We are pleased to present our week-end Apple Breakfast column. It includes all the Apple news this week in a concise roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.
The limits of loyalty
Tech journalists have a strange fascination with the slow-motion car accident at Twitter HQ. To his dismay, the incoming owner is learning that loyalty from employees and users takes time to build and very little time to lose.
Given how rare it is that they have to call up their mates to ask for bail money, or to get a ride to the airport, one would think billionaires are less able to understand the limitations and nature of loyalty. The truth is that loyalty can be both bizarrely resilient as well as alarmingly fragile. Loyalty, like so many things, runs out slowly and then very quickly.
Apple is hardly likely to nosedive as badly as Twitter, not least because it’s run by an altogether less erratic leadership team. (It’s hard to imagine Tim Cook tanking the stock price because he couldn’t resist posting a sick meme.) But I do hope someone at Cupertino is paying attention to Twitter, because Apple is taking similar risks with its users’ loyalty, and stands to lose far more.
Apple is dependent on customer buy-in more than any other company. Apple focuses on the experience, while other companies focus on data collection and advertising, or selling the highest-spec hardware at the lowest price. Its products are very popular and often excellent, but more importantly, you’re buying a lifestyle too.
That might sound cynical, but I don’t mean it to be. The occasionally cult-like tendencies exhibited by Apple and its fans can grate at times, but that unusually user-focused business model—which depends above all on convincing customers that Apple is cool and ethical and you’re cool and ethical for buying its products—incentivizes behavior you wouldn’t expect from other companies. Like Refusing to unlock an alleged terrorist’s iPhone, or Lobbying against billTargeting transgender and gay people or (kind of) pivoting away manufacturing its products in China. There have been many allegations of worker abuse and mistreatment. Forcible labor.
Cook once told climate change skeptics to sell their shares in Apple, and famously told an investor, “When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” I don’t mean to suggest that he did these things cynically in order to curry favor with prospective customers, but merely that the “convince everyone we’re cool” business model Apple operates means it can afford to employ a CEO with a strong ethical compass.
Take the user as a given
Depending on user goodwill can be a risky business. It is easy to take it for granted. It seems that Apple may be taking this for granted. Indeed one senses that over the past few years, Apple’s leadership has started to wonder if more money could be made if the company didn’tIt is becoming increasingly clear that users notice the importance of user welfare.
Consider the price. Apple is a company that has been known for its high prices. But, they have always offered products that were affordable and good value. Apple tried its best to offer at most one lower-priced option within each category. Apple has been dropping budget models and removing some features to make it more appealing to customers. The budget 9th-gen iPad was superseded by the higher-priced 10th-gen model and didn’t even get the traditional price cut on its first birthday. The MacBook Air was also affected. And the less said about Apple’s International prices riseThe better,
This is the sort of behavior you’d expect from a company that urgently needed more money and figured that its customers were in no position to say no. Stringer Bell is an example of a business that sells inelastic products. This would explain.) Let’s put up the price, somebody must have said. What are they going doing? NotBuy an iPad Apple might be able to answer this question.
The company fails to provide a positive user experience, which is a serious problem. Apple has been described as “The best.” TheIt has been a pro-privacy business for many years and, thanks to its business model, was well placed to fulfill that promise. It is now. faces a lawsuit over “privacy concerns” on the App Store, where user data has allegedly been collected by the company in defiance of privacy settings.
We now see the rising prevalence of Advertisements in the App Store, which is a huge red flag when it comes to Apple’s priorities. What is Apple more concerned about? Making money from advertisers or helping users? You’ve got your answer.
Quitting Apple
It would be somewhat understandable if Apple’s leaders thought they couldn’t put a foot wrong. Apple just published another. record-breaking financial report: the customers aren’t going anywhere, right? It could be. But it’s best not to take that for granted.
For years Twitter’s users complained about pretty much every aspect of the site while continuing to use it, joking about their addiction to the “Hellsite.” Presumably, Mr. Musk assumed he could raise the price, change a bunch of features, generally insult everyone, and they’d stick around–and maybe it’ll turn out that he was right. As I write this, large numbers of Twitter users are saying goodbye and linking to other social media networks in preparation for mass exodus.
Like Twitter, Apple’s fans are a loyal bunch, but they’re noticing the changes. They might suddenly decide to stop being loyal.
IDG
Trending: Top Stories of the Week
Apple has revealed its Black Friday Shopping Event for 2022–and it’s somehow It’s worse than last year.
Problem is, we don’t know how to solve it. don’t need gift cardsWe have to. Actual price cuts.
Apple is the best! Hate the Mac mini, wonders Roman Loyola.
Android’s next-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 2chip can’t compete with Apple’s A16… or even the A15.
The Unreleased Apple Magic ChargerIt has been published online. But It was canceled because of this.
Apple has just dodged a Meta Watch bullet. The Apple Watch was ThisClose to Being You are doomed for failure.
Apple faces a lawsuitMore ‘pervasive and unlawful’iPhone tracking.
Do not forget Meta QuestApple wants to be a leader in the field of computing. its own ‘metaverse’It is a reality
We look at the Strange limitationsYou can find the USB-C Apple Pencil Adapter.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Rumor mill
Apple is expected to release an Apple Watch iPhone 15 UltraNext year, complete with New features exclusive to this productA higher price tag.
The humble iPhone 15, meanwhile, is likely to have a USB-C port that’s Lightning can be as slow as lightning.
The year 2022 is almost doneIt looks like Apple may miss this opportunity, these launch deadlines.
Apple is said to be developing Search engine for its own purposesTo Google is your friend.
Podcast of Week
Black Friday is coming, and in this episode of the Macworld Podcast, we’ll talk about how to get the best deals on Apple products, how to avoid getting ripped off, and what you need to look out for so you can have the Season for gift-giving excellence.
Each episode of Macworld Podcast is available online Spotify, SoundcloudThe Podcasts appYou can also call it: Visit our site.
Software updates, bugs & problems
This week, a bug in the 128GB Apple TV 4KYou could only use Half the storage. But Apple quickly A patch was rolled out.
Rapid Security ResponsesThey are being tested as part iOS 16.2 Could arrive next month.
And with that, we’re done for this week. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for Our newsletters. You can also follow us Twitter for breaking news stories. We hope to see you Saturday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay Appley.
