I live in poverty, but I have an iPad Pro (1st gen 12.9") and two iPhones (an iPhone 4, considered "obsolete" at this point, happily used as an iPod, and an iPhone 6s... probably considered obsolete very soon).
I was poor when I got them. I don't spend money on anything but bills and groceries. Occasionally I get a tax refund and I put it toward an electronic device I need. At no point did I ever even consider buying the ridiculous iPhone X.
No advanced degree either. It's so much more "fun" to be an intellectual when impoverished and unable to formally document any "professional" competency to a would be employer... :-p
Gee, I don’t know... you spend a lot of time on this site complaining. Are you sure you’re not a disgruntled wealthy retired person?
Roughly half of Americans have these devices, I don’t think it’s simply a have an iPhone that means someone is wealthy. However the indicator is which iPhone. If you have an iPhone X, you are probably rich, if you have an iPhone 6, you are not necessarily rich.
Interesting tidbit, but not sure it has any meaningful context for Apple.
If I was Apple I'd shrug my shoulders and just say "hmmm." Then I'd get back to work and devote 100% of my attention to building the most exceptional products I possibly could, just so I can keep my entire customer base happy. No deeper thought warranted.
I live in poverty, but I have an iPad Pro (1st gen 12.9") and two iPhones (an iPhone 4, considered "obsolete" at this point, happily used as an iPod, and an iPhone 6s... probably considered obsolete very soon).
I was poor when I got them. I don't spend money on anything but bills and groceries. Occasionally I get a tax refund and I put it toward an electronic device I need. At no point did I ever even consider buying the ridiculous iPhone X.
No advanced degree either. It's so much more "fun" to be an intellectual when impoverished and unable to formally document any "professional" competency to a would be employer... :-p
Gee, I don’t know... you spend a lot of time on this site complaining. Are you sure you’re not a disgruntled wealthy retired person?
I read that in India Soda other discretionary sales are down because people there are choosing not to buy other items so they can afford their data plans on their smart phones.
This is NOT true. The data plans are very cheap in India. I get 1GB data/day, unlimited calls and 75 SMS/day all of them together for about $2.5 (Rs. 170) per month.
First, I do not think you speak for the 1.2B Indians, your statement is true for you but not true for most Indian consumers.
Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal, which has a pretty good reputation on this subject, I also seen and hear similar information elsewhere. I hope you can afford a subscription to the WSJ.
Maybe you should learn more about the consumers in your country, here is report from Goldman Sachs about how most people can not afford common goods, but they rather spend lots of money they do not have on weddings, (Page 4 item 7)
Please read pass the first few pages, grant it, this report is trying to paint a rosy picture for India, but when 95% of people make $5K USD or less per yr that rosy picture is a long way off. Keep in mind 50% of the people in the US make $55K so most Americans are making 10x that of majority of Indians. To put this in perspective, cell phone plans are cheap to use your number $2.80/month to the US which is about $35/month which is 10X that of india, however when you look at this as % of GNI Indian spend 2.6% verse the US spend 0.8%, Indians are expending 3X more of their disposable income on a cell phones plans.
I love when a Samsung user tells me I'm overpaying for my iPhone, and then I ask how long do they use their phones for. An iPhone can be used for 5 years, Android users are lucky if they can get anything longer than 2.5 years. It's an investment and money well spent.
Not only that, but iPhone's have great resell value as well. After a Samsung phone is released, carriers are basically giving them away a month later.
No, it's not a wealth indicator. It is a choice of quality and great service over quantity. I'm far from being a wealthy person and the people around me that I know are not wealthy either.
Most likely it is, but it is net result of the current situation. Google and others are taking advantage of the fact that most people can not afford the things they want so they give up privacy to have it. Apple has chosen not to make money off the backs of someone privacy.
The flip side is more true. Androids are poor. They choose a cheap phone only because they cannot afford iPhone. Everybody who buys Android should be shunned. They are all poor and miserable.
I am not surprised but also, it's interesting to note that iPhone users are more likely to pay for services and products than Android users. That is important because it means that Apple developers are more likely to profit from developing on Apple platform than on Android platform.
Most likely it is, but it net result of the current situation. Google and others are taking advantage of the fact that most people can not afford the things they want so they give up privacy to have it. Apple has chosen not to make money off the backs of someone privacy.
Hmm...I can afford (and do own) Apple products yet I sometimes use Google (and others services). Why? Because they’re better. I think this whole privacy thing is overrated. If Netflix knows my watch history so its recommendations to me are better I don’t consider that a bad thing. And is Google actually collecting single person by name specific information and selling that to advertisers? Or is it just anonymized? If it’s the latter, why should I care if the services provided are better because of it?
