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IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

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Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#211

Post by illuminate »

blhack wrote: post #15

Apple is making the exact same mistake the RIM made. They've gone from targeting hardcore fans, to targeting teenagers. The problem is that teenagers are quick to jump ship to the coolest new thing. Apple has been making "coolest new thing" for a while, but they're getting really popular now, which seems to be inversely proportional to "cool". For RIM, they moved away from targeting hardcore, email-addicted business…

"Apple is making the exact same mistake the RIM made. They've gone from targeting hardcore fans, to targeting teenagers."

What is a RIM "hardcore fan" these days, and how many of them still buy RIM products? How profitable is the demographic who wants a smartphone but needs a full keyboard?

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#212

Post by shimfish »

greedo wrote: post #196
shimfish wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it the terms you object to or do you fundamentally reject the premise?

It's obviously the premise; that people who are proficient in computers (whatever that may mean) are abnormal. Computer/tech savvy is obviously a continuum. Lumping people into binary categories doesn't help the conversation much.

They are abnormal in the sense that they are a minority. It's not a value judgement.

Do you accept that those with enough proficiency to be creating commercial software have different modes of computer usage to the majority that don't?

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#213

Post by bitcartel »

Tloewald wrote: post #158
pjmlp wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that many Apple fanboys never experienced the original Apple, the one with proprietary connectors and Mac OS specific APIs for video, 2D, 3D, networking .... When Apple tried to cater to the open source community using the UNIX underpinnings of Mac OS X, young generations thought Apple was always more open than Microsoft, when actually they were the opposite. Now that they are back on top with more profi…

Having a proprietary networking system when no-one else has any networking is hardly a crime. Sticking with it a little too long? Not a crime. Likewise graphics APIs. (Which platform has non-proprietary 2D APIs?) QuickDraw 3D's problem wasn't that it was proprietary, it was that it sucked. Likewise QuickTime video. You do realize (a) it was first, and (b) Apple licensed the architecture to the MPEG folk (MP4's contai…

Sun, SGI, Commodore and IBM stopped making personal computers... so yes, Apple compares very well indeed!

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#214

Post by rprospero »

LnxPrgr3 wrote: post #61
blhack wrote: post #15

Apple is making the exact same mistake the RIM made. They've gone from targeting hardcore fans, to targeting teenagers. The problem is that teenagers are quick to jump ship to the coolest new thing. Apple has been making "coolest new thing" for a while, but they're getting really popular now, which seems to be inversely proportional to "cool". For RIM, they moved away from targeting hardcore, email-addicted business…

People keep saying this, but I'm not sure why. Maybe my experience is warped, but if I had to stereotype I'd say it's younger people walking around with Android phones and older well-off businesspeople walking around with iPhones. I'm not sure "targeting teenagers" really holds. The people I know who still use Blackberries? Both of them are hardcore fans. Back in the 90s, every Mac user I knew was a hardcore fan… all…

As for why people keep saying that Apple is targeting teenagers, the reason is that the iPhone has a crazy bathtub curve to its user base and most people only see half of it. The wealthiest, most successful business people I know all own iPhones. On the other hand, all the people I know with who are unemployed with uncontrolled substance abuse issues also own iPhones. Everyone in the middle owns Android. In a particularly funny anecdote, I knew someone who went through rehab, got clean, and almost immediately tried to replace his iPhone with an Android.

If you don't know any crackheads, then the iPhone seems like the phone of the wealthy entrepreneur. If you don't know any people who are successful in business, then the iPhone looks like the choice of the crackheads. Your experience is warped, but no more so than those who say its the phone of teenagers.

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#215

Post by jarek »

LinXitoW wrote: post #138
ricw wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that we don't have a choice. There's only one premium option to go for. And it's apple. It's surprising how none of the others have at least created a luxury brand, similar to Toyota/Lexus or Volkswagen/Audi.

What about Thinkpads? They seem to be Windows/Linux equivalent of the Macbooks.

Screen options on the Thinkpads have been pretty underwhelming for a while, unfortunately. Not really fitting for a premium laptop.

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#216

Post by jmccree »

knightni wrote: post #190
rjbond3rd wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried changing the stock rubber cap to the vastly more ergonomic concave model? It gives you much finer control, effortlessly. It's a popular aftermarket part available for a couple dollars on auction sites.

I haven't, actually - thanks, I'll take a look. I'm very attached to really good, big touchpads though - losing gesture support is hard!

I suspect trackpad vs trackpoint is one of those whichever you get used to first things. I use a USB thinkpad keyboard for my desk and have multiple times went hours before noticing my mouse was not plugged in. It somehow psychologically maps 1:1 with a mouse.

