I can get the TV+ hike. I don’t like it, but I get it. When TV+ launched it had very little content and no one was going to pay for that little content unless it was cheap. But now there is a pretty good library of new stuff, and it’s usually of better quality than what’s floating around on HBO.
Arcade price hikes - now that seems like a good reason to cancel Arcade. If they’re going to add better games that take advantage of the new fast processors, I can understand console tier pricing. But the games still mostly feel like mobile games. And not mobile as in “Nintendo Switch,” mobile as in “flappy bird.”
Honestly, arcade is a cool idea, but it’s never been cool enough to buy on its own. I feel like the majority of people that have it just get it as part of Apple One.
Yeah, I agree. I might be cool if you have kids. I don’t, so I’d rather just buy the one or two mobile games I play each year.
The logic is that others raised subscription prices and got away with it, so they can too. Masks have come off in the last 1-2 years and corporations try to milk us for every last cent, using any excuse (e.g. Covid, energy prices) they can. Inflation is not a law of nature, it’s corporate greed for more profits
Man hbo is just dead at this point.
I am subscribed to Max because I’m a stupid fucking DC nerd as well as a Studio Ghibli weaboo shithead. I am slightly ashamed
You got downvoted, but I agree. HBO isn’t what is once was, although there are a few gems. TV+ seems to be the place where people are allowed to spend an ungodly amount of money on a show right now.
I thought the same thing until I found Scavengers Reign.
I’m so excited for that… But that’s definitely Williams St/Titmouse before the merger being awesome as usual with discovering new talent.
For All Mankind S4 comes out next month!!!
Oh shit finally, I love that show
!Get fucked Danny!<
wall street hungry, feed me
Just like the paperclip game. Invest in AI marketing, raise price to find the new stable product flux.
I do not understand all the rage, Apple does not provide any vital services or products. They can charge anything they want. If you don’t like it then don’t buy it.
but you still lock yourself in their offer space when you also bought devices that kind of depend on those services: music streaming for the homepod, fitness+ for watch, cloud storage for iphone photos…
every time you switch from apple to a third party, it’s ever so slightly less convenient, and they probably conceive their products around that notion.
None of the products that had the price increased are locked in. Apple TV plus doesn’t even need an Apple device and has many competitors, Apple News has plenty of competitors, there are games you can buy without Apple Arcade though most do stupid in app purchases.
Yes you have to decide if the cost of the convenience is worth the lock in and price of Apple products. At the end of the day you still have a choice.
That is their business model, no? The convenience and integration of their products is what makes Apple unique. Seems weird hold it against them.
Yea i buy apple because it just kinda works and it’s what i’ve used since my first mobile device, being an ipod 5. The switch to android just isn’t worth losing all my paid apps and whatever else
It’s always been trendy to rage at Apple and Apple owners. This is just the current rage.
If it’s “always” then it’s not a “trend.” Maybe if there is “always” rage at Apple, there is a good reason for it.
Yeah. For some, hate is eternal.
It’s supposed to be a personal computer - some folks don’t respect personal choices.
I read Apple Jack’s like the cereal and was confused
Yea, I was like, “Who the fuck would get a cereal subscription for Apple Jacks?”
“This doesn’t taste like apples!”
“For $9.99 a month, it will!”
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You like them apples?!?!
Same I was wondering what they were changing the price of a box to. Tough times.
I thought this was about a cereal for a hot second.
I scrolled away and had to come back because I just kept repeating the sentence in my head. If Apple Jacks gets $19B in profit I better join the cereal industry.
I love Apple Jacks. I haven’t had them in years.
Why don’t they taste like apples!? (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Really? I’ve never even tried them but I always assumed they were basically apple flavored cheerios.
They’re a very strong artificial cinnamon flavor.
They taste like jack instead.
Wait until you hear about Grape Nuts.
This made me lol
Are those The Grapist’s testicles?
I’m gonna tie you to the radiator!
Glad I wasn’t the only one.
Is this thread a secret marketing ploy?!?!? Now I want some delicious fake apple cereal!
