4 ms·

Apple is not America's favorite tech company

13 points by ALee 9y ago

mcast 9y ago
A survey for Apple would have extremely polarizing results since its market share is split between iOS and Android devices. Meanwhile, most Amazon/Google products are not machine specific (sans Android).
- lemoncucumber 9y ago
  Came here to say this. Android is much more of a legitimate competitor to iOS than, say, Bing is to Google (or Walmart.com is to Amazon, I guess?) If you use iOS, you probably still use Google search. If you use Android, you likely use nothing from Apple.
  - bdcravens 9y ago
    Many a developer has an Android phone but a MacBook
starchild_3001 9y ago
I really really wonder if the results of this survey are accurate. It doesn't gel well with Apple's YoY record profits over the last 15 years. Having used many windows computers and Macs. And used an Android phone and iPhones. I feel you get what you pay for with Apple products. They may seem expensive at first, but they last a lot longer. No viruses. Premium build. Solid privacy guarantee etc etc.
- wutbrodo 9y ago
  > I really really wonder if the results of this survey are accurate. It doesn't gel well with Apple's YoY record profits over the last 15 years. This doesn't make any sense. "Popularity" in the sense being discussed here (i.e. passion and trust) isn't that tightly bound to profits. Comcast and Goldman Sachs have great Y/Y profits too, I'm sure (and if not them, I'm sure you could find other unpopular companies or different time periods in which this was true). I wasn't under the impression that Apple _ever_ had all that much passion from the average consumer. The very fact that they target only the high-end of the market[1] means that a big chunk of the market is or has been locked out of buying their products. Even if they made the best products, it's hard to feel much passion for a product that is priced beyond your reach. The fanboy reputation came from a lot of passion among the userbase that they did have, but that doesn't affect the trust level across the entire consumer population that much. As far as trust, this isn't even remotely surprising to me. Apple is probably the single most anti-user tech company I can think of (with the possible exception of Facebook, and I'm sure Microsoft would love to be if they still had the market power). This isn't 100% completely a bad thing, since trampling over users sometimes allows you to move more quickly; this is the path Google has been taking from their earlier chaotic product map to the years since that famous conversation between Larry Page and Steve Jobs. It's no surprise that Google's popularity has declined since that time (along with the exogenous effect of gov't spying on them damaging their popularity), and it's no surprise that Amazon, which is famously pro-user, ranks so high. [1] Until they started their old-model sales programs, but they still haven't reached as far downmarket as e.g. Android, whose whole point was universal reach.
- jchristian- 9y ago
  > They may seem expensive at first, but they last a lot longer. No viruses. Premium build. Solid privacy guarantee etc etc. Poor ignorant fanboy, no one is talking about price here! > No viruses Enjoy, https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-49/product_id-15556/Apple-Iphone-Os.html https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-49/p.... If there are vulnerabilities, there will be someone/something exploring them. > Premium build You don't visit Apple forums and/or Apple support at the stores, right? If you visited you would see the gigantic mass of people with issues regarding the phone build. There's nothing premium regarding Apple build, just the price. Also, just as a reminder, the amazing screen that everyone worship is from SAMSUNG... > Solid privacy guarantee Company A says they are saints, well, better trust company A... > etc etc. Wow, there must be a LOT of other good things regarding Apple for you to put not just one, but TWO "etc", hahahahaha.
- timthelion 9y ago
  The profits are not a good measure of trust in the overall population. Only 34% [1] of US cellphones sold are iPhones, and in the rest of the world their market share is rock bottom ~15% [2]. Those profits come from a tiny number of people paying a lot of money, not from a lot of people loving them. [1] https://9to5mac.com/2017/08/09/us-iphone-sales-ios-market-share-kantar/ https://9to5mac.com/2017/08/09/us-iphone-sales-ios-market-sh... [2] https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os
- jacksmith21006 9y ago
  Apple profits actually peeked in 2015 but also not exactly sure what that has to do with trust? Here is Apple earnings over the last couple of years. https://www.statista.com/statistics/267728/apples-net-income-since-2005/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/267728/apples-net-income... • Apple: net income by year 2005-2016 | Statista Apple 2017 FY has already ended and will report in a couple of days but the most bullish estimates have 2017 results falling short of 2015. If you look at FCF for Apple you can see the decline is more surprising. https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/free_cash_flow https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/free_cash_flow Apple Free Cash Flow (Quarterly) (AAPL) - YCharts Luckily share price has been strong during this decline.
Majestic121 9y ago
> On questions of perception, like trust, Apple was again stuck in the middle of the pack. Participants trusted Amazon the most, which is not all that surprising given its e-commerce store’s ubiquity and the company’s overall drive to provide more value for lower prices with Prime and other services. Yet participants trusted Apple less than even Google, a company with a primary business model of collecting consumer data for targeting advertisements. This strikes me as very odd. I'm pretty much the opposite of an Apple fanboy, and against the whole 'golden cage' principle, but if there's one good thing I have to say about the company is that I would trust them way more than I would trust Google.
- jacksmith21006 9y ago
  Trust for Google over Apple has been consistent in other surveys. If you look at the yearly Meeker report it is similar. It is in the health data section http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends 2017 Internet Trends — Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers

13 points by ALee 9y ago

A survey for Apple would have extremely polarizing results since its market share is split between iOS and Android devices. Meanwhile, most Amazon/Google products are not machine specific (sans Android).

lemoncucumber 9y ago
Came here to say this. Android is much more of a legitimate competitor to iOS than, say, Bing is to Google (or Walmart.com is to Amazon, I guess?) If you use iOS, you probably still use Google search. If you use Android, you likely use nothing from Apple.
- bdcravens 9y ago
  Many a developer has an Android phone but a MacBook

starchild_3001 9y ago

I really really wonder if the results of this survey are accurate. It doesn't gel well with Apple's YoY record profits over the last 15 years. Having used many windows computers and Macs. And used an Android phone and iPhones. I feel you get what you pay for with Apple products. They may seem expensive at first, but they last a lot longer. No viruses. Premium build. Solid privacy guarantee etc etc.

wutbrodo 9y ago
> I really really wonder if the results of this survey are accurate. It doesn't gel well with Apple's YoY record profits over the last 15 years. This doesn't make any sense. "Popularity" in the sense being discussed here (i.e. passion and trust) isn't that tightly bound to profits. Comcast and Goldman Sachs have great Y/Y profits too, I'm sure (and if not them, I'm sure you could find other unpopular companies or different time periods in which this was true). I wasn't under the impression that Apple _ever_ had all that much passion from the average consumer. The very fact that they target only the high-end of the market[1] means that a big chunk of the market is or has been locked out of buying their products. Even if they made the best products, it's hard to feel much passion for a product that is priced beyond your reach. The fanboy reputation came from a lot of passion among the userbase that they did have, but that doesn't affect the trust level across the entire consumer population that much. As far as trust, this isn't even remotely surprising to me. Apple is probably the single most anti-user tech company I can think of (with the possible exception of Facebook, and I'm sure Microsoft would love to be if they still had the market power). This isn't 100% completely a bad thing, since trampling over users sometimes allows you to move more quickly; this is the path Google has been taking from their earlier chaotic product map to the years since that famous conversation between Larry Page and Steve Jobs. It's no surprise that Google's popularity has declined since that time (along with the exogenous effect of gov't spying on them damaging their popularity), and it's no surprise that Amazon, which is famously pro-user, ranks so high. [1] Until they started their old-model sales programs, but they still haven't reached as far downmarket as e.g. Android, whose whole point was universal reach.
jchristian- 9y ago
> They may seem expensive at first, but they last a lot longer. No viruses. Premium build. Solid privacy guarantee etc etc. Poor ignorant fanboy, no one is talking about price here! > No viruses Enjoy, https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-49/product_id-15556/Apple-Iphone-Os.html https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-49/p.... If there are vulnerabilities, there will be someone/something exploring them. > Premium build You don't visit Apple forums and/or Apple support at the stores, right? If you visited you would see the gigantic mass of people with issues regarding the phone build. There's nothing premium regarding Apple build, just the price. Also, just as a reminder, the amazing screen that everyone worship is from SAMSUNG... > Solid privacy guarantee Company A says they are saints, well, better trust company A... > etc etc. Wow, there must be a LOT of other good things regarding Apple for you to put not just one, but TWO "etc", hahahahaha.
timthelion 9y ago
The profits are not a good measure of trust in the overall population. Only 34% [1] of US cellphones sold are iPhones, and in the rest of the world their market share is rock bottom ~15% [2]. Those profits come from a tiny number of people paying a lot of money, not from a lot of people loving them. [1] https://9to5mac.com/2017/08/09/us-iphone-sales-ios-market-share-kantar/ https://9to5mac.com/2017/08/09/us-iphone-sales-ios-market-sh... [2] https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os
jacksmith21006 9y ago
Apple profits actually peeked in 2015 but also not exactly sure what that has to do with trust? Here is Apple earnings over the last couple of years. https://www.statista.com/statistics/267728/apples-net-income-since-2005/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/267728/apples-net-income... • Apple: net income by year 2005-2016 | Statista Apple 2017 FY has already ended and will report in a couple of days but the most bullish estimates have 2017 results falling short of 2015. If you look at FCF for Apple you can see the decline is more surprising. https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/free_cash_flow https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/free_cash_flow Apple Free Cash Flow (Quarterly) (AAPL) - YCharts Luckily share price has been strong during this decline.

Majestic121 9y ago

> On questions of perception, like trust, Apple was again stuck in the middle of the pack. Participants trusted Amazon the most, which is not all that surprising given its e-commerce store’s ubiquity and the company’s overall drive to provide more value for lower prices with Prime and other services. Yet participants trusted Apple less than even Google, a company with a primary business model of collecting consumer data for targeting advertisements. This strikes me as very odd. I'm pretty much the opposite of an Apple fanboy, and against the whole 'golden cage' principle, but if there's one good thing I have to say about the company is that I would trust them way more than I would trust Google.

jacksmith21006 9y ago
Trust for Google over Apple has been consistent in other surveys. If you look at the yearly Meeker report it is similar. It is in the health data section http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends 2017 Internet Trends — Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers