Is Apple Holding Us Hostage?

[dyn]

Despite this we still buy them. Why? Because we're invested in the Apple ecosystem. They have us by the short and curlys and know that we have no choice but to pay the price, or start all over again in a rough transition back to Windows.

1. Not everyone thinks something like Thunderbolt 3-only is a step backwards or inconvenient.
2. Not everyone is invested in the Apple ecosystem: they either have just a Mac or don't use things like iCloud or can easily switch from this ecosystem to another because they are very flexible in doing so (open standards, open source, multiplatform software, etc. as well as being psychologically capable of switching from system a to system b).
3. Not everyone comes from a Windows background! You'll be amazed how easy it is to switch from macOS to something like Ubuntu or Fedora.
4. In addition to point 2: there are too many services out there with most being web based. They only require a webbrowser so any operating system with one will do. In other words, it remains to be seen if there really is an ecosystem lock-in.
5. People (especially Americans it seems) falsely think that the sky is the limit, it isn't. We are currently at some limits that are caused by physics and there simply are no solutions to it yet. Due to that a lot of the development has slowed down tremendously (see smartphone, see smartwatch, see Intels change of strategy, see the constant change of the definition of Moore's law and so on). Technology simply cannot meet the expectations a lot of the people here have which causes a lot of disappointment.

Of course I'm exaggerating, but does anyone else feel similar?

It's not an exaggeration since you are only comparing your own little bubble. That's the biggest problem: people get into their own bubble and hardly see that there is a whole world out there. There are many alternatives and other options around. You'd just have to go looking and be willing to use them. With all those web based services switching is actually far more easier to do than in the past. Just remember: any piece of hardware or software that you choose will be a compromise since there is no such thing as hardware/software that does exactly what you want. Switching to something else simply means making different compromises.

As for companies "having us by the short and curlys": that would be Google and Facebook. People trust them when they really shouldn't. You are providing them with very personal and sensitive data without you really knowing it. And not just yourself, it's also information about others that you give out.

It's not bad planning, Apple changed. The Tim Cook era Apple is different from the Steve Jobs era Apple.

It's different because peoples idol whom they've been adorning for ages is no more and it is not easy to find a replacement for that. All the other stuff (running the company, designing the products, etc.) are no different than previously. The sad thing was that too many people have been completely blinded by their affection for Steve Jobs. With Steve Jobs gone, they now finally begin to see that Apple simply is a company like all the others. They aren't the only one bringing out some great products that fill a void.

Besides that, computing also changes throughout the years. We went from server based computing to client based computing and now back to server based computing (now called cloud computing). We now also have a far more advanced electronics industry capable of creating these extremely small devices leading to this entire "Internet of Things" hype. Yet that also makes it possible to create devices like the smartphone and smartwatch (which really is no more than a wrist computer that can also tell time).

In other words: duh, of course Apple changed, they have to else they go out of business. It's what any (sane) company does.

Steve Jobs did say that iPhone is 5 years ahead of anything in the market in 2007.

And it wasn't since we've had devices do what the iPhone did for a couple of years already and WebOS managed to rival iOS (which wasn't called iOS at that time) and in a lot of cases even surpassed them (the current application switcher in iOS has been in WebOS since day 1). Apple simply had the best marketing out of all them, got lucky that 2 competitors stopped (Microsoft killed off Windows Phone, Palm went out of business due to HP messing it up completely) and did 1 thing that really did set them apart: they made a good working interface that can be operated with ones fingers. Although that didn't really win over any Palm enthusiast since the Treo could be operated one-handed whereas the iPhone could not. Unfortunately there really is hardly any competition in the smartphone market nowadays.

What I'm missing mostly here is the down to earth approach. People simply have lost their sense of reality it seems. It might be a cultural difference though.

 

[Mr. Dee]

1. Not everyone thinks something like Thunderbolt 3-only is a step backwards or inconvenient.
2. Not everyone is invested in the Apple ecosystem: they either have just a Mac or don't use things like iCloud or can easily switch from this ecosystem to another because they are very flexible in doing so (open standards, open source, multiplatform software, etc. as well as being psychologically capable of switching from system a to system b).
3. Not everyone comes from a Windows background! You'll be amazed how easy it is to switch from macOS to something like Ubuntu or Fedora.
4. In addition to point 2: there are too many services out there with most being web based. They only require a webbrowser so any operating system with one will do. In other words, it remains to be seen if there really is an ecosystem lock-in.
5. People (especially Americans it seems) falsely think that the sky is the limit, it isn't. We are currently at some limits that are caused by physics and there simply are no solutions to it yet. Due to that a lot of the development has slowed down tremendously (see smartphone, see smartwatch, see Intels change of strategy, see the constant change of the definition of Moore's law and so on). Technology simply cannot meet the expectations a lot of the people here have which causes a lot of disappointment.

It's not an exaggeration since you are only comparing your own little bubble. That's the biggest problem: people get into their own bubble and hardly see that there is a whole world out there. There are many alternatives and other options around. You'd just have to go looking and be willing to use them. With all those web based services switching is actually far more easier to do than in the past. Just remember: any piece of hardware or software that you choose will be a compromise since there is no such thing as hardware/software that does exactly what you want. Switching to something else simply means making different compromises.

