Sorry, there is simply no excuse for Apple not updating core products like the MacPro and Mac Mini. They are leaving money on the table. They are not innovating. The PC is not dead. The Microsoft Surface Pro is more compelling than any iMac in the last three years. Come on Apple, you are leaving your customers high and dry.
Nonsense. The hardware innovation in the latest iphones, ipads, macbooks and airpods is astounding. They don't improve themselves.
But MS makes yet another surface, this one for the the ultra niche of illustrators, and you're impressed? Show me the sales numbers, which prove people are actually buying them (which they will if they truly add value).
A lot of Pet Rocks were sold too, but it doesn't prove people found they added value afterwards.
As for sharing sales numbers it looks to me like most techs prefer to avoid specifics and avoid mentioning how much of a particular product sold for the most part. Numbers end up coming from educated guesses via analysts and market studies instead of the manufacturer.
I have on more that one occasion noted that Apple will likely generate more revenue from AirPods, I've stated $3 B in calendar year 2017, than MS will from Surface products. I might be a bit off on that, but it provides a comparative context.
You might know the answer to this: Why is there that straw hanging that looks like it's missing wires on the AirPods? I'm assuming that it's a necessary piece because otherwise it's not very attractive being there. Do you know its function?
I don't know what you mean by unattractive straw. Are you referring to the stems? If so, there's really nothing unattractive about it.
IMO it's not an attractive piece but understandable if it's necessary for functionality.
I think the article says if Apple doesn't make money doing it, they're gonna stop doing it.
Maybe be that's why the Mac Pro hasn't been updated?
IPhones help sell iMacs, not Mac Pros.
The problem with the Mac Pro sales is that their sales have been cannibalized by sales of high-end iMacs. I've been managing photoretouching and graphic design studios for almost 25 years. For most of that history I bought the highest end Mac that I could in order to work more efficiently. About five years ago it was time to upgrade our old tower Mac Pros and for the first time I said, you know, a high-end iMac will do just fine for the kind of work that we do (mostly Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc.) and also save us a lot of money and desktop space. If we were doing video production or 3D rendering I would have been able to justify the additional expense for a Mac Pro, and indeed our video team has one of the "trash can" Mac Pros. I also know from talking to other studio directors that this change has happened across the industry. Retouching studios that used to exclusively buy Pro towers are now perfectly content with maxed out iMacs.
Five years from now we won't be arguing Android vs. iOS like we do now. The OS on a device will be of less importance to users than the voice assistant. That's why you see so much emphasis on Google Assistant, Alexa, Viv, and Siri.
most people don't want to talk to their phone.
the only reason there is so much emphasis on Google Assistant/Alexa is because Google/Amazon is graphing at straws. They know they can't compete with Apple regarding design, OS, and hardware. So instead they try to put all their eggs into the AI basket.
Most people wouldn't ever consider wearing glasses with cameras in them just three years ago. They wouldn't send an email instead of snailmail 20 years ago. Most people wouldn't ever think of sharing every intimate detail of their life with total strangers 10 years ago like they do on Facebook now. They wouldn't trust paying bills online instead of mailing a check 10 years ago. Most people wouldn't think of trusting their docs and pictures only to cloud storage with no local just 10 years ago. Would never consider an electric car over a gas-powered one 5 years ago. Could not see themselves trusting autonomous driving/safety features just 5 years ago. Would not chose a camera phone over a standalone camera for vacation pics 10 years ago. Most people would not consider watching their TV streamed over the internet instead of cable just 5 years ago. Most people may not be ready for some of the things I mentioned now. Heck, most people wouldn't even buy an Apple product. But enough do. Times change and so do consumers.
Voice assistants will be more important than the OS they're on in just a few years IMHO.
So in five years when this isn't true you'll happily eat some claim chowder?
Just as assuredly as you'll be one of the first in line to congratulate me on my insightful prediction if it does happen, right.
Eh, 5-10 years would actually be my guess. But yeah, I've never avoided owning up to being wrong. it happens. I believe typing commands and pushing buttons to accomplish what you want will be a quaint memory for many of us in the relatively near future.
No one is arguing with you that voice is not important.
