pepe779

brucemc said:

pepe779 said:

eightzero said:

Obsoleting products is nothing new to Apple. Consumer expectations and company expectations for hardware are often very much different. I suspect Apple internal designs consumer devices for the 3 year time frame. Consumers subjectively expect much longer. I was thirlled to head High Sierra will run on any Sierra mac. Yay for my late 2009 iMac!

Seems to me that Apple's apparent decision to not make home wifi network products is short sighted. But it is possible that these products have a lot of competition, have low profitability, and there is the risk that the market is easily saturated. Apple can't really justify them on their standalone economics.

It is also possible they feel the same way about displays.

I like Apple's airports, and use them exclusively. But I've not upgraded to -ac ones simply because I don't need to. 

Totally agree, but obsoleting products is one thing (as long as there is some sort of replacement or different direction), abandoning products that your home ecosystem is built upon while giving your customers no other options is something completely different and very anti-Apple in my opinion. Kind of an eye opener and it makes me realize I relied on Apple solutions a bit too much and simply shouldn't trust what Tim Cook has to say about "enriching people's lives".

Apple still sells their Airport Extreme and Express lines, on-line and in store.  Apple has made no announcement of any kind regarding its future.  They have not abandoned it (in any way measurable), and as such have no requirement to provide another option.

Which universe are you living in?

I guess I can ask you the same question Apple never announced they're abandoning the iPod product line either, correct? The fact that they're still selling the remaining stock of some product does not mean they're actively developing it or even having any future plans at all with it, that's the universe we all live in my friend. AirPort Express was last updated in 2012, AirPort Extreme in 2013, those are the hard facts. I'm happy for you that you're still believing Apple has "not abandoned it in any way measurable".

eightzero said:

Obsoleting products is nothing new to Apple. Consumer expectations and company expectations for hardware are often very much different. I suspect Apple internal designs consumer devices for the 3 year time frame. Consumers subjectively expect much longer. I was thirlled to head High Sierra will run on any Sierra mac. Yay for my late 2009 iMac!

Seems to me that Apple's apparent decision to not make home wifi network products is short sighted. But it is possible that these products have a lot of competition, have low profitability, and there is the risk that the market is easily saturated. Apple can't really justify them on their standalone economics.

It is also possible they feel the same way about displays.

I like Apple's airports, and use them exclusively. But I've not upgraded to -ac ones simply because I don't need to. 

Totally agree, but obsoleting products is one thing (as long as there is some sort of replacement or different direction), abandoning products that your home ecosystem is built upon while giving your customers no other options is something completely different and very anti-Apple in my opinion. Kind of an eye opener and it makes me realize I relied on Apple solutions a bit too much and simply shouldn't trust what Tim Cook has to say about "enriching people's lives".

This is the company that dominated the industry for decades. Now they even proudly say they have 500 million Windows 10 users (a huge chunk of it being kiosks, corporate users and forced upgrades or PC bundles in my opinion), which is not even half of iOS users in comparison, so that's where MS ended up in 2017. I also think Satya Nadella has done more damage to the company in 3 years than Steve Ballmer did in all of his 14 years. Many people believed in some of his visions when he took over in 2014 but with every passing year it is clearer that he's not the visionary they were hoping for and instead the company is simply becoming more and more irrelevant.

This report is heavily biased though. All it does is it takes advantage of the sheer amount of combinations of android phone makers and all of their individual phone models. This way the iPhone will ALWAYS win easily. Yes, it's not Apple's fault that the android world is so fragmented, but at the same time this is not really a fair method of comparing these two worlds, because Apple and most of the other brands clearly have a different product strategy. Compare the the entire Apple iPhone line with the entire Samsung Galaxy line for example, which is a more accurate comparison in my opinion, and you will get completely different numbers (in millions of units):

Samsung Q1 '17: 80.2
Apple Q1 '17: 50.8

Let's also not forget these are SHIPMENTS only, not sales, so the title of this article is clearly wrong and misleading.

gatorguy said:

pepe779 said:

Soli said:

pepe779 said:

Soli said:

pepe779 said:

SpamSandwich said:

pepe779 said:

SpamSandwich said:

pepe779 said:

Metriacanthosaurus said:

rogifan_new said:

So basically this is a niche device for the kitchen. As far as connecting with parents or kids can't you do that already with your phone or tablet using FaceTime, Skype etc.?

I would like an Apple-version of this type of device for the kitchen counter.

A counter fixture that has a Today View for the family's events, weather info, Siri, FaceTime, etc. My house would get a lot of use out of that. In some ways, more convenient than using someone's iPad, which is what happens today.

IMO this product I have in mind from Apple is no way shape or form similar to the Echo or Home products' use case.

You can get a used iPad for less than $200 and a new one for under #300 and nothing prevents you from fixing it to your kitchen counter. I don't know if it's just me but this Echo Show concept is just one epic and absurd rip off.

I think they are really on the leading edge of creating the market for an in-home artificial intelligence companion/ assistant for millions of people.

In what way exactly? People who use their smartphones/tablets on a daily basis have absolutely no need for such dedicated (and overpriced) device. People who avoid any technology beyond their flip phones are not going to use this in any shape or form either. Most of the people who actually bought the Echo speaker only did it because of the hype, but I don't know a single person still actually using it. You call it artificial intelligence companion for your home, I call it a feature that's been separated from your smartphone/tablet and is now being sold for the price of your whole smartphone/tablet. Truly wise move Amazon, I applaud you.

There are about 76 million Baby Boomers, and their parents are additional to that. That audience, much of which is technology averse, is what this product is attempting to target.

Okay now you made me laugh. So if this is the target audience, how will they even discover such product exists (unless their kids buy it for them as a present)? What % of these people will actually be using it? I know my parents wouldn't, flip phones are the most they will ever be willing to accept in their lives. So I'm pretty sure this is not the primary reason Bezos & co. are developing these gimmicks.

1) You know most people procreate and that Mother's Day (US) is right around the corner, right? My older family menbers have had Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, Netflix, Facebook, Words with Friends app. Nest thermostats, Echos, and countless other "technologies" because of what their kids, the younger enervation, or even some usage on TV on the radio as a review, ad, or general usage in a series has piqued their interest.

2) But you're correct that Bezos' primary reason for anything isn't your parents. From your statement, even Amazon selling books online would be a stupid idea of your parents were the target market.

To your second point - let's look at it from the highest possible level for a moment. World's population is roughly 7.5 billion people and it is estimated that in 2017 there are approximately 2.3 billion of them owning or using a smartphone. In other words, more than two thirds of the people on this planet don't need / can't afford / don't know what a smartphone is. Now go judge my parents again if you wish, all I'm saying is there are millions upon millions of people just like my parents and no, those people will simply never buy a smartphone, let alone an overpriced one trick pony called Echo.

And Apple is the highest valued company in the world despite only being in the hands of such a small percentage of the people—a much smaller subset than the "people on this planet don't need / can't afford / don't know what a smartphone is" category. By your statement, Apple's iPhone is pointless since it doesn't address every person on the planet, or even the majority of its inhabitants? Do you not see how ridiculous your claim is?

Sorry, no, I don't see how what I said about the Echo devices is related to what you're now saying about Apple's market value. All I'm saying is that I don't understand who the Echo device is for and what is its added value over all the existing tablets out there, nothing more, nothing less.

Hey, we get that you have no interest in this product and don't understand how anyone could. I suspect millions of folks will disagree with you and buy one anyway. Not getting your order won't hurt Amazon too much. 

Fair enough, I got carried away too much, I'll shut up now.