StrangeDays said:

lkrupp said:

Here’s the bottom line. Read it and weep... or throw up in your mouth.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/18/tech/samsung-galaxy-fold-breaking-debacle/index.html

Headline reads:

Samsung Galaxy Fold phones are breaking. Here's why it doesn't matter

Double standard? Naw.

"Samsung, unlike Apple, doesn't need to get it right the first time,"

...quoted source says this, but never explains this. Why does Apple need to get it right the first time, whereas Samsung doesn’t?

Apple needs to get it right the first time in large part because Apple is so dependent on a handful of products, and so if they have a massive problem like this or the Note 7's problems Apple would be in serious trouble. Google can release a deeply defective Pixel or Samsung can have problems like the one with the Fold, and they have enough other products to fall back on that this isn't an issue.

Remember this the next time someone is complaining about how Apple isn't "innovative" enough. Apple can't afford to release what are essentially beta versions of their products.

mjtomlin said:

MplsP said:

"Destroy the evidence!"

tylerd said:

I have to admit that I was looking forward to feeling some schadenfreude as I watched Samsung ship what is clearly a prototype, that has questionable utility (at least in the immediate future). I find it odd that they would effectively send these units to reviewers and hope for the best. I understand that the race to be first has some strong marketing power (just look at 5G), but is it really worth the negative impact inflicted on your most loyal user base (the early adopters)? Say what you want about Apple, but they would only ship a finished product.

It seems like a classic case of marketing overruling engineering.

Or the classic case of an engineering mind over-estimating a layman mind. It's very common for an "educated" person to not understand the level of which their audience might not be knowledgable and overlook certain critical details.

Anyway, still not getting as much backlash as Apple did cancelling the AirPower - at the very least Apple knows when to say "No" and quit.

What do you mean an example of an engineering mind over-estimating a layman's mind? Are you referring to the reviewers who had problems with the Fold, because I'd say that's a pretty sophisticated audience. If you are selling devices to people pitched above the level of these reviewers, you're not going to be selling very many devices. Or are you referring to the people who thought the Fold was the greatest technical breakthrough since the invention of fire. In that case, you're right.

I would argue that Jobs's greatest accomplishment was getting tech companies to design products more for consumers than for engineers. I wonder at times if part of the Android fanboy resentment of Apple (a resentment that started even before the iPhone or anyone had heard of Android) is because Apple products for the most part are relatively easy to understand, and they don't require a lot of geek skill to navigate.

avon b7 said:

flydog said:

Doesn't make any sense. According to the forums Apple's greed and lack of innovation is killing their sales.

This article is for US sales only and is an estimation. Also, Apple in the US only has competition from Samsung. There is virtually no competition from Chinese manufacturers.

In that context it makes some sense. However, if you look back over the last few years and see sales flattening out, even in the US, it starts to look like the typical 'peak' centred around Apple's biggest sales period. 

In the rest of the world, price and lack of innovation do in fact seem to be impacting iPhone performance.

I think price is definitely impacting them though if the Android fanboys were honest price is impacting Samsung a lot more than it's impacting Apple. I don't really see where Samsung or the Chinese manufacturers are meaningfully innovating either. You have a certain amount of stagnation which means people are buying their phones less often. I think the Chinese companies are moving into the middle tier, and that's really hurting Samsung. It will be interesting to see what eventually happens to the Chinese handset makers.

StrangeDays said:

lkrupp said:

flydog said:

Doesn't make any sense. According to the forums Apple's greed and lack of innovation is killing their sales.

Yeah, well, what does that tell you about tech blog forums? Tech blog forums are a conglomeration of anonymous posters with axes to grind, mostly negative axes against Apple in particular. Even after 40 years they can’t accept the fact that Apple exists, let alone is successful. The existence of Apple does something to their psyches, a sort of migraine headache of the id. 

Yeah it's really bizarre. That Apple affects them in this way is bizarre enough, but that they go out of their way to hang around an Apple site to constantly and routinely tell people why other companies did it first, are more innovative, blah blah, is even more bizarre....at that point it's either a paycheck or an unhealthy condition. I'm not into sports, but I can't imagine going to some rival team's website to tell everybody how much they dislike their team. Nuts.

Yeah, I have never understood why the Android fanboys are so obsessed with Apple. There are so many Apple websites that are absolutely flooded with Android fanboys while you almost never see any Apple users posting on Android sites. The worst part of it is for the most part they really don't seem to understand Apple at all or if they do they completely distort it. I am not going to say that Apple is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but the Android fanboys are so blind in their hatred of Apple they add absolutely nothing to the discussion.

I'll give you a good example of this ignorance. I have a friend who's an Android fanboy, and asked him where Android has an edge over Apple. Here was his list:

1.Google Assistant hands down the best assistant on the market

2. foldable devices- utilizing brand new foldable screen technology that Apple will adopt in a few years after the fact

3. In display fingerprint readers- allowing for near bezel-less screens and ditching the notch which everybody hates

4. Multiple focal length cameras, allowing users the ability to take a wider range of shots

My friend doesn't even realize you can get Google Assistant on iOS nor does he realize that Apple is supposed to put 3 cameras on some of their phones this year. (I'll leave it up to others to evaluate how bad the other 2 examples are.)

hentaiboy said:

apple ][ said:

That's one of the differences between Apple and most other companies imo.

Apple will usually not release something until it's ready for primetime and the experience is great.

<cough> Butterfly keyboards <cough>

<cough> Exploding phones <cough>