minisu1980

dewme said:

It would be nice if Qualcomm and Apple would focus on resolving their business relationships through negotiation at the CEO level. Constantly resorting to using the legal system as a club to attack those you can not or will not talk to is a sign of weakness and ineffectual leadership. What the hell are these so-called leaders being paid for if they cannot solve fundamental business problems on their own? When did so-called leaders of industry become nothing more than utterly pathetic hood ornaments? 

This is not a fundamental business problem. Qualcomm wants to be allowed to continue in its illegal and anti competitive pricing scheme. When they got investigated over this, Apple provided factual information that they are breaking the law. They decided to punish Apple for not lying, covering up or supporting their scheme. Qualcomm figured, bet the farm really, that Apple would kowtow like so many other companies had before. When Apple didn’t and it became clear that Qualcomm’s usual bullying tactics of threats and fear of legal fees/adverse outcome (Apple can outlast them and more importantly it can afford to lose) were not going to work they collectively shit themselves (oh to be a fly on the wall in that boardroom). They have no way out; there are really only two outcomes.

1) Most likely. The case is taken to its conclusion and they lose. In this case its game over for them. They have already lost Apple’s future business. Government penalties, civil suits from their other clients who have been similarly fleeced and, critically, being forced to offer terms that are compliant with the law going forward. While they may not necessarily go out of business, Qualcomm will be a mere shadow of it’s former self. Stock price will plummet and it’s shareholders will come seeking blood. They could have left well enough a lone, but sadly hubris and blind greed will have done in the company.

2) They get Apple to drop it’s suit and parlay that into a successful defense against the government suit. It stands to reason they could pull this off especially if Apple were to stand down as it would give validation to their licensing scheme. This outcome would represent the closest return to the status quo which is going to save the executives their jobs as the bulk of Qualcomm’s income will be preserved (the fleecing continues). They might even increase in value as they would be unlikely to be challenged again. Qualcomm really wants this outcome, but realistically the only way this happens is a sweeping ban that is so catastrophic to Apple’s bottom line it would be forced to comply.

How do you deal with a company that takes the stance “I will do what I want because I can, even if it is illegal”. Answer is you can’t, behavior like this only exists because the people who engage in it are not held accountable. The parallels to current political situation in the US is uncanny.

rogifan_new said:

If Cook is really concerned about Facebook and Google he could remove all their apps from the App Store. He could replace Google as the default search engine in iOS. And he could tell his teams to make Apple software and services so good no one who owns an Apple device would want to use Gmail, Google Docs or Google Maps.

i just upgraded my wireless router in my house. I bought a Google mesh system. I would rather have bought something from Apple but they don’t make it so Google it was. And so far it’s been working incredibly well.

Or you know, rather than abusing the power his position provides and restricting peoples freedoms he could use the megaphone he has as the CEO of the largest most forward thinking company in history to publicly call out disgusting behavior in a tactful "just the facts ma'am" manner as he did. Steve made a very wise choice in Tim, he has proven to be a good steward of both the company and it's culture. The largest issue with Apple replacing Google is how to do you do search and make money without becoming another Google (an ad/data seller) in the process. Google, to it's credit, has been extraordinarily successful in their ability to monetize search. That has shaped the company's values and culture negatively, in my view. Apple could subsidize a tracking free search, but that would be the anti-thesis of what has made them successful. I too mourn the loss of Apples networking gear, I have found it to be among the most reliable hands off consumer networking equipment available.

“... then in true Google fashion, the technology will be abandoned within two to three years because it was not an immediate success.”

There fixed it for you McKelvey. Motorola, Boston Dynamics, Google Fiber the list goes on. It seems anything that actually takes work to accomplish Google gives up on, with the noteable exception of using user data to sell ads.

mike1 said:

racerhomie3 said:

I have used the iPhone X & it does feel like the future.
But I just like the home button so much. I feel like buying a 256GB iPhone 8 rather than a 10.
Any opinions ?

I stopped looking for the Home button about 30 minutes into ownership of the X.

My experience mirrors the above comment. One thing I found myself doing for a bit after that initial period was trying to activate the readability feature and therefore looking for the home button. Turns out I really didn't need it given the dimensions of the X. FWIW the iPhone X is hands down the best phone I have owned.

Dracarys said:

andrewj5790 said:

sfolax said:

"April Fools" then continues to post links to his own previous articles. DED, you need to relax a little and stop being so defensive on everything.

How many times does this have to be said? No. One. Else. Is. Calling. Out. The. Media. The whole point of DED articles is to defend against what no one else (except the Macalope) will call out as the preposterousness that it is. The whole point of the article is to be defensive, because most normal tech media attacks Apple all the time and builds up these false narratives. 

Except that DED isn't using facts. He's building his own false narratives to fit his own needs. 

The regular media is NOT attacking Apple, they just aren't always shining Apple as being flawless and that rubs DED the wrong way. It's a FACT that Siri is falling behind, it's a FACT that Chromebooks never went after the enterprise market (why would they? What enterprise is going to go for a web browser based OS? It makes no sense at all). 

This article is so self serving that it's not even funny.

