"Apple is the next Microsoft"

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

You all are right about Jelly Bean. A lot of the low end phones still ship with ICS though.



I think it's more to do with the fact that they're happy with it, and it does everything they want. None of the very good Android phones are cheaper, they all start above or below the $199 contract price when they debut.

You shouldn't even be THINKING of buying a new computer every three years anyway. Whether it costs $400 or not. These aren't clothes, these are tools.

The reason that most people keep their Macs a long time is because they still work as well as they did when they were first bought. My first MacBook Pro ran OS X Tiger to Lion (that's 4 OS updates), and my current one can run down to Snow Leopard (again 4 OS updates, and it'll get the next two most likely).

The only thing I'll need in the next few years is probably more RAM and a new hard drive. The base specs are the same as the typical $899+ Windows machines, so it's future proof for a lot of the tech that will show up five years from now.

If you are the type to be upgrading the RAM and HDD in your MacBook then you are probably also the type to store a fresh Windows image (and upgrade the RAM +HDD in that too).

And it too will run just about as well.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

If you are the type to be upgrading the RAM and HDD in your MacBook then you are probably also the type to store a fresh Windows image (and upgrade the RAM +HDD in that too).

And it too will run just about as well.

The Mac hardware and build quality is far more comparable to a similarly priced Windows machine than a Windows machine 1/3 the price.

Plus, I just spent the better part of 2 workdays re-installing Windows and upgrading my 2-year old high-end work laptop to resolve performance issues. It does indeed run fabulously now, but compare to:

I got my used 2008 MCP, took it to the Apple Store in the mall, and drank a smoothie while the Genius Bar dude re-installed the OS, did all the updates, and taught me how to use it (it's my very first Mac) for free.

I'm starting to see some value in Apple's model beyond just playing to fashion.

I think I'll buy some stock.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by ApK

The Mac hardware and build quality is far more comparable to a similarly priced Windows machine than a Windows machine 1/3 the price.

Plus, I just spent the better part of 2 workdays re-installing Windows and upgrading my 2-year old high-end work laptop to resolve performance issues. It does indeed run fabulously now, but compare to:

I got my used 2008 MCP, took it to the Apple Store in the mall, and drank a smoothie while the Genius Bar dude re-installed the OS, did all the updates, and taught me how to use it (it's my very first Mac) for free.

I'm starting to see some value in Apple's model beyond just playing to fashion.

I think I'll buy some stock.

Question is, does the Genius Bar make up for the lack of availability of some programs, and the premium price (a $1200 Mac is equivalent in quality to a ~$900-$1000 PC)?

And did you re-install, or clone a brand-new image in? Most people who do this will perform all updates first thing when they get/install the computer, then clone the HDD as a backup, it shouldn't take as long doing it that way.

[Jessica Lares]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Question is, does the Genius Bar make up for the lack of availability of some programs, and the premium price (a $1200 Mac is equivalent in quality to a ~$900-$1000 PC)?

And did you re-install, or clone a brand-new image in? Most people who do this will perform all updates first thing when they get/install the computer, then clone the HDD as a backup, it shouldn't take as long doing it that way.

Since OS X Lion, Macs have had a built-in recovery partition that you can re-install the OS from. If you accidentally nuke it (like I did a few months ago), the ROM (do they still call it that?) has the ability to connect to the internet and re-download the installer so you don't have to go to the Apple Store to fix it.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Question is, does the Genius Bar make up for the lack of availability of some programs, and the premium price (a $1200 Mac is equivalent in quality to a ~$900-$1000 PC)?

If we read 'genius bar' as shorthand for all the various apple and mac differentiators, then yes, I can certainly see how it could be worth that much to someone ready to spend $1000 on a laptop. Plus they are indeed stylish. And no programs are lacking if the user doesn't need them. Many Mac users seems to get along fine. Plus Macs can run Windows now, too.

And did you re-install, or clone a brand-new image in? Most people who do this will perform all updates first thing when they get/install the computer, then clone the HDD as a backup, it shouldn't take as long doing it that way.

I did everything from scratch, but even if I had imaged it 2 years ago, it would only saved me few hours of waiting for windows update. There have been A LOT of updates since then. The two days included all my apps and such, but even if restoring it took only a few hours, the apple experience was still nicer. More importantly, windows machines tend to need this treatment periodically or they become dogs. I've not heard this to be so for macs.

Note this may be the very first pro-mac posting I've ever made.

ApK

[wizwor]

I think you need to post some data to support these claims.

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

I am not worried for Apple. They are NOT the next Microsoft.

iPad sales have slowed, but so has the Kindle Fire. The difference is that the majority of iPads that were bought are still being used, while the majority of Kindle Fires ended up on eBay and/or broke and people upgraded to the Nexus 7, Galaxy Tabs, and others.

For every person that still owns and uses an iPad 1, there are probably 10 who have bought two or more Android tablets since then.

The same can be said for Macs and iPhones. There are more people with 2007/8 MacBook Pros than with Dell laptops from that same year. There are more people with the iPhone 4 (not 4S) than there are those still using a Samsung Galaxy S2.

And the same thing with iPods, which is why Apple recalled the Nano five years after the fact, and if anything else came up with the others, would probably be doing the same procedure now.

iOS 7 has received a lot of negative press, but at the end of the day, it's nowhere near the amount of hate Windows 8 has received. Android guys don't complain about KitKat, but the majority of them probably haven't even seen Jelly Bean.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by ApK

Mini poll!
Now is the time to:

1. buy Apple stock.
2. sell off your Apple stock.

or

3. Not play the stock market.

See:

http://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Do.../ref=pd_cp_b_0

As for Apple being the next Microsoft, eventually, Apple and Microsoft (given Xbox and Surface) will both be in this group:

Defunct computer hardware companies

See also Can a Company Live Forever? (January 2012) :

The average lifespan of a company listed in the S&P 500 index of leading US companies has decreased by more than 50 years in the last century, from 67 years in the 1920s to just 15 years today, according to Professor Richard Foster from Yale University.

Today's rate of change "is at a faster pace than ever", he says.

Professor Foster estimates that by 2020, more than three-quarters of the S&P 500 will be companies that we have not heard of yet.

One quarter will survive, but no analyst, or Mobileread poster, knows which they are. True, Microsoft's bigger Fortune 500 and government customer base gives it more of a cushion against total collapse than does Apple's dependence on fickle individual consumers. And I'm guessing that top ten S&P 500 companies like Apple and Microsoft have a higher probability of still being somewhere on the list than do companies now ranked in the middle. But that's of no help when it comes to buy vs. sell.

[wizwor]

This has always been the Apple position. They compete with the most expensive Windows machines on price and add value for people who are not technical enough to maintain their own hardware. For the rest of us, there is no comparison. I still use a tf-20 powered 15.6" vista laptop. I paid $230 for this six years ago. Just replaced the 160g disk and restored to factory. This did not take two days.

Originally Posted by ApK

The Mac hardware and build quality is far more comparable to a similarly priced Windows machine than a Windows machine 1/3 the price.

Plus, I just spent the better part of 2 workdays re-installing Windows and upgrading my 2-year old high-end work laptop to resolve performance issues. It does indeed run fabulously now, but compare to:

I got my used 2008 MCP, took it to the Apple Store in the mall, and drank a smoothie while the Genius Bar dude re-installed the OS, did all the updates, and taught me how to use it (it's my very first Mac) for free.

I'm starting to see some value in Apple's model beyond just playing to fashion.

I think I'll buy some stock.

[injapan]

Sure due to competition Apple has plateaued. But remember Microsoft missed out on ALL the big new technoologies in the last 10 to 15 years
The came in far too late with their Zune (multimedia player)
far too late with smart phone and tablets

where as Apple is still in these growing markets, and are in future ones like iWatch and TV. Mircosoft seemed to have waited until the new techonolgy was basically old and then jumped on board. I don't think you can compare them
but we shall see

not to mention the failed ME windows and Windows 8 that had very little success
Almost all Apple stuff is a raging success, esp their portable stuff

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by injapan

Almost all Apple stuff is a raging success, esp their portable stuff

Define success. Second fiddle to MS on PCs, second fiddle to Android on phones, losing market share on tablets, competing with a company called Roku on streaming media.

[Fat Abe]

I'm reading through this thread and realized that the article title might be interpreted in a more perverse sense. Perhaps Apple is going to suffer the same problems as its fellow giant, Microsoft. The Achilles heel of both companies is/will be Security. Nothing says "I don't care about you" as much as a hole in security.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-...012356698.html

Pay a lot for a fancy iPhone, iPod, or iPad, but don't think you will be immune to hacks. My theory is that a nearby Femtocell was in place, and intercepted transmission between the Apple device and its intended web site. Afterwards it mimic'ed all of the transactions between the two end parties, massaging the middle. Notice that the article said nothing about the first generation iPads, which are still held back, and will never be updated to current version iOS levels. There is no loyalty in the computer industry, not to orphaned products.

[wizwor]

All security is marketing. Nothing is secure. Really.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by wizwor

for people who are not technical enough to maintain their own hardware. For the rest of us, there is no comparison.

Umm..no. Not just them. A lot of people just a have better things to do. Not all auto mechanics go around driving jalopies just because they are capable of fixing them.

...restored to factory. This did not take two days.

Of course not. How useless would factory condition be several years later.

[Jessica Lares]

Originally Posted by wizwor

All security is marketing. Nothing is secure. Really.

That has always been my opinion. I used Windows and the internet for many years without Norton or other stuff running in the background. 3.1 to Windows 7. Never got a virus or malware.

Use some common sense and it'll never be a problem.

@Fat Abe: Apple released a security fix to OS X Leopard in 2012. The oldest systems it supported were the 1999 G4 machines which could shoehorn it in. I think as far as huge security upgrades go, we'll continue to see them on Leopard+ as up until late 2009, Macs were still being shipped with it. Flash and Java are the big problems right now, and they're both on their way out.

Every iPhone up to the 4 (not 4S) has a bootrom exploit. Meaning that Apple would have to revise/patch the hardware itself to make it secure. Not going to happen when it's only possible to get that far in the system with a Device Firmware Upgrade, meaning by plugging the device into a computer and running software on it after you put it in that mode anyway.

Apple will always fix a "Master Key" bug otherwise. It just hasn't been something that has come up yet since iOS gets many updates throughout its lifecycle.

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

I'm reading through this thread and realized that the article title might be interpreted in a more perverse sense. Perhaps Apple is going to suffer the same problems as its fellow giant, Microsoft. The Achilles heel of both companies is/will be Security. Nothing says "I don't care about you" as much as a hole in security.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-...012356698.html

Pay a lot for a fancy iPhone, iPod, or iPad, but don't think you will be immune to hacks. My theory is that a nearby Femtocell was in place, and intercepted transmission between the Apple device and its intended web site. Afterwards it mimic'ed all of the transactions between the two end parties, massaging the middle. Notice that the article said nothing about the first generation iPads, which are still held back, and will never be updated to current version iOS levels. There is no loyalty in the computer industry, not to orphaned products.

Apple vein is "played out."

Time to dig new hole!