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Steve Jobs Made Apple Care. Who Does Now?

Are you still committed to Apple for the next 5 years?

  • Yes, always. Apple is still the best.

  • Mostly, but I’m watching closely.

  • Considering alternatives if things don’t improve.

  • No, I’m ready to jump ship.

Results are only viewable after voting.
These threads are so dramatic. Honestly if you hate Apple that much, go buy an Android (or Linux phone) at any price point… I think you’ll find that while not perfect, Apple is miles ahead, still today with fit and finish in software and hardware. And that you don’t need to wait for hours or deal with retailer clerks who doin’t get paid enough to do tech support, when you do have issues.

Not perfect. But Apple is still #1 for consumers. Same with Windows, not perfect, still #1 in enterprise. Does things well (better than others) and does some things poorly. No product is perfect. Software dev 101 teaches you that no product is 100% perfect on day one, and for the most part… ever.
 
rappr said:
Wouldn’t products like the $349 iPad or the $249 Apple Watch SE, or the $99 HomePod Mini contradict this? Diversifying the lineup so that Apple actually offers decent products at lower price points is one of the highlights of Tim Cook’s Apple.
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This is true. Whilst SJ did try to keep entry prices as low as possible, they were still double that of entry competitors. The “we don’t ship junk’ days. Cook has given us true low cost, or medium cost and it’s never been junk. With the exception being those products they did hold on to too long like the second gen SE. Not junk at all, but given how long they beat that horse, it wasn’t a great recommend by the end.
 
Hooyah said:
...... Cook has given us true low cost, or medium cost and it’s never been junk. .....
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I agree it's not been junk but I would dispute the cost issue. I guess that's quite a personal thing, and it probably depends in what country you live, and what salaries and other expenses are. I'm sure to many US residents, a new iPhone is "small change".

Where I live, the iPhone 17 is about $156 more expensive than in the US (that's over and above the VAT tax), and our average take-home salaries are lower. There is no "logical" reason for the increase, it's what Apple can get away with. Apple could make a budget ... but well-built ... iPhone at the $200-$300 level for people in less well off countries, but will they? No, for the reason I gave before, greed.

Reluctantly, I'll be getting a Samsung A-Series when my iPhone 12 mini is finally unusable. I'm not looking forward to the Android experience! (But I might be pleasantly surprised)
 
-BigMac- said:
I don’t see that anymore. Apple seems to have lost its passion. There is no above and beyond. No real listening. Just the bare minimum to keep the cash cow growing.
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As long as the competition is so freaking terrible (Windows 11 is all this and a lot more), Apple doesn't have to care. With Windows out of the question, I've tried jumping ship to Linux but end up back on MacOS because it just freaking works. No weird display issues, no unexpected lag, no things breaking constantly, no incompatible apps.
 
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I7guy said:
m chip, various improvements and innovations with AirPod like live translations , Apple Watch, Apple TV , etc. (I’m sure I left out a laundry list of them) All of these are headline innovations.

I’m sure there are hundreds I’ve missed. Innovation is just not creating the next widget. Tim Cook was masterful how he grew Apple into today’s powerhouse.
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Please view my response to another member:
-BigMac- said:
I didn’t skip them. I just don’t put them in the same category as industry-changing innovation.

They’re great products, absolutely, but they’re evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Smartwatches have been around since the mid 90s. Apple refined the idea better than anyone, but they didn’t invent the category.

AirPods are brilliant, but wireless earphones have existed since the early 2000s. Apple perfected them - they didn’t pioneer them.

Apple Silicon is a huge leap in efficiency and performance, no argument there. But SoC architecture has been around since the 1970s. Again, impressive evolution, not the kind of once in a generation disruption Apple was known for under Steve.

That’s really the point - Apple today is refining existing ideas at an extremely high level. The Steve-era Apple was introducing things we’d never seen before. The energy has shifted from “Here’s something new” to “Here’s something better.”
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I think there was a noticeable deterioration the moment Cook went away from Job's unorthodox approach on corporate fiduciary matters of focusing entirely on capital growth/market share growth/continuous improvement to having dividends and stock buybacks and a greater dependence on rockstar executives.

It raises a question about the broad path corporate governance in the US as a whole has taken the past 45 years. The "shareholder is king" approach does not work in my view; they need to formally consider vendors, management, customers and employees too. Jobs was kind of sort of doing this in his OCD way (well, at least everyone except the vendors LOL); Apple hasn't really had that since a year or two after he died.
 
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dblissmn said:
I think there was a noticeable deterioration the moment Cook went away from Job's unorthodox approach on corporate fiduciary matters of focusing entirely on capital growth/market share growth/continuous improvement to having dividends and stock buybacks and a greater dependence on rockstar executives.

It raises a question about the broad path corporate governance in the US as a whole has taken the past 45 years. The "shareholder is king" approach does not work in my view; they need to formally consider vendors, management, customers and employees too. Jobs was kind of sort of doing this in his OCD way (well, at least everyone except the vendors LOL); Apple hasn't really had that since a year or two after he died.
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Wait….so because Apple has actually returned dividends and done some stock buybacks under Tim Cook…this somehow means that’s all he cares about?
 
sleeptodream said:
What’s sad is that everything else is worse. Apple isn’t perfect, but Windows will never be as good as macOS, and Android will never be as good as iOS, because they’re philosophically different. Apple designs around the user experience, and the others design around utility, with experience as an afterthought

If an Apple product can do what you need to do, the Apple ecosystem is a more pleasant place to spend your digital time
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I know. So much sadness
 
I also have fond memories of a very reactive Apple executive team. Then Apple grew - which is hard to manage in itself without losing quality - and lost the highest instance of PITA quality control.

