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I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: Dec 2005
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With unprecedented growth and the largest profits in history its certainly hard to find fault in Apple's operations but throughout their modern success I've always been interested in what they "skate by" on and the big releases that they clearly don't love and that just kind of linger around until they die or become completely irrelevant.
The news story update today about the ebook antitrust lawsuit made me think about it again today. The iBook store.... does anyone use that? So much effort was put in by Apple (and subsequently so many legal problems) yet almost upon arrival it landed without excitement and I honestly have not opened the storefront in probably a year or more. Beyond the iBook store, it seems like Apple has a very surprisingly high number of products/initiatives/services that just kind of exist but see no attention, no innovation, and at worst... provide a very negative user experience. The Mac App Store is another example that has made headlines recently. The Mac App Store has not evolved at all since Day 1. Why? I don't know. It's easy to make the excuse that the Mac is a small platform compared to iOS.... but on its own, it's a huge... growing... business. And Apple has incredible experience in making good online stores.... the iOS store blows the Mac App Store away. Now major developers are pulling out of the Mac App Store in droves. Why has THE storefront for mac software not been a high priority for Apple? Presumably Apple will pour some resources and attention into in the next few months to address the latest complaints but why is that what it takes for so many things with Apple these days? They are incredibly complacent with so many customer experience aspects. About the only thing they are consistently innovating on and not showing signs of complacency is the iPhone hardware. (and argument could be made that they showed some complacency on iPhones with screen size, but I think that was a legitimate ideological problem). What other products/services does Apple just not seem to truly care about? Off the top of my head: 1. Apple Watch (I truly think Apple missed the mark on this.... still has a lot of potential... but I think they have spent the last year going back to the drawing board instead of hammering home on improvements.... the WatchOS app store is barren of useful apps... I love my Apple Watch but I do not use a single third party app on a daily or even weekly basis) 2. Mac Mini 3. Displays... the thunderbolt display is a great display... but no improvements and no price cut? 4. iPod (understandable) 5. Pro software 6. Photos.... iCloud Photo Library works great... but the Photos app is still worse than iPhoto and Aperture were at each of their primes. 7. Apple TV App Store (shockingly bad on day 1, still very bad 2 months in.) 8. iPad... do bean counters really run Apple now? It seems that once the iPad hit growth problems, Apple retracted resources from it.... the iPad Pro is a great product and a possible sign that isn't the case but the commitment to iPad has definitely been lacking... inconsistent updates to the line, and a real lack of promotion and development of incredible software and uses for the iPad. The iOS home screen still looking like an iPhone on a 12.9 inch iPad Pro is just not a sign of Apple pushing new ideas and thinking outside the box. |
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Which way is up?
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
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Plus, "you need an iPhone" is an absolute deal killer. As long as iPhone tethering is required, it's just plain dumb! This little beast is due for an upgrade, no doubt about it. I've been waiting patiently for the all solid-state Mini for at least a year. Still nothing. We used to sell a ton to businesses to use as servers. Now, almost none. The removal of the Quad i7 and that second drive bay were deal-killers. Bad decision on Apple's part. We'd really like to see an all solid-state model with an option for two flash modules and a quad i7. Appears to be nothing more than wishful thinking. Quote:
Apple is missing a huge market here, and doesn't seem to care. I cannot figure out why. Yeah, understandable. However, I still think there is a market here. It's just not with the iPod Touch. Dead animal, right there. Apple needs a 32GB and 64GB Nano with a 3" screen. It's just a music player, and nothing else. Eliminate all the "it also does" crap and just make the best portable music player and pedometer on Earth. Give it Lightning, headphone jack and Bluetooth. Nothing else. Seriously. Just a music player. People put pictures on these things? Why? No need for that, or movies. For giggles, build in a Watch app and let the damn thing communicate with Apple Watch. Sell it for $149-$199 and discontinue the Touch and the Shuffle. Nobody cares about those anymore. Pro software is done in Apple's little world. They went and got themselves all knotted up with the iPhone and forgot about Pro software. Fortunately, Adobe is more than happy to rake you over the coals in Apple's absence. Quote:
iCloud sucks. Period. Both are very poorly implemented. Both are a step backwards (or several) and both show Apple's true direction is to make everything feature-equal with iPad. I used to think this was a good idea. After messing with the new Pages, I no longer think that's the case. Apple talks about keeping the Mac true to itself, and the iPad true to itself, but their software decisions show that isn't the case. The OS is true to itself, but the supporting apps are all reaching too hard for iOS and it shows in a complete lack of feature rich software on the Mac. Quote:
Anyone who read my posts leading up to the new one knows I had great confidence in it, but now I don't. I know it takes time, but me thinks media contracts are nailed down so tight that the TV revolution is at least five years away. Oh, well. Quote:
Talk about missing the boat. This will get fixed next year. It has to. My guess is next year's Air and Mini will support Pencil. Apple better be able to make the damn things by the million by then. Apple, if you have snoopers reading, listen closely: PEOPLE WANT TO SEE THE PENCIL!!! Until it arrives in quantity, I recommend you hold off on the Pro. Crazy thing is too big for anything else. Also, I would add the wireless Magic Keyboard Extended, with number pad. By itself, this is the single greatest complaint we get about iMacs. "Where's the number pad?" Is Apple actually listening? I think not. And a model with built-in trackpad would be the bomb! Mac App Store: Until there are trials and upgrade paths in the Mac App Store, it's a dead animal. Talk about a screwup. iWork: Don't even get me started. Pages '09 was awesome. This new thing is dirt. Don't get me wrong, I like the new interface oodles more than the old. However, the tools that were conveniently removed for the sake of feature parity and promised to return are long gone, me thinks. You see, the iPad sucks for long document editing. Don't care what Jon Gruber and others say. I'm a writer, and the iPad sucks for writing. I don't care how many little keyboards and other doodads I can click on or add or wire up. The software sucks, especially for editing, organizing, etc. So how did Apple deal with this? By letting the Mac "be true to itself?" Hell no. Instead, they stripped all the useful, distinguishing desktop-class features from Pages for Mac and let it "be true to itself" by turning traitor and trying to emulate the iPad version. Ugh! Yes, Apple is going in all sorts of directions. They seem to have lost focus in some key areas and don't even remember their own tag-lines. The hardware is still good (mostly) and the software is still good (mostly), but I'm not sure Apple as a company knows where it is any more. This isn't a Steve Jobs or not Steve Jobs problem. I think the would still be wandering about right now no matter what. Too many cooks in the kitchen, and no that's not a pun. - AppleNova is the best Mac-users forum on the internet. We are smart, educated, capable, and helpful. We are also loaded with smart-alecks! :) - Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9) |
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ಠ_ರೃ
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
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While we're on the subject, what about the Mac Pro? I suppose it ties in to pro software. It's outdated and overpriced. But I guess you could say the same thing for all Mac Pros released in the Intel era.
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BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: Dec 2005
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It's always been an issue, but Apple also had a much smaller product line in the past. Now with an expansive product line and multiple different services it's definitely resulted in a wider number of products and services being ignored or just seeing really really slow improvements....
HomeKit, Siri, CarPlay... all have moved forward at a glacial pace. iTunes... and Apple Music.... still a clusterfuck of an app and still a half-complete and confusing music service. Apple IDs...... still no way to merge Apple IDs... still shit support for families and or married couples. I agree with Luca on the iPod... there is still opportunity there. If Apple could make a $99 iPod Nano with GPS and waterproof, I would likely buy it for running and working out. I can't imagine the R&D for adding those kind of features can't be justified even with the decreased iPod sales. A major disappointment for me is Apple's neglect of all of its Apps.... consumer/prosumer/pro.... across the board they have turned into a very poor software company. It's no longer fun and intuitive to use most of their apps and there are not multiple layers of power and capability present. That inherent quest to be the best at everything that they take on is simply lacking on so much of what they take on that it doesn't really seem to be in Apple's DNA anymore. |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Tim Cook is NOT a hardware man.
The company's lack of vision and innovation lands on the doorstop of the CEO. An inclusively diverse working environment is WONDERFUL. Spin things off instead of allowing them to wither on the vine. Mac user since the late 1990s. Disappointed Mac user since 2012. ... |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
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I am a committed Apple user and continue appreciate their products for both personal and professional use. But...I have a hard time disagreeing with most of the specific points made. Apple is still good, but could be better, and I get the impression that the company is sort of drifting on the development of pretty much everything outside of the iPhone.