What we are disagreeing with is that voice assistant is more important than the OS, hardware, ect. That's nuts. There are many situations were users don't want to use voice at all. And voice is worthless if the OS is shit and full of security holes. Voice is worthless if the phone blows up or has horrible battery life. Voice is worthless if Apps are constantly crashing.
Voice assistant is only a part of the entire mobile experience.
And increasingly none of those things are an issue for most folks. Neither iOS nor Android are full of security holes today, or suffer constantly crashing apps, or generally installed on devices with horrid battery life if they don't actually explode. So what's your point?
Sorry, there is simply no excuse for Apple not updating core products like the MacPro and Mac Mini. They are leaving money on the table. They are not innovating. The PC is not dead. The Microsoft Surface Pro is more compelling than any iMac in the last three years. Come on Apple, you are leaving your customers high and dry.
Nonsense. The hardware innovation in the latest iphones, ipads, macbooks and airpods is astounding. They don't improve themselves.
But MS makes yet another surface, this one for the the ultra niche of illustrators, and you're impressed? Show me the sales numbers, which prove people are actually buying them (which they will if they truly add value).
A lot of Pet Rocks were sold too, but it doesn't prove people found they added value afterwards.
As for sharing sales numbers it looks to me like most techs prefer to avoid specifics and avoid mentioning how much of a particular product sold for the most part. Numbers end up coming from educated guesses via analysts and market studies instead of the manufacturer.
I have on more that one occasion noted that Apple will likely generate more revenue from AirPods, I've stated $3 B in calendar year 2017, than MS will from Surface products. I might be a bit off on that, but it provides a comparative context.
You might know the answer to this: Why is there that straw hanging that looks like it's missing wires on the AirPods? I'm assuming that it's a necessary piece because otherwise it's not very attractive being there. Do you know its function?
I don't know what you mean by unattractive straw. Are you referring to the stems? If so, there's really nothing unattractive about it.
IMO it's not an attractive piece but understandable if it's necessary for functionality.
Its not attractive because the guy wearing it isn't attractive.
Now lets put it on another person.
Does it look horrible? no
Now lets look at the competition
IMO, the Bragi looks WAY WORSE.
The airpods look like Apple earbuds minus the wires.
The Bragi look like my grandpa's hearing aids.
I didn't say it looked horrible, just not an attractive piece IMHO. No doubt others such as yourself like the way it looks and that's fine. I still personally think they would look better without it, but for now that's not possible according to what a couple of posters said.
Colligan was eventually right in the sense that "PC guys" wouldn't be able to "walk in" ...on Apple.
and this one:
Rather than working out like Jobs' return to Apple, Rubinstein's webOS project ended up much more like Jobs' departure from Apple in 1986 and his subsequent formation of NeXT Computer.
Genius observations. Why didn't I think of those? They seem so obvious now!
I made a time traveler prediction of Apple in 1997 to my coworkers. At that time Apple's demise seems imminent according to many media. I told my coworker this prediction. If you believe we will be using PCs for the rest of our life then Apple has certainly lost the war with Microsoft and PC makers. I heard this from Steve Jobs. But I don't think PC is not the end of high tech innovations. And I believe Jobs and Apple will be able create new things which I can not predict. And the rest is history according to this article by DED.
Five years from now we won't be arguing Android vs. iOS like we do now. The OS on a device will be of less importance to users than the voice assistant. That's why you see so much emphasis on Google Assistant, Alexa, Viv, and Siri.
most people don't want to talk to their phone.
the only reason there is so much emphasis on Google Assistant/Alexa is because Google/Amazon is graphing at straws. They know they can't compete with Apple regarding design, OS, and hardware. So instead they try to put all their eggs into the AI basket.
Most people wouldn't ever consider wearing glasses with cameras in them just three years ago. They wouldn't send an email instead of snailmail 20 years ago. Most people wouldn't ever think of sharing every intimate detail of their life with total strangers 10 years ago like they do on Facebook now. They wouldn't trust paying bills online instead of mailing a check 10 years ago. Most people wouldn't think of trusting their docs and pictures only to cloud storage with no local just 10 years ago. Would never consider an electric car over a gas-powered one 5 years ago. Could not see themselves trusting autonomous driving/safety features just 5 years ago. Would not chose a camera phone over a standalone camera for vacation pics 10 years ago. Most people would not consider watching their TV streamed over the internet instead of cable just 5 years ago. Most people may not be ready for some of the things I mentioned now. Heck, most people wouldn't even buy an Apple product. But enough do. Times change and so do consumers.
