Hmm. Wonder if there'd be a firmware hack. Not that I'd buy a device with that hardware, regardless. No point rewarding bad behavior.
I also wonder if Apple's not taking a page from Big Blue's playbook and building a patent collection with which to browbeat corporations that fuck with them.
Yeah, the entire marketing department and board would have had to have been huffing paint out back. Their brand image is built around being high-end and user-friendly (this is not an invitation to discuss the degree to which these things are true, Internet) and ad lock-ins are neither.
I think it's much more likely a combination of the IBM patent library approach and a strategic move to make sure no one else can do it. I don't think the Apple demographic overlaps much with the ad-supported services one, but it would prevent somebody gaining marketshare and revenue and then potentially expanding to challenge the iPhone.
Their brand image is built around being high-end and user-friendly (this is not an invitation to discuss the degree to which these things are true, Internet)
Internets are not vampires! They require no invitation!
Neither of those things is even remotely true. Apple makes mediocre products wrapped up in fancy packaging and tagged with a high-end price and counts "terrible interface" as a status symbol - putting up with Apple's shit is a sign that you're more enlightened and superior to those silly monkeys who like useful and/or customisable and/or compatible stuff.
I had a bad experience with an iBook, and I've never been tempted to get an iPod. I was briefly enamored of the iPhone, because accelerometers yay! but whatever, other brands have them, too.
They also named one of their operating systems Snow Leopard, and snow leopards are cool.
The thing is, you're both right - Apple products may not be better than their competitors, but they sure as hell base their image on being higher quality!
It's the equivalent of walking up to me and hitting me in the face with a book until I punch you hard enough to make you stop. I'd rather do that, actually, because then I get to punch annoying advertisers in the face instead of just growling impotently.
For a fancier answer, consider that Apple started the Orange line of computers, as a wholly owned subsidiary.
What OS would those cheapo computers run? Mac OS X? It'd directly eat into the sales and margins of the iMacs, Mac minis, and MacBooks, and if there's anything that Apple's obsessed with right now, it's keeping margins up. Windows? Why bother, you'll just end up like another budget Dell/Acer/HP. Linux? Let me remind you that Mac OS X is built on FreeBSD at its core.
Doing high/low mix makes sense when you have plenty of organic manufacturing capacity that the high-end products can't fill, or when you need to keep an elaborate service net (which itself generates money). That's true for cars, but probably not so much for computers (except at the enterprise level, which Apple isn't competing in), especially as Apple outsources a lot of the manufacture.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-16 10:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-16 10:58 pm (UTC)I also wonder if Apple's not taking a page from Big Blue's playbook and building a patent collection with which to browbeat corporations that fuck with them.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 12:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 01:08 am (UTC)I think it's much more likely a combination of the IBM patent library approach and a strategic move to make sure no one else can do it. I don't think the Apple demographic overlaps much with the ad-supported services one, but it would prevent somebody gaining marketshare and revenue and then potentially expanding to challenge the iPhone.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 02:47 am (UTC)Internets are not vampires! They require no invitation!
Neither of those things is even remotely true. Apple makes mediocre products wrapped up in fancy packaging and tagged with a high-end price and counts "terrible interface" as a status symbol - putting up with Apple's shit is a sign that you're more enlightened and superior to those silly monkeys who like useful and/or customisable and/or compatible stuff.
I really, really hate Apple products.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 02:54 am (UTC)They also named one of their operating systems Snow Leopard, and snow leopards are cool.
Those are My Thoughts On Apple.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 08:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 12:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 12:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 06:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 12:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 02:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 02:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 07:57 am (UTC)For a fancier answer, consider that Apple started the Orange line of computers, as a wholly owned subsidiary.
What OS would those cheapo computers run? Mac OS X? It'd directly eat into the sales and margins of the iMacs, Mac minis, and MacBooks, and if there's anything that Apple's obsessed with right now, it's keeping margins up. Windows? Why bother, you'll just end up like another budget Dell/Acer/HP. Linux? Let me remind you that Mac OS X is built on FreeBSD at its core.
Doing high/low mix makes sense when you have plenty of organic manufacturing capacity that the high-end products can't fill, or when you need to keep an elaborate service net (which itself generates money). That's true for cars, but probably not so much for computers (except at the enterprise level, which Apple isn't competing in), especially as Apple outsources a lot of the manufacture.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 12:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 12:32 pm (UTC)(But I think we should limit the pedantry to reasonable levels.)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 02:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-17 06:27 am (UTC)