The Apple Discussion Thread

[Jr Mouse]



At least the 7 wont catch fire... like the Samsung.

Can you imagine how much bigger a news story it would be if it was the new iPhone exploding on people and not the Note? It would be being talked about everywhere.

 

[jcman311]

So I know this is the apple thread and I'm a little late to the whole Samsung thing but whats going on there?

http://www.jsonline.com/story/money...g-urges-customers-return-new-phones/90273882/

Quote: Quote: When exactly did the phone come out? Two weeks ago was roughly August 29. Only 4 days before Sept 1.

They had 35 confirmed cases in 4 days?

edit: I think they had 35 cases in 2 weeks when the phone was rolled out August 19th. Thats still a hell of a lot of cases for 2 weeks and doesnt account for the month of September yet. Goodness sake people turn in those phones!

 

[ramuman]

I'm still happy to get the new iPhone and use one adapter for my Shure and two for my Sennheiser headphones to make flying in coach palatable when some dumb kid is yelling and the dumb parents think 'shushing' is enough to quell the situation.

The huge problem with Apple is that they lost Jobs. The company will never be the same without him.

Super props to Ive and Federighi though.

 

[GreenFrog]

100% agree that Apple is not the same without Jobs. But does that mean it's worse off without him? I don't necessarily think so.

 

[otc]

I think yes.

Worse off doesn't have to mean bad though... Just not as good.

 

[ramuman]



100% agree that Apple is not the same without Jobs. But does that mean it's worse off without him? I don't necessarily think so.

It's absolutely worse off. I've said this several times that when a company loses it's obsessive leader, it's never the same. See Bell, Edison, Hughes, Fairchild, Gates, Ellison, and many many others as an example. The companies go on, however, things are never the same.

I was just at the local computer science museum earlier today (there's a nice little coffee shop and charging place right near on the way to Mountain View - I don't stalk the place). I would say somewhere around 90% of the exhibits are devoted to Microsoft under Gates, Apple and Jobs, and Intel under Noyce/Moore and Grove. There are also a few historical pieces for Turing, Babbage, etc.

Edit: I think Apple still makes great products, but revolutionary things like the Apple I and II, the Mac, the iPod and the music store, iPhone, and iPad are in the rearview mirror.

 

[GreenFrog]

By worse off, I'm assuming you guys are saying their products and services are not as good as they could be under Jobs' vision / leadership? Believe me when I say this -- I want to think that would be true.

But how could anyone know so? The dude is dead. When I see **** like the battery case, I shake my head and really do think Jobs would have axed that hideous monstrosity. But then I see and recognize instances where Jobs was absolutely wrong, too -- phablets, for instance. Has everyone forgot about Ping? Or what about their Rokr phone with Motorola? Obviously cherry picking abject failures out of a sea of successes, but the point remains.

The guy was not infallible. I just wish we would move on from this "Jobs would never do this" or whatever narrative. It's so pointless. It's a completely empty statement (to me) and just kills the dialogue. What is anyone supposed to say in response to that?

"O dam u right, case closed. Pack up dat bags brahs."

I can point to their share price and show how Apple has grown to the company it is today under Tim Cook's leadership. I love how much more shareholder friendly he is. Does that not count for Cook? Jobs was also a monumental asshole of the first order. Does that not count against him?

The only major thing I dislike about Tim is how uncharismatic he is. Other than that, he's been a damn good CEO.

/rant

 

[ramuman]

My worse off definition is how innovation won't be the same without him. They've already proven that. Apple has brought things to us that have changed industries in the past under Jobs. Not so sure since.

I think his infallibility was awesome. If you don't have a bit of batshit crazy in you, you're probably not trying to do revolutionary stuff that changes things for the better.

/my rant

 

[HRoi]

So this is where GF goes to be a fanboi now. I was curious why I no longer saw long rants about BMW in the cars thread

 

[ramuman]

lulz

Edit: I still love this movie - just Ive's part:

 

[ipractice]

FYI people who got jet black, apparently its got more grip so another plus for going caseless. I personally drop my phone so many times that caseless would be a bad idea for me. I picked up two cases off slickdeals ($2 one, $10), and I'm actually going to use a screen protecter this time around. I normally don't baby my phone but I'm fully planning on selling it next year for the 8.

 

[otc]



But then I see and recognize instances where Jobs was absolutely wrong, too -- phablets, for instance. Has everyone forgot about Ping? Or what about their Rokr phone with Motorola? Obviously cherry picking abject failures out of a sea of successes, but the point remains.

The guy was not infallible. I just wish we would move on from this "Jobs would never do this" or whatever narrative. It's so pointless. It's a completely empty statement (to me) and just kills the dialogue. What is anyone supposed to say in response to that?

I dunno about that list.

