You said that Apple's aim is to "please customers" but Cook says that "customer satisfaction" is their main goal. Those two concepts are NOT the same. Learn the difference.
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Planned Obsolescence...
- Thread starter crashoverride77
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You're picking on the English; that is what he meant.
Very many Android phone owners must then be very pleased with how few updates their phones get, then. No updates means no performance robbing or covert sabotaging of their phones. Clearly, this must be why Android is the market leader. I bet you can get way more then 4-5 years of effective life out of an Android phone using only the officially released manufacturer / carrier OS updates. (if any updates get released, at all)
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Why mention Android? This is about Apple.
It is obvious that Apple is NOT out to please all customers. Apple has made the determination that there are some things that they are willing to do that WON'T please some segment of their customer base. Why is this so difficult to understand?
With 500 million customers is it possible to please all 500 million simultaneously. The rational answer is no; based on their sales and financials it does appear they in general have a customer base who like their products.
Exactly. Apple makes decisions that overall have a positive impact on and received positively by their customers. That is not inconsistent with any planned obsolescence on their part. If it doesn't appreciably impact customer sat and sales, then there is no need to do things differently.
I can see Apple's planned obsolescence for what it is. That doesn't mean I need to foam at the mouth with hatred for them. They do what they do and I plan my purchases and upgrades accordingly. I still enjoy their products... lovin' the Air 2 on iOS 9 and El Cap on my 11" MBA.
And I'm asking, is the grass greener on the other side of the fence? Where you can downgrade whenever you want -- on Android. Or, more to the point, where you have to deal with few, if any, updates. That is: is it better over all, for the consumer, if a cell phones OS is more or less not messed with, except for, a security patch or two? Because it seems to me this is easily answerable by looking at the whole of the Android phone market. No need to wonder. Are Android phone owners exhibiting any of these: being more satisfied, or "pleased" or "happier" with their phone(s), etc.
Or is there resentment? Hey, why can't my phone run the new candy flavored OS? Have those who have the option upgraded, ultimately downgraded because of slower performance?
Do these phones retain their performance over the years, compared to an iPhone which, according to supposition and theory, is purposefully and intentionally sabotaged to "plan their obsolescence" and, if I understand the conspiracy correctly, increase repeat sales to existing customers.
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Exactly, I can see apples planned obsolescence for what it isn't! It's not an ruse that under a friendly smile they will force upgrades under the guise of support will knowingly kill your devices and force you to upgrade. Case in point, my iPad 2 is better under iOS 9 than iOS 7. I expect at least 2 more years of service out of that old clunker.
Fair enough. That is your firsthand experience. I will not deny that you are experiencing what you are, but not everyone's experience is as yours.
My iPad 2 is practically unusable on iOS 8.4 (hoping that it would be better than 7) and I won't take another chance with 9. I've relegated it to a very specific purpose with specific apps which will eek out some usefulness. No matter how many times I've done a clean wipe out and install as a new device... It's not because it is indexing. It's not because of user error. It simply is.
Remember when Apple automatically downloaded the iOS updater/installer to every device when it was made available? The outcry was loud enough during iOS 7's release that Apple provided a way in iOS 8 to be able to delete the installer. Apple DOES listen to their customers. But in order to "listen" something has to be "spoken". Providing the ability to downgrade would certainly squash the belief by some of us that Apple has a plan of obsolescence (that doesn't involve some sort of nefarious Snidley Whiplash villainy hyperbole)
Reason probably being Tim Cook wants to brag about the adoption numbers at keynotes too
because people using the 4S probably still live in their parents basement and the weather is different down there
I would have thought that the basement dwellers are the ones that can afford to upgrade their phone every year.
Whatever their future policy is toward downgrade may change. Right now it is what it is
Ipad 2 under 8.4 honestly is less than stellar. Under IOS 9, while not the speed demon of my 6s by comparison, it's very usable. I don't know what you do with your ipad, but with mine: web surf, facetime, imessage, netflix, other video consumption apps. It works fine for what it was in 2011 and the battery is still very good.
As far as why apple doesn't allow downgrading; only they know, we all can suspect why, but for now that is the policy.
One of Apple's best skills is secrecy.
Planned obsolescence is a long standing Apple practice they do with such finesse, that many remain steadfast in their denial that it exists. That's exactly what Apple wants you to believe... no such thing as planned obsolescence. They are so powerful, and have so much control over the minds of millions, people actually believe all the warm and fuzzy pro-customer stories Apple tells.
Yet they see the massive amounts of money this company makes but they cannot make the connection. Apple makes a whopping profit margin compared to others in the industry, they have the finest marketing programs and they have a well tuned, extremely profitable obsolescence policy in place.
For those who like to believe everything Apple says, the walled garden is a wonderful place.
Planned obsolescence is a long standing Apple practice they do with such finesse, that many remain steadfast in their denial that it exists. That's exactly what Apple wants you to believe... no such thing as planned obsolescence. They are so powerful, and have so much control over the minds of millions, people actually believe all the warm and fuzzy pro-customer stories Apple tells.
Yet they see the massive amounts of money this company makes but they cannot make the connection. Apple makes a whopping profit margin compared to others in the industry, they have the finest marketing programs and they have a well tuned, extremely profitable obsolescence policy in place.
For those who like to believe everything Apple says, the walled garden is a wonderful place.
Exactly.It exists simply because with every major update the device slows dowh overall just enough to nudge the customer to get the next big thing.Its one of the things I hate about the iPhone and love about the Nexus
I've been an Apple customer for a very long time. But I must say my Nexus 5 bought upon it's release was simply terrific, fast, fun and very reliable for the entire year. Then upon release I bought the Nexus 6 which currently is my primary smartphone. Having used both Android and iPhones since the very day they were introduced approx 7 years ago, it's been a very interesting and rewarding experience.
