sagan_student

k2kw said:

radarthekat said

And all the while Apple is acting as my agent to buy out any of my partners (co-owners of Apple) who don’t have the confidence in the company’s future I have and Apple management has.  Thank you Apple.  I’m happy owning a larger and larger share of the company’s future earnings.  Every quarter my percentage ownership goes up.  And while the stock price falls on fear, uncertainty and doubt, Apple has just told us that, even with a year-over-year drop in revenues, the company will report its highest ever earnings per share this quarter.  And that reduced share count will yield similar results long into the future; it’s not merely a one-time effect.  

I think Apple should have spent more of that money to acquire HERE Maps 5 years ago, SONOS a few years ago, and Canon now, along with a lot more money into Solid State Battery research.    I would hate to see Apple having to pay LG, Samsung, or Panasonic for the technology when it comes along.    I would much rather Apple be the first two to three years ahead (Edit2: ago) with the Technology.   And of Course Apple should have been putting BILLIONS into fixing SIRI half a decade ago.


Edit: if they were going to drop QualComm they should have also invested in designing and manufacturing their own modems 5 years ago too.

That sure is a lot of investment you are expecting them to do. You make it sound so simple. I mean, it’s amazing they had never thought of doing such things. Can you please explain your logic that a company should invest in and buy up everything? Can you name me one example in which a company being run like you suggested survives to see the fruits of their labour? 

wizard69 said:

Interesting  chip, and one long article.   The problem as I see it is that Apple needs for somebody to put this in high end devices, especially tablets.   To put it simply they need the competition.  Frankly there is t anAndroid tablet worth adamn right now and a straight Linux based tablet is even harder to find.  The lack of competition in this arena leaves Apple free too charge high prices, this isn’t good in the long run.  

I don’t understand what you mean by high prices. It costs money to be continually advancing technology; it costs money to use better materials to aid in recycling; it costs money to push and expand into new markets. You can buy the second best tablet on the market today (the iPad) for $330 US. How is this expensive? 

rogifan_new said:

Why Apple is focusing on users not units? Because units aren’t growing like they used to. I will say though seeing Apple become a company focused on extracting more money out of existing users is kind of depressing. Not nearly as exciting as the great product reveal on stage.

I think it’s that Apple recognize that this is a finite planet and you can not grow forever. I do agree that they are in the business of extracting money out of its users, they are a company after all. However, I disagree with your perspective on it. In order to innovate and create new and better technologies you need to invest money. The majority of people on this planet do not have the funds to participate in this type of endeavor, so a company focusing on these individuals will add nothing more to the company outside of their occasional purchase of a phone that has barely any profit margins. You need to sell to people who have money and can afford to contribute to keep you, the company, pushing the boundaries of technology. Now you can extract ‘money’ out of those that have none, but that requires them becoming the product and being subjected to advertising and surveillance. 

I believe the reason why Apple has upped the cost of entry to their best devices is because more and more people can no longer afford to fund the research to keep a company pushing the boundaries. But this is where the Xr comes into play... Apple is now in a position to deliver an incredibly future forward device to more people off of the backs of those who want or can afford the best. The Xr will be the phone that people can truly start holding onto for 5+ years and have it still working incredibly well. Now how on earth do you extract money out of those people who can buy the second best phone on the market at a price point that is 400 - 700 dollars less than the premium? Through services. Apple is making their cutting edge technology available to more people than ever before, for a price point that allows them to keep pushing forward. Sure it isn’t their flagship phone, but it doesn’t have to be. I really think Apple knocked it out of the park with the Xr, especially when people are becoming less and less interested in having to own the best. Rather they are looking for something they can buy and not have to worry about for a long time. This is something that Andriod is not going to be able to copy for a very long time. 

What I would like to know is where are the video comparisons showing 2 (ideally 20) proficient users in both a laptop and an iPad completing similar tasks needed for their profession? Cause I am cautiously optimistic that for any particular profession, whereever anyone puts their needle, they are surprised to see the needle actually points a little closer to iPad. Full Disclosure: Regardless of the actual outcome, I find it time well spent contemplating and reading peoples opinions about it. I also have not searched to see if these videos actually exist. The only information I have is that I personally have not read an article or comment that has contained a link on it. 