Voice assistants will be more important than the OS they're on in just a few years IMHO.
So in five years when this isn't true you'll happily eat some claim chowder?
Just as assuredly as you'll be one of the first in line to congratulate me on my insightful prediction if it does happen, right.
Eh, 5-10 years would actually be my guess. But yeah, I've never avoided owning up to being wrong. it happens. I believe typing commands and pushing buttons to accomplish what you want will be a quaint memory for many of us in the relatively near future.
No one is arguing with you that voice is not important.
What we are disagreeing with is that voice assistant is more important than the OS, hardware, ect. That's nuts. There are many situations were users don't want to use voice at all. And voice is worthless if the OS is shit and full of security holes. Voice is worthless if the phone blows up or has horrible battery life. Voice is worthless if Apps are constantly crashing.
Voice assistant is only a part of the entire mobile experience.
And increasingly none of those things are an issue for most folks. Neither iOS nor Android are full of security holes today, or suffer constantly crashing apps, or generally installed on devices with horrid battery life if they don't actually explode. So what's your point?
Android does not have security holes? LOLLOLOLOOOLLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLLOOLLLOLOLLLL!!! WTF are you smoking!
The most popular Android brand had exploding phones. Apps are way less stable on Android. Come on dude. Stop talking bullshit.
A true gamechanger would be AI that can read your thoughts. There is just too many circumstances where voice is not practical
You should do your own research instead of relying on what you read here. My points stand.
What continues to amaze me are the small gears (or features) that make a huge difference.
DED mentioned Continuity. I don't use that myself very often, but it enables collaboration between units - and that's quite neat. The same with iCloud, which I use all the time. Touch ID is also a sorta-small-feature-when-you-see-it-at-first, but which then becomes HUGE when featured on all products and working with Apple's software. Some journalists have even mentioned that Touch ID on the new MacBook Pros is a better feature than the Touch Bar.
It seems to me that Apple has proven to have sound judgement when deciding which features to develop - not only for adding value to a new product, but also to add value to future products. And with complete control over the operating systems across all platforms, Apple is even able to add value to products which has already been bought and is used by customers. So when I buy an iPhone, I can actually expect the software to add value to my product in the future! That is a pretty remarkable "feature" which is not easily copied.
But when you look at tech journalists - and their business model - developing these user-focused incremental enhancing features isn't really something that drives clicks on their articles. They typically want more sensational material. Just look at 2016 and how smartphones have been reviewed lately. iPhone 7 was a huge disappointment, so boring! Samsung 7 series was SOOOO exciting - and continued to be so, as more and more units caught fire! The iPhone ended up with all the sales, but the Samsung Firephone ended up driving a LOT of traffic on the tech sites.
And while all that took place, Apple just continued adding value to a lot of their products: The iPhone 7 is a fantastic smartphone (the best ever made, in my humble opinion), the Apple Watch is the best smart watch, the iPad Pro 9.7 is the best tablet (True Tone, another under-valued feature - try to disable it and use the tablet for 30 minutes, then turn it on again to continue living in a modern world), the Apple TV is the best TV box and the MacBook Pro is the best laptop. And the AirPods is redefining wireless earphones.
"But the new MacBook Pros didn't deliver!" I actually believe that statement to be true - and Intel should take note of that, because Intel failed to deliver better silicone on time. I am willing to bet that this has been discussed at length among Apple executives, with one of the options being "Let's do it ourselves". I don't think they have chosen that option, but the disappointment with Intel is real.
Oh, and speaking of the little features: This has been written on an iPad Pro 9.7, with a Smart Connector and a keyboard (the Logitech Create, because it's the best). That connector saves battery and connects by simple touch between keyboard and iPad. So simple, so easy, so convenient - and very effective.
Sorry, there is simply no excuse for Apple not updating core products like the MacPro and Mac Mini. They are leaving money on the table. They are not innovating. The PC is not dead. The Microsoft Surface Pro is more compelling than any iMac in the last three years. Come on Apple, you are leaving your customers high and dry.
