EsquireCats

The error is in thinking that iPhone-like success is available in the premium handset market. It's not - there isn't a lot of premium market share to go around once you remove Apple from the data. Those which are happy to pay the premium price also aren't switching platforms with any frequency, they're on the platform because they are happy with it, competing platforms need not just be similar - but significantly and obviously better to encourage a switch, that's just not the reality of the industry.

Instead the primary driver of users to the Android platform appears to be the very low entry cost. This is why the Windows phones didn't fare well, but also why the software/3rd party stores on the Android platform perform poorly in comparison to their iOS counterparts.

Producing a premium handset for Android is an exercise in fashion "thin end of the wedge" marketing: it's presenting a high end device as a means to be relevant, while the majority of sales come from low-end devices. This isn't Apple's business model - their premium handset is their highest selling device: the iPhone-buyer is high engagement, that's not only hard to switch, but also very hard to compete against when seeking out new premium users, as they will be attracted to Apple's low friction ecosystem, possibly from exposure to other Apple devices such as computers and AirPods/etc.

You can still use ProRender on older macs, but the processing is done exclusively in the CPU. For built-in graphics cards you need a Radeon, Radeon Pro or AMD FirePro. The 2017 4k iMac has Radeon Pro (the 2015 does not.) Also the 2013 Mac Pro has AMD FirePro.

So that's:

• 2017 iMac 4k 21.5 inch
• 2017 iMac 5k 27 inch
• 2017 iMac Pro
• 2013 Mac Pro

This is the same company which was hacked and the data revealed that they have been selling their services in Russia, the UAE and Turkey.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/aekqjj/cellebrite-sold-phone-hacking-tech-to-repressive-regimes-data-suggests

So while they're busy waving the flag of "drugs, child-protection and homocide", they're actually just selling their services to any unscrupulous character who can afford it.

That on its own is enough reason for why Apple must continue to fortify their hardware and software.

I quite like Spotify, they were early on the market and introduced a product at just the right time and technological mix. Although I'm no longer a subscriber (I prefer what Apple is doing with Apple Music)  I see the two services as indirect competitors due to their differing priorities. The below is just an straight forward evaluation for why this is going to be a very challenging time for Spotify.

Firstly: The lie is calling them "Premium Subscribers" - the reason why they don't turn a profit is because they're overloaded with promotional memberships. 

Ignoring ad revenue, which has been described as minimal, simple math shows that their average "premium" subscriber pays around $58 euros a year, this is less than HALF the cost of the full price subscription ($119.88 euro a year) - since we know that people do indeed pay full price, this reveals that a majority of their "Premium subscribers" are utilising a promotional discount of 50% or more, this is why Spotify have had recent spikes in paid subscribers, they've been using very cheap promo offers to artificially drive up membership. A tactic to make the company look more successful for their IPO listing, but it has been clearly to the detriment of the company's bottom line. (I.E. The false notion that you can convert every subscriber to a more expensive subscription.)

Now the next problem: original content is expensive and Spotify's competitors are all moving into this space. So we can see that Spotify are trying to raise funds from an IPO to pay for original content, but that just leaves investors carrying the bill, since they don't have the memberships to pay for this under their current business model and just to break even they'll need to freeze all costs and add another 21M members (but every member introduces further costs, so it's rather cyclical) - that's a real problem for investors because it raises the question: how are spotify to start turning a profit, when they can't extract a profit from the ones they already have? Bigger numbers lead to bigger losses.

Another tip: If you're performing exercises where your heart rate will fluctuate rapidly or you need more accurate HR readings (such as heart rate driven exercises.) Then pair a bluetooth heart rate chest-strap with your apple watch. I use the entry level wahoo tickr heart rate monitor and it plays along with the watch very nicely. (Plus if you're doing a long workout it'll save significant battery life on your watch.)