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I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

morrick.me

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Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#121

Post by bigglywiggler »

dcchambers wrote: post #44

> What really got on my nerves during the Apple Watch segment of the event, though, is this: Apple always, always inserts a montage of sob stories about how the Apple Watch has saved lives, and what an indispensable life-saving device it is. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad those lives were saved. But this kind of ‘showcase’ every year is made in such poor taste. It’s clear to me that it’s all marketing above everything…

Sure, but how many other products have a feature like that? I live in a very remote area. I NEED Starlink because it's my only choice for internet. I NEED a big 4x4 because if there's some particularly bad rain I'd be trapped in my home. If a tree falls in the nearby forest and nobody is there to hear it our power still goes out because it fell on a powerline and we NEED solar panels with battery backup or we can't flush the crapper because the water pump doesn't work without power. If my wife has a breakdown of her car or, god forbid, an accident on her way home from grocery shopping there is no cell service. No way to call me or the breakdown company or the police or an ambulance. I'm also not the only person who lives here. There are a few hundred people spread out across the general area and they all have these issues too. Apple's atellite communication could literally save my life as I go about normal, non-adventurous humdrum day-to-day tasks. Informing consumers of an actually useful standout feature unique to your products is good marketing and they're doing it at a marketing event they host to market their products. This guy's whole article was just the same tired applebashing that has actually become quite annoying. We get it - you don't think Apple products are good value for money in your use case and you don't understand the people who buy them.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#122

Post by linguae »

snowwrestler wrote: post #89

> it’s a company that I feel has lost its alignment with me and other long-time Apple users and customers. When OS X debuted there was a daytime radio talk show in my area called “The Computer Guys.” They capably covered all sorts of computing topics, but were clearly long-time Apple dudes. And they spent weeks complaining about what a disaster OS X was. The Dock was useless and violated Apple’s HIG. The Finder made…

I’ve also come to this realization as a longtime Mac user. Granted, I’m not old enough to have used the classic Mac OS as a professional, though I did use it in my childhood. However, I was in high school and college during the Jobs era of Mac OS X, and that’s when I started using Macs as my daily drivers from 2006 until 2022 when I retired my 2013 Mac Pro and 2013 MacBook Air and switched back to PCs running Windows.

Before Apple’s success with the iPhone, Apple was essentially the Macintosh company. Its fortunes were tied to the Mac, and Apple seemed to be attuned to the needs of Mac users. In return, there was quite a strong Mac fandom. The Mac was more than just a tool or just a platform. The Mac was a philosophy, and what attracted people to the Mac was the philosophy of the Mac and its ecosystem.

Ever since the iPhone became a major hit, and especially since the passing of Jobs, it became apparent to me that my best interests as a computer user and Apple’s interests as a company no longer align. Apple no longer needed to cater to “the Mac faithful” to survive. In fact, Apple is one of the biggest companies in the world thanks to the iPhone. It also seems that macOS is losing its distinctiveness.

The unfortunate thing, and I think this is where some Mac users get emotional and disappointed, is that there’s nothing else out there in the personal computing landscape that is like the glory days of the Mac. Windows is an inconsistent mess filled with annoyances, and the bazaar of the Linux ecosystem is nothing like the polished cathedral of the Mac. Everything is a step down from older Macs, even modern Macs.

However, while thankfully we can enjoy retrocomputing for hobbyist use, many of us still need to use up-to-date platforms to browse the Web and to get our work done, and so clinging on to, say, Snow Leopard is not an option outside of hobbyist activities. Hence, why I use Windows. It’s not Snow Leopard but it gets the job done for now.

The beauty about software, though, is that we don’t have to resign ourselves to accepting whatever Apple, Microsoft, and Google releases. Many of us reading this forum have the ability to write our own software. FOSS projects such as Linux have shown that it’s possible for user communities to write their own software that fit their needs without needing to be concerned about business matters such as market dominance.

So, yes, this is a hard lesson for many longtime Mac users about being loyal to a company; companies change. But this lesson also creates opportunities. I think if enough disaffected longtime Mac users got together and pooled their resources together, we could create a FOSS alternative that is community-driven, one where the evolution of Mac-like personal computing is driven by the community, not by Apple or any other corporation.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#123

Post by bombcar »

MangoToupe wrote: post #77
bombcar wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirPods are one of Apple’s best products in forever and their size forgives them battery complaints, to me. Even phones and laptops I’m willing to give a pass on, ever since USB-C got “good enough” and the battery life long enough. If I had one complaint it’d be that they should sell one fat phone with no camera hump (because it has more battery). Edit: I should have clarified as AirPods Pro are the ones I have exper…

Airpods are very, very expensive compared to competitors with 90% of the same features. I've been using a $30 set for several years and the main drawback is it's difficult to switch devices—because apple doesn't allow third parties to use access the proprietary comms that allows this for airpods. Also, I think the white is ugly. But kids seem to love it.

