Your post is full of contradictions. So these 10 year old kids are buying an iPhone with their paper route money? I think it is probably the rich parent who is buying it. I'd really like to see a citation on the iPhone customers who are also food stamps recipients. Perhaps they might get a used iPhone but that doesn't factor into slower Apple iPhone sales figures. Sure it is a wider market now but the US still accounts for the most sales, 19% whereas China 12% so the subsidy is a measurable factor in my opinion.
We live in the San Francisco East Bay, and there are 2 teen-age boys in the family.
There are literally no traditional ways for them to make money -- nobody gets a paper delivered, pays someone to wash their car or mow their lawn. They literally rely on earning an allowance for household chores (cleaning, polishing, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming, mowing/weeding/edging our lawn, etc.)
When I was a kid, I didn't get an allowance, but I did all those activities as my responsibility of living in the family home. For cash, I mowed lawns, washed cars, had a paper route -- and had several part-time jobs: furniture store maintenance; install seat covers; work on Rose Bowl Floats, etc.
The combination of affluence, and [California] state laws and regulations make it very difficult for a kid to earn enough money to buy an iPhone.
To compensate, so the kids get an education on making, saving and spending money -- we provide them with extra make-work jobs, such as painting their rooms, cleaning the garage and tool shed, etc. We recently replaced our redwood fence and saved most of the old fencing -- it has a beautiful weathered gray old-barnwood-like look. We are using it to make indoor and outdoor furniture, and one of the kids made several hundred dollars removing nails, power-washing and stacking and stickering the wood.
But opportunities like that are pretty rare.
You comment points out a sad state of affairs today. No encouragement of the entrepreneurial spirit like there once was. Glad you are helping and doing the best you can.
Apple could solve this by not supporting older phones as long... /s
Honestly though, this goes possibly goes hand in hand with Apple not doing yearly updates to its iPhone. Regardless of whether or not Apple updates their phone all the time, people will still have an older model and will want to upgrade. If you have a 4 now, a 6S is a HUGE upgrade, hell even an iPhone SE if you wanted the same form factor is a good update. There are still many reasons to update even if Apple doesn't.
Good. Slow down the rampant waste of materials and resources in the frenzy to constantly buy the same thing over and over.
Yup, I agree. That Apple makes phones that last is a GOOD thing. If the phones needed to be upgraded every 2 years guess what the complaints would be? I am all for companies making money and I am not at all worried about Apple in this respect.
As consumers we are paying a pretty high price for all the bells and whistles and glorified services. Calculate the cost of your mobile devices and computers and add all your monthly fees and subscriptions. My bet is that most of us would be shocked at how much we shell out each year. I even pay a monthly fee for Office 360 for my family (not for me - iWork is good enough for me). Office has served me well in the past and still serves my wife and kids, but honestly it is not giving me anything more than it did 20 years ago. Will that be true in 20 years? How much will I have paid by then?
We live in the San Francisco East Bay, and there are 2 teen-age boys in the family.
There are literally no traditional ways for them to make money -- nobody gets a paper delivered, pays someone to wash their car or mow their lawn.
My neighbor college student wanted to earn some money last summer so he asked if I had any work for him. I said sure you can trim this bougainvillea and gave him a pair of pruning shears. 15 minutes later he was calling it quits because the work was too hard. An illegal alien will do that sort of work all day long for $10 an hour.
We live in the San Francisco East Bay, and there are 2 teen-age boys in the family.
There are literally no traditional ways for them to make money -- nobody gets a paper delivered, pays someone to wash their car or mow their lawn.
My neighbor college student wanted to earn some money last summer so he asked if I had any work for him. I said sure you can trim this bougainvillea and gave him a pair of pruning shears. 15 minutes later he was calling it quits because the work was too hard. An illegal alien will do that sort of work all day long for $10 an hour.
Pruning a bougy is a challenge on a hot day if you can't wear gloves and a heavy long-sleeved shirt ... but you are right, there are jobs the entitled generation will not do, at any reasonable price.
Pruning a bougy is a challenge on a hot day if you can't wear gloves and a heavy long-sleeved shirt ... but you are right, there are jobs the entitled generation will not do, at any reasonable price.
No, he had all that and a proper hat, plenty of water. I do that job myself all the time so it is kept trim, not overgrown. He just had never done any gardening for his whole life. He lives next door and his parents' yard has always been professionally maintained. I taught my kid how to garden and grow vegetables from an early age. I tried to give the neighbor some fresh vegetables right out of the garden and he declined. Said he didn't eat vegetables.
Come on ATT and the likes. This is a direct result of your stupid ATT Next style plans. I want a discount on a phone and I want to keep my unlimited data. Not interested in paying monthly for the phone on top of the my service with a limited data usage. I used to upgrade every year...
Well that's stupid.
It used to be ridiculously difficult and expensive to upgrade yearly. Now, THANKS TO AT&T NEXT and similar plans, it is now cheaper and easier.
And LOL@ your "Unlimited" data plan. I'm having a much better and cheaper experience than you on AT&T by using their newer plans. You're obviously completely unaware of the cost structure today, and don't realize you are being taken.
