5 ms·

But where does Apple figure into that argument? I would say that their premium pricing was and still is worth the difference.

IgorPartola 12y ago
Arguably Apple is still only serving the high end of the market. They are in a unique position where the consumer does not do the math on the true cost of the iPhone. I also don't see a whole lot of college kids with rMBP's. Besides, who is to say that they are not going to run out of their premium price runway?
- coob 12y ago
  Probably depends which college you go to, but Macs are pretty popular on a lot of campuses: http://askmeboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/college-classroom-laptops1.jpg http://askmeboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/college-class...
  - barrkel 12y ago
    rMBP vs MBP vs MBA?
  - jfoutz 12y ago
    As far as the U.S. goes, around 1/3 don't go to college, and 1/3 go to community college. I doubt many of those kids are going for the MBP. I can't tell if you're using this as evidence for or against apple being a premium brand.
- realityking 12y ago
  I haven't seen a Retina MacBook Pro, but you can walk into any bigger lecture hall and you'll see plenty of MacBook Airs. (My observation is in Germany)
Aldo_MX 12y ago
I would say that their competitors have failed to provide a better alternative. What's the point of buying an Android phone (from the average Joe perspective) if the OS is preloaded with bloat and the experience is a sluggish phone? A power user can root, install a custom ROM, etc. But can your average Joe? Or wait... what if not even a power user can install a custom ROM because the poor wording behind a feature of your phone makes it look like your warranty is void? (fig [1]. Knox Warranty Void) [1] http://i41.tinypic.com/31338kh.jpg http://i41.tinypic.com/31338kh.jpg
- bhouston 12y ago
  The Nexus 4 and even more so the Nexus 5 are really nice devices. I switched from iOS to Andriod and liked the switch. My wife did the switch too and liked it.
  - deitcher 12y ago
    I think the Motorola and Xiaomi effects are more severe. It is one thing to compare a $500-600 Samsung S5/S6 vs $600-800 iPhone 6/+. It is a whole other to compare a $150-200 Moto E/G vs $600-800 iPhone.
  - Aldo_MX 12y ago
    My intention is not to initiate a debate about which Mobile OS is better, but whether the included bloatware (which you are unable to remove and it's a common practice in Android phones) helps to worsen your experience. Many mid/lower end phones feel completely unusable without a custom ROM.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - GVIrish 12y ago
      There's bloatware out there but for the flagship Android phones typically it's not so bad that it makes the phone unusable for the average user. iOS does not enjoy as big of an advantage in UI/UX as it used to, which is phones like the Nexus 5/6, HTC One, and S5 have decent market share. Then when you get into cloud services (Gmail, Maps, Google Now, etc.) Android has a clear advantage. So depending on what parts of the smartphone experience a user prioritizes, a logical argument can be made for either platform.
TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
Lock-in. If you go Android you lose all your apps and stored data. Apple are in the business of providing services that happen to use Apple hardware. They also generate some of the world's best marketing and industrial design, and understand that a brand is not a technical spec. Samsung and Team Android have never understood this in the same way. So you have to compare like for like. A GoPro is a closed unit. It has no ecosystem to speak of. An iPhone is a gateway to the Apple ecosystem. It's really a service and marketing experience, some parts of which you can hold in your hand. Now, you can debate if the Apple experience is as good as it claims to be. (I don't believe it is.) But still - IMO that's why Apple has a planet-sized market cap, and Team Android are perpetually playing catch up.
- Swizec 12y ago
  This. So very much this. When you buy an Apple, you're in for a treat. Everything from unpacking to when you eventually need service is awesome. For instance, just today they spent 5 minutes cleaning lint out of my iPhone's charging socket. I was extremely delighted because I had assumed the phone has fallen down so much the socket got detached from the motherboard and wasn't charging well. Compare that to when I bought a Samsung Galaxy thing for my mum. It was just 100 euro cheaper than an equivalent iPad, but as soon as you opened it, you felt like you overpaid. Nothing specific you could mention, but it just felt like somebody hired the cheapest possible intern to decide how packaging should work. When I pay 600 euro for a piece of tech, I don't want to feel like I've been duped and would be better off buying a suspicious tablet from a street vendor. And when that thing needed repairs ... well, you took it in, and they were like "Meh, this is user error. Go figure it out" sigh
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
    - vinceguidry 12y ago
      The Nexus is nice, but it fails hard at the primary thing I use it for, streaming music using Bluetooth. Takes forever to start playing after I start the car, cuts out when resources are low, stutters. Really annoying. I'm almost to the point where I'm considering going back to iPhone. I've almost got the Android bug out of my system. For awhile I thought I might start developing personal apps, and I think I'd rather target Android than iPhone, but I think I'm over that too.

