zoetmb

mike54 said:

Can't wait for the redesigned mac mini or mini mac pro. 👍

Not interested in any iMac, which I feel is a waste.

A waste of what?  I only use laptops personally, but the iMac is a much better deal.  24" 8GB 512 is $1699.  24" 16GB 1TB is $2099.   The MBP 16GB 512 is $2400 and 16GB 1TB is $2799 and I doubt Apple is going to lower prices once they put their own M1 chip in there, in spite of not having to pay Intel.  

Manufacturing in China is a deal with the devil.   And companies also need to realize that manufacturing in just one location is a highly risky strategy anyway in a world that still experiences wars, pandemics and environmental disasters.    Since most of what's inside a Mac and Apple's other products are mostly just PCBs and so much of the manufacturing is supposedly automated, it's hard for me to believe that Apple could not manufacture somewhere else.   Sure, it would negatively impact their margins unless they raised prices, but Apple has to decide which is more important.    What we don't know is how many hours of labor does it take to manufacture each device.  I suspect it's not very much.    And then, what components are being manufactured in China that couldn't be manufactured somewhere else.  

There are plenty of products manufactured today in Thailand, Vietnam, India and Mexico.   I think Apple needs to investigate those alternatives.  

Unfortunately, we're usually not willing to pay the price of manufacturing at home.   I happened to see an ad in a 1955 issue of Life Magazine for a very ordinary chrome coffee pot from GE.    (Let's ignore for the moment the possibility that the process of plating that coffee pot might have been an environmental hazard.)   That coffee pot was $29.95 in 1955.   That's $297 in current inflated dollars.   Who would be willing to pay that today when a full-featured computer driven coffee pot can be had for $100 or less. 

lam92103 said:

Excellent news! Any other industry and the execs would have already been in jail. Imagine a car company telling you that you have to buy all accessories from their store, and ones bought from anywhere else will just not work. And the makers have to get their products approved before they can be sold, by a somewhat arbitrary set of rules, and they have to pay 30% to the car manufacturer commission.

If those third party manufacturers sold their products to a car manufacturer's retail store or dealership, the third party manufacturers would get a lot less than 70%.

In the days of physical software, software publishers had to give distributors such as Ingram Micro-D around a  52% discount (and sometimes up to 60%).   And let's not forget that Apple's store covers the Credit/Debit card service charges, which for a small to medium sized developer could be 6% all by itself.  Apple's 30% take is a bargain by any standard.   Software publishers should be careful what they wish for.   The idiots in Congress apparently have no idea what wholesale discounts are today.   

The fact is that as cars become more computerized and technically complex, you will have to buy replacement parts primarily from the car company, outside of battery, tires and windshield wiper blades.  

foregoneconclusion said:

Xed said: Make Apple is actively being a dick, but from what I gather with trademark law is that you need to both use it and defend it. It doesn't mean you need to win a lawsuit and you can settle out of court on the issue, but if they didn't defend it, then another entity down that is blatantly infringing could use this logo against Apple. Maybe none of that is correct, but that's what I've gathered from the various Apple trademark issues over the decades.

That appears to be the general rule regarding trademarks. You need to actively defend them. The Forbes article linked below also mentions that companies with very valuable trademarks often hire a professional service to watch for potential infringement. It's not unlikely that Apple has an arrangement like that. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverherzfeld/2013/02/28/failure-to-enforce-trademarks-if-you-snooze-do-you-lose/#1d06de5d6c22

You need to defend against actual infringement.   This is not infringement and if this gets to court, I believe Apple will lose.   It isn't like this other company is a computer or phone manufacturer.   Apple can't stop every other company in the world from using a fruit logo - that's patently (sic) ridiculous.   This is Apple's arrogance speaking.   

WarrenBuffduckh said:

Thanks for not having this Americanist Toy in my country. It attracts the wrong people with the wrong intentions towards the wrong habits.
And Tim knows it, because it’s part of his bottom of the pyramid strategy targeted at all Joe Six-packs that need that pseudo-titanium status symbol.

And with Goldman Sachs involved, there will always be some hidden agenda or 3.
What a great partner & self-interest icon is that.

Overreaction much?   I would guess that most people don't even carry the physical card.   I sure don't.   I use Apple Pay and most of the time I charge to the card, although I can also use Apple Pay with any other card that I hold including my debit card.  Most non-Apple purchases get 2% back and in the end that's a lot more than you get from affinity cards with reward programs where you usually get points that are worth $0.007 each.   

And if people do carry the card because they like the way it looks, so the fk what?   No different than carrying an AMEX platinum card or any other card with "pretty" graphics. 

Hidden agenda?   Yeah, Goldman-Sachs wants you not to pay the bill in full at the end of the month so they can charge interest and make money.   Anyone with smarts will NEVER pay interest on a credit card.   And I'm sure they collect data on your purchases, same as any other credit card.  

The only time I don't use the Apple Card is when I'm purchasing from B&H, a giant electronics/computer/photography independent retailer in NY.   They have a credit card in which they credit back the sales tax, which is currently 8.875%, so that's a much larger savings.   So I would still buy Apple hardware from them, not from Apple.  

Personally, I think your reaction borders on insanity.   Do you really believe that only Joe Six Packs carry credit cards?     Get over it.  It's not a big deal either way,.