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justicezyx

What is "the spirit of Apple"?

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Oh that’s easy. Focus and take hard decisions that are unpopular in the short term but mostly right in the long term.

Examples

- first iPhone doesn’t support MMS

- cut the headphone plug in new iPhones

- stop supporting Adobe Flash

- load apps through the App Store only in iOS

We must have a different perspective, all of the above are to the detriment of the consumer (flash, not so much).

I don't think they are. They are deliberate choices to not please everyone. It’s product management at its best.

You can go back further:

Abandonment of the floppy drive.

Abandonment of the CD drive.

Abandonment of Firewire.

It's not easy. Apple does have a consistent "spirit", but it's such a strange combination of idealism and ruthlessness that it's hard to know which aspect(s) anyone is invoking when they mention it. I don't know why that question is getting so many downvotes.

Yes you’re right. I should have said: “that’s easy for me” or something like that

Focus, products instilled with culture, starting with the user experience, attention to detail, cohesive ecosystem, good design, delivering high quality products at the lowest price possible, not shipping things that are not ready.

“Quality products at Lowest price possible” you’re probably being sarcastic. Just look at wired AirPods, among the most maligned earbud headphones and quite expensive within their category.

The $19 EarPods?

Yes those! Sorry :)

Airpods are expensive but amazing

> lowest price possible

You got me until this point ngl

When you take into account total cost of ownership and the intangible of pain or frustration from other products, Apple typically comes in with the lowest cost. You pay more upfront to pay less (literally and emotionally) later.

This is what I mean: https://youtu.be/gnU9Vgt8Hmg

Sure, the accessoires and e.g ram are steeply overpriced

"We don't offer stripped down lousy products"

14 years later: base iMac has two ports (three more + ethernet will cost you $200).

Not that it's lousy, but it's definitely stripped down.

I think this little thread has shown that the so-called culture and spirit of a organization is largely a myth, or more precisely, a form of brand marketing instead of actual inherent nature of an organization.

Think different.

extracting as much of "Apple premium" out of brand-loyal customers as possible and keeping that "Apple premium" perception in consumers' minds

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