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Iphone Businesses Apple

Apple Already Sold Everyone an iPhone. Now What? (economist.com) 113

The ubiquitous device is becoming a shop window for the firm's services. From a report: As it dreams up more gadgets to sell to more people, however, Apple is employing another strategy in parallel. The company has so far put 1.8bn devices in the pockets and on the desks of some of the world's most affluent consumers. Now it is selling access to those customers to other companies, and persuading those who own its devices to sign up to its own subscription services. As Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer, said on a recent earnings call, the Apple devices in circulation represent "a big engine for our services business." The strategy is picking up speed. Last year services brought in $68bn in revenue, or 19% of Apple's total. That is double the share in 2015. In the latest quarter services' share was even higher, at 24%. Apple doesn't break down where the money comes from, but the biggest chunk is reckoned to be fees from its app store, which amounted to perhaps $25bn last year, according to Sensor Tower, a data provider.

The next-biggest part is probably the payment from Google for the right to be Apple devices' default search engine. This was $10bn in 2020; analysts believe the going rate now is nearer $20bn. Apple's fast-growing advertising business -- mainly selling search ads in its app store -- will bring in nearly $7bn this year, reckons eMarketer, another research firm. Most of the rest comes from a range of subscription services: iCloud storage, Apple Music and Apple Care insurance are probably the biggest, estimates Morgan Stanley, an investment bank. More recent ventures like Apple tv+, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade and Apple Pay make up the rest. New services keep popping up. Last November Apple launched a subscription product for small companies called Apple Business Essentials, offering tech support, device management and so on. In June it announced a "buy now, pay later" service. The company claims a total of 860m active paid subscriptions, nearly a quarter more than it had a year ago.

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Apple Already Sold Everyone an iPhone. Now What?

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  • by mwfischer ( 1919758 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @04:47PM (#62812541) Journal

    you release a new model every couple of years and sell them a new one?

    let's call it a "company"

    • by g01d4 ( 888748 )

      release a new model every couple of years

      That only works while the technology's evolving. There's only so much functionality and bandwidth people need running on a smartphone screen. Smartphones have been "good enough" for a few years with fewer people compelled by the new shiny model. And they ain't cheap.

      • If you want Apple's privacy protections, you are pretty much forced to replace your phone once Apple stops providing security patches for it.

        Well, you CAN keep using your iPhone 5 as an internet-connected device if you really want to, but without security patches it's pretty risky.

        Similar story with Android. At least with Android phones you aren't forced to depend on Google for updates. At least that's the theory.

        • by guruevi ( 827432 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @06:38PM (#62812847)

          Apple keeps updating the iOS for models to about 7-10 years old. Android vendors drop support anywhere between 6 and 36 months, Samsung gets praised to high heaven for promising 4 major versions of support, and no you generally canâ(TM)t compile your own Android because nobody from Torvalds to Google wants to enforce the GPL Iegally.

          The iPhone 6S dropped the same year as Android 6 (2015). Security updates for Marshmallow ended in 2018, security updates for iPhone 6S (iOS 15) will likely end in 2024.

          • and no you generally canâ(TM)t compile your own Android

            I don't think the GP was implying compiling your own as much as simply installing another OS, something that is still very much a thing for many Android devices.

            But in general iOS support is better than Android. I however take issue with the GP's comment for a different reason: mobile phone security, literally no one gives a shit. In terms of impact to people the number of actively exploited security flaws in the west on mobile devices is as close to zero as to be irrelevant. The majority of Android / iOS m

          • Apple keeps updating the iOS for models to about 7-10 years old. Android vendors drop support anywhere between 6 and 36 months

            Absolutely true, but... most Android phones are cheap, to the point of almost considered being disposable at the low end, and Apple phones are not cheap. Part of Apple's reasoning for the long term support of Apple devices is that they'd rather keep the price premium on them high, so as an incentive, they have to support them longer. Because unless you're a 20-something woman that upgrades at every iteration to keep up with the girlfriends, or you're very well off, I'd bet that more iPhone users than not ke

          • The iPhone 6S dropped the same year as Android 6 (2015). Security updates for Marshmallow ended in 2018, security updates for iPhone 6S (iOS 15) will likely end in 2024.

