Let me ask you a question instead first. If you bought a new iPhone that was just released on Day 1 for $600 and the next day, they released one that was 2x faster and also charged $600, you wouldn't mind Apple replacing it so soon that you got nearly no use of it before releasing a newer/BETTER model for the same price with no aformentioned warning that they were going to release another better model so soon after that one?
A bit of a different hypothetical than a product coming out at half the expected time between updates rather than the full expected time between updates, but I'll play along.
Would I be upset? A little. And I'd then return the one I'd purchased the day before for a full refund and buy the new one. Duh.
Oh, did you mean that the new one came out just beyond the limit for me to return the old one? No, because I bought the old one when I did because I needed it when I did. The fact that there is a newer phone out doesn't diminish the value of the phone in my hand. Why would it?
If they had told you to expect a new one in 4-6 months, you might have chose to wait for the better model (e.g. assuming the new one had 4K support and the old one did not or whatever BIG feature it might have). Worse yet, if you were saving up for that new model and you were disappointed (as many were here with the new AppleTV not having 4K and having so many missing features on day 1) and now only to learn maybe if they had waited 3 months (who knows if they'll even have 'Remote' updated by then at this rate), the would have 4K support, 2x the CPU power and 3x the graphics power for the same basic price. Well GEE, WTF would they be upset? I can't imagine. Maybe it has something to do with Apple being so damn secretive about their update cycles that you simply CANNOT make an informed buying decision.
If the current AppleTV doesn't fulfill your needs (because you want 4k support), then don't buy it. I don't see how the timeline for an ATV5 should affect that poor buying decision other than maybe rubbing salt in a self-inflicted wound.
Now before you go accusing me of being upset/angry, keep in mind I have NOT bought a new Apple TV (I bought TWO FireTV Sticks instead for less than the cost of even one AppleTV 4th Gen). So if anything, I'm actually feeling pretty smug about my decision. That doesn't mean that I do not sympathize with others.
So, just to be clear, you aren't talking about any actual distress any actual person is feeling, just distress you think someone like you would feel if they had made a nonsensical buying decision - which you did not make - and a hypothetical scenario that is only vaguely and unreliably hinted at by an unreliable source actually plays out. Okay.
If the ATV4
were a good buying decision for you, the fact that a new one might come out six months later wouldn't change that (by definition of a good buying decision). It might not have been the
optimal buying decision given hindsight, but it is simply not possible for additional buying options to degrade the absolute value of any other buying option, therefore something can't transition in actual economic terms from being a good purchase to being a bad purchase due to such an external change (other events can change a good buying decision into a poor one, such as support for the product being cut short or the device breaking without available repair/replacement recourse, etc). This isn't complex logic here, just the type of thing that falls out of basic economic theory.
Now, what I'm getting at is that psychology doesn't always play along with sound economic theory. Hell, that's the whole point of marketing, exploiting those differences between psychology and economic sense. I completely recognize that. But one would expect people to acknowledge the psychological role and attempt to surmount it in their own purchasing decisions rather than wallow in it. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but that's why I find it interesting that you are claiming that there is some body of people who are completely defeated by this psychology and don't want to be anything other than victimized by it.
There was no point in spending so much for what was obviously an outdated POS on Day 1 when both Amazon and Roku offered 4K options TODAY for at least $49 less than Apple (even more if you snagged a FireTV 4K during the Black Friday sale). What did Apple offer the AppleTV for during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale? Oh yeah. FULL PRICE ON EVERYTHING THEY SELL. That was so generous of them! No wonder I no longer mind getting out of the Apple ecosystem if there's a better and/or cheaper option to do the same thing. FireTV + Kodi may have taken a bit of renaming and moving of files, but now it does everything AppleTV did and more and I can even still Airplay iTunes music and videos to Kodi (since it supports Airplay; only iOS8/9 doesn't work with it. iTunes and older iOS work fine). I still have two Gen1 and one Gen2 AppleTVs if I really need to rent a movie or something (seeing as my upstairs TV is only 720P given its distance, it was all that was needed) so there was no real benefit of the new AppleTV for rentals or the like.
