avon b7

mercel said:

Joe Arredondo said:

At least the Chinesse realize they dont have what is required to create such amazing products and they are trying to learn how to make it... is bad but you have to learn somewere.... Apple need to protect better its investments

And people should stop patronizing the copycat manufacturers.  I’m looking at you Huawei, Samsung, etc.  

At this point in time it should be clear to all that a very widespread and intense slur campaign is underway by the US government against Huawei.

The US is pushing other countries hard to stop Huawei's progress in key strategic fields where the US looks to lose influence.

Pompeo is on tour at this very moment and attacking Huawei at every step - and admitting to it publicly - but with little or nothing in tow in terms of facts.

I would say if there is anything to bite on, companies must present formal charges. 'Anonymous' claims and how they are presented should be taken lightly until the 5G roll out is well under way.

Huawei's R&D outlay has been consistently near the top of the world rankings for years now and that is part of the reality the US hawks do not want to entertain. 

The courts is very much the way to go if any of the facts want to be heard (should they truly exist).

As far as stripping down competitors' products goes, I'm sure it's standard practice and I include Apple in this group too as well.

foregoneconclusion said:

avon b7 said: Playing catch-up to those phones via a refresh in September/October 2019 (in reality the phones will be for most of 2020) when those competing phones are literally days away from taking another tech jump, means the distance between iPhones and competitors could remain pretty much the same.

You don't think competitors have anything to catch up on? That must mean you're taking the "close enough/most users won't notice the difference" approach with things like the A-series or FaceID and the "minor differences are a big advantage" approach with cameras and batteries in Android phones. 

Competitors have some areas to catch up on but they are not compelling.

You only have to read some comments here from peolpe who have said they are holding off on upgrading until things like tri cameras are available on iPhones. By the time that happens (if the rumours are true), Apple will be a full 18 months behind. In that time, tri cameras will be stock elements on mid range Android offerings.

Apple has been lacking in modem technology for a while now. The same with batteries and exterior finish. The frosted glass rumour is nice because the competition has been putting out stunning finishes for a few years now. Etc, etc.

By definition, as you move down the price bands the 'good enough' line of thinking becomes an acceptable trade-off as long as the 'new' phone is a marked upgrade from the user's old phone.

Both situations (high end feature rich, and mid range good enough) are compelling in their own rights to some people.

Apple's recent phones are seen as overpriced and lacking available features by some people. That is one of the reasons for the current sales problem (flat).

StrangeDays said:

avon b7 said:

This is exactly why I campaigned so hard for Apple Retail Stores in Spain years before they even became an executive idea, much less a physical reality.

I set out the case for retail stores as the only way forward for Apple outside of the US as Apple itself was the only company with the necessary resources to turn things around.

At that time, long established Apple resellers were closing down all over the place and there were a raft of other issues that were hitting Apple head on and not getting resolved.

Distribution of Apple products was centering on small chains who knew they had customers penned in and there were few competitive alternatives. The amount of complaints in the letters section of MacWorld was increasing and on the first internet forums that were just establishing themselves back then. All of the issues in this piece were real issues back then.

Apple countered that there was no easy solution as opening its own stores would put Apple in direct competition with the resellers, to which I countered that the resellers were a huge part of the  problem.

In the end Apple pulled the trigger on Apple Retail Stores and much to our astonishment, they opened in the US first, precisely where they were not needed as much. This was confirmation to many that Apple really wasn't understanding the Mac world outside the US.

Eventually they branched out into foreign markets and their success has been acknowledged but it was a huge struggle to be heard back then and very frustrating to see Apple plod on as if nothing could be done.

Today, with billions to spare Apple could really do much better in developing markets.

Gosh, good thing Apple execs had you to show them the way! Nice work getting thru to Jobs. How’d you convince him?

If only you still had your direct line! Poor Cook, poor Apple...so frustrating to see them plod on. 

In those days Apple was in a totally different situation and dependent on its Apple Reseller network. Professionals were switching to Windows and consumers were caught between Adobe not providing key runtime support (Director) and Microsoft in all its anti trust 'glory'.

Mac supporters were pushing for change through self produced publications and trying to get Apple to listen to the real problems of users. Apple really was losing it for a long time in international markets and quite frankly didn't know or wasn't able to get a message into Cupertino.

I had certain influence on computing use in an area with a population of 5,000,000 people (in that particular case, education) but there was a MASSIVE hurdle that had to be overcome: language support. Apple only supported Spanish but nothing was ever going to get approved by regional education boards if regional languages were not supported. Apple wasn't able to provide any commitment on the subject and had the door slammed on it. Users volunteered to do the work but Apple wouldn't allow it.

And to top it off the only way to get hold of Apple products was through a network of often dodgy resellers in out of the way areas.

