Quick Takes: Apple's Ecosystem Explained, Crumb-Resistant MacBook Keyboards, and More

[Bswails]

In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.

Friday, March 9

Apple's ecosystem explained: YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee explains why Apple's ecosystem of products and services is so strong. He also advises against becoming too locked into just one ecosystem.

Commentary: A good example of the strength of Apple's ecosystem is iMessage and its coveted blue message bubbles, which have essentially become a status symbol. As silly as it may sound, there are a countless number of tweets that mock green bubbles, which is the color Apple uses to display standard text messages.

AAPL sets all-time high closing price of $179.98: The previous record was $179.26, set on January 18, 2018. Apple's overall all-time high remains $180.62, set during intraday trading on February 28, 2018. AAPL has been on the rise since bottoming out at $150.24 on February 9 amid a wider stock market selloff.

Commentary: Apple shares have technically traded for higher prices, but today's record high factors in multiple stock splits, including a 7-for-1 split in 2014. Apple's market cap now hovers around the $915 billion mark.

Timing of Apple's rumored March event: Apple typically invites the media to its special events roughly 10 to 12 days beforehand, so if there is a March event on its agenda, then we'll likely hear about it soon.
2015: Thursday, February 26 invites -> Monday, March 9 event
2016: Thursday, March 10 invites -> Monday, March 21 event
2017: No event.
2018: Thursday, March 15 invites -> Monday, March 26 event (?)
Commentary: The big question is whether Apple will hold a media event or make its announcements via press releases as it did last year. Rumored products that could debut this month include a new iPhone SE, lower-priced 9.7-inch iPad and MacBook Air models, and the AirPower charging mat, along with iOS 11.3.

Other Reading:
Swift is now the world's tenth most used programming language, tied with Objective-C, according to analyst firm RedMonk's analysis of GitHub and Stack Overflow data. Apple's open source programming language was released at WWDC in June 2014.

Apple has applied to patent a crumb-resistant keyboard: The patent application describes a MacBook keyboard with mechanisms that prevent contaminant ingress, which is a fancy way of saying dirt and crumbs. This could involve the use of "brushes, wipers, or flaps" that block gaps around key caps.
For more Apple news and rumors coverage, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also visit our forums to join in the discussion.

Article Link: Quick Takes: Apple's Ecosystem Explained, Crumb-Resistant MacBook Keyboards, and More

Thought MB YouTube video made sense...till I got that HomePod new from eBay for $272 today

 

[kazmac]

Contaminant Ingress?

Meh. I could hear Ives describing this welcome keyboard feature as a “magical edible matter and particulate deflecting wonder.”

/s

 

[Apple_Robert]

I won't watch the YouTube video, but in general I think the benefits of using an integrated set of tools outweigh the fear of "lock in". You either take the pain all at once when you change from one ecosystem to another, or continuously over time in trying to make tools work together when they weren't meant to. I'll choose the former.

You aren't missing anything by not watching the video. It is another YouTube revenuer, who makes his living off YouTube, much like the "Everything Apple Pro" guy. Both move their mouth but not much substance comes out, just click revenue.

 

[everythingapplerainbow]

I think the only annoying thing about that ecosystem is iCloud & iCloud Photos. Without it I can't sync/backup anything normally on my iPhone, because Google Drive/Google Photos cannot backup in the background (or very slow in the background). Other than that, what am I missing from Android???
People just too embarrassed to say: with Android, there's no ecosystem

 

[mantan]

I will hand it to Google: they are pretty good about data portability. After many years of using Google Calendar, I got sick of fighting to get it to sync with MacOS and iOS native calendar apps, and decided to migrate to iCloud. I was able quite easily to download .ics files with about 12 years of calendar events and import them right into Calendar on my Mac. iCloud has been syncing perfectly for years now, and I haven't looked back for a second.

The myth of the ecosystem is a lot stronger draw than the ecosystem itself. Anybody who's tried an Android tablet or phone over the past few years found that's is VERY simple to move back and forth. The apps are essentially the same on both devices. A lot of data is kept 'app side'. Purchased content is easy to move back and forth....and a lot of people consume streaming content rather than purchasing songs and movies anyway.

