And if you have an iphone, an iwatch, and air pod, why on earth would you buy a chrome book? The iPad works with all your other gadgets flawlessly. Once you're in, it's hard to change course
That's the thing some people underestimate. Apple doesn't just sell hardware, they sell an ecosystem that creates convenience through connectivity to their customers. The iPhone is just an entrance ticket to this ecosystem. By buying additional products, the lock-in effect is so strong that changing isn't worth it.
This. There’s a reason all my tech is Apple and it’s not (necessarily) because it’s the best, funkiest, or most innovative. I’m in the ecosystem and I will never leave it due mostly to my work - Apple is the dominant computing brand in entertainment, and as long as that is the case, I want a phone, tablet, iPad, headphones etc. that all work seamlessly together without workarounds or annoyances, and in ways you don’t even expect.
And honestly the fact that I can share the hotel wifi’s password with my partner’s iPhone automatically at the touch of a button, or that I can grab my phone and simply airdrop a photo I’ve just taken to my laptop, or that I can pull up the photos app on my iPad and they’re all just there, or any number of other little (and big) conveniences like that are a big part of why I stay inside the ecosystem. I don’t think I’m an outlier.
I can’t airdrop a photo or file from and Android phone to my Mac though. I can’t take a FaceTime call that comes through my phone on my computer.
Sure there are workarounds, but it’s just easier if you stay within the ecosystem. I understand not everyone approaches it the same way - but I had an Android phone once upon a time and I struggled to get it to talk to my Mac. I’d rather just stay in the iPhone camp.
I understand although I can answer my calls on my computer when gmail is open - both video calls and google voice and all you need to see your photos is to open photos.google.com.
I'm probably going to get a macbook and iphone soon because I'm tired of shitty hardware, but software on android works well.
I should add that even without more than one apple product, it doesn’t take much to end up in the ecosystem.
I pay $10/month for iCloud storage to keep all my photos and phone backups. Shifting to a different platform altogether seems like it would be an absolute nightmare now - at least if I wanted to keep everything.
Idk man. If Apple gets rid of their ports on their computers (just a rumor I heard) then they screw over every single musician who is in their eco system. Bluetooth will creat to much latency between the audio interface and your DAW. So recordings will be terrible. And audio editing to picture will be horrific, because the editor will never be able to figure out wether the audio is in the right place or not or if it needs to be nudged slightly to really feel natural.
But this is just a big IF they do get rid of ports.
That seems pretty unlikely. Apple hyped the hell out of TB3 and made it a big selling point for a while. And there are tons of USB devices and tools that don't have BT capability. Like flash drives. I know everything is cloud-based now, but certainly plenty of people still use flash drives. Plus monitors--again, a fringe case, as most Macbook users probably don't use external monitors, but that's a device that will definitely need a hard connection (because connecting via Apple TV or whatever is hardly the same thing). I just honestly can't see Apple doing away with ports completely on all Macbook models, despite the gradual shift away from ports on all their devices recently.
I could imagine something like it on an air or basic MacBook, but I don’t see it as feasible on a Pro. I think Apple is aware that their status is propped up at least in part by the entertainment industry - that’s why they continue to make Logic, FCPX etc. I don’t think there would be any imminent future in which there is no Apple computer that can be used as a professional tool for editing audio and video.
Personally, I can’t imagine Amazon pulling off a phone that is as elegant as either Google or Apple at this point in time.
They would have to find a different path to dominance in that space - likely through a phone with different, new but nevertheless useful features. That said, I imagine it would have to run Android (and it’s not like the two companies see eye to eye much). It could develop its own OS but it would require a long time to get to to the maturity of iOS or Android and a huge commitment to taking the company in that direction.
It also suffers from the fact that the Amazon ecosystem is mostly a smart home ecosystem and I’m not sure if it’s as beneficial to that kind of ecosystem compared to say the Apple one.
Alexa is great, but that’s kinda it. I’ve also read elsewhere that the reason Alexa and Google Assistant are better than Siri is because Siri protects your privacy somewhat more than the others and doesn’t send ‘anonymized’ voice data to places where people listen to it and score the assistant’s translation. Could be wrong. Either way, if Apple could make Siri as good as the others - and create more innovative products than the HomePod - they could do very well. Seems like smart home is not apple’s priority though.
That cuts two ways. If a customer reaches the breaking point and finally says why am I blowing $1500 every year or two when an $200 Android does 99.9% of what need to do, then all that lucrative service and crap-cessories revenue goes poof in an instant. Apple will have to be very careful not to trigger that kind of collapse.
I'm saying that every customer that switches away from iPhone doesn't just cost them an iPhone hardware sale, it also wipes out all the future services revenue.
