Apple to Lure Android Users to iPhone With New Trade-In Program

[Stella]

Companies do this all the time. Its potentially good promotion if your in the market to switch.

Its not desperation etc - its marketing promotion.

I got VMWare for $10 a few years ago due to being a Parallel user. Nice. Still use Parallels mostly though.

 

[danakin]

I'm not against competition in the slightest as long as competitors come up with their own ideas. I think Microsoft did a great job with Windows Phone, as did Palm with Web OS.

Everyone has copied something or other from a previous source, inventor, or "good idea aggregator".

Mobile operating systems all now do pretty much the same thing, in pretty much the same manner, with pretty much the same results. Sure there are variations but these are mainly on a theme.

As I said earlier - bring on the competition! I will add this: Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony, Microsoft, and everyone else; keep trying to beat each other's brains in (figuratively) and borrow relentlessly.

PS: Apple doesn't live in a 100% exclusive "come up with their own ideas" world as your statement implies of Android.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

Mmm nope, pretty sure I got that right the first time.

Most of Apple's highly touted features made their debut on Android and Samsung devices first. We iOS users owe quite a lot to Google and Samsung.

Google and Samsung also have early iPhone jailbreak developers to thank for some of their ideas. Then again, so does Apple.

 

[blackcrayon]

Vanilla Android isn't laggy anymore, that problem was solved by Google years ago.

Current UI lag for various devices is caused by manufacturer launchers and services, not the underlying OS itself.

You learned something today.

I was surprised to finally find my cellular 2013 Nexus 7 (which i admittedly hadn't turned on in a few weeks) got Lollipop. But there is no way it is as smooth as any contemporary iOS device. So something in stock Android is still causing things to be, "teh laggy", especially in Chrome.

 

[Trapezoid]

Vanilla Android isn't laggy anymore, that problem was solved by Google years ago.

Current UI lag for various devices is caused by manufacturer launchers and services, not the underlying OS itself.

You learned something today.

The AOSP thread on Googles developer site was filled with complaints about lag in lollipop. Vanilla android still lags, so does ios. Google didn't "solve"anything years ago.

You learned something today

 

[tito2020]

I was surprised to finally find my cellular 2013 Nexus 7 (which i admittedly hadn't turned on in a few weeks) got Lollipop. But there is no way it is as smooth as any contemporary iOS device. So something in stock Android is still causing things to be, "teh laggy", especially in Chrome.

You are operating it wrong my friend lol.

 

[patseguin]

Very smart way to build market share. Once they lure people over, they likely have people long term as they usually want the latest device not to mention revenue from the App Store.

 

[danakin]

I'm not against competition in the slightest as long as competitors come up with their own ideas. I think Microsoft did a great job with Windows Phone, as did Palm with Web OS.

Oh, sorry if I'm being a pain in the a$$, but you didn't answer the question of what's the benefit, to you as an Apple user/fan or to the millions of mobile consumers worldwide, if a prominent ecosystem or platform disappears forever (your words)?

I'm really curious how you'd benefit from this.

 

[mpavilion]

Brand loyalty is a very real and very scary thing.

Brand loyalty is one thing; this is more like "brand chauvinism"... (and yeah, I hate it too!)

 

[Tycho24]

Then where will Apple get all of their good ideas?

Dumbest. Comment. Ever.

 

[LordVic]

The AOSP thread on Googles developer site was filled with complaints about lag in lollipop. Vanilla android still lags, so does ios. Google didn't "solve"anything years ago.

You learned something today

most of the UI elements are no longer laggy

However, there is some spotty lag in some places. There's no doubt. I'm on the Nexus5 with 5.0.1 and there are some instances where there is frame drops.

most of the original animations are perfectly smooth. Like swiping around the homescreen and pulling up the App tray.

I find most of the animation frame drops occur during the new Material Design animations and not with the normal operation of the phone.

Hoping 4.1 fixes it. But in the meantime, i've basicaly just turned off Material design animations.


---------

I wonder how much i would get for the 32gb Nexus 5. I doubt it would be significant enough to move me over to an iPhone considering the 16gb iPhone 6 is now 749.99 in Canada.

 

[igorsky]

How could we be allowed to forget? :/

No matter how far Android gets ahead of iOS from a usability and feature standpoint, there will always be that tired "Without iPhone there wouldn't be Android!" argument.

It's a different world now than it was in 2007, though.

One person's "tired" is another person's "truth".

 

[mpavilion]

I wonder how much i would get for the 32gb Nexus 5. I doubt it would be significant enough to move me over to an iPhone considering the 16gb iPhone 6 is now 749.99 in Canada.

In my experience, you'll generally do as well or better selling a used phone yourself (via a site like Swappa), rather than going with one of these trade-in programs; though there may be exceptions...

 

[igorsky]

It's sad that Apple feels like they have to resort to this.

As an Apple shareholder I can only say thank god you're not the CEO.

Let's leave the business decisions to the big boys in Cupertino while you sit back and enjoy their great products.

 

[Apple_Robert]

It's sad that Apple feels like they have to resort to this.

In my opinion, this is a smart business move. This is no different than other big name manufacturers in various product categories offering incentives to buyers.

 

[Renzatic]

Companies do this all the time. Its potentially good promotion if your in the market to switch.

Its not desperation etc - its marketing promotion.

I got VMWare for $10 a few years ago due to being a Parallel user. Nice. Still use Parallels mostly though.

Quit being so sensible. You're gonna kill the internet.

Though on a serious note, this is exactly what I said when MS offered the same promotion in their stores. It's a pretty common thing companies do to lure users of other products towards their stuff. It has nothing to do with desperation. It's just marketing.

