I’ve had a half dozen or so longer posts about Apple brewing in my head the past couple of weeks. There is no shortage of controversy surrounding the company right now thanks largely to the hugely popular and hugely unpopular aspects of the iPhone. But Jason Calacanis’ post yesterday entitled “The Case Against Apple-in Five Parts” serves as a great springboard for bringing up a lot of it.
The Backstory
While my story with computers doesn’t go back quite as far as Calacanis’, our stories are pretty similar. He said that 6 years ago he made the switch to Apple products after a 20-year affair with Microsoft. I made the same switch 5 years ago after a roughly 15-year affair with Microsoft.
Regular readers may have heard this already, so forgive me if I’m repeating myself, but in the 1990s I loved Microsoft products and hated Apple stuff. I grew up on DOS, installed Windows For Workgroups because I thought it was cooler than regular Windows 3.1, bought Windows Bob, made my dad take me to the midnight launch of Windows 95, bought Windows 98 the day it came out, actually bought and used Windows ME, and bought Windows XP the day it came out. I could fill that timeline in with many other pro-Microsoft details, but let’s just say I was hooked.
It’s not like I loved Microsoft because I didn’t know anything else. Our high school was Mac-only. I hated it. The systems were slow, I hated their UI and I just found them generally frustrating to work with. And I used them everyday for years. Throughout all of high school and college I only bought PCs even after many viruses and a few complete system failures.
So what changed? For me, two things. First, the iPod. Second, OS X.
After I finished college in 2004, I bought my first iPod. Prior to that I had been using several other MP3 players (one of which I got for free when I bought Windows XP). But I needed a new device with a lot of storage for my long drive out to California. Obviously, I had heard great things about the iPod, and despite its high price tag, I decided to get one.
The fact that it was so much better than every other MP3 player I had used to that point said nothing specifically about Apple’s other products, but it did plant the thought in my head that if Apple was able to make such a nice experience for its portable music players, maybe its computer experience had also evolved from the poor one I remembered from high school. Still, I was a broke just-out-of-college kid, and Macs were yes, expensive. So my curiosity remained a curiosity for the time-being.
But a few months later, I was living in LA and working in Hollywood. Everyone there was using Macs, and as such, I had to use one at my job. Less than a week into using one on a regular basis, I realized something: I liked OS X a lot. Since it was released after my time in high school, and I still generally avoided Macs in college, I hadn’t really ever used the OS before. But in Hollywood, I was forced to, and I really liked it.
If the iPod had planted the Apple seed in my head, using OS X watered it. The conclusion soon blossomed: Apple now made great products.
Within a couple of months I had bought my own Mac (the cheapest white MacBook I could find) to serve as a back up to my PC. A couple months after that I basically stopped using my PC. A couple months after that I shipped the PC home as a present for my dad. I have never bought another PC since. During that time, I have bought 5 Macs.
The Product
Okay, that is a lot of set up to get to an opening point, and one that is actually the most important point. I made the switch from the PC world to the Mac world because of one thing: I believed that Apple started making better products than the other guys.
It’s a simple point, one that is certainly subjective, but I really believed it, and that’s why I switched. And it’s why I remain an Apple-user despite some of the headaches, which I’ll get to. If you make a great product, you can get away with a lot — which again, Apple has. But it is my belief that it will continue to, because at the end of the day all that really matters is the product.
That’s despite Calacanis’ belief that there’s a brewing backlash against Apple. Sure, there is a small one among tech journalists and some in the mobile developer community. And I do believe it is warranted. But the fact remains that Apple’s business is stronger than it has ever been, and that’s because more people are Apple users — whether that be Mac computers, iPods or iPhones.
The easiest way to continue on at this point will be to look at and address each of Calacanis’ 5 points.
1. Destroying MP3 player innovation through anti-competitive practices
Calacanis argues that Apple should open iTunes to any MP3 players on the market. He says that if that occurred, other MP3 players not necessarily made by Apple would flourish. I think he has it backwards.
I actually think iTunes is not a great piece of software, and that Apple could do a much better job with it (iTunes 9 might help out with that). And I believe Apple may actually know that, as I have heard whispers that they’ve been trying to completely revamp it for some time now, with no luck so far.
The key ingredient in the iTunes/iPod universe is the full ecosystem aspect of it. iTunes isn’t great for the straightforward managing of music, but it is brilliant for buying music through iTunes and having it sync automatically with your iPod (and now your iPhone).
Even if Apple opened iTunes up for use with other MP3 players, I have a hard time believing the market would flow towards other players. Having used quite a few of the MP3 players that are available in the U.S., I think it’s pretty clear that the iPod (all its different flavors) is still the best of breed. There may be better ones in Asian countries, but some of the features that Calacanis talks about like TV-tuners would not fly here. (This is something I’ll hit on again later when we get into the iPhone.)
But the key here is that with iTunes open to other MP3 players, Apple would have less control over the user experience, something which is very important to them. Adding non-Apple devices which Apple would have little or no control over from a hardware perspective would be a headache for them and in turn, for some users. It might be worth it if they made significant money from music sales on iTunes, but they don’t.
Sure, some people do not want or like that level of control, and there is somewhat of an argument that it is in some ways anti-competitive, but the majority of users of iPods benefit from the ease of use that a contained ecosystem provides.
And the bigger picture is that this really doesn’t matter that much anyway, because the iPod and all other MP3 players as we know them are currently in the process of a slow death. And as devices connected to the web take over, eventually much of the media consumption and management on these devices will occur on the device itself.
2. Monopolistic practices in telecommunications
“Apple’s iPhone is a revolutionary product that has devolved almost all of the progress made in cracking–wait for it–AT&T’s monopoly in the ’70s and ’80s,” Calacanis writes. On one hand that is a very interesting statement, in so much as it relates to AT&T specifically. On the other, it’s pretty ridiculous.
I absolutely agree that Apple and AT&T’s exclusive partnership is a problem. It’s a big problem. And I think for both consumers and Apple it needs to end when the deal is up next year. But I believe that Apple realizes that too, and will open the device to other networks (or at least announce the intention to do so) at some point next year. It simply makes no sense not to. Not only is AT&T performing poorly under the strain of so many iPhones, but for Apple to keep expanding its user base, it simply needs to be on other carriers in the U.S.
At the same time, it’s all-too-easy to forget that the iPhone has absolutely changed the mobile landscape in the U.S. for the better. We complain about not being able to browse the web on AT&T’s crappy network, but think back not even 5 years ago when the idea of browsing the mobile web at all, was absurd.
I remember being very excited to get the Motorola RAZR when it finally came to Verizon. I still have that phone; it’s laughable compared to just about every phone on the market right now. And a lot of that is thanks to the iPhone. I’m not saying there would not have been innovation without it, but I am saying that Apple’s product made its competitors get their heads out of their asses, and we’re starting to see the fruits of that with nice devices from Palm, RIM and some of the newer Android phones. Ones that don’t have to use the shitty carrier-built operating systems.
Yes, it sucks that the iPhone is tied to AT&T right now. But my CDMA RAZR was tied to Verizon, and I was stuck using their hideous operating system which offered me next to nothing. My point is just that in some ways, many of us have been spoiled this past 2+ years with the iPhone. It’s easy to forget what it was like before it existed. Which is to say, awful.
And just to hop back to the Asian marketplace, which I mentioned earlier, it is true that they have had some amazing phones with amazing capabilities for a while. But the point is that here in America, the carriers had us completely under siege with horrible phones and even worse plans until very recently. When Apple cut its deal with AT&T for the iPhone, the same deal we all now bitch about (maybe none more than me), it changed the landscape — for the better.
I’m not going to get into Calacanis’ two SIM card idea, which sounds nice, but would be a complicated nightmare that hardly anyone would pay for.
3. Draconian App Store policies that are, frankly, insulting
I agree with a lot of this, and have expressed why numerous times in the past. It is ridiculous that we can rent movies on our iPhones that have nudity and graphic violence, but can’t have apps that offer the same. Actually no, it’s not just ridiculous, it’s hypocritical. I understand why that was the case before there were parental controls, but now they’re in place and Apple is still banning applications that it has no business banning left and right when it offers movies with the same stuff.
Yes, it’s Apple’s store and they can do what they want. And if they don’t want hardcore porn apps, that’s fine — they also don’t sell hardcore porn movies. They do sell plenty of rated-R movies though, yet restrict many apps that would obtain a similar (or possibly even lighter) rating.
That being said, I think Calacanis’ point about how ridiculous it would be if Microsoft approved every app for Windows is a bad one. It’s not like Apple restricts applications for OS X on its Macs; doing that would cause an uproar just like it would on Windows. But the mobile space is different because it’s so new when it comes to apps. Microsoft is going to restrict apps that can be on Windows Phones. They won’t be as strict as Apple, but they will still have restrictions, just as Android does.
The mobile app world is new and still evolving. A number of Apple’s App Store rejections are ridiculous. Hell, I cover a lot of them and say as much. But I think it’s wrong to think that Apple is doing this with malicious intent. Based on a number of conversations I’ve had with people to varying degrees in the know about Apple’s App Store, I would argue that they simply were not ready for what it has become.
I’ve heard that when it launched, there were just a handful of people who would check every single app that was submitted. Undoubtedly, the team has expanded quite a bit since then, but it still very much seems like they have no comprehensive strategy when it comes to app approvals and rejections. Many seem arbitrary, and at the whim of the reviewers, because I believe they are.