The cereal is that good, I wasn’t doubting they were pulling that XD
Apple Jacks are my number two, only behind Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Also, number two, behind. Heh.
That joke was brought to you by lactose intolerance, btw.
I thought I was really out of the loop. A brand I haven’t heard in over 20 years has been killin it.
Why are consumers so dumb?
Consumers are not dumb, they’re just nearly powerless.
Workers and consumers actually have all the power, they just don’t want to inconvenience themselves by using it. Collective action has destroyed empires and absolutely can annihilate multinationals.
The power to buy a product or not is all the power. Consumers may be apathetic about a price raise but they are still choosing.
Very untrue. Consumers have the power to buy far cheaper Android phones where they have far more freedoms, but not only do the majority of American consumers refuse to do this, they voluntarily and systematically shame those who do.
Statistically, Most American consumers are pretty dumb and act against their own interests
Apple iPhones are awesome if you like being three years behind in tech and paying double the price for that privilege
Sounds like you never used Android.
Boy the Apple fanbois sure are a sensitive bunch
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Apple is a religion. Android is pragmatism.
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Consumers literally do not have a choice to buy the services the article was discussing – apple’s media streamers – from someone else. Apple monopolizes that content.
RTFA. It is not about phones.
And even for phones, to get a functionally-acceptable product, your choice is one of maybe 5 manufacturers who all tacitly collude to keep prices up and keep unprofitable consumer choices far, far away.
And why are they powerless? That’s right, dumb consumers.
Pirating TV is absurdly easy these days.
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Goddamn they were proud of that title “Apple Jack”(originally hard apple cider concentrated by freezing the water out vs heat distillation of the alcohol itself) and “Apple Juice” both make appearances. Gotta love El Reg.
My brain couldn’t get past it
Private company, they can do whatever they like. Also, I can purchase phones from whomever I like. This is a non-story.
Yes, but I’d like to make an informed decision. This information is valuable to my choice of who to purchase a phone from
Private company
I don’t think this means what you think it means
You should read the article because this isn’t about phone prices. It’s about stuff that you actually can only buy from them.
We’re backsliding from a world where you could have just one or two streaming platforms and basically get access to everything to one that’s even worse than old cable packages.
Ahem 🏴☠️
Yeah, I encourage this wholeheartedly.
Buy Android. Use Linux. You have options.
This is the correct answer 👍. Best comment on this thread.
Except… the article still wasn’t about phones, or any device/OS. Just more people who didn’t read it.
We’re talking about the principle of free computing to help people get out of apple’s ecosystem prison of greed.
Cool, cool.
The article is talking about Apple services you can use on Android or Windows or even regular Linux PCs, though. There’s no “free computing” alternative to Apple+ , other than the high seas.
Linux. Linux respects user freedom. The user is free to examine the code of the software or os, modify it to their liking and share it on
For example, if Apple was FOSS/Libre and people were unhappy with any Apple app, iOS, macos, ipados, tvos, watchos - they could simply modify the code to make it work the way they want (fork it, is the technical term) and even release the new version under a new name. Or they could keep it for their own personal use.
In Linux you can do exactly that. I could take any Linux OS, make as many changes as I want and use it for myself or name it and make it available for download. I could even sell it.
In fact they is exactly what Steve did with Unix. Unix is like Linux in how it works. And there are free Unix versions available called FreeBSD.
Steve Jobs took that free OS, modified it to make NextOS and sold it on his Next PC’s. When Apple acquired Next, they renamed NextOS to AppleOS/OS X/macOS. Later they modified it and called it iOS, then ipadOS, then TVOS, then WatchOS.
And make Billions from this free operating system
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What are they making you buy it?
I’ve been an Apple loyalist since 1993. Practically everything I’ve loved about the company has gone to shit in the past few years. It used to be inspirational, seamless, intuitive. Now every new OS update makes something needlessly complex and confusing.
