I share the same puzzlement as many users here in questioning why you two (not the only two for sure) continue to spend your time, constantly, trying desperately to grasp at straws at, to debunk the successes of a company and their products, and even the people that enjoy those products.
Well, I bought the very first iPod that had DRM protection on purchased music. I became more and more attached to Apple products because I was tied to their proprietary copy protection scheme and didn't want to have to replace all my music. Through 5 or 6 generation it was fine. The iPod did what it had to do - being able to play and select music and that's all I needed. When the iPods started supporting video, I started buying DRM protected video as well. When smart phones started to come out, I choose the one that would support playing my DRM music / videos - th iPhone. I'm not sure when DRM on music was discontinued, but even then I had a bunch of music that I had with DRM protection.
The original iPhone was fine, but it wasn't 3G, didn't run 3rd party apps, so I started to first begin to get frustrated with Apple products then. It wasn't a bad phone, but it certainly couldn't do a lot of what I was seeing other phone do at the time. But the iPhone 3G came out and had 3G and apps, and I began to buy apps that could only run on the iPhone. So I'm in for a lot of cash now for app store apps and movies / tv shows and still some music. That's a big investment to make for a change in platform. So when tablets came out and I wanted a bigger way to see propriatary copy protected movies and read books, I choose the iPad. Luckily, I was smart enough to buy multi-platform Kindle books not to further handcuff myself to one platform.
However, with each iPhone update, it became increasingly clear that Apple was always lagging behind in features that other phones were cutting edge on. That's the FACT. And I'm not talking about features I'd never use, I'm talking about things that I really care about. Take the smartphone situation, I would LOVE 4G since I regularly stream movies and it's available in my area, and a bigger 4"+ screen to watch them on. I'd love a microSD because there's no way that 32 GB fits everything I want on it, and I could cary microSD cards and swap. I'd love a replaceable battery because I often eat through battery on the go and would love to carry a spare. Etc....Now it's the same for the tablets. Other device have these features. Apple is behind.
So I'd switch but I'm too tied in financially resulting from the incremental things that have happened since the iPod release. In hindsight I should have pulled out sooner, but I had no idea have important carrying a multimedia device with me would become.
I don't hate Apple products. They are pretty good. But I don't think they push the edge enough because they don't have to. They have a fanatically loyal fanbase who think they ARE Apple. The reason I come here to forums like this is not only to get information on the HOPE that Apple products will get in tune with the market, but express my frustration when they DON'T and still get people to think they do.
It's crazy that people here are so in love with Apple here that they want the competition to fail and defend Apple like they ARE the CEO. You have to admit that's a little insane. I want everyone to do well and make good products. Why isn't this good for everyone? And why not complain when you think a products should be better than it is to try to make it even better?
And don't give that "user experience" argument. It's a frickin' OPERATING SYSTEM you're talking about. There all basically the same, given you get used to the way they do things. They are equally user friendly and intuative. It's just user preference bias that each of us has. This is 2011 not 1990 - OS makers have this down and are pretty generic. Jeez....And even talking OS functionality, Apple still somewhat lagged behind in basic features like Copy / Paste, file systems, app organization, etc.
Apple's specs are enough, and let's leave it at that.
And THAT my friend, is the mentality I'm talking about. It makes for a complacent Apple.
Tony