            Note that the iPhone 6 and 6+ (the generation before 6s) got security updates _after_ the OS couldn't be upgraded anymore.

            If you have an older iPhone, assume that hackers can read anything on it (although people with 6 year old phones are not really the target). You can still use it to play music and videos or take photos where you don't care if someone else can grab those photos. Keep them away from your cloud data.

        • by Askmum ( 1038780 )

          Similar story with Android. At least with Android phones you aren't forced to depend on Google for updates. At least that's the theory.

          No, your just forced by app makers to upgrade to a newer Android version which (unless you have Android One or some other high-end phone) is never available, except when buying a new phone.
          Oh, and a new phone with the latest Android is also expensive, so if you opt for an older Android version... you just get to replace your phone sooner.

          • A new OS is generally available, but you may have to jump through some hoops that the general public is not even aware of, let alone willing to do.

            • by Askmum ( 1038780 )
              No it is not. Except if the hoops you mention are third party ROMs and even then there are phones where the bootloader is locked so you cannot install a custom ROM.
              There are phones/manufacturers that provide updates, but generally those are not the cheaper ones.
              • by nasch ( 598556 )

                Many phones have unlockable bootloaders. Many others have been cracked and can be rooted. It's not 100% of course but there's a good chance any particular phone can have a different ROM installed.

      • by fazig ( 2909523 )
        A solution for that has been found a long time ago already. It's called "planned obsolescence".

        And it doesn't necessarily need to be something that causes a device to fail after some point, which may negatively affect a carefully crafted brand image like quality.
        It can also be something as mundane seeming as new fashion trends that can compel consumers to go for what's *fresh*, which has been utilized by the fashion industry for some time already, where the clothes may technically last for decades, but t
        • A solution for that has been found a long time ago already. It's called "planned obsolescence".

          As opposed to "unplanned obsolescence"? They still support the iPhone 6s with the latest iOS version and next month that will be 7 years old, if you can put your feelings about a company aside you can admit that's a pretty good support window, you can't really expect them to go much longer than that. But hey, if you do then there's Android and you just maintain it yourself if you're into that.

          • by fazig ( 2909523 )
            Sometimes it's good if more than just the first line is read.
            • My point is I'm not sure what you are saying is "planned" about it. Aside from saying "we will support this for x amount of time" the fact that fashion trends might change or that they might invent new features that they can't backport or that new technologies might come along is not "planned obsolescence".
              • by fazig ( 2909523 )
                Didn't sound like that was your point at all, but alright, let's pick that nit!

                The "planned" part would be that companies have found out about effectiveness of such methods like "fashion" and actively influence what is perceived as "trendy" by manufacturing a fashion trend a round it. To me Apple has been doing this successfully since the very beginning with their (lower case) i devices, with them never only being some tech gadget but also an entire lifestyle that comes attached to it.
                Sales for iPhones a
                • Didn't sound like that was your point at all, but alright, let's pick that nit!

                  Well I did say 'as opposed to "unplanned obsolescence"'.

                  So all I can say is that manufactured fashion is a market strategy regardless and that I've heard it described as being part of the greater "planned obsolescence" strategies.

                  Is that really any different to what any company does in releasing new versions of their products though? If that's "planned obsolescence" then what company doesn't do that?

                  Maybe the fashion argument would hold some water if there were significant differences in sales when design changes happened (I'm not saying there isn't but I haven't seen such a thing).

                  • by fazig ( 2909523 )
                    It's just a label. I didn't put it in quotes for fun.
                    What label would you suggest?

