4 ms·

Excellent point. The power of Apple's supply chain cannot be underestimated. They are constantly looking at new materials, locking up global supply of key comp

by cletus 16y ago

Excellent point. The power of Apple's supply chain cannot be underestimated. They are constantly looking at new materials, locking up global supply of key components and constantly reinventing their form factors. The problem with Android is that it isn't a brand. It's an idea. Motorola Android phones work completely differently to HTC Android phones. Google has succeeded in what they wanted to achieve: to commoditize the phone OS. Manufacturers are playing along and their phones too are, basically, commodities. There is no "Android experience" like there is an "iPhone experience" so they're all simply competing on price. The other problem with the Android manufacturers is they make the same two mistakes pretty much everyone but Apple makes: they ask customers what they want and they use "shotgun marketing". Asking customers what they want (eg focus groups) is a terrible idea with an horrendous track record. Shotgun marketing is basically throwing everything at the market and hoping something sticks. That's why there are so many models and they pack in as many features as they can (marketers like bullet point lists). Apple is the only one who seems to have a coherent and consistent user experience.

forensic 16y ago
And the disgusting beauty of this is that the more bad companies use shotgun marketing, the more consumers are trained to only trust Apple. Why do people buy Apple? For many, they don't trust ANY other technology brand to provide a coherent experience. Every other tech brand from LG to HP to MS engages in shotgun marketing and thereby traumatizes customers and destroys their own market. The reason "free" became so popular in software is because so much bad software was made where users felt buyer's remorse so they just stopped buying. Free became the only way to get your product in people's hands. Apple has managed to avoid this with their quality control and lack of focus groups. This gives them credibility in a landscape where NO ONE ELSE is credible. And that is worth lots of money. Why only buy Apple? Because only Apple can be trusted not to sell you an aggravating hassle. People will pay twice as much for half the hardware specs just to get the Apple promise.

by cletus 16y ago

forensic 16y ago

And the disgusting beauty of this is that the more bad companies use shotgun marketing, the more consumers are trained to only trust Apple. Why do people buy Apple? For many, they don't trust ANY other technology brand to provide a coherent experience. Every other tech brand from LG to HP to MS engages in shotgun marketing and thereby traumatizes customers and destroys their own market. The reason "free" became so popular in software is because so much bad software was made where users felt buyer's remorse so they just stopped buying. Free became the only way to get your product in people's hands. Apple has managed to avoid this with their quality control and lack of focus groups. This gives them credibility in a landscape where NO ONE ELSE is credible. And that is worth lots of money. Why only buy Apple? Because only Apple can be trusted not to sell you an aggravating hassle. People will pay twice as much for half the hardware specs just to get the Apple promise.