 

[danny842003]

I like MKBHD but I didn’t really agree with his point here.
He openly admits to carrying two phones daily, if android is worth stepping out the eco system why is carrying two phones required?

Im a heavy phone, smart watch and tablet user with a large photo library (8000 images and counting) in the cloud, also subscribed to Apple Music, I did try Spotify but at the same cost I couldn’t see any benefit to stepping out of my existing iTunes library. A moderate Mac user and have an Apple TV and HomePod as they complimented what I already have.
I will admit I couldn’t really switch out of the eco system if I wanted to but I see no advantage to having a less well integrated system anyway.

 

[audiomatt]

Crumb-resistant keyboard. I like the idea.
[doublepost=1520638561][/doublepost]Describing integrated features across different products as being "hooks," shows how ignorant or biased Marques Brownlee is.

10 bucks says it's not as crumb resistant as my 17" macbook pro and they play it off as a revolution

 

[Tapiture]

Crumb-resistant keyboard. I like the idea.
[doublepost=1520638561][/doublepost]Describing integrated features across different products as being "hooks," shows how ignorant or biased Marques Brownlee is.

I’m sorry, what? Are you blind? He’s absolutely right... That’s EXACTLY what Apple does and they know it and it’s a good business model. Why are you taking an explanation of what is the truth as some kind of attack on Apple and then going and personally attacking Marques?

I also find it rather hypocritical you calling HIM ignorant or biased...

 

[sw1tcher]

For all my needling of Apple, they deserve all the financial success they get. Apple sells useful products to people who want to buy them and bring more beauty/art/functionality to people's lives. Contrast this with a lot of companies that make money deceiving and outright shagging people.

I know what you mean. It's like how that one company was recently found out to be deceiving phone owners into thinking their phones were getting old and slow which lead to them buying newer phones. Turns out the operating system was throttling the phones because the battery was getting worn out.

It would have been nice if owners were notified that the phone battery needed replacing vs hiding that info. Instead of people paying $79 for a battery replacement, this company was making even more money from people who were deceived into paying hundred$ of dollars for a new phone.

 

[Tapiture]

I won't watch the YouTube video, but in general I think the benefits of using an integrated set of tools outweigh the fear of "lock in". You either take the pain all at once when you change from one ecosystem to another, or continuously over time in trying to make tools work together when they weren't meant to. I'll choose the former.

As you say, you didn’t watch the video and so you don’t realize that he wasn’t making any kind of opinion about whether it was “worth it” or not. He left that up to the viewer and even makes the point that, if that’s what works for you, it absolutely makes sense.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I’m sorry, what? Are you blind? He’s absolutely right... That’s EXACTLY what Apple does and they know it and it’s a good business model. Why are you taking an explanation of what is the truth as some kind of attack on Apple and then going and personally attacking Marques?

I also find it rather hypocritical you calling HIM ignorant or biased...

Apple does not hook people into staying in the ecosystem, where they can't leave as easily as they entered, which is the ignorant and biased comment he made.

Apple makes it clear what products X,Y, and Z can do, and how they can integrate with other Apple products. Thus, the consumer is made aware before purchase.

A person stating it is hard to leave the Apple ecosystem, is a person that is either lazy, ignorant, or having a severe case of verbal diarrhea.

 

[Tapiture]

Apple does not hook people into staying in the ecosystem, where they can't leave as easily as they entered, which is the ignorant and biased comment he made.

Apple makes it clear what products X,Y, and Z can do, and how they can integrate with other Apple products. Thus, the consumer is made aware before purchase.

A person stating it is hard to leave the Apple ecosystem, is a person that is either lazy, ignorant, or having a severe case of verbal diarrhea.

Yeah I’m calling BS on that. Question: can the Apple Watch or HomePod be used without an iPhone?
Second Question: can Google Docs, Google Home, Samsung Gear or Google Play be used without an android device, or even with an iPhone? Yes.

So yes. Apple has built very high walls around their “garden.” And it’s fine and cool being inside, but you’re either totally in or totally out.

 

[simonmet]

He’s actually a terrible tech reviewer. I have no clue how he got so popular. He’s generic and super biased.

I guess that’s what it takes to get popular. They’re pretty much all terribly annoying. One of the few I like is MobileTechReview.

