freerange

I’m currently traveling in China and Apple News is not available even using VPN connected to a US server. I’ve been traveling to China for 20 years and lived here for 6 and internet access just keeps getting worse and worse! In this case however it is actually Apple that is restricting access as I can still access the NYT and WP, which are blocked by the Chinese. Speaking with my Chinese friends here, many are not even aware of the Hong Kong demonstrations, or the issues they are demonstrating against. Nothing like keeping 1.3 Billion people in the dark. Trump has so many good friends like himself! You know the ones, the ones in leadership positions that suppress those “enemies of the people”!

jeffreytgilbert said:

So what i’m hearing is Apple is still ignoring consumer demand regarding an unhobbled iPad OS, and unhobbled macbook pro hardware. There is 0 justification for limiting the user facing cameras to the same resolution found on the very first iPhone. Video looks like hot garbage. “Facetime HD” is laughably bad. Do better. Also not a fan of seeing trails of red smear going across my “retina” display on a 2020 macbook pro. They’re telling us laptop users don’t demand better displays? 

On one side the hardware is bad. On the other side the software is bad. Can’t win! 

Dell awaits you!

koop said:

Bill is allowed to respectfully disagree if he wants to. While this is red meat for a lot of Apple enthusiasts, keep in mind that this issue is not black and white and is really complex not just from a technical standpoint but from a moral standpoint as well.

It's not complex at all. If Apple were to comply, if even possible, every country in the world would be demanding the same access, and eventually this would get out in the wild. This is not about just one phone, nor is it complex. Only someone who is clueless would think so, or someone who ran a company selling buggy easily hacked software like Windows historically was under Bill. Of course he thinks Apple is wrong, security wasn't that high of a priority when he was in charge, so why should it be for Apple...

bigmushroom said:

I am not sure Motorola was such a bad deal for Google:

- They sold Motorola to Lenovo for 2.9 billion (as the article correctly reports).
- They also sold the cable modem and set-top box business to Arris for 2.35 billion in 2012.
- Motorola had 3 billion in cash.

So once you factor everything out (plus some tax assets apparently), it appears they lost not more than 3.5 billion on the deal. A nice article is here:

http://bgr.com/2014/02/13/google-motorola-sale-interview-lenovo/

So one view is that they paid about 3.5 billion for Motorola patents - which is less than Apple and Microsoft paid when they teamed up to buy Nortel patents for 4.5 billion.

But more importantly, Motorola was about to sue other Android manufacturers (Samsung, HTC). Google appeared to buy Motorola to end that threat because Android was not yet the dominant alternative to iOS. If Motorola would have sued everyone else, it could have disrupted the whole eco-system.

So I don't think Google regrets buying Motorola - it might have been a defensive move (getting more patents, prevent a patent war with other Android OEMs) but it wasn't hugely expensive in the end.

I think you’re missing the point. The Motorola business was a failure under Google. Period.

bdkennedy1002 said:

Never buy the first generation of anything.

Ridiculous comment. The issues discussed here are solved simply by software and firmware updates, not the hardware. These speakers are amazing, and only need the software / firmware tweaks.

It is moronic to think that Apple shouldn’t have control of their own platform. Epic, F off! What Epic is asking for is like telling Walmart that they can not charge their own customers a profit on the products they sell. That Walmart should just give it away at cost. Walmart provides the store, the infrastructure, the cash registers, THE CUSTOMER BASE, and the access to those customers, etc. And yet Epic believes that they shouldn’t have to allow Walmart to make a profit  on their products after Walmart has provided access to their customers and the vehicles for marketing to them. It is also ludicrous for the EU and companies like Epic to insist that Apple allow other app stores to access the Apple platform. It’s like demanding that Walmart allow Target to access all of Walmart’s own customers even though Walmart provided the infrastructure and platform for Target to create their products, the technical infrastructure and technical support to create the products they sell, and the vehicle for Epic’s customers to use Epic’s products.

The app store is anti-competitive? Really??? Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, etc. Apple TV, Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video. Apple Works, Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint. FaceTime, Zoom, Skype, Google. Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Apple lets competitors in - the supposedly closed platform is, wait for it, OPEN!!!!! Hey Epic, build your own f’n platform and ecosystem if you don’t like it!

Great, now scumbag western law firm ambulance chasing / class action techniques are being being imported into China. And in this case, going after Apple for doing exactly what the Chinese government does, removing and banning things without notice or explanation. Comical!

Further, this looks like a big fat nothing burger. Trying to find out anything about these legal hacks online and virtually nothing comes up in English - they are obviously a small outfit. They have a Facebook listing with no info other than the fact that they are located in Beijing, and no website comes up, or other articles about them. Yawn! I did find their website but it's written only in Chinese. Any substantial Chinese law firm will have an English language version/link for their site, and their site isn't even optimized for mobile, which is laughable in the Chinese market.

fred1 said:

I find it interesting that they announced a product that won’t be available for nine months at least. More importantly it won’t be released until after the Fall product announcements. Why didn’t they wait until then to announce it? Was it all the buzz going around? Or just wanting to get people excited so they won’t look at what others come up with between now and then? 

Because it’s the developer conference, and developers need to program apps for it before the actual release. And because consumers are going to need to start saving for it now at $3,500+

Metriacanthosaurus said:

There has to be a system of checks and balances. The idea that Apple can do whatever it wants with its own platform isn’t good enough. That is just a copout and a way to circumvent fairness, openness, and possibly even the law. 

If you want to have a platform and pretend to make it available to everyone, it has to actually be available to everyone, without various anti competitive practices that prevent any one particular company or group or political ideology from exposure. Let the market handle it, not the whims of a few people in Cupertino. 

What bullshit! If you don’t like the policies, just get android / develop for android. Apple owns the OS and the App Store so you need to play by their rules. They didn’t have to let any third party apps on their system! And they have lots of apps in their store that compete with their own so that argument doesn’t hold water. 

THE SUBSCRIPTION DISEASE

 To GM: There is no way in hell I would buy a car from you and pay a monthly/annual subscription fee!

I’m sure I’m joined by millions when I say, go screw yourself!