                    Also why the whataboutism? I said that this was long figured out by the industry (to deal with issues of market saturation). Apple is obviously a part of that industry, but nobody claimed that they're the only part.
                    So what part of that made you think I meant to say that it's only Apple that does it, as that whataboutism implies?
                    • It's not whataboutism, it's an observation that you seem to saying that the act of releasing new versions of products == "planned obsolescence". It's not typically what's meant by the term, it becomes pretty meaningless if it's as simple as releasing a new product despite still offering reasonable support for the old product(s).
                    • by fazig ( 2909523 )
                      If you go but everyone does it as if I didn't already express that in my previous statements, then yes, it's pretty much whataboutism.
                      Apple didn't invent those practices, they adopted them, like, yes, virtually everyone else who does advertising has done as well.

                      I draw the analogy to the fashion industry because they do a similar thing with their fashion stuff. A lot of the old clothing is still perfectly functional. There's no objective reason to spend more money on new clothing. And a lot of people don
                    • If you go but everyone does it as if I didn't already express that in my previous statements, then yes, it's pretty much whataboutism.

                      I asked how it's different from what every business does in releasing new versions of their products. I bought a new CPU some time ago that is much faster with many more cores to replace my existing chip. Are you saying that is because of "planned obsolescence" on the part of AMD? I would say it's not because AMD planned to make my old chip obsolete, they simply came up with a better one and eventually I had a need for it.

                      Is it because anything that's not positive is seen as some kind of hater unfairly attacking someone who you think should be above criticism?

                      How is it even a criticism? Yes companies release new versions of products. Did you th

                    • by fazig ( 2909523 )
                      It's not different. And I never claimed that it was any different.
                      So why are you asking if it's any different as if I singled out Apple?

                      In the case of AMD it's just competition in a competitive market where processing power is in high demand all the time because requirements increase all the time. There is no market saturation there.
                      Sure, there are people that may still have a computer that runs on a 20 year old CPU, so maybe that's some saturation there. But since that is a tiny subset, the larger marke
          • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

            A solution for that has been found a long time ago already. It's called "planned obsolescence".

            As opposed to "unplanned obsolescence"? They still support the iPhone 6s with the latest iOS version and next month that will be 7 years old, if you can put your feelings about a company aside you can admit that's a pretty good support window, you can't really expect them to go much longer than that.

            We're pretty sure they're not going to go any longer than that. AFAIK, they're dropping support with the release of iOS 16. They'll probably keep doing security updates for another year, but when they stop, they'll be dropping support for something like one in ten iPhone devices in active use. There are enough of these things out there that when they do drop support, it's going to make Microsoft's security reputation look good.

            That's the problem. Nobody with a 6s wants any of the headphone-free crap the

            • They'll probably keep doing security updates for another year, but when they stop, they'll be dropping support for something like one in ten iPhone devices in active use. There are enough of these things out there that when they do drop support, it's going to make Microsoft's security reputation look good.

              That's the problem. Nobody with a 6s wants any of the headphone-free crap they're peddling.

              Citation, please, on that claim that "one in ten" active iPhones are 6s models.

              Also, I jumped from my iPhone 6 plus with a 3.5mm jack to an 8 plus without. Guess what? The world didn't end. I bought one of Apple's Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapters at Walmart for nine whole dollars while I was grocery shopping. It lives at the end of my Sony earbuds. If I was worried about it "getting lost", or "falling off" (but it doesn't; the jack actually has very good retention-force, and takes a firm pull to disengage),

              • Also, I jumped from my iPhone 6 plus with a 3.5mm jack to an 8 plus without. Guess what? The world didn't end. I bought one of Apple's Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapters at Walmart for nine whole dollars while I was grocery shopping. It lives at the end of my Sony earbuds. If I was worried about it "getting lost", or "falling off" (but it doesn't; the jack actually has very good retention-force, and takes a firm pull to disengage), a small bit of electrical tape would take care of that.

                I did that, and with stories about that Apple will be force to provide a USB-C connector (lots of people being confused by the fact that iPhones have USB-C without a USB-C connector) I may have to buy a USB-C to headphone adapter as well. 8 pound 50 from the Apple Store, slightly cheaper elsewhere.

