neoncat

foregoneconclusion said:

Two stars is way too negative 

Nah. One of those stars I'm sure was the "we're an Apple fan site so it gets one star for free." If anything, AI's review is deeply charitable toward such a silly product that fails at being anything but a look-at-me-I-spent-$3500 totem. That Apple insists on putting its stupid brandmark and even the name of the product on the outside should instantly make it a one star—fail. 

Not an AVP owner and not interested in it for the time being so I don't have any skin in this game, but one thing that always struck me about the case is how... wrinkly that outer shell is. It looks like a linen shirt after a 4 hour flight in coach.This review lays bare that Apple obviously wasn't interested in making a practical, travel-worthy case as much as a slightly ridiculous, highly visible satchel for their bougie googles, so for that reason alone you'd think they would have chosen some combination of fabrics or design that didn't look so frumpy even under the best of circumstances.

Respite said:

So what are Spotify paying $250m for exactly?

They sell the ads that run in the podcasts, and built up the infrastructure to dod so far more aggressively than their competitors. Now that they have strong control over ad sales, there's little reason for exclusivity—if anything, broader distribution helps those efforts. 

deckert63 said:

Is Masimo a real healthcare technology firm or are they a patent troll? If the former, not sure why apple doesn’t pay them the license fees like they do Qualcomm. If the latter, may Masimo rot in special place in hell only reserved for patent trolls. 

The tale is an interesting read, you'd do yourself a favor to at least Google a basic summary of what has happened and why. It involves Apple poaching employees from Masimo, one employee in particular lobbying Apple for a job, said employee only lasting a short time, and Apple bringing a pulse ox measurement device to market much faster than would normally have been expected given the complexity of the technology.

One does genuinely wonder, however, what Apple's end game is. They get into these situations where they become so convinced of their own piety they tend to ride the train straight to hell instead of looking for a convenient and practical way to get off. A little humility and less hubris would serve Apple well as a brand and as a company.

This must be very very hard for Apple, given their near-obsessive need to be recognized and adulated.