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#217

Post by bane »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #208
bane wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's useless. The fan boy phenomenon (of any type) is one of the more difficult and frustrating things in tech to deal with. Somebody who likes some company a lot, and buys their gadgets and thinks the stuff the company makes is swell, but is able to afford the fact that their company does do things wrongly sometimes is not a fan boy -- they're a fan and I don't think anybody has a problem with fans. Pe…

I don't think we disagree that many of the people who are termed fan boys add little but noise, but my problem is in accurately identifying them and in particular in then ascribing a single common world view and set of motivations to them as was being done in the thread above. Plus being an apologist doesn't mean that you can't make a good point. Gruber could often be accurately described as an Apple apologist but I'…

I think that's mostly fair. But we may part ways on the value of filtering through fanboy noise...Gruber for example is brilliant when he talks about Apple, but he's a terrible predictable bore hen he gets into comparisons with anything outside of Apple -- 9 out of 10 times.

When I see a Daring Fireball post, if it's about Apple I'll read it and I find many things he says interesting and insightful (even if I may disagree with them), if it's Gruber on any other topic there's no point in even trying to scrub through his posts to find the valuable points to consider.

So I suppose what I'm trying to say is that, you are right, evaluate the points and not the person (don't go ad hominem), but sometimes the level of effort required to find the valuable points isn't worth it.

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#218

Post by hollerith »

primitur wrote: post #121
nostromo wrote: post #44

The ironic ending of the blog post is interesting. He's running Ubuntu... on a MacBook Pro. Even if you hate the software and all things iOS, it's hard to find a better designed laptop.

I've been trying to kick the Apple habit since I got my first tiBook, which was the _revelation_ for me at the time, that Apple of all people were producing the Unix laptop, and also making the physicality of the thing badass. So, in my effort to stay true to my Unix'ish roots, I've gotten a Motorola Lapdock real cheap, its at least as comfy as a macbook Air, and I'm plugging in things like .. raspberryPi, MK802/808…

Which Lapdock? The 500?

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#219

Post by FireBeyond »

Terretta wrote: post #163
shadowmint wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue here is that recent releases of OSX have sucked more than some earlier releases of OSX, and it's annoying some people. The hardware is now even more locked down than ever. These are facts. Does it mean you have to stop using a mac? No. Does it mean that some people are moving away from macs? Yes. Does it mean you need to rage because there's an article that mentions 'fan boys'? Not really. Chill out. If you…

The hardware is not more locked down than ever. "Case" in point, I had the MBP17 just before change to unibody, and now the unibody. To replace the HD in the older model involved a half dozen more steps including removing the keyboard and various components. In the current model, just open the bottom and swap the drive. I had the white Mac Mini (last model with DVD) and needed a metal spatula to get into it to upgrad…

That's an amazingly literal interpretation.

Take apart a new Mac with Fusion Drive - as far as anyone has been able to determine, the pinouts are exactly the same as SATA, but the connector has been modified enough that it's proprietary now.

iPhone 5's new connector is actually what pushed me to abandon the Apple ecosystem:

I have a in dash GPS/HD radio/Pandora unit that until now required an iDevice for Pandora remote control. I considered upgrading from my 4S to a 5... I need a new connector. No problem, there's an adapter - $30 or $40 with a chip in it that serves in large part the purpose of ensuring I get an Apple adapter/cable.

Great, so now I get the adapter, plug it into the head unit, only to find, guess what, it still won't work - why? Because (and finding anything official on this is nigh on impossible, only outside reviewers) the adapter doesn't pass on the iPod Out control signals.

Screw that. I will wait for a firmware update for my head unit.

I sold my iPhone 4S, my iPad 3, and am now very happy with a Nokia Lumia 920, and a Samsung 700E tablet running Windows 8.

Re: IRecognition: I am no longer Apple's Target Market

#220

Post by moheeb »

Tloewald wrote: post #158
pjmlp wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that many Apple fanboys never experienced the original Apple, the one with proprietary connectors and Mac OS specific APIs for video, 2D, 3D, networking .... When Apple tried to cater to the open source community using the UNIX underpinnings of Mac OS X, young generations thought Apple was always more open than Microsoft, when actually they were the opposite. Now that they are back on top with more profi…

Having a proprietary networking system when no-one else has any networking is hardly a crime. Sticking with it a little too long? Not a crime. Likewise graphics APIs. (Which platform has non-proprietary 2D APIs?) QuickDraw 3D's problem wasn't that it was proprietary, it was that it sucked. Likewise QuickTime video. You do realize (a) it was first, and (b) Apple licensed the architecture to the MPEG folk (MP4's contai…

Quicktime was a crime. Don't try to rationalize that one.
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