                • Also, I jumped from my iPhone 6 plus with a 3.5mm jack to an 8 plus without. Guess what? The world didn't end. I bought one of Apple's Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapters at Walmart for nine whole dollars while I was grocery shopping. It lives at the end of my Sony earbuds. If I was worried about it "getting lost", or "falling off" (but it doesn't; the jack actually has very good retention-force, and takes a firm pull to disengage), a small bit of electrical tape would take care of that.

                  I did that, and with stories about that Apple will be force to provide a USB-C connector (lots of people being confused by the fact that iPhones have USB-C without a USB-C connector) I may have to buy a USB-C to headphone adapter as well. 8 pound 50 from the Apple Store, slightly cheaper elsewhere.

                  Lightning actually preceded USB-C, and was partially a way for Apple to sidestep the EU's prior ridiculous sabre-rattlng about requiring everyone to standardize on that horrible micro-USB connector for chargers.

                  But it is not USB-C, sorry. For one thing, most devices only support USB 2.0 speeds over Lightning, and there is no DisplayPort support AFAIK.

              • I bought one of those $12 Lightning "splitters", to allow simultaneous charging and earbud/headset use; but guess what? After over a year, it is still in its packaging, unused.

                We have an Anker 5 port charger. When the previous one broke after many, many years I bought one with ONE USB-C port. It charges so fast that we can charge two iPhones and an iPad FAST with that single port, without any problems.

                • I bought one of those $12 Lightning "splitters", to allow simultaneous charging and earbud/headset use; but guess what? After over a year, it is still in its packaging, unused.

                  We have an Anker 5 port charger. When the previous one broke after many, many years I bought one with ONE USB-C port. It charges so fast that we can charge two iPhones and an iPad FAST with that single port, without any problems.

                  You are literally comparing Apples to Oranges.

                  • "comparing Apples to Oranges": I know about Apple, but I wasn't aware that Trump sold smart phones.

                    • "comparing Apples to Oranges": I know about Apple, but I wasn't aware that Trump sold smart phones.

                      Ba-Dum-Bump-Trump!!!

              • by dgatwood ( 11270 )

                They'll probably keep doing security updates for another year, but when they stop, they'll be dropping support for something like one in ten iPhone devices in active use. There are enough of these things out there that when they do drop support, it's going to make Microsoft's security reputation look good.

                That's the problem. Nobody with a 6s wants any of the headphone-free crap they're peddling.

                Citation, please, on that claim that "one in ten" active iPhones are 6s models.

                I looked it up maybe half a year ago, and based on website visits to some U.S.-centric ad tracking network, IIRC, it was something like 13% (one in 8) when you added up the 6s and 6s Plus. Other sites showed them adding up to somewhere closer to 7 or 8%. Either way, even if it is only three or four percent now, that would still be a *lot* of devices that are still being used. Unfortunately, I can't find current info anymore. Everybody just shows the last few models and lumps the rest into a giant "other

                • They'll probably keep doing security updates for another year, but when they stop, they'll be dropping support for something like one in ten iPhone devices in active use. There are enough of these things out there that when they do drop support, it's going to make Microsoft's security reputation look good.

                  That's the problem. Nobody with a 6s wants any of the headphone-free crap they're peddling.

                  Citation, please, on that claim that "one in ten" active iPhones are 6s models.

                  I looked it up maybe half a year ago, and based on website visits to some U.S.-centric ad tracking network, IIRC, it was something like 13% (one in 8) when you added up the 6s and 6s Plus. Other sites showed them adding up to somewhere closer to 7 or 8%. Either way, even if it is only three or four percent now, that would still be a *lot* of devices that are still being used. Unfortunately, I can't find current info anymore. Everybody just shows the last few models and lumps the rest into a giant "other" bucket that contains 20% of devices....

                  The thing is, most people end up passing down their old phones to their kids (or maybe vice versa for teenagers), so a lot of phones continue to get a lot of use even after they stop being the primary phone. And for the folks who don't want to give up headphone jacks or who don't want to lose Touch ID for the much-less-user-friendly Face ID, there's a *strong* disincentive to upgrade right now. I suspect Apple will lose those users to Android when the 6s finally stops getting security updates.