... all of which is to say that you didn't make an ill-considered buying decision on the ATV4. So what is the point of being upset about a new ATV5 potentially maybe coming out next year again?
Oh, I forget. You aren't upset; you are smug. Good for you, I guess, although it implies you think everyone who chose differently than you did did so based on a faulty decision process. I'm not sure why this rumor would in any way make you feel that way.
It would be generous if they gave these people a discount on the new model or didn't abandon their software updates the following year (pretty common for iOS these days; you can count on two updates and you're done. They'll probably count 3 months as a year here. They didn't hesitate to abandon the 1st Gen iOS products in short order. Screw over the early adopters. It's OK. According to you, they are being "generous" by doing so. After all, by being forced to upgrade, they'll thank Apple for making them get the new device!
)
... so now you are impugning Apple's business practices for something you imagine they might do if this hypothetical situation actually arises which would be out of line with what they had done in the past but you think not so far out of line with past actions that they definitely wouldn't do it. Okay. I'll take that with a heaping pile of salt grains.
But there is a kernel of a good point here, in that iOS support minimums tend to be based on last sale date, so if something comes out in six months instead of a year the "last sale date" for that older version is six months earlier. Would ATV4 support be cut off in, say, early-2018, instead of early 2019, if this rumor is true and the ATV5 is shoved out the door much faster than has happened historically, in February? Possibly. As you are fond of pointing out, the ATV4 is such a POS you wouldn't imagine using it that long anyway, but there are those hypothetical folks who are going to buy the ATV two weeks before the ATV5 comes out who are counting on three or four years of support for that device, I guess you are supposing.
In any case, when looking at the value of a device from Apple you need to justify it based on the minimum support duration, which is typically two years, from the date you purchased it (which allowance is larger than I'd afford to most other electronics companies). If it isn't worth $150 for the next two years of use, then an ATV4 is not a good purchase for you today.
If you will have a mounting need for something that product doesn't offer - say 4k support because you are planning on buying a 4k TV in six months - then that shortens the time over which the ROI must be positive and as a result the current device has to be much more beneficial to be worth it.
Isn't this how you make a buying decision? I mean, it seems pretty straightforward and obvious to consider how long you'll use something versus the up-front price; a more advanced calculus also takes into account time value of money etc, but we needn't go there. In any case, this is why a purchase which makes absolutely no sense for you personally might be absolutely a steal of a deal for me; you should not make that purchase and I should. Go ahead and feel smug if that gets you through the day, but I have every reason to be just as happy with my purchase decision as you do.
A few fact checks are in order before we move on though.
You say the iPhone 1 users were screwed over on iOS support. The original iPhone supported iOS 1, 2, and 3 (3.1.3 was the last supported release). The device was released in 2007, superseded in 2008, and received every iOS update until 2010. Two full years after being superseded to end of support, for the first-gen device.
Also, you say iOS support is down to two versions or so "these days". The iPhone 4s came out with iOS 5, was supported on iOS 6, 7, 8, and now 9 (although 8 was kind of substandard, iOS 9 runs quite well on a 4s). That sounds like five versions of iOS to me, and a support window of 4 years beyond initial "obsolescence" (where that is warped to mean that something newer is being sold by Apple) of October 2012 when the iPhone 5 came out (assuming iOS 10 doesn't come out far earlier than expected so the 4S has support through fall of 2016).
As I see it, if you assume two years of support after you purchase something, and Apple gives three or four years, those extra years are a bonus. Some products get less of a bonus, others get more. But it is still above and beyond what you should be expecting from an electronics company (most non-Apple devices have much shorter ROI windows as support drops much quicker). So, again, if you are making an informed decision and the math just doesn't work for a two year end-of-life on the product, then you shouldn't be buying it.
