brucemc

clarker99 said:

I posted this question on another thread with no answer:

What exactly makes Alexa so much better than Siri? (I personally do not have issues with Siri and have never owned an Alexa device to compare).  This is the narrative but I never see specific reasons. Like, what does Alexa offer that is the game changer?

There is so much to unpack in this area.  The whole "smart speaker" market was way overhyped, because "tech media".  It is what they do - always searching for the next thing (that doesn't involve Apple), regardless of the actual use cases.  Not unsurprisingly, there was little hype about this category at CES, and the tech media has moved on.  It didn't help that most devices purchased are the low end "Dots, Minis" that list for maybe $50, but in reality are purchased on sale in the $20-$30 range.  Basically, the price for a premium pizza.  In other words, not much of a market.

Alexa is prized for its skills, which in theory enable it to handle more tasks, but in practice those really aren't being used by most people.  Reasons - you have to remember the specific phrasing, you have to setup devices to use it - and that is more than most will do.  So it is used for music playback, timers, some questions...and in a small % for home automation.

Google Assistant is best at overall trivia / answers (no surprise, given the search engine).

Siri (especially on HomePod with its better microphones) is quite good at what it claims to do - music, weather, sports, timers, reminders, etc.  It is not as good at topics it doesn't claim to support.

Overall, a voice only interface is limited, so I don't expect my speaker to provide me with great details on the answer to a question.

osmartormenajr said:

...
 That’s a question for Apple leadership to decide. It’s funny though that they get to be attacked for “policing the internet” and “not doing enough” over the same issue.

If you took "doublethink" away from the Internet, 99.9% of Twitter/Instagram/FB/YouTube/blog/media commentator's heads would explode...it's what they live on...

rogifan_new said:

I have to laugh when Tim says one thing Apple is doing to improve results is the iPhone trade-in program and making it easier to pay for iPhones over time. So basically admitting the public thinks iPhones are too expensive so coming up with other ways to get people to buy phones without having to make them cheaper.

I have to laugh at your predictably whiny posts...

What do you do again...??

JayVee said:

I'd have thought they would have bought back shares more aggressively since they only bought back 8.7 billion dollars worth this quarter where the stock price was heavily discounted, but let's see what Maestri says during the conference call.

We shall see if they state why.  My view is that when Apple mgmt became aware of the sales shortfall, they stopped the share repurchases as the company was privy to significant information that the market did not have.  It would have been a magnet for lawsuits.  I expect Apple would have resumed purchasing after the Jan. 2nd disclosure.

I quite like the USB-C connector (which is just the connector, the port of course supports T-Bolt 3, audio/video, power, etc).  I purchased a USB-C hub for $40 on Amazon which connects to all my peripherals at work, including the power cable.  One single attachment point, and you are done.  I did have to spend about $100 for all the peripherals, but I needed some for my last 2011 MBP as well.

Always funny to read the comments - you get the people that complain about Apple protecting legacy markets (I guess that is to imply trying to maintain the iPhone user base), and then the same ones turnaround and moan that the Mac doesn't have enough legacy ports.  Oh well, that is humanity I guess...