                  Also, I jumped from my iPhone 6 plus with a 3.5mm jack to an 8 plus without. Guess what? The world didn't end.

                  Good for you. You don't share earbuds between a computer and a cell phone constantly. I could permanently attach a cheap USB-C adapter and still be able to instantly move my headphones back and forth between my M1 Max 16" MacBook Pro and my Pixel 6 from work, but any newer iPhone would require me to unplug the dongle every time I use the headphones with my Mac because the iPhone doesn't have USB-C or a headphone jack and the Mac doesn't have a Lightning port. It's like nobody in Apple's entire engineering team uses both a Mac *and* and iPhone. The current state of the platform boggles the mind, and for interoperability to have been this broken for so long is just sad.

                  Standards are standards for a reason, and Apple should feel ashamed of themselves for ignoring standards so egregiously for so long. Doubly so for trying to force people to use high-latency, unreliable Bluetooth garbage by making it impossible to share wired headphones between one Apple platform and another. It's sad to see Steve's "It just works" company turn into a company that can't even agree on a single headphone jack standard across their product line. Apple is a pale shadow of its former self, and as a stockholder and user, that concerns me at multiple levels.

                  Found in .5 secs:

                  https://www.amazon.com/Lightni... [amazon.com]

                  Now, you can leave the above adapter plugged into your MacBook, and just plug the Lightning-End of your 3.5mm to Lightning Adapter into either the iPhone or the MacBook's Lightning Adapter.

                  Or just unplug your 3.5mm-equipped earbuds/headset from the lightning Adapter attached to the Phone, and simply plug the 3.5mm Plug into the 3.5mm TRRSVJack in the MacBook. No USB-C Adapter needed!

                  Or, just keep your headset plugged into the 3.5mm TRRS Jack on the MacBook,

            • That's the problem. Nobody with a 6s wants any of the headphone-free crap they're peddling.

              Switch to Android then, or continue using a 6s (not really advisable given lack of security updates but I guess you could be vigilant about reported vulnerabilities).

        • Planned obsolescence isn't releasing new shiny things to entice customers to buy again. It's designing products so that they will become useless (or if you prefer, obsolete) prematurely, thus nearly coercing the customer to replace them.

      • by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @06:06PM (#62812741)
        What do you mean? How unsightly to keep old models. I wouldn't be seen dead with an iPhone 12!

        What? Do Apple need more money? OK, where do I have to line up & wait?
      • by tsqr ( 808554 )

        Two acquaintances of mine buy a new iPhone every time a new model is released, because...well, mostly their reasons elude me, but I've heard both of them say, "It's the latest iPhone!". Yes, "they ain't cheap", but price doesn't factor into the decision. Anyway, I'm pretty sure they're not the only people that do this - I don't think those long lines at the Apple stores on launch day are made up entirely of first-time buyers and people who haven't upgraded in several years - it's the zealots who are willing

        • by edwdig ( 47888 )

          I think what you're missing is that iPhones keep a very high trade in value for the first few years, and they often offer even better trade in values at the launch of the new models.

          I could trade in my iPhone 11 right now and get a free iPhone 13 if I wanted to. I'm intending on waiting for the 14 to launch next month and take the best trade in deal then. I'll almost certainly get a similar or almost as good deal then. Of course you have to buy a new case and pay an activation fee for the cell network, so i

        • I read it is about two percent who always buy the latest phone as soon as it is released. I _once_ gave an amplifier away that was perfectly fine, but I wanted a new one and the f***ing thing just refused to break down. (And the Denon replacement is now 30 years old and still going strong. )
      • by GoJays ( 1793832 )
        Enter the "non-replaceable" battery.
      • release a new model every couple of years

        That only works while the technology's evolving. There's only so much functionality and bandwidth people need running on a smartphone screen. Smartphones have been "good enough" for a few years with fewer people compelled by the new shiny model. And they ain't cheap.

        I dunno if that's true.

        Car companies have successfully sold collectively hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of new cars every year for decades, usually with nothing more innovative than differently-bent sheet metal.

      • by c-A-d ( 77980 )

        The only recent reason I had to upgrade my phone was VoLTE.

    • There is still a lot of competition in the market. There are 1.4 billion smartphone sales a year. Apple sells a third less smartphones than Samsung. As the middle class on the world develops Apple might get more market share.
    • Im buying another next month...my current one took on liquid one too many times.

      Next three weeks or so are kinda gonna suck, and not looking forward to setting up on a new phone.

  • Sod off (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sit1963nz ( 934837 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @04:52PM (#62812551)
    I have Apple devices because of privacy and the lack of adverts.
    I have already dropped my usage of social medial by 90%, and if I have to put up with adverts, I will drop my IOS/OSX usage down to the point where I may as well shop based purely on $$, ie Linux and Android.

    I HATE adverts with a passion and "select few business partners" is still you selling my info/access, so if they wont go away, I will.

    So NO Apple NO NO NO NO NO
    • by c-A-d ( 77980 )

      I just picked up a samsung s10e (I don't purchase new phones. way too expensive and not worth it). It auto-upgraded to Android 12 with a bunch of samsung apps. It took me a couple of hours with adb to remove the garbage, especially the ad-generating crap. Some of the parts I couldn't remove at all, but was able to disable them.

      I shouldn't have to do this.

    • What adverts? All this talk about adverts make me wonder if there are special phones released just for Americans to fuck over Americans exclusively. I mean I've never seen an advert on my Android phone that wasn't embedded in some app specifically.

    • I seriously doubt Apple would go to an ad model. Firstly, the entire ads industry is in full collapse, click rates are at an all-time low for example. There are 2-3x the number of ads on youtube videos vs a year or two ago and their revenues are stagnant.

      Apples clear plan is to offer these value add services to get a subscription. I buy Apple One, i get a lot of out of because the whole family streams music and we like the video content and the advertisement free games library and extra icloud storage fo

      • I have zero Apple Subscriptions.

        I have my own servers for backup, photo sharing, etc , currently at 30TB of backed up storage
  • by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @05:04PM (#62812583)
    Sell everyone two iPhones. Duh.
  • by Growlley ( 6732614 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @05:04PM (#62812587)
    Mu Ha Ha.
  • When Apple sold everyone a music player they had to invent a touch-screen smartphone. Without innovation there isn't a market rationale for premium they charge.
  • by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @05:15PM (#62812617)

    Imagine if Apple made a dumb, high quality TV. Just a high quality display with some HDMI ports and a remote. Nothing else. No ads, no "smart". Just display whatever appears on the HDMI ports and leave the video sources to other Apple products.

    They wouldn't be able to make them fast enough.

    • High quality 4k/8k HDMI monitors already exist at the price point that Apple would likely charge for this, though.
    • by k0t0n ( 7251482 )
      Apple thrives as a luxury brand, so that tv would be priced much higher on the price scale, and only work with apple tv and designer hdmi cables...
    • Imagine if Apple made a dumb, high quality TV. Just a high quality display with some HDMI ports and a remote. Nothing else. No ads, no "smart". Just display whatever appears on the HDMI ports and leave the video sources to other Apple products.

      Yeah because the thing I hate the most about my TV with AirPlay its ability to do other things as well.

    • You have an incredibly biased view on the world. Outside of a few slashdot posters very few people give a shit about dumb TVs. Quite the opposite, I know people who specifically upgraded their perfectly working TVs only to get a newer app experience, and I live with a person who chose a TV based on the smart features it offers.

      And honestly I'm not going to argue against it, for all the ranting and raving about smart TVs it was actually quite nice to piss off the buggy Roku and have a TV that supports stream

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Imagine if Apple made a dumb, high quality TV. Just a high quality display with some HDMI ports and a remote. Nothing else. No ads, no "smart". Just display whatever appears on the HDMI ports and leave the video sources to other Apple products.

      They wouldn't be able to make them fast enough.

      Yes, but that is the antithesis of Apple. Something that is functional, practical and most importantly, compatible with non-Apple devices. If Apple released a TV it would only play approved content from Apple services and have no HDMI ports.

