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cropr said:

ireland said:

Apple should acquire DDG and give them unlimited funds to execute on their mission. Their CEO has the best response I’ve ever seen on Quora. And then when an iPhone user updates their phone and opens Safari a splash screen should give users a choice of search engines to select from, putting DDG in a very prominent position, where Apple can claim the annonmous ad income and remove Google from their defecto position. Unlike Facebook and Google, Duck-Duck doesn’t build profiles on individuals—their software is purposefully designed not to.

DDG is really targeted for US related content. So if Apple were to acquire the DDG and make it the default search engine the rest of the world have a clearly degraded experience.

DDG isn't the only search game in town.  People who are interested in using a privacy-oriented search engine should also consider StartPage.

StartPage has a couple advantages:
1) It's operated out of Europe, giving it freedom from U.S. government requests for data.
2) They run a proxy system that allows you to click on links and have the pages load through their proxy, so not only are your searches anonymous, but you can actually click through and see the pages of interest anonymously.

This second feature doesn't work well on sites that require javascript to load the basic page info, but if you're interested in anonymity, it's a great feature that does work on many sites.

I also use DDG for other things.  I prefer their image searches and weather, for example.  But 100% google-free (and facebook and other tracking companies -free) for many years now.

jonagold said:

Same doom and gloom we’ve seen the last 15 years.  I was on the sideline hoping a for a huge selloff so that I could swoop in and buy more shares. Oh well.

Ditto.  I was very close to pouncing (again), but I missed the window as the stock started creeping up a few days prior to earnings.  And I'm very, very deeply long right now anyway, so I benefited a lot from the past couple days in any case.

I think one must to have had followed Apple during the SJ years closely to understand the product rollout and philosophy. The iPhone X was not meant to be In the hands of everyone. It was priced high for a reason as every newly-featured device has been so the early adopters can pay for the R&D while economies of scale allow the features to trickle down to later devices. This has happened since the beginning of time with Apple, they’ve always tempered the features.  Of course they could sell the X at a 5% margin on day one, but they have never sold anything for a margin less than 30-40%.  Everyone (analysts) should know this by now.  Apple has never raced to the bottom...ever.  They are more mature than that and it is why they sit on a hoard of cash they don’t know what to do with.  Of course Apple could sell out their customers like FB and GOOG for a quick buck, but they’re more far-sighted and innovative than that. It takes a lot of restraint on behalf of the team to continue what made Apple a different company from the beginning.  I commend them, as does my portfolio. 

^this^.  All of it.

3) I don't care for the increase in Mac purchases coming from Mac users. I'd love to see"switchers" being a growing segment of the Mac market, and if I get my wish that will happen in the not too distant future.

I read this "switchers" comment yesterday with some puzzlement.

If "Nearly 60 percent of purchases came from new Mac users", and the installed base grew by "double digits", let's say 10-15% because much more than that seems unrealistic, what does that say about people switching away from Macs?  If 4.1 million unit sales grew the installed base by 10% does that mean the installed base was only 40 million?  Does "installed base" mean the number of machines in use, or the number of users?  In 2018 we're way beyond each user having only 1.0 computers.

I don't really have answers, just questions.  If anyone has done the deep dive on this and can explain, please do.

StrangeDays said:

majorsl said:

<snip>

Clearly, that sort of discussion is not welcome to some because:

1. Apple can do no wrong.
2. Apple did it first.
3. Apple didn't do it first, but does it better.
4. Any proof otherwise, see 1.

It's really like hitting a wall sometimes. Maybe the owners/admins of this place should post a warning at the entrance here, "Die Hard Apple Fans Only. All Others Not Welcome", because that's the impression given in just the above and the behavior I've witnessed for years in reading the discussions here. As soon as the anti-Apple comment is even suggested, the wolves attack.

Sorry, but you’re full of shit.

I'm not so sure about that.  There's a fine line in all of these discussions, and there clearly are a bunch of posters that take the 1-4 attitude spelled out above.  And I'm no newb, I've been an Apple developer for longer than many people here have been alive, and an AI account holder since 2002 (though I changed the account in 2006 to match my same-named macrumors account, which has been idle for years now).  This is mostly irrelevant, except to drive home the fact that I'm not a newb, and I've been in the Apple court for many, many years.  I've worked directly with Apple on multiple products in the past, and I don't even allow windows or android products on my personal networks.

In that context, obviously some of the comments made on this thread by these new accounts are troll-like, and I'm glad they were deleted.  But IMO the comment above is not.  I wish some of the rabid apple-can-do-no-wrong commenters would tone it down and be more rational.  Yes, this is an Apple-centric site, and it bothers me that some people come here with and anti-apple agenda, but it doesn't help when Apple supporters end up being just as irrational at times.  /end of rant; I agree with the rest of your comment below.

The resistance regulars here have to absurd claims about android (“It has better malware scanners!”) isn’t because we feel Apple can do no wrong. We all have things we can cite that we wish Apple did better (example of mine include the horrible ATV remote, and the frustrating keyboard which can’t learn when I meant to hit the space bar instead of the comma, etc). Our resistance to silly claims about Android and Apple is because Apple’s superior products speak loudly. Macs, iPhone, iPad, iOS, AirPods, Watch, 64-bit, etc etc... Their products and tech routinely kill it, inspiring dozens of knockoffs and chinese copies. 

volcan said:

Who knows where Apple's target market is now? I have a 6. Wife has an X. Two girls have 8 and 8+. I hated giving the girls any phone at all because of addiction issues but all their friends have them and they were feeling left out,

I really don't like jumping in to this in a self-righteous sounding way, but seriously, that's a terrible reason to give kids phones.

Who cares if they're feeling left out of the tech-loving, addiction-forming, spyware-mined crowd?  Also, you didn't give their ages, so I can't really give you a ton of grief if they're like 17 or 18, but we see so many kids amongst our peers that are giving smart(spyware) phones to their 8 year olds, and it's truly cringe-worthy.  And, feeling "left out" can sometimes even be healthy for kids, as long as you're providing ways for them to socialize and excel in other ways.

FWIW, my high schoolers are still not allowed to have smart phones.  The addiction thing is very, very real.  Go read what the ex-facebook executives and other insiders like Tristan Harris are saying now, as they're finally coming out and speaking about it very publicly.  And most kids don't have the capacity to even understand what the ramifications of having their behavior, location, conversations, etc., mined on an hourly basis will mean for them in the future.

however I have some serious restrictions on usage including straight A's in school. At least now when a classmate says where is your phone they don't have to lie that they left it at home. They pull out their gold iPhones. When the boys ask for the number they just say "nope" not allowed. They'll never get an Android while I'm in charge.

But rather than just being a complainer, I have a positive suggestion for parents of kids who are dying to have "a mobile device".

The iPodTouch is a great device.  It provides a middle-ground, where kids can play games, take pictures, and interact with others.  But it's not /online/ every minute of every day, and you can easily put hard limits on usage at home via your home router.  It *looks* like an iPhone at a distance, but it's not.  It's even better.