5 ms·

I wonder what's their reasoning here, it is obvious that this is will not satisfy anybody. Are they buying time? Or do they want to show that they are above eve

I wonder what's their reasoning here, it is obvious that this is will not satisfy anybody. Are they buying time? Or do they want to show that they are above everybody and don't try to mess with us (except if you're China of course)? We used to hate Microsoft for much less than this. I wonder how Apple can still have so many fans, even on this forum.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
> We used to hate Microsoft for much less than this. I wonder how Apple can still have so many fans, even on this forum. Right. I mean I am an Apple kit user (albeit mostly the cheap/secondhand stuff these days), but you're right -- this is a ghastly display of entitlement and I hope it costs them.
smoldesu 5y ago
> We used to hate Microsoft for much less than this. I wonder how Apple can still have so many fans, even on this forum. If you build a lifestyle product, people can and will struggle to separate their own identity from the products they own. People take an insult on Apple like it's an insult on them, which is not a basis for healthy discourse in the slightest. We end up with apologist takes like "I actually like having 30% of my revenue forfeited to Apple because [they deserve it | I would have given it to them anyways | it's not that much | (YOUR EXCUSE HERE)]" that don't really do anything to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately, this dysfunction is not exclusive to technology, it's a problem with capitalism as a whole. The same "thought guards" exist with other lifestyle brands like Disney, Gucci, Ferrari, and anyone else who sells the idea of elitism to people who lack self-respect.
- scarface74 5y ago
  So 60% of the US population have iPhones because it’s a “lifestyle product”?
  - smoldesu 5y ago
    Sure. The "blue bubble" effect is strongest in the United States, and Apple's most iconic catchphrase under Steve Jobs was "it just works". If that's not the hallmark of a technology product being adapted to a lifestyle product, I'm really not sure what is.
    - scarface74 5y ago
      So you believe that 60% of Americans on average spend twice as much on iPhone, just for the “blue bubble”? There couldn’t possibly be any other reason? So technology products shouldn’t “just work”?
      - smoldesu 5y ago
        The "blue bubble" isn't just about iMessage, it's a colloquialism for how Apple's social marketing works. They have proprietary, closed protocols like Airdrop and Facetime that intentionally create friction between people on iOS and Android. It's a phrase for their marketing gimmicks that make vulnerable shoppers buy the products their friends have because they don't want to be left out. It's about the fashion statement and social pressure that goes into buying and owning a phone; Apple markets themselves as the solution to that. Much in the same way that celebrities spend inordinate amounts of money on useless and gaudy accessories, the iPhone is a token of mediocre wealth and being socially "in".
        scarface74 5y ago
        And 60% of the US population fall for this marketing? Google makes 80% of their revenue from ad sales and they can’t convince more than 40% of people to buy their supposedly superior OS? Are the US so full of dummies compared to the rest of the world that we are succumbing to Apple’s nefarious marketing? People have been saying that the only reason people buy Apple products since the iPod was introduced in 2001. The rest of the industry has had 20 years to catch up with Apple if it were that easy, they couldn’t? Also Google has how many active and failed messenger apps in the last decade?
- brimble 5y ago
  If all the folks who think Apple is all flash & marketing with no substance would get together and make products that are actually competitive with Apple's on substance, that'd be awesome and they might well get my business.
ocdtrekkie 5y ago
It's about running the clock. They know full well that requiring the extra modal and demanding a 27% tax on top runs flagrantly against the intent of the law. But they both discourage people from introducing third party payments and continue to collect their cut while the government now has to start the enforcement process again, take them to court again, etc. When the profit scheme is so good, you just want to keep it running as long as possible, and this does that. Most court appeals you'll see in each case sound incredibly stupid on their face and you wonder why they'd pay a lawyer to argue it... but it's just because legal proceedings take time. The profits they make are so obscene, and the fines they'll pay for it are minimal in comparison. Apple and Google are just crooks, full stop.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

> We used to hate Microsoft for much less than this. I wonder how Apple can still have so many fans, even on this forum. Right. I mean I am an Apple kit user (albeit mostly the cheap/secondhand stuff these days), but you're right -- this is a ghastly display of entitlement and I hope it costs them.

smoldesu 5y ago

> We used to hate Microsoft for much less than this. I wonder how Apple can still have so many fans, even on this forum. If you build a lifestyle product, people can and will struggle to separate their own identity from the products they own. People take an insult on Apple like it's an insult on them, which is not a basis for healthy discourse in the slightest. We end up with apologist takes like "I actually like having 30% of my revenue forfeited to Apple because [they deserve it | I would have given it to them anyways | it's not that much | (YOUR EXCUSE HERE)]" that don't really do anything to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately, this dysfunction is not exclusive to technology, it's a problem with capitalism as a whole. The same "thought guards" exist with other lifestyle brands like Disney, Gucci, Ferrari, and anyone else who sells the idea of elitism to people who lack self-respect.

scarface74 5y ago
So 60% of the US population have iPhones because it’s a “lifestyle product”?
- smoldesu 5y ago
  Sure. The "blue bubble" effect is strongest in the United States, and Apple's most iconic catchphrase under Steve Jobs was "it just works". If that's not the hallmark of a technology product being adapted to a lifestyle product, I'm really not sure what is.
  - scarface74 5y ago
    So you believe that 60% of Americans on average spend twice as much on iPhone, just for the “blue bubble”? There couldn’t possibly be any other reason? So technology products shouldn’t “just work”?
    - smoldesu 5y ago
      The "blue bubble" isn't just about iMessage, it's a colloquialism for how Apple's social marketing works. They have proprietary, closed protocols like Airdrop and Facetime that intentionally create friction between people on iOS and Android. It's a phrase for their marketing gimmicks that make vulnerable shoppers buy the products their friends have because they don't want to be left out. It's about the fashion statement and social pressure that goes into buying and owning a phone; Apple markets themselves as the solution to that. Much in the same way that celebrities spend inordinate amounts of money on useless and gaudy accessories, the iPhone is a token of mediocre wealth and being socially "in".
      - scarface74 5y ago
        And 60% of the US population fall for this marketing? Google makes 80% of their revenue from ad sales and they can’t convince more than 40% of people to buy their supposedly superior OS? Are the US so full of dummies compared to the rest of the world that we are succumbing to Apple’s nefarious marketing? People have been saying that the only reason people buy Apple products since the iPod was introduced in 2001. The rest of the industry has had 20 years to catch up with Apple if it were that easy, they couldn’t? Also Google has how many active and failed messenger apps in the last decade?
brimble 5y ago
If all the folks who think Apple is all flash & marketing with no substance would get together and make products that are actually competitive with Apple's on substance, that'd be awesome and they might well get my business.

ocdtrekkie 5y ago

It's about running the clock. They know full well that requiring the extra modal and demanding a 27% tax on top runs flagrantly against the intent of the law. But they both discourage people from introducing third party payments and continue to collect their cut while the government now has to start the enforcement process again, take them to court again, etc. When the profit scheme is so good, you just want to keep it running as long as possible, and this does that. Most court appeals you'll see in each case sound incredibly stupid on their face and you wonder why they'd pay a lawyer to argue it... but it's just because legal proceedings take time. The profits they make are so obscene, and the fines they'll pay for it are minimal in comparison. Apple and Google are just crooks, full stop.