How could any of Apple's competitors become a threat, at this point?
Even if MS could produce a Wintel Surface Book Pro Plus, it would still only run Win10, a clumsy first attempt to recombine Vista, WiMo7 and 8.1.
Even if SS could produce a slick and fast Galaxy Note Edge Plus, that ran efficiently and did actually compare to A-series chips, it would still only run Android, an open door to any and all to our private lives.
None of these companies have added value to the basic hardware and software they supposedly specialize or lead in.
Jobs moved the hub of our digital lives from the Mac to the Cloud about seven (?) years ago, and despite MobileMe and current perceived problems, the virtual digital hub provides Apple with an unprecedented advantage. How could all those other companies, that as DED pointed out are destroying each other's competitiveness, achieve parity with Apple?
The only way I see other companies generating non-negative profit growth is to do something very strange: cooperate with each other. Perhaps MS can remove itself from hardware to focus Windows as an easier-to-customize platform so vendors can begin differentiating themselves. With different companies providing just the elements they specialize in - such as Intel/Qualcomm for chips, Google for net services, and Japan Display for screens, maybe they can, as a group, round out a product that is competitive. But this still leaves the cloud services and security/privacy issues. Perhaps RIM?
Apple got a lucky break: it got Jobs. The team he assembled that now runs the company seems to strive to continue the value he added to the company. No other company has Apple's combination of talent, vision, or execution. Until MS can make a version of Windows that people love and that just works, no. Until SS can make a phone that people love and just works, also no. It will be years before Apple has to worry about a competitor in the market.
The biggest threat to Apple's value is from the people who are trying to damage it such as through the end of encryption and the much smaller threat of Copy, Emulate, Steal. 'Value added' such as customer satisfaction, services, updates, security and privacy, build quality, third party software quality and quantity, resale value and an accessories industry can only be built independently.
Good luck to them!
"One fundamental problem with Apple that Cook failed to fix and DED failed to address is Apple's perennially weak cloud."
I agree. Cloud computing, AI, Lifestyle-based services (biometrics, health, fitness, home automation, etc.) is where the next major battleground for the next era of mobile will be. As great as Tim Cook has done up till now, I'm not convinced he's CEO to lead Apple into this next era of computing where cloud / AI becomes more important. That's not to say that the device is unimportant, it just won't be the main competitive advantage. Apple needs a CEO that has the vision to be able to lead it for this next era of Cloud & AI.
What's Steve Ballmer up to these days?
He's trying to make trouble during Microsoft quarterly results calls, being the single-largest shareholder.
Surface Pro, MS Office Mobile including Outook app, Activesync, InTune / System Center as MDM are some examples on how MS knows mobile.
The Surface Pro has a great construction, and very good keyboard and stylus, excellent display (some reviews put it ahead of the iPP screen), can be used as a notebook, tablet or desktop (with the docking station) and it's capable of running desktop applications. And that's a lackluster mobile product? I know is not perfect (battery life comes to my mind), but it's a very capable mobile device.
I agree with you, the iPad Pro is just a large tablet with an optional stylus. The Surface Pro is much more than that, and while it lacks mobile apps, there is no problem with the long list of available applications. And that's an advantage over OS X and Macbooks (which are mobile devices too) and in some cases, even over iOS.
Active sync is the absolute WORST implantation of technology I have ever experienced. Who is this clown?
Quarter after quarter of record profits seems to not be enough for the
aholes who continually short the stock. At the same time doubling Amazon
when they never had a year even close to one of AAPLs quarters! It
would be even funnier if I didn't have so much invested.
The article is correct but facts don't seem to have any actual impact on the market - we just need to hope "they" decide the time is right for the price to go up.
Surface Pro, MS Office Mobile including Outook app, Activesync, InTune / System Center as MDM are some examples on how MS knows mobile.
The Surface Pro has a great construction, and very good keyboard and stylus, excellent display (some reviews put it ahead of the iPP screen), can be used as a notebook, tablet or desktop (with the docking station) and it's capable of running desktop applications. And that's a lackluster mobile product? I know is not perfect (battery life comes to my mind), but it's a very capable mobile device.
I agree with you, the iPad Pro is just a large tablet with an optional stylus. The Surface Pro is much more than that, and while it lacks mobile apps, there is no problem with the long list of available applications. And that's an advantage over OS X and Macbooks (which are mobile devices too) and in some cases, even over iOS.
Active sync is the absolute WORST implantation of technology I have ever experienced. Who is this clown?
I have no issues synching and managing my iOS devices with Exchange and Office 365 using Activesync. But maybe that wasn't your experience.
While the SP4 is not a Macbook or iPad killer, it still does things better than the two devices you mention. For example, compare the Macbook to the Surface Pro and the SP4 has a better display and keyboard, better performance from the i5 and i7 processors, far more applications and run touch optimized apps. And compared to the iPad Pro, again, better display, better performance from the i5 and i7 processors, capable of multiples profiles, mouse support, which is more ergonomic when it's being used with the keyboard, has expansion ports and better multitasking. Not to bad considering "MS has done nothing different in 15 years".
MS has failed with their mobile phones, but Windows 10 in tablets and desktop is getting better quickly. Even Apple is copying some of it's elements, for example, side by side applications (which BTW, Windows 10 still has a better implementation). And they did a great job with MS Office Mobile, and Intune / System Center as a MDM solution. So looks like they know mobile, and sometimes execute better than Apple.
AppleInsider,
Bring back the damn block list so I don't have read this shit all day.
Click on the posters name that you want to ignore; in the upper right corner of the ensuing page are two buttons: "Message" and "Ignore." Click on Ignore followed by "Ok" in the subsequent popup window. About as elegant as "Desktop Linux" can be made to be, I guess.—HTH
If you enjoy good Apple press criticism, I recommend AppleInsider’s Daniel Eran Dilger’s takedown of Business Insider’s Apple is going to have a tough year.
“The idea that Apple will be struggling to pay the rent this year as it copes with an inferiority complex grounded in the overshadowing success of last year’s Apple is not just a surrealist joke,” wrote Dilger Saturday in Apple’s competition is going to have a tough year in 2016, “It’s also what passes for journalism and analysis these days on the web.”
WSJ running a story about Apple News rocky start. Just another example IMO of a less than stellar service coming out of Eddy Cue's shop and where Apple isn't doing a good job of explaining why it exists. I know what Apple News does but why did Apple feel they needed to create it? I must admit with Twitter, Facebook and plain old Safari I rarely use the News app. And I hate when someone shares an article the url redirects you to the app. What if I just want to read the story in the app I'm aready in? I just get this feeling News is going to turn out like newsstand and something Apple neglects once it's moved on to the next thing
Okay you are becoming the person beating a dead horse. Give it up, even if you meet up with these people making the claims you will find what I found about these people. Most of them have no idea what they are talking about, it not like the convinced themselves of what they are saying is true. They honestly can not tell the difference between a watch and an activity tracker. In their mind they both tell time so they are the exact same thing. They can not even understand the value of fashion of why someone would pay all they money for a Rolex.
I recently meet up with some of these people and I found it interesting you choose to say "can't match the combined contributions of a community of collaborating partners." I hear this more and more recently as the reason Apple will fail and Android and other open source type product will win. When you confront these people with facts like all the issue open systems have caused they do not want to talk about it. What I figured out open source to these people mean free, and these people like things that are free even if it does not work. They have a very hard time paying for things which work and forget about them paying a premium because it is the best or someone put lots of time, energy and skill into something. I'll go back to the Rolex, one person show me his Rolex knockoff he paid $150 for and kept insisting it was a Rolex because it said it was and looked like one. His feeling was you do not need to pay thousands of $ to get something that is watch and display time, he saw no value in the engineering and skills it takes to make a Rolex which you can find a cheep knock off. To them making a higher value item makes no sense, it is a waste of time and money. This is where more of these analysis are coming from and the fact they could not evaluate a product if their life depended on it.
Daniel Eran Dilger verbose posts supported by numerous charts give Apple investors exactly what they want to hear - that Apple is doing fantastic job and the bright future is ahead. Keep listening to this old DED tune, while AAPL stock melts down. And it will keep melting down because Apple products start to suck. One fundamental problem with Apple that Cook failed to fix and DED failed to address is Apple's perennially weak cloud. Without a strong cloud, iPhone becomes more a jewelry item than a useful device (I know, the comparison is extreme, iPhone is still a good phone but I want to drive the point). DED barely mentions cloud in his post saying it "need to be fixed or improved." Right.... Eddy Cue can fix the cloud, and you know what else... pigs can fly. One question every Apple investor should ask is this. Are Apple products as useful and as easy to use relative to their competition as they used to be? If not, then they do not justify the premium price Apple demands for them; Apple's popularity will go down and so will its stock.
I know feeding the troll, however, he make a point about the cloud, yes apple as a solution, is it perfect, not really, are they giving huge storage away, no. However, lucky for all of us Apple does not lock you to their cloud services, you can use other ones if you like. The only thing you need apple cloud service if for is keeping contacts, and some other things sync across all your hardware. Beyond this, person do not use Apple cloud for much. Oh I have my own person cloud at him which is linked to me iOS and OSX devices with 8TB of storage.
Again is Apple perfect on all product and features, no. But some feature work as intended and some people are more interested in using a hammer as a screw driver because they can and complain when the screw breaks. In this case there are better solution and Apple allows you to use them and not use their solution.
WSJ running a story about Apple News rocky start. Just another example IMO of a less than stellar service coming out of Eddy Cue's shop and where Apple isn't doing a good job of explaining why it exists. I know what Apple News does but why did Apple feel they needed to create it? I must admit with Twitter, Facebook and plain old Safari I rarely use the News app. And I hate when someone shares an article the url redirects you to the app. What if I just want to read the story in the app I'm aready in? I just get this feeling News is going to turn out like newsstand and something Apple neglects once it's moved on to the next thing
Just curious...how many people here frequent the News app and would you say it's your major source of news?
I actually have been using it, more and more these days. I been using the swipe right to get the search and news feed show up at the bottom and catch my eye so I tend to click and read. The issue is not for issue, as the article points out it is the publisher and if they do not write for the news app then it will become an issue for users. I think more people use it, but obviously Apple can not track the who is using, it the balance of tracking verse not tracking and personal privacy.
Daniel Eran Dilger verbose posts supported by numerous charts give Apple investors exactly what they want to hear - that Apple is doing fantastic job and the bright future is ahead. Keep listening to this old DED tune, while AAPL stock melts down. And it will keep melting down because Apple products start to suck. One fundamental problem with Apple that Cook failed to fix and DED failed to address is Apple's perennially weak cloud. Without a strong cloud, iPhone becomes more a jewelry item than a useful device (I know, the comparison is extreme, iPhone is still a good phone but I want to drive the point). DED barely mentions cloud in his post saying it "need to be fixed or improved." Right.... Eddy Cue can fix the cloud, and you know what else... pigs can fly. One question every Apple investor should ask is this. Are Apple products as useful and as easy to use relative to their competition as they used to be? If not, then they do not justify the premium price Apple demands for them; Apple's popularity will go down and so will its stock.
Maybe iCloud don't work for you, but I'm a long time Apple used, and to me it works fine, I'm very happy with it, and had make me extend my user satisfaction of Apple products, handoff works fantastic, and all my important stuff is in iCloud and It syncs fast and perfectly. I know all the fame Dropbox have, but to me proved useless, something that didn't happen with iCloud.
About AAPL stock, it can on can't melt whatever and for the time people want, but you can deny what you see, and that's what Wall Street is doing, but the real deal is that Apple is the most profitable company ever, and its not based on commodities booming as in oil companies had been. So they have pricing power. And based in its last 10-K and the guidance of the first quarter it will be this year again. So, go on, keep on dreaming of Apple going down the cliff and forget a stock that in the worst case scenario can give its shareholders 30$ per share cash, and still have enough money to outperform the rest of the tech industry.
I didn't think I had to spell it out but it appears that some folks here narrowly think "cloud" means just iCloud. Cloud means all the services, speed, computational power and AI (AI here means Artificial Intelligence and not Apple Insider) that you get from the cloud. "Cloud" can't be created overnight because it requires vast investment in hardware and proprietary software, all fine-tuned and continually updated to keep the edge. Currently, only two companies have a really strong cloud: Google and Amazon (even Dropbox rents Amazon cloud). Partly because of this advantage but also for other reasons not discussed here, I predict that Alphabet and Amazon will surpass Apple in market valuation.
Amazingly, in his two-part exceedingly long piece DED barely mentions the fundamental problem Apple has with the cloud. It can't be easily fixed and Apple appears to be lacking the right people to fix it. Cook had plenty of time to address the problem but failed spectacularly.