When Apple VP Phil Schiller wrote to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber last week about one app rejection, his last line was the most telling:
Apple’s goals remain aligned with customers and developers — to create an innovative applications platform on the iPhone and iPod touch and to assist many developers in making as much great software as possible for the iPhone App Store. While we may not always be perfect in our execution of that goal, our efforts are always made with the best intentions, and if we err we intend to learn and quickly improve.
Of that, I would change “if we err” to “when we err”, but it seems pretty clear that Schiller and Apple know there have been real problems with the system, and they’re attempting to correct them. I don’t think they’re doing a good enough job of that, but I have no doubt that is hard to change things on the fly with a entity that is exploding in popularity as quickly as the App Store is.
It’s not an excuse for some of Apple’s poor decisions, but it is unfortunately, the reality.
Calacanis’ solution is to give users the option to install unapproved apps as an option. That would just be a slightly easier way of jailbreaking your phone, something which is already extremely easy to do. The reason why Apple won’t do this is the same reason why it won’t open iTunes to other MP3 players. When it controls the ecosystem, it can ensure the customer experience. Something which, again, is very important to Apple.
That may not be what some people want to hear, but the fact is that it works well for the majority of users who have no idea about the app approval process.
4. Being a horrible hypocrite by banning other browsers on the iPhone
Again, this to me is just as much about the mobile landscape being a completely different one than the desktop landscape, even though they are merging. When the iPhone launched, the idea of a mobile browser was basically a joke. Sure, Opera may have been decent on Windows Mobile devices, but let’s be honest, hardly anyone was browsing the web on their phones.
With the iPhone, mobile web browsing has exploded. Would it be nice for Apple to let you use other browsers on your phone? Sure, but really, how much different is each mobile browser compared to another one? Some are faster at JavaScript, I guess, but all lack the bells and whistles that their desktop counterparts offer.
I wonder if what Calacanis is really getting at is that he wants a browser that can run Flash? I think we all want that, but Apple has decided that for whatever reason it is not going to do that. Maybe it’s waiting for the HTML 5 video capabilities to make Flash less necessary (which still seems a long ways off)? Maybe it really believes the performance is simply not up to par? Who knows. But even with another browser on the iPhone, Apple would still have to allow for plug-ins to be installed, which probably wouldn’t happen.
As the mobile web and devices continue to mature, there undoubtedly will be a lot to be said for having other browsers on the phone. I just don’t see that as such a big issue right now.
5. Blocking the Google Voice Application on the iPhone
I completely agree that this is ridiculous. And the fact that Google is now implementing a work-around by making Google Voice a web app for the iPhone, shows that banning the native app is also pointless. But I believe this rejection had more to do with AT&T — and certainly more than they’re letting on.
When Calacanis says, “Or, just simply stop being jerks and let the free market decide how to use the data services they’ve BOUGHT AND PAID FOR.” I would again point to that being AT&T’s issue much more than Apple’s. We’ve seen that with the SlingPlayer app, which can only work over WiFi but not on AT&T’s 3G network because they’re concerned about the bandwidth it would use.
We’re all paying near or over $100 a month to use the iPhone on AT&T’s network. If they cannot handle the iPhone any longer — which I’ve made the argument that I don’t think they can — then both Apple and AT&T should agree to remove the exclusivity agreement.
Conclusion
While Calacanis certainly has some valid points, I would argue that some of his points simply reinforce what makes Apple, Apple. By controlling the ecosystem surrounding their products, Apple ensures a great user experience for the majority of users.
And that’s really the key point: The majority of users. We can bitch as much as we want about Apple’s shortcomings, but by and large the public couldn’t care less about any of it, nor do they even know about any of this stuff. Does my sister care that Apple rejected Google Voice? No, she’s never heard of Google Voice. As far as she knows, all is well in the Apple universe because she turns on her iPhone and boots up her Mac and they work, giving her an experience that she finds superior to competitors’ products.
The fact remains that as long as the company continues pumping out high-quality products that offer this great user experience, people will buy them. Calacanis believes that cheap and stable products from Microsoft and Google will undercut Apple, but that seems to be the same thing that people have been saying for years about Apple’s products. Macs are too expensive, iPods are too expensive, the iPhone is too expensive — people are still buying them. And they’re doing so at or near record levels, which is stunning in this economy.
He seems to be suggesting that the premium market will disappear. But again, if it hasn’t in this economic environment, I don’t see it happening. Cheap, stable and open sound great, and they are great, for some people. But others are fine with paying more for what they consider a superior experience, and they will continue to do so.
And while Calacanis may have spent $20,000 on Apple products over the years, everyone that is not Calacanis has spent billions upon billions more. Until those billions stop rolling in, Apple will generally stay on the same path. Despite some of the rhetoric, Apple is not a totalitarian state, it is very much a democracy. It’s just that in this democracy, people vote with their wallets.
None of that is to say that Apple shouldn’t fix any of its aforementioned problems. With regards to AT&T and its App Store policies, it certainly needs to. But it’s humorously short-sighted to think that they won’t.
But Calacanis goes farther, “Making great products does not absolve you from technology’s cardinal rule: Don’t be evil.” That would seem to suggest that he believes Apple is making some of these mistakes with malicious intent. Instead, I would argue that the mistakes stem from the pursuit of making great products. They control the ecosystem because people left to their own devices would make the products less great.
That’s something that will be hard for a lot of people to hear, let alone understand. But I do believe it’s at the core of what Calacanis thinks makes Apple “evil.”
And that’s why much of this isn’t a case against Apple, it’s a case for Apple. Many of the problems Calacanis talks about simply aren’t seen as problems by Apple, and more importantly, by the public at large. Until that changes, there is no real risk to Apple.
In fact, I would argue that the only real risk to Apple goes back to the simple point: Great products. If Apple stops making products that are great, it will start to decline. If someone else comes along with a better product, Apple will decline. It’s that simple.
5 years ago, it was my belief that Apple offered a better product that got me to ditch my PC. And I’ll switch again from Apple if something better comes along. This isn’t some elaborate conspiracy in which Steve Jobs is tricking millions of people into buying his stuff against their will. They’re buying his stuff because it’s good. End of story.
[photos: flickr/kyz, william.hook, declanTM, renatomitra, chris radcliff, the pug father]
Time has changed. Apple is forbidding iPhone users to install Google Voice app called “GV Mobile” on the device. They decided to take it off App Store. Why? Just because.
This smart phone is essentially a computer with operating system and an ability to install third party software like any other computer. When I called Apple, tech support representative informed me that Apple does not have to explain why they are forbidding me to install Google apps after I purchased device planning to use it with Google Voice. She also informed me that App Store is like any other store has right to choose what they put on their shelves.
Well, I respect their choice, but the last time I checked in my neighborhood mall none of their stores are FORBIDING me to use products from anywhere else but from their store. Does Apple respect my choice? Communist China government did not dare to make Lenovo give me a list of software I can install on my laptop. Lenovo respects my choice because they know what will happen with their laptops if they would try to deny this choice to people in free world.
Just imagine what would happen if Microsoft would make an agreement with Comcast and set up a list of software you are allowed to install. What if they allow you to connect to internet only through Comcast? What if Comcast decides they don’t like some software and a week later Microsoft would FORBID using it without any meaningful explanation? That would definitely be considered mafia-like behavior and nobody would tolerate it.
We are not tolerating this behavior neither from China, US government, Microsoft, nor from Comcast. For how long are we going to tolerate this behavior from Apple? I erased my iPhone, I smashed it with hammer and I will send it on Monday to Steve Jobs, c/o Apple 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014
Time has changed.
Really – try taking the Macdonald’s quarterpounder w/fries that you just bought, and eat it in, say, Starbucks. See how long it takes before the manager wanders over..
Never, if you buy a product from Starbucks, too. Which you do with Apple — you paid for the phone, you are paying a monthly fee, etc.
Tom is absolutely right. To be honest, it annoys ME that they don’t ban outside food in Starbucks. people come in with sandwiches that stink up the place. I don’t go to Sbux to smell a chicken sandwich, but no one in a green apron says a peep.
MG – could you get to the bottom of this part of the story? stinky chicken sandwiches. problem.
you aren’t paying Apple that monthly fee so that is moot. as for the GV thing. it is possibly part due to the contract with ATT and perhaps part because in further testing it was creating problems and crashing phones. we weren’t there so we don’t know.
as for the whole unlocking thing. I do hope that Apple doesn’t extend or renew the ATT contract and sells new phones unlocked and will unlock older phones per the standard “you finished your contract do what you wish” game. but I also hope that they do NOT change the phone to suit this notion of ‘more carriers’. They didn’t create a CDMA phone (which is what would be needed by Verizon and Spring) before, and they shouldn’t now. unless they want to. Let them design the phone Apple wants to have and whatever carriers that can support it, great. those that can’t, sorry out of luck unless you change your side. even just having a choice of two carriers is better than no choice since ATT would have to change their game (free unlimited texts, MMS, lower data plan, whatever) to keep folks from going to T-Mobile who you know will create plans to lure folks in
lol. you are not happy. i just decided that “apple being apple” or actually understanding that “a case against apple is actually a case for apple” is okay by me…so all the money i saved to buy the new ipod and get an iphone plus a mac this year is going to go towards something else. geez apple. why the frick did i need to realize all these things now. i already knew you want to control the “customer experience” and make sure it’s the “best”, but now i find out that google is taking it from you from behind and i’m not even pissed at you, apple. i really like apple. i like the designers. i like the developers. i can’t deal with the whole appleness of apple. that’s what is preventing me from being converted. i actually teach kids how to use macs, and i use in art class, but everywhere else and in my own space i use pc’s. sorry apply. i really like os x though.
