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Comment by mcast | Hacker News Reader

As a consumer, I strongly dislike the direction Apple has taken since Tim Cook assumed CEO. When I bought the new iPhone 7, the previous plastic headphones case was changed to be made of disposable, thin paper. You could argue it was an environmental move, but Apple now seems to care more about maximizing profit and cutting costs in every possible area than providing a good customer experience. I mean, the original iPhone even included a microfiber cloth to clean the screen. And iPhone's seriously still come in 32GB for the base model?

The company has an excess of over $250B in liquid cash but it decides to stiffen its products to revolve around pleasing shareholders, not consumers. Let's not even get started on the disaster of catering to professionals using their MacBook "Pro" or Mac Pro line.

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>the previous plastic headphones case was changed to be made of disposable, thin paper

As a consumer, changing from a plastic headphone-delivery container to a paper one was a positive. Such a large amount of plastic that was never used after delivering the headphones to me and, I'd assume, other customers.

I use the case every day, it's what keeps my headphones from getting tangled and protects the cable from being pinched or cut.

However I think I'm the exception, I understand that most never use the plastic case for regular storage/transport.

I cannot agree more. As an "early adopter" of the new Macbook Pro (the one with the "touch bar"), I am also a regretful one. As Apple customers, we have always overpaid. However, the dollar-to-value ratio has only worsened since Jobs' passing.

That's how I felt when Apple started adding ads to their app store. They sell the iPhone experience as a premium one. Seeing ads as the first result of all searches on the app store makes it seem like I'm using something cheap.

I have to disagree, the ads haven't been pushed as badly as say Google Search Ads. I quite enjoy finding a random relevant app once in a blue moon via the App Store ads, and they're clearly marked. To each their own I guess.

EDIT: It just doesn't bother me: https://imgur.com/a/FHMSy

> providing a good customer experience

No one is having a bad experience because of a paper wrapper and lack of 10 cent cleaning cloth in the box.

You're missing the point. There's a big difference between opening a mass-produced item from a manufacturing plant and a homemade gift from an Etsy seller. Apple's vision, in its quintessential days, wasn't focused on selling products to mass amounts of people internationally, but only focused on giving detail that passionate and loyal customers of Apple would appreciate. Even iPhone launch parties felt special, they handed out pizza, held free giveaways and other swag to the crowd waiting in line.

They've simply lost their touch of resembling a company that started out of a garage and are looking more like a Walmart superstore of electronics with knowledgeable reps that only care about the quantitative.

> Apple now seems to care more about maximizing profit and cutting costs in every possible area than providing a good customer experience.

Isn't maximizing profit the entire point of a company? Providing a good customer experience is just one way to maximize profit. Apple doesn't care about you, they never did.

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