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Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

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Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#101

Post by OkGoDoIt »

reacharavindh wrote: post #33

May be people are disappointed with innovation in iPhones compared to previous years' or for the last few years, but every time I use my AirPods, I can't but feel good about the innovation it took to make it as easy to use and comfortable. * If I open the case near my phone, it automatically pairs and shoes battery levels. * They sound decent for earbuds (not in-ear plugs which I hate) * Lasts reasonable amount of ti…

The AirPods are my favorite purchase I’ve made in the last several years and definitely the best new technology product I’ve seen in a long time. I use mine for hours every day and have for the last year and a half. Before I got my AirPods I had used and returned multiple other wireless earbuds and none of them hold a candle to the AirPods. And somehow the AirPods are half the price of any of those others. I’ve kept an eye on the industry and all the new things coming out and I still haven’t seen anything that has the size, battery life, functionality, range, and audio quality as AirPods at any price point. Even if you use them entirely with android/windows and don’t get any of the benefits of apple’s fancy pairing, the size, quality, and battery life are still light years ahead of any of the competition. (by quality I mean the audio doesn’t cut out except for on very rare occasions, and I can hear everything clearly whether I’m using the pair or just one. I’m not an audiophile so I’m not going to judge on that metric, but they sound great to me for music, audiobooks, podcasts, and phone calls)

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#102

Post by JoeAltmaier »

talltimtom wrote: post #89

People keep complaining that Apple isn’t bringing the next iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch level innovation, but honestly no one is pushing them so why should they? As far as moving markets they’ve done enough to coast a bit. Noone is complaining that companies like Ford and Toyota are “just making new cars instead og innovativt”

Poor examples - Ford reinvented itself recently, dropped sedans entirely from its product line, doubled down on trucks. Toyota brought its hybrid power train to Camry and Lexus product lines. They're innovating all the time.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#103

Post by jandrese »

ummonk wrote: post #23
techsocial wrote: post #2

I like this part: Apple is milking its essentially captive audience. I hesitate to call it “loyal” — these are, essentially, people who look with trepidation at the idea of moving years of photos and other data to a different system. My wife gnashed her teeth when she got one of the new, wildly overpriced iPhones — but she just can’t imagine switching to Android.

Weird. I recently moved from Android to iOS, for privacy reasons as well as wanting a phone that would be supported with software updates for a long time. I've really really enjoyed the switch. Admittedly, it helped that I got the iPhone SE which hadn't been discontinued yet; I might have been less happy with the newer X-series phones, particularly given the sticker price.

The thing that kills me isn't the photos/songs, those are trivial to transfer. It's finding suitable replacements for all of my apps.

Heck, I'm still on iOS 10 because I havn't found 64 bit versions of some of my most used apps.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#104

Post by plussed_reader »

Reason077 wrote: post #55
reacharavindh wrote: post #33

May be people are disappointed with innovation in iPhones compared to previous years' or for the last few years, but every time I use my AirPods, I can't but feel good about the innovation it took to make it as easy to use and comfortable. * If I open the case near my phone, it automatically pairs and shoes battery levels. * They sound decent for earbuds (not in-ear plugs which I hate) * Lasts reasonable amount of ti…

Part of the problem with the Mac is that Intel has been slow to make progress. Particularly when it comes to faster low-power chips, Moore's Law has been failing us for some time now. How long till Apple start putting their A-series chips in Macs?

Did you know 'Moore's Law' is a nice idea, and not actually regulated by anything?

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#105

Post by adt2bt »

jotjotzzz wrote: post #91
reacharavindh wrote: post #33

May be people are disappointed with innovation in iPhones compared to previous years' or for the last few years, but every time I use my AirPods, I can't but feel good about the innovation it took to make it as easy to use and comfortable. * If I open the case near my phone, it automatically pairs and shoes battery levels. * They sound decent for earbuds (not in-ear plugs which I hate) * Lasts reasonable amount of ti…

I'll wait until the AirPods has noise-cancelling. I can't wait until Apple enters into the NC game!