IgorPartola 12y ago

Arguably Apple is still only serving the high end of the market. They are in a unique position where the consumer does not do the math on the true cost of the iPhone. I also don't see a whole lot of college kids with rMBP's. Besides, who is to say that they are not going to run out of their premium price runway?

coob 12y ago
Probably depends which college you go to, but Macs are pretty popular on a lot of campuses: http://askmeboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/college-classroom-laptops1.jpg http://askmeboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/college-class...
- barrkel 12y ago
  rMBP vs MBP vs MBA?
- jfoutz 12y ago
  As far as the U.S. goes, around 1/3 don't go to college, and 1/3 go to community college. I doubt many of those kids are going for the MBP. I can't tell if you're using this as evidence for or against apple being a premium brand.
realityking 12y ago
I haven't seen a Retina MacBook Pro, but you can walk into any bigger lecture hall and you'll see plenty of MacBook Airs. (My observation is in Germany)

Aldo_MX 12y ago

I would say that their competitors have failed to provide a better alternative. What's the point of buying an Android phone (from the average Joe perspective) if the OS is preloaded with bloat and the experience is a sluggish phone? A power user can root, install a custom ROM, etc. But can your average Joe? Or wait... what if not even a power user can install a custom ROM because the poor wording behind a feature of your phone makes it look like your warranty is void? (fig [1]. Knox Warranty Void) [1] http://i41.tinypic.com/31338kh.jpg http://i41.tinypic.com/31338kh.jpg

bhouston 12y ago
The Nexus 4 and even more so the Nexus 5 are really nice devices. I switched from iOS to Andriod and liked the switch. My wife did the switch too and liked it.
- deitcher 12y ago
  I think the Motorola and Xiaomi effects are more severe. It is one thing to compare a $500-600 Samsung S5/S6 vs $600-800 iPhone 6/+. It is a whole other to compare a $150-200 Moto E/G vs $600-800 iPhone.
- Aldo_MX 12y ago
  My intention is not to initiate a debate about which Mobile OS is better, but whether the included bloatware (which you are unable to remove and it's a common practice in Android phones) helps to worsen your experience. Many mid/lower end phones feel completely unusable without a custom ROM.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - GVIrish 12y ago
    There's bloatware out there but for the flagship Android phones typically it's not so bad that it makes the phone unusable for the average user. iOS does not enjoy as big of an advantage in UI/UX as it used to, which is phones like the Nexus 5/6, HTC One, and S5 have decent market share. Then when you get into cloud services (Gmail, Maps, Google Now, etc.) Android has a clear advantage. So depending on what parts of the smartphone experience a user prioritizes, a logical argument can be made for either platform.

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago

Lock-in. If you go Android you lose all your apps and stored data. Apple are in the business of providing services that happen to use Apple hardware. They also generate some of the world's best marketing and industrial design, and understand that a brand is not a technical spec. Samsung and Team Android have never understood this in the same way. So you have to compare like for like. A GoPro is a closed unit. It has no ecosystem to speak of. An iPhone is a gateway to the Apple ecosystem. It's really a service and marketing experience, some parts of which you can hold in your hand. Now, you can debate if the Apple experience is as good as it claims to be. (I don't believe it is.) But still - IMO that's why Apple has a planet-sized market cap, and Team Android are perpetually playing catch up.

Swizec 12y ago
This. So very much this. When you buy an Apple, you're in for a treat. Everything from unpacking to when you eventually need service is awesome. For instance, just today they spent 5 minutes cleaning lint out of my iPhone's charging socket. I was extremely delighted because I had assumed the phone has fallen down so much the socket got detached from the motherboard and wasn't charging well. Compare that to when I bought a Samsung Galaxy thing for my mum. It was just 100 euro cheaper than an equivalent iPad, but as soon as you opened it, you felt like you overpaid. Nothing specific you could mention, but it just felt like somebody hired the cheapest possible intern to decide how packaging should work. When I pay 600 euro for a piece of tech, I don't want to feel like I've been duped and would be better off buying a suspicious tablet from a street vendor. And when that thing needed repairs ... well, you took it in, and they were like "Meh, this is user error. Go figure it out" sigh
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
  - vinceguidry 12y ago
    The Nexus is nice, but it fails hard at the primary thing I use it for, streaming music using Bluetooth. Takes forever to start playing after I start the car, cuts out when resources are low, stutters. Really annoying. I'm almost to the point where I'm considering going back to iPhone. I've almost got the Android bug out of my system. For awhile I thought I might start developing personal apps, and I think I'd rather target Android than iPhone, but I think I'm over that too.