If you care THAT much about GV why don’t you just jailbreak your phone instead of breaking a $300 device? Chill, bro…you are going to have an aneurysm.
How to Convert other formats to Flv format on Mac OS?
FCC Letter to Apple:
http://www.scri...letter-to-Apple
Apple has until Friday, August 21, 2009 to answer these questions to the FCC.
Maybe we can help them answer some of these questions.
1. Why did Apple reject the Google Voice application for iPhone and
remove related third-party applications from its App Store? In addition to
Google Voice, which related third-party applications were removed or
have been rejected? Please provide the specific name of each application
and the contact information for the developer.
2. Did Apple act alone, or in consultation with AT&T, in deciding to reject
the Google Voice application and related applications? If the latter, please
describe the communications between Apple and AT&T in connection
with the decision to reject Google Voice. Are there any contractual
conditions or non-contractual understandings with AT&T that affected
Apple’s decision in this matter?
3. Does AT&T have any role in the approval of iPhone applications
generally (or in certain cases)? If so, under what circumstances, and what role does it play? What roles are specified in the contractual provisions
between Apple and AT&T (or any non-contractual understandings)
regarding the consideration of particular iPhone applications?
4. Please explain any differences between the Google Voice iPhone
application and any Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications that
Apple has approved for the iPhone. Are any of the approved VoIP
applications allowed to operate on AT&T’s 3G network?
5. What other applications have been rejected for use on the iPhone and for
what reasons? Is there a list of prohibited applications or of categories of
applications that is provided to potential vendors/developers? If so, is this
posted on the iTunes website or otherwise disclosed to consumers?
6. What are the standards for considering and approving iPhone
applications? What is the approval process for such applications (timing,
reasons for rejection, appeal process, etc.)? What is the percentage of
applications that are rejected? What are the major reasons for rejecting an
application?
Here’s my 2 cents:
I can send the government an answer to #2 simply by
pointing them to Sean Kovac’s website where Apple Customer Service
blames AT&T pulled all GV apps. Here’s the link:
http://www.sean...ed-all-gv-apps/
Cheers
Dude mellow. Jailbreak and stop having such high expectations from a freaking fortune 500 company. None of em give a sheit about you, sorry to say not even google…
nice info, i love
Great post, I must say!
I read every damn last word and I agree. That said, I’m typing this on a brand new Dell (which I bought after the hard drive in my Mac failed and after I realized that I liked using Chrome and Outlook better than anything on the Mac) and I’m very seriously considering getting an Android phone and giving up my iPhone too. But, you are right. These are hardly things that keep Steve Jobs up at night.
Yeah, Apple don’t even blog. They do not give a flying fuck what Techcrunch or Scoble etc think.
and you know i wanted to squeeze a bit more in there like mike quitting the iphone, i think that and yours are good examples of when people find something better (or that something isn’t working for them), they leave. competition is good, and i think apple drives its competitors to certainly do better, especially in the mobile space now.
“…and i think apple drives its competitors to certainly do better, especially in the mobile space now.”
you should have said “…and i think apple drove its competitors…”
now is the time that some other devices have passed up the iPhone (hence Mike quitting the iPhone moving to android and wanting Pre). competition really is great – Apple pushed the envelope in 2007 and now its competitors are doing the same in 2009.
While this is a kind of late response, this is an interesting point that a friend and I were talking about over dinner last night over what would make “The Next Twitter.” We didn’t have any answers, of course (if we did, we’d be out there coding maniacally and trying to trick VCs into giving us money at this very moment), but we made the observation that if you’re trying to move into a well-established niche, merely being better than what’s there isn’t good enough. You have to be so good that (a) people who weren’t using products in that niche will be attracted to you and (b) a sizable percentage of the people already using products in that niche think you’re so much better they’ll invest the effort into switching. And a product that actually *succeeds* at doing that is much, much harder to displace than the product it displaced was, because it’s moved a lot of people from (a) to (b) and made converting people from (b) to your product a much harder job than what it had to face.
And this is the problem. For a sizable percentage of people, the iPhone was a quantum leap over previous smartphones. (Not that it’s a perfect product for everyone — that’s not a requirement.) At this point, a sizable percentage of *those* people need to believe that the Pre doesn’t just pass up the iPhone, but that it dunks the iPhone’s face in a toilet and flushes repeatedly. I don’t think it reaches that bar. People who are happy with the iPhone *and* comfortable with being “early adopters” would probably be happy with a Pre, but most of them aren’t going to switch for philosophical reasons alone.
I certainly hope competition also drives Apple as well. I wouldn’t mind seeing more multi-tasking capabilities on my iPhone.
I recently had an issue with my iPhone (it stopped working) and was told that I had to make an appointment with a ‘genius’ at Apple to have it ‘looked at’. I complained loud enough that I run a web studio filled with mac stuff (over $100k spent in the last 2 years).
Over an hour of frustration on the phone with these guys issuing pleas and threats and they finally agreed to simply replace the faulty iPhone without forcing me to visit a ‘genius’.
I love Apple’s products – I totally hate the company. How they can get one part (products) so right and the other part (service) so wrong really amazes me.
hey. me too. i like apple…i can’t deal with the company though, so hence no apple. lol. i wish i could go over though.
I completely agree on that. However the “majority” of their users are people who can’t tell the difference of RAM and ROM (ok that is a bit of exaggeration), and if they just replace the product like Dell does would make them really hard to earn money.
However I also hate that when they are bitchy when I (which I can tell the difference of RAM and ROM) totally explained the problem throughly and they still insist that it should be checked.
The majority of all users can’t tell the difference! Ditch the tech phobia schtick. Many Mac users have used many different systems and performed our share of operations. Frankly, I have rarely had to…
Sounds to me like the service is actually so good that you’re spoiled! If you were to call ANY other manufacturer, do you think you’d be able to convince them to just replace stuff without even knowing it’s broken?
I was able to confirm with Apple over the phone that the iphone was broken long before my hour long call with Apple support. What I object to with Apple is the fact that they “tell you what you have to do in order to get them to help you”. They seem to treat everyone like an idiot – assuming that they know more than we do – when in fact, from my experience, this is not the case when it comes to their retail outlets.
When I buy something and it breaks while still under warranty all I expect from the manufacturer is a bit of respect for me and my time – something Apple has yet to learn.
Really? REALLY! I mean, just wow. 100k on proprietary software? I mean, I can understand maybe if there wasn’t any alternatives out there. But……wow. Just wow. Well, if your happy spending that much, good for you. While your at it, why not buy a diamond encrusted iphone. I mean, its about as sensible as your purchases.
Grow a brain.
I didnt spend $100k on “proprietary software” – I spent it on hardware and software that makes it possible for my company to produce the TV commercials and web sites that we make.
Yes – I am a bit pompous when it comes to my expectations of service from Apple. I don’t ‘play’ with mac stuff – I use it to generate income – these machine and software are the tools of my trade. I choose to use the best – but I don’t expect to have to jump through hoops and waste time with some guy with a nose ring and bright attitude who Apple chooses to call a ‘genius’.
There should be a different division inside Apple to deal with developers/programmers etc who use their products for work – you know, those people who don;t have time to waste.
FYI – during the whole broken iphone debacle I actually shelled out over $1000 for a new 3GS while trying unsuccessfully for a few weeks to get my broken one looked at (without the 2 hour drive it takes me to get to an Apple store genius).
I think I have paid for the right for better service.
Your sense of entitlement leaves you in the minority. Way more people like Apple and their service is so much better than the competition that they stick with the company.
Every company deals with people who think they are more important than everyone else, and should therefore be treated like royalty.
If I were Apple, I wouldn’t give a flying fig what you want that’s out of standard operating procedures for the company. For every person spending $100,000 on hardware, there are 100,000,000 people who spend $1,000.
Oddly enough this reminds me of socialized medicine vs. being able to pay for any level of service that you like. The guy that blows 100K on Apple stuff SHOULD be able to acquire preferential treatment by some means (possibly even paying for it). Not everyone is free to waste their time dealing with some “Genius”. This is a common sort of problem for people that use their computers for “work”.
Linux shops buy Dells over this very thing.
The fact that you and your friends are all total amateurs should not keep the pro from being adequately dealt with, especially since it was those sorts of pros that kept the platform alive when it was on the ropes.
A desktop platform can derive considerable benefit by being used by users with other sensibilities and requirements. More users generally benefit any software platform.
So telling the pros what to go do with themselves is really not productive.
Sounds to me that he should have bought Apple Care. It gives you a preferential customer care.
And it’s quite cheap for the iphone
lol? They’re not obliged to replace everything that has a problem – there is something called “tech support”. Imagine a client of yours saying “damn. I paid $20.000 for this website. That contact form is not working, I want a NEW one!”
Dude its a phone not a mac pro your confusing two very different markets.
and did you actually go to a store and POLITELY say to the manager “look I know that in general we have to have an appointment because a lot of folks are wanting technical support, but this is my phone and it’s not working and if someone could just take 5 minutes, please. I would really appreciate it”
I did that when an app (an approved one not any jailbreaking crap) crashed my phone. The manager was really nice, asked if I could hang out for a few minutes and he’d try to get me fitted in. 10 minutes later I was taking to one of the techs who got my phone reactivated for me so at least I could make calls and such until I got home.
The latest Chromium build on the Mac is actually pretty nice..
So, your hard disk failed and you bought a new DELL. Well Congratulations for neither buying Apple Care, nor being able to replace a disk drive.
When the hard disk failed (all disk drives fail over time) on my mac laptop, I replaced it, using free information I gleaned over the web.