 

[kcirtap00]

Oh, sorry if I'm being a pain in the a$$, but you didn't answer the question of what's the benefit, to you as an Apple user/fan or to the millions of mobile consumers worldwide, if a prominent ecosystem or platform disappears forever (your words)?

I'm really curious how you'd benefit from this.

For my own sense of satisfaction that a sleazy company got what was coming to it.

 

[Tycho24]

Just one question.

What's the benefit, to you as an Apple user/fan or to the millions of mobile consumers worldwide, if a prominent ecosystem or platform disappears forever (your words)?

Sounds like an emotional and frankly irrational statement that doesn't serve to progress the industry as a whole. Allegiances aside, continued evolution and improvement benefits most from feverish, unrelenting competition to best competitors.

Bring on improvements from everyone, we'll all be happy they did!

Good question!
It deserves a real answer.

Look... I applaud Samsung for their amazing stylus in Note 4. It's amazing & original. I respect their "glance to scroll" tech... it's innovative. I'd appreciate that from ANY company.

However...

When their 6 matches the Apple 6 by moving the ear jack to the bottom, getting rid of the removable battery, SD card slot, and waterproof ability - this type of cloning actually DISCOURAGES innovation!!!! As Jony said : (paraphased) "when we give up dozens of nights and weekends with our families over a period of months because we are creating and designing something unique and innovative; it is a direct and disgusting insult to our sacrifices and efforts when another company cobbles a quick product using our work as their prototype".

All "magical experience" talk aside... That's real.
Build your own stuff! Features in apps, OS, & even handsets can bleed over a bit... but we can all recognize when it's blatant.

 

[mpavilion]

Good question!
It deserves a real answer.

Look... I applaud Samsung for their amazing stylus in Note 4. It's amazing & original. I respect their "glance to scroll" tech... it's innovative. I'd appreciate that from ANY company.

However...

What does any of this have to do with the question? If Android "disappeared" as a platform, I'm sure Samsung would still be designing the phones the way they are now, only they'd be running Tizen or something else.

 

[Oletros]

For my own sense of satisfaction that a sleazy company got what was coming to it.

What sleazy company are you talking about?


And regarding the thread, good move from Apple

 

[Yamcha]

You know what this might be something good provided Apple gives you a decent amount..

Generally trade in's are terrible, you could easily sell it off classifieds like Kijiji or Craigslist..

But not sure how it works with Apple

 

[Noctilux.95]

The internet is built on strife and boobs, Vic. You can't honestly expect everyone using it to suddenly mature, and start thinking sensibly. The whole thing would burst into flames, and kill us all.

A $10 iTunes giftcard for your Samsung S5/S6.

 

[gkarris]

You know what this might be something good provided Apple gives you a decent amount..

Generally trade in's are terrible, you could easily sell it off classifieds like Kijiji or Craigslist..

But not sure how it works with Apple

Apple is offering me $60 for my iPad 2 16Gig Wi-Fi

Gamestop is offering me $10 for my Nexus 7 8Gig.

Wonder what Apple will offer for their expensive iOS devices.

Probably not worth it...

 

[Tycho24]

What does any of this have to do with the question? If Android "disappeared" as a platform, I'm sure Samsung would still be designing the phones the way they are now, only they'd be running Tizen or something else.

Sorry.
To clarify... I absolutely DISAGREE that it would be good if Android (or even Windows Phone OS) disappeared.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that multiple platforms are the BEST stimulus for innovation.

However... it is obvious that Samsung gives Android a bad name. Because they run Android & blatantly copy other designs, less tech savvy people wish Android would go away.... I believe what they actually want is just for Samsung to stop copying.

 

[thekeyring]

Mmm nope, pretty sure I got that right the first time.

Most of Apple's highly touted features made their debut on Android and Samsung devices first. We iOS users owe quite a lot to Google and Samsung.

Your argument is flawed in three big ways:

1) Other than the Android engineers switching the product from Blackberry-like to iPhone-like, I would say there hasn't been a major "copy-cat" in the Google/Apple competition.

We don't regularly see Apple releasing brand new Android features to iOS, or Google announcing brand new iOS features to Android.

Features like widgets have been on Android for so long, you can hardly accuse Apple of stealing Google's idea. Plus, you can hardly credit Google with inventing widgets, particularly the implementation of widgets as it currently is on iOS.

2) Even if Apple did incorporate every Android feature, every year, so what? HTC, Samsung, Sony all release Android-based phones. Amazon forked the entire OS! Android is open source.

In production and development, open source as a development model promotes a universal access via a free license to a product's design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.

3) Samsung, on the other hand, do seem to blatantly copy Apple in many areas. I'm genuinely surprised if you can't see this.

After all, features that supposedly made Samsung devices superior to iPhone, like a removable battery, or SD card slot, or even waterproofing, were all removed with the S6.

Apple added Touch ID with the iPhone 5S, Samsung added a finger print scanner to the Galaxy S5. Apple added Apple Pay to the iPhone 6, and Samsung bought & implemented a payment system with the Galaxy S6, taking advantage of Apple's groundwork ensuring companies had NFC readers.

It's hard to believe those two flagship iPhone features were added to the Galaxy line through coincidence.

Also, you might accuse Apple of copying Samsung's big-screens. But Samsung have been increasing their screens for years, and years. If Apple were to copy them as quickly as Samsung copied Touch ID and Apple Pay, we would have seen an iPhone 4S/iPhone 5 with a 4.7 inch screen.