retrogusto

John Legere built up a lot of good will over the years with customers (which has been very good for the profits and share price) by not doing all of the shady crap that AT&T and Verizon were doing, with hidden fees and all of that nonsense, but all of that good will can vanish in an instant if they start behaving badly.

gatorguy said:

AppleInsider said:

The weight of the Apple Vision Pro is an issue that Apple is still working on, a report claims, with future models set to become much lighter.

Wow, never woulda guessed that.

I wonder. The first iPhone generation got slightly heavier, then lighter with the 5, 5s and SE, then started getting heavier again, and never came back down again even to where the first iPhone was. I’m sure they’ll be tempted to try to get the battery into the main unit (if not hardware upgrades that add weight and bulk) and there will always be people demanding better battery life who care less about the weight. But maybe it’s a question of what gives out first, your head or the battery, and if the battery snaps on externally people could choose what they want to prioritize. 

Pricing for the 15 Pro starts at $999, not $1,099.

A few years ago I wrote to Apple to ask for something similar for laptops. I mostly buy laptops, but 99% of the time I use them at home plugged in, and on occasion I use them elsewhere, but almost never far from an outlet. So I basically always use them plugged in, and like to just leave them plugged in rather than unplugging them every time I turn them off, but as a result my batteries periodically swell up and need to be replaced. I think it’s happened 4 times over the years. One Apple Store employee told me their laptops “weren’t designed to be left plugged in,” although they obviously were left plugged in at the Apple Store. With a previous model, I eventually just took out the battery and used it without one, although it’s nice to have battery backup for emergencies, and these days removing the battery is not as easy. What I asked for was a “desk mode” that would just maintain the battery at a modest level without charging frequently, and if I knew I was going to need more of a charge I could just switch out of desk mode ahead of time. Maybe someday…

mikethemartian said:

Isn’t scarcity by design?

Probably not in this case. Apple wants to sell as many phones as possible, as soon as possible. The sooner the customer gets their new phone, the sooner they’ll be ready to replace it again, and the less likely they will buy something different because they can’t wait. Presumably the best margins are on the most expensive phones, so even if prospective Pro Max buyers just get a different iPhone because they can’t wait for the Pro Max, it will still mean lower revenues and lower profits for Apple. Also, they want to entice switchers away from Android, to get them into the Apple Services ecosystem ASAP. Scarcity can work for a company like Ferrari, certain clothing companies, etc., but in Apple’s case, given their significant market share, the likelihood of winning business by convincing people that they’re joining a highly rarified group is outweighed by other factors.