Nonsense. The hardware innovation in the latest iphones, ipads, macbooks and airpods is astounding. They don't improve themselves.
But MS makes yet another surface, this one for the the ultra niche of illustrators, and you're impressed? Show me the sales numbers, which prove people are actually buying them (which they will if they truly add value).
A lot of Pet Rocks were sold too, but it doesn't prove people found they added value afterwards.
As for sharing sales numbers it looks to me like most techs prefer to avoid specifics and avoid mentioning how much of a particular product sold for the most part. Numbers end up coming from educated guesses via analysts and market studies instead of the manufacturer.
I have on more that one occasion noted that Apple will likely generate more revenue from AirPods, I've stated $3 B in calendar year 2017, than MS will from Surface products. I might be a bit off on that, but it provides a comparative context.
You might know the answer to this: Why is there that straw hanging that looks like it's missing wires on the AirPods? I'm assuming that it's a necessary piece because otherwise it's not very attractive being there. Do you know its function?
I don't know what you mean by unattractive straw. Are you referring to the stems? If so, there's really nothing unattractive about it.
IMO it's not an attractive piece but understandable if it's necessary for functionality.
Its not attractive because the guy wearing it isn't attractive.
Now lets put it on another person.
Does it look horrible? no
Now lets look at the competition
IMO, the Bragi looks WAY WORSE.
The airpods look like Apple earbuds minus the wires.
The Bragi look like my grandpa's hearing aids.
I didn't say it looked horrible, just not an attractive piece IMHO. No doubt others such as yourself like the way it looks and that's fine. I still personally think they would look better without it, but for now that's not possible according to what a couple of posters said.
They would look better with a shorter stem. But I see some reasons for it being as long as it is:
First, and I believe I read this when they came out, they are serving the needs of the beam-forming microphones, which in turn allow better noise-rejection and voice pick-up. I would assume from this nontechnical tidbit that the tubes act as waveguides, while also bring the voice closer to the mics for processing for the beam-forming, (of which I only have a dim understanding). You can also imagine that they are shielding the mics from much ambient noise and focusing on the voice. (Note "assume" and "imagine" are deliberately used; this is just structural or descriptive reasoning.)
In using them, I've found that you want to twist the pod in your ear to point the stem toward the mouth to lock the pod part in your ear. This is deliberate and part of the shape of the pod, I think, but this could just be my ears.
I also assume they put the stem through extensive testing to arrive at just this length. They surely didn't see them as decorative, or attractive.The reason I assume that is that I think they know what they're doing and are attentive to such details to the point of obsession.
End of stem essay, except to say they work very well in my case while driving in the noisiest car I have available, my 71 VW Bug. My 73 VW Thing convertible isn't running right now, so I can't report on that use case. I'm sure you all will be eager to hear about the results come Spring when I get it back on the road¡
Five years from now we won't be arguing Android vs. iOS like we do now. The OS on a device will be of less importance to users than the voice assistant. That's why you see so much emphasis on Google Assistant, Alexa, Viv, and Siri.
most people don't want to talk to their phone.
the only reason there is so much emphasis on Google Assistant/Alexa is because Google/Amazon is graphing at straws. They know they can't compete with Apple regarding design, OS, and hardware. So instead they try to put all their eggs into the AI basket.
True -- But I think that there is a more important reason: Google and Amazon are about gadgets and flash. Apple is about creating great products that make people's lives better. It's a fine line, but very wide one...
Sorry, there is simply no excuse for Apple not updating core products like the MacPro and Mac Mini. They are leaving money on the table. They are not innovating. The PC is not dead. The Microsoft Surface Pro is more compelling than any iMac in the last three years. Come on Apple, you are leaving your customers high and dry.
Nonsense. The hardware innovation in the latest iphones, ipads, macbooks and airpods is astounding. They don't improve themselves.
But MS makes yet another surface, this one for the the ultra niche of illustrators, and you're impressed? Show me the sales numbers, which prove people are actually buying them (which they will if they truly add value).
A lot of Pet Rocks were sold too, but it doesn't prove people found they added value afterwards.
