No Stupid Questions

Marketing.

Convincing stupid people that their self-worth is based on how much they spend.

Not a thing that is exclusive to Apple, of course. It's how society has been since the 80s and Reaganomics, with Nike and other running shoes being the first really noticeable marketing push in that regard.

Where Apple paved the way is that, even back then, a company would make a product, assign a profit margin to it (traditionally about 30-40%), and sell it at that price..

Apple came along and said, "the only limit to a profit margin is how much you can convince stupid people to pay. We'll use billions of dollars in advertising to convince people that they're sub-human if they don't agree with it. If the consumer is dumb enough to pay 250% profit margin for a phone device that costs us literally a couple hundred bucks to make...than that's on them and their own stupidity."

So in short, profit margin is no longer a relatively stable number dictated by market forces and the relative strength of the economy, and (thanks to Apple) instead has become a function of marketing. How much can you convince suckers to spend.

Blue ticks and group chats.

Cos they never made it away from the pre-installed apps.

Fuck iPhones.

It’s status. Apple is regarded as more expensive and high quality.

Americans don't really value freedom. Not really. Americans pretend they like freedom, but they will give up all their freedoms for the slightest bit of convenience, and because social media told them so.

Am I talking about consumer electronics, or politics? Impossible to say.

• American company
• Secure
• Little to no bloatware
• Isn’t a google product
• Isn’t a google product
• Isn’t a google product
• same version of the OS in all devices
• customer support that actually answers the phone within a few rings and supports your device over the phone.
• isn’t a google product.

That’s a few off the top of my head.

I’ve used an IPhone since 4s. I have a 13 Plus Max. However. I used to have android devices. I always enjoy the UI/UX on the iPhone over the Android os. Even after working for the Android team. I still preferred iOS. I know I’m missing out to some awesome android features. But I can always jailbreak and add those features like I have on my iPad mini cellular. Which worked with Google Fi somehow. After jailbreaking. And my iPhone 6.

The answer is marketing by Apple and mobile carriers, which lean on peer pressure via iMessage. Plus the iPhone built on the success of the iPod, which led the market for mp3 players.

when you cant even have an app without a corporation’s approval

Apple has successfully positioned themselves as “the good guy”.

• Apple broke the monopoly of phone provider locks, and still prohibits phone provider bloatware.
• Apple seems like the only provider with any care for privacy, and many of their features and policies are privacy focussed
• Apple puts more effort than most software providers into usability
• you might think Apples constraints on the App Store blocks legitimate opensource and personal projects, but it mostly blocks commercial exploitation. It blocks behaviors that abuse customers or their privacy, that will give users a bad experience. I’ve read the requirement for a fee with a real credit card is actually the most effective strategy against malware
• every major app is available in the App Store
• its just a phone. My phone needs to just work, unlike my computer which needs to do whatever I want it to.

So maybe the root cause is lack of consumer protection in the US, but my experience with iPhone is much better than with Android phones. I’m not blind to corporate shenanigans but I do feel better protected in the Apple ecosystem. I do have freedom to choose almost any legitimate app, and I’m not particularly interested n futzing around with my phone anyway

through significant promotion and advertisement by APPLE, the mackbook, is used by tons of programmers though, and i have used the desktops at university library.

Not an American, but as an iPhone user who has had Android phones since cupcake before: iPhones „just work“, they are a lot less janky than Android, the ecosystem is smooth (although admittedly and intentionally less so when leaving it), they get updated for longer (and at the same time!) and apple has a much better privacy track record than the competition (a low bar).

Yes, I would prefer to install my apps from anywhere I want on the device I should own. An open source phone from top to bottom would be my dream, but Android is about as far removed from that as an iphone. Google took Linux and made it into a Frankenstein nightmare that is wholly dependent on them.

Just try to stick to open source and make your phone respect your privacy and see how far you get. Start at the usually locked bootloader, install a rom without google and see how few apps are left that do not require google services. And even then you are most likely dependent on binary blobs for the drivers, meaning the manufacturers can (and will) pull the rug from under your efforts as soon as they no longer feel like updating their shitty built of Android for the device in time.

I do not have time for that. What I have is enough money to buy a phone that comes as close as possible to my idea of safety, freedom and privacy without constantly jumping through burning hoops. If I am to be in a cage, it better be golden.

Conspicuous consumption.

Americans have been propagandized by Apple advertising into thinking Apple products are "high class."

Ask yourself: Why does anyone wear a Rolex?

It boils down to the same thing, showing people your wealth and thus "social value" (barf) via conspicuous consumption.