Did you buy a new car when your tires wore out?
In a culture of “throwaway” and “cheap” nothing has any lasting value. Good luck when the cardboard parts on your Dell wear out, when reporters report only on other reporters, bloggers blog about other bloggers, and everyone can do no better than copycat and throw things away.
P.S. You’ll probably be spending 1000 X the amount of time I spent in replacing my disk drive maintaining the operating system on your Dell (unless it’s Knoppix) My mac will still be running fine when your Dell is confiscated for taking part in a botnet attacking the Pentagon.
Lol, are you for real?
Crazy macfags.
How is it that people who would leave such a useless, unintelligent and insulting (homophobic) comment actually read TechCrunch?
Aren’t there too many syllables for you or something? Go steal someone’s milk money, it’s probably what you’re good at.
P.S. I know this comment is useless as well. Just venting.
Your PS part is just one big pile of crap. I have installation of Windows XP which is about 2 years old. My pc is running 24/7 because hibernation somehow doesn’t work anymore and I have too many programs open to do it every day (i do restart once every 2-4 weeks). Apart from issue above, no single problem, no slow pc, no viruses, no hackers visits, and last but not least, no time spent on maintenance, it just runs despite huge load of apps I have installed and removed over time, all for $70 for NOD antivirus and TuneUp Utilities which are taking care of my pc in the background.
BTW every time I read comments like “I have Mac because I had to reinstall Windows every 2 months”, I see between the lines “weeee, I’m too dumb to have a Windows”
We’re not too dumb to have Windows, we just can’t be bothered to. Srsly
That was enlightening. It’s always refreshing to read well thought out fanboi comments by morons that follow a computer manufacturer like they have some sort of personal stake. Srysly?! What’s wrong? Didn’t your Mac come with T9?
The Microsoft sharks smell blood.
But Scoble and Calcanis quit bull-shiting us with talk of dumping your Macs or iPhones. You were born Microsoft gamer creeps/shills, and always will be. So go ahead and do it ASAP. Quit wasting bandwidth with your endless 2-digit whining about things you know nothing about.
Did you even read Calcanis’ post? The guy has more Apple products than your local Apple Store. It may be hard for someone of your capacity to figure out, but some people have tried the products and genuinely don’t like them.
What I read of Calacanis article is that he loves the products, he just doesn’t like the system Apple surrounds them with. He would like to keep using Apple products, if they stopped forcing him to use them the way they want.
I have an android phone and it has no issues. Of course they say you can’t tether it, but I do all the time and have no problems. To “jailbreak” an android phone you click settings>applications>install third party apps. Takes about 5 seconds and is fine with google. So yeah get an android, you can get the magic if you want one that looks like an iphone or you can wait a couple of months when you will have a lot more android phones to choose from. This last point is what will be the “iphone killer” there could be as many as 20 android phones to choose from this time next year. I like chrome too, and have always bought Vaio laptops, and I make music on them so don’t believe the hype. My new Vaio scores almost twice as high as the macbook pro 17″ on the PCMark ‘06. And it only cost $1700 configured to order form sonystyle. I used itunes for a couple of months when it first came out but I have moved on to amazon mp3.
Slightly OT but I just tried Amazon mp3 for the first time last week, it’s pretty awesome. I’ve started recommending it to friends already.
yeah i read every word too and at one point thought my brain was going to fry but i continued cause i wanted to see what he would write, point for point, and i actually agreed with some of it. i have the same experience(s) but i haven’t converted yet. instead of getting a new macbook we got a toshiba. insead of getting a new mac we custom built our computer with everything i need to do art and have my siblings play their games. i have a nokia and i wanted to get an iphone hahaha and then i thought apple no freaking way. i would rather get a bb…atleast i would get some work done. my cousin let me use his new ipod and i love it, but i drop things multiple times a day and i would just keep giving apple money so no way. i drop my phone all the time and i need one that is easily replaceable. i heard about the tablet and thought maybe it’d be a good alternative than a laptop and now i know i can’t get any actual work done on it. i thought it could be a complete hybrid of everything i can do on a pc, but i guess that’s not the plan. every year i want to buy something apple i decide against it, so i always buy something else. it’s kinda sad. all my money is mostly going to books or materials. sucks.
What, you enjoy using outlook? No sane person would ever think this, let alone say it, let alone write it on a blog. Or maybe you enjoy outlook spending 2 minutes searching your email, when google does it in a second, or the fact that it can take 5 minutes to load, and that is with less than 2000 emails.
That seemed a little suspect to me also. Funny how Outlook is so old and still searches so terribly.
Apparently you have been consuming too much crack. Perhaps on an ancient PC, it takes 5 minutes to load. On my 3 year old machine, it takes about a second.
Searches also complete as you type, if you’re using Outlook 2007. Yes, 2003 was a pig for searching, but that’s ancient history.
Dell for years have been synonymous with selling cheap, underpowered machines to students and “people who don’t really care about computers”. Say no more.
BS called on this one. Dell sells quality and very low markup.
I just don’t understand why
I didn’t read a word of it and I agree!
lol. what do you agree with…the title, or apple love?
Wow that was a damn good post. I am throughly impressed MG. I read Calacanis’ article yesterday and having been reading up on Arrington’s iPhone fiasco and was hoping somebody would defend Apple. I completely agree with controlling the user experience – that is what Apple is famous for and that is why there products are superior and easy-to-use.
I am writing a thesis on Apple’s current success and whether its sustainable. I am definitely going to be quoting this article.
This “controlling the ecosystem” is great, but they must realize that they can never get as big as a company like Microsoft or Google because by being controlling, they can’t grab the market share…
They’re a very profitable company and they get to make great products. Why would they want to be as big as Microsoft or Google? Maybe Windows would be much better if they didn’t have to please the lowest common denominator and the best stuff that Google does is in markets where they are the small fish.
Um, they DO control the market share when it comes to phones. Sure WM has some presence, but it is falling fast to iPhone. Android is not even close.
OS X market share is an entirely different discussion.
You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about do you?
Two things for you to consider: Nokia and RIM.
+1 for Mark
You should all read about how, despite Apple having a smaller market share in smart phones than RIM or Nokia, their share of smartphone market PROFITS is substantially higher. (And by substantially I mean billions and billions of dollars)
“We can bitch as much as we want about Apple’s shortcomings, but by and large the public couldn’t care less about any of it, nor do they even know about any of this stuff.”
Couldn’t agree more – and glad someone is finally saying this. Geeks always shout the loudest about perceived “controversy”, but the reality is most users are satisfied with their experience.
I would love to see some stats on how many apps the average iPhone user has – I bet its a lot less than we think. I’m sure the geek 80/20 rule applies there, 80% of apps are downloaded by 20% (or less) of the user population.
http://www.tekrage.com/
Completely agree. The converse might even be more important for Apple. 80% of the population is downloading only 20% of the apps. If they get the core 20% applications perfectly shiny and usable, they’ve hit the spot, and further improvement is not economically advisable.
Think about the “reported” downloads from the app store. (hint 1.5 billion) Then look at sold versus activated Iphones. (hint 16 million) Then look at returned Iphones. Now put those numbers together and suprised you will be!
To think that anyone would be downloading that many apps to really be credible to actual useage. Just a quick sum would put that every Iphone user dowloads 93.75 dowloads. And that is within 1 years time. Think about it people. Really start questioning these glossy numbers they are putting out.
Jobs is the PT barnum of our time, and really should be investigated for such.
Don’t forget the iPod Touch too. That pretty much doubles those numbers of units out there capable of using them as it’s the same OS.
Agreed as well. I pretty much agree with Calacanis AND Siegler. As long as Apple keeps putting out great products that are easy and satisfying to use… the average user will keep buying.
The Geek Cognoscenti will have an influence, though… and Apple would be wise to curb some of its most anti-competitive tendencies like rejecting Google Voice. My 200+ downloaded apps, for example, are missing their best friend, Google Voice. I’ve got VoiceCentral at least… and am far too loyal to Apple to get an Android phone… but this is a chink in their armor for me and that’s really saying something.
However it would be like saying monopoly is not an issue if majority is okay with that. So nobody should have investigated Microsoft for bundling Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, and many other apps if they had made the customer happy enough (and sure they did, just look at the market share of those apps).
total agreement. I love the boards where total hardcore geeks are screaming about this or that feature of anything like it is THE thing when really only may 5% of the audience would use it and only half those on any kind of regular basis.
same thing with the whole hackintosh issue. most mac users are only concerned with the computer working, not what parts are making it work. they really don’t care that the processor is an x143.4 blah blah and not a y217.9 yada yada. the computer boots up fast, does the work etc. that’s what they care about
Great read! Thanks.
Right now you are getting wasted by The Rock Cookie Bottom.
Summary of article: I love Apple so much I don’t care about their products.
-1
+++1
lol. i think he was saying more like apple makes good products and that speaks more for istelf than the actual company…although he did also defend the company, but he also mentioned their mistakes too. i agreed with some of it, and i disagreed with some of it. i think the best thing he said if that if there is something better than apple he would switch and get what is best for him i guess…which shows he’s not just a concrete thinker or a herder. like he’s a part of the collective, but he’s not soooooooooo far gone he can’t change.
i don’t think he agrees with my thinking of, “i like apple but i don’t care much for their attitude or actions.” he mentioned how apple is also not entirely a concrete entity but that it can/does improve itself.
-5
You obviously didn’t read the article.
+1000
As much as I agree that this is the way things are, I do not understand how you can defend Apple. That’s a new low.
