Okay, this is not an iPhone vs Android Phone debate. I respect your right to choose whichever platform that you want.
I mean, iPhone seems so antithetical with the idea of freedom. You have to connect it to a server to even use it, all apps have to go through a centralized server, no option to install whatever apps you want, which means, you literally cannot have any third-party apps without an online account.
Most of my fellow americans seems to love the idea of freedom so much, yet just buy into a closed ecosystem with no freedom? 🤔
Like almost 60% of Americans use iPhone, kinda weird to preach freedom when you cant even have an app without a corporation’s approval. If it were any other country, I wouldn’t find it weird, but for a country that’s obsessed with the idea of freedom (so much so that they disobeyed mask mandates), it’s really weird to be using a device with zero freedom.
Blue ticks and group chats.
Cos they never made it away from the pre-installed apps.
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.
• 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.
The customer support one is literal leaps and bounds above the competition.
I can call Apple and have someone answer very quickly, but you can’t really call Google. I can get Apple to call me if I don’t want to wait or I can take it to a store and have anything non-physical fixed for free.
Yep. Exactly. I’ve never had an issue with any apple decide that lasted over just a few hours before it was resolved. That’s enough to win me over.
Google can keep their whistles and bells.
It’s status. Apple is regarded as more expensive and high quality.
Except the most expensive phones on the market are android devices.
It’s actually incredibly difficult to tell if someone has the latest iPhone or one that is five years old.
Exactly.
The short answer is capitalism. Wasting money is a status symbol.
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.
- iphones are the first recognized “smartphone”.
- apple is an american company.
- 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.
They used to innovate, no doubt. But their products provide absolutely terrible value now. Great resale, sure. But you’re overpaying 20% for the hardware you’re getting which is not the case on the Android side. The only thing iPhone universally does better is 1) video and 2) ecosystem (if all your products are Apple). The rest is a tomaeto vs tomahto situation.
Not relevant to most basic users but I could not use a phone where I did not have the freedom to sideload apps, especially if I’m overpaying for the hardware.
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.
Your definition of freedom is an interesting one
Yep! Like I said, freedom is more than one thing. The way this questions is framed tries to put the blinders on and obscure that fact, creating a false equivalency between the freedom to sideload software and some abstract notion of “absolute freedom” which doesn’t actually exist. We’re rarely choosing between absolute freedom and zero freedom, certainly not in this case.
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
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.
I think you overestimate the value of those first two years.
What else justifies 60% market penetration?
I mean apple has spent at least the last decade using iMessage as a way to bring people into the platform and keep them there. Ie the articles from a few years back about using it to manipulate teenager behavior a la Instagram, or the epic games discovery documents which indicated this was a deliberate and cruel strategy from apple to lock ignorant people into their platform to avoid losing their social network.
Tldr: they deliberately try to make people lose friends if they leave the platform. You might say “shit friends” and I’d agree, but this is the FUD that apple spreads.
So they used the first two years to build a consumer user base in the way that RIM couldn’t and then was able to defend its market share.
The iMessage strategy couldn’t work if people didn’t buy in.
Mostly because of bullying. Android users are poor shamed.
Surely that’s not a uniquely American phenomenon.
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.
I understand the sentiment you are going for, but I think it is a little cheap regarding the opinion of 300 million+ people.
In my horribly narrow opinion, the American freedom is simply the freedom to choose. Nothing more, nothing less. The freedom to own a tiger, buy a tank or be “Florida man” for a day.
It is not “free” from manipulation and sometimes it really feels like a 5 year old choosing to do the opposite of the right thing just “because”.
Sidenote: I ABSOLUTELY do not think it is the best way to build a nurturing society, but I get why it has such a passionate supporter base.
it is a little cheap regarding the opinion of 300 million+ people
Actually iPhones are generally a little expensive, and mostly talking about around 150 million of those 300 million people 😜:
In the United States, there were over 150 million active iPhones in 2023
https://www.statista.com/topics/4753/apple-products-in-the-us/#topicOverview
It was a nurturing society when most were in communities that interacted with each other. We have lost that for many reasons
Tbh. It’s the same in the UK. Our governments, of both sides, are killing any perception of privacy we had and no-one is doing/saying anything.
Having said that people are mostly dealing with the terrorist inspired killings here that the are allied to the immigration issue.
The people have had enough, the governments of the last twenty years have been obvious or more likely not looking (at the disquiet).
There isn’t enough room to think of the loss of privacy/security yet. We are in a hell of a mess.
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.
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
I can only speak for myself and my kids. I have an iPhone because my work gave me one for free. They only support iPhone for security reasons. Keeping Android devices up to date across a large fleet is challenging leaving security gaps. For my kids they wanted my old iPhones because it’s what all their friends have.
Until there is a better alternative to the new evil that is google/alphabet, apple is a lesser evil.
Eh you can achieve similar or greater privacy on a Android phone simply because it’s not locked down in the way an iPhone is.
