As someone that used both, I think you are under the psychology spell.
It's not like you could leave Apple, you are locked in.
It may be hard to put into words why you feel that way. (which is why your post never mentioned anything about quality)
As mentioned opening the iphone box and giving Apple my personal information felt fantastic. The actual performance and quality was extremely dissapointing.
Oh please, it's not just the experience it's everything: the hardware, software, UI, materials, industrial design, aesthetics, and peace of mind. Apple has become a 'trustworthy' company in a marketplace of untrustworthy corporations. By that I mean, if you by an iPod/iPhone/Macbook you know beyond any doubt you will get software updates, that if a problem occurs there is a reasonably easy way to fix it, that the materials and hardware (this includes the case and hinges) will be superior to what else is available. Why would someone by a Creative mp3 player or Archos when there is no guarantee the company will stay in business or that the company will ever bother updating the software. Samsung is in the business of selling phones, not building a software platform. So again, why would I buy a phone that costs as much or more for as an iPhone but may never again be updating?
Think about it, how many different types of laptops does Dell of HP or Toshiba sell? It's absurd. It's like the difference between the GM when there was Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Saturn. There were just too many overlapping products that confused their customers. They (GM, Dell, HP, et al) spread themselves too thin. Look at who ended up doing well: those companies who narrowed their product scope down: BMW, Honda, Acura, Scion. Maybe companies need to think about staying ahead of Apple instead of just playing catch up.
Apple isn't just selling an experience, it's selling security and peace of mind.
Whether or not his cultural norms were mine, isn't it common sense to let the owner open up his own product? He was sloppy. I've had wonderful first experiences with Apple products before, namely the 3rd Generation iPod. I think that's part of what has drawn me to the company ever since.
These emotional highs create some very strong connections. I think it's one of the reasons Apple has such high brand loyalty. And AT&T is messing this up for new customers. They didn't get to experience opening their new product, sure they might think it's great like I do, and spend the rest of their life happy with it.. But I think there's a key component to the Apple experience missing.
It is evidence for you, personally, yes. However, in aggregate, for all consumers, it is anecdata. There are people who swear by the opposite experience, of years of bad issues with non-Apple tech until they switched over. The ultimate problem with this discussion is that yours is only one data point, when a full survey would be required to determine which manufacturer is best. At the same time, sympathies for your bad experiences and best of luck with the new tech.
I agree with everything you've said. I guess I'm just not invested in guessing whether Apple will make better or worse decisions in the future, or at least I don't have enough confidence in my ability to guess correctly to make any kind of purchasing decisions.
I'll buy Apple until there's something better for my utility function. And then I'll switch and I won't look back. I might read a book about how culture, durable advantages, and customer-first policies are intertwined, I suppose.
These conversations are pointless to have because you are stating your particular preference for hardware, but those preferences are defined by a more intrinsic preference for Apple.
What is going on mentally is that you chose a product based on something else than objective metrics (usually vanity), however for whatever reason it seems shameful to admit that to yourself, so instead what you do is that you implicitly assume that all of the properties of that object is good, and that anything that doesn't have that is bad.
This is a common human bias btw, nothing wrong with that. But you should be aware of this. Because , the annoying part of it, and arguably self destructive, is when you start making crazy incorrect objective statements about the world based on those biases like "the keyboards and trackpads on a lot of the non-Apple laptops out there are very bad".
Instead, you should say "I just really like the feeling of using an Apple product, and Im ok with paying more for that even I don't get any objective advantage, and I don't care enough to explore switching cause it works for me".
I think the issue is where you feel you are buying a product at a premium. If something is cheap you accept problems more readily, or blame yourself for your decision[1]. Apple certainly place themselves at the premium end.
[1] This is based on research conducted in my own head.
It is about trust in the sense that there was a time when buying Apple products was a safe choice. They were expensive, but you could count on them being well-designed (though you always had to be careful with first gen products) and working together seamlessly. If you could afford them, there was no reason to consider other options. That kind of brand loyalty I had is gone now. Maybe I can't switch yet, but I'm begrudgingly using their products, and am actively on the lookout for alternatives. When the right one will come along, I'm out.
I think if that was the case Apple would be a much smaller company. People buy iPhones because they "feel nice." And the feel they are talking about is performance.
If you are forced to use an app with bad performance (say Teams) you cope. Humans are great at coping. Maybe you turn it off and back on again periodically, or alt tab to something else while it's showing a spinner.
It's true performance isn't a major selling point but IMO that's because most software products are not sold to users. They are packaged with other products, part of monopolies and imposed to users by others.
I buy video games where performance undoubtedly matters. Apart from that, most software I use, I didn't choose, and I'm pleasantly happy when it's not garbage (Outlook, IDEA) and annoyed when it is (Teams, Facebook). In either case, performance wasn't a contributor to my choice: I didn't have a choice.