What reality do you live in? I follow the tech industry on on a daily basis. 99% of everything Apple does is crapped on out of the gate by the vast majority of the tech media, followed by a negative analyst opinion piece, that is then reposted by the other news outlets general and financial over and over until the click rates decline. I earn a lot of my income by waiting for Apple to release tech, evaluate what it means long term (basically in one or two days), then purchase LEAPS while the media piles on their doom and gloom predictions. On average it takes 6 months to a year for the media to be proven wrong and to have this reflected in the stock price. Can’t do this with Microsoft or Google because no one cares if their tech fails or succeeds (in fact failure is almost to be expected), so there is little to no coverage or market manipulation and there is no corresponding stock drop to take advantage of.

Is it a FACT (not sure why all caps is needed here) that Siri is behind? Most used, Siri. Widest install base, Siri. On a profitable platform, Siri. A voice assistant is a secondary technology, always has been ... probably always will be. Apple understands this and as such realizes it is likely only to be used in specific scenarios: in the car, on home speaker to play music, on Apple TV to ease text entry. In these scenarios it functions extremely well. Siri has been surpassed by its competitors in use cases that don’t really exist in the real world. 

Again is it a FACT (Facticous Apple Countering Tale? still not sure on the all caps) chromebooks never went after enterprise? Got anything to directly support this statement. Absolutely correct it makes no sense for an web browser based OS to go after enterprise, much like it make zero sense to continue a platform that actively loses money but here we are non the less.

macxpress said:

ShapeshiftingFish said:

I don't mean to generalize and it's probably a short lived glitch in the case of the card, but I tend to trust Apple's services less and less. iCloud is very messy for me with erratic syncing (drive, photos), needing several sign ins and outs on numerous devices; Music is crappy comparing with, say, Spotify, borderline offensive in recommendations and discovery; TV+ is mostly dull with original content seemingly committee based (more so than the competitors), like "let's be edgy, but at all cost inclusive and not offensive". The hardware is mostly still well behaved, so I'm still all in on that front, but I am actively eyeing the alternatives for the first time in several years, just to have a quick backup option. I now a have a second (Android) phone and am using duplicate services (contacts, calendar, notes, photos etc.). And for work, learning the alternative options that work on Windows (Premiere vs. Final Cut, Ableton vs. Logic). I love the idea of tight integration, Apple style, and until very recently I was exclusively Apple-everything. But lately I've been feeling uneasy with that approach. Always have a backup plan and a redundant second everything (romantic partners not strictly implied in that scheme).

Hmm...iCloud works perfectly fine for me. Go figure!

Perhaps not being a troll has a direct correlation with how well iCloud works? 

zroger73 said:

I'm on my second HomePod since launch. The first one had a problem where Siri became hard of hearing after hours/days of use. Apple refunded my money and I bought another one at a retail store. Unfortunately, it does exactly the same thing. When Siri starts going deaf, all I have to do is unplug the HomePod and plug it back in and the operation returns to "perfection"...for hours or days. Apple couldn't solve my problem with the first one, so they refunded my money. They haven't been able to figure out why the second one does the same thing, either. All I get is escalations to another department who calls back a few days later and I go through the same "infinite loop". I had hopes the 11.3 update would resolve this issue, but it didn't. I also don't like how Siri answers me too loudly at times and too softly at others independent of the volume setting. The sound quality is impressive, but the voice control makes the product too frustrating for me. My "workaround"? I plugged the HP into a digital timer that turns off the power for one minute each day.

When it works, it's well worth the $349 I paid for it. However, having to cycle the power to get it to work is unacceptable. I find myself using my Amazon Echo devices more often. Even though the sound quality is much lower, Alexa doesn't have a hearing problem.

I can confirm that I have had exactly zero of the problems you are describing, maybe check your power/wiring situation occasionally electronics can act funny if the power to them fluctuates.

kitatit said:

wood1208 said:

4 years replacement cycle sounds unreasonable. People go at most 2 1/2 to 3 years most.

I used to be a 2year upgrader. But Apple prices now have made me choke and hold off the last two years. I was absolutely ready to buy an iPhone X but just can’t stomach the price. OK, here comes the XS, I’ll get that..... what? They raised the price again! Choke again, OK iPhone 11?.... 

It’s always been a case of you couldn’t give me an Android for free but the thought of switching to Android has actually crossed my mind now. 

My iPhone 6 is looking like a 5year upgrade cycle. 

We’ll surely it’s crossed your mind that with an Android you wouldn’t have the option of waiting 5 years between upgrades. The very fact you can wait this long speaks to the reality that iPhone has a much lower total cost of ownership. When your financial circumstances allow, if you upgrade to a new iPhone you can expect to get the same if not more years out of it. 

Figuring $1,100 for a new iPhone XS Max, that comes out to $18 a month or less over its life cycle.

magman1979 said:

Have as much experience as I do with ALL of the other brands listed, and knowing how shitty they are, I find it astonishing the index value between them is that close!

I can only think of two possibilities why that is...

1) This data is "sponsored", which is often the case, or
2) The majority of consumers really have become so inept that they cannot tell the differences, and we've firmly moved into the "it's good enough" mentality

lkrupp said:

If we don’t believe them when they predict doom then why would we believe when they predict sunny skies?

Because the reliability of their guesses don’t change objective reality. I’ll choose to believe it’s sunny when there is not a cloud in the sky, even if the analysts are telling me it’s raining.