 

[Ener Ji]

Here's a wild idea Apple - Why don't you admit to your mistake and realize that the butterfly keyboards were an indulgence in Ive's ego (much like the Trash Can Mac was) and go back to the scissor keyswitches?

They might want to, but they can't without redesigning the current form factor; a very expensive process. They've only had two years with the current form factor, so a redesign this year is probably out of the question.

I respect the fact that some people hate the butterfly keyboard, but I personally love it. So, if it was a "mistake" that Apple made the switch, it's one that I'm happy about.

I agree. My typing speed and accuracy on my 2017 MBP are noticeably better, coming from a MacBook Air. I also like the keyboard feel much better as well.

Do you guys do anything special to prevent crumbs and dust from entering the keyboard? Any issues with stuck or unreliable keys so far?

 

[Analog Kid]

Eh, it kind of depends on which apps and services you're talking about. The fact is, Dropbox (for example) is "meant" to work with MacOS because they have developers who make sure that happens.

I use Dropbox in addition to iCloud Drive because the latter still has no way to collaborate on a shared folder. (In fact, iCloud Drive seems to only begrudgingly let you use folders at all, and is always trying to get you to put, say, Pages files in a big bucket of other Pages files, which is just insane to me, but that's a rant for another day.) Dropbox is very well integrated into the MacOS Finder, and the iOS app is solid as well.

I sync my contacts -- using the native Contacts apps on iOS and MacOS -- with Gmail through LDAP. It works very cleanly and I can use and edit my contacts through the Gmail interface when I'm on my work computer. Bonus: my contacts' photos all get automatically synced with whatever they upload to their own Gmail accounts.

And speaking of Gmail, I use that via IMAP with the native Mail client, and it works just fine. Labels are not really super compatible, but I personally found obsessively labelling my mail to be more trouble than it's worth anyway. Now I just search, and Mail's search is lightning fast. Points to iCloud Mail for offering fast push-based refreshing on iOS, while Gmail is fetch-only. I can live with the small delays, but it's a little irritating.

I will concede one big mismatch I've encountered: after years of fighting it, and even resorting to third-party stuff like Spanning Sync (RIP), I just never got Google Calendar to play well with MacOS and iOS native Calendar apps. I finally moved over to iCloud Calendars and it's been smooth sailing ever since. Maybe GCal has gotten better about this since then, but I'm fine with iCloud now.

So, I have to say, it really depends on the particulars, and I don't think you can make any sweeping statement that you can't mix cloud systems!

Is think you’re arguing a different point...

You’re saying “don’t avoid a good product that works for you in order to favor an Apple branded solution”. I agree with that. I don’t agree with saying “do avoid a good Apple branded solution that works for you in order to avoid some idea of ‘lock in’”.

Use the tool that works. Data portability is a reason to use one tool or another, if longevity of that data is important to you.


Completely separately from that point, I’m getting increasingly frustrated with Google services lately. More and more functionality is being limited to Chrome browsers only. MacOS calendar had been working nicely with GCal but events now seem HTML encoded and don’t play nice any more.

Then this stuck in my craw:
https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab-google-drive/issues/108

Which brought back memories of this:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/12/google_code_shutdown/

Services come and go, but Google’s seem particularly unstable and unreliable...

 

[Baymowe335]

I guess that’s what takes to get popular. They’re pretty much all terribly annoying. One of the few I like is MobileTechReview.

I don't know, but he's awful. He never tells you anything that isn't easily knowable from a spec sheet or generic like, "it sounds good" or it "looks awesome."

 

[krause734]

What is it you need to be able to do in Linux, that you can't do on a Mac?

Years ago, I used Linux (Mint and others). I liked the security. However, outside of a different UI than Windows (at the time) I found that Linux was not an OS (at the time) that easily integrated with my needs and other products at the time.

If you are a person that has to be able to tinker around all the time with your products and have to have a new themed UI on a regular basis, I can see why Linux appeals.

I don’t tinker with themes. Linux is very basic and simple and doesn’t change very often with updates. The UI is clean and simple. I feel most basic users would prefer Linux Mint if they knew about it. I switched because there are no new standalone Mac desktops in years. I now have the latest hardware with an Intel NUC and Samsung SSD. I should have switched sooner.