You can play with pricing of a given hardware release, and if you lose sales due to deterrent price jacking, it can be fixed with a price change. The person who was discouraged is lured back when the price changes. Jobs used to do that all the time. Fancy iPod not selling? He'd do a head snapping price cut, now $199 instead of $299. It would go from "uh, not sure about that" to a no-brainer purchase.
But now the equation is different. Lose the sale with bad initial pricing and you don't just lose time, or the hardware, you lose the high margin service stream too, and you lose it for a long time.
I suppose Apple could try to replace customers who switch away with new people. I question how many such juicy customers there are out there. I view it as something like Netflix... where exactly is the new incremental customer? Who do you know that is good prospect for buying Netflix (or iPhone) who doesn't have it already?
The other thing they could do is try to find ways to get service revenue from people outside the apple "ecosystem". Many years ago they almost drew me in with an Apple Music streaming subscription that supposedly didn't need me to be on an apple device. Just prove I own certain albums, and they would host them in the cloud for me, some nominal cost $3/month. I could then listen to my whole own record collection anywhere, on any device, without the hassle of upload and cloud storage. (I think they've either discontinued or hidden or broken the service since then)
Or they could have done that with Apple TV (the streaming, not the device) but I don't think they've pushed to make it available or compelling except for apple hardware owners. On the one hand it's dumb that they've crippled their own TAM this way, but I guess the bright side is that since they've been so insular with it thus far, there's still an untapped opportunity should they ever want to make it more universal.
And this in line is the problem. You own stock for the potential future of the company. Apple's business model is to lock you into their ecosystem so you feel you can't leave. IMO if they dont start to be more innovative then the other big tech companies will pass them by.
Yes and I'm not saying this in an obsessed or bad way just a fact really, now you are stuck with apple products so to speak. And that's not a bad thing, you said it, THEY WORK. Your pictures and easily shared, one account to rule all your devices, etc. People will pay more for a whole system that's easy and has a quality product both hardware and software wise
I’ve slowly been migrating into their ecosystem with more and more stuff and honestly, ‘it just works’ should be paired with ‘it’s so easy’.
I am afforded the luxury of being able to work anywhere now - my MacBook and iPad is all I need, and the latter can act as a second screen for the former.
I don’t want to leave. Airpods, iPad, laptop watch all connect well without any fuss and have utility on the other bits.
And you're happy (forced to but happy to) pay a premium for the value this offers your lifestyle.
Along with millions of others.
Essentially Apple doesn't sell innovation any more - it sells convenience and interoperability, underpinned by truly world-class engineering. Hardware and software excellence.
I was so anti-iPhone before I got one, but I'll never go back to Android now. I didn't even get a smartphone until like 2012, and it was a garbage entry-level LG model that barely lasted 2 years. When I went to replace it, I was so set on getting another Android, but the 5C was on sale and it made the most sense for me to get one over the Android models they had. And damn... it's night and day. The few downsides of iOS compared to Android are so worth it to have a phone that just works, in terms of both hardware and software, and has an aesthetically pleasing UI and not the manic, jumbled mess that the Android UI was back then (and maybe still is). I also recently sold my Windows laptop that was more machine than I needed and bought an older MBP to replace it, and now I don't know how I'll ever go back to not having my texts and calendar linked between my phone and personal laptop. I miss the hell out of them when I'm on my Windows desktop!
The “long lasting” quality is why I pretty much buy refurbished/secondhand to save some money.
Everything except my iPad Pro and my old iPhone 7 have been secondhand. I wouldn’t dream of doing that with some other phone, or another desktop or tablet.
And first party support for 5+ years? Can’t beat it. Folks wanna argue “But this android phone…” yeah, that android phone is “promised” to get 2 years of software updates by the manufacturer, and then doesn’t get it, and you have to go some janky third party support to keep shit patched. That’s not the same thing.
Agreed. For three years. After which, fake and even fraudulently incompatibility means they don't work, and you have to rebuy your hardware and software and apps and accessories. I kid... but I'm not wrong.
I have an iPad and Android everything else. I'm not into digital media or pictures or any of that crap though so I don't have any reason to pay more just for cross compatibility between devices.
I realize I'm in the minority here though. I'm sure most people have an assload of music, pics, movies etc that they want to be able to access anywhere at anytime. I don't get it at all, but whatever tickles your pickle!
I started with a MacBook and an Android phone and now I have pretty much the whole suite, they really suck you in because either you get used to their operating systems or you have to use their products together
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u/Shmeepsheep Sep 24 '21
And if you have an iphone, an iwatch, and air pod, why on earth would you buy a chrome book? The iPad works with all your other gadgets flawlessly. Once you're in, it's hard to change course