  • by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @05:19PM (#62812623) Homepage
    That's how Apple now sees you. It's the Social Media business model. It's the new thing. Apple customers are the new thing, congrats.
  • YOU'RE the product (despite all of Apple's past yammering about privacy and sanctity of data).
  • by CAIMLAS ( 41445 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @05:21PM (#62812631)

    This is the best idea ever - if you're intention is to lose anyone who's moved to Apple to avoid all of these things.

    As others have said and will say further: the reason I'm using Apple is because their produces are minimum-fuss, minimum headache... and unlike dealing with Microsoft, things just work and get out of the way (mostly) without me having to stick my dick in a toaster just for a little boost.

    If you want to diversify your products to provide me, your customer, with better products... making me the product to sell to other new customers is NOT the way to do it. I'd go back to a dumbphone before I did that.

    Maybe they're targetting new kids who didn't live through the 2000s ad-rape culture hoisted upon us, and that's fine. But I won't deal with that.

  • sigh I think I might actually tolerate a Republican president if it meant Apple would get broken up
  • Not quite everyone (Score:3, Informative)

    by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @06:59PM (#62812915) Homepage

    Apple has only about 18% of the market. https://www.counterpointresear... [counterpointresearch.com]

    Samsung alone sells more smartphones than Apple

    On the other hand, that 18% who are Apple fans are very, very committed. They'll stick with Apple even if they do switch to an ad-supported model, and don't lower their prices.

    • When Americans say "everyone", they mean all Americans, not Thais or Koreans, or Romanians..or other people on the planet.

      Where I live, nobody I know has an iPhone, and people that do, it's just to show off that they are rich. It's a status symbol. Less than 1% of people own an iphone in a country where almost 100 million people live. That's just one country.

      So iPhone 13 is apparently the latest model, and it costs $801 USD.
      Samsung M23 5g costs $180 USD. 4 times less.
      Granted, they have phones that cost 800

      • Even in the US, Apple's market share is around 50%. https://www.counterpointresear... [counterpointresearch.com]

        That's significant, but certainly not everyone.

        My Moto G 2021 cost me less than $200 unlocked, and I love it. It doesn't show me any ads. Of course, there are ads in apps, but none on the phone itself.

    • As long as you can keep from getting the ads or whatever with your apple one subscription, sure. But if it's just universal, Apple will throw away what they have.

      Also note that Apple is dramatically more profitable in the phone space than Samsung despite the latter moving more handsets each year and Samsung having a shorter replacement cycle that Apple by a few months. It's not always volume that wins and Apple knows how to make money.

      But on to 'Apple fan', I don't really care that much BUT my iphone, my

      • As long as you can keep from getting the ads or whatever with your apple one subscription, sure

        OK, so as long as you are "allowed" to pay even more, on top of Apple's already ridiculously-high prices, for an ad-free experience, you're OK with that. I'm glad you've got money to burn!

        my iphone, my ipad, my watch, and my mac all seamlessly share data in a way no other products have come anywhere close to replicating

        You clearly haven't used Android products much lately. They have the same level of integration that you are talking about. Use Google Maps on your computer, send the route to your phone, start navigating. Update a contact or file on one device, instantly see the update on your other devices. Move to a new Android phone, yo

        • Apple's rediculously high prices? Have you not seen the android market?

          My iPhone Xs Max from 2018 that I'm still rocking with 88% battery health, 5-6 hours screen on time per day for 4 solid years, and I'm at 30% when I go to bed. The galaxy phone that came out in 2018 was the *S9*. These are a premium phones so if you're going to talk price you better compare it to comperable premium phones. Samsung phones are $100-$200 more expensive than it's iPhone counterpart now. There is absolutely no price a

          • I'll grant you that the Apple seamless integration is better than Android, but none of the features you mentioned are really of interest to me. All the things that matter, such as browser history, contacts, saved passwords, etc., are kept in sync across devices, including Windows.

