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The Good and Bad of Apple.

This article is my roster of good and bad product moves by Apple.  I only mention things that I think are important. Feel free to let me know your opinion and I will consider it.

2018

  • [Bad] Apple has dropped its excellent "Airport" WiFi router line, and tells customers to buy other vendors' junk. Apple promotes the WiFi marketing gimmick called "mesh". The pundits that promote mesh are either profiteering, or idiots.
  • [Bad] Apple completely fails to make headway making the Apple TV an awesome, must-have device.  It is shackled by how Apple lets developers use the OS.  Instead it is sold as a glorified Homekit hub integrated with a $30 Roku.  Why the fuck doesn't Apple get the excellent Apple TV hardware to play an important role in home WiFi?  Idiocy.
  •  [Good] Apple updates the "entry level" iPad without increasing its price.  The new iPad even retains the useful "legacy" headphone port, which has really only evaporated from the iPhone line.

2017

  • [Bad] The iPhone X is released at $1000+. It's impossible for Apple to excuse the price point, despite their feeble attempts. The iPhone 4 was an even bigger step up from the iPhone 3GS, yet Apple managed to control its pricing.  I am not going to buy an iPhone X.
  • [Good] Apple updates the software of the long-discontinued Apple TV v3 with Amazon Prime support.
  • [Bad] The new MacBook Pro was delivered with another proprietary SSD, as if the industry standard PCI.e interface wasn't "good enough".  If it wasn't good enough, why doesn't Apple develop a new industry standard like they did for USB-C, nano SIM, Firewire, etc?  And on some MBPs, Apple resorts to soldering in some SSDs to prevent device upgrades.
  • [Good] The replacement for the iPad Air 2 is a better, and significantly more affordable iPad. The pundits that complain about it are idiots.
  • [Bad]  Apple stops releasing security patches for iOS 10 - the version of iOS that is required for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C. Some of these devices were sold as new less than 3 years old. Customers of these products can no longer securely use them.  Shameful.
  • [Good] The Apple Watch product line is clearly becoming more compelling.
  • [Bad] The iPod line is completely abandoned - the shuffle and the nano are dead.  Customers are advised to use an iPhone or Watch with bluetooth during their workouts - which, of course, costs at least 5x more than the iPod Shuffle.   Instead, many people go to eBay to buy used iPods.

2016

  • [Bad] Apple states during the 2016 October Special Event that the MacBook Air is basically not a great machine, yet Apple fails to improve the MBA in any important way.  Apple offers the low-end MacBook Pro, at a 30% premium, as an alternative. WTF?
  • [Bad] With the release of the new MacBook Pros, it is clear that Apple is eliminating their use of the excellent MagSafe connector.  Apple fails to provide any compelling alternative.  Happily, MagSafe continues to be used on the MacBook Air, but only because Apple *never* updates the MacBook Air.
  • [Bad] For the first time in 4 years, Apple releases an operating system, Sierra, that refuses to be installed on Macs that Apple no longer wants to support - despite the fact that there are literally zero technical reasons why Sierra can't work with the older hardware.  Apple couldn't even be bothered to fake a technology excuse.  Thuggish behavior: buy new hardware or risk your security.
  • [Bad] The iPhone 7 loses the headphone port for no particular reason other than "it's legacy", with comparisons to the Mac's elimination of the DVD drive, Floppy drive, and dial-up modem. The difference is that those legacy devices were bulky, unreliable, poor performing, rarely used, and long displaced by other technology. Now we get a dongle and need to balance using a headset and charging.  Very dumb "form over function".  No matter how Apple spins it, it is not a bold or logical move except if you want to sell bluetooth headsets.

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