franklinjackcon

I don't know how it is in other countries but I'm amazed at how few people use swipe to type. It's far better than tapping away and incredibly accurate. I have two different languages on my keyboard and it can even spot which word I mean if I use multiple languages in one sentence. Once in a while I get too confident (sloppy) and it doesn't recognise the word and for some reason it capitalises some words that I might have once spelled out e.g. Guess but otherwise it's great

ArianneFeldry said:

Dying company lashes out. They'll make every claim they can to try and be relevant before they lose everything. What even is impressive about selling $20 phones to third world countries? Nevermind selling more $20 devices than other $20 device makers.

It did more than $100B in revenue last year and has been growing at 20% pa over the last few years. In Europe, where it's not banned, it's selling good quality handsets in very large volumes not to mention the carrier-grade networking equipment and is a major part of the cloud infrastructure. Not bad for a dying company. 

lkrupp said:

IDC’s reports are taken as gospel by the industry. Reports from tech blogs rebutting IDC's findings, not so much. The real losers here are investors who base their portfolios on IDC’s and other’s negative narratives regarding Apple. They sold their positions in AAPL because they were told it’s a failed company on the verge of disappearing. Except for the Oracle of Omaha, of course. He apparently didn’t believe them. I had to demand that my financial advisor add some AAPL to my portfolio, which he did grudgingly. 

I work in the industry and buy IDC and Gartner research. No one who knows what they are doing considers it the gospel. We understand that there are limitations to the data and we talk directly to the analysts to understand what they are and use our experience to work within the limits.

It's difficult to read these articles as they are written as if DED is personally offended by the fact that companies like Google and Microsoft even exist. They look at every company through an Apple lens, which they aren't. It has completely ignored Microsoft's transition under Nadella. Sure, Zune failed, Nokia was a mess but it's found a way make that shift from the desktop to the cloud era and done it profitably. Google's strategy is nothing like Apple's. It doesn't need everything to be perfect. It acquired Motorolla and Boston Dynamics and when it decided that they weren't a good fit, they flogged them off. The success of gambles like YouTube and Android meant they could afford a few flops. There have been mid sized ones like SkyBox and Waze that are part of the reason Google's Maps considered the best in the world. Picasa was the early step towards Google Photos. It treats services the same way - try what it thinks could be interesting, cancel what's not working, pour money into what is or what it believes could. It's now investing in autonomous driving for the long term, home automation, and AI. All three are still in the very early phases so Google is happy to burn some advertising cash to be an experienced leader when the market takes off.

I don't have a HomePod so I'm possibly saying what already exists but they'd probably need to combine both the voiceprint and the location of the phone for this to useful in a multi-person home. Several phones could be within range, possibly someone else's phone could even be closer to the HP than the person speaking. Voice may not be 100% secure but it's an extra layer than just being present. My Google Home won't allow me to access my calendar if I speak in a funny voice, no matter where my phone is.