            Regarding "premium" phones, I don't get it. So you can do wireless charging, but my $200 Moto G runs all the apps I want, with plenty of memory, and it even has a headphone jack if I want to use "real" headphones. I usually use Blu

  • Sell them another iphone with a slightly different screen size.

  • Remember when almost no one had cell phones and no one thought they would do more than make phone calls? Or when "personal computers" were a tiny side business for IBM? Or when it wasn't clear how to make money on "search". Or when electric cards would clearly never be practical?

    Vision and innovation are not making the same thing very slightly better, they are figuring out what is the next thing that developing technology will enable.
  • That's the only possible answer to "Now What?"
  • by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 ) on Monday August 22, 2022 @08:14PM (#62813083)
    Not 'everyone'.

    My ecosystem remains gleefully Apple free.
    • The title of the Economist article is just click bait, given that the world population [wikipedia.org] is already around 8 billion. In fact the title is the only place where the word or combining form "every" appears.
      • The original title probably had "everyone who wants one" but some vicious editor cut it down for trollbait
    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Not 'everyone'.

      My ecosystem remains gleefully Apple free.

      As is mine.

      Just bought a new gaming laptop for less than half of what Apple charge for their basic model.

      However it's pretty clear that what the headline meant was "everyone who wants one" and realistically Apple reached this point years ago. It was 5+ years ago when it was revealed in western countries (US/UK/Aus) that for every 1 in every 5 Iphone owners didn't replace them with another Iphone. They managed to keep growing by introducing themselves into other markets. Now that there are no new mar

  • I wouldn't give Apple a dime for their overpriced, unrepairable, dumbed-down crapware devices.

  • No they didn't sell everybody an iPhone.
  • I use an iPhone 11, and before that I used a 6 for several years. in general I am a standard user, however being also a keen photo hobbyist, I like the continuous improvement in camera tech. It is not as good as my "proper" camera but for something you have always with you the current iPhone offers already surprising photo quality, certainly evening photos are impressive thanks to the computational wizardry. Google's phone camera is probably similar in quality.
    Apparently the upcoming iPhone Pro will use a
  • I'm sure Tim Cook will come up with yet another great idea for a brand new product. Just like he's done in the.... .. oh wait...

    Tim Cook hasn't brought any new product ideas to Apple.. that was Steve Jobs... .. what was I saying?

    • - Apple Watch is completely developed in his tenure. Sells more than all Swiss watches combined meanwhile
      - the transition to M1 architecture was a long process and brings finally some excitement and competition again
      - success of services - indeed not products, but also items that add substantially to the bottom line
      - Airpods, like them or not are tremendously popular and influential
      - AirTags. Not the first product in that category but pretty well engineered.

      - Remains to be seen how the rumoured AR g
  • and creates/captures a majority of a market, it's leaders face a decision: Rest on their laurels and just keep making the flagship product, or prepare for the future. Preparing for the future requires investment, and VISION. Steve Jobs became as famous as he was because he had the "vision thing" AND the forceful nature to drive the company to invest resources in it - to the point of even being willing to leave successful products in the dust.

    Post-Jobs Apple, under Tim Cook and his board, have been riding al

  • They doubled their sales with a clever marketing trick [snopes.com]. Now, Apple's marketing geniuses will convince us that, since we have two ears, we need two iPhones...
  • I know a lot of people that do not like the iphones and prefer android.
  • Apple devices = best common denominator. That’s the whole business case!
    If Apple were to rely on its software, it would not be as popular.
    Apple hardware(nod Jony Ive) its Golden Trick Pony.
    There’s an app for whatever you want it to do.
    But NO tricks for you.
    ONLY Apple tricks
    YOU get a byte

  • What's next is the jPhone.

  • The Macalope, long an Apple defender, takes Apple to task over the ominous developments at Apple pointing to a future of advertisements on all Apple devices. https://www.macworld.com/artic... [macworld.com]
  • Next rational step for Apple is to reduce the price of iPhone so that 3rd World can afford/buy it;
    https://fee.org/articles/a-made-in-america-iphone-would-cost-2-000-studies-show/

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