GeorgeBMac said:

EXCELLENT analysis!   Thank You!

Essentially:  iPad could be a laptop replacement, but Apple has reversed their course (or stalled it?) and so far, chooses not to go there.   It's not a technical limitation but an administrative one.   I find that sad.

My personal experience last night with my 6th grade grandson doing his homework on his 3 year old HP:
Grandson:   "This laptop sucks!   It's not working!"   (It was running slowly)

Me:  "Use your new iPad that I just bought you."

Grandson:  "No way, i love it, but it sucks for homework"

Do I buy him an MBA or MBP?   Huh?  I just spent $700 on an iPad.  Now I'm supposed to spend $1,500-$2,000 on a tiny 13" MacBook to replace his 15" laptop?   I don't think so.

Likewise:  CNBC summarized it this way:
"I tested the new iPad Pro and it still can't replace my laptop like Apple says it can.
Despite what Apple has said time and time again, I can't actually do work on the iPad Pro, which means it didn't replace my work laptop at all.
I need to be able to write and chat in my corporate Slack chat app, draft up a story in the web browser, pop open the email app and edit photos, often all at once, or quickly switch between them without thinking. I can do all of this and switch between each app in seconds on a Mac or a Windows 10 computer mostly thanks to a mouse. But the lack of a mouse and a true multitasking environment makes all of this much more cumbersome on an iPad."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/15/apple-ipad-pro-review.html

I think Apple is painting themselves into a corner -- restricting MacBooks to THIS narrow niche (light, thin and expensive) and iPads to THAT narrow niche (content only).

I find that frustrating:  I want to give Apple my money.  But I need them to produce a product that meets my needs or the needs of my grandson.   If the absence of that product were due to a technical limitation I would understand.   But, because it is either an administrative limitation or an inept design team (maybe both?), I find that disturbing and worrisome.

While I appreciate your grandsons concerns, my experience has shown me different t. I am a high school science teacher and 3 years ago I decided to get the 12.9 pro with keyboard and pencil to be my primary (and only) computing device. (I do have a 2008 iMac that is really just an oversized backup sitting in a room rarely visited.) I chose to go that route as my iPad 2 was getting long in the tooth and so was my iMac. I opted for the iPad Pro instead of getting an iPad Air and a MacBook. The first year was a painful transition, I was constantly running into issues where doing something pretty simple, like copy and paste between programs (which I do a TON of), was ridiculously tedious. At times I would revert back and use a windows computer at work when I had a lot of things to move around. But as I problem solved these issues, I began to change my workflow. Then when iOS 11 came out, that changed everything for me, multitasking, drag and drop, folders app, multiple selections, etc. I can now count on one hand the instances in which I’ve HAD to use a PC at work to get something done in the past 8+ months. I honestly can’t provide an example what those instances were, I just know that I decided I would just jump over and do whatever it was on the PC.

I also started my masters in education 3 years ago and have done all my work and research using my iPad Pro. I am currently writing my thesis and doing all the “teacher” things I need using this device. I will never look back. I for one appreciate Apple’s stance at not merging the two. It’s a different interaction with producing and consuming information than on a desktop/laptop. Is everyone able to use an iPad as their primary device? Absolutely not; but most people could. It does however, require effort in rethinking how you handle your workflow.

On a separate note regarding your grandson saying that it sucks for homework, I’m thinking it’s more of the aggravation of having to make a change and the problem solving of how to do it differently, then it not being a device that is capable of meeting his needs as a middle school student. As for the CNBC comment, I’d argue that the reviewer was trying to fit the iPad into their workflow rather than figuring out the workflow that fits with the device (that’s if they truly wanted to make the switch). The best part of all of this for me is that now that I have made the transition, I know that iOS and iPad are only going to continue to improve and that will make me even more efficient. 

Hope you find a solution that works for you,