I think you have to explain yourself with Amazon, using your own definition above I would said Amazon is not the best. I would agree Cloud in the general sense if more than Storage space, I most people belive that is all Cloud is about. Cloud computing it just the modern day equivalent of Terminal to Mainframe computing. Google does have lots of cloud base things, but it not all that good. I just focus on one Google Doc, yes okay for basis things like simple word or spreadsheets. At any level of complexity and it sucks. I have used it, and I used Window 360 and Icloud, none of them work well, MS will fix their problems maybe Apple will as well. But we know Google will always be in Beta and their customers will be the testers for life.
Apple does not have to provide all the backend power, Apple allows developer to do what they want on their end and pass through the icloud as they see fit. You are correct eventual Cloud will be important, but Apple does not have to fix it since they are not trying to be Google who's whole purpose is to gather as much information about you on their servers. I give you a example, I have an app which does health monitoring and if you sign up with them they will take the data you share with them and do an analysis of health data and this is all done on their end not apple. But if this was google they would want this cloud service done on their systems.
What about the forlorn Mac line, particularly the Pro hardware with its bafflingly slow refresh cycles, or eg. OS X having been declared the OS with the most vulnerabilities by VentureBeat? It makes me sad to see Apple haphazardly focusing on milking their dominant mobile and fledgling wearable presence with limited side vision to their desktop/notebook line. It castrates the growth path for their professional users.
castrated? what a peculiar world view, if you ask me -- theres never been a better time to own a mac. my 2014 rMBP is incredible. my Windows dev VMs never ran better on Mac or non-Mac hardware. my 2011 iMac is my primary workstation and shows no signs of slowing.
are you really saying you have a MP and it's now too slow for you?
WSJ running a story about Apple News rocky start. Just another example IMO of a less than stellar service coming out of Eddy Cue's shop and where Apple isn't doing a good job of explaining why it exists. I know what Apple News does but why did Apple feel they needed to create it? I must admit with Twitter, Facebook and plain old Safari I rarely use the News app. And I hate when someone shares an article the url redirects you to the app. What if I just want to read the story in the app I'm aready in? I just get this feeling News is going to turn out like newsstand and something Apple neglects once it's moved on to the next thing
Just curious...how many people here frequent the News app and would you say it's your major source of news?
i haven't used it more than a couple tries. when the content sites' pages opened in it, they had all the ads I've taken pains to reduce.
Its the go-to news app on my iPhone 6s PLus. Gathered a nice collection of sources all in that one place and find for news it's a lot better than Twitter (as a news consolidator is it's primary function for me) while still more time efficient than trolling through a bunch of variously designed websites via SAFARI and I don't do paid media apps (granted, yet).
Oh and I gather that "rocky start" is in accurately measuring USERS. Hardly "rocky", imho.
WSJ: "There is one major problem: Neither media companies nor Apple know how many people are reading."
This is my two cents contribution on why I stick with Apple (I am not saying it is the best company in the world, all I am saying is I have been using Apple products for many years and why I keep coming back, this is my experience and my opinion)
A little bit of background, I am currently owning a Macbook Air, IP 6s and just bought an Ipad Pro. I traded in my One Plus One last year to get IP 6 then traded in IP 6 to get IP 6s a month later. Before OPO, I owned Samsung S5 and Galaxy Note. I also purchased a Window Surface Pro 4 (yes the latest, along with keyboard and stylus, before quickly return them and bought the Ipad Pro). So yes, I have experienced almost every hype products that exist (except Window phone). I am not a tech savvy, just a regular guy who likes gadgets. Here is my opinion on different products, hardware as well as software.
1) Android: Android is a great OS, you can do so much with it and pretty much all the Apps now support Android. and since it is developed by Google, it supports cloud services very well. You can do so many things with Google Apps such as Sheets, Drive and have them available on any platform through web browser. You have more control over features as well as customization. However, this could also be the reason people don't like Android: they are overwhelmed with all the options and features which sometimes can be a hassle to toggle around. Also, believe it or not, I feel the lag on Android and this problem doesn't go away no matter how powerful the phone is. Especially with camera, there is always a moment of silent when you try to turn on camera or try to take a picture. Some people won't notice, but in cases when you want to turn on camera quickly to capture a precious moment, Android might not be your right choice.
