Apple: the new microsoft?

[Twiddly]

So I have been reading some stories about Apple lately, and how they are trying to squelch all competition in the tablet market (There is a thread on it on these very forums), and trying to have a monopoly on them essentially. Now, I see this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48289598...s-us_business/


Kind of shitty the things they are pulling in order to do this, I mean..they are there for profit, and profit only it looks like now. Does anyone remember there 1984 commercial, with the woman throwing the thing through the monitor? I Guess they are the people running the monitor now.


This is nothing against apples products, I greatly enjoy my Ipod, and seriously considered buying a mac for my next home computer before sticking with PC (And building my own)

[Deleted]

When companies expand to stocks and shares they become entirely profit based. All the dreams and vision are lost the moment it's no longer personal.

[Remilia]

What do you mean by the new Microsoft, in what comparison?

The article mainly talks about their business practice, not much of a comparison to Microsoft, unless I'm reading something wrong.

[Spectral]

Kind of shitty the things they are pulling in order to do this, I mean..they are there for profit, and profit only it looks like now. Does anyone remember there 1984 commercial, with the woman throwing the thing through the monitor? I Guess they are the people running the monitor now.

They were always the people running the monitor, they were just better at appearing to be the lady with the hammer when they weren't the big boy on the market.

That said, I'm strongly considering a Macbook Pro with Retina. That's one gorgeous laptop.

[Kulanae]

Apple has been trying to capture the counter culture market forever. And quite successfully have built this rep that they are always fighting "the man" (IBM, Microsoft, etc.) and a lot of people drank the proverbial kool-aid. All the while ganking their customers with outrageous profit margins and tossing workers in other countries under the bus.

[Maharishi]

So I have been reading some stories about Apple lately, and how they are trying to squelch all competition in the tablet market (There is a thread on it on these very forums), and trying to have a monopoly on them essentially. Now, I see this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48289598...s-us_business/


Kind of shitty the things they are pulling in order to do this, I mean..they are there for profit, and profit only it looks like now. Does anyone remember there 1984 commercial, with the woman throwing the thing through the monitor? I Guess they are the people running the monitor now.


This is nothing against apples products, I greatly enjoy my Ipod, and seriously considered buying a mac for my next home computer before sticking with PC (And building my own)

I'm not sure you read the article.

All corporations currently keep overseas profits overseas to prevent a double hit by taxes. The only difference with apple is that they've actually set aside money in a repatriation tax funds, while other companies just don't even pretend they're ever bringing the money back. If anything, the article makes apple look a little better than average.

They're a public company. They want to make money. The best way to make money is to make products people want, and everyone wins. I'm really not seeing the issue here.

[Twiddly]

I'm not sure you read the article.

All corporations currently keep overseas profits overseas to prevent a double hit by taxes. The only difference with apple is that they've actually set aside money in a repatriation tax funds, while other companies just don't even pretend they're ever bringing the money back. If anything, the article makes apple look a little better than average.

They're a public company. They want to make money. The best way to make money is to make products people want, and everyone wins. I'm really not seeing the issue here.

It isn't just this article, as I said in my OP. And if you fully read the article, you would see that there reported 24% repatriation is actually 13%, which is obviously much, much less

[Maharishi]

It isn't just this article, as I said in my OP. And if you fully read the article, you would see that there reported 24% repatriation is actually 13%, which is obviously much, much less

I don't really see what you're trying to get at though.

You just tossed the article out there which really doesn't haven't anything to do with apple being like Microsoft. Also, Microsoft's a pretty good company. Just because they got hit with antitrust stuff doesn't mean they were evil. Hell, if I made an OS, my first screen wouldn't be a choice of other people's products.

It seems like you're just vaguely saying you don't like apple. They're no different than they've ever been:

Once a company devises a great product, he says, it has a monopoly in that realm, and concentrates less on innovation than protecting its turf. “The Mac user interface was a 10-year monopoly,” says Jobs. “Who ended up running the company? Sales guys. At the critical juncture in the late ’80s, when they should have gone for market share, they went for profits. They made obscene profits for several years. And their products became mediocre. And then their monopoly ended with Windows 95. They behaved like a monopoly, and it came back to bite them, which always happens.”

Apple is what it has always been: a public company looking to maximize their profits. I, personally, like the products that they're putting out to do so.