On top of that, they’re increasing prices for their services. I genuinely love Apple TV+ and still think with the increase that it’s an incredible deal. Still, they can suck a dick if they think I’m falling prey to this annual price increase bullshit. Apple stopped being an industry leader under Cook and became a basic vanilla consumer electronics and digital services company. It’s fucking disappointing.
What’s worse, they still do most things better than the competition so there’s little to do but hope things don’t break and disable auto updates. I have nearly every product category they put out but as things start to fail, I will not be replacing them. Instead, I’ll simply choose a more simple life without excessive tech.I have thought about doing this in the past. I eat, sleep and breath technology and also work in the field so I feel it would be difficult for me to make this transition.
Yeah. Same. It’s not an easy process.
I know for sure that my Apple Watch will be the first to go since they’ve handicapped the OS and I’ll never upgrade from OS 9. My Apple TV is one of my most used devices but it’s very likely that I get rid of that along with my TV within the next five years (despite having well over 1,000 movies on my Plex server). iPad might be the next on the list in favor of just a Mac mini and iPhone.
Although, my ideal end-game (what I DREAM about), is just an Apple Watch and iPad. It doesn’t seem like Apple’s interested in making that a thing though. And, even if they did, I no longer trust them to make it “just work”. Oh, how I’d love to abandon iPhone. The 12 Mini I have is about the right size but the camera bump is still ridiculous. I just might switch to a dumb phone if Apple refuses to offer reasonably sized, slim, camera-bumpless phones.
I’m approaching middle middle-age soon. I’ve invested so much of my life (and money) in tech, I think it’s time to step back and enjoy the disconnected life I should have had as a young adult. There’s no reward. There’s no freedom. No simplicity. I do worry if it’s even possible though.
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News+ was worthless and they dropped the one show I gave a shit about because Jon Stewart wasn’t towing the line for Chinese propaganda. This was easy to not give a fuck about already, and they are making it even easier.
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”
Tissue. A cancer tissue.
Cells are expendable in pursuit of infinite growth.
This is too perfect of an analogy…
Someone tell them they don’t have to follow Steve Jobs in everything.
Also fire.
“OH MY GOD! WE’RE HAVING A FIRE… Sale.”
The stock price will fall if we don’t make more money then we did last year.
- But why?
Because we are legally obliged to do what is best for shareholder, or they can sue us.
- Right so the company needs to make more money again and again and again until the company or the world dies
About sums it up
Accurate. The laws need to find a balance as I get shareholders who took a risk on business would like to see a return, but it is way too slanted to the point that the risk is on our entire society. We need people to be in those laws not just shareholders.
And why would I want an apple anything? They get cheap labor so…what the investors want more money? Never had an iPhone or apple product never will.
Hate to burst your bubble on that one, but all of the latest and greatest phones are made by cheap labour these days. Apple uses China and India, Samsung uses Vietnam, Google uses China and Vietnam with some assembly in the US.
I just have second hand ipod touches and manage my collection by burning cds through media monkey to them. There is so many mp3 players out there that look good but when you get them the software is junk.
Why would anyone need a dedicated piece of hardware to play mp3s these days? My $250 smartphone accepts SD cards up to 1 terabyte, plays flacs, and runs whatever media software you want. I was using GoneMad until updates turned that to shit and now I’m happily using PowerAmp. But there are dozens of others I haven’t even tried.
I had a 5th Gen iPod video back in 2006 and loved the thing like it was my firstborn child but eventually it broke and I got a smartphone and have never felt the need for another one.
Output quality is a reason. Even if you have headphone jack, it’s usually built as cheaply as possible. Granted, Bluetooth headsets can be OK these days.
Come to think of it, do Bluetooth headphones only use class D amplifiers? Seems like it’d be hard to fit any kind of decent class AB amp in there. Class D amps have improved a lot in recent years, but you still want to use an AB if you’re serious (not even audiophile nonsense, just somewhat serious).
I had the first gen iPod 20 BG, that heavy white brick. It was glorious, the only focus was to hear music. There was like 19.5 GB just for your music, nothing else installed, than the music player. The mini LCD screen was perfect and quick.
Also loved my Nano ipod Video, the last nano.