As for companies "having us by the short and curlys": that would be Google and Facebook. People trust them when they really shouldn't. You are providing them with very personal and sensitive data without you really knowing it. And not just yourself, it's also information about others that you give out.


It's different because peoples idol whom they've been adorning for ages is no more and it is not easy to find a replacement for that. All the other stuff (running the company, designing the products, etc.) are no different than previously. The sad thing was that too many people have been completely blinded by their affection for Steve Jobs. With Steve Jobs gone, they now finally begin to see that Apple simply is a company like all the others. They aren't the only one bringing out some great products that fill a void.

Besides that, computing also changes throughout the years. We went from server based computing to client based computing and now back to server based computing (now called cloud computing). We now also have a far more advanced electronics industry capable of creating these extremely small devices leading to this entire "Internet of Things" hype. Yet that also makes it possible to create devices like the smartphone and smartwatch (which really is no more than a wrist computer that can also tell time).

In other words: duh, of course Apple changed, they have to else they go out of business. It's what any (sane) company does.


And it wasn't since we've had devices do what the iPhone did for a couple of years already and WebOS managed to rival iOS (which wasn't called iOS at that time) and in a lot of cases even surpassed them (the current application switcher in iOS has been in WebOS since day 1). Apple simply had the best marketing out of all them, got lucky that 2 competitors stopped (Microsoft killed off Windows Phone, Palm went out of business due to HP messing it up completely) and did 1 thing that really did set them apart: they made a good working interface that can be operated with ones fingers. Although that didn't really win over any Palm enthusiast since the Treo could be operated one-handed whereas the iPhone could not. Unfortunately there really is hardly any competition in the smartphone market nowadays.

What I'm missing mostly here is the down to earth approach. People simply have lost their sense of reality it seems. It might be a cultural difference though.

Stop trying to rewrite history. Because there were no phones like the iPhone prior to January 2007 that implemented multi-touch, full web browser/Internet in your pocket the way the iPhone did. Sure, smartphones existed long before the iPhone, but you pretty much didn't want to use any of them. They were mainly geek toys for nerds with pocket protectors.

 

[dyn]

Stop trying to rewrite history.

Yes please do because you are trying to rewrite history due to not reading what it says and not doing your homework.

Because there were no phones like the iPhone prior to January 2007 that implemented multi-touch, full web browser/Internet in your pocket the way the iPhone did.

You need to watch the keynote where Steve Jobs presented the iPhone. There is this long part where he talks about 3 things and then followed by another long part where he is switching between all 3 parts. Those 3 parts where: internet, phone and iPod. That's what I was talking about.

Now after you've done that do look up what the Palm Treo 650 did and be amazed that it already was doing internet, phone and media (iPod) in 2004. And if you look further you can also find one phone that already had an interface that was (finger)touch-only (it actually used infrared for it): the Neonode N1 and N2

Sure, smartphones existed long before the iPhone, but you pretty much didn't want to use any of them. They were mainly geek toys for nerds with pocket protectors.

In your world perhaps, in this world the numbers tell a rather different story.

When one-handed mode is important the story becomes rather different too. As you have been able to read on MacRumors, there are people that are very unhappy with the current iPhones because you can't use them one-handed. You never really could do it well when compared to something like the Palm Treo 650. That's what you get when you decide to use the entire screen for everything instead of using the bottom half for input and the top half for output and input. It is a different design with different characteristics and thus different situations were it will work and were it will not.

Also there are many reasons why the iPhone became a success, part of that was just being lucky. At one time Palm even gave Apple a run for their money right before HP bought them. They even demoed what Apple brought out years later: handoff.

If you actually knew anything about Apple you'd have known that they are not into being the first with anything. They are into bringing out products that add value and work great. Give credit where credit is due, not everything is on Apple.

 

[GtrDude]

Despite this we still buy them. Why?

Major fan-boyism and cool-aid drinkers.
Apple can do no wrong mentality.

 

[HBOC]

what are "pro" apps really?

I have a 2015 MBP and have the 512 SSD. Right now I have like 130GB free. My LR CC catalogues are on an external 2TB, as it wouldn't fit on my internal storage.

Recently i switched back to iPhone (last iPhone i had was the 3G). One thing i find super annoying and unnecessary is the ease of adding photos, movies, pdfs, etc. With android, it was super simple and quick. with iPhone i have to go through iBook, horrible photos app, iCloud, etc. Why Apple, why?!

My main computers have been Apple since 2008, and i have no need to switch. Plus resale is pretty fantastic!

 

[john123]

My main computers have been Apple since 2008, and i have no need to switch. Plus resale is pretty fantastic!

Interesting that you bring up resale. In the last few years, I've gotten a smaller percentage of what I paid or MSRP relative to prior years. In the mid 2000s, I could often find someone to buy my year old machine and pay me almost (and in one case more) than what I paid for it. I miss those days!