Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#261

Post by smoldesu » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 12:52 AM UTC

AOsborn wrote: post #258

smoldesu wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iPhones make money, but services make more. The App Store alone made over 80 billion dollars in estimated revenue last year, just by existing. That's without accounting for Apple One, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade, AppleTV Plus, or iCloud. Apple simply makes $80 billion annually for writing a payment processor everyone else has to use. Services are one thing, but playing both the gatekeeper and competitor to a number o…

> That quite literally cannot be the status quo going forward. Honestly, I disagree. The Apple customer experience and product ecosystem is just so far ahead of any competitors I don't want to use anything else. As far as the store is concerned specifically, I want to be able to use one store with a clear policy around payments, subscriptions and refunds - not a myriad of half-baked competitors with fragmented offeri…

That's great, I support that option for you. Personally, I just want to use the Open Source apps that Apple won't let me install. If I can have that, then there's no reason we can't both live in perfect harmony. That system works perfectly fine on Android and Google even manages to make a handsome bundle off the Play Store to boot.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#262

Post by odysseus » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 12:55 AM UTC

js2 wrote: post #122

ghaff wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's obviously not an easy problem to solve It probably is at least relatively. The problem is that you (or at least a lot of people) wouldn't like the answer. Make it a very curated marketplace. Yes, that would take some labor but you can also take into account ratings etc. (Though not sure how to deal with the legit crappy online banking app that people give low-ratings too.) But cue the outrage over my app droppe…

You have two tabs: curated, and what's popular. Across all of the apps that I use to consume content, I only know one app that does this well: Criterion. Here, look: https://www.criterionchannel.com/browse First thing to note. You can browse w/o having to create an account! You know what else Criterion does? Rather, what it doesn't do? It doesn't cut off the end of movies at the credits to spam me with what it thinks…

Criterion's app is nice but their movie selection is ... not great. I've watched a good portion of their films and less than half have turned out to be worth watching.

But this is no surprise. Per this quora answer by Larry Wright ( https://qr.ae/pvlbgP ) -

> Note that Criterion is a video distribution company. One may still wonder exactly whom makes the selections and with what credentials. Co-founder Robert Stein's background is in electronic publishing. Co-founders Joe Medjuck and Roger Smith produced such Criterion-unworthy fair as "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!" and "C.C. and Company" (respectively). One must assume that they employ a crack team of film historians, critics and assorted movie geeks to curate their titles.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#263

Post by bun_at_work » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 12:57 AM UTC

rkagerer wrote: post #256

duped wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost every adult in the developed world needs a smart phone. They replace these devices about every 2-3 years. Apple makes one of the best in class of these devices, and has successfully designed one such that it's hard to switch to a competitor (rather it's easier to stay in the ecosystem). They've convinced about a billion people on the planet that the iPhone is the best device for them, so if you split that into…

They replace these devices about every 2-3 years As someone who buys a good smartphone then hangs onto it for 5 years, can someone help me understand the need for this?

Sometimes the newer model has a feature you'd like to have.

Sometimes you've discovered something you don't like about your current model.

Sometimes outside factors influence you (deals from your service provider, for example).

Many people (especially here on HN) can afford to get the new device every year, or every 2-3. So they do.

I don't really know what to say, though. People gonna people. Humans are often irrational, sub-optimal, and easily influenced. Happens to the best of us.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#264

Post by such12 » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 12:57 AM UTC

chollida1 wrote: post #44

such12 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has declined to provide guidance for some time now.

somewhat. They still provide some guidance on numbers both magnitude and direction, but don't release actual estimates. I'm confused now. You claimed to not really understand who makes these estimates and have no knowledge about how they are formed but it sounds like you do know a tiny bit about guidance? I mean you literally asked how these estimates were created?

Another reply since you edited your comment to add this:

> I mean you literally asked how these estimates were created?

Honestly, you genuinely seem confused. Where do you think I asked that question?

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#265

Post by smoldesu » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 1:00 AM UTC

mostlysimilar wrote: post #260

smoldesu wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know we may be heading towards a future where we’re totally locked down, but what alternative do we have? Well, Apple could just... let people install other stores. The App Store will still exist for new users and security-paranoid users, but the right to install/manage software needs to be a universal right when you buy hardware from someone. Arguing the opposite is almost insanity. > I’m a relatively technical…

> Well, Apple could just... let people install other stores. The only way I would be okay with this is if Apple required any app you provide in an alternative store must be available in the official App Store as well. The last thing I want is for Meta to come along and mandate you install their 3rd party app store in order to use Instagram. I don't even want this app on my phone but I use it to keep in touch with fri…

> the first thing they would do if Apple was forced to allow it is launch their own and take Instagram etc. off the official Apple App Store.

