Bad Apple: Five Classic Apple Marketing Tactics That Lock You In

PC World ^ | Nov 3, 2009 6:15 pm | Dan Tynan

[Swordmaker]

When you buy an Apple device, you're often locked in to buying other Apple products that are compatible with it. Here are five examples, and some advice on what to do. Oh, wait--there's nothing you can do.

Once you enter the Big Tent of Apple, it's exceedingly hard to find the exit.

Over its 33-year history, Apple has consistently elected to limit consumer choice, creating a situation known as "lock in." As soon as you start buying stuff from Apple, you'll find it difficult to move to products made by someone else without losing everything you've already paid for.

Of course, many people don't want to leave Apple's tent. After all, it's filled with iPhones and MacBooks and other cool stuff. And Apple is hardly the only business that tries to lock in customers--wireless carriers (including Apple partner AT&T) are probably the worst offenders. Nor is Apple the only vendor to use one product as leverage to push others onto consumers (let's declare Microsoft the champion there).

But no other technology company exercises the same amount of control over what its customers can and can't do with the things they bought. Part of this approach is due to Apple's deep belief that a closed digital ecosystem with limited options benefits both Apple and its customers. Part of it is due to an all-consuming desire for control on the part of the ringmaster, otherwise known as Steve Jobs.

The bottom line: Apple makes great products, but its marketing practices limit your choices and cost you more money. Here are five classic examples of how the company has done it.

[La Lydia]

I love my Big Tent of Apple. It is large, comfortable, sleek, well furnished, my toys are colorful and fun — and it has never collapsed on me.

[ctdonath2]

Flip side is that “closed digital ecosystem” is a very comfortable place where you can do what needs doing with little fuss. No need to spend prolonged periods trying to decide between a gazillion products that do the same thing just a little differently and with endlessly varying compatibility issues.

Can you do everything within the Apple ecosystem? No.
Do you really WANT to do everything? _really_?

[Swordmaker]

"Bad Apple: Five Classic Apple Marketing Tactics That Lock You In"

It's FUD... PING!

Thanks to Defiant for the heads up...

Mac Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[SkyDancer]

Whenever I go into a store selling software there’s a huge section for PC’s and a very small area for MAC stuff ... and when something good comes out there’s a sign that says something like “coming to Apple soon” ...

[Swordmaker]

Most of these are classic complaints against Apple... it’s a rehash of all of those with the express purpose of instilling Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in potential Mac buyers.

[Blueflag]

I’d file this article under “REALLY WEAK ARGUMENTS”

point 1: the Apple stuff really works

point 2: everybody waits on Gates.

point 3: People don’t b!tch about Apple and th Apple OS; but almost everyone complains about the MS experience.

point 4: the guy who wrote this article has apparently never owned and maintained a premium brand car.

[mmichaels1970]

Consumers could either shell out the cash for a new iPod or pay Apple as much as $100 (plus shipping) to put a new battery in their existing device. In June 2005

Ruh roh. My mom bought an iPod for my daughter. I didn't know that I couldn't change the battery in it. So we just throw iPods away when the battery goes?

[The_Victor]

Nor is Apple the only vendor to use one product as leverage to push others onto consumers (let's declare Microsoft the champion there).

Of course, when Micro$oft does it, it's illegal.

[SlowBoat407]

So we just throw iPods away when the battery goes?

I've kept Mrs. Slowboat's iPod Mini going for several years by changing the battery.

[Phantom Lord]

No, you don't throw it away. You can take it to Mac stores and other locations and they can replace the battery. Its a sealed device so you can't just open it and put a new battery in. I honestly don't know how often the batteries die or their avg. lifespan.

I and my wife are on iPod number 5, with the oldest being 4 years old. And it is still going strong with zero problems.

But, and its a but that I have heard complaints about. You can purchase a device that will allow you to open the iPod and replace the battery yourself. Success stories using this device range all over the map, with the biggest complaint I have seen is it will mar the finish on the iPod. Of course, the % of people who do not have their iPod covered with some sort of protective case is probably exceptionally small.

[hiredhand]

It's a hit piece on Apple. The bottom line is what the consumers think about the products after it's all said and done. Ask any Apple owner/user of their overall experience and then contrast this against a similarly tasked MS Windows user.

The Apple users practically unanimously love the platform. But the MS Windows users will all voice various levels of displeasure, to downright disgust.

But with OSX, Apple pulled the best dig against Microsoft that they could have. Under the covers, it's BSD UNIX. :-) Grab a shell and the login script will prominently display the BSD license, as required by the terms of the license. :-)

Not many people realize that BSD UNIX is going on 30 years old...perhaps a little older than that! How cool is that?! :-)

[notfornothing]

So we just throw iPods away when the battery goes?

You can recharge the battery through your computer's USB port or a plug-in charger. I've heard that the built-in batteries wear out eventually, but I've had mine for more than three years now and it still holds its charge almost as well as it did out of the box.

[Bob]

Back in the mid-80s (not sure which year), I had an idea for a simple hardware addon board for personal computers. I was faced with a choice whether to develop it for the IBM PC or for Apple's products.

I soon discovered that the specs for the PC's ISA bus as well as the source code listing for its BIOS ROM had already been published and were publicly available. I also discovered that, to make a legal Apple-compatible board, I would need to negotiate a license agreement with Apple's corporate headquarters.

By the end of one weekend, I had a hand-built prototype board installed in my PC and had the initial software running. Had I chosen to go the Apple route, I couldn't have even gotten the legal paperwork started by that point.

[Phantom Lord]

but I've had mine for more than three years now and it still holds its charge almost as well as it did out of the box.

My 160 gig classic is 2 years old and gets multiple hours of daily play and the battery is going just as strong as day 1.

[word_warrior_bob]

Microsoft’s crappy OS forced me under the Apple tent, I’m happy there.

For all the PC tinkerers who build their own computers and know how to take care of them, good for you. I don’t care to know how to tend to my computer, or how to fix my car or put a new roof on my house.

[relictele]

Yes but you missed the opportunity to encase it in white or ivory plastic.

[canuck_conservative]

Best comment following the article:

StalePancake:

“I can only congratulate Apple. How a company can charge 36.6% gross margin for the same hardware every other provider sells at razor thin margins is a testament to Apple’s ability to cloud the judgment of 5.37% of the market.

I don’t hate Apple. I envy their boldness to rob you in broad daylight and smile at you while doing it. But even better, I’m amazed that those being robbed are happy about the matter and can’t wait to be robbed some more.

What’s not to love about that?”

[Mr. Jeeves]

I can only congratulate Apple. How a company can charge 36.6% gross margin for the same hardware every other provider sells at razor thin margins is a testament to Apple’s ability to cloud the judgment of 5.37% of the market.

That 36.6% percent has nothing to do with clouded judgment - it is a "reliability/ease-of-use/good design premium" that people are only too happy to pay.

Apple owes Bill Gates a lot for creating such a hungry market. :)

[Dr. Sivana]

Back in the mid-80s (not sure which year), I had an idea for a simple hardware addon board for personal computers. I was faced with a choice whether to develop it for the IBM PC or for Apple's products.

Don't forget that the Mac SE, IIsi and Mac II line all had different (and incompoatible slots). Of course, IBM was just starting to drop ISA from its machines (in favor of the ill-fated MCA) at the same time.

It is good that we have both types of systems. Also, Apple was very quick to jump on industry standards (slightly modified SCSI, USB, Firewire, Bluetooth) and could make them really stick. Apple, with the iMac, did more to kick-start USB development than all of those Intel motherboards that didn't have an OS for it.