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Buying an iPhone (and increasingly Mac) is like going to Disneyland: You pay a lot of money to be allowed in so you can pay them even more money. The experience

Buying an iPhone (and increasingly Mac) is like going to Disneyland: You pay a lot of money to be allowed in so you can pay them even more money. The experience is highly curated and controlled. At the end of the day, you are just a guest there and what you are or aren't allowed to do is determined by the company. EDIT: And they have CCTV and undercover security officers everywhere. More than you can possibly imagine.

judge2020 5y ago
And Disney is one of the most well-known global brands - at least when people think about entertainment and vacationing.
tomjen3 5y ago
A Mac is very different from an iPhone. I am writing this in Firefox, I have development tools and commandline scripts installed.
- tgvaughan 5y ago
  Are you sure? I have a Mac too, and earlier this year all of my non Apple-approved software stopped working because some random Apple server went down.
lancesells 5y ago
I really don't Apple Hardware is a lot of money. I buy the cheapest MacBook Airs with a ram upgrade and they last me around ~6 years. Same with the phone I buy (iPhone SE). Outside of the battery needing replaced they last me a long, long time. Everything else with I agree. The eco-system of all these companies is never-ending (cars, food, cities, etc.). It's like those sci-fi movies where one corporation owns everything. The only difference is it's 5 or 6 companies because they haven't yet started to merge.
- alerighi 5y ago
  You can buy an Android phone with better specs (except the camera, where the iPhone objectively the best) for 200$, while an iPhone is minimum 500$ (and for an SE 2 that is an old iPhone 8 with a newer SOC). For a computer you can buy for the same money that you spend for a MacBook Air a computer with better specs and hardware that you can upgrade. Apple tends not to upgrade the oldest computers, leaving you with an insecure OS where you can't run the latest software. I have my battle Thinkpad that with Linux runs better than most Macbook and we are talking about a PC that has more than 10 years and I bought used on Ebay for 100$. Really Apple is not that great. I once used to buy their product thinking they were superior, and maybe once they were, nowadays they are just the other crap made in China but sold at (at least) twice the price because they have the Apple logo on it.
  - lancesells 5y ago
    Any recommendations for phones or laptops?
  - philistine 5y ago
    > You can buy an Android phone with better specs for 200$ > For a computer you can buy for the same money that you spend for a MacBook Air a computer with better specs and hardware that you can upgrade If you compare two phones at 200$, sure. But it is not possible to buy a phone with a better CPU than the 500$ iPhone SE 2. Impossible, no CPU can beat it. So no Android phone has better specs. For a laptop, if the case is considered a spec like it should, then you have a much clearer picture. Apple has perfected its aluminium processes to provide a rigid and shock-resistant casing, and inevitably when people provide legitimate examples of PC laptops to buy, they never mention that the laptop you'll get will have a shitty plastic case with a heavy steel frame. The worst of both worlds, and many friends have come to me saying they need to change their laptop when theirs is fairly recent. The culprit? their case broke or the display hinge did.
    - arcturus17 5y ago
      Don't forget the garbage trackpads. And screens also tend to be inferior.
reificator 5y ago
> Buying an iPhone (and increasingly Mac) is like going to Disneyland: You pay a lot of money to be allowed in so you can pay them even more money. Bought the latest SE over a year ago at considerably less than my last comparable Android device. Have spent under $100 in the App Store since. Phone does everything that I want it to do including some fairly complex multi-app automations 15 minutes before I leave, when I get an SMS, etc...
- jay_kyburz 5y ago
  That's just like going to Disneyland, but packing your own luch and not going on any of the rides. :)
  - philistine 5y ago
    More like going on the rides, but not paying for the Fast Pass. Taking the Fast Pass is like paying for Apple services. I took the shitty Fast Pass for Apple Music and iCloud Drive, but I'm not paying for bloody Ted Lasso!
enos_feedler 5y ago
Yes, and the price these companies can charge is determined by the market. If what they are doing no longer serves a large market, their business will shrink. And if there actions expose a new opportunity for someone else, that company will form and business will grow.

judge2020 5y ago

And Disney is one of the most well-known global brands - at least when people think about entertainment and vacationing.

tomjen3 5y ago

A Mac is very different from an iPhone. I am writing this in Firefox, I have development tools and commandline scripts installed.

tgvaughan 5y ago
Are you sure? I have a Mac too, and earlier this year all of my non Apple-approved software stopped working because some random Apple server went down.

lancesells 5y ago

I really don't Apple Hardware is a lot of money. I buy the cheapest MacBook Airs with a ram upgrade and they last me around ~6 years. Same with the phone I buy (iPhone SE). Outside of the battery needing replaced they last me a long, long time. Everything else with I agree. The eco-system of all these companies is never-ending (cars, food, cities, etc.). It's like those sci-fi movies where one corporation owns everything. The only difference is it's 5 or 6 companies because they haven't yet started to merge.

alerighi 5y ago
You can buy an Android phone with better specs (except the camera, where the iPhone objectively the best) for 200$, while an iPhone is minimum 500$ (and for an SE 2 that is an old iPhone 8 with a newer SOC). For a computer you can buy for the same money that you spend for a MacBook Air a computer with better specs and hardware that you can upgrade. Apple tends not to upgrade the oldest computers, leaving you with an insecure OS where you can't run the latest software. I have my battle Thinkpad that with Linux runs better than most Macbook and we are talking about a PC that has more than 10 years and I bought used on Ebay for 100$. Really Apple is not that great. I once used to buy their product thinking they were superior, and maybe once they were, nowadays they are just the other crap made in China but sold at (at least) twice the price because they have the Apple logo on it.
- lancesells 5y ago
  Any recommendations for phones or laptops?
- philistine 5y ago
  > You can buy an Android phone with better specs for 200$ > For a computer you can buy for the same money that you spend for a MacBook Air a computer with better specs and hardware that you can upgrade If you compare two phones at 200$, sure. But it is not possible to buy a phone with a better CPU than the 500$ iPhone SE 2. Impossible, no CPU can beat it. So no Android phone has better specs. For a laptop, if the case is considered a spec like it should, then you have a much clearer picture. Apple has perfected its aluminium processes to provide a rigid and shock-resistant casing, and inevitably when people provide legitimate examples of PC laptops to buy, they never mention that the laptop you'll get will have a shitty plastic case with a heavy steel frame. The worst of both worlds, and many friends have come to me saying they need to change their laptop when theirs is fairly recent. The culprit? their case broke or the display hinge did.
  - arcturus17 5y ago
    Don't forget the garbage trackpads. And screens also tend to be inferior.

reificator 5y ago

> Buying an iPhone (and increasingly Mac) is like going to Disneyland: You pay a lot of money to be allowed in so you can pay them even more money. Bought the latest SE over a year ago at considerably less than my last comparable Android device. Have spent under $100 in the App Store since. Phone does everything that I want it to do including some fairly complex multi-app automations 15 minutes before I leave, when I get an SMS, etc...

jay_kyburz 5y ago
That's just like going to Disneyland, but packing your own luch and not going on any of the rides. :)
- philistine 5y ago
  More like going on the rides, but not paying for the Fast Pass. Taking the Fast Pass is like paying for Apple services. I took the shitty Fast Pass for Apple Music and iCloud Drive, but I'm not paying for bloody Ted Lasso!

enos_feedler 5y ago

Yes, and the price these companies can charge is determined by the market. If what they are doing no longer serves a large market, their business will shrink. And if there actions expose a new opportunity for someone else, that company will form and business will grow.