In my opinion, this is not the best strategy for Apple in the long run either. Sure they won’t go down any time soon but it’s risky living on your own closed ecosystem. Also, one can only wonder what will happen to their closed ecosystem once they get a much larger market share.
lol. you can’t believe how he’s defending apple…do you read what’s posted on tc? or is it because you actually can’t believe the constant apple explanaition he’s providing for apple being apple and most apple users not giving a sh*t?
Apple would NOT be Apple without having a closed eco-system. Take Microsoft XP (let’s forget about Vista for the moment). If you read tech blogs you’d know that even though XP does crash from time to time and can have major issue – many of these issues are not directly related to the software – but because of incompatibilities with the cheap ass hardware that manufacturers put in their laptops/netbooks. Apple would have the same issue – it’s closed system WORKS for the millions of people that use Apple products for enjoyment or business.
And OS X has the same problems. I know several Mac users and not a single one of them would dare try to argue their machine has never crashed. Some actually bitch about the frequency.
Mac vs. PC is again a great theme for Sundays. After all is said, Apple will still be the 5% company because they are great, just not for everyone
5%?
Obviously you’re not referring to their mp3 player or smartphone market share
or the fact that if a computer is sold that costs more than $1000, the chances are high (91% in fact) that its an Apple.
on average I see one lamborghni per month but I see 10 ford focuses per week. lambos have a bad market share, so they must make bad vehicles. (an extreme case but the same can be made about bmw / mercedes / audi)
Oh Jesus.
It’s over $1,000 of the consumer retail market. You know, the one that excludes all corporate purchases and the entire gaming laptop segment?
RDF or what?
And what company do you know of that pays more than $1k/each for the majority of desktops?
It’s pretty silly to dismiss the retail space as if it didn’t matter, when that is students and executives and all the other people that will be making computer purchasing choices down the road.
Uh Kendall… you do know we’re talking about laptops, right? The Lenovo T400 starts at about $1,100 for our standard spec (although it’s on sale just now) although we don’t pay that because of bulk purchasing/leasing agreements.
And the retail space doesn’t matter at all for corporate purchasing. That’s why they’re two completely different marketing segments.
Actually their computer market has jumped to 8.5% – but their iPod market share is over 70%, and they are now taking 1/3rd of all cell phone profits (not just smart phone profits – all cell phones) – that’s pretty damn big.
Apple’s computer share 8.5%?
Err…. no. Try about 4.5%. That’s about a 2% increase in the two years since the iPhone came out and Microsoft released it’s worst received OS since Me.
Awesome. Especially considering that share is now broadly flat again.
What’s quite amusing is just how tenuous Apple’s position is – the Mac market had a hitch kick in 2007/8 and is now broadly static, iPods are static or decreasing and the iPhone – awesome commercial success that it currently is – is quite horrendously vulnerable as Apple are going to find out when something better comes along.
Looks like that $30 billion could be parachute money for when it all goes horribly wrong probably because Jobs can’t change his desire to control every aspect of the product.
does TC really need a rehash, more than once on the same day the subject of Calacanis?
the point of everyone know Apple today is worse than the Microsoft of yesterday, and in alot of ways more so, so far all you’ve got are excuses
and thats all these last few articles are, excuses and that doesn’t cut it
“Microsoft is going to restrict apps that can be on Windows Phones. They won’t be as strict as Apple, but they will still have restrictions, just as Android does.”
I think one major difference is that Windows Phones are inherently and intended to be open – you are not forced to only install applications from the Windows Marketplace.
The iPhone? Unless you jailbreak (which is illegal according to Apple), you are strictly limited to what the App Store gives you.
not only illegal, you could be branded a terrorist… lol
lol. i was lurking twitter and was surprised to see how many people were posting about jailbreaking their iphone’s. it was a definite shake my head moment. i mean why would i need to jailbreak my phone???????
I’m pretty sure thats a typo… he could only have meant to write Window Marketplace not Windows Phones. Nobody needs Bill’s permission to create a CAB and distribute it. I’m sure Windows will have a team to police the Marketplace, but since they compete with the entire universe of possible Marketplaces (eg Handmark) they’ll need to be flexible.
Plus — doesn’t jailbreaking your iPhone void the warranty?
These people who use the “just jailbreak it” argument are really barking up the wrong tree. If I have to void my warranty to install something I want to use on the device I paid for, that’s pretty sad.
Since you can easily reverse it just by restoring the phone, no it does not void your warranty. Unlocking is a different matter.
Apple is now the perfect candidate for the European Union Antitrust Commission, which already fined MS a couple of billion dollars.
Indeed. It’s time to go after Apple for bundling Safari with OS X.
Great read. Kudos MG.
“Again, this to me is just as much about the mobile landscape being a completely different one than the desktop landscape, even though they are merging.”
You use this argument to defend Apple, but if one uses this to defend AT&T, they’re a big pile of fail? AT&T actually has more reason to make this argument, as it’s far more expensive and there are multiple bottlenecks for mobile data.
My solution to read this article:
in mac terminal:
> say -o Siegler.mp3 “I’ve had a half dozen or so longer posts about Apple brewing in my head the past couple of weeks….”
I have friends that don’t know anything about net-neutrality, does that make it irrelevant or less important? The geeks & techies are the ones that have to look out for the interests of those not tech-savvy.
yeah. no one here used to know about net neutrality until it started showing up in newspapers all across the country and on the tv stations in multiple languages. then we found out our providers were throttling our connections and not allowing us to visit certain sites haha and people got sooooo mad that even now the goverment is talking about this and a big court decison is going to be made. also when we found out that the iphones would only be with one carrier, especially a carrier that gouges you for everything people complained enough to once again get the government involved…and now all these telcom companies have to be real careful. i actually called my internet provider, and of course they sent me straight through to customer service in china, india, and the philippines, and i was like screw this. after a long period of getting the run around i finally got the information to the vp and president of the company, called him up in another place and left him a really anti-company message. he called me and made sure nothing that wasn’t up to what i thought was right was happening with my service. i mean i pay money to them…a lot of money and they still think they can screw me over? hmm. if he hadn’t picked up his phone and called me back i would have been waging some kind of war (not like me) and a lot of people would be on my side because we are really really really pissed at some of these companies.
so you know what your sister might not know about google voice mcg, but i do, and i am not a tech person in any way. i google though and i know what gvoice is. i take an interest in things i use, so now that ms has bing, i will probably go and give it a chance and try it out. if i was an apple user i would do my best to know as much about the company as i can and what it does. i mean even before i used apple i had researched the company to know that maybe one day i wanted to be a part of it’s design team.
I’m sure many people feel their Mac experience was similar…but this was a bit surreal for me. Not only was our timeline the same, but I seemingly had the exact experience you did in Hollywood. My first job as an assistant at a management company in LA exposed me to OSX. Shortly thereafter I bought my own Macbook and gave my desktop PC to my father. Thanks for sharing. I really got a kick outta the article.
heh, nice.
where were you before app store blocked GV. All these articles are about GV being blocked, right?
he liked apple, and he still likes apple becuase it is about the product apple and not really about the company…although he doesn’t give apple the company a pass either…i just think he’s not hard enough on them. lol.
Thank you MG Siegler for writing a worthwhile post.
Holding Apple responsible for some of their shortcomings is okay, as long as we acknowledge they are there by careful design and not because Apple is some clueless “evil” company intent on destroying the little market share they have.
Most of Apple’s typical customer base continue to feel “the pros still outweigh the cons”, but as that changes, the company will need to adapt to stay ahead.
you don’t have to be clueless to be evil. uhm and you can be evil by careful design. if you’re bad you’re bad. that’s the bottom line. he’s more saying the products triumph over the company…but what will he do when the company like it is does a disservice to it’s products. but they’re all one and the same thing because it all comes under the name “apple” and he actually makes a good point about niche market and people still buying apple despite apple’s “appleness”, also with the whole most consumers don’t know or don’t care about shit point. he had some good points.
Not sure I agree with you.
Though I disagree with most of the post, I feel you have made the biggest point very clear. The average customer is happy with the way Apple handles the app store. They really couldn’t care less about removing Google voice. No one knows what that is anyways, and it is invitation only right now.
They like the fact that because of the strict policies, a lot of totally useless apps are being blocked. People don’t want more apps for making calls or sending messages. That is just going to add to the confusion. And the majority does not need AT&T’s tethering. They have connectivity at their homes and offices, and don’t need internet on their laptops in between. If AT&T thought tethering was a priority, they would have made it functional by now. The massive infrastructure required is not going to be justified by the small number of users. Basic economics suggests that it is not wise for them to offer the service at present.
Executives at Apple are not stupid. If they felt that this uproar was affecting their business model in any sizable way, they would have already revamped the process. Doing so right now would be unnecessary and a complete waste of resources. I’m sure they need their employees elsewhere.
Techies constitute a small fraction of the population using the iPhone. Even though you might think the frequent discussions on TC are the biggest thing in the iPhone world, most users don’t even know/care that they exist. And until those users start caring, Apple’s not going to change.
you know it’s a pretty solid and indefensible argument that the average consumer doesn’t know shit or if they do they don’t give a f**k, but you know what as much as i want to agree with this, it’s not all the time true. yes apple is “apple” and people by it for that reason, but like mc g said he is going to switch if something better than apple comes along. that’s what’s most important. people are stupid, but they aren’t that stupid. some of them, especially if apple continues as is, will learn about apple the company and one they that may triumph over apple the product. everyone keeps saying their technology is what sets them apart. it’s more like their application of that technology, the design, and the reaction people have to their products. it helps that their advertising team actually made inroads with some of their ads. good for them. they deserve all of their fans. it’s a damn good company. even i can’t deny that.