You absolutely know they have tanks and tanks of colored plastic ready to hit those molds the moment sales slow down a tiny bit ...

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#124

Post by daedrdev »

wpm wrote: post #85
Gigachad wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hot swappable batteries kind of became not so important after battery banks and fast charging became a thing. Makes more sense to carry one battery bank that can charge anything than to have 2-3 phone batteries in your bag (which would be exposed to puncture too). I still think the price of battery replacements is way too high from apple. It's $150 AUD here which feels far and beyond the cost of the part cost itself.

Because the "replacement" is "get two new AirPods". Even Apple can't take AirPods apart non-destructively. They are disposable. So much for their carbon neutrality.

Are you sure? They say they can replace a battery online

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#125

Post by Animats »

To some extent Apple is now a "lifestyle brand", like Rolex.

Rolex was originally a rugged, waterproof watch for people who needed such a watch. Pilots, divers, mariners, and military officers wore the things. Rolex had the accuracy of a marine chronometer in a small package. The Rolex Submariner was introduced in 1953 at $150. That would be $1,820 today. But the base price for a Rolex Submariner today, the same watch, is around $9,200, plus a few thousand dollars of "additional dealer profit". As the CEO of Rolex once said, "We are not in the watch business. We are in the luxury business." The people who need a rugged, accurate watch today get a G-Shock.

That may be Apple's path - to fashion themselves as a niche luxury brand.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#126

Post by xmprt »

snowwrestler wrote: post #120
xmprt wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest reason for me using Android is simply because of how much competition there is in the space. If I use Apple products and don't like something they do then I'm stuck on an older version at best and need to migrate everything from their walled garden (at great cost) at worst. With Android, I can use Samsung one generation, switch to Pixel the next, and give Motorola/some other smaller company a chance later…

What would be the “great cost” of moving from an iPhone to an Android phone? I’m struggling to think of what would cost money at all, aside from the phone itself.

There's no straightforward way to migrate between an iPhone and Android so you'd spend a lot of time. Also I'm not sure if it's even possible to fully move over - for example would you be able to export your iMessages? Also, if you're fully bought into the ecosystem with Airpods and a Watch, you'd be better off replacing those (at least the watch which turns into a paperweight without an iPhone).

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#127

Post by inferiorhuman »

snowwrestler wrote: post #89

> it’s a company that I feel has lost its alignment with me and other long-time Apple users and customers. When OS X debuted there was a daytime radio talk show in my area called “The Computer Guys.” They capably covered all sorts of computing topics, but were clearly long-time Apple dudes. And they spent weeks complaining about what a disaster OS X was. The Dock was useless and violated Apple’s HIG. The Finder made…

  what a disaster OS X was
OSX before the final iterations of 10.4 was a half-baked shitshow.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#128

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

ambrose2 wrote: post #96
arcanemachiner wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they get it replaced by Apple, or some guy in a mall kiosk?

My mom got her battery replaced at an Apple Store and the process broke the phones ability to connect to the internet or the cellular network. They ended up replacing the phone.

I fail to see the issue. Apple broke the phone during a repair and replaced it I assume for free.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#129

Post by willemlaurentz »

dcchambers wrote: post #44

> What really got on my nerves during the Apple Watch segment of the event, though, is this: Apple always, always inserts a montage of sob stories about how the Apple Watch has saved lives, and what an indispensable life-saving device it is. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad those lives were saved. But this kind of ‘showcase’ every year is made in such poor taste. It’s clear to me that it’s all marketing above everything…

This, plus one important addition: How many people actually got killed or injured _because_ of iPhone or Watch? Think about it: using screens in traffic or in other situations where your attention to the world is critical.

All the best to the folks who where saved by any device, but given the large volume of devices sold - one has to assume there is a flip side to this coin, too.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#130

Post by dangus »

I agree with a lot of what this author says but they’re so wrong about AirPods.

The AirPods Pro 3 or really any of the recent AirPods are magical products. They’re the rare modern Apple product that Steve Jobs is smiling down upon.

Not only are they great for music but they are absolutely killer conferencing and phone call earbuds.

From early reviews it sounds like the Pro 3 has astounding microphone quality on top of the wide versatility and portability that the product already has.

The e-waste stuff, honestly, is nonsense. Maybe they’re a waste of money to need to be replaced somewhat frequently, but when you throw out AirPods you’re throwing out mere grams of total material. A replaceable battery would barely help that impact, it would mostly save you money to not buy the product all over again. And if you’re like me spending hours a day in meetings, AirPods are downright cheap for the utility they provide.

The average person is throwing out a pair of AirPods’ worth of fuel weight and carbon emissions every time they drive 10 minutes down the road or buy one hamburger with all that packaging from McDonald’s. Throwing out a pair of headphones smaller than a deck of cards every 4 years is basically nothing compared to typical consumer waste. Much lower hanging fruit to pick.

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