 

[Analog Kid]

As you say, you didn’t watch the video and so you don’t realize that he wasn’t making any kind of opinion about whether it was “worth it” or not. He left that up to the viewer and even makes the point that, if that’s what works for you, it absolutely makes sense.

Yeah, my response is to the MR interpretation: “He also advises against becoming too locked into just one ecosystem.”

 

[mikethemartian]

What is it you need to be able to do in Linux, that you can't do on a Mac?

Years ago, I used Linux (Mint and others). I liked the security. However, outside of a different UI than Windows (at the time) I found that Linux was not an OS (at the time) that easily integrated with my needs and other products at the time.

If you are a person that has to be able to tinker around all the time with your products and have to have a new themed UI on a regular basis, I can see why Linux appeals.

I’m expecting to migrate from OSX to Ubuntu because Apple doesn’t seem interested in making the type of laptop that I need to do engineering and physics simulation. I would prefer to stick with OSX but I’m no longer interested in Mac hardware.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I’m expecting to migrate from OSX to Ubuntu because Apple doesn’t seem interested in making the type of laptop that I need to do engineering and physics simulation. I would prefer to stick with OSX but I’m no longer interested in Mac hardware.

If Ubuntu is meeting your needs and OSX isn't, your action makes sense.

 

[code-m]

Here's a wild idea Apple - Why don't you admit to your mistake and realize that the butterfly keyboards were an indulgence in Ive's ego (much like the Trash Can Mac was) and go back to the scissor keyswitches?

Worst Apple “innovation” of recent history. The Apple Smart Keyboard Cover is a joy to type on, only thing missing is backlit keys, which should be easy to incorporate in the next version. Some function keys would also be welcomed. Why not transfer this design language to the MacBook lineup. Why is Apple trying to find a solution to a problem it created and not use the solution it already has. I just don’t understand the recent design choices this company has taken.

 

[thisismyusername]

Not getting locked into the Apple ecosystem is very easy. Just don't ever buy a movie or TV show on iTunes, don't use Apple Music, and don't buy a Home Pod. In fact, I consider Apple's hardware to be one of the most open platforms to use because not only does it obviously support all the Apple stuff, just about every other company out there has to support iOS because of how popular iPhones are (spotify on the homepod being one of the most obvious exceptions). The fact that I can use Google Photos on my iPhone but couldn't use iCloud photos on an Android is pretty much proof of that. It also helps if you get over your obsession with blue bubbles.

I always laugh when I see people say they're locked in. I've had a mix of Apple and non-Apple devices in my house for over a decade and everything works just fine together. I could get an Android phone tomorrow and I wouldn't miss a thing.

 

[RickInHouston]

Proud to be a green bubble.
[doublepost=1520649532][/doublepost]

I think the only annoying thing about that ecosystem is iCloud & iCloud Photos. Without it I can't sync/backup anything normally on my iPhone, because Google Drive/Google Photos cannot backup in the background (or very slow in the background). Other than that, what am I missing from Android???
People just too embarrassed to say: with Android, there's no ecosystem

Wanted to download my kid's music bought on iTunes. I find it absurd you must go through iTunes program. I can log onto any computer I want and download my Googe or Amazon music from a browser.
[doublepost=1520649633][/doublepost]

Yeah, my response is to the MR interpretation: “He also advises against becoming too locked into just one ecosystem.”

Home assistants - the newest lock to ecosystems. You must have a subscription for to play music via voice commands.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Proud to be a green bubble.
[doublepost=1520649532][/doublepost]

Wanted to download my kid's music bought on iTunes. I find it absurd you must go through iTunes program. I can log onto any computer I want and download my Googe or Amazon music from a browser.
[doublepost=1520649633][/doublepost]

Home assistants - the newest lock to ecosystems. You must have a subscription for to play music via voice commands.

Jesus still loves the green bubble people.

 

[Naraxus]

I respect the fact that some people hate the butterfly keyboard, but I personally love it. So, if it was a "mistake" that Apple made the switch, it's one that I'm happy about.

I can definitely respect that. I've spent a few hours on it on a friend's MB and I find it really bad but again that's mho.