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Comment by incepted | Hacker News Reader

More importantly to me is that Apple created such an app in the first place. That's a very defensive move, certainly not the kind of move you would expect from the owners of a platform who are comfortable in their lead and their superiority.

This kind of move is usually the first step toward downfall.

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Defensive move? Quite the opposite. Apple has the gall to go on the offensive with an app to assist people in abandoning the competition. It would take a tiny percentage of a single percent of android users to switch to have made this stunt profitable.

Even if nobody ever uses the app to switch, it got some chuckles during the keynote, and gives us iDevice users a cheap laugh. Of course, I don't give a damn what phone you use. Both operating systems are good, and both offerings have good hardware. The only "defensive move" seen here is people on both sides trying to protect their choice of device against criticism from other people. Stop caring what people think about your phone. And stop caring about other people's phones. Everyone wins!

> Apple has the gall to go on the offensive with an app to assist people in abandoning the competition

You are missing something so obvious you'll facepalm when you realize it: why didn't they do this sooner?

If it was such an offensive, obvious, right move, they've had six years to do it. Why didn't they?

Because they felt they didn't need to. Even acknowledging the existence of Android was a sign of weakness. So they just purposely didn't make that move.

But things are getting heated, now. Android is in the 60-70% market share depending on the country you are looking at, iOS is at most 20% and shrinking every year. They are growing very, very nervous in Cupertino, so they are beginning to reach for measure that probably make Jobs turn in his grave.

But it's the right thing to do, and I give Tim Cook credit for approving such a bold move. But make no mistake, it's a very, very bad message they are sending to their share holders and investore by having created such an app.

Especially since it's being decimated in reviews in the Play Store, but that's a separate topic.

Huh? You know what pain it is to move from one platform to another? Within Android, moving from one manufacturer to another is already difficult enough. If Apple manages to really assist here, it's a big win for them.

> Within Android, moving from one manufacturer to another is already difficult enough.

How so?

I find it very odd also. As a highly technical person who has drank the apple kool aid, use mostly apple products, pay for iCloud subscription, etc. it strikes me as a desperate move to attack your competitor on its home turf. Especially when you are literally the most valuable company on the planet.

There's a small possibility you're right, and this signals the beginning of a rapid decline in smartphone market share.

More likely, this is a move to solidify any existing opportunities to move a user from android to ios.

You're right, they haven't made money on iOS in years. They're making such a small portion of the profits in that market. They'll fail soon enough. We heard it here first...

Either "tongue in cheek" or plain arrogant[0][1][2]. Regardless, your comment allowed me to research some fascinating articles so Thank You.

[0] http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/27/apples-ios-drives-...

[1] http://9to5mac.com/2015/07/13/apple-smartphone-profit-share/

[2] https://bgr.com/2015/04/15/ios-vs-android-developers-revenue...

The sarcasm flew right over your head, didn't it?

Personally rude comments like this break the HN guidelines, and I'm dismayed to see that you've been posting much worse: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10219165. We ban accounts that do this repeatedly, so please read the rules and follow them when commenting here. That means commenting civilly and substantively, or not at all.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

Apologies. No malice was intended in the above post, contrasted with the one you linked, where I was emotional and may have stepped over the line.

Understood. It's important to err on the side of civility, though, because intentions don't communicate themselves. (I misunderstood yours, for example, in the above.)

Thanks for the polite reply! We...don't always get those.

Well, given that it's hard to get sarcasm across via text, I did acknowledge that your comment could have been "tongue in check"...but you downvoted me because you didn't understand the reference?

Oh well.

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