I appreciate my iPad - and my new Air 2 serves me well in all sorts of ways - but I do agree that Apple has not really optimized iOS for that platform in ways that I could imagine them doing. On other fronts, Apple's abandonment of Pro apps for the Mac has been a big disappointment. Various basic level apps for OS and iOS, like Mail and Calendar, are not bad, but easily could be so much better with refinements. Apple does not seem all that interested in pursuing some fundamental improvements to these. iTunes which I, like others, use a lot often leaves me frustrated at user interface level. I like voice interaction with computer devices - I use Dragon quite a bit at work and at home on my computers. Apple seemed to have been moving quickly in providing its own approach to voice control, and I was quite optimistic. But Apple's own dictation solutions, and Siri, seem to have been introduced but not much further developed. They are not at a level where, for me, they are practically usable on a regular basis. I could go on. I got the impression that Apple either i) is pursuing a strictly bottom line approach and while some users, like me, find the developments above, or lack thereof, frustrating, Apple has done the math and none of them are necessary to pursue from a $$ point of view or ii) Apple is pursuing a design ethos (on software in particular) that I simply do not appreciate. Maybe it is a bit of both. When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray. Last edited by Chinney : 2015-12-04 at 15:07. |
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Sneaky Punk
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Mac user since the late 1980's, also disappointed since 2012. I haven't purchased a new Apple product (other than an iPhone) since early 2012, and not planning to in the foreseeable future either. Apple has just missed the boat on the Mac platform way to often in recent years. Apple's Mac offering may be great for email and web surfing (basic users), but beyond that it is a sinking ship with nobody at the helm. It's sad, because in the 2006-2010 time frame it was a powerful ship gaining steam, and now someone decided to stop giving it coal. The sad part is even the basic user is starting to feel the frustration, and I think Apple will be in for a shock if they keep moving in the current direction. |
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Which way is up?
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
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Apple and the pundits are looking too hard at unit shipments of hardware. The resultant garbage is that Apple's hardware sales may slide because the hardware isn't up to snuff.
Me thinks this is bunk. The hardware is more than up to snuff. Software is where Apple is slipping. They have the most tightly controlled ecosystem in computing history, with the most direct access to the hardware, and they are losing that control. Hardware won't make or break the company. Software will. - AppleNova is the best Mac-users forum on the internet. We are smart, educated, capable, and helpful. We are also loaded with smart-alecks! :) - Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9) |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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The thing is, it doesn't seem that Apple is innovating in the ways that matter anymore.
They no longer seem committed to their userbase. STORYTIME I've recently been considering upgrading from my small Jawbone clip-on activity tracker. I wanted a bracelet device, so I looked at the market to see which solution seemed best for my needs. The answer was the Fitbit Charge HR. The selling points were that I liked that device best, the software was comprehensive enough for my needs, and the company is solely focused on the activity tracker market. I feel that Fitbit as a company is currently committed to supporting its core audience. That's pretty frickin' important. You can't please everyone, but I do wonder if Tim Cook's Apple is checking in with its most loyal customers to find out how they're doing to serve us. ... |
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careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
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Hardware has made and broken and made Apple again for the last 40 years.
I have very little issue with how Tim Cook and the braintrust are running Apple. >90% of all smartphone profits at any moment is quite a feat. I think everyone needs to be reminded that Apple is the largest company in the world by some measures and there's no way it can be run in the way it was from 1997 through the mid-2000s. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
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Interesting point about the Fitbit, but I do think that for most other devices, Apple remains the best option. Some might gripe about Apple software, and sometimes hardware, but are there better options out there that actually meet your needs?
Like most of us, I have to use Windows machines as well and, whatever frustrations I sometimes have with Apple software, they are nothing compared with using Windows. As for MS Office software, which I am required to use both on the Mac and in Windows, the UI makes me want to put a hammer to my display. For mobile OS's, I have not really tried Android, but I have heard plenty of complaints about it from those who do use it, including those who have given up on it in frustration and moved back to iOS. That there is nothing better out there is not an endorsement of Apple's software choices. Actually it is part of the problem, as it gives Apple little incentive to improve. But it is, for the most part, the reality. When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray. |
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careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
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Right now it doesn't really matter if Apple's products are best or not. I am contently married to the ecosystem. I only own a single PC, and it's primarily a gaming machine.