The most import point about Android is, even though it has a strong cloud service, it doesn't have its own OS for laptop or desktop, it doesn't create a complete ecosystem. For example, you can't sync texts on your phone to your laptop or pictures. Yes, I am aware of alternatives and I can go to photos.google.com to look at pictures, but it is not very intuitive.
2) Windows 10: either I was sold a bad Surface or I am an idiot, but it think it is a disaster in term of software and hardware. Hardware? It gets freaking hot real fast and battery life is terrible. Yes, the screen is crisp and keyboard feel great but you can't appreciate the machine if the battery dies in less than 3 hours or before you drop it since it is too hot. Also, the screen is not that sensitive and I experience some type of bug in which it is acting very strangely. Just like anything with Windows, OS is very confusing to use, for example, why there has to be a laptop and tablet mode when functionality is pretty similar, the only difference is the location of icons. I also want to share with you this funny story. After I bought the Surface, I decide to bring it with me on our winter vacation to a cabin. There is no internet at the cabin so I loaded some movies to entertain myself if I was bored. However, I ended up didn't watch any movie since we had enough activity to do. While I was there, I tried to load up the camera to take some picture of us and also want to try out its camera. I couldn't load up the camera whatsoever! As soon as the camera function loaded up, it disappeared! I brought it back to Seattle and tried it again with internet connection, and it worked! So either I did something wrong or camera function needs internet to load up. If it is the latter, then what the fuck? Anyway, I didn't bother to keep it.
3) Mac OS and iOS: They talk to each other very well to create a complete ecosystem. You can read Message on your phone or you laptop/Ipad. You can look at picture on any device. The software is simple to use, intuitive and there is no lag. Camera loads up fast and take good pictures. There is no wait time when you try to load up the app or when you try to snap it. And, if you equipped iphone with Google Apps, you have everything you need to be productive. The whole system just works flawlessly. As a regular user, this is all I need. And then, Facetime. This is the best software ever in term of video chat, period! Especially with international video calls! My family is in Vietnam, I have tried literally anything: Line, Whatsapp, Hangouts, FB chat, Skype, etc. You name it, I tried. None of them works as good as Facetime. I had so many dropped calls with other services. I experience very little dropped call with Facetime even when my family use 3G network in Vietnam. The video quality is also much higher than other free service. I think this is the reason that makes people living abroad to like iPhone better. So they can communicate with their family in their home country.
4) OPO vs Samsung vs Window vs Apple: don't get me wrong, there is a huge difference between Samsung S5 and S6, OPO and Oneplus Two in term of design and materials. But at the end, Apple products still give me the sense of I-get-what-I-paid-for. From the first Iphone till now, when you hold an IP, you can feel that it is solid and the material is just exceptional. Again, this might be not fair since OPO or OP two is half price of the IPhone, but the difference in price in this case doesn't strongly affect someone's decision when they make a purchase. Also, you get more with IP such as superior finger print scanner that can unlock your phone very fast or a better camera (in my opinion). I don't touch on Window phone since I haven't owned one but my brother returned it after couple days of use and App support for Window I heard is not very strong.
What I am trying to say is, I might be very bias, an Apple fan boy as you called, but overall, Apple creates a product that is worth your money, easy to use, along with a complete ecosystem that it is very hard for you to switch to something else.
I took delivery on an iPad pro nearly a month ago. Since that time, my MacBook sits on a shelf and my iMac is only used for printing.
I was looking at picking up an older generation Mac mini as a media server, but with the release of the Apple TV and TV OS, I have decided to wait until Apple puts out a device based on the A9 and 4k capable as I will be purchasing a 4k LG OLED television soon.
There is nothing coming from MSFT, Intel, or Google that interests me in the slightest.
I was offered a Surface pro 3 by my employer. I really don't want the machine. It gets terrible battery life, especially when on an LTE network. And for what I do, network connectivity is an absolute necessity. The Surface is a dog with respect to battery life in the first place and far worse when connected.
Android is spyware and I won't consider using it. Samsung's Tizen is decent, but the software availability is poor. Microsoft's mobile efforts are even worse and Intel is no longer competitive in consumer class CPUs. And the Intel fanboys can go elsewhere to spout their drivel. The GPU in the iPad pro outperforms all Intel integrated units. The A9X chip performs at a low end Core i5 in CPU performance while consuming 1/3 of the power and for far lower cost than the Intel Core M counterpart. Once Apple releases the A10 and A10X with the A9X going into the next generation iPad Air and Apple TV, what then for Microsoft, Google and Intel?
