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Because Music is anything but "first party" from Apple's perspective. A lot of people seem to have the wrong idea about Apple's software, with the exception of

Because Music is anything but "first party" from Apple's perspective. A lot of people seem to have the wrong idea about Apple's software, with the exception of macOS. The point of the software is to entice the customer with a complete ecosystem. Once they've sold you their laptop they've made their money. At that point, they're not that interested in putting resources towards things like Music when their hardware continues to sell quite well. I'm not advocating for that approach, but it is what it is.

pschuegr 4y ago
Exactly, Apple is a hardware company with software as a loss leader. Apple TV is pretty bad. I can't recall ever using it without a freeze or a crash. It's embarrassing for a company with the amount of money Apple has. This is the reason why I'm bought into the Google ecosystem. I would say that Google is the least bad at software of any of the major tech companies. I would probably use Chromebooks if I could get proper drivers for my beloved RME hardware.
ninth_ant 4y ago
You’re re-treading an old line of argument that doesn’t make sense anymore especially in this context. Apple has identified services as an area they went to grow. Music is an ongoing subscription service, with plenty of competition. If they want to retain or grow their paying subscribers Apple needs to improve their software with the same attention to quality they devote to hardware.
- pschuegr 4y ago
  They need to improve their software to the point that the quality/price/convenience of Apple Music is more attractive than quality/price/convenience of the alternative. Since Apple Music is basically pre-installed and you get it as part of Apple One or whatever, there is a quality gap that they can accept and still grow the service. And they will, it's just basic economics. If anybody knows of a software company that uses their excess money to make the software better instead of beefing up their balance sheet, please, hook me up. That's where I want to work.
  - ninth_ant 4y ago
    No need to argue with a straw man, I’m not saying they should invest in software quality for altruistic or philosophical purposes. Apple Music is a paid subscription service. Maybe they can coast on the momentum of their preinstalls and make some money, like you said. But I’d argue, as someone who has used both apple music and Spotify in the past, that Apple is leaving money on the table by having a shoddy software component to their music service. When a superior service is equally priced and just a few taps away, they will certainly lose some percentage of paying customers.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- concinds 4y ago
  > If they want to retain or grow their paying subscribers Apple needs to improve their software with the same attention to quality they devote to hardware. I get your point, but no, they just need to sell more devices; act anti-competitive by bundling Apple Music on every iPhone's homescreen, thus giving Apple Music billions in free advertisement that Spotify could never get even if they paid, and by setting Apple Music as the default. Then, make it hard to switch (e.g. if you cancel Apple Music, you lose your library 90 days later). Make sure Apple Music has the home advantage by sharing advance knowledge of new APIs and hardware with the Apple Music team, but obviously not with Spotify. Plus Apple has strong psychological advantages, since Apple users seem more likely to blindly want to stick to all-Apple solutions and default apps regardless of app quality. Compare that to Windows, where users can't wait to get rid of Edge, and Android, where only a minuscule portion of people insist on an all-Google experience. I don't believe there's any real "corrective mechanism" inside Apple to make Apple Music or TV+ the very best, because they don't need to be.
qgin 4y ago
Not for subscription services

pschuegr 4y ago

Exactly, Apple is a hardware company with software as a loss leader. Apple TV is pretty bad. I can't recall ever using it without a freeze or a crash. It's embarrassing for a company with the amount of money Apple has. This is the reason why I'm bought into the Google ecosystem. I would say that Google is the least bad at software of any of the major tech companies. I would probably use Chromebooks if I could get proper drivers for my beloved RME hardware.

ninth_ant 4y ago

You’re re-treading an old line of argument that doesn’t make sense anymore especially in this context. Apple has identified services as an area they went to grow. Music is an ongoing subscription service, with plenty of competition. If they want to retain or grow their paying subscribers Apple needs to improve their software with the same attention to quality they devote to hardware.

pschuegr 4y ago
They need to improve their software to the point that the quality/price/convenience of Apple Music is more attractive than quality/price/convenience of the alternative. Since Apple Music is basically pre-installed and you get it as part of Apple One or whatever, there is a quality gap that they can accept and still grow the service. And they will, it's just basic economics. If anybody knows of a software company that uses their excess money to make the software better instead of beefing up their balance sheet, please, hook me up. That's where I want to work.
- ninth_ant 4y ago
  No need to argue with a straw man, I’m not saying they should invest in software quality for altruistic or philosophical purposes. Apple Music is a paid subscription service. Maybe they can coast on the momentum of their preinstalls and make some money, like you said. But I’d argue, as someone who has used both apple music and Spotify in the past, that Apple is leaving money on the table by having a shoddy software component to their music service. When a superior service is equally priced and just a few taps away, they will certainly lose some percentage of paying customers.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
concinds 4y ago
> If they want to retain or grow their paying subscribers Apple needs to improve their software with the same attention to quality they devote to hardware. I get your point, but no, they just need to sell more devices; act anti-competitive by bundling Apple Music on every iPhone's homescreen, thus giving Apple Music billions in free advertisement that Spotify could never get even if they paid, and by setting Apple Music as the default. Then, make it hard to switch (e.g. if you cancel Apple Music, you lose your library 90 days later). Make sure Apple Music has the home advantage by sharing advance knowledge of new APIs and hardware with the Apple Music team, but obviously not with Spotify. Plus Apple has strong psychological advantages, since Apple users seem more likely to blindly want to stick to all-Apple solutions and default apps regardless of app quality. Compare that to Windows, where users can't wait to get rid of Edge, and Android, where only a minuscule portion of people insist on an all-Google experience. I don't believe there's any real "corrective mechanism" inside Apple to make Apple Music or TV+ the very best, because they don't need to be.

qgin 4y ago

Not for subscription services