4 ms·

> if they were pushing something unpopular, one of their competitors would have seen better sales That's a bit like saying if Airpods were objectively bad, the

> if they were pushing something unpopular, one of their competitors would have seen better sales That's a bit like saying if Airpods were objectively bad, then people would buy other headphones. You're right; but there are ulterior considerations that people make when they buy these products. When Macbooks were at their worst, the waste-of-money i9 aluminum pancake ovens, most Apple users probably were not considering alternative manufacturers. They want Apple's experience, and will suffer through the 12" Macbook or the 16" monster machine to get it. Same as the first-generation Airpods that were measurably worse than the 7x cheaper Earpods. My point is that Apple can make objectively bad decisions (eg. butterfly keyboard, inadequate thermal solutions) and their customers will still buy their products. The same is not really true for most other laptop OEMs since they're functionally interchangeable if you're a Windows user.

acdha 3y ago
It’s a bit different: Apple users might accept the trade offs for whatever design decision Apple makes, but that wouldn’t explain why the rest of the industry followed them. The fact that they did suggests this is less a universal truth than a personal preference which is not broadly shared.
- smoldesu 3y ago
  By and large, the rest of the industry doesn't follow Apple. They copy specific features or hardware cues, but Apple doesn't leave anything for third-party OEMs to use in the first place. You can't integrate with iMessage, you can't implement AirDrop, and Quick Pairing/Find My is off-limits until you pay licensing fees. Lightning replaces USB with a licensed alternative, and third-parties have to apply for MFi, neither of which is commonplace in the greater smartphone market. The fact that laptops got thinner over time is not evidence that the industry deliberately follows Apple. It's evidence that technology gets smaller, a fundamental observation made 10 years before Apple Inc. was incorporated.
  - acdha 3y ago
    You appear to have misread my comments. I’m not saying that the entire industry follows Apple but the opposite: the comment I was replying to was claiming that the trend towards thinner laptops was all marketing, and I am arguing that this can’t be the reason because everyone in the industry has been on the same trend following consumer preferences.

acdha 3y ago

It’s a bit different: Apple users might accept the trade offs for whatever design decision Apple makes, but that wouldn’t explain why the rest of the industry followed them. The fact that they did suggests this is less a universal truth than a personal preference which is not broadly shared.

smoldesu 3y ago
By and large, the rest of the industry doesn't follow Apple. They copy specific features or hardware cues, but Apple doesn't leave anything for third-party OEMs to use in the first place. You can't integrate with iMessage, you can't implement AirDrop, and Quick Pairing/Find My is off-limits until you pay licensing fees. Lightning replaces USB with a licensed alternative, and third-parties have to apply for MFi, neither of which is commonplace in the greater smartphone market. The fact that laptops got thinner over time is not evidence that the industry deliberately follows Apple. It's evidence that technology gets smaller, a fundamental observation made 10 years before Apple Inc. was incorporated.
- acdha 3y ago
  You appear to have misread my comments. I’m not saying that the entire industry follows Apple but the opposite: the comment I was replying to was claiming that the trend towards thinner laptops was all marketing, and I am arguing that this can’t be the reason because everyone in the industry has been on the same trend following consumer preferences.