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People buy newer Apple products without any need, or perhaps even knowledge of the full feature set. It's part of their identity, and social display. I think

People buy newer Apple products without any need, or perhaps even knowledge of the full feature set. It's part of their identity, and social display. I think you massively underestimate the power of and need for good marketing.

dasil003 3y ago
The problem to be solved need not be utilitarian, in this case it is status signaling. But note that this is only possible with long-game brand-building, and "good marketing" massively understates what does into achieving this kind of brand positioning. For instance, Apple never would have gotten here is they weren't absolutely obsessed with user experience from day one. The journey from capturing early adopters to mainstream status symbol is not really something that can be planned out, rather it is an emergent phenomenon flowing out of company values that savvy leadership can, at most, capitalize on, but never fully control.
- Retric 3y ago
  I think tech people vastly overstate how much Apple devices are status symbols to the average consumer. Most non tech adults I know buy them as low effort ie just works devices. The perception isn’t that they are great just that the other options are worse. It’s a combination of useful defaults, reasonable UI, and few gotchas like a short lifespan or poor battery life. Most of them had multiple phones before the iPhone, but ran into various issues.
  - dasil003 3y ago
    Agreed, but I'm just responding to the GPs point, not making a statistical argument about how many people see it as a status symbol (and what subset of those would publicly admit it).
  - gumby 3y ago
    I’m pretty much all in on Apple because they generally suck less, not out of any great enthusiasm. For certain things I prefer Linux and don’t use Apple.
ghaff 3y ago
Eh. I buy a few Apple products and not many others. Ecosystem plays a role as well as, of course, my perception of the functionality of an individual product. I certainly don't have an auto-buy flag for new products as they come out and have never once ordered Day 1.
tehnub 3y ago
Just because you buy an Apple product out of desire (perhaps without even knowing the full feature set) does not mean you are buying it for social display. That is one of numerous possible reasons.
golergka 3y ago
If this was the main reason for people to purchase the phone, they would still be buying Nokia Vertu phones instead.
Ma8ee 3y ago
Or because they just fucking work without us having to think or spend time on them getting them to do what we want. And no, I don’t care about the “full feature set”. I know it does what I need it to do without any hassle.

dasil003 3y ago

The problem to be solved need not be utilitarian, in this case it is status signaling. But note that this is only possible with long-game brand-building, and "good marketing" massively understates what does into achieving this kind of brand positioning. For instance, Apple never would have gotten here is they weren't absolutely obsessed with user experience from day one. The journey from capturing early adopters to mainstream status symbol is not really something that can be planned out, rather it is an emergent phenomenon flowing out of company values that savvy leadership can, at most, capitalize on, but never fully control.

Retric 3y ago
I think tech people vastly overstate how much Apple devices are status symbols to the average consumer. Most non tech adults I know buy them as low effort ie just works devices. The perception isn’t that they are great just that the other options are worse. It’s a combination of useful defaults, reasonable UI, and few gotchas like a short lifespan or poor battery life. Most of them had multiple phones before the iPhone, but ran into various issues.
- dasil003 3y ago
  Agreed, but I'm just responding to the GPs point, not making a statistical argument about how many people see it as a status symbol (and what subset of those would publicly admit it).
- gumby 3y ago
  I’m pretty much all in on Apple because they generally suck less, not out of any great enthusiasm. For certain things I prefer Linux and don’t use Apple.

ghaff 3y ago

Eh. I buy a few Apple products and not many others. Ecosystem plays a role as well as, of course, my perception of the functionality of an individual product. I certainly don't have an auto-buy flag for new products as they come out and have never once ordered Day 1.

tehnub 3y ago

Just because you buy an Apple product out of desire (perhaps without even knowing the full feature set) does not mean you are buying it for social display. That is one of numerous possible reasons.

golergka 3y ago

If this was the main reason for people to purchase the phone, they would still be buying Nokia Vertu phones instead.

Ma8ee 3y ago

Or because they just fucking work without us having to think or spend time on them getting them to do what we want. And no, I don’t care about the “full feature set”. I know it does what I need it to do without any hassle.