As for sharing sales numbers it looks to me like most techs prefer to avoid specifics and avoid mentioning how much of a particular product sold for the most part. Numbers end up coming from educated guesses via analysts and market studies instead of the manufacturer.
I have on more that one occasion noted that Apple will likely generate more revenue from AirPods, I've stated $3 B in calendar year 2017, than MS will from Surface products. I might be a bit off on that, but it provides a comparative context.
You might know the answer to this: Why is there that straw hanging that looks like it's missing wires on the AirPods? I'm assuming that it's a necessary piece because otherwise it's not very attractive being there. Do you know its function?
I don't know what you mean by unattractive straw. Are you referring to the stems? If so, there's really nothing unattractive about it.
IMO it's not an attractive piece but understandable if it's necessary for functionality.
Its not attractive because the guy wearing it isn't attractive.
Now lets put it on another person.
Does it look horrible? no
Now lets look at the competition
IMO, the Bragi looks WAY WORSE.
The airpods look like Apple earbuds minus the wires.
The Bragi look like my grandpa's hearing aids.
I didn't say it looked horrible, just not an attractive piece IMHO. No doubt others such as yourself like the way it looks and that's fine. I still personally think they would look better without it, but for now that's not possible according to what a couple of posters said.
End of stem essay, except to say they work very well in my case while driving in the noisiest car I have available, my 71 VW Bug. My 73 VW Thing convertible isn't running right now, so I can't report on that use case. I'm sure you all will be eager to hear about the results come Spring when I get it back on the road¡
Gosh, haven't seen a Thing in years. One of my old partners had one back in the early 80's. Doing a restoration I assume?
Kudos once again DED. If only your articles were carried as lead articles on the Verge and Ars etc.. As you say, there would be no interest I suppose as sensationalist anti-Apple propaganda is the best click bait, no one wants the truth on their web sites. I truly wonder if there are any other clear sighted tech journalists out there? I used to read PED but he seems to have vanished. I think Tim should give you the position as the new Apple Evangelist Extraordinaire!
PED's "Apple 3.0" blog is pretty great, along with the group of commenters he attracts now.
Sorry, there is simply no excuse for Apple not updating core products like the MacPro and Mac Mini. They are leaving money on the table. They are not innovating. The PC is not dead. The Microsoft Surface Pro is more compelling than any iMac in the last three years. Come on Apple, you are leaving your customers high and dry.
Nonsense. The hardware innovation in the latest iphones, ipads, macbooks and airpods is astounding. They don't improve themselves.
But MS makes yet another surface, this one for the the ultra niche of illustrators, and you're impressed? Show me the sales numbers, which prove people are actually buying them (which they will if they truly add value).
A lot of Pet Rocks were sold too, but it doesn't prove people found they added value afterwards.
As for sharing sales numbers it looks to me like most techs prefer to avoid specifics and avoid mentioning how much of a particular product sold for the most part. Numbers end up coming from educated guesses via analysts and market studies instead of the manufacturer.
I have on more that one occasion noted that Apple will likely generate more revenue from AirPods, I've stated $3 B in calendar year 2017, than MS will from Surface products. I might be a bit off on that, but it provides a comparative context.
You might know the answer to this: Why is there that straw hanging that looks like it's missing wires on the AirPods? I'm assuming that it's a necessary piece because otherwise it's not very attractive being there. Do you know its function?
I don't know what you mean by unattractive straw. Are you referring to the stems? If so, there's really nothing unattractive about it.
IMO it's not an attractive piece but understandable if it's necessary for functionality.
Its not attractive because the guy wearing it isn't attractive.
Now lets put it on another person.
Does it look horrible? no
Now lets look at the competition
IMO, the Bragi looks WAY WORSE.
The airpods look like Apple earbuds minus the wires.
The Bragi look like my grandpa's hearing aids.
I didn't say it looked horrible, just not an attractive piece IMHO. No doubt others such as yourself like the way it looks and that's fine. I still personally think they would look better without it, but for now that's not possible according to what a couple of posters said.
End of stem essay, except to say they work very well in my case while driving in the noisiest car I have available, my 71 VW Bug. My 73 VW Thing convertible isn't running right now, so I can't report on that use case. I'm sure you all will be eager to hear about the results come Spring when I get it back on the road¡
Gosh, haven't seen a Thing in years. One of my old partners had one back in the early 80's. Doing a restoration I assume?