A lot of useless apps may have been blocked from the App Store. At the same time, there are a veritable crapload of useless apps on there already. They should have a “useless crap” category.
And choice in web browsers couldn’t be a bad thing.
The thing I like about the iphone as a consumer (next to the web browser and touchscreen) are the apps. Before I owned the iphone I had the Helio phones and the games were about 3 dollars to rent and 6+ dollars to own and the rights to the games supposedly expire after a year if you read the fine print (although I don’t think that’s ever happened to anyone)
But ever since the iphone got popular there have been some quality apps being undersold for a buck because there is so much competition going on just to get noticed in the top apps section. I have purchased to many games and apps on the iphone to the point where I feel overwhelmed with all these games and possibly getting sick of gaming altogether.
I understand Apple is being investigated because they are so popular to the point of being monopolistic but I really with other companies had the manpower and cash to experiment and innovate like Apple does. It’s not like they are only popular through marketing (like creative claims) and word of mouth, but that is certainly helping them.
so is Apple the Goldman Sachs of the the tech world – the real innovators or merely “front running” the markets. this is all very perplexing to a guy who used a computer in college (the only one on campus) that was the size of a Walgreens. i trying to keep up though!
ha ha.
This was an absolutely amazing post MG. It was very long and at first I just scanned though it. Then, I decided it was worth reading the whole thing and I did. You have done an outstanding job making a very good point which I completely agree with.
A lot of people like us have looked at Apple and think that what they are doing is a bad thing. Everyone who I engage in conversation with over the Mac-vs-PC argument says that PC’s are better because they give you more control. However, I agree with you, Apple’s lack of control is what makes them so popular.
Everything runs so smoothly. Everything is so organized. They control everything, even the retail which makes for a great user experience, one that PC’s (as we know them) will never be able to match. I think that as Microsoft opens some of its own stores we might see some interesting stuff. But, for the most part, Apple’s products and user experience rock because of their incredibly streamlined ecosystem.
I believe that their hardware is superior to others. But, more importantly, is something does go wrong, the Apple Stores are very helpful. Apple’s closed ecosystem is what make the stores possible.
Just this morning, I had to take in a MacBook Pro because it was having some issues. They decided that they will replace my entire machine and even migrate my data. All I have to do is pick it up when it’s ready. Easy!
The experience I had at the Apple Store is a more appropriate example of the result of Apple’s policies than any of the negative things that also come along with their policies. Sure, I would love to have Google Voice on my phone. But, their are trade offs. I think Apple made a bad decision to reject the app but it’s just one example. Who knows, after the whole FCC thing, the app might show up again.
Here’s hoping that the FCC forces Apple and AT&T to approve Google Voice apps.
And yeah, we’ve got to take the good with the bad and realize that despite their shortcomings and frustrating policies, Apple is still at the top of their game and making lots of customers like yourself very happy.
thank ya.
Yes. They’re fabulous right up to the point where there isn’t a software solution available for what you need to do and you have to install a competitor’s operating system to get the job done.
I mean how crappy is that?
Apple sucks, just like they did in the past. ATT sucks, just like they did in the past. nothin new here, not a web surfin phone or sleak laptops, nothing new at all, they will never advance beyond the US market because the rest of the world moves faster than their little duopoly. We hate Apple and ATT, nothing new here, we hated them in the past, We still pay for their crap, even when they treat us like crap…nothing new here
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is William Norman and I am the Managing Director of Executive HR Consulting. The reason I am writing you is in hopes of getting some information on your candidate submittal process. We have several highly qualified candidates that are interested in having the opportunity to interview with your company, therefore, any information you can supply us would be greatly appreciated.
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Best regards,
William
“By controlling the ecosystem surrounding their products, Apple ensures a great user experience for the majority of users.”
…and by controlling the ecosystem surrounding their thoughts, a government ensures a great life for the majority of its citizens.
This so much sums up the question.
Initially loss of freedom is merely either convenient or annoying.
At some point it destroys the culture.
Should it ever be legal?
Is there a balance?
Is it always bad?
I am on the side of freedom because I can live without some convenience.
There should be any legal means for Apple to prevent third parties (Palm) accessing iTunes.
It should be illegal for Apple to have unreasonable or discriminatory rules for their app store.
Owners of iPhones should be able to use their property on any phone network.
Does this make Apple bad or evil? No, it makes us, the citizens, ignorant and lazy for not establishing the laws which protect freedom.
The difference is that at any moment you can have total freedom by jailbreaking whereas a totalitarian government allows no egress.
A far better analogy would be to say that the iPhone is like a homeowners association, annoying but it does keep the 30ft satellite dish out of the yard next door. More open systems are like neighborhoods where you can find mobile homes next to million dollar mansions – but usually you aren’t going to find the mansions much.
At least it wasn’t about Twitter.
lol. i think this is better than the write up about twitter&bloomberg.
its like “ive a great product but how can i destroy it the best way?”
How about that,
Apple will buy the Yahoo search technologies and put them as their default search engine for iphone, itablets and so…
That would be fun
What do you say?
does it have a contract forcing me to use the same search engine for 5 years? because i don’t like choice
Safari always has been Google only. The only way to change that on your computer is via a plugin and plugins don’t work on iPhone.
So, I don’t think that they have an exclusive deal with Google, but it does go along with point #4.
Go to iPhone Settings control panel, click on Safari, Click on Search Engine and change “Google” to “Yahoo!”.
on the other hand it would benefit the search marketing world to have 3 big players. If it would be a default that you can change…. yea why not. Go Apple, design the search engine for the mobile world…we DO need 3 big players here.
Great article Mr. Siegler!
Apple controls the user experience for the benefit of the 80% of its audience. The other 20% enjoys their products as a whole (it seems), but finds fault with the more advanced features. iTunes is good, but not great. iMovie mostly works, but has never been a great product. The iPhone is revolutionary, but has its faults (mostly AT&T’s service). But as a whole, it all works, it all sells, and people love it!
I would hope that the “competition” can come up with category toppers at some point. Its amazing that Apple has kicked ass on so many fronts lately. Come on Microsoft, Google, Sony, Palm! Step your game up!
Apple’s design team is the best in the business, and until you figure out their secret sauce, you will forever be wondering why your products always come across as “lesser” clones!
>Apple’s design team is the best in the business, and until you figure out their secret sauce, you will forever be wondering why your products always come across as “lesser” clones!
lol. that’s what i think too.
You mean great immitators. HTC had the Iphone form 2 years proir to Iphone release. App store been done for years. Now they did the expensive part down pat.
Leave it to MG to jump into a constructive conversation about the negative aspects of Apple’s business, just to prove that he’s Steve Job’s bitch.
I’m happy to forgive Apple a lot just for having reliable, beautiful, productivity improving, fun products. Power to you Apple. But play the game fair. Ultimately, unfair competitive practices brough Microsoft down a peg or ten. Consumers won’t put up with these practices forever.
Who knows, perhaps Microsoft’s CEO will stop throwing chairs around and MS OS 7 will work as well as OS X, and the market will come back around to support MS?
The AT&T/Apple relationship is an “American” issue – I went to the Apple Store in Sydney, Australia and bought a fully unlocked iPhone 3GS and picked my own carrier. I then took my old iPhone 3G, gave it to my wife, she walked into a store and twenty minutes later walked out with her mobile number ported from the original carrier to a new carrier. As she left we popped it in the old iPhone, sych’d it at home and she was off.
Apple does this because they can in the US. I think consumers are protected when the government ensures some level of openness in the market. If Apple were “forced” to make the hardware available to all carriers who could certify their network to some standard, then we wouldn’t hear about “Apple protecting the network”, that’s not their problem.
Excellent point. The only countries where the iPhone has an exclusive agreement is in the US, UK, and Germany. All other countries were the iPhone is offered have multiple carriers to choose from. But also remember their pricing is much more expensive. We pay $300 for 32 GB – in some countries in Europe the same iPhone is over $700. Just keep that information in mind.
One way to compare prices is to include the initial sticker price.
Another way is to include the full cost over the life of the device.
In full life terms the AT&T deal may be the worlds most expensive.
yeah, hopefully the iphone will be open to more networks here soon.
Maybe after the next treaty with the USA, Apples Intellectual property will be properly protected, and we can be locked into Telstra.
This was some of the poorest reasoning and conclusion I have ever read. Many points were flat-out wrong, others were just nonsensical.
Apple is in the wrong with their actions, and needs to be held accountable for it by their consumer base (at a minimum). These ignorant fanboy articles and rebuttals are tiring at best.
They are wrong how? They created a product, and they manage a central store. They are in no way forcing anyway to purchase their phone or use their services. Apple is a business, and people buy their products because they offer better products then any other company in the US. If that was not the case – why are they doing so well? I understand you may not like their attitude – but just remember you are not their target customer so they obviously are not going to change to make people like you happy.
pretty much exactly right.
I would just love to see the same logic applied to other bullies in the marketplace. I assume you don’t cheer Microsoft of AT&T along the same way. Stop being silly, because your position stems for your positive attitude towards Apple, and probably not from a thoughtful inquiry into how you want companies in general to behave.
But if you are one of those who believe Microsoft should never have been the target of any action from DoJ, please excuse my accusations.
I would like to see the AppStore market to open on the iPhone! I want to decide where I buy my apps. As an AppStore competitor you need to pay a very small license fee for every sold App to Apple and that’s it. This way Apple could finally offer e.g. valuable porn-apps without actually doing so. They would profit from more sales and we from more diversity and hopefully competition.
