Posted on 11/05/2009 10:37:52 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
I am happy with Apple.
They provide me with what I need to get my job done. (I am a photographer.)
They upgrade their products and include things I can actually use.
When i bring in a new piece of equipment, it just works.
I plug in a printer or piece of equipment in my network and it works, without having to delve into the guts of the PC.
The fact that i am not always opening the container and putzing around with the guts is good. I am always tempted to do more than I have training for. And thus, I screw some things up.
Did I mention, it works?
if Government worked like this, I would be lining up for government provided health care. Apple type socialism wouldnt be horrible. (I am kidding.)
I have an extremely wealthy acquaintence that switched from iTunes to Limewire, not becuase of the cost, but because of convenience. They had a problem getting some of their iTunes songs to play on their Apple TV systems in their homes and Yachts due to obscure “protection” issues. With limewire stuff you use it as you see fit, kinda like records and tapes were.
Apple users are suckers. They pay more for for the same commodity hardware that Dell, HP and others charge far less for. Apple is a company run by hardcore liberals. They are secretive, controlling, and monopolistic. Steve Jobs wants to control what you do with your computer. Microsoft’s products are far better - more secure and more customizable.
I’ll say it. I love my iPhone, I don’t care that I have to use iTunes to get my songs and my apps (My Miller Lite one is my fave right now LOL) and I have great luck with AT&T.
I agree, The reason you don’t want to leave is because everything works well together and it doesn’t crash. If that’s a trap, I’m fine living in it.
I have a 3rd generation iPod that's about 5-6 years old. It's still going strong. The only battery problem I notice is that while my freshly-charged iPod lasts for quite a while, if I leave it unused for a couple of days, it has practically no charge left at all. Mrs. kevkrom's 4th-gen iPod doesn't have that problem.
Ran into the same buzzsaw in college. That French guy that was in charge of engineering nearly killed that company.
Apple wanted $10K for an SDK. I couldn’t believe it. I said, “You realize I’m an EE student in college. I have loads of time, but no money, and I can get the PC stuff for free, right?”
There attitude was, “Go play on your PC.” So I did. Made no sense then and less sense now.
“Apple users are suckers. They pay more for for the same commodity hardware that Dell, HP and others charge far less for. Apple is a company run by hardcore liberals. They are secretive, controlling, and monopolistic. Steve Jobs wants to control what you do with your computer. Microsoft’s products are far better - more secure and more customizable.”
My wife had a Dell a gateway and now has a sony. That whole time, I had a the same mac. If you want to compare computers, make sure you compare apples to apples. (no pun intended) My screen was better quality because you can see it at every angle, the parts don’t give out, and the OS is rock solid. Everything works well because Apple controls what comes into the tent. My wife has problems with many 3rd party products. We aren’t suckers, we just like quality. Why do you think GM and Chrysler are failing right now? Because their products suck. Should we keep buying it because it’s cheaper? Your argument doesn’t make sense.
Yes, they are libs, but they make a darned good product.
All the FUD cliches in one single post...well done! Hope your check from M$ Marketing arrives on time. :)
I eat a Fuji Apple every day.
“... point 4: the guy who wrote this article has apparently never owned and maintained a premium brand car....” You get what you pay for. Since I got rid of my last PC (a very spiffy Sony VAIO laptop), with all of its problems, screwed up drivers, blue screens, endless security issues, etc. and got my Mac, I have been a happy, hassle-free camper. I don’t think there is that much difference in what I paid for my Mac and what I would have paid for another VAIO and the yearly Norton anti-virus security fee/mental anguish expenses and trips to Geekland. My Mac is worth every last dollar I paid for it. There is a saying here in my country among capitalists: what the market will bear. I am adult. I can afford to get what I want. I don’t want to have to mess with it to have it function. No innocent animals are harmed in the process. I don’t have any problem at all with people who want to use PCs, I wish them well, and I certainly wouldn’t waste my time insulting them.
I have had zilch problems with iTunes, and I am borderline low-tech. Works fine on the boat. But I will check out Limewire.
Limewire is P2P software. You are opening yourself up to lawsuit if you use it.
For the longest time I wondered what the point was, really, for shelling out big bucks for a BMW, Mercedes, etc.; precision German engineering sounds nifty, but ... why bother?
Then I drove the Autobahn. In a low-end luxury car (Opel).
I understood instantly: _it_just_works_.
When traffic has an average cruising speed of 100MPH, and 140MPH is not unreasonable, you want a car that works _flawlessly_. Every response need be crisp and prompt. Every movement need be smooth and agile. Shaking, sluggishness, and slop are absolutely unacceptable at those speeds and conditions - situations which drivers thereon consider normal.
Likewise Mac v. PC. Yeah, the PC will work, but it's just got that slop, shimmy & rattle going on; drivers don't always work right and often break something unrelated, compatibility is not confident, yeah things are cheaper but then, well, they're cheaper. Yeah, the Mac ain't perfect, but that maligned "lock-in" pays off with much smoother, solid, crisp response.
Well. That certainly puts it in a different light. No thank you. And since my iTunes work just fine, no need to figure out something else.
She’ll have moved on to another audio player (probably next gen-iPod or iPhone) long before the battery needs replacing. ...and Apple recognizes this behavior in their users, and works with it by removing all the extra space/weight required to support swappable batteries.
On occasion, benevolent dictatorships work.
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