How do you know? First off, Google allows this on Android, and Meta hasn't made their own store on there. Second off, their revenue from Instagram is largely supplanted by an advertising business that Apple happily supports. They have no reason to remove it from the App Store. Third off, stopping businesses from making anticonsumer decisions isn't an argument against abolishing anticonsumer practices. We wouldn't be in this situation in the first place if Apple didn't unfairly use their position of power to impose a tax on all payment processing that happens on their operating system.

Again, nobody arguing for sideloading is forcing you to install anything. If Meta leaves the App Store and stops updating the version of Instagram everyone has installed, that's their loss. If Apple feels threatened by other services eating their lunch, they can always take a lesson out of Microsoft's playbook and start adding more first-party ads to iOS.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#266

Post by ummonk » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 1:01 AM UTC

smoldesu wrote: post #93

duped wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost every adult in the developed world needs a smart phone. They replace these devices about every 2-3 years. Apple makes one of the best in class of these devices, and has successfully designed one such that it's hard to switch to a competitor (rather it's easier to stay in the ecosystem). They've convinced about a billion people on the planet that the iPhone is the best device for them, so if you split that into…

iPhones make money, but services make more. The App Store alone made over 80 billion dollars in estimated revenue last year, just by existing. That's without accounting for Apple One, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade, AppleTV Plus, or iCloud. Apple simply makes $80 billion annually for writing a payment processor everyone else has to use. Services are one thing, but playing both the gatekeeper and competitor to a number o…

As a consumer, I’m happy to pay the ~40% premium necessary to have app service subscriptions that are easy to cancel from a single location…

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#267

Post by sgerenser » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 1:04 AM UTC

pishpash wrote: post #205

sgerenser wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of Apples market share growth occurred in the Vista/7 era. Probably a bit more due to Windows 8, but overall Windows 10 probably had minimal effect. Most casual users and the press has been pretty positive on Win10.

You can tell all this revisionist history is written by people who did not experience it. Macbook market share grew among developers because it had a BSD shell and worked well with the web and mobile stacks of the mid- to late-2000's that were built on open source. Among non-developers it was an upsell from the success of other Apple products, especially upselling from the iPhone to the Macbook Air for which there wa…

Fully agree. Didn’t mean to imply that Apples growth was specifically due to Vista or Windows 7, just that it mostly occurred then and not as much in the Win10 era.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#268

Post by andsoitis » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 1:05 AM UTC

smoldesu wrote: post #261

AOsborn wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That quite literally cannot be the status quo going forward. Honestly, I disagree. The Apple customer experience and product ecosystem is just so far ahead of any competitors I don't want to use anything else. As far as the store is concerned specifically, I want to be able to use one store with a clear policy around payments, subscriptions and refunds - not a myriad of half-baked competitors with fragmented offeri…

That's great, I support that option for you. Personally, I just want to use the Open Source apps that Apple won't let me install. If I can have that, then there's no reason we can't both live in perfect harmony. That system works perfectly fine on Android and Google even manages to make a handsome bundle off the Play Store to boot.

What are some of the open source apps you use on your Android phone?

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#269

Post by Gigachad » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 1:06 AM UTC

gigel82 wrote: post #245

retskrad wrote: post #15

Holy moly, the Mac keeps growing like crazy. It’s amusing how Apple wanted the iPad to disrupt the Mac but the advent of M-Series chips on the Mac has really nipped that ambition in the bud.

I don't know why developers are so infatuated with laptops (and at this point I'm too afraid to ask? :)). But seriously, I need a full-sized keyboard, a mouse, and at least 2 monitors to feel productive. Yes, I realize you can probably hook those up to a laptop with a bunch of adapters and hubs too, but I also use my machines to game, so...

“A bunch of adapters”. It’s one usb c hub. I have a gaming desktop but it’s not what I’d pick for work. Being portable is important to me.

Re: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

#270

Post by ummonk » Fri, Oct 28, 2022, 1:06 AM UTC

smoldesu wrote: post #265

mostlysimilar wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well, Apple could just... let people install other stores. The only way I would be okay with this is if Apple required any app you provide in an alternative store must be available in the official App Store as well. The last thing I want is for Meta to come along and mandate you install their 3rd party app store in order to use Instagram. I don't even want this app on my phone but I use it to keep in touch with fri…

> the first thing they would do if Apple was forced to allow it is launch their own and take Instagram etc. off the official Apple App Store. How do you know? First off, Google allows this on Android, and Meta hasn't made their own store on there. Second off, their revenue from Instagram is largely supplanted by an advertising business that Apple happily supports. They have no reason to remove it from the App Store.…

Apple’s rules against apps tracking users were a massive blow to Meta’s ads business, so they’d certainly take the opportunity to avoid Apple’s restrictions if they could.