Ah yes, the second largest company in the world “trying to stay relevant”
Comment on Apple considered switching to DuckDuckGo from Google for Safari - Bloomberg News
tsonfeir@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Wow, USB-C and DDG in the same year? Look at Apple trying to stay relevant 😉
Pregnenolone@lemmy.world 1 year ago
who8mydamnoreos@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Im not really brand loyal to a gizmo company but the way android users are so insecure makes me never want to get them.
Honytawk@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
What is your argument for calling 70% of all phone users insecure?
who8mydamnoreos@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Like this response is a good example of the insecurity im talking about thanks
MBM@lemmings.world 1 year ago
whofearsthenight@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Of all of the things that I vastly prefer since moving to Lemmy from reddit, anything related to Apple is not one of them. I’m actually surprised because talking about anything Apple on reddit was always a circlejerk pitchfork parade, but Lemmy still seems to outdo. The “trying to stay relevant comment” is honestly hilarious. Sure, the richest company with more than 50% of the smartphone market, that basically feeds design to the rest of the industry is trying to stay relevant.
And another thing worth addressing, It’s probably 50/50 whether the EU is forcing them to USB-C, or just providing cover for them to move to USB-C. Modern Apple (after 1997) rarely has used proprietary standards for cables/connectors, and when they have it’s pretty obviously because there isn’t a better option, or more likely, there isn’t an option that is suited to their purpose*. Apple is/was largely the reason we’re even talking about USB, being one of the first to really adopt it. Then the dock connector for iPods, which is probably the most major example of them using a proprietary connector. If you read that link (just wiki) you’ll see that the dock connector did things that no other standard connector did at the time, and it did it in a form factor that would work with iPods. Fast forward 10 years and Apple eats shit in the press for changing to Lightning, which pre-dated USB-C and has obvious advantages over one of the worst computer connectors in modern history - micro-USB**. Apple contributed significantly to the USB-C spec, which includes many of the advantages that Lightning had first, built off of the work they did with Intel in creating another standard, Thunderbolt.
And then on to today, where Apple is “forced” to use USB-C. Again, in 2016, Apple moved all of their high end laptops to exclusively USB-C, for which they would again be pilloried. People are still pissed those laptops dropped USB-A and MagSafe in favor of trying to drive adoption of USB-C and a one-connector-rules-them-all world. They also moved their Pro iPads over to C in 2018. Basically, Apple started moving its high-end, less price conscious customers to C long before legislation was a gleam in anyone’s eye. Their cheaper products (base model iPads) and mass-consumer products (iPhones) they moved much slower on, and even then there were a slate of “Apple keeps changing connectors all of the time!” (twice in 20 years) outrage-bait articles.
Yes, Apple was “forced” to use the connector they created the first design references for (Lightning/Thunderbolt, and to a lesser extend Mini-DisplayPort) and then helped design, then moved to before most, in a bid to stay “relevant” in a field they already dominate.
* Also worth noting that Apple was a main driver of adoption of USB-A, and took heat when they converted iMacs to it over PS/2, far before most PC vendors did.
** This alone, the amount of negative press they garnered, meant that there was likely no way Apple was going to move iPhones off of Lightning for 10 years.
Radicalized@lemmy.one 1 year ago
I really really don’t think Apple needs to do much to stay relevant.
MrGeekman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They didn’t switch to USB-C out of the goodness of their hearts. They switched because the EU passed a new law that requires that new smartphones have USB-C ports.
Chozo@kbin.social 1 year ago
And they actively fought against it for as long as they could, tooth and nail.
dunestorm@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s an uphill battle, why would Apple bother when just using USB-C makes sense and saves them their lawyers sanity?
docmox@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Money.
Now that USB-C is the required cable, people can go out and buy any cheap cable they want. The law turned a proprietary cash cow into a low return commodity item.
whitecapstromgard@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Apple wants to keep selling overpriced cables to losers.
MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
If they were really fighting it that hard they could’ve stalled till 2025 when the EU law actually takes effect.
Chozo@kbin.social 1 year ago
Nah, the design specs for phones like this are done years in advance.
circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
Apple will never do anything for any other reasons besides: regulation and profit. They try and foster this image of humanitarianism and ethics, but meanwhile they build everything in sweatshops and make their own “standards” so that their loyal customers can only use the functions they need by purchasing additional dongles.
I’m happy that they were forced into an actual standard, but I’ve already heard at least two apple users IRL claiming that USB-C is inferior for [insert random reasoning here]. Apple has cultivated the idea that they are above standards for a long time and it will take a long time to break.
Pratai@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
You mean, just like every company that exists?
mriormro@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Apple is a corporation with a market cap that rivals the GDP of France and a net income that rivals the GDP of Qatar. That much capital consolidated within a singular private entity doesn’t just make them any other company. Their profit seeking is wildly, wildly different than a vast majority of any other company today.
Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev 1 year ago
The only reason they pass on an image of ethical environmentaly friendly company is because its good for business. People like that shit the products are good people buy. Its that simple. Companies give no shit about people or the planet.
MrGeekman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I know. That’s my point. A great example of this is when they used to brag about how eco-friendly their product were. I remember them bragging about their displays being mercury-free, BFR free, etc and their laptops having totally recyclable aluminum and glass enclosures - only to later deliberately make their laptops nearly impossible to repair and upgrade.