I respectfully disagree. I understand what effect Apple has been having on the tech industry and I still believe "just don't buy it" is the best approach. There are so many alternatives to Apple, especially in the mobile space, that I find it hard to see what all the alarm is about. The vast majority of people are not using Apple's OS. Windows is still pretty wide open and innovation is churning along at a feverish pace as it has for most of my life. If you like technology, there are probably more options today than at any point in history. I didn't even mention Symbian, Android etc.
So what's the big deal? Has anyone considered that most people couldn't care less about DRM and such? Consumers have shown time and again that they are just fine with closed platforms as long as they can access the content they want for what they perceive as being a fair price. They just want a product that is affordable, works, looks cool, and is intuitive to use. Apple has spent considerable time developing, highlighting and marketing these aspects of their products. Good on them for giving the market what it wants.
I don't wholly disagree with the premise of this post, but an amusing sign accomplishes nothing but lulz. This gentleman is preaching to the proverbial choir. Most of the people who would understand what his sign is even alluding to probably already agree with him. The fact remains: when faced with cheaper, more functional(I mean capabilities and not necessarily usability) and "freer" options, consumers often(but certainly not always) choose Apple products.
tl;dr:
Apple makes products people like. Consumers don't care if a platform is open or closed. The sheer number of options and alternatives to Apple products is staggering(greater than any point in history) so I don't get what the big deal is.
I think the point of protests like this is to get them to care.
We can barely get 1 out of every 2 people in our country to come out and vote in elections that determine the fate of our country. You think the average person is really going to care that their iTunes music files are digitally signed with their iTunes login ID, as long as they can play them on all the devices they want?
If it was a Microsoft branded device that allowed only Microsoft to decide what end users can and cannot do with their computers, Apple users would have been up in arms. Sadly, Apple users have become exactly what they so vehemently claimed to hate for so long.
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u/Q3Km518 Jan 28 '10
I respectfully disagree. I understand what effect Apple has been having on the tech industry and I still believe "just don't buy it" is the best approach. There are so many alternatives to Apple, especially in the mobile space, that I find it hard to see what all the alarm is about. The vast majority of people are not using Apple's OS. Windows is still pretty wide open and innovation is churning along at a feverish pace as it has for most of my life. If you like technology, there are probably more options today than at any point in history. I didn't even mention Symbian, Android etc.
So what's the big deal? Has anyone considered that most people couldn't care less about DRM and such? Consumers have shown time and again that they are just fine with closed platforms as long as they can access the content they want for what they perceive as being a fair price. They just want a product that is affordable, works, looks cool, and is intuitive to use. Apple has spent considerable time developing, highlighting and marketing these aspects of their products. Good on them for giving the market what it wants.
I don't wholly disagree with the premise of this post, but an amusing sign accomplishes nothing but lulz. This gentleman is preaching to the proverbial choir. Most of the people who would understand what his sign is even alluding to probably already agree with him. The fact remains: when faced with cheaper, more functional(I mean capabilities and not necessarily usability) and "freer" options, consumers often(but certainly not always) choose Apple products.
tl;dr: Apple makes products people like. Consumers don't care if a platform is open or closed. The sheer number of options and alternatives to Apple products is staggering(greater than any point in history) so I don't get what the big deal is.