The flip side is more true. Androids are poor. They choose a cheap phone only because they cannot afford iPhone. Everybody who buys Android should be shunned. They are all poor and miserable.
But your comment seems to indicate people can be rich and miserable.
Most likely it is, but it net result of the current situation. Google and others are taking advantage of the fact that most people can not afford the things they want so they give up privacy to have it. Apple has chosen not to make money off the backs of someone privacy.
Hmm...I can afford (and do own) Apple products yet I sometimes use Google (and others services). Why? Because they’re better. I think this whole privacy thing is overrated. If Netflix knows my watch history so its recommendations to me are better I don’t consider that a bad thing. And is Google actually collecting single person by name specific information and selling that to advertisers? Or is it just anonymized? If it’s the latter, why should I care if the services provided are better because of it?
Since you think privacy is overrate, how about you share with me your User ID and Passwords on all your email accounts. I would be more than happen to see if your life is that boring no one would be interest in it.
I agree Netflix using my usage to help me find new shows on their service is not bad since they only know what I am watching on their service and not sharing my watch habits with other people. I do not mind someone using my direct activity with them to help better serve me and provide me a better experience. This is not what Google and others are doing, and you can not be 100% sure it anonymized.
I will give you a concrete examples. I live in my house with my wife and two kids. We all have the same internet Public IP address to the outside world. Google does not know who I am specifically since I block and filter traffic on computer when i am not using my VPN, but most times google knows my Public IP. Since doing this I beginning to see ads which do not even come close to my person interest or internet activity. At first I though google advertising algorithm went haywire. Turns out what I was seeing on my computer was related to things my daughter was searching for. How do I know, she mentioned one day she was looking for something very specific and it turns out it was one of the ads showing up on my computer. For all google knew it was the same person at the same public IP address they were sending ads to. Do you really think my daughter wants her dad knowing the type of underwear she was searching for on the internet, Google just invader her privacy and share it with me.
If this one does not hit home for you, imagine you are at home looking something up on the internet about something you really do not want others to know about. Google through time has connected your work and home computers so they know for sure you are the same person at both locations. You have someone in your office or your in a conference room doing a presentation and you put up a website which uses ad sense from google and all of a sudden ads for the information you were looking for begin showing up on the website. Most people my not notice, but people will realize those ads are specific to you and now they know your secret.
Both of these happen to me, The first one my daughter does not know since I choose not to embarrass her and I fix her computer to only use our VPN now. The second one I was not embarrass since it was something everyone who knew me knows that I work on old cars and all kinds of car part ads were showing up. But I release what I do in the privacy of my home can now show up at work, all thanks to google.
I read that in India Soda other discretionary sales are down because people there are choosing not to buy other items so they can afford their data plans on their smart phones.
This is NOT true. The data plans are very cheap in India. I get 1GB data/day, unlimited calls and 75 SMS/day all of them together for about $2.5 (Rs. 170) per month.
First, I do not think you speak for the 1.2B Indians, your statement is true for you but not true for most Indian consumers.
Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal, which has a pretty good reputation on this subject, I also seen and hear similar information elsewhere. I hope you can afford a subscription to the WSJ.
Maybe you should learn more about the consumers in your country, here is report from Goldman Sachs about how most people can not afford common goods, but they rather spend lots of money they do not have on weddings, (Page 4 item 7)
Please read pass the first few pages, grant it, this report is trying to paint a rosy picture for India, but when 95% of people make $5K USD or less per yr that rosy picture is a long way off. Keep in mind 50% of the people in the US make $55K so most Americans are making 10x that of majority of Indians. To put this in perspective, cell phone plans are cheap to use your number $2.80/month to the US which is about $35/month which is 10X that of india, however when you look at this as % of GNI Indian spend 2.6% verse the US spend 0.8%, Indians are expending 3X more of their disposable income on a cell phones plans.
Even with cheap data plans in India, most Indian can not afford it without giving up other things
Well, the articles that you have shared are from year 2016. Here is the thing - Things change over a period of time. And 2 years in technology is a very long time. Until 2016, the data plans were very expensive in India. And if you exceed the puny data cap limits (1GB data per month is what my memory says, i.e. 30MB per day), you ended up with huge amount added to the already costly bill. To top it off, 3G coverage (No, it is not a typo. I am talking about 3G only, not 4G) was relatively pathetic even in urban cities until 2016. Things have improved significantly in the last 1.5 years. Along with very good coverage in urban areas and average coverage in rural areas, the data plans have also become cheaper. 4G speeds are still a dream though. The phone would show 4G, but the actual speed is something similar to 3G speeds only.