Well, gradually. I like to drive these old units more, and if you take them out to show quality you have to be too careful with them around town. But it's on the list of "things" to do.
Calling Google the leader in smartphones is like saying the U.S.S.R. won
the Cold War because it afflicted the greatest number of individuals
with its disastrous policies, because its ideologies warmed the hearts
of a certain group of intellectuals, and because it achieved a variety
of technical firsts, including Sputnik. How incredibly, briefly
impressive, yet what incredible cost and misery.
How has no one singled out this gem yet!? Such a great analogy.
So refreshing to get another dose of reality from DED. Although, to most of the individuals caught up in the Apple-media weeds it will be reflexively spit out, like a child from the 1950's spitting out cod liver oil (analogies are fun).
There are so few pundits (e.g. DED, Ben E., Neil Cybert) that seem to have a healthy perspective on Apple. Even typically pro-Apple pundits seem to focus on the faults at the expense of the successes. (FWIW, I was surprised as well when Apple's revenues declined, but it doesn't take much thought to see that the party couldn't keep going on indefinitely at that level.)
Even though I sometimes complain about what seem to me some frustrating missteps*, it's easy to see that Apple is still an incredible, and incredibly successful company.
*Mainly, insufficient PR, and lack of willingness to effectively bolster/support their services ecosystems [e.g. siri still unable to sufficiently perform day-1 promised functions (e.g. shouldn't be so hard to figure out the 'right way' to get what you need), Apple Pay (lack-of/slow merchant adoption) and HomeKit (incentivizing early vendors and doing QA)].
Great article. The reason I enjoy DED (articles/podcasts) is he has a "frame of reference." Most journalists don't.
By that I mean, he has a command of the recent history of Apple and can relate it to what Google, Samsung, MS, etc., are trying to do in competing w/ Apple.
Mainly, seemingly half-hearted attempts at making copies of Apple's hardware and OS's.
Time and time again, it seems they want to mimic Apple's way, but w/o doing the hard work. Which often means failure.
On the one hand Apple stands as the lighthouse for green energy in data center usage and on the other hand they force customers to trash their computers because they cannot be updated and thus have many more years of useful life in them (creating a horrible carbon footprint; unfortunately these effects are never calculated).
Total Bullshat. I just took my mother's Macbook from 2009, tossed in an SSD and some RAM and installed Sierra on it. Nearly 8 year old computer.
On the one hand Apple stands as the lighthouse for green energy in data center usage and on the other hand they force customers to trash their computers because they cannot be updated and thus have many more years of useful life in them (creating a horrible carbon footprint; unfortunately these effects are never calculated).
Total Bullshat. I just took my mother's Macbook from 2009, tossed in an SSD and some RAM and installed Sierra on it. Nearly 8 year old computer.
I'm sure he's referring to the more recent models that can't be upgraded.
Well, if the the Surface Drafting Table or whatever it's called doesn't sell in significant numbers, I'm pretty sure that means it isn't important.
My large-format printers don't sell in great numbers, but the products they produce are considered pretty important to businesses both large and small.
Your large-format printers sell in *relatively* great numbers, otherwise they wouldn't be a product. I can't believe I'm actually having to explain this...A market doesn't have to be large, but it has to be viable. The company that makes OLED panel manufacturing lines doesn't sell more than 60 a year, but for them that is a successful market, because the success threshold is relative. But MS is a mass consumer company, they don't do niche industry printers, they do mass market consumer desktops. Thus if their latest consumer desktop doesn't sell, it's a failure. So you're trying to compare apples to oranges for some reason.
The surface drafting table isn't mass market...it's niche like the Cintiq.
The Surface Book and Surface Pro are mass market and Surface revenue was $926 million in Q1 2017 increasing 38% YOY.
That's not too shabby. It should be interesting to see how Q2 worked out. They'll release their earnings on the 26th.
I didn't say the Drafting table is niche -- I said large-format printers were. I said that the Drafting table is supposed to a be a mass-market consumer product, and that if it doesn't sell well then it wasn't an important piece of "innovation" after all.
