The parent asked why I defend apple and I laid out my argument. Clearly people cared enough to respond and react. And yet I'm being downvoted for sharing my perspective just because it might be contrarian?
Maybe that's /not/ why I'm being downvoted, but that's what it feels like to me. So no thanks. I'm content to keep my opinions to myself.
Also, which industries are you thinking of where the employees do not use some Google service or another every day? Even industries where I hear people constantly cursing Google often get a lot of value from their offerings.
HTC seems to be doing well for itself tooling their machines with Google android.
Consider the potential revenue business generates from Adwords. Or freeing small businesses from having to run and manage their own email systems.
My favorite example is the benefit a myriad of startups gained from having access to Google API's like maps, and the benefit business gets from being easily found on a map, a bar for instance is a business too, i find them with Google maps.
You also dont seem to qualify having the most advanced search engine in the world a benefit for businesses, talk about a tremendous impact on the entire ecosystem.
I could go on, with ease. but i think you might get the point, your view of business benefit is too narrow, your sharp dichotomy between business and consumers is false as well, businesses are consumers of other businesses too.
But Google has had that impact on the entire web, both by providing visibility and a revenue stream via advertising.
Don't like or dislike a company, that's just senseless. Rather, like or dislike what a company does. Appreciate IBM's Watson, and dislike IBM's European business dealings in the 30's and 40's. Appreciate contributions Apple has made to personal computing, disliking their control-freak attitude.
Use your brain, don't make sweeping generalizations by sweep shit under the carpet.
I simply oppose people who will defend any action, no matter how absurd, because they support the people behind that action in most other cases. You'll see all sorts of gymnastics used to justify it, but it really boils down to people supporting things they wouldn't normally, were they outside of context of their 'affiliation'. You see this a lot in politics (I used to do this myself, before I realized how silly it was), and you see it with popular consumer brands as well.
It's often why you can observe fantastic levels of cognitive dissonance in people over politics or religion or other things that people build affiliation around...it's simply easier to think inconsistently than to untangle one's own identity. Rational evaluation simply goes out the window since identity is primal, emotional.
Apple is the best in the world at building the link between identity and affiliation. They don't just sell stuff, they sell an identity. Being an Apple fan is being one of the cool kids, it's part of the "in" crowd, it keeps you from being a boring accountant looking guy in a suit, it's hip, it goes against "the man", etc. All of these are what Apple's advertisements sell, not their stuff. Apple's advertisements don't just list off features and talk about why they are better, they show cool looking people dancing in silhouette, or hip young dudes looking disdainfully on a suit wearing PC user, or a colorful Olympic athlete throwing hammers at gray talking heads, etc. etc. etc.
"Buying Apple makes you cool"
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Imamacimapc.jp...
"Buying Apple makes you stand out in a crowd"
http://www.iphonefootprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ma...
"Buying Apple makes you an olympian"
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/04/images/apple-1984.jpg
"Buying Apple makes you an artist"
http://top-technology-reviews.com/uploadfiles/top-technology...
"Buying Apple makes you a great dancer"
http://adstrategy.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/apple.jpg
"Buying Apple makes you smart like Einstein"
http://ivovodanovic.cl/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/old-apple-...
"Buying Apple makes you a leader among men"
http://adhdrollercoaster.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/appl...
etc. etc. etc.
Pick a positive trait, things that people want to be and Apple has probably run an ad campaign around it. It's why people line up around the block to buy a new Apple product sight unseen. They need to show their affiliation with the club of Apple.
Apple doesn't advertise cute, or quirky, or super technical, they advertise the kind of person that people want to be. They advertise the quarterback in HS or the head cheerleader. They advertise Martin Luther King JR. and Einstein. They advertise the philosophical cool guy with the vintage yet cool outfit that hangs around coffee shops and debates French literature. They don't advertise the nerdy guy in his parent's basement, or the D&D geek. They don't advertise the quiet genius, toiling away on hard and esoteric problems for years on end, they advertise leaders! They don't even really advertise "ease of use", "great price", "best specs". They advertise a coherent image.
