4 ms·

To "airpods" example - I think that it is more about Apple making great product than Apple enforcing control. Better eco system control is more of useful side e

by jiri 6y ago

To "airpods" example - I think that it is more about Apple making great product than Apple enforcing control. Better eco system control is more of useful side effect. There are other players who can make great products like good quality headphones, with standardized components, because they care about product. Although not common behaviour, it means that it can be done. So I think that most manufacturers just don't care enough, probably because most people don't care either :-(

m_eiman 6y ago
most people don't care either There's the slight problem of having no practial way of knowing which set of headphones will work properly; even most reviews skip these crucial details and just talk about the "warm sound" etc. If the headsets were marked with things like "kinda works as long as you hold it right", "works ok as long as you have a Samsung phone", "works flawlessly when paired with both your phone and your computer at the same time" at the time of purchase, I'm pretty sure people would let it affect their choice. That's one of the benefits of staying within your ecosystem of choice; if it doesn't work properly Samsung or Apple can't blame it on someone else - it's their problem to fix.
sneak 6y ago
> To "airpods" example - I think that it is more about Apple making great product than Apple enforcing control. You cannot set up a HomePod without an iCloud account (over and above an Apple ID). You cannot install even free apps on iOS without an Apple ID, which requires a telephone number. It is indeed about control and the acquisition of identified user behavior data. Apple has growth targets to hit and only so much can be done via hardware sales. Services revenue doesn't grow automatically without deep, intense data on a user's habits.
- danaris 6y ago
  [Citation needed] What's the proposed mechanism here? How do you believe Apple is using "identified user behavior data" to grow services revenue? Since, unlike their major competitors, they don't actually do targeted advertising.
  - sneak 6y ago
    This is false, the ads in the App Store vary by at least location and I would be very surprised if they didn't vary by your purchase history.
- jiri 6y ago
  Yes, you cannot do that and I would prefer that they enable these features too. But really, for most lay people it is better, safer and convenient to just use Apple selected method - to connect everything with one account/Apple ID. And I think that *primary reason* is better product for users. Overall it is easier to control user experience if you tightly control whole platform. I am not sure if it could be even possible to create broad and well integrated platform similar to what Apple has now, with general opennes. Is there an example of this in any other tech domain? Counter-example: Linux desktop is nice, functional, very open but so complicated and fragmented ... and it never took off and it is staying as a niche among desktops so far.

by jiri 6y ago

m_eiman 6y ago

most people don't care either There's the slight problem of having no practial way of knowing which set of headphones will work properly; even most reviews skip these crucial details and just talk about the "warm sound" etc. If the headsets were marked with things like "kinda works as long as you hold it right", "works ok as long as you have a Samsung phone", "works flawlessly when paired with both your phone and your computer at the same time" at the time of purchase, I'm pretty sure people would let it affect their choice. That's one of the benefits of staying within your ecosystem of choice; if it doesn't work properly Samsung or Apple can't blame it on someone else - it's their problem to fix.

sneak 6y ago

> To "airpods" example - I think that it is more about Apple making great product than Apple enforcing control. You cannot set up a HomePod without an iCloud account (over and above an Apple ID). You cannot install even free apps on iOS without an Apple ID, which requires a telephone number. It is indeed about control and the acquisition of identified user behavior data. Apple has growth targets to hit and only so much can be done via hardware sales. Services revenue doesn't grow automatically without deep, intense data on a user's habits.

danaris 6y ago
[Citation needed] What's the proposed mechanism here? How do you believe Apple is using "identified user behavior data" to grow services revenue? Since, unlike their major competitors, they don't actually do targeted advertising.
- sneak 6y ago
  This is false, the ads in the App Store vary by at least location and I would be very surprised if they didn't vary by your purchase history.
jiri 6y ago
Yes, you cannot do that and I would prefer that they enable these features too. But really, for most lay people it is better, safer and convenient to just use Apple selected method - to connect everything with one account/Apple ID. And I think that *primary reason* is better product for users. Overall it is easier to control user experience if you tightly control whole platform. I am not sure if it could be even possible to create broad and well integrated platform similar to what Apple has now, with general opennes. Is there an example of this in any other tech domain? Counter-example: Linux desktop is nice, functional, very open but so complicated and fragmented ... and it never took off and it is staying as a niche among desktops so far.