[rigoremortis]

Apple has been trying to capture the counter culture market forever. And quite successfully have built this rep that they are always fighting "the man" (IBM, Microsoft, etc.) and a lot of people drank the proverbial kool-aid. All the while ganking their customers with outrageous profit margins and tossing workers in other countries under the bus.

ya, Macbook air for 4 grand, lol a glorified netbook!

eh, i love my ipod/ipod touch/iphone (one's for roadtrip's worth of music, one's for around town music, and one's a phone =P), but i never got the appeal of mac computers, as a gamer it just never made any sense to buy one. oddly enough, macs have more than enough computing power/software/etc to make games, but not play them =P

[Riavan]

Apple are kind of the communist china of the computer market, closed market systems, gluing in computer components so you can't upgrade yourself, heavy censorship, crazy money grabs, yet their marketing and etc, makes everyone think they're the "good guys". It's just not the case.

[oblivionx]

Just because Apple was great at PR, doesn't mean they were what they claimed to be.

[haxartus]

They don't want Samsung and Android overtaking the tablet market, something that already happened with the smartphones. But it's only a matter of time.

[Tanthalus]

ya, Macbook air for 4 grand, lol a glorified netbook!

eh, i love my ipod/ipod touch/iphone (one's for roadtrip's worth of music, one's for around town music, and one's a phone =P)

and my samsung galaxy II does all of those on 1 device , since it has an extra micro sd card slot......

[Spectral]

When you buy Apple you pay double, hell even triple the normal price.

This is potentially true when comparing custom built desktops to Apple products. I can't think of any other products where it's the case. When I looked into a PC to match the Macbook Pro with Retina ($2200), it ran about $1700 for equivalent power, but still had an inferior display and weighed more. I think you'd literally have an impossible time finding a comparable system for $1100.

Apple has big profit margins, and often has significant markup relative to competitors, but it's almost never double or triple.

[Deleted]

As far as I know, the new Microsoft tablet might be the new Apple.

[Deleted]

Actually, I find Apple even worse than Microsoft.

And the hatred for Microsoft isn't totally fair imo.

Microsoft is forced to let their users choose their internet browser for example.
But do you see the same thing for Mac users? No. So who is running a monopoly here?

I really don't understand why Microsoft gets blamed for trying to run a monopoly and court orders them to offer their users choice.
But none of the others get the same treatment. Where is the justice in that?

[Kujako]

Microsoft is forced to let their users choose their internet browser for example.
But do you see the same thing for Mac users? No. So who is running a monopoly here?

The one that was convicted of being a monopoly in federal court? Apple has issues, but they have never tied their web browser tightly into the OS and claimed that it could not be disabled.

[Serpenth]

Microsoft forced people to use internet explorer.

Apple makes people update their products every year and just sues any company that designs anything within 1million light years of the same universe of anything they have patented.

The presence of the Mac has greatly increased in the last 4 years due to the popularity of the iPhone then the iPad. I don't like Mac cause I prefer Windows and the ability to customize my build. However I think the iPhone and iPad are great products (Absolute best ever? No my glasses are not shaped like Buddy Holly's).

Apple is getting out of hand with their business practice for more of the latter of the two things I mentioned above. They need to stop trying to get all the competition banned and just come to the realization that not everyone will own an iPhone one day. A judge already dismissed one of their suits a while ago cause he/she thought Apple's suits were getting out of hand. I hope someone just throws them all out and tells em to suck it up.

[Gheld]

Microsoft forced people to use internet explorer.

This never happened.

Mozilla cried to the European courts that Microsoft was monopolizing them by bundling Internet Explorer with windows and thus "forcing" users to use it.

But basically Mozilla is a bunch of whiny socialist cronies. No court in non lala land (i.e. North America) would ever consider that "forcing you" to use Internet Explorer.

[Dragore]

I don't buy this whole you can get the same thing with getting a pc as mac argument. Its extremely flawed. Everything is like this. Cars, home, phones, monitors, pens, paper, suit cases, food. Theres always going to be something thats more expense even though its the same as others. I love my macbook pro. I am a web designer/developer and i hated luging around my 17" DELL. Was it a good computer? It was such a pain in the ass to carry around heavy as hell took a long time to boot up frequent crashes. MY macbook on the other hand i love it, its small compact and does everything and more that i need it to do, and yes i play WoW on it and i have have no problems expect i bought a fan thing to go under it because it does have shit air circulation. But i also got it because of the name. In my industry it is expected to have a mac. Can i do everything that i can do on my old pc laptop that i can on my mac? for the most part yes of course. Its the name your buying. Theres expectations of macs and they defiantly meet them.

I;m not saying one is better then the other, it just depends on the users needs. Would i suggest someone who wants to use a laptop for gaming or basic web use(email, FB, word) to get a mac? Hell no not worth it i'd tell them to get a PC laptop because thats what it does best. I would suggest getting a mac to someone who wants to take their computer experience to the next level or someone who's a designer or related fields to get one.