It's also quite true that Microsoft's design choices are awful. The "Ribbon" as they call it is one of the worst implementations of a toolbar ever. I still don't touch the modern UI elements of Windows 10 unless I have to. Windows exists because we have to use it to fill in the gaps. Apple may never have PC installed base, but it doesn't need it anymore. We're getting to the point where most of our daily routines can be done within the Apple ecosystem on iDevices. For me the Windows PC is niche. It's like the electric typewriter I had to whip out to do my college apps in the mid-90s. Android is a fractured landscape with different vendors mucking up everything. Want to take a photo? It's different on an HTC, Samsung, LG, etc. There's too much inertia and no impulse for me to consider a switch. There is nothing better. |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Agree with you Chinney – I can't quit the MacOS, it is absolutely superior, for my needs.
I am, however, especially qualified to gripe about Apple hardware, as I was let down by bad engineering by Apple on my Early-2011 MacBook Pro. It was a lemon and I had to buy a new computer less than 3 years after buying that one and Apple let me down and even though I'm a stockholder and a longtime fan I will tell that story to anyone who will listen. And, if you want to read a bit more about how Fitbit is being discussed by investors in relation to Apple: "Is Fitbit To Blame For Lackluster Apple Watch Sales?". Eugene is correct about the size of Apple today and that it must be run differently because of its size - the aphorism "a victim of its own success" springs to mind. As a large company Apple should learn a few lessons from Microsoft. Stop changing or discontinuing pro software with little warning. The fiasco with Final Cut Pro X should have changed the company's behavior toward the pro community forever, and they did a bit better by announcing that Aperture was being discontinued. But, why discontinue it at all? If they know that they have an installed userbase of X-thousand people, figure out how much it would cost to maintain the salaries of coders to work on that software package and bite the bullet and spend the money, or charge more for the product. As a large company they should implement roadmaps for their professional users. Microsoft provides their customers with clearly stated support timelines for their operating systems and other mission-critical software. And thus ends Drew's annual Beseechment to Apple to Treat Us Like Professionals speech. It's safe to come back out now. ... |
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Sneaky Punk
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careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
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I witness the tech unsavvy using computer every day. Mac OS X is still far more intuitive than Windows 10. iOS moreso in ways. I see no reason to buy a Windows PC other than gaming. If I need to run any other Windows-specific software, that's what VMs are for.
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Totally. However, being the easiest to use for the 'tech unsavvy' has become the perception of the Mac OS. When you make your living working with a tool you become extremely aware of its limitations and of manufacturers taking shortcuts. I don't trust Apple to make pro hardware that we'll be able to keep. {btw, I love that I'm in here arguing about Apple stuff, it's a blast from the past } |
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Sneaky Punk
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I would not switch to Windows for specific software, so a VM is useless. I would switch because Apple simply will not offer the hardware I need, in a way that best meets my needs. The days of an affordable headless iMac (aka the entry level G4 towers) are long behind us, and man do I miss that class machine for it's flexibility and expandability. The old Mac Pro style case with a consumer Core i7 CPU would have been great machine for me, but that system never existed. I have no need for banks of thunderbolt drives, so the new design is not just out of my budget for a computer, it also does not offer what it has in the way I need it. To me the Mac Pro is an overpriced show piece for your desktop (unless you really need a 8 core system), I don't need a show piece, I need something to get the work I need done for under $2k. Apple simply doesn't offer that in this market (aka Canada) anymore. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
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By that measure PB, it has been a long time since Apple's computer offerings met your needs. As you say, the days of an affordable Mac towers like the entry-level G4 are long behind us. Heck, for many years Apple did not even offer anything like what came to be released as the Mini. In some ways Apple offers more choice now than it used to do.
Speaking of the Mini, it is true that it has not received much attention lately from Apple. But would not a (mostly) all tricked-out version: 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz), 16 GB RAM, 2 TB Fusion Drive, meet your needs? You could get that for well under $2000 Canadian. I realize that it has integrated graphics, but, as discussed on another thread, the Intel Iris that it offers actually gets good benchmark results. Or wait a bit until Apple updates the Mini. Should not be too long. When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray. Last edited by Chinney : 2015-12-06 at 13:37. |
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careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
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Hackintoshing has gotten a lot easier since Clover became thing. Still no Skylake support yet, but it's not like it's a huge leap past Broadwell.