Actually found the system worked quite well. Two people one account. One person gets the hand me downs. Trade in the outdated phone, usually would spend a little less then $90 a year for a brand new phone and got to keep my Unlimited Data plan.
Scoped out the ATT Next Plan - would cost me upwards of $30 more dollars a month, with less data.
People keep their cars much longer than they keep their cell phones, but you don't hear Ford or Toyota say they're only going to release new models every three years. Even if people keep their phones for five years, doesn't that mean that in any given year 20% of the people will be looking to upgrade? Why ask them to choose between a (potentially) three year old iPhone and a brand new Samsung?
While I think it could be a problem short term, Apple wouldn't be here today without customer loyalty. A fantastic phone that lasts 2-4 years would certainly add to that.
Come on ATT and the likes. This is a direct result of your stupid ATT Next style plans. I want a discount on a phone and I want to keep my unlimited data. Not interested in paying monthly for the phone on top of the my service with a limited data usage. I used to upgrade every year...
Well that's stupid.
It used to be ridiculously difficult and expensive to upgrade yearly. Now, THANKS TO AT&T NEXT and similar plans, it is now cheaper and easier.
And LOL@ your "Unlimited" data plan. I'm having a much better and cheaper experience than you on AT&T by using their newer plans. You're obviously completely unaware of the cost structure today, and don't realize you are being taken.
Wow, now there's a blatant ant desperate attempt to pump up an inferiority complex. Pissing contest over phone plans?
NEXT on AT&T is a payment subscription scam. Time to get off that high miniature moral horse, because you're being taken too. If you really want to man up, just buy your phone outright. You can even build character and practical adult skills by selling your phone later to learn about commerce, economics and negotiation.
I don't think Apple would offer slower upgrade cycle seeing that only iOS only takes 15-20% of market-share. Not that market-share is important for Apple, but at least there are half of the world population which is the potential new market for iOS. Those 75% Android users are like a gold mine for Apple which they couldn't afford to ignore.
Upgrading is for either people who must have the greatest or if it solves some problem. Well, I've got no problem with my 5, and I don't care about the latest anymore, so there it is...
The newer iPhones are simply much better equipped to remain viable longer. I kept my 4s for three years but the last year was more than a drag due to its tiny screen, bulky form factor, small storage space (64GB), and lack of processing and connectivity speed. My 6+ still seems remarkably fast well into year 2 so I'm not even thinking about upgrading this fall unless I'm totally blown away by the 7. A year from now I'll probably be much more attentive to what's in the release pipeline since I'm starting to get too tight on storage with the 6+ and really need more than 128GB for onboard music.
I'd love to see Apple do a special 10th Anniversary Editions in 2017 with outrageous specs, like 512GB storage, all new display technology, throwback rainbow Apple logo, and choice of any of the original iMac colors. Keep the mainstream versions sterile themed but go totally crazy with the special editions.
Good. Slow down the rampant waste of materials and resources in the frenzy to constantly buy the same thing over and over.
Would be nice to nail down a timeless design case, and upgrade only the innards. They can keep the same thickness, and just increase the battery as the other things shrink. Wouldn't that be nice! That's why I hope the Ara project will take off.
Comments
Honestly though, this goes possibly goes hand in hand with Apple not doing yearly updates to its iPhone. Regardless of whether or not Apple updates their phone all the time, people will still have an older model and will want to upgrade. If you have a 4 now, a 6S is a HUGE upgrade, hell even an iPhone SE if you wanted the same form factor is a good update. There are still many reasons to update even if Apple doesn't.
As consumers we are paying a pretty high price for all the bells and whistles and glorified services. Calculate the cost of your mobile devices and computers and add all your monthly fees and subscriptions. My bet is that most of us would be shocked at how much we shell out each year. I even pay a monthly fee for Office 360 for my family (not for me - iWork is good enough for me). Office has served me well in the past and still serves my wife and kids, but honestly it is not giving me anything more than it did 20 years ago. Will that be true in 20 years? How much will I have paid by then?
Form. Function. Somewhere in there is some difference.
Pruning a bougy is a challenge on a hot day if you can't wear gloves and a heavy long-sleeved shirt ... but you are right, there are jobs the entitled generation will not do, at any reasonable price.
Will we we hear that during the WWDC keynote next week?
Scoped out the ATT Next Plan - would cost me upwards of $30 more dollars a month, with less data.
So so much for Apple's "planned obsolescence".
While I think it could be a problem short term, Apple wouldn't be here today without customer loyalty. A fantastic phone that lasts 2-4 years would certainly add to that.
Wow, now there's a blatant ant desperate attempt to pump up an inferiority complex. Pissing contest over phone plans?
NEXT on AT&T is a payment subscription scam. Time to get off that high miniature moral horse, because you're being taken too. If you really want to man up, just buy your phone outright. You can even build character and practical adult skills by selling your phone later to learn about commerce, economics and negotiation.
I'd love to see Apple do a special 10th Anniversary Editions in 2017 with outrageous specs, like 512GB storage, all new display technology, throwback rainbow Apple logo, and choice of any of the original iMac colors. Keep the mainstream versions sterile themed but go totally crazy with the special editions.