Slashdot Mirror
Is Apple Still the Company That Leads the Way, Or is it Just Getting Better at Locking in Users To Its Own Increasingly Subpar Experiences? (theoutline.com)
Readers share a column: Apple is no longer the king of the smartphone camera, but that's just a small component of a company in (highly profitable) stagnation. It wasn't that long ago that anyone who cared about taking great photos on their phone was destined to buy an iPhone (whether they wanted it or not) just by sheer brilliance of its miniaturized camera tech. But something happened over the last 18 months that's changed the dynamic for consumers in the market: Samsung and especially Google have started producing handsets that equal or surpass Apple's devices with their picture-taking quality.
[...] But Google is not Facebook, and while I give up some of my data to the company, what I get in return has sizable value -- apps I use for hours every day, predictive services that actually work, photo processing that means I'm less likely to miss an important moment. To be clear: the stuff Google and Amazon are doing right now isn't just cool and doesn't solely serve their corporate interests -- it matters in very real ways to consumers, with touchpoints they encounter every day where Apple can't even get a word in edgewise.
[...] Coming in second in the camera space alone might not be that big of an issue, but Apple has also had significant problems with its hardware recently -- not just with quality control, but in pure design terms as well (who could have predicted that in 2018 people would be touting Microsoft as the industry leader in design?). Siri continues to be a running joke among most people I know -- tech enthusiasts and average users alike. Apple's iCloud efforts have amounted to little more than a "hard disk in the sky" (a famous Jobsian turn of phrase). And is it the best experience for consumers to be forced into Apple Mail, Apple Maps, iTunes, Apple Music, and Apple Photos at every turn? Can you honestly say they're the best at what they do?
[...] But Google is not Facebook, and while I give up some of my data to the company, what I get in return has sizable value -- apps I use for hours every day, predictive services that actually work, photo processing that means I'm less likely to miss an important moment. To be clear: the stuff Google and Amazon are doing right now isn't just cool and doesn't solely serve their corporate interests -- it matters in very real ways to consumers, with touchpoints they encounter every day where Apple can't even get a word in edgewise.
[...] Coming in second in the camera space alone might not be that big of an issue, but Apple has also had significant problems with its hardware recently -- not just with quality control, but in pure design terms as well (who could have predicted that in 2018 people would be touting Microsoft as the industry leader in design?). Siri continues to be a running joke among most people I know -- tech enthusiasts and average users alike. Apple's iCloud efforts have amounted to little more than a "hard disk in the sky" (a famous Jobsian turn of phrase). And is it the best experience for consumers to be forced into Apple Mail, Apple Maps, iTunes, Apple Music, and Apple Photos at every turn? Can you honestly say they're the best at what they do?
I laughed when I saw the phrase “touting Microsoft as the industry leader in design”.
Apple does have significant problems, though - I’ll grant the author that.
#DeleteChrome
Oh gosh, where to start?
Soldered RAM.
Soldered storage.
Glued MacBook batteries.
Glued iMac screens instead of magnets.
Replacing tactile MacBook keys with a touchbar.
No more matte display option on MacBooks.
Dropping USB-A connectors from MacBooks.
Dropping MagSafe from MacBooks.
Dropping FireWire interface from MacBooks.
Dropping Ethernet interface from MacBooks.
Dropping SD card slot from MacBooks.
Dropping integrated video output connector from MacBooks.
Requiring a fistful of dongles to plug damn near anything into MacBooks.
Insisting on a super-low-stroke keyboard that nobody wants. Doubling down when it turns out to be crap.
Claiming that key condoms are the solution to dust and crumbs causing those keyboard to fail when they're not.
Stupid-expensive fees to replace those super-low-stroke keyboards when they go bad.
Heavy focus on making MacBook Pros slimmer despite pro owners voicing disdain, demanding for return of removed features.
Stupid-expensive configurations.
Because everything is soldered and glued, requiring buyers to commit to a more expensive machine today because they'll invariably need more RAM and/or storage in a few years.
Selling years-old hardware at as-if-new prices.
Tied to that, taking years to upgrade hardware specs.
Highlighting more emojis as a feature with every OS update. (Hint: hieroglyphics are not a feature. More hieroglyphics even less so.)
Nagging to install new OS versions whenever there's an upgrade.
Annual OS upgrades when there's not that much compelling to warrant a whole new version. (There was a time when we could go multiple years without new OS versions. Look at Windows XP and Windows 7, for example.)
Genius Bars stocked with less-than-geniuses.
Refusing to service computers. (See the long-running adventures Linus had with an iMac Pro.)
Vindictive treatment of third-party service companies who are willing and able to fix things Apple won't touch or wants to gouge for. (Search for the adventures of Louis Rossmann.)
Refusing to acknowledge and address engineering flaws. If they eventually do, it's long after those affected have given up trying to get assistance and/or someone has filed a lawsuit.
I could go on...