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Chinese people want the Apple brand they don't care about iOS. If iOS was the status symbol it would get pirated and installed elsewhere. Apple has a strong bra

Chinese people want the Apple brand they don't care about iOS. If iOS was the status symbol it would get pirated and installed elsewhere. Apple has a strong brand because of it's history as a premium device company internationally, that's all. Their brand was their first mover advantage in China but now Chinese companies are closing that brand gap and since WeChat rules the software side Apple is going to have a hard time being a big player until it can differentiate itself on something other than brand.

oflannabhra 9y ago
Yep, that is the exact point of the article, but much more succinct.
- gnrlist 9y ago
  Aside from it's verbosity, the only nit I have with the article is that it muddles it's own point by talking about iOS as a monopoly.
  - MBCook 9y ago
    I don't think so. Ben's point (as I took it) was that Apple has a monopoly on iOS (because only their devices have it) and that gives them a very strong hold on users, there is too much friction in switching to Android. But in China if people don't really care about iOS that monopoly is worthless and their normal strategy for retaining users doesn't work, which means they're competing on a completely different basis in China than anywhere else.
    - gnrlist 9y ago
      Good point, I didn't get the nuance from my first pass reading it.
archvile 9y ago
How would iOS get pirated when the only way to install it is by using a certificate that only Apple holds? If it was easy enough to reverse engineer iOS and remove that install requirement, I'm sure it would have been done by now.
- linkregister 9y ago
  Seriously? There is a thriving jailbreak scene for iOS. It doesn't sound insurmountable at all. I think the only reason there's no iOS analogue to the Hackintosh is because nobody has bothered.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- zeusk 9y ago
  not really, and it's been done (not entirely successfully though). https://twitter.com/CotullaCode/status/352176812194922496 https://twitter.com/CotullaCode/status/352176812194922496 I worked with Cotulla in the HD2 community during the htc-linux days and we had iOS 5.x booting on the device up till springboard, there were definitely issues but not "impossible".
nullnilvoid 9y ago
Other than the brand factor, iPhone is actually a better phone. Before the current iPhone I have, I had always been an Android user. I used entry-level Android phones, high-end Android phones such as Samsung Galaxy, iPhone is clearly a better phone. iOS feels more smooth, reliable, battery-efficient in many ways than Android phones. Honestly, I have not looked back since the switch.
- Oletros 9y ago
  > Other than the brand factor, iPhone is actually a better phone But since a couple of years, any smartphone in a mid range price is good enough. iPhones provide better experience and hardware? Perhaps, I won't debate that, they are premium and Apple does a fantastic job integrating their software with their hardware. But to an average user, why pay +$700 when to their use case a $300 smartphone servers them well?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- blacksmith_tb 9y ago
  Without wading into a my-anecdotes-against yours battle, I think most would agree that at this point Chinese smartphone shoppers have options from Xiaomi and Huawei among others[1] that are of equal quality to Apple hardware (and may be better designed for their market). 1: http://time.com/4547129/china-smartphone-market-oppo-vivo-xiaomi-huawei-leeco/ http://time.com/4547129/china-smartphone-market-oppo-vivo-xi...
  - bobsam 9y ago
    Huawei version of Android even looks like iOS. I wish they had copied the more elegant windowsphone UI instead.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - threeseed 9y ago
    The world has access to phones from Xiaomi and Huawei. If they were equal to iPhones they would be selling out in Ireland, Australia, Cambodia - everywhere. Guess what ? They aren't equal to iPhones.
stcredzero 9y ago
Chinese people want the Apple brand they don't care about iOS. If iOS was the status symbol it would get pirated and installed elsewhere. There is still a significant difference in quality! My girlfriend's Samsung phone has a lot more battery problems. The interface for changing settings isn't as nice. Changing the battery in a Samsung is a bit of an adventure, even for someone who has serviced his own Macbook over many years. In terms of experience, Apple still has it over Samsung.
LiweiZ 9y ago
Consumers in China do know iOS and iPhone are better. As I mentioned in another comment, it's just very hard for an outsider to get into China market as a service provider.
threeseed 9y ago
> Chinese people want the Apple brand they don't care about iOS These kind of statements are ridiculous. (1) There is no evidence. (2) It assumes all of the Chinese think and act the same. (3) It assumes brand is the only decisioning metric when design and implementation can equally be important. > If iOS was the status symbol it would get pirated and installed elsewhere The look & feel of iPhones and iOS has been pirated and reimplemented on Android since day 1. You can goto MBK in Bangkok or Shenzhen in China and buy dozens of different models. Guess what ? They are nasty and buggy as hell and so don't sell.
yogenpro 9y ago
Chinese consumers do care about iOS vs Android. It's just that the Android ecosystem has been much too horrible in China (Play being blocked, big-name companies have their own "app store", affiliated apps keep waking up each other in background to increase DAU). Those problems go away automatically if you pick iPhone. The best-selling Android phones in China (Oppo/Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi) have this horrible problem in control, by providing their customized Android with aggressive permission control, background apps cleanup etc. This also closes up the gap between iOS and Android without Google's presence.

