move to Android and stop being such miserable worms. Ditching an iPhone is not like ditching $5,000 worth of IBM PC-XT, especially because Apple have sync'd all your contacts, emails, and other personal data with your computer.

Re: Why are you people defending Apple?

#202

Post by [deleted] »

sethg wrote: post #115
mryall wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this confused me a lot. The press release [1] says quite clearly: > Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app. In addition, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which…

So under the new guidelines, can Amazon distribute an app that lets you read Kindle books you’ve already purchased in other ways, with a note “we can’t actually make a clicky link here, but open up Safari and go to amazon.com to buy more books”?

[deleted]

Re: Why are you people defending Apple?

#203

Post by JamieEi »

jad wrote: post #130
statictype wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, I don't actually care about how much Amazon actually makes on each copy sold. What bothers me is that Apple has seemingly made it economically unviable for distributers to exist in the AppStore at all. This means we have to rely on Apple for content on our iOS devices, and until Apple scales up its content sources, the users are losers in this deal.

If users are truly the losers in this deal, then won't they vote with their wallets?

Eventually, but many are locked in by 2 year contracts. Apple probably figures it can force them to switch from Kindle to iBooks and then once their cell phone contract is up they will have even more incentive to by an iPhone 6 because all of their content is inside Apple's walled garden.

Re: Why are you people defending Apple?

#204

Post by [deleted] »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #4
Bossman wrote: post #2

And people wonder why I hate the walled approach Apple takes. The article makes another great point about people not being able to leave iOS devices for a competitor because all their music, movies, apps, etc are in Apple's DRM format and won't transfer to other devices. Apple deserves to have control over their own platform, but this is getting a little crazy. The extra fee wouldn't be so bad if developers could inc…

Now everyone should know, if they didn't before, why Apple is no Microsoft. Apple isn't content to create a platform, they want to own everything. They want a walled garden, they want captive users, they want to be able to demand exorbitant profit margins in perpetuity. Mostly benign monarchies may seem very attractive at first glance, but over time abuse of power is inevitable and then it's too late.

[deleted]

Re: Why are you people defending Apple?

#205

Post by jokermatt999 »

cubicle67 wrote: post #72
Bossman wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get what you mean, but it still locks you into Apple's devices. Also, Amazon is able to produce content without DRM. Mp3 format music, etc.

Also, Amazon is able to produce content without DRM. Mp3 format music, etc. I'm not sure I see your point Apple music = Amazon music = DRM free Apple iBooks = Amazon Kindle books = incl DRM Apple movies = Netflix = everyone else = incl DRM

Apple music = Amazon music = DRM free

Correct.

Apple iBooks = Amazon Kindle books = incl DRM

Apple movies = Netflix = everyone else = incl DRM

Less correct. Kindle and Netflix have DRM, but they don't have the platform lock-in of iBooks and movies. iBooks, as far as I know, is only available on iOS. DRM is bad, but DRM that's tied to a smaller range of platforms is even worse.

Re: Why are you people defending Apple?

#207

Post by ohyes »

chc wrote: post #91
enneff wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, come on. None of these things even existed a few years ago. People are consumers and will adjust to whatever is the newer, better tech.

That's not how people's brains work. When Mom first sees a smartphone, it's a cool new thing. Yeah, there's a learning curve, but it's new, so that's obvious. She'll deal. Fast forward three years. Mom has developed a lot of habits and expectations. Time for a new smartphone. When Mom buys a new smartphone, if it works differently than the one she had before, it is confusing and you just can't do anything with this p…

I do not find the Mom argument particularly compelling. Humans are some of the best things at learning on the planet.

(From reading HN, I'm starting to believe that I must be one of the blessed few with a Mom who is not a complete jackass).

If she wants to switch (and she will if she can no longer get the things that she wants), it will get bitched about for 2 weeks, then she will figure it out and you'll never hear about it again. This is some sort of squeaky wheel confirmation bias.

Re: Why are you people defending Apple?

#209

Post by alanfalcon »

yungchin wrote: post #171
loewenskind wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If last.fm, etc. are providing so much value why are their margins so thin? Are they providing value less than 30% of the cost of the base product?

Their margins are so thin because in reality they all compete with The Pirate Bay. It's only when you take that competition into account that the 30% starts to sound unreasonable.

iTunes competes with the Pirate Bay with 30% margins and does reasonably well from a revenue perspective.
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