SpamSandwich

tulkas said:

Don't want to judge until Apple actually releases numbers, but this isn't hard to believe. Raising prices so much on the flagships like the X and XS can't help but turn some people off. It comes off as hubris and/or that they are trying to bring in LVMH type pricing for no other reason than they can.


Cook defending the massive price hikes with "we want to have a price point for every one" was ridiculous. Subsequently releasing a cheaper, cut down version was only ever going to add insult to injury. 

Apple maintained price discipline on iPhones for years and years. They were able to charge a premium price and yet not alienate their base. It seems they might have lost that discipline and have decided there are not boundaries. Slowing unit sales, in that light, would simply be expected. LVMH doesn't try to sell more than anyone else, just to make more per unit than anyone else. We'll have to wait to see how well the Ahrendts-effect works out going forward. 

lorin schultz said:

SpamSandwich said:

Apple needs to start to migrate more of their core people out of California and have them work in states that are not so philosophically isolated from the rest of the country.

Yes, you've made your political position quite clear. I don't understand how Apple would benefit, nor I as its customer, if more of its employees drive pickup trucks with rifle racks though. What does the progressive climate in California have to do with Apple's business?

zoetmb said:

SpamSandwich said:

randominternetperson said:

SpamSandwich said:

It’s a powerful iPad, no doubt. Speaking only for myself, the lack of a headphone jack to accept recording studio standard equipment killed the possibility of me buying one for now. I consider this exclusion a shortsighted decision. Surely no “pros” expected Apple to do that.

I don’t care about Fortnite in the slightest and I’m not going to spend about $2K for a new iPad that’s incompatible with most of my industry standard audio gear.

Apple sometimes leads in the wrong direction on product design, IMO. They’re not perfect and that’s OK.

Serious question here: why can't you just use the Apple lightning headphone adapter?  It is tying up the port or the sound quality or an objection to extra cords?

It was a needless change on Apple’s part (sure they’ll justify it with resons, but those reasons don’t matter to people who place a premium on production speed). It was dumb to eliminate a standard audio port for headphones. My current iPad Pro will accept studio headphones, an adapter for power and a MIDI keyboard or mic without a lot of screwing around. I’m aware my use case isn’t everyone’s. Although I did note with interest similar comments about the elimination of the headphone jack by Alex Lindsay (Pixel Corps) who is even more deeply involved in production. Non-standard equipment changes for no apparent logical reason tends to irritate professionals.

That's all fine, but an analog headphone jack is not pro level either (except for earphones).   True pro analog is balanced +4dbm on an XLR connector.   A line phone jack at -10dbm is probably also acceptable, but not pro.   A headphone jack doesn't cut it for anything but a headphone.   So you really HAVE to take digital audio out of the port and convert it on another device if you want to use the audio for any pro application.