This game is over. Apple has won. In the words of Michael Dell, "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders..." Only this time, that advice should be going to Intel, Microsoft and to his own company itself.
Apple is locking Google out of the iOS ecosystem and doing it legitimately. I rather like Apple maps these days. I like searching by voice with Siri. I love using apps for many of the things I do rather than a search engine of any kind.
And my iPad pro lasts like 14 hours on battery with that fantastic pencil and great speakers. I doubt I'll ever buy another product from MSFT and INTC. I certainly won't be using any Google service of any kind. I do like Samsung's products and I do hope they can get their act together and build a decent product that can link into Apple's ecosystem, leaving Google behind.
As of this moment, barring a North Korean attack or Pakistan launching a nuclear strike on India, Apple's momentum is nearing unstoppable.
Daniel, it might be worth mentioning that The Apple Watch has captured 74% SMARTWATCH market share according to Strategy Analytics who properly compares the Watch against other smartwatches, correctly excluding $50 fitness bands from the comparison.
Also, Horace Dediu at Asymco reports: "between 6 and 7 million units have been sold to date. During the fourth quarter (third since launch) I expect another 6 to 7 million units to be sold. That places the Watch launch at a higher sales rate than the iPhone (3.7 million in three quarters), even with the iPad (14.7 million) and slightly lower than the Mac's volumes (15 million in the last three quarters, 31 years after launch.)"
"Selling 13 to 14 million of a new category product, in three quarters, priced at an average of $400 is extraordinary by any measure. Moreover that's equivalent to over $5.5 billion in revenues that just appeared out of thin air."
Kindof puts the Apple Watch criticisms in perspective.
Comments
The article is correct but facts don't seem to have any actual impact on the market - we just need to hope "they" decide the time is right for the price to go up.
If you enjoy good Apple press criticism, I recommend AppleInsider’s Daniel Eran Dilger’s takedown of Business Insider’s Apple is going to have a tough year.
“The idea that Apple will be struggling to pay the rent this year as it copes with an inferiority complex grounded in the overshadowing success of last year’s Apple is not just a surrealist joke,” wrote Dilger Saturday in Apple’s competition is going to have a tough year in 2016, “It’s also what passes for journalism and analysis these days on the web.”
DED,
Okay you are becoming the person beating a dead horse. Give it up, even if you meet up with these people making the claims you will find what I found about these people. Most of them have no idea what they are talking about, it not like the convinced themselves of what they are saying is true. They honestly can not tell the difference between a watch and an activity tracker. In their mind they both tell time so they are the exact same thing. They can not even understand the value of fashion of why someone would pay all they money for a Rolex.
I recently meet up with some of these people and I found it interesting you choose to say "can't match the combined contributions of a community of collaborating partners." I hear this more and more recently as the reason Apple will fail and Android and other open source type product will win. When you confront these people with facts like all the issue open systems have caused they do not want to talk about it. What I figured out open source to these people mean free, and these people like things that are free even if it does not work. They have a very hard time paying for things which work and forget about them paying a premium because it is the best or someone put lots of time, energy and skill into something. I'll go back to the Rolex, one person show me his Rolex knockoff he paid $150 for and kept insisting it was a Rolex because it said it was and looked like one. His feeling was you do not need to pay thousands of $ to get something that is watch and display time, he saw no value in the engineering and skills it takes to make a Rolex which you can find a cheep knock off. To them making a higher value item makes no sense, it is a waste of time and money. This is where more of these analysis are coming from and the fact they could not evaluate a product if their life depended on it.
I know feeding the troll, however, he make a point about the cloud, yes apple as a solution, is it perfect, not really, are they giving huge storage away, no. However, lucky for all of us Apple does not lock you to their cloud services, you can use other ones if you like. The only thing you need apple cloud service if for is keeping contacts, and some other things sync across all your hardware. Beyond this, person do not use Apple cloud for much. Oh I have my own person cloud at him which is linked to me iOS and OSX devices with 8TB of storage.
Again is Apple perfect on all product and features, no. But some feature work as intended and some people are more interested in using a hammer as a screw driver because they can and complain when the screw breaks. In this case there are better solution and Apple allows you to use them and not use their solution.