If it wasn't conspicuous consumption, why would US people literally judge potential dating partners on what kind of phone they use?

Example: https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/technology-blog/story/2008-08-07/apple-removes-1-000-featureless-iphone-application

Its function is exactly what the name implies: to alert people that you have money in the bank. I Am Rich was available for purchase from the phone’s App Store for, get this, $999.99 -- the highest amount a developer can charge through the digital retailer, said Armin Heinrich, the program’s developer. Once downloaded, it doesn’t do much -- a red icon sits on the iPhone home screen like any other application, with the subtext ‘I Am Rich.’ Once activated, it treats the user to a large, glowing gem (pictured above). That’s about it. For a thousand dollars.

This was barely a year after the original iPhone's release. The attitude toward Apple products has persisted ever since.

I have no need for third party apps.

For anything beyond texting or scrolling, I have a desktop.

Defying mask mandates wasn’t due to a ‘love for freedom’ but due to delusions and selfishness.

The iPhone came out before Android, so Apple had first mover advantage it could solidify to a sticky user base.

Also, a "free" Android experience only occurs when you've got full control of everything. Android was a lot more willing to give up control to third parties, including carriers. With Apple, you're only giving control to one company.

1. iphones are the first recognized "smartphone".
2. apple is an american company.
3. apple has a massive fanbase that is completely dedicated to apple and all their products.

i'm not sure what the global usage of apple products is, but i think here it's probably a lot higher than in other places. throw in the fact that there's only one device capable of (legally) running apple's mobile software, and there you have it.

also, their advertising didn't hurt either. no one on the android side had the kind of advertising they did until maybe 6 or 7 years later and by that time you were probably already well established in the iphone ecosystem.

Freedom is not one thing. The choice between iOS and Android is not a choice between zero freedom and unlimited freedom. You’re simply choosing which freedoms you want to prioritize.

I’m planning to switch to an Android device running an alternative OS with my next purchase after using iPhone exclusively since the 3g. That’s driven by a change in priorities: I want the freedom that comes from using a phone that isn’t a surveillance and advertising vehicle. For years now though, I’ve been enjoying the freedom of knowing my phone will continue to receive updates for a minimum of 5 years after I buy it new while some of my Android friends will be lucky if they get two.

Tbh androids privacy is shit. I’d rather deal with Apple than Google both on hardware and privacy any day. The only way I’d switch is to something like Graphene

You have to connect it to a server to even use it

That's also true of the versions of Android that 99.99% of people use

cannot have any third-party apps without an online account.

Most people don't care. They'll use the suggested app store and have an account already.

Right or not, it is what it is.

Not an American, but I ended up with an iPhone simply because the cost difference between it and an Android device via my carrier wasn't that big. It was also a previous generation model at a steep discount which helped a lot.

I am not a fan of Apple but if a company is going to screw me then at least Apple isn't so in-my-face about it like Google is. Google's data harvesting and ads are absolutely atrocious.

I used Blackberry right up until they ditched BB10. Sometimes I wonder if I should just get a feature phone because modern smartphones are awful things.

Not an iphone user, but am intrigued by all the ads the apple people say are on androids. Literally have never seen one, and I've had adjusted androids since the og htcs.

Because my belief in political freedom has nothing to do with my phone choice and it would be odd to conflate the two.

When I had an android I had to spend a lot more time making sure apps would work with my phone and that my phone would be "secure" whereas I have less concerns of that with apple.

Simply put with apple I dont have to do as much work to make sure things work.

Honestly, if you can tolerate the Apple ecosystem it works really well, with adequate privacy. My wife and my mother both use them and I recommend it for anyone who isn't a privacy nerd.

If the user isn't willing to jump through hoops to lock shit down, Apple offers a better suite across platforms for privacy and security.

Not an American but to be honest, both Google and Apple are appalling. Google openly steal all your data and sell it. Apple do similar but on a smaller scale but also claim they're all about privacy. Both make it difficult to use alternative app stores but with Apple its actually impossible. Phone vendors can and do install their own awful bloat on Android phones. Apple force you to use webkit for any browsing you might want to do, Android's native GUI is a mess. Nothing Apple put on their devices is open source so all their claims of privacy can never be verified. Both companies constantly try and impose proprietary standards or charge you a bajillion pounds for a fucking pen or some such bullshit.

The key difference for me is I can put something like Calyx or Graphene on an Android device and use a whole open source ecosystem of alternative apps which vastly improves the privacy of my device.

The average American is a fucking idiot and half of them are dumber than that