Another point - India has a huge population under BPL (below poverty line). And whatever points you mentioned are valid for them. But most of them use basic phones, not smartphones. India ALSO has huge middle class (by Indian standards) population who can easily afford the cheap data plans which are available now. And no, they don't need to give up on other things just to afford a data plan.
Comments
If I was Apple I'd shrug my shoulders and just say "hmmm." Then I'd get back to work and devote 100% of my attention to building the most exceptional products I possibly could, just so I can keep my entire customer base happy. No deeper thought warranted.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
First, I do not think you speak for the 1.2B Indians, your statement is true for you but not true for most Indian consumers.
Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal, which has a pretty good reputation on this subject, I also seen and hear similar information elsewhere. I hope you can afford a subscription to the WSJ.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/indians-spurn-snacks-shampoo-to-load-their-smartphones-1471163223
Maybe you should learn more about the consumers in your country, here is report from Goldman Sachs about how most people can not afford common goods, but they rather spend lots of money they do not have on weddings, (Page 4 item 7)
http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/macroeconomic-insights-folder/rise-of-the-india-consumer/report.pdf
Please read pass the first few pages, grant it, this report is trying to paint a rosy picture for India, but when 95% of people make $5K USD or less per yr that rosy picture is a long way off. Keep in mind 50% of the people in the US make $55K so most Americans are making 10x that of majority of Indians. To put this in perspective, cell phone plans are cheap to use your number $2.80/month to the US which is about $35/month which is 10X that of india, however when you look at this as % of GNI Indian spend 2.6% verse the US spend 0.8%, Indians are expending 3X more of their disposable income on a cell phones plans.
http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/where-are-cheapest-and-most-expensive-countries-own-mobile-phone
Even with cheap data plans in India, most Indian can not afford it without giving up other things
Most likely it is, but it is net result of the current situation. Google and others are taking advantage of the fact that most people can not afford the things they want so they give up privacy to have it. Apple has chosen not to make money off the backs of someone privacy.
I agree Netflix using my usage to help me find new shows on their service is not bad since they only know what I am watching on their service and not sharing my watch habits with other people. I do not mind someone using my direct activity with them to help better serve me and provide me a better experience. This is not what Google and others are doing, and you can not be 100% sure it anonymized.
I will give you a concrete examples. I live in my house with my wife and two kids. We all have the same internet Public IP address to the outside world. Google does not know who I am specifically since I block and filter traffic on computer when i am not using my VPN, but most times google knows my Public IP. Since doing this I beginning to see ads which do not even come close to my person interest or internet activity. At first I though google advertising algorithm went haywire. Turns out what I was seeing on my computer was related to things my daughter was searching for. How do I know, she mentioned one day she was looking for something very specific and it turns out it was one of the ads showing up on my computer. For all google knew it was the same person at the same public IP address they were sending ads to. Do you really think my daughter wants her dad knowing the type of underwear she was searching for on the internet, Google just invader her privacy and share it with me.
If this one does not hit home for you, imagine you are at home looking something up on the internet about something you really do not want others to know about. Google through time has connected your work and home computers so they know for sure you are the same person at both locations. You have someone in your office or your in a conference room doing a presentation and you put up a website which uses ad sense from google and all of a sudden ads for the information you were looking for begin showing up on the website. Most people my not notice, but people will realize those ads are specific to you and now they know your secret.
Both of these happen to me, The first one my daughter does not know since I choose not to embarrass her and I fix her computer to only use our VPN now. The second one I was not embarrass since it was something everyone who knew me knows that I work on old cars and all kinds of car part ads were showing up. But I release what I do in the privacy of my home can now show up at work, all thanks to google.
So... I have an iPhone, iPad, and a BMW, though all 3 combined cost less than most of my neighbors Fords, Chevys, and Toyotas.
Well, the articles that you have shared are from year 2016. Here is the thing - Things change over a period of time. And 2 years in technology is a very long time. Until 2016, the data plans were very expensive in India. And if you exceed the puny data cap limits (1GB data per month is what my memory says, i.e. 30MB per day), you ended up with huge amount added to the already costly bill. To top it off, 3G coverage (No, it is not a typo. I am talking about 3G only, not 4G) was relatively pathetic even in urban cities until 2016. Things have improved significantly in the last 1.5 years. Along with very good coverage in urban areas and average coverage in rural areas, the data plans have also become cheaper. 4G speeds are still a dream though. The phone would show 4G, but the actual speed is something similar to 3G speeds only.
Another point - India has a huge population under BPL (below poverty line). And whatever points you mentioned are valid for them. But most of them use basic phones, not smartphones. India ALSO has huge middle class (by Indian standards) population who can easily afford the cheap data plans which are available now. And no, they don't need to give up on other things just to afford a data plan.