Unpopular opinion I imagine but I agree. I think it was a bit stingy of apple but also thought it was really poor that people complained like this was a surprise.
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Apple Ups DTK Mac Mini Return Credit to $500 After Developer Complaints
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While android is the dominant OS it’s just not the OS companies want develop for in my experience. Almost every company I’ve worked for in my 11 year career as a mobile developer has prioritised iOS by miles - even our customers.
I do agree about the Mac, and apple being stingy here but people knew what they were signing up for so I think it’s quite weak of people to complain so much after having signed up for it.
Trust me I understand. 20 plus years here in mobile and have watched platforms launch, fail, storefronts flail and Apple created a sustainable, lucrative ecosystem within a tightly managed walled garden.
iOS is prioritized because of the revenue it generates per unit. Vs Android which is only a tiny fraction as lucrative by comparison. That said, the burden remains on Apple to discipline itself so that it does not inadvertently become another Microsoft, IBM, RIM or Sony.
If the examples don’t make sense. Let’s just say each of them had a period of absolute market dominance and each one got greedier and lazier and more caustic due to a failure to anticipate market blowback and competition.
There are many other companies out there in similar positions. Samsung is one of them as is Google themselves.
People / customers and every partners complaining is a good thing. Trust me, when the complaints stop rolling in you’ve got real trouble on your hands. This is how the market makes course corrections. And I do not understand what causes people to complain about people complaining about things like this.
Is Apple offering 300 dollars more to developers coming out of your wallets? No? Then what’s the problem? You should be happy for the willingness of people to ask for and ultimately receive these things. One day it will be you who also needs something to change and really the only way it happens is by complaining.
Besides, if you really want to go about the whole, you bought it so deal with it. Then we can toss out return policies and just tell everyone tough. That’s what most of the world did for a very, very long time. 20 years ago the US was one of the only places you could go and actually have a nearly guaranteed offer of returning something for your money back just because you weren’t happy with the purchase!
Now it’s much more widely practice across the world and the US has begun to fall behind in consumer protections. That said… complaints matter. Customer service matters.
And I hear complaints about the changes in Apple’s service quality to long time customers on a daily basis. And keep in mind I’ve spent the better part of the last 14 years successfully promoting the adoption of Apple products in enterprises. And I’ll be the first to call them out when something doesn’t smell right.
Awesome, now I hope they'll have an Apple Silicon 16-inch MacBook Pro or iMac before the end of the year.
iDknow - is it the times ... someone makes a ****** move - corrects it a bit - and the hail crowd is satisfied.
It’s strange - beyond words!
Question remains, if the DTK „trade-in“ credit can be used to buy one, since it‘s still only valid towards purchase of an M1 Mac (until the end of the year).
Maybe that‘ll include M1X Macs?
You have got it the wrong way round, yes you don't bite the hand that feeds you, so that means Apple should look after its developers. Want to know what happens when developers have no interest? Windows Phone/Mobile... remember that? iPhone, iPad and Mac would be a ghost town without developers.
Developers who chose to join the program whilst did so willingly were helping Apple have a decent launch of the new ARM based Mac's and Apple should not forget that. Considering the obscene amount of money Apple makes the initial $200 credit offered by Apple leaving the people who actually make their products do things $300 dollars down is not a good sign of gratitude for their help.
With all the other issues going on around the App Store, Epic etc i think Apple needs to take a very hard look at its ethics, as it looks like part of the Apple is rotten.
Apple offered an iMac (Early 2006, 17-inch) in exchange for return for the PowerPC-to-Intel transition DTK. Them not offering to at least replace the Intel-to-Apple-Silicon transition DTK for an M1 Mac mini is comparatively stingy especially since (a) it is these developers that are moving this transition along in the first place and (b) Apple has more cash that they're sitting on than they'll ever know what to do with.
Apple said developers would get one year out of the DTK for $500. Yes, the fine print said Apple might call for back early… but it wasn’t the expectation. Developers got less than six months. On those grounds, I think Apple owed developers at least $250.
More importantly, Apple agreed the deal they’d offered was unfair.
You can be shocked everyday if you use mess of a Big Sur on M1. Even better use some big apps through Rosetta for that high and dry feeling - oh it works...nope it's just crashed.
The only thing that bugged me about the original offer was the timing. The vast majority of DTK users will have already bought an M1 Mac by now. Requiring them to get another one in the next three months or so – if they wanted to use that $200 voucher – could be seen as Apple generating M1 sales that otherwise would not have happened. Possibly even generating additional profits (if the margin on those sales surpassed $200).
It's probably what they initially were prepared to give anyway, only some smart ass decided to try going the easy route and see if people buy it. In the small chance that no one complains, it would have saved them a ton of money.
The M1 Mac basically every DTK user has already bought by now. You’d really be hard pressed to find any DTK user who hasn’t already bought an M1 Mac by now.
Many of the negative comments are forgetting one very important factor. This is not an optional trade in. Apple is asking for the product back. They are essentially charging developers $300 for using the machines for development. Not only is this greedy, but it is also immoral. I would keep the machine if they only tried to offer me $200 for it. What an insult that initial offer was. This is not a case of simple complaining. This is Apple playing games with developers. How anyone could defend this action truly reflects heavily on their character. You guys should be ashamed. Without developers the M1 Macs would have never been as successful as they are. Apple created the hardware, but developers are giving it life.
The one that you bought in November so that you could develop and test on the actual processor, and OS version, that users were getting, not an interim A12-based kludge that was only ever going to be partially compatible.
The DTK was always going to be a doorstop the day the M1 machines came out. The QuickStart agreement pretty much said that it would have zero support, and it would be dumb for Apple to support A12Z for a moment longer than it needed too.
Still, looks like the squeaky wheel has got the oil...
"the millennial entitled snowflake generation".
I guess people like you have accepted that the world should get harder instead of life getting easier 🤷♂️
Defending a trillion dollar company. SMH.
Is it that bad. Anyway my macbook is not getting the OS, its early 2013 model, i'm hoping to get one, prabably at the end of the year. Hope all things get ironed out by then.
At least one negative comment is forgetting that the DTKs were never sold but rented out for 1 year.....
Non-expiring $200 credit would have been more than fair given the shorter "rental-period". I wonder if Microsoft is going to be as generous with their ARM transition kits?
At the end of the day the kits allowed developers to get their Apps ready for the launch of AS. They could just have easily waited until AS was released and bought a Mini after-the-fact, but obviously saw some value in having their software available as close to launch as possible.
Any developer still using a Dev kit after the release of the retail Macs is either a cheapskate, or simply outta their freaking minds. Whats the point in continuing to develop on pre-release hardware?
Entitlement much?
At the end of the day the kits allowed developers to get their Apps ready for the launch of AS. They could just have easily waited until AS was released and bought a Mini after-the-fact, but obviously saw some value in having their software available as close to launch as possible.
Any developer still using a Dev kit after the release of the retail Macs is either a cheapskate, or simply outta their freaking minds. Whats the point in continuing to develop on pre-release hardware?
Entitlement much?