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Apple have been wildly successful in selling Rolls-Royces to the masses. In pretty much all categories they've entered, Apple are considered to be the premium b

Apple have been wildly successful in selling Rolls-Royces to the masses. In pretty much all categories they've entered, Apple are considered to be the premium brand. However the masses generally don't need the level of engineering that Apple products typically feature - people have been compelled into forking out for it in order to status match with their peers (e.g. the green/blue text thing). Now times are tight, the Rolls stay on the forecourts. (I love their design, engineering and attention to detail - Bauhaus for nerd stuff - and their mission to bring high quality to all. But I object to their walled garden, their cultishness, lack of configurability and, yes, the inordinate waste of natural/engineering resources going in to make what should be commodity devices, coupled with sucking money out of people who really can't afford it)

acdha 4y ago
> Apple have been wildly successful in selling Rolls-Royces to the masses This analogy doesn’t make any sense: a Rolls Royce comes with a significant price premium, whereas Apple products tend to cost about the same as equivalent quality PC/Android devices, often cheaper in the M1 era, and most of the cost factors directly benefit the core function of the device whereas what makes a Rolls cost an order of magnitude more tends to be a lot of bespoke luxury details which don’t help you get somewhere faster, safer, or proportionately more comfortably. If you want a car comparison, I’d go with Audi/BMW – premium but still a mass market manufactured good which marks you as at most upper middle class. Also, you’re not doing your argument any favors by repeating Google’s marketing push about blue/green text message colors. Green was the original color on the iPhone 1 and hasn’t changed. What did change was Google trying to make a play to get governments to bail them out of their decision to throw the messaging business to competitors like Facebook. They have plenty of pricey PR people getting paid to dissemble about that, there’s no need to contribute your time pro bono.
- somewhereoutth 4y ago
  All I know about the green/blue text is the (possibly not real) trope of 'Ugh green [or is it blue?] text! I don't date poors who don't have an iPhone!' At some point there was a big deal being made about Google taking your data and so 'stealing your mind' (can't disagree tbh). However, in attempting to monetize your base urges, I would respond that Apple is trying to steal your soul! (no longer any affiliation to either company, though I was in Cupertino for a bit in a previous life)
  - acdha 4y ago
    The green/blue text thing is like kids getting ostracized for not having the right sneakers in school – it’s happened but it’s just telling you that terrible people exist, and it’s the perfect clickbait story for people to shake their heads at. The reason why it stayed in the news was that last year Google made a big lobbying push trying to get governments to force Apple to open the service to Android since Google pushed users away years ago and are now recognizing that nobody is coming back.
    - somewhereoutth 4y ago
      Well in the end nobody (outside of the US?) uses text messages anymore (at least, not socially). It's all Whatsapp, FB Messenger, Telegram, Signal... (honestly I can't keep up)
panick21_ 4y ago
I mean people do need faster processes, and Apple delivered that.
mihaaly 4y ago
The point was that other Apple products than Mac sales not change out of global trends, also not much. Hence the root comment about people going away from Apple products is factually wrong. (I can agree with several other of your auxiliary topic comments)

acdha 4y ago

> Apple have been wildly successful in selling Rolls-Royces to the masses This analogy doesn’t make any sense: a Rolls Royce comes with a significant price premium, whereas Apple products tend to cost about the same as equivalent quality PC/Android devices, often cheaper in the M1 era, and most of the cost factors directly benefit the core function of the device whereas what makes a Rolls cost an order of magnitude more tends to be a lot of bespoke luxury details which don’t help you get somewhere faster, safer, or proportionately more comfortably. If you want a car comparison, I’d go with Audi/BMW – premium but still a mass market manufactured good which marks you as at most upper middle class. Also, you’re not doing your argument any favors by repeating Google’s marketing push about blue/green text message colors. Green was the original color on the iPhone 1 and hasn’t changed. What did change was Google trying to make a play to get governments to bail them out of their decision to throw the messaging business to competitors like Facebook. They have plenty of pricey PR people getting paid to dissemble about that, there’s no need to contribute your time pro bono.

somewhereoutth 4y ago
All I know about the green/blue text is the (possibly not real) trope of 'Ugh green [or is it blue?] text! I don't date poors who don't have an iPhone!' At some point there was a big deal being made about Google taking your data and so 'stealing your mind' (can't disagree tbh). However, in attempting to monetize your base urges, I would respond that Apple is trying to steal your soul! (no longer any affiliation to either company, though I was in Cupertino for a bit in a previous life)
- acdha 4y ago
  The green/blue text thing is like kids getting ostracized for not having the right sneakers in school – it’s happened but it’s just telling you that terrible people exist, and it’s the perfect clickbait story for people to shake their heads at. The reason why it stayed in the news was that last year Google made a big lobbying push trying to get governments to force Apple to open the service to Android since Google pushed users away years ago and are now recognizing that nobody is coming back.
  - somewhereoutth 4y ago
    Well in the end nobody (outside of the US?) uses text messages anymore (at least, not socially). It's all Whatsapp, FB Messenger, Telegram, Signal... (honestly I can't keep up)

panick21_ 4y ago

I mean people do need faster processes, and Apple delivered that.

mihaaly 4y ago

The point was that other Apple products than Mac sales not change out of global trends, also not much. Hence the root comment about people going away from Apple products is factually wrong. (I can agree with several other of your auxiliary topic comments)