I actually have been using it, more and more these days. I been using the swipe right to get the search and news feed show up at the bottom and catch my eye so I tend to click and read. The issue is not for issue, as the article points out it is the publisher and if they do not write for the news app then it will become an issue for users. I think more people use it, but obviously Apple can not track the who is using, it the balance of tracking verse not tracking and personal privacy.
I think you have to explain yourself with Amazon, using your own definition above I would said Amazon is not the best. I would agree Cloud in the general sense if more than Storage space, I most people belive that is all Cloud is about. Cloud computing it just the modern day equivalent of Terminal to Mainframe computing. Google does have lots of cloud base things, but it not all that good. I just focus on one Google Doc, yes okay for basis things like simple word or spreadsheets. At any level of complexity and it sucks. I have used it, and I used Window 360 and Icloud, none of them work well, MS will fix their problems maybe Apple will as well. But we know Google will always be in Beta and their customers will be the testers for life.
Apple does not have to provide all the backend power, Apple allows developer to do what they want on their end and pass through the icloud as they see fit. You are correct eventual Cloud will be important, but Apple does not have to fix it since they are not trying to be Google who's whole purpose is to gather as much information about you on their servers. I give you a example, I have an app which does health monitoring and if you sign up with them they will take the data you share with them and do an analysis of health data and this is all done on their end not apple. But if this was google they would want this cloud service done on their systems.
are you really saying you have a MP and it's now too slow for you?
Oh and I gather that "rocky start" is in accurately measuring USERS. Hardly "rocky", imho.
WSJ: "There is one major problem: Neither media companies nor Apple know how many people are reading."
A little bit of background, I am currently owning a Macbook Air, IP 6s and just bought an Ipad Pro. I traded in my One Plus One last year to get IP 6 then traded in IP 6 to get IP 6s a month later. Before OPO, I owned Samsung S5 and Galaxy Note. I also purchased a Window Surface Pro 4 (yes the latest, along with keyboard and stylus, before quickly return them and bought the Ipad Pro). So yes, I have experienced almost every hype products that exist (except Window phone). I am not a tech savvy, just a regular guy who likes gadgets. Here is my opinion on different products, hardware as well as software.
1) Android: Android is a great OS, you can do so much with it and pretty much all the Apps now support Android. and since it is developed by Google, it supports cloud services very well. You can do so many things with Google Apps such as Sheets, Drive and have them available on any platform through web browser. You have more control over features as well as customization. However, this could also be the reason people don't like Android: they are overwhelmed with all the options and features which sometimes can be a hassle to toggle around. Also, believe it or not, I feel the lag on Android and this problem doesn't go away no matter how powerful the phone is. Especially with camera, there is always a moment of silent when you try to turn on camera or try to take a picture. Some people won't notice, but in cases when you want to turn on camera quickly to capture a precious moment, Android might not be your right choice.
The most import point about Android is, even though it has a strong cloud service, it doesn't have its own OS for laptop or desktop, it doesn't create a complete ecosystem. For example, you can't sync texts on your phone to your laptop or pictures. Yes, I am aware of alternatives and I can go to photos.google.com to look at pictures, but it is not very intuitive.
2) Windows 10: either I was sold a bad Surface or I am an idiot, but it think it is a disaster in term of software and hardware. Hardware? It gets freaking hot real fast and battery life is terrible. Yes, the screen is crisp and keyboard feel great but you can't appreciate the machine if the battery dies in less than 3 hours or before you drop it since it is too hot. Also, the screen is not that sensitive and I experience some type of bug in which it is acting very strangely. Just like anything with Windows, OS is very confusing to use, for example, why there has to be a laptop and tablet mode when functionality is pretty similar, the only difference is the location of icons. I also want to share with you this funny story. After I bought the Surface, I decide to bring it with me on our winter vacation to a cabin. There is no internet at the cabin so I loaded some movies to entertain myself if I was bored. However, I ended up didn't watch any movie since we had enough activity to do. While I was there, I tried to load up the camera to take some picture of us and also want to try out its camera. I couldn't load up the camera whatsoever! As soon as the camera function loaded up, it disappeared! I brought it back to Seattle and tried it again with internet connection, and it worked! So either I did something wrong or camera function needs internet to load up. If it is the latter, then what the fuck? Anyway, I didn't bother to keep it.
