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For general consumers, the Apple ecosystem beyond just messaging is a legitimate reason. It’s not just messaging, it’s handoff of your browser from your phone

by parsimo2010 4y ago

For general consumers, the Apple ecosystem beyond just messaging is a legitimate reason. It’s not just messaging, it’s handoff of your browser from your phone to your tablet to your laptop so you can easily keep reading a website even if you swap devices. It’s Apple Pay. It’s Apple Music. Sure, there are Android apps for all of those things, but you have to spend time picking each app and setting it up. Starting a new Apple product is an entirely different experience. It’s decent hardware and a consistent experience- sure, there have been misses, and sometimes there are non-Apple products that are better. But there is no other single company that offers a competitive watch, tablet, laptop, and phone. Not everyone needs this, which is why basically 50% of people aren’t in the Apple ecosystem. But it’s a legitimate draw for many people. And make sure that you don’t fall in the trap of thinking “just because Apple products aren’t right for me, then everyone that uses them must be an idiot.” You pay for the convenience, but for many people that is worth it, and the fact that not every Apple product is #1 is okay. Basically every Apple product line has something in the top 3. Apple is like the Disney of the tech world- there are other companies that make good movies, and there are other companies with cruise lines and theme parks, but nobody else that does all that. They stand alone in terms of their breadth and consistency.

jrm4 4y ago
For sure. That's exactly what I was trying to get across with my first comment; but I suppose I was wondering for folks (especially perhaps us techy folks) who may not much require that kind of cross platform connectedness -- are there any other advantages?
- parsimo2010 4y ago
  From a technical standpoint Apple's processors are industry leading- they licensed the core tech from ARM, but their combination of getting them built on advanced production nodes and the tight design integration into the products makes them stand out. And Apple's software support is a couple years longer than most other brands- so an iPhone will continue to be useable in terms of speed and security longer than most Android phones. From a development standpoint, developing for Apple devices on an Apple device is a better experience. I would say that most other things are on par with other devices/brands, and so you would trade on individual things that you prioritize- screen quality, battery life, compatibility with particular software, etc. And there are a couple small areas in which Apple probably doesn't make sense. For basic video editing, I might still use Apple devices. But if I was creating a rendering farm for an animation studio, I'd probably build servers with video cards and parts that weren't Apple.
ascagnel_ 4y ago
To add to this: Apple, like Disney, is generally pretty good at user experience (and, in my opinion, something they've both been faltering on as of late, just look at Genie+). I got a Steam Deck a few weeks ago, and while it's a very good device, there are some software shortcomings that other mobile devices don't have (eg: the device pauses downloads and updates in sleep mode, even when it's plugged in, while my iPhone does a pretty good job of waiting until the middle of the night when the device is on mains power to run app updates and download OS updates). UX is one of those things that's not easily quantifiable or can be objectively described like a feature checklist, so it tends to get overlooked.
- thefz 4y ago
  I mean, come on. Deck is in beta version, how can you ever compare it to a decades old OS.

jrm4 4y ago

For sure. That's exactly what I was trying to get across with my first comment; but I suppose I was wondering for folks (especially perhaps us techy folks) who may not much require that kind of cross platform connectedness -- are there any other advantages?

parsimo2010 4y ago
From a technical standpoint Apple's processors are industry leading- they licensed the core tech from ARM, but their combination of getting them built on advanced production nodes and the tight design integration into the products makes them stand out. And Apple's software support is a couple years longer than most other brands- so an iPhone will continue to be useable in terms of speed and security longer than most Android phones. From a development standpoint, developing for Apple devices on an Apple device is a better experience. I would say that most other things are on par with other devices/brands, and so you would trade on individual things that you prioritize- screen quality, battery life, compatibility with particular software, etc. And there are a couple small areas in which Apple probably doesn't make sense. For basic video editing, I might still use Apple devices. But if I was creating a rendering farm for an animation studio, I'd probably build servers with video cards and parts that weren't Apple.

ascagnel_ 4y ago

To add to this: Apple, like Disney, is generally pretty good at user experience (and, in my opinion, something they've both been faltering on as of late, just look at Genie+). I got a Steam Deck a few weeks ago, and while it's a very good device, there are some software shortcomings that other mobile devices don't have (eg: the device pauses downloads and updates in sleep mode, even when it's plugged in, while my iPhone does a pretty good job of waiting until the middle of the night when the device is on mains power to run app updates and download OS updates). UX is one of those things that's not easily quantifiable or can be objectively described like a feature checklist, so it tends to get overlooked.

thefz 4y ago
I mean, come on. Deck is in beta version, how can you ever compare it to a decades old OS.