MG, your problem is not picking which parties to hate and admire but the lack of detachment that a journalist should have.
You should report with equal skepticism on every vendor, not swing from love to hate and back on any particular one. Otherwise, you’re only pandering to the respective camp.
certainly this is an opinion piece.
Didn’t you know that many who view this site feel that you should not have an opinion of your own, but follow a strict set of ‘journalistic guidelines’ that help to emphasize your neutral views of ALL tech in general? Yeah, that’s the tech news I want to read.
Nah… keep up your opinionated ideas, views, preferences, whatever and keep up the good work.
Shit any one reading the internet blogesphere better understand there is no journalistic integrity at all. And that is very true with this “journalist”
Great article MG. Controlling the user experience is what sets Apple apart in the first place. I also agree with your thoughts on the app store fiascos. It was too much, too soon. Things can only get better on that front. And finally, great point about mobile internet usage pre iPhone. It was negligible. Full html browsing was a game changer.
I just read about Calacanis’ post on another web blog and some comment which I repeat here. I agree to a large part with your article, but I am getting more and more frustrated how the whole blogger scene is developing. Chinese whispers could be more accurate than a lot of the information we get from even the most popular bloggers out there.
Anyway, here we go again:
I guess Calacanis’ article may be a few years too late, because Apple has for a long time been boycotted by a whole generation of IT managers and professionals who regarded it as more prudent to prop up the Microsoft monopoly in the business sector.
Looking back at those truly difficult times I guess Apple will survive if a few trendy bloggers (or ‘people known in the industry’ as he calls them) vent their spleens and activate their imaginary armies of Apple-snubbers.
Why am I so dismissive of this bluster from the geek bloggers and ‘people known in the industry’?
Because a) there aren’t any real alternatives for developers. Android may be a good alternative to the iPhone OS, but it is also controlled, and ultimately, dependent, on Googles good-will and grace. Remember the kill-switch? While the criticism focussed on Apple, Amazon were the first to use it and Google will not fail to use it either. To use Android you need to subscribe to Google. While Google seems the benevolent Overlord right now that could easily change. Palm won’t even allow developers access to deep-level parts of the hardware. Symbian is in the process of updating it’s OS before they can even start to give developers the modern mobile OS, Microsoft is doing too little too late and have already squandered their market share advantage within a few months.
b) The main reason I am unconvinced by those tech-bloggers froth and threats is that most of them are unable to string a convincing sentence together, never mind a coherent argument that would mobilise the masses they so arrogantly assume will follow them in their crusade against a ‘bad Apple’.
Hardly any of them who accuse Apple of having a ‘monopoly’ even know the meaning of the word, nor do they know under which circumstances a monopoly would even have any relevance in an anti-trust case.
It is astonishing how often even established journalists are comparing Apple to Microsoft’s in regard to anti-competitive behaviour.
Most of those bloggers and journos will not even have looked at the case of the State against Microsoft, (http://www.usdo...5600/225658.htm if you are interested). The frightening amount of abuse that Microsoft exerted not only on the competition but also on their own vendors has been documented and upheld even after a re-trial.
Apple being an ‘anti-competitive monster’ because they are objecting to other companies using their technology for free, namely Palm who were for years one of the market leaders in PIMs and smart phones, failed to build on that advantage, are too lazy to build their own xml reader to sync their media software with the openly available iTunes files, use their own customers as pawns in a cat and mouse game in their attempt to play the ‘underdog’ card? Give me a break. Please.
Apple have single handedly provided an alternative in a stale mobile market and introduced some urgency that is actually re-introducing some long needed competition.
The carriers for the first time received a massive kick up the butt as a final wake up call and the whole industry has had to react with competing hardware, software and networks. As you are saying, other companies are launching alternatives, as usual for a lower price (as if that is scaring Apple anyway) and that has to be a good thing.
But the kneejerk journalism, the bloggers who either can’t or have forgotten how Microsoft assumed, and why they had to relinquish their stranglehold on the industry, the click hungry trolls who will happily use any of Apple’s perceived weaknesses are causing a real deficit of real analysis and discussion because the future has many dangerous aspects relating to emerging technology we will have to confront.
That sulking righteousness of someone who suddenly discovers that Jobs is a bit of a ‘control freak’, or that iTunes is using ‘draconian’ updates to protect it’s hard won integration advantage is just too shallow and juvenile.
Bravo for this great rebuttal. Apple is not the monopolistic monster that Microsoft is. Apple has built itself into this position of strength by building a technological ecosystem that can be leveraged across different platforms from computers to MP3 players and now the telephone. To dismiss the kind of competitive energy that the company has shown lately is totally dishonest. Apple has built its business by producing the kind of gadgets that people can relate to and are willing to pay for even in these recessionary days. Hopefully the rest of the industry will take note and start to compete with the same kind of focus that Apple has shown so far and every body will be a winner.
hey really good comment. hahahaa. i actually thought that it’s better than what i read here. i will go and read calacanis blog after i get through all the comments here. i always loved staying up and reading as much info on the microsoft trials, because i used to really like microsoft. but that’s different now. i know better. if i ever got into business i would know even better, and if it was a tech one i would know hahaha to never trust them or become like them. i don’t agree with some of the stuff they did or are doing, and i don’t either with apple, or with google. it’s nice to wake up and see reality instead of being blinded and being an unknowing consumer. i mean if i conducted myself like how some of the people mg exuses do because i am a part of the average public, i definately wouldn’t be asking questions. i don’t understand why people can’t just question the companies they buy things from like how they always question the government. it’s always good to have a healthy dose of mistrust for something.
oh and i know some people making apps for apple…and they’re not liking their experience(s).
Well said Bonsai
yup. let’s face it – the ratio of blog bullshit to blog genuine expertise is way over 10 to 1. so is the ratio of self-centered blogger whining to genuine insight about the public good. blogs have empowered any pompous fool to publish crap and have it picked up by search engines with the right keywords in the headline and first sentence. which then makes it “commentary” or even – OMG – “journalism”! with no fact checking required. and research? what’s that?
The points are well made, but it could have been more succinct.
Computers used to be the preserve of the technorati, who wanted elegant, open systems and maximum opportunities for tinkering under the hood.
Back in the day I wrote Z80 assembler code, programmed my own live action games on the Apple ][, and later installed DR-DOS because it was half a version ahead of MS-DOS. I ran Desqview 386 with GEM and Windows all at the same time, installed Windows for Workgroups, briefly flirted with OS/2 Warp… and then realised that computers had become consumer items, and consumers wanted them to just work with a few applications, not kind-of-work with an infinite number of applications.
The iPhone is the same, but much more so. People who used the iPod expected it to work out to of the box, and keep working no matter what buttons you pressed. Now they expect the same from the iPhone. The only way that Apple can keep this experience is by vetting all of the apps.
Back in the day Palm ran its own app store (but it wasn’t called that) for the Palm Pilot. I got some great apps there. The biggest disappointment of switching to the Blackberry was no apps. But I also got a lot of apps from Palm’s site which didn’t work, or which crashed my phone, or which crashed my phone if I did some particular things in a particular order. All fine for me, but a nightmare for a non-technical consumer who just wants stuff to work.
The technorati want a totally open iPhone environment. The consumer wants a quality-controlled environment. Other eco-systems will develop, but, if Apple is the only one quality-controlling all the apps before they are released, then the bulk of consumers will stay with Apple.
good comment. i would have to disagree with you a little bit though and say that it’s not always such a clear cut between techies and consumers…what you probably mean is average people. i think that the internet, and also this whole death of many old industries as we know it, as more things devolve and remerge, i think the consumer want, or will want an open environment. like mcg said apple love/iphone love has gained the foothold and is kinda new to the masses…but in no way should the average consumer be underestimated. it doesn’t sound like all the apps being created are useful/the best/good for apple so apple can continue to do what it wants, but what happens when apple and their “appleness” comes directly in conflict with something that the consumers want…i don’t think google voice or some of these apps is the whole picture. it’s just a fraction of the picture. just like mcg said though, apple has shown that although they are closed, they are also open, when they want to be. so we’ll just have to see how this plays out. they have many paths they can take. i mean i hope the apple of now isn’t the apple of 10 years, or 10 years from now into the future. i’ll see. i won’t be surprised though, but i’ll just observe like i’ve always done.
They could appease both market segments by doing exactly as Calacanis suggested: give the iPhone an option to install non-approved applications. That way the smart people can install what the want (without voiding their warranty) and the lowest common denominator can stick (probably completely obliviously) with the walled garden.
Apple has been successful with both iTunes and the iPhone by introducing prescriptive, consumer-friendly frameworks into fragmented and nascent markets and by playing two roles- platform provider and content/app distributor. What is “consumer friendly” changes when a market matures and the mass becomes savvy. The obligations and interests of the respective roles are necessarily at odds when things scale. It can also be argued that there are available remedies and hacks for *the segment* that is savvy enough to care about these issues.If their target customers care (enough), and if they haven’t already factored remedies into a product roadmap, they will.
The irritating thing about the iPhone situation is that it’s caused by Apple’s dual role(can’t distribute “questionable” content on the distro side) and the fact the the two companies are “control freaks” who care about very different things (and some of the same things in different ways); their respective agendas are in conflict with each other.
MG,
You, Jason and most people have missed the crux of this whole mess. The key problem isn’t Google’s Google Voice dialer app, or Google vs. Apple, or Mac vs. Windows, etc.
The key problem is this: Apple retroactively removed three perfectly good apps – GV Mobile, Voice Central and gvDialer – from the App Store, for no defensible reason.