And then, to close the deal? They actually provide a pretty nice piece of hardware and some pretty decent software that's well integrated, well thought out and generally easy to use. This justifies the entire image building exercise.
So the moral to my story is that, don't get frustrated with people who appear to have useless blind allegiance to the cult of Apple. What you are asking them to do is to be objectively critical of themselves, which to be honest, almost no one is able to do.
(full disclosure, I have plenty of areas where I have this problem myself, I guess it's just basic human nature)
Almost universally I believe, the tendency of humans to fall for it stiffles critical thought. I don't delude myself by thinking I can put an end to it (it probably is just basic human nature), but I do oppose it when I recognize it.
Aside: what are your thoughts on the concept of 'hipster'? (the popularity of liking unpopular' things) I would like to think that perhaps it's some sort of "immune response meme" to the phenomenon, but I fear that is wishful thinking at best.
Their affiliation/identity is based on artificial or perceived scarcity. It's no different than the type of people that walk around flaunting their bespoke clothes and car, and talk about the singular performances of operas and ballets they've attended (but probably don't really understand).
There doesn't have to be any actual substance to the trivia they know, only that know that to fit into their affiliation they must adhere to certain guidelines regarding scarcity.
For hipsters it's unknown bands, a certain psuedo-bohemian style of clothes pastiche and a few other odds and ends that mark their affiliation. But the attitude is not really any different.
What's always striking about hipsters is that when you see a lot of them quickly, one can't help but be struck by the boring sameness of it all.
Reminds me of this site: http://www.latfh.com/
What makes it particularly insidious is that once somebody joins this affiliation, how completely consuming it becomes. It affects everything that person does down to their transport. But in the end it's really just a quest for personal identity by people who are unable to self actualize that identity for themselves.
I just look at the wreckage each has created and would pick Apple's wreckage over Google's any day.
I'm a bit surprised that people find my position to be unusual. I think it represents reasonable behavior. But I often feel this way on HN. :-/
In contrast, given the chance, Apple would control everything I do on my computer and charge me for it. No doubt that computer would be beautiful and it would work very well, but I prefer to manage on my own.
Apple has been "terrible" for Nokia and RIM. Competition and consumer surplus and creative destruction are good, even if in the short run some businesses suffer.
The revenue stream you site is an addiction for most sites
This is somehow different from the revenue that publishers earn from Apple's app and iTunes stores?
There's no need to defend every one of Apple's decisions, sometimes people do stuff that sucks, or even brings Google to the discussion just to defend Apple.
EDIT: That said, your points were good, I liked the articulation of your comment, I upvoted you.
On perhaps a slightly related note: I don't vote for whichever political party opposes the one I dislike the most. Maybe I'm weird like that.
If you want the alternative there are plenty out there, but they are not going to be as likely to make you money.
I wonder why Apple see it fit to charge for that.
You've never heard of Google Ads, I suppose.
The idea that Apple's gouging is somehow a boon is completely shortsighted. Android's Market offers a much more lucrative path to the future plus it's possible to create verticals in Android that don't rely on a centrally planned store for approval and distribution. Mobile is young and my guess is these verticals are going to be big. Apple's store won't scale in the long term.
Yes, people do not understand the purpose of voting. It's not to express agreement or disagreement but rather to rate the validity of the points made in the comment.
Anyway. I did disagree with you, but I upvoted your comment and I would have liked to continue the argument. Now I can't because you removed your comments.
For myself I agree with the good points you raised about Apple, but this article and all these comments are much more about the specific issue at hand. I feel like you're not seeing the context in quite the same way as other commenters myself included.
Considering you didn't mention compulsory In-App price matching at all, you actually haven't defended Apple over this issue in these comments at all. It just kind of reads like you didn't read the article and are just responding to the headline.
Yeah, some people seem to be very downvote-happy. Sorry. I appreciated hearing your opinion, though I did think it was very weird. Weird is interesting.
Just remember that with as many users as HN has nowadays, there will always be some people who feel the need to downvote anything they disagree with. I've found that, in general, it's not the same people you're talking to.
I think the best policy is to ignore the downvotes unless they're accompanied by a comment with a good reason why, because jerks who downvote frivolously are not worth your time.