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Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

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Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#11

Post by chromadon »

It’s not even just consumer mindset. Look into any deep dive into their custom tech, it’s insane the engineering dominance they have.

The M series was and still is generations ahead of x86. There is no competition from anyone else.

Their AirPods routinely score the best on noise cancellation performance, battery etc.

The iPad (even though arguably “out of place” platform) is the only tablet device anyone actually uses.

MacBook hardware pre-ram price issues was incredible. My wife has a NEO and I was floored at how much it was like my m4.

They did some pretty good marketing at convincing us they don’t sell our data to third parties. I assume this is still the case.

I’m a long term PC enthusiast, I’m old enough to have played games on dos. I daily drove Linux on gaming laptops and MacBook clones. I have a custom machine running Bazzite for my gaming needs.

In the last couple of years I made serious attempts to switch to Linux from windows for my main development machine but it was pretty unreliable experience across all the distros I tried (fedora was the most stable), so I bit the bullet and bought a Mac mini, the only complaint has been related to thunderbolt and it’s unreliable hubs.

It replaced an i9-14900k and did it with almost no change in performance and it doesn’t sound like I’ve got a leaf blower in my office.

Arguably the platform I’m least happy with is the iPhone. It was at is best 5 years ago and just gets buggier every release.

It’s impossible to not sound like an Apple shill but this has been my experience for 35 years of computing.

Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#13

Post by keiferski »

Not by a comparable company that is trying to compete across multiple products. It's too wide of a field.

I do think that someone could make a better individual phone, computer, etc. if their entire company revolved around that singular focus.

Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#14

Post by Taikhoom2010 »

sandcat_ wrote: post #9

At one point it felt like Google search could never be unseated, then suddenly within six months or so, I barely use it. I'm not saying it's dead yet, nor do I know what Apple's killer will be, but it is hard to see these things coming. If I had to guess? All of Apple's strengths lie around the domination of the (local) personal computer. Top notch UX, best in class performance etc. AI could make that significantly l…

Respectfully, you're wrong here. You may, in your opinion, not use Google Search, but search revenue is growing rapidly, and AI overviews are a much better experience than a consumer app.

Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#15

Post by k310 »

For many, computers are interchangeable. Outside HN, people browse the web and do email.

Guess what? For the most part, so do I.

And otherwise, I mostly avoid Apple apps or try to find alternatives. Who needs AI? The Finder has a (demented) mind of its own. Apple has churned out some of the worst software imaginable. It took Apple forever to (horribly) clone Dropbox, which Steve Jobs failed to buy.

Integration is a big deal. Devices and controlling the hardware mean a lot. These will go a long way.

Will people rebel when large companies increasingly become arms of the government? I will.

Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#16

Post by mirmor23 »

It's the customers 'mindshare' that value the fit/finish/status that comes with it, more than anything. I owned only one mbp when they first introduced the retina display (I believe it was 2012), and it used to randomly reboot even after multiple OS refresh from apple tech support. as i recall, it was a some issue with the graphics chip or a driver. i hated everything about its desktop gui, animations, miniscule software options (back then), and their stupid external keyboard; I would never buy another apple product ever again.

I have had Dell Latitude, Inspiron, Thinkpad series (many), and the issue was the mostly windows. If msft had solved virus issues, or more fundamentally, adopted xenix and built a graphics shell, they would've been at a different level -- essentially amplifying the hardware efforts of the laptop manufacturers. case in point - android ecosystem.

Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#17

Post by mstaoru »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 2/3 phones and smart watches are not Apple, and 7/8 consumer PCs are not Apple. 100% servers and industrial PCs are not Apple. 100% network equipment is not Apple. Apple doesn't have its own storage or RAM game and is ultimately at the mercy of the same companies it competes with.

Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#18

Post by Taikhoom2010 »

mstaoru wrote: post #17

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 2/3 phones and smart watches are not Apple, and 7/8 consumer PCs are not Apple. 100% servers and industrial PCs are not Apple. 100% network equipment is not Apple. Apple doesn't have its own storage or RAM game and is ultimately at the mercy of the same companies it competes with.

No on smartphones while Apple's market share by revenue is like 20 ish %, they have like 80% of the industry's profits. If you're interested in the specific dynamic, check this out - https://taikhooms.substack.com/p/apple-has-the-lowest-disrup...

Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#19

Post by dlcarrier »

Rather, they're in a somewhat precarious position. Almost all of their revenue is from phones and the services that are tied to those phones, which perform better as a lifestyle product than a productivity product. They are in a position where either a market change in what kind of hardware we use to communicate or a stylistic change in lifestyles people wish to portray could collapse their revenue.

For an excellent view on how established players miss market changes, check out The Innovator's Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen.

Re: Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

#20

Post by Taikhoom2010 »

dlcarrier wrote: post #19

Rather, they're in a somewhat precarious position. Almost all of their revenue is from phones and the services that are tied to those phones, which perform better as a lifestyle product than a productivity product. They are in a position where either a market change in what kind of hardware we use to communicate or a stylistic change in lifestyles people wish to portray could collapse their revenue. For an excellent…

Disagree; regardless of the hardware change, Apple will release its take, and people will continue to use it. I write about the dynamic of a double-sided lock-in here: https://taikhooms.substack.com/p/apple-has-the-lowest-disrup...

Definitely love Clayton's work though, happy to connect - so.taikhoomcb@gmail.com

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