Same here, they are not even luxury anymore as it was viewed in many parts of the world in the past, my current phone was more expensive than highest iphone at the same time. I can do what the fuck I want with it. Its full fledged computer with tremendous power for most real tasks, and I don't need to hack it to fully use it.
I admire the sheer time and resources poured in perfecting the Apple experience, it has been its trademark since original ipods. But the way they set up relation between customer and provider is so unequal and outright disrespectful, I'll never buy their product.
Don't treat me like an incompetent idiot and we can start talking.
Neither, I'm just asking for evidence that people are moving away from Apple when a) people have been saying the same thing for years and b) the company has only grown in value.
What strawman? I was addressing your own words, specifically 'Why would I need a second survey? I already distrust the conclusion.'
You do indeed seem to be reacting based on a prejudice against the conclusion of the first survey, without having any other data to back you up. As I said, if you have any other evidence to support your point of view, you have never presented it. Of course, if you do have other evidence to bring to the table, I for one would be fascinated to see it. As far as I'm aware, every recent measure of customer satisfaction with Apple that has been reported in the press shows them well in advance of the competition. The latest survey quoted by Gruber just confirms previous surveys done by many different organisations.
Do you have any evidence to contradict these findings?
That's really what did it for me, I like Apple products and think they are great quality, but I don't think they are good enough to justify the price; and for me, the "status" that comes with it (if any) is worthless.
Look, you might value something different that I do. I value great design and great experiences. In this case, Apple has designed a great user experience with a new product. If you believe that the iPhone is just a phone, then I don't think you can appreciate the thought that goes into each and every piece.
I think that Apple has personally touched me because it's values resonate so well with my own. To create things that are simple and wonderful to use, thought through to every minor detail. The careful precision that you don't really get with any other smartphone maker at the moment.
When the iPhone is treated a coffeetable book in front of the owner entering a 2 year contract and paying $200-$400 dollars, don't you see the harm in that?
This is a weird take. I can certainly tell all sorts of differences between Apple and non-Apple products.
A short list of the major things that I think set Apple-quality apart:
Zero effort towards backward-compatibility or longevity, just force users to buy new hardware constantly.
Actively hostile towards hardware interoperability, just force users to buy adapters.
Actively hostile towards independently developed software and interoperability, just steal ideas to incorporate into an apple-owned product or use marketing to convince your users they're superior for being locked into your platform.
Don't bother to make software that works for diverse users, just use marketing to convince users that flexibility and functionality are inferior to whatever the Cupertino designers decree is the one right way to do things
Apple isn't a technology company, they're a fashion company. They can sell an iPhone for huge premiums for the same reason that Chanel can sell a purse for $10,000. It's not a product-quality question, it's a brand-quality question.
I do like the polish of macOS and macbooks, but I'm not a fan of anything else made by Apple.
I used to own two iPhones before I switched to Androids.
Cables that fray and cost £30 to replace sucks. This happen tow personally, and I'm not one of those people that rides cables like horses. iPhones are brittle and bend or shatter in people's pockets, and half the time users get blamed, that also sucks. This didn't happen to me, but it was all over the media.
The AppStore I'm conflicted about, since it has a lot of boons
in theory, but sucks in practice since there's still scams apps, even with the 30% apple tax. The other anticompetitive and predatory policies also suck; they sugar coat some of them as technical reasons, but they're stills just that: sugar coating. OTOH their privacy promises are indeed nice, but I don't know how much of that is true or PR (not that those are mutually exclusive, but you get the idea).
Android and Google suck in different ways though. But at least it feels like the lesser evil, and one that's also less expensive and doesn't become redundant as quickly.
The accessory space for Apple products is bigger, which is kind of a boon, but also a downside since it's annoying having to vet everything for whether it's shit or not.
In many venues, I'd be labelled an Apple fanboi. And I probably am. I've got all their shit; services, too. The day their credit card comes out is the day I sign up for it. Hey, it's one-stop shopping, I'm comfy in the ecosystem, I feel like a superior person by using their products, and the stuff mostly works.
But I would absolutely love a $400-500 iPhone and I'm fine if it's missing a lot of features. My phone just isn't my primary point of mobile computing anymore (if anything, Apple Watch fills that role for me now[0]), so I neither need nor want a $1000 phone (even though, being a fanboi, I have one). And the point of putting my CV in the first paragraph is to point out that, hey, even if you don't make money selling me a phone, Apple, you'll still make an arse-load of money off me. And maybe you'll get new customers/revenue to boot.
[0]Which, I'll point out, is also a ridiculously-priced device at $900 for the one I bought.
It's not like you could leave Apple, you are locked in.
It may be hard to put into words why you feel that way. (which is why your post never mentioned anything about quality)
As mentioned opening the iphone box and giving Apple my personal information felt fantastic. The actual performance and quality was extremely dissapointing.
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