theLedger

chasm said:

sirlance99 said:

Only thing I don’t like about CarPlay is not having Google Maps. For me, it’s still far more accurate with the hundreds of miles I drive per week. 

Google Maps is of course available as an app on your iPhone, so you should be able to use it. It is of course not the native app for “hey Siri” use, but it should be accessible if you prefer it.

It's available on the iPhone but it will not display the maps on a CarPlay enabled screen - only Android does that. Still, you can hear the Google Maps audio prompts. And, if you do anything on the CarPlay screen, your phone will leave Google Maps as the iPhone display becomes a slave to the car's screen. I was able to retrofit a 2 DIN radio with screen and Apple CarPlay functionality to our 2006 Honda Odyssey minivan - there is even a trim kit that fits around it so it looks natural in the dash. Not all vehicles can do this - particularly the ones that have the stereo controls separate from the display, e.g. Honda Pilot (for which I now think there is a way to do it). Do your research. You might be surprised. But the big reason why I never want to buy a vehicle without CarPlay is that while a car manufacturer's technology is frozen in time, Apple keeps updating the features and functionality. I think they are a little conservative with their approach but if they would work allow third party navigation apps like Google Maps, Waze and provide a precipitation/weather overlay the maps, that adds to the safety factor.

I doubt the veracity of this article. Apple has staked out the high quality sound end of the market with Siri functionality. Creating a smaller version would require a very different strategy and approach. Amazon sells cheap Echos because they want people to leverage Amazon services. However, after a few weeks of the novelty wearing off, most people use these devices to listen to music and get the weather. 

I also doubt that a stylus will be made for the iPhone. The stylus makes sense for the iPad Pro because the advanced functionality for writing, notes, drawing, etc. demand a high precision device. You don't need it for pointers and writing on a phone sized screen is not easy or natural. 

Just because the market is doing something doesn't mean that Apple is going to follow. There has to be real world functional use cases, not just features in search of a solution. 

I think Apple is doing just fine. Their stock value is at record levels and they are selling products by the boatload. A lot of their time is currently spent with vertical integration which increases the value of a particular platform, whether it be phones, tablets, computers or soon-to-be speakers. That increases the value not only for the newest release of devices but also older devices too. 

I'm not so worried that some new whizbang device has not been released in the same frequency. Sometimes you have to experience years of sweating through stuff until a breakthrough idea comes through. 

That being said, what I have suspected and a recent article in the New York Times corroborates, is that after the novelty wears off, most of these devices are used for music, alarms, the weather, and sometimes the news. And that's the reason why Apple focused much of their work on developing an incredible speaker. Notice how Apple shows you the internal guts of HomePod while competitors do not? They do it not only to visually impress but also at that price point, it's really hard for other manufacturers to produce that kind of technology and it's still cheaper by $50 than Google's Max.  Those who heard the HomePod at the Apple keynote were floored with the sound quality. 

I like Apple's take on privacy because I know I'm the customer. With Google and Amazon, I always feel that I'm the product. And if that means that the HomePod's Siri can't do as much as Alexa, it doesn't bother me. For the most part, I'm just looking for a great speaker with some assistance anyways. 

Rather than try to politicize this, we should look at this soberly. Companies don't make snap decisions to lay off a bunch of people since that tends to look bad in the press and most of them are not heartless, evil capitalists. AT&T just announced a $1 billion expansion investment. This layoff is most likely due to changing business conditions as people are cutting the cord but depending on Internet services more. 

I went through something similar when a company I worked for shifted from a hardware based to a software and services based company. A lot of long term employees were let go because of it. 

As for the person who mentioned BMW, you cannot compare that as they have a union contract in place. Strict labor laws across Europe may temporarily favor employees but it has also led to workforce stagnation.