3) Mac OS and iOS: They talk to each other very well to create a complete ecosystem. You can read Message on your phone or you laptop/Ipad. You can look at picture on any device. The software is simple to use, intuitive and there is no lag. Camera loads up fast and take good pictures. There is no wait time when you try to load up the app or when you try to snap it. And, if you equipped iphone with Google Apps, you have everything you need to be productive. The whole system just works flawlessly. As a regular user, this is all I need. And then, Facetime. This is the best software ever in term of video chat, period! Especially with international video calls! My family is in Vietnam, I have tried literally anything: Line, Whatsapp, Hangouts, FB chat, Skype, etc. You name it, I tried. None of them works as good as Facetime. I had so many dropped calls with other services. I experience very little dropped call with Facetime even when my family use 3G network in Vietnam. The video quality is also much higher than other free service. I think this is the reason that makes people living abroad to like iPhone better. So they can communicate with their family in their home country.
4) OPO vs Samsung vs Window vs Apple: don't get me wrong, there is a huge difference between Samsung S5 and S6, OPO and Oneplus Two in term of design and materials. But at the end, Apple products still give me the sense of I-get-what-I-paid-for. From the first Iphone till now, when you hold an IP, you can feel that it is solid and the material is just exceptional. Again, this might be not fair since OPO or OP two is half price of the IPhone, but the difference in price in this case doesn't strongly affect someone's decision when they make a purchase. Also, you get more with IP such as superior finger print scanner that can unlock your phone very fast or a better camera (in my opinion). I don't touch on Window phone since I haven't owned one but my brother returned it after couple days of use and App support for Window I heard is not very strong.
What I am trying to say is, I might be very bias, an Apple fan boy as you called, but overall, Apple creates a product that is worth your money, easy to use, along with a complete ecosystem that it is very hard for you to switch to something else.
I was looking at picking up an older generation Mac mini as a media server, but with the release of the Apple TV and TV OS, I have decided to wait until Apple puts out a device based on the A9 and 4k capable as I will be purchasing a 4k LG OLED television soon.
There is nothing coming from MSFT, Intel, or Google that interests me in the slightest.
I was offered a Surface pro 3 by my employer. I really don't want the machine. It gets terrible battery life, especially when on an LTE network. And for what I do, network connectivity is an absolute necessity. The Surface is a dog with respect to battery life in the first place and far worse when connected.
Android is spyware and I won't consider using it. Samsung's Tizen is decent, but the software availability is poor. Microsoft's mobile efforts are even worse and Intel is no longer competitive in consumer class CPUs. And the Intel fanboys can go elsewhere to spout their drivel. The GPU in the iPad pro outperforms all Intel integrated units. The A9X chip performs at a low end Core i5 in CPU performance while consuming 1/3 of the power and for far lower cost than the Intel Core M counterpart. Once Apple releases the A10 and A10X with the A9X going into the next generation iPad Air and Apple TV, what then for Microsoft, Google and Intel?
This game is over. Apple has won. In the words of Michael Dell, "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders..." Only this time, that advice should be going to Intel, Microsoft and to his own company itself.
Apple is locking Google out of the iOS ecosystem and doing it legitimately. I rather like Apple maps these days. I like searching by voice with Siri. I love using apps for many of the things I do rather than a search engine of any kind.
And my iPad pro lasts like 14 hours on battery with that fantastic pencil and great speakers. I doubt I'll ever buy another product from MSFT and INTC. I certainly won't be using any Google service of any kind. I do like Samsung's products and I do hope they can get their act together and build a decent product that can link into Apple's ecosystem, leaving Google behind.
As of this moment, barring a North Korean attack or Pakistan launching a nuclear strike on India, Apple's momentum is nearing unstoppable.
Also, Horace Dediu at Asymco reports: "between 6 and 7 million units have been sold to date. During the fourth quarter (third since launch) I expect another 6 to 7 million units to be sold. That places the Watch launch at a higher sales rate than the iPhone (3.7 million in three quarters), even with the iPad (14.7 million) and slightly lower than the Mac's volumes (15 million in the last three quarters, 31 years after launch.)"
"Selling 13 to 14 million of a new category product, in three quarters, priced at an average of $400 is extraordinary by any measure. Moreover that's equivalent to over $5.5 billion in revenues that just appeared out of thin air."
Kindof puts the Apple Watch criticisms in perspective.