[pedalpete]

> what is the alternatives in the phone space for being cool?

Phones aren't cool anymore, and neither is the iPhone. If you think the iPhone is cool, let me introduce you to my incredibly cool 70+ year old parents who love anything that is bland.

Some things remain cool because they are fringe or have uniqueness and character. Somehow cars have managed to remain cool, but your average family sedan or SUV isn't cool, and that's where the iPhone is.

So are there cool android phones, no. Probably not. Are airpods cool, getting to be not so cool very quickly. iPads definitely aren't cool.

Having said all that, it doesn't mean that Apple needs to make the next cool thing to continue to be successful. Microsoft hasn't been cool for ages, and arguably never was, but Satya has found incredible growth opportunities.

Tesla is cool now, but it won't be in 20 years, but Musk will have an incredible business.

I guess part of the problem for Apple is that they always marketed themselves as "cool", but in my personal experience, none of the cool kids are Apple fanboys anymore, it's the ones who want to be seen as cool who are.

[etempleton]

I don’t know if the cool kids are Apple fanboys, but affluent cool kids buy Apple. Go to any college campus and count what percentage of computers, phones, headphones, smart watches are Apple. The more affluent the college the more Apple. It is a luxury consumer brand in the way no other technology company is. They have no real competitor or equal.

[pedalpete]

Are you equating affluence with cool? Do only cool kids go to college? Apple has no competitor or equal?? I look around me, and I see lots of non-mac device, non-iPhones. So everyone around me must be incredibly uncool. But my parents, they must be the coolest, because they have iPads and iPhones, but then again, they use windows PCs, so not as cool as the affluent kids.

[etempleton]

No, I am not.

And no, cool kids do not always go to college.

And no I am not conflating the two.

I am saying that rich cool kids buy Apple. And 18-21 year olds are the tastemakers for all the kids younger then themselves and also, sometimes, for adults older then them too.

Please note: I am not saying that you have to think 18-21 are cool, I don’t, but they are by popular definition.

And no, they have no competitor across their product categories. They have competitors for specific products, but no one really goes head to head with them across even half of their products and for most of their products they are #1 by a huge margin:

Luxury Phones Headphones Tablets Music Service Computers Smart Watches

They are a leader or top competitor in all of those spaces. Who else can