-I still agree with Jobs on phablets. Obviously people want them and buy them. People were buying android ones aplenty when jobs was alive...I think he knew they could sell a bunch of larger iphones, but he thought that the small form factor that supports one handed use was the purest, simplest, most usable device. It fits with one button mice and stuff like that--there's a market for it, and a huge use-case for it, but excluding it was so essential to the goal of keeping OS interactivity streamlined. Also, the bigger phone in some ways cannibalizes tablet sales, and many iphone plus users would be buying regular iphones if it weren't an option, so I am not sure how big of a win the phablet is.

-Ping was stupid. I'll agree there, although it was designed to have facebook integration and was demoed by jobs with facebook integration...but released without it. They couldn't reach an agreement, and while I still think it sounded dumb...who knows what it could have been.

-Rokr phone? I'd argue Jobs was 100% right on that. Everybody wanted an apple phone, but it was too early. They couldn't do what they wanted to do yet with an apple phone, but there was increasing pressure to make something happen. Better to license itunes to Motorola and let them push out the Rokr and Slvr phones. They take the heat on their record when the phones suck. Apple never made a bad phone...they just got paid to license their DRM and music player to a 3rd party. Nobody needs to be skeptical when they do release the iphone--in fact people can be excited and say "oh good, apple has come in to set things straight"

 

[GreenFrog]



I dunno about that list.

-I still agree with Jobs on phablets. Obviously people want them and buy them. People were buying android ones aplenty when jobs was alive...I think he knew they could sell a bunch of larger iphones, but he thought that the small form factor that supports one handed use was the purest, simplest, most usable device. It fits with one button mice and stuff like that--there's a market for it, and a huge use-case for it, but excluding it was so essential to the goal of keeping OS interactivity streamlined. Also, the bigger phone in some ways cannibalizes tablet sales, and many iphone plus users would be buying regular iphones if it weren't an option, so I am not sure how big of a win the phablet is.

-Ping was stupid. I'll agree there, although it was designed to have facebook integration and was demoed by jobs with facebook integration...but released without it. They couldn't reach an agreement, and while I still think it sounded dumb...who knows what it could have been.

-Rokr phone? I'd argue Jobs was 100% right on that. Everybody wanted an apple phone, but it was too early. They couldn't do what they wanted to do yet with an apple phone, but there was increasing pressure to make something happen. Better to license itunes to Motorola and let them push out the Rokr and Slvr phones. They take the heat on their record when the phones suck. Apple never made a bad phone...they just got paid to license their DRM and music player to a 3rd party. Nobody needs to be skeptical when they do release the iphone--in fact people can be excited and say "oh good, apple has come in to set things straight"

For phablets, the takeaway for me is that the market evolves and Apple has been meeting those different segments. People want different form factors as their use cases and needs change with technology, apps, and services. I, for one, never took to the 6 initially because one-handed use became all but impossible. I even went ahead and got myself an SE because I thought I'd enjoy the smaller screen size. Returned it within 5 days. Now I have a 7 Plus on order.

I find that I use my phone much more for media consumption and the bigger screen is just so much better for that. As for cannibalization, I think Apple actually wants that if it's going to cannibalize the iPad mini, their lowest margin iOS device. We shall see what their tablet lineup holds for the future, but my sense so far is that they're going to discontinue the Mini, or give it minor incremental improvements at best just to barely satiate that market segment. It will never get the Pro treatment, however, in my mind. The iPhone Plus is their highest margin product, so as a shareholder, I hope more people move towards that one. I expect their iPhone ASP to materially increase over the next quarters.

Ping was stupid for sure. Social media has always been a weak spot for Apple. Even their connect feature for Apple Music is a dud.

As for the Rokr phone, the famous Steve Jobs mantra was to say no to everything unless he thought it was ready and perfect -- well, whatever perfect meant to him. I believe the Rokr was introduced a year or two before the original iPhone was announced, meaning that R&D for said iPhone was well underway at the time. With that in mind, I feel like if we applied the characterization people have of Jobs now to then-Jobs, we'd all be like, "why the hell would he release that?" Was he seriously under THAT much pressure? Wasn't he famous for telling people to **** off? Cause I sure as hell see him telling people to **** off if they were demanding a phone at the time. That said, I wasn't at all in tune with Apple rumors or pressures at the time since I was in HS, so I can't speak to that with any conviction.

I guess my overall takeaway is that the past decade has fundamentally upended mobile technology and how we live and interact as people now. The market moves quickly and Apple is adjusting to it as best as it can. It's futile for us to speculate what decisions Jobs would or wouldn't now and how that would compare to the Apple we know today.

 

[GreenFrog]

I will add that I still think the Watch has the potential to become their next major hit.. but it's going to be another 2-3 years in my mind before it can actually be a viable health device. The iPhone didn't really start breaking out until the iPhone 4, so that timing aligns with the Watch's current trajectory.

 

[chobochobo]

FWIW, I think the Note 7 is a better phone than the iPhone 7/+, explosions excepted. But I am intrigued by the dual camera set up, so I may be breaking my iPhone duck soon.