The key word here is retroactively. These apps had survived the difficult and chancy App Store approval process and begun earning press reviews, customers and revenues. The fact that Google then applied to put their own app on the App Store should not have affected their status at all.
This retroactive and unjustiable removal is the “evil” part of the whole episode. Until Apple fixes it, all these other issues will continue to circle around both Apple and AT&T. If Apple restores these three apps, all their related problems will begin to improve immediately.
I’ll go into this in greater depth on gvDaily tomorrow.
It’s a dinky little toy. Just get over it already.
lol. you need money to buy one of these dinky toys?
but it’s true though. toys toys toys…and then something like that worker dies and it puts things into perspective. oh well. that’s life. we like what we buy.
I am always amazed at the anger unleashed at Apple over the ATT exclusive. Apple offered the deal to Verizon who turned it down! Apple needed an exclusive partner to get going and begin to build market share and work out issues in a single network environment. That was a smart business move. And the reality that only applies to the US market and the iPhone sales market around the world is far bigger in the long run.
Remember the days when everyone was laughing at Apple that they wouldn’t be able to sell as many iPhones as they were anticipating? Everyone, especially ex-PC’ers love to beat up on Apple. LOL.
I totally agree that the mobile market is changing and Apple will have changes coming to stay at the head of the pack. In another 3 or 4 years, we will be surprised when we look bacvk, just as we are now when we look back at cell phones of the past.
You’re making that up. Verizon was not offered the deal. Verizon is CDMA. A CDMA iPhone would be incompatible with the majority of the mobile market.
If Apple had any intention of offering the iPhone on CDMA networks also, it would have been introduced in South Korea by now.
Blogs are bullshit magnets.
dude verizon sucks, but at&fail is completely FAIL. the onlything worse than at&dropped calls (lol even before they got with apple) is SPRINT. sprint sucks the bottom of a sewer pit. at&t’s customer service is horrible. but nothing like when i was on sprint and they charged us thousands of dollars for calls we never made and then sued us. mother f’rs didn’t even read the bill when they probably automatically typed and printed it out and sent it to us, then they thought we weren’t who we were. f’cken f’rs. they think they can hoodwink stupid people. i know people who paid their nonexistent sprint bills just to get the company to leave them alone, and we never did and we won in the end. hahaha and then we went to at&fail and had similar sprint experiences only to realize that they were only a shade better than sprint. verizon is not even that much better than ATT (a total toolbag), but i think at&t is just trying to cover itself. hahaha apple should do themselves a favour and drop that connection like a steaming piece of crap and move the hell on.
Let’s be honest here, Apple are more talk and look, then features and usability.
The iPhone / iPod menu’s and navigation is absolutely atrocious.
I can’t help but feel MG really tried to not skew Apple’s image too much on this post, he held back and that makes sad panda sad.
Apple computers are not much better than Windows at all. Actually, how many games can you name that you can play on a Mac? Hardly any whatsoever.
When it comes to Windows OS, you’ve got a much more broader range. And protecting against viruses shouldn’t be the OS’s job in the first place, but the users.
Who cares if Mac’s don’t get viruses, they’ve got such a pathetic market share, virus writers would be wasting their time. And I’m willing to bet if Mac’s had more market share and Windows didn’t, there would be lot’s of viruses for it.
I’m a web developer / designer and I can honestly say that working on a Mac compared to a Windows machine does not give you super 1337 design and coding powers that Windows can’t match.
It’s a huge misconception that if you’re a designer, you need Mac. That’s a lie, I’ve worked on a lot of Mac’s in my time and they freeze just as much as Windows PC’s.
Most Windows crashes are due to faulty hardware drivers anyway, not the OS itself. Maybe Mac’s are more stable because Apple restrict the amount of hardware you’re allowed to use with them, and thus there is no custom code to crash the system.
I’m sick of people saying Mac’s are better than PCs. If you want to succeed in the world of I.T and actually get a job, you can’t limit yourself to one OS, you won’t get very far.
Keep buying those iPod’s and iPhone’s which are sold for far more than they’re worth, you’re helping Steve Job’s collection of turtleneck sweaters grow and grow.
Microsoft might not be as “in-touch” in comparison to Apple, but their latest OS Windows 7 is awesome. Bing is awesome. I think they’re turning around.
Apple just keep digging their own grave. I hope Steve Jobs die’s of cancer soon.
“We run on a Linux server here and use Windows machines, is that a problem?”
“Oh, I only know Mac, do you have Mac here? I prefer it because I’m an idiot?”
i found out that the whole designer thing wasn’t up to passing also. i mean like mcg we used that computer in art class, hahah and when it wasn’t crashing giving us the death screen, it was very slow. it didn’t take long to get oriented to the interface and actually come to like some of the perks you don’t get with windows because of the os x, but for everything i could do on a mac i could do it with a pc and windows…especially if i wasn’t a complete computer illiterate person. i just needed to be more aware as a user, and the same goes for macs. i notice that when i was shopping for computers though that more people would go to the mac section and ask questions that made me think they expect the computer to do everything for them…and i found that in my art teachers and my fellow students. we are one of the top art schools in my country and we have lots of money but unlike some schools we never went all mac. our comps class never went all mac…my geo class never went all mac either because the work we needed to do wasn’t mac compatible and couldn’t be done on a mac. it’s fine if you want to use apple to do everything for you because the interface is better though, and the graphics is better. it’s a big deal for people but not for me. i can get whatever i need to get done on both systems. if only i could custom build a mac to my specifics though …then i would definately convert cause now it’s not so closed anymore. people should just get a mac and maybe a pc so they can change from either or. it’s good to have an apple experience in your lifetime. despite the commercials it’s actually a good product. some art people just fall for the whole pc vs mac thing though. most people i know, know how to use a mac, have a mac, but they also have a pc and more time use their pc’s for work and mac’s for fun, but no gaming.
Graphic/web designer here, and I’ve used Macs extensively during school and work, but I still prefer to use a PC at home.
When I tell people I’m a designer, the first thing people ask is “So you use a Mac?” and I say “no” and they give me odd looks. At school, all the wannabe-designers bought Macs. When I ask them why, they said “Cause Macs are better for design”. When I asked them how, they couldn’t explain.
I hate the Mac workflow. IMO, OS X is completely going backwards in usability from Windows (of course Windows does have many of its own faults). Pretty and shiny != usable.
But I do admire Macs for many things – e.g. security, stability and good hardware. But I think most people only buy Macs for their prettiness and lack of viruses. Of course, I am tech-savvy so I don’t have either of these problems =D. But in the end, I believe it is up to the end user to choose.
Two points,
Apple does allow a different browse on the iPhone/Touch. I have iCab, a second browser right here in my pocket on my ‘Touch.
I personally am happy to hear people leave Mac for Microsoft. Becoming dominant would ruin Apple. It is likely that security is better in OSX by designand history, but the obscurity aspect quite likely is part of the deal. Having said that, I would gladly pay 25% more to be part of an OS ecosystem that was secure by being obscure, even if all else was equal. Apple is doing fine as a niche player, and I hope that is their goal rather than gaining majority market share.
right, apple only forces users to use a webkit-based browser… which is a good thing.
as a webapp developper, i don’t want you to use firefox or opera on the iphone. i want to be able to build webapps that can compete with “real” apps and load fast… and look nice.
so i want
-webkit-gradient
-webkit-transform
-webkit-border-radius
HTML DB storage
HTML localization
etc, etc.
Opera on the iPhone would be like IE on the PC. It’s way too much limited.
Yeah. I wish every browser used webkit. Aside from the rendering engine, it is possible for a developer to make their own browser.
yeah those other browsers are basically just safari re-skinned.
“yeah those other browsers are basically just safari re-skinned.”
You are joking right?
If, let’s say, Firefox would use Webkit as a rendering engine instead of its own Geko, that means Firefox has become Safari, right? Cause that what you say… That’s what makes a browse, its rendering engine… Not its features! Nooo!
If you’d apply this logic to cars, you could put a Rolls Royce engine on a Geely and that Geely would become a Royce… Right…
Webkit != Safari you know…
I was a Mac person in the late 80s/early 90s. Switched to a PC, mostly because of work. A few months ago, utterly fed up with the entire Windows ecosystem, I gave up and bought a MBP. It’s remarkable how easy it is to get things done now.
I’m not saying its perfect. I’m also not saying that you couldn’t cobble together some highly customized set-up to meet or exceed the Apple experience. But I’m just not one to put in that much effort. I want to fire it up, and have it work. PC’s can’t offer that today. Apple can.
If that reality ever switches, I may switch too. My loyalty is to my own experience.
>I want to fire it up, and have it work. PC’s can’t offer that today. Apple can.
all i can say is wow to that.
>My loyalty is to my own experience.
this beats the previous point. it is definately the truth and that is why i will never use sprint, at&t ever again…and maybe why i still haven’t just become solely an apple user. i pc and i google. sometimes i google on my pc, but sometimes i piss on my pc because it pisses me off (built one instead and it’s great). apple is too obsessive compulsive for someone like me. if i wanted the interface i would convert. but i don’t. the price isn’t so much to scare me away. the apple company though is a whole different deal. i’ve always like apple…not so much “apple”. sometimes i’m like screw microsoft, but i’ll stick with the devil i know. for now. i don’t want to be a concrete herd consumer. if something better comes along i will get it.
And there are several millions who have the same experience with Windows, it just works. So are you right or are they, or is everyone right and the RDF is true. The arrogance of some of these post is just dripping. A green bile of superiority, that is at the core of this discussion.