williamh said:

ireland said:

The blue collar worker pays their due taxes, and so should the biggest corporations.

In the end, the customer pays for everything.  That includes the blue collar workers enjoying Apple products. I'm not saying corporations shouldn't pay what they owe,  I am saying that when you go after corporations as if they're golden geese, the money will come from somewhere - a corporation doesn't just suck it up.

GeorgeBMac said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

macgui said:

The iPhone XS Max is what Apple has always promised the iPhone could be

Except for being a slab that Jobs said nobody would want. Even a 7 or 8 is bigger than I like.  I'll assume the SE form factor, is dead, buried, gone for ever.  But I'd snap an update version in a heartbeat. I wouldn't have to be an Xs in SE's clothing, just some more performance, and maybe an edge to edge screen. 

I understand what you're saying, but the wider user base proved him wrong when the iPhone 6 Plus launched. 

I don't think he was wrong.   I think things changed.

The original iPhone was used primarily as a phone and for that smaller works better.

But increasingly the iPhone became a pocket sized computer that needed a bigger screen for all it was doing.

And that "pocket sized computer' is one of the ways Apple is justifying their high prices:  The phone now does so much that it's replacing or minimizing the use of computers and cameras.

Soli said:

dasanman69 said:

Soli said:

macgui 'said:
Except for being a slab that Jobs said nobody would want.

Are you suggesting that if Jobs were still alive and running Apple that they'd still only be making iPhones with 3.5" displays? Let's be clear that Jobs was notorious for saying something as subterfuge and/or changing his mind latter. One such example is the iPod that could play videos, which I think was the next release after his infamous statement. So, if Jobs has a penchant for making such statements then why bring him up 7 years after his death as proof of anything?

It's very disingenuous, and hypocritical to mock and ridicule something, then turning around and do that very thing. 

??? What thing did I mock and ridicule? Jobs ability to change his mind after realizing something else is better or his ability for misdirection as not to tip Apple's hand too soon?

tmay said:

Soli said:

tmay said:

Soli said:

Honestly, for the timeframe, Rubin put out an exceptional product.

He didn’t gauge the market well for a quality Android phone for 2017, but his ability to engineer a device and bring it to market is impressive in its own right.

Maybe his next venture will be a market success.

The problem with his "exceptional" product is that he was selling it into the Android OS device market, as if he had another choice. Even with his "exceptional" design, the "Essential" phone wasn't differentiated enough from all other premium Android OS devices, and certainly, Google likely had the same problem with it's Pixel 2, which only sold and estimated 4 million units for the year. It isn't possible to command the same premiums in the Android OS market as it is for Apple to command in the iPhone market.

The market for a quality Android phone is another discussion altogether.

Despite all the bellyaching on tech forums, actual customers tend to be very different from what they whiners want. It’s why multiple attempts to create modular smartphones is a pipe dream that adds cost and bulk without increasing utility or lifespan.

Why did Andy Rubin believe that he could innovate with yet another smartphone in the Android OS market? 

That's just hubris.