I'm by no means a 'fan-boy' of either android or apple, I use android, OS X, windows and linux all the time, but I'm sick and tired of hearing about how 'terrible' apples products are on this forum! Every time someone mentions apple there's a huge torrent of abuse from the geek squad. (I don't mean that offensively btw, I consider myself a geek through and through.)
Look, yes the iPhone is locked down. No, you can't customise the UI, install non-market apps or any of the other things it gets slated for. But for the MAJORITY of people, THEY DON'T CARE! They love the fact that they can tap into an ecosystem of supporting products (iTunes/App Store) and get a complete, idiot proof experience that is slicker than two eels f**king in a bucket of snot. And don't act like it isn't.... the iPhone delivers way beyond what most people desire from a phone (no pun intended!)
The problem for me with apple (any apple product) is how restricted they are. Locked down. Take an apple mac for example, want to change registry entries? Good luck!
Think of it this way...
Ferrari make cars. They produce high quality cars and sell those cars for astronomically high prices. You cannot drive them any faster than any other car while you're on the road. They still need petrol to run and they still get you from A to B. They are however somewhat of a status symbol; a luxury item designed for people who have money to spend on such luxuries and serve as a way to 'show off' ones wealth. It is of course possible to build a car that goes just as fast, probably for less money, but you'll never be able to buy the badge.
Ford also make cars. They produce those cars to a lower standard of quality to Ferrari but sell them at more affordable prices. You cannot drive them any faster than any other car on the road, they still need petrol to run and they still get you from A to B. These are not status symbols, they (and other cars in their class) make up for an extremely large percentage of overall road users. You can make them go faster and they are much easier to modify due to the more basic setup of the engines and mechanical parts.
Do you hear Ford owners slating Ferrari for selling expensive and, in many ways, ultimately pointless cars to people who have the income to buy them? Are Ferrari wrong in doing so? Should every car company be the same - building low end products that can be customised and tuned to the motorists needs? Or are there enough of those companies around already? Maybe the MAJORITY of motorists don't want a car they can 'spec up' because they don't have the knowledge to do so.
Why don't we take the quote I used earlier in the post and change it to match this analogy.
"The problem for me with Ferrari (or any Ferrari) is how restricted they are. Locked down. Take a Ferrari F430 for example, want to change the distributer cap for something more efficient? Good luck!"
Well, Ok then. If that's your passion and that's where your knowledge is then buy something else! No one is forcing you to buy either.
See the similarity? You know where I'm going with that...
Anyway, Apple don't make bad products. The locked down nature of their product ecosystem is a GOOD THING for the MAJORITY of people who buy into it. It makes the end user experience feel safe, slick and reliable. How difficult is that to understand?
Buy whatever product you want, they each have their pro's and con's. Maybe one day you will be able to come onto one of these forums and not have to sift through the million "I HATE APPLE" posts to find the useful and coherent ones that are based on facts and actual experience (which in this case came from the infinitely knowledgeable Lekky.)
Food for thought gentlemen, food for thought...
