bigbillygoatgruff

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bigbillygoatgruff
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  • Epic says Apple no longer plans to disable 'Sign in with Apple'

    Since nobody has put a cogent argument to support Epic, and since I like a challenge, I'm going to try to make a case for them. I think the case is weak, but I'm bored with all the lame defense of Epic here. So I'm going to put forward my best defense. Even if we fully agree with Apple, we have to understand our opponent's position.
    What Epic wants is all of the benefits of the curated app store with none of the constraints.  They're not the first to take Apple on with regard to this.  I'm not very familiar with jail-breaking and unauthorized apps.  However, Epic presumably could have gone this route.  They would have gotten tens or maybe hundreds of users.  Instead, they chose to play by the rules until they had millions of users.  They know that if they pull away and go the unauthorized route now, most users will find another game to play.  So they are attempting to use the power of their user base to force Apple into changing the rules Epic and everybody else agreed to follow.  It could be that an executive woke up one morning and realized how much money they were paying to Apple and chose to fight about it.  They may have made the agreement thinking conceptually that a percentage sounds reasonable, but now they are coping with a difficult reality when they see how much real money they are not getting.  However, it surely looks like Epic planned this revolt all along.

    I appreciate the argument.  It is thought-provoking, especially to consider it from a censorship and control issue that could lead to a slippery slope.  I think it's a reasonable argument for someone to make...but not Epic.  If Epic made that argument, most people would see it for what it is...a lot of extraneous information intended to distract from the core issue that they don't want to pay Apple so much money.
    Pascalxxwatto_cobra
  • Should you upgrade to Apple's redesigned 2018 iPad Pro?

    lewchenko said:
    I thought I could justify an upgrade from my Air2 (quite old now) which performs well enough but lacks features the new pro iPads have. 

    but its it’s the new familiar story with Apple.. so ridiculously expensive. Astronomically so in the case of the iPad Pros. 

    Eapecially when you you factor in a pencil and keyboard to make the most of your new pro device plus any extra storage , case , or LTE. 

    They may be powerful but the iOS approach doesn’t suit all use cases which makes it an additional purchase to a say a laptop and phone (eg. Creatives who also code) 

    iPads worked and sold well because they were a value device (consumption device or companion device). These new pro’s are arguably more than that (strong creative) but I don’t think there are millions of people willing to pay as much as a Mac book pro to have one (with the accessories). The low end iPad isn’t even an upgrade from my Air2 either so at present unless I want to cough up a grand , I’ll be sticking with the air 2. 

    Apple is becoming the Prada of the tech world. Quality.. sure, but priced for the rich! 


    This is the familiar story, too.  (long sigh) “I want the latest, greatest, and most up-to-datest, but I just don’t want to pay the price for it.”  And... “Why do nice, new things have to cost a lot of money?”

    Apple is selling millions of them, so there must be millions of people out there willing to pay for it.  Having an iPad as a companion device has kept me using an iMac from 2012.  So, the companion has effectively at least doubled the useful life (and counting) of my desktop computer.  It also made the iMac a practical option at a much lower cost than the MacBook Pros I had been buying.  I never would have guessed that, and I wouldn’t be surprised if others have found that to be true, as well. 

    Do you honestly not believe that the low end iPad isn’t an upgrade over the iPad Air 2, or is that more whinging?  I’m not going to dig into the specs, but the processor alone is at least two generations newer.  There are probably some really good deals out there on the 2017 models.  If not now, there will be soon enough.  Maybe wait a few months and pick up a used or refurbished one of the latest model if you want to upgrade.  Or maybe it’s time for you to explore some non-Apple options.  If Apple isn’t offering you a compelling reason to buy, maybe another company is.  

    I also think people should do a real cost-benefit analysis of upgrading iPads and iPhones sooner rather than later.  The resale value of a one-year-old device is significantly more than a two-year-old device (and the resale value only goes down after that).  People might be surprised to learn how cost-effective it can be to upgrade sooner rather than later.  

    And for everybody who thinks that apple is getting “so expensive,” where have you been since the 1980s?  Apple has always been expensive and high-end.  This is nothing new.  For those of us that have been users for that long (I have since the mid 1990s), we stuck around as customers because the value justified the premium price. 

    Sorry, dude.  Nothing personal, but this post just worked my nerve.  I only have one left, and it’s shot. 
    dewmejohn mclachlanchiaStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Samsung profits driven by iPhone XS components, smartphone earnings plummeting

    All the smartphone reviewers say Samsung flagship smartphones are much better than Apple's iPhones. Samsung smartphones are said to have far more features at a much cheaper cost. Also, Samsung has a better selection of smartphones to choose from. At least that's what 99% of Youtubers have to say about Samsung smartphones. This year, the iPhone is suffering from Beautygate, Chargegate and Connectivitygate. Not even one Android flagship smartphone seems to have any problems at all or they're not being reported on the internet as such. There's the omnipresent complaint about iPhones not coming with fast chargers in the box despite their exorbitant price. No freaking headphone jack and the ugly display notch just about completes the reasons why iPhones are said to be inferior to all the Samsung offerings.

    This year the iPhone is said to be TOO expensive for the consumer masses and supposedly no one is going to buy iPhones because they all believe Apple is just ripping-off consumers. So, with all that being said, I'm surprised Samsung smartphone sales are falling off. It just runs counter to what all the reviewers are saying. Apple's iPhone should clearly be losing the battle. Heck, Samsung is beating the pants off of Apple in terms total smartphone shipments. Apple appears to be doomed this year. Smartphone reviewers are never wrong.

    /s

    Same old, same old.  Only iPhones seem to have problems and that's just downright unlikely.
    Only one of those companies was forced to recall or brick every single unit of its flagship phone model for being an incendiary device.  And they call us sheeple...
    claire1jony0watto_cobra
  • Remembering Steve Jobs

    His Stanford speech really made me see the world in a better way. I wish that he had lived to see the Apple Watch & see it help save lives .
    Whenever I spend a few days in a row unhappy about what I'm doing, I think about that speech and let it inspire me.
    albegarcpsych_guyjony0ronnanantksundaram
  • Samsung profits driven by iPhone XS components, smartphone earnings plummeting

    AppleInsider said:
    While Samsung shipped 71.5 million units in Q2 2018 compared to Apple's 41.3 million iPhones, Samsung reported it had earned less than half the revenue of iPhone sales during the period.
    This is really astonishing.  It's still a lot of revenue, but I wonder how smart of a business decision it really is.  The R&D overhead they are carrying for having so many models must be killing them.
    netmagewatto_cobra