Is enough hyperbole in this response to fill the Grand Canyon. Obviously for those believe in conspiracy theories a discussion is not going to change ones mind. For the others maybe they want to upgrade or change phones because they want the latest and greatest and not because of some underlying "secret maneuver " by Apple.
Planned obsolescence is an obvious trait of Apple products. The rest of the industry supports their products for much longer. Especially Microsoft, who are practically saints when it comes to legacy support.
It's thanks to a loyal group of developers that I can still get use out of my PPC machines, not Apple, who ditched both Tiger and Leopard as soon as their sucessor was out. Meanwhile on Wintel machines of the same age, I can do pretty much the same stuff I can on a new machine (within reason). Hell, I can even run iTunes 12 on my Samsung XP craptop (currently running Win7). But my PowerBook G4 remains mostly stuck in 2005. All thanks to Apple.
Apple's software support stinks and I have no doubt to beleive they plan the obsolescence of their products.
It's thanks to a loyal group of developers that I can still get use out of my PPC machines, not Apple, who ditched both Tiger and Leopard as soon as their sucessor was out. Meanwhile on Wintel machines of the same age, I can do pretty much the same stuff I can on a new machine (within reason). Hell, I can even run iTunes 12 on my Samsung XP craptop (currently running Win7). But my PowerBook G4 remains mostly stuck in 2005. All thanks to Apple.
Apple's software support stinks and I have no doubt to beleive they plan the obsolescence of their products.
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Yep. It was the same if not even worse under SJYes, because they didn't release new iPods AND iPhones every year under Steve Jobs.
EVERYONE could understand that .... serial complainers aside
Except planned obsolescence doesn't exist....
All my iOS 9 devices are definitely slower than iOS 8. Planned? I don't think so. However quite a tell tale sign of an operating system released before it was ready, due to the marketing department demanding a release before it was ready.
Supporting the iPad 2 and 4S under iOS 9 is NOT planned obsolesce though - its actually a step forward, though downgrading should be an option available to advanced users if needed.
Some of Apple's decisions recently are things that will make their computers last for a shorter amount of time, or require more expensive fixes. Glued batteries, Soldered Ram, Soldered SSDs in fusion drives especially on desktops where thinness is not the number 1 concern. 5400RPM Drives in 2015 is defiantly planned obsolescence though, as they're ridiculously slow and outdated as soon as you buy it especially considering how poorly OSX runs on a 5400RPM HD. Obviously the counter argument is that soldering components is not an apple only thing, and no its not, but that doesn't make it any better for apple to do it.
The reason that 2008 era Macs are still at all usable today is that you can upgrade them from their base configuration RAM and HDD.
It doesn't matter. Apple was selling them up until relatively recently. It was selling the iPad 2 in the form of the iPad Mini only a couple of months ago. When you pay top dollar for hardware you do expect it to work for a while. Plus - why should they run slower under iOS 9 - it adds literally zero new features on the iPad 2, and definitely nothing power consumption. I'd complain if my 1 year old iPhone 4S was slow with iOS 9. If people complain then Apple will try harder to achieve better support for their older devices, and that is a win for consumers. They've moved to their new system of app thinning + designing iOS separately for the older devices so supporting older devices does not stifle adding new features, so hopefully Apple continues improving support for their older devices.
I was also disappointed by Apple abandoning PPC customers. They should have actually informed people in 2005 and 2006 who were buying PPC Macs that their machines would have been obsolete within 3 years. Had Apple supported at least the G4/G5 machines for a couple more years (they were still capable enough) it would have been a fair better deal. Windows 10 runs on the same PCs that can run Vista I believe, to the extent that my 2008 Macbook White (Which Apple dumped support for after a mere 3.5 years) can run Windows 10 on par with my 2012 Macbook Pro on El Capitan.
Supporting the iPad 2 and 4S under iOS 9 is NOT planned obsolesce though - its actually a step forward, though downgrading should be an option available to advanced users if needed.
Some of Apple's decisions recently are things that will make their computers last for a shorter amount of time, or require more expensive fixes. Glued batteries, Soldered Ram, Soldered SSDs in fusion drives especially on desktops where thinness is not the number 1 concern. 5400RPM Drives in 2015 is defiantly planned obsolescence though, as they're ridiculously slow and outdated as soon as you buy it especially considering how poorly OSX runs on a 5400RPM HD. Obviously the counter argument is that soldering components is not an apple only thing, and no its not, but that doesn't make it any better for apple to do it.
The reason that 2008 era Macs are still at all usable today is that you can upgrade them from their base configuration RAM and HDD.
It doesn't matter. Apple was selling them up until relatively recently. It was selling the iPad 2 in the form of the iPad Mini only a couple of months ago. When you pay top dollar for hardware you do expect it to work for a while. Plus - why should they run slower under iOS 9 - it adds literally zero new features on the iPad 2, and definitely nothing power consumption. I'd complain if my 1 year old iPhone 4S was slow with iOS 9. If people complain then Apple will try harder to achieve better support for their older devices, and that is a win for consumers. They've moved to their new system of app thinning + designing iOS separately for the older devices so supporting older devices does not stifle adding new features, so hopefully Apple continues improving support for their older devices.
I was also disappointed by Apple abandoning PPC customers. They should have actually informed people in 2005 and 2006 who were buying PPC Macs that their machines would have been obsolete within 3 years. Had Apple supported at least the G4/G5 machines for a couple more years (they were still capable enough) it would have been a fair better deal. Windows 10 runs on the same PCs that can run Vista I believe, to the extent that my 2008 Macbook White (Which Apple dumped support for after a mere 3.5 years) can run Windows 10 on par with my 2012 Macbook Pro on El Capitan.
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