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Sneaky Punk
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Having the power of a quad-core system for video editing/rendering and heavy image editing is nice, particularly when you see all four cores going at 100%! That is one of the main reasons I went for a 27" iMac back in the spring of 2011. Hopefully the upgrade to an SSD, which I'm getting done this week, will give it a few more years of usable life. Quote:
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careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
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Hackintoshes are at least as up-to-date as Apple hardware, so you're not really losing anything. I wouldn't sweat Skylake vs Broadwell on the Windows side either. The current best Skylake i7-6700K is on average only 20-25% faster than my 5-year-old Sandy Bridge i7-2600K.
The latest Nvidia GPUs are all supported with Nvidia's official web drivers. |
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ಠ_ರೃ
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
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Everyone here is a savvy enough computer user that the whole "intuitive" argument falls flat anyway. Anyone here could pick up Windows 10 and get by just fine, and would probably get used to it immediately. Just as I could pick up OS X and become comfortable with it very soon. Most of the stuff that most people do is through a web browser anyway. By all means, if you have parents, grandparents, or other tech-illiterate friends/family who are used to the Mac experience, keep recommending Macs to them. But that is Apple's target audience now. They have shunned true pro users and don't seem to care about "prosumer" users either. I'm not doing video editing so maybe it's not comparable to your situation, but I built a Q8400 (Core 2 Quad) system in 2009 that I am still using. I've upgraded the RAM and graphics and added an SSD since then, but by and large it's the same machine, and it's still good. It was under $1,000 at the time. So when I see Mac fans espousing the benefit of longevity, I have to shake my head. You can be an Apple user and still have a Windows PC. To continue to stick with Macintosh desktops seems ridiculous at this point; they're outrageously expensive for what you get. Even though I don't use either, I'll still defend iOS devices. I have an Android phone and while it's fine for me, I still think iOS has a meaningful advantage in usability. OS X, not so much. |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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<cough> ... |
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ಠ_ರೃ
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
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drew you're forgetting one:
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Sneaky Punk
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
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As for the charge port on the bottom of the new rechargeable version, I agree that it seems a bit inelegant and, um, un-Apple. But I suppose that I never would be charging it while actually using it, so it really makes no practical difference. I will probably just stay with the standard version though, with rechargeable batteries. When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray. Last edited by Chinney : 2015-12-10 at 18:39. |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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NO NO NO!!!
We must stop letting them off the hook by saying "but I suppose..." – – it is our duty to CASTIGATE Apple soundly! Elegance in everything. If not now, when? ... |
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Sneaky Punk
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You must have lucked out, I have to charge the one for my Mac Mini at least once a month. The much less expensive, far more comfortable to use, 9 year old MS mouse I have needs to be charged once every 3-4 months in comparison.
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
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Yeah. I have no issues with my Magic Mouse at all.
One thing I do think might be an Apple misfire though is the Watch, just based on observation at the Apple Store. I am in the Apple Store downtown in Ottawa every so often, just looking around as I am passing by. It is crowded pretty much any time I am there, regardless of when. And people are buying. Apple must be raking in the $$ at that store, so I guess that they are still doing something right at the ordinary consumer level. But there is an exception in what I have been seeing. The two most prominent tables right at the entrance are devoted to the Apple Watch and nobody seems to be hanging around. That is just anecdotal, of course - my own observations are obviously not a reliable indicator of overall sales figures. But it does make me wonder. Another table with limited interest (though more than the Watch), just based on my observation, seems to be the one devoted to new MacBook. Plenty of people around the other Apple products though. Nice store. Great staff. When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray. |
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Sneaky Punk
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I noticed the lack of people interested in the Apple Watch when I picked up my 6S form the local Apple Store back in November. Lots of people checking out just about everything, but not the watch. People looked at it, pointed and walked away with a snicker. In the hour I was a the store people were buying phones, Macs, iPod touch, beats headphones, etc, but nobody bought a watch.
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