I, for my part, do completely understand that a CEO has many, many things to do. But I do not understand why he, someone he trusts, or a special team cannot try to replicate a Steve Jobs quality control at least for the most major products.

* Under Jobs’ helm, quality was not perfect, but the executive team always listened, came to their own conclusions (sometimes not liked by the users), and fixed stuff very, very quickly.
 
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eltoslightfoot said:
User name checks out... 😀
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yeah pretty much haha. as the other guy said they're in a rather unique position as far as vertical integration goes. unfortunately, prices are very high, they often cut corners nastily, have anti consumers practices, and overall i dislike apple as a company. but their products remain good , so is software too

what made me get into the apple ecosystem was the mac , mba m1 specifically. to this day there still isnt any competition in win/linux market. but the ecosystem perks are vastly overrated I find , so I might switch back to android, even though apple's API and SDK are dope.

as for the ipad... I ****ing hate my ipad hahaha. the software is painful. but I still need a device to read comics and draw from time to time, and e-ink still isn't there. besides most if not all android tablets use 16:10 which is good for comics. so i'm stuck with an ipad.
 
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Love-hate 🍏 relationship said:
yeah pretty much haha. as the other guy said they're in a rather unique position as far as vertical integration goes. unfortunately, prices are very high, they often cut corners nastily, have anti consumers practices, and overall i dislike apple as a company. but their products remain good , so is software too

what made me get into the apple ecosystem was the mac , mba m1 specifically. to this day there still isnt any competition in win/linux market. but the ecosystem perks are vastly overrated I find , so I might switch back to android, even though apple's API and SDK are dope.

as for the ipad... I ****ing hate my ipad hahaha. the software is painful. but I still need a device to read comics and draw from time to time, and e-ink still isn't there. besides most if not all android tablets use 16:10 which is good for comics. so i'm stuck with an ipad.
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I literally agree with all of this LOL.
 
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Love-hate 🍏 relationship said:
Glad to see some people are capable of sustaining conflict within their own purchases and ecosystem, which in the end shouldn't be considered a part of self anyway 🙂
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Yeah I quit thinking of corporations as deities a long time ago.

Apple is simply the best option right now.

I have tried a Surface Pro (I have an SP9, had the SP2, SP3, SP2017 as well), but the big iPad Pro is the best tablet out there right now.

My M4 MacBook Air is among the best laptops out there. Powerful, quiet, and long-lasting battery life. The only thing it can’t do is game, which is where my Windows PC with a RTX 5060Ti 16GB comes in.

But the software on Apple is not what it once was and the only thing keeping me from going all in with Windows is that it sucks WAY more. (Not to mention a severe lack of privacy compared to Advanced Data Protection.)

Ah well. Maybe Microsoft will get its act together after the AI bubble pops—then again, they fired ALL of their software testers for windows a decade ago, so this decline is a long time coming.

Honestly I kind of miss having a hackintosh that can do it all LOL.
 
During the first reign of Saint Jobs the Punctilious we got the Apple III QA failure, the overpriced Lisa failure, and the Macintosh 128K launch failure. During his second reign we got the Power Mac G4 Cube failure, iPod Hi‑Fi failure, MobileMe botched launch and failure, the spam infested iTunes social Ping failure, Phone 4 Antennagate, the botched Final Cut Pro X launch, and the Xserve failure.
 
rappr said:
Wait….so because Apple has actually returned dividends and done some stock buybacks under Tim Cook…this somehow means that’s all he cares about?
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Way to set up a straw man argument there. How do you get from the "noticeable deterioration" that I'm talking about to "all he cares about"?
 
maflynn said:
you would think, but many people here and other social media sites largely hold a near religious fervency regarding their platform of choice. Not just computers, but everything - I've seen videos of people getting into fist fights over Chevy vs. Ford.
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I suspect a lot of that has to do with the age of the people involved.

I see the same arguments/discussions amongst those in my line of work (advertising/graphic design). The whole "you're not a pro unless you use Adobe" and "Canva is for kids" crowd – an idea held mostly by old-timers like me. Personally, though, I see nothing more than a bunch of kids arguing whether a Stanley drill is more "pro" than a Ryobi.
 
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I don’t have any problem with my Apple products, they works just fine for me.
- I really don’t like Tim Cook, and I don’t have to!
- The presentations of products have gone from Fun and Exciting with Steve, to horrible lengthy and just very, very boring with Cook, so I stopped watch them.

- So I really don’t mind Apple do the pre-recorded instead. If I want to watch anything instead of just reading about it, I can find just that part of the presentation and skip the rest.

- Hope Apple release a good alternative to my 13 iPhone mini, in the coming years.
- My Mac’s are relatively new and the M-chips seem greater than I expected long term.
 
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