oflannabhra 9y ago

Yep, that is the exact point of the article, but much more succinct.

gnrlist 9y ago
Aside from it's verbosity, the only nit I have with the article is that it muddles it's own point by talking about iOS as a monopoly.
- MBCook 9y ago
  I don't think so. Ben's point (as I took it) was that Apple has a monopoly on iOS (because only their devices have it) and that gives them a very strong hold on users, there is too much friction in switching to Android. But in China if people don't really care about iOS that monopoly is worthless and their normal strategy for retaining users doesn't work, which means they're competing on a completely different basis in China than anywhere else.
  - gnrlist 9y ago
    Good point, I didn't get the nuance from my first pass reading it.

archvile 9y ago

How would iOS get pirated when the only way to install it is by using a certificate that only Apple holds? If it was easy enough to reverse engineer iOS and remove that install requirement, I'm sure it would have been done by now.

linkregister 9y ago
Seriously? There is a thriving jailbreak scene for iOS. It doesn't sound insurmountable at all. I think the only reason there's no iOS analogue to the Hackintosh is because nobody has bothered.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
zeusk 9y ago
not really, and it's been done (not entirely successfully though). https://twitter.com/CotullaCode/status/352176812194922496 https://twitter.com/CotullaCode/status/352176812194922496 I worked with Cotulla in the HD2 community during the htc-linux days and we had iOS 5.x booting on the device up till springboard, there were definitely issues but not "impossible".

nullnilvoid 9y ago

Other than the brand factor, iPhone is actually a better phone. Before the current iPhone I have, I had always been an Android user. I used entry-level Android phones, high-end Android phones such as Samsung Galaxy, iPhone is clearly a better phone. iOS feels more smooth, reliable, battery-efficient in many ways than Android phones. Honestly, I have not looked back since the switch.

Oletros 9y ago
> Other than the brand factor, iPhone is actually a better phone But since a couple of years, any smartphone in a mid range price is good enough. iPhones provide better experience and hardware? Perhaps, I won't debate that, they are premium and Apple does a fantastic job integrating their software with their hardware. But to an average user, why pay +$700 when to their use case a $300 smartphone servers them well?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
blacksmith_tb 9y ago
Without wading into a my-anecdotes-against yours battle, I think most would agree that at this point Chinese smartphone shoppers have options from Xiaomi and Huawei among others[1] that are of equal quality to Apple hardware (and may be better designed for their market). 1: http://time.com/4547129/china-smartphone-market-oppo-vivo-xiaomi-huawei-leeco/ http://time.com/4547129/china-smartphone-market-oppo-vivo-xi...
- bobsam 9y ago
  Huawei version of Android even looks like iOS. I wish they had copied the more elegant windowsphone UI instead.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- threeseed 9y ago
  The world has access to phones from Xiaomi and Huawei. If they were equal to iPhones they would be selling out in Ireland, Australia, Cambodia - everywhere. Guess what ? They aren't equal to iPhones.

stcredzero 9y ago

Chinese people want the Apple brand they don't care about iOS. If iOS was the status symbol it would get pirated and installed elsewhere. There is still a significant difference in quality! My girlfriend's Samsung phone has a lot more battery problems. The interface for changing settings isn't as nice. Changing the battery in a Samsung is a bit of an adventure, even for someone who has serviced his own Macbook over many years. In terms of experience, Apple still has it over Samsung.

LiweiZ 9y ago

Consumers in China do know iOS and iPhone are better. As I mentioned in another comment, it's just very hard for an outsider to get into China market as a service provider.

threeseed 9y ago

> Chinese people want the Apple brand they don't care about iOS These kind of statements are ridiculous. (1) There is no evidence. (2) It assumes all of the Chinese think and act the same. (3) It assumes brand is the only decisioning metric when design and implementation can equally be important. > If iOS was the status symbol it would get pirated and installed elsewhere The look & feel of iPhones and iOS has been pirated and reimplemented on Android since day 1. You can goto MBK in Bangkok or Shenzhen in China and buy dozens of different models. Guess what ? They are nasty and buggy as hell and so don't sell.

yogenpro 9y ago

Chinese consumers do care about iOS vs Android. It's just that the Android ecosystem has been much too horrible in China (Play being blocked, big-name companies have their own "app store", affiliated apps keep waking up each other in background to increase DAU). Those problems go away automatically if you pick iPhone. The best-selling Android phones in China (Oppo/Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi) have this horrible problem in control, by providing their customized Android with aggressive permission control, background apps cleanup etc. This also closes up the gap between iOS and Android without Google's presence.