I really liked the tactile keyboard on the BlackBerry.
Would be nice to have an iPhone with a keyboard and a weeklong battery life.
I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
191–200 of 606 posts
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#192To 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 watc…
I don’t think Apple continues trying to be a “lifestyle brand” after their attempts with iPhone X, Apple Watch Edition. Apple products are not cheap but also not too far away from customers electronics.
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many people do you know who want to change their own oil in their car? This is a frequent, required maintenance. Yet I can't think of a single car that advertises its ability to be maintained by somebody without special tools. The only people who change their own oil would have the skills to change an iPhone screen. I have changed the battery on two iPhones on my own, and replaced one screen on my own. I've also…
Of course they don't advertise it: Most cars are dead-nuts simple to change the oil on. If changing the screen of a phone were as simple as changing the oil in a Honda is, then none of this conversation would have to happen.
Changing the windscreen|windshield might be a better comparison.
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know how widespread this is but in my little circle the orange Pro was the biggest draw, it's the first in the Pro line (or at least as far as I can remember) with real color to it. Most of them are grayscale or very muted colors. It's another "feel" thing but got more attention than the Air's thin body.
The people that I know laughed heartily at the orange.
I am one of those buying orange. Never went for colors, always deep blue or grey, but both my son and I went for orange. And not even politically connected. Just liked the color.
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#195To 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 watc…
>That may be Apple's path - to fashion themselves as a niche luxury brand.
You can't have a niche product when you have 55% market share (iPhone in US).
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#196[flagged]
I largely agree with you. I used to work at Cochlear (hearing aid implants) - their "headphone" equivalents actually had neatly replaceable batteries 10 years ago, it's doable! Larger than airpods, to be sure, however i'm sure Apple could shrink them nicely. But... would anyone want the ability to replace batteries? I wouldn't know. I suspect most people misplace them before the batteries go bad.
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
I’m fairly sure that battery replacements for the AirPods and Apple Watch involve giving you a new one and sending yours to be recycled. And the service only exists to avoid controversy about non reparable products.
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#198You’ll have to come up with a better counter factual than “I would have sent a notification to all Apple customers to gain political support.”
You would alienate so many customers by being political.
Jobs’ Apple was not political except in narrow issues. It sold a product for everybody, not just one party.
Cook leaned into the least political possible way to handle this very delicate situation: made in the USA is positive for everyone (in the US) without alienating any group directly.
And if he really screwed the pooch and got worse tariff outcomes, I definitely think his job could be on the line. You know their stock lost $300b in value when tariffs were announced right? That was the entire market cap of Apple when jobs died.
I agree it looks very pathetic, but honestly it’s a tough situation too
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#199Clickbait built on 2 fantasy notions:
1- that Jobs would somehow be the hero of a mythical arab/syrian culture and diversity politics who would have behaved differently than Cook towards Trump.
If anything, Jobs cherished the white working suburban middle class of the west coast that has been destroyed in the last generations. He _never_ behaved as a white knight and nobody knows what he would have done (and nobody knows how hard Cook's political equation is)
2- that Apple is due for perfect, idealized products that fill 100% of people's void. This guy explains that iPhones make too many compromise and the OS is just "good enough".
Would be curious to hear of _one single_ previous or current OS platform or hardware at that scale that matches Apple's 2026 line up.
Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers
#200I personally do not buy an iPhone, but this is more of an ideological choice than a technical one. Yes, the phones are boring, but aside from a few exceptions, all smartphones are. I am right now on a 4 year old iPhone and it served me well, but this is going to be my last iPhone for a while