I had contact with some Apple executives and I'm sure they did what they could. The head of Apple Spain seemed interested enough but was simply powerless to actually do anything. I think Mario Cagni (I may be mistaken on the name) was running Apple Europe at the time. I was also in contact with managers at Claris on the language support issues. I was also vocal in criticising the iMac roll out in Spain but once again Cupertino showed it had no idea of reality outside the US.

Your sarcastic comment is just that. Nothing more. I, and many others,  dedicated a lot of time to trying to make the lives of Mac users better here while trying to get Apple to move in the right direction.

In hindsight we were right on everything because we faced the same problems day after day. Getting Apple to understand them was often mission impossible.

I'm sure that you have literally no idea of the problems that huge swathes of Mac users around the world (common problems) had to endure for years, nor the remotest inkling of the mistakes Apple management made along the way.

racerhomie3 said:

avon b7 said:

This is exactly why I campaigned so hard for Apple Retail Stores in Spain years before they even became an executive idea, much less a physical reality.

I set out the case for retail stores as the only way forward for Apple outside of the US as Apple itself was the only company with the necessary resources to turn things around.

At that time, long established Apple resellers were closing down all over the place and there were a raft of other issues that were hitting Apple head on and not getting resolved.

Distribution of Apple products was centering on small chains who knew they had customers penned in and there were few competitive alternatives. The amount of complaints in the letters section of MacWorld was increasing and on the first internet forums that were just establishing themselves back then. All of the issues in this piece were real issues back then.

Apple countered that there was no easy solution as opening its own stores would put Apple in direct competition with the resellers, to which I countered that the resellers were a huge part of the  problem.

In the end Apple pulled the trigger on Apple Retail Stores and much to our astonishment, they opened in the US first, precisely where they were not needed as much. This was confirmation to many that Apple really wasn't understanding the Mac world outside the US.

Eventually they branched out into foreign markets and their success has been acknowledged but it was a huge struggle to be heard back then and very frustrating to see Apple plod on as if nothing could be done.

Today, with billions to spare Apple could really do much better in developing markets.

Well. 9/10 Apple products in India, Bangladesh & Pakistan come from unauthorized sources. So , obviously people have choices. The Apple Authorized Service Providers now have to service out of country Apple products too.

Yes, this is actually an advantage nowadays.

Years ago it was basically only laptops that had international warranties. iPhones didn't exist and desktops had to be warranty serviced in the country of sale.

Now that Apple has far more mobile devices, where they come from isn't as important as the sale itself. However, the underlying reasons for having retail stores (in this case) was never 'the sale itself'. It was the presence, the showroom, the support and direct communication with the mothership. Having a visible, high foot traffic showroom for your product. In many ways, aftersales attention is more important than the pre sales attention. The support you receive, the answers and in general how you are treated.

It always makes me have reservations whenever I criticise Apple Retail because I remember what it was like in the bad old days but criticism is the only way Apple usually responds.

Of course, There are reasons why people source Apple products abroad and those reasons have to be tackled somehow. The first step should be getting great retail stores into the best locations. They don't have to be huge flagship stores but they must be a safe haven for the user and sow the seeds of future Apple users. As developed markets reach saturation point, features are now commoditised and competition is fierce, Apple needs to enter developing markets but adapt strategies to the realities of those markets.

nht said:

avon b7 said:

StrangeDays said:

avon b7 said:

mike1 said:

Apple surely knows how people charge their phones as they collect data from almost every user. If they found that the majority of customers, the majority of the time charge their phones overnight, through other means, then they have no reason to include a more expensive charger as standard.

There is another possible reading. Users know the only period long enough to charge their phones is at night and so they work to that end, making sure they have enough juice to get them through to nighttime. In essence they walk the Apple walk.

Fast charging is so good that you could have a coffee and top up while drinking it and get a lot more use out of the phone. In that situation the shackles are effectively taken off and the user doesn't have to worry so much about usage patterns.

Omg. Your Apple paranoia runs so, so deep.

People charge at night because they themselves are charging at night -- there is essentially no usage, thus there is no outage. It is the ideal time to charge. It's not being forced to "walk the Apple's walk"...get. real. 

If you forgo nightly charging for random charging, you are "shackling" yourself to carrying around a damned charger and cable everywhere. The cognitive load is much lighter to leave that at home next to your bed, or at work, and not carry more stuff around.

Let me quote you!  "Nonsense"

I can fully charge my phone in the time it takes me from getting up to leaving my flat.

That kind of option is priceless.

It's not priceless.  It's $25 on Amazon.

Except this article is about what might ship out of the box and the consequences of that, so if you forget to charge the phone or for some reason it doesn't charge when you thought it was, Apple's out of the box solution is for you to wait on its 5W charger for four hours!

It's time to include a fast charger in the box!