They already are in it with Beats. [1] I imagine the engineering challenge of ANC with earpods is enormous. If they can shrink that down to AirPod size, that’d be one of the biggest technological marvels they’d accomplish.

1. https://store.apple.com/xc/product/MTQW2LL/A

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#106

Post by nikofeyn »

chadash wrote: post #68
reacharavindh wrote: post #33

May be people are disappointed with innovation in iPhones compared to previous years' or for the last few years, but every time I use my AirPods, I can't but feel good about the innovation it took to make it as easy to use and comfortable. * If I open the case near my phone, it automatically pairs and shoes battery levels. * They sound decent for earbuds (not in-ear plugs which I hate) * Lasts reasonable amount of ti…

I think their biggest innovation is making devices where everything just works. Look no further than any two year old who has been exposed to an iPad to see that their interfaces are super-intuitive. Plus, unlike most manufactures, they control all the hardware plus the software, so they can make sure that the entire experience is seamless.

there is very little seamless about the newest apple products, especially their software interfaces. i still have no idea what is happening with icloud or their files application or their gesture language. it is all very confusing. and just works? i actually don't own a single apple product that didn't have a major hardware failure within the first few years.

back when it was mac os x versus windows xp, sure, apple was well ahead of everyone else. that isn't true anymore, but people still claim it.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#107

Post by sithadmin »

adt2bt wrote: post #94
sithadmin wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving AirPod pairing from iOS -> Mac works well, but going the other way is always a struggle for me. I nearly always have to go into my iOS device's Bluetooth settings to reconnect. It's tolerable, but an annoyance.

What I do is put them back in the case real quick and open it near my iPhone. That seems to do the trick though it’s arguably not much better than going into Settings.

I've tried this many times, but it doesn't ever seem to actually work. If my Mac is nearby, it immediately steals the pairing back, even if they're not the most recently selected audio device on the Mac.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#108

Post by snowwrestler »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #64
raverbashing wrote: post #45

Do you know what really worries me about Apple now? So, when SJ came back to Apple, he reorganized their (then at the time) computer lines into more streamlined ones. Something like (I might get some of the names wrong), into consumer/pro and portable/desktop iBook/Powerbook, iMac/Powermac Now look at their line now What the F is an iPhone XR? Is the XS "better" than the X or not? Why are there 2 iPad Pros? Is an iPa…

They've definitely failed at saying 'no' - no to selling last years model as a budget, no to selling 2 different sizes of the same phone, they've lost their mojo in saying "this is the best product available if you're looking for an everyday driver and don't need all the RAM in the world", or, "this is the best product available if you're running Final Cut Pro on the road" To your point, you can actually buy 2 differ…

Selling last year's model as a budget option was a Steve Jobs decision. It started with the iPhone 3G, which remained on sale in 2009 for a lower price, after the 3Gs was released.

Expanding SKUs was also a Jobs decision. He cut the computer line back to the quadrants in the late 90s as a way to triage the company. But later he oversaw the introduction of multiple new product lines, models, sizes, and color combinations.

Critics fretted about focus when he introduced the Cube, when he introduced the iPod, when he introduced the Macbook Air, when he introduced the iPad, when he introduced the Xserve, when he introduced the Hi-Fi. Some of them worked, some of them didn't. The ones that worked, really worked well though.

Re: Apple Used to Be an Inventor. Now It’s Mainly a Landlord

#110

Post by baxtr »

What's the point here?

- There were mp3 files and player long before the first iPod

- Before the iPhone there were other smartphones

- Before the iPad there were other tablets

- Don't get me started on the Watch...

Apple was never an Inventor. Everything they've ever created was built around a technology or even products that existed before. Apple "just" gets the user experience right and and builds products that most people find accessible, easy to use, and reliable.

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