You obviously don't get it and probably never will. Keep giving Apple your money dude. They love you for it (well 'love' is the wrong word since love implies selfless behavior and Apple is anything but selfless. They are quite selfish, really. I guess that means they "hate" you for it instead or perhaps "apathy" is the better word for the opposite of love. In other words, they simply don't give a crap how you feel (and that is born out of their utter disregard for feedback and consumer opinion, something I used to believe was just a trait of Steve Jobs, but I now know to be Apple's philosophy in general).
... what? ... Apple ... doesn't ...
love me???
Aw ****, dude. You just completely broke my heart. I thought Apple was making products for me because they loved me. ****. Now I'm just going to have to buy products that fill needs and desires without expecting the company to want a lifelong intimate relationship and raise children with me.
Oh, I guess that's what I've been doing already. But thanks for the concern.
Obviously, you've never encountered a situation where your current product is in dire need of updating/replacement, but the new product falls utterly short of your hopes/expectations.
Obviously not. Oh, that's right, I have. That is somewhat endemic to a consumer economy; what you want is rarely precisely what is offered when you want it, and the variations in that range from minor details to major deficiencies. So, yeah, I've had products I've been waiting to be updated for which the updated version was lackluster. And you know what I did in those cases? The same thing I do for any non-trivial purchase. I didn't buy the new model reflexively; I weighed limping along on the old device, buying something from another vendor, or buying the new one that didn't really satisfy my needs with the expectation that I'd either stick with it for a few years or replace it early.
This is what rational consumers are supposed to do, because no product ever gives you everything you want and a glittery pony too.
Where you have reason to be upset is where the product promises you that glittery pony and doesn't deliver. But that doesn't seem to be the case with the ATV4.
That is the case here for many, I believe. Some chose to buy one anyway, thinking it would be a LONG time before the next model comes out (prior history indicates 2-3 years is 'normal' between AppleTV updates) and they didn't want to abandon their Apple ecosystem (some may have large iTunes encrypted libraries and unlike me, don't know how to decrypt them so they can ditch Apple any time they feel like it). Others (like me) chose to tell Apple where to stick it and bought a product from another company for a fraction of the cost.
Well perhaps you aren't the best spokesperson for these people you think chose to buy a product that wasn't good for them. Can they speak for themselves? Because it is much more informative to talk with someone who did something counter to their self interests than to talk with someone who is just imagining those other someones might exist.
I noticed you assumed a year of use in your own estimation. One would think that 3-4 month cycle would raise even your eyebrows a little bit, but hey, enjoy your buggered AppleTV that didn't even have remote support or bluetooth keyboard support on day 1 (and still does not a month later) when the $59 model DOES have it. What an awesome product it is!
If a new ATV5 comes out 3-4 months after I buy an ATV4, that doesn't mean I only get 3-4 months of use out of it. And the rumor here even if taken completely on face value is that Apple is starting testing the next generation device soon, not releasing it soon; if past is any indication testing an iOS device in January is in line with a release in July through October, not any earlier. Which gives an ATV4 received during a Winter holiday about 7-10 months of being enjoyed as "the best ATV you can buy" before being superseded, if that means something to you.
And, yes, I will enjoy my ATV4, thank you. Sorry it doesn't fit all your needs, but it does fill many of my needs and as-is makes sense for a minimum-one-year purchase (more so assuming a two-year cycle). Remote/keyboard support I suspect is coming soon, and the sooner the better, but doesn't factor into my purchase decision (because it isn't there yet).
Still, I would be interested in hearing from people who bought an ATV4 despite it not meeting their needs, who feel Apple would be screwing them over by releasing an updated device mid-year 2016. It would be interesting to explore the perverse psychology associated with making that unfortunate buying decision. Is it a matter of internalizing bonuses (that is, Apple tends to support products longer than their peers, so the consumer is now expecting Apple to always support products much longer than their peers; or perhaps that Apple tends to provide improvements to their devices in software over the years to they are expecting those improvements to come quickly)? Or, were they actually fine with the ATV4 when they bought it but the idea of a newer version out is driving them to distraction?
Yeah,
perverse is the word you were looking for.
Something tells me you just didn't get what I said there. But, yes, it was exactly the word I was looking for and used.
TV3. Maybe I slept through that crash?
