Comment by jasonsync | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jasonsync | Hacker News Reader

Apple’s growth is almost entirely inwardly-focused when it comes to its user-base: higher prices, more services, and more devices

I find myself increasingly stuck in an Apple 2011 - 2013 universe.

For starters Apple has not yet provided a viable upgrade for my primary desktop machine: a 2011 Mac Mini (2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 with 8 GB ram and SSD). The specs on the current 2018 Mac Mini lineup are considerable lower than yesteryears Mac Mini. No idea why? I'd love to upgrade to a faster Mac Mini, but there's really no options, even 6 years later. So nope.

Then there's my 2013 MacBook Air (1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 with 8 GB ram and SSD). This thing has been a workhorse. That said I'd love to get a similar form factor with Retina, however, the only somewhat viable upgrade option seems to be the 12" MacBook. Too small, so nope.

Finally, there's my iPhone 5S (2013 as well). It's showing it's age (sluggish at times), however, I've replaced the battery and to be honest, it's still got some life left in it. Admittedly, the iPhone is the only Apple product I own that actually does have a viable upgrade path.

Unfortunately, with the lack of upgrade options for my primary Apple devices, and issues I've had with iTunes and Apple TV, I'm hesitant to buy in again ...

Most other Apple devices and products I own simply collect dust:

Various iPods and thousands of purchased iTunes songs collecting dust - as I switched to Spotify. I switched to Spotify when iTunes + iCloud (perhaps user error, not sure) somehow deleted all of my ripped MP3s from along time ago. Generally speaking the iTunes app itself got to the point where it was unusably bloated and convoluted. Not sure why.

Apple TV collecting dust. Replaced by an Android TV due to not making it easy to play all file formats.

AirPort Extreme collecting dust - had multiple issues and it eventually stopped working (bricked).

Finally, MacOS itself has been lacklustre the past couple of releases. I hesitate to upgrade now, due to various bugs and lack of quality control. Apps I previously purchased on the Mac App store have stopped working as well.

So while Apple embarks on a new chapter in it's "middle age", it seems like the previous generation has been left to rot ... with not much in the way of upgrade options. How is this an inwardly-focused strategy?

Agreed. I switched whole-heartedly in 2006, when the combination of Unix, mainstream UI, professional apps, and "It Just Works" showed a lot of promise. The fact that my 2006 MacBook Pro lasted for six years earned a lot of loyalty.

But there doesn't appear to be any strategy or overarching vision anymore. Changes are introduced haphazardly, almost schizophrenically. There is zero focus on software or hardware quality. "Design" at Apple is no longer about the marriage of tech and artistry, but about tech being trumped by artistry.

- Make the keyboard work better? Maybe marginally with Gen 2 butterfly switches, but it's still mostly about the "wow" factor of the Touch Bar.

- Make iTunes work correctly? Nah. Just change the UI.

- Extensive pre-release regression testing for High Sierra? Nah. Ship with root access bugs and a new wallpaper.

- Keep making best-in-class wireless routers? Nah. Not sexy enough.

Apple has abandoned the values that led it to become so rich. It is still profitable, and probably will be for some time, but eventually its wellspring of good will from past successes will run dry. Features don't matter if they don't work.

> Apple TV collecting dust. Replaced by an Android TV due to not making it easy to play all file formats.

The previous Apple TV incarnations were not great, but the current Apple TV is fantastic.

If you need to access your own media, you can run an app such as Plex, Kodi or several of the other alternatives. I've only used Plex, which covers all of my needs.

With the current streaming offerings I'm increasingly less dependent on BitTorrent. Amazon Prime became available last year, but I especially appreciate niche players like FilmStruck (which has a small but rotating subset of the Criterion Collection) and Fandor.

Yes, I used Plex for a couple of years, but it was not really "standalone" ... I had to have a media server (my Mac Mini) running constantly. I looked into Kodi on the AppleTV but it was not trivial to install.

Overall it was easier to just purchase an Android TV device (Nvidia Shield).

I too find that Netflix, a few niche players and the odd movie rental from Google Play covers virtually all of my needs, but there's always something that comes up (someone brings some USB stick over or whatever) which Apple TV doesn't support.

It's odd that Google can develop a TV platform that supports all file formats easily, multiple players etc. and with Apple you still have to jump through hoops to play a file ...

> iTunes + iCloud (perhaps user error, not sure) somehow deleted all of my ripped MP3s from along time ago

I heard stories that Apple Music or iTunes (I don’t remember which one) would scan your local library to see what you owned, add the songs to your Apple account and delete the local files to save space. See [1] (the title is misleading, you can still lose access to your music as explained by the article itself).

[1] https://www.macworld.com/article/3066789/streaming-media/app...

That time period does seem to be the peak of Apple's design innovation. I love my iPhone SE and I'd highly recommend it to you if you need an upgrade.

I just looked on the Apple store app and you can get a Mac mini with a 3.0ghz dual core i7 and 16 gb of ram.

Sure, but the CPU offerings haven't been updated since 2014. It's only a marginal upgrade on the 2011 and 2012 models.

My point exactly. 6 years have passed and only a 0.3 GHz improvement in CPU speed and not much else.

The Mac mini at one point had a quad core option. It actually had the maximum spec option reduced some time ago. The current Mac mini is less powerful than one you could buy several years ago.

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