Sorry, there is simply no excuse for Apple not updating core products like the MacPro and Mac Mini. They are leaving money on the table. They are not innovating. The PC is not dead. The Microsoft Surface Pro is more compelling than any iMac in the last three years. Come on Apple, you are leaving your customers high and dry.
Nonsense. The hardware innovation in the latest iphones, ipads, macbooks and airpods is astounding. They don't improve themselves.
But MS makes yet another surface, this one for the the ultra niche of illustrators, and you're impressed? Show me the sales numbers, which prove people are actually buying them (which they will if they truly add value).
A lot of Pet Rocks were sold too, but it doesn't prove people found they added value afterwards.
As for sharing sales numbers it looks to me like most techs prefer to avoid specifics and avoid mentioning how much of a particular product sold for the most part. Numbers end up coming from educated guesses via analysts and market studies instead of the manufacturer.
I have on more that one occasion noted that Apple will likely generate more revenue from AirPods, I've stated $3 B in calendar year 2017, than MS will from Surface products. I might be a bit off on that, but it provides a comparative context.
You might know the answer to this: Why is there that straw hanging that looks like it's missing wires on the AirPods? I'm assuming that it's a necessary piece because otherwise it's not very attractive being there. Do you know its function?
I don't know what you mean by unattractive straw. Are you referring to the stems? If so, there's really nothing unattractive about it.
IMO it's not an attractive piece but understandable if it's necessary for functionality.
I see a guy with two wireless BT devices in his ears. Ones that look much, much better than all the Ohura things people have been wearing for almost 20 years now.
Comments
First, and I believe I read this when they came out, they are serving the needs of the beam-forming microphones, which in turn allow better noise-rejection and voice pick-up. I would assume from this nontechnical tidbit that the tubes act as waveguides, while also bring the voice closer to the mics for processing for the beam-forming, (of which I only have a dim understanding). You can also imagine that they are shielding the mics from much ambient noise and focusing on the voice. (Note "assume" and "imagine" are deliberately used; this is just structural or descriptive reasoning.)
In using them, I've found that you want to twist the pod in your ear to point the stem toward the mouth to lock the pod part in your ear. This is deliberate and part of the shape of the pod, I think, but this could just be my ears.
I also assume they put the stem through extensive testing to arrive at just this length. They surely didn't see them as decorative, or attractive.The reason I assume that is that I think they know what they're doing and are attentive to such details to the point of obsession.
End of stem essay, except to say they work very well in my case while driving in the noisiest car I have available, my 71 VW Bug. My 73 VW Thing convertible isn't running right now, so I can't report on that use case. I'm sure you all will be eager to hear about the results come Spring when I get it back on the road¡
How has no one singled out this gem yet!? Such a great analogy.
So refreshing to get another dose of reality from DED. Although, to most of the individuals caught up in the Apple-media weeds it will be reflexively spit out, like a child from the 1950's spitting out cod liver oil (analogies are fun).
There are so few pundits (e.g. DED, Ben E., Neil Cybert) that seem to have a healthy perspective on Apple. Even typically pro-Apple pundits seem to focus on the faults at the expense of the successes. (FWIW, I was surprised as well when Apple's revenues declined, but it doesn't take much thought to see that the party couldn't keep going on indefinitely at that level.)
Even though I sometimes complain about what seem to me some frustrating missteps*, it's easy to see that Apple is still an incredible, and incredibly successful company.
*Mainly, insufficient PR, and lack of willingness to effectively bolster/support their services ecosystems [e.g. siri still unable to sufficiently perform day-1 promised functions (e.g. shouldn't be so hard to figure out the 'right way' to get what you need), Apple Pay (lack-of/slow merchant adoption) and HomeKit (incentivizing early vendors and doing QA)].
By that I mean, he has a command of the recent history of Apple and can relate it to what Google, Samsung, MS, etc., are trying to do in competing w/ Apple.
Mainly, seemingly half-hearted attempts at making copies of Apple's hardware and OS's.
Time and time again, it seems they want to mimic Apple's way, but w/o doing the hard work. Which often means failure.
Best.
100% compatibility comes with commodification, losing ability to forge your own destiny. That would be a really dumb move.
I see a guy with two wireless BT devices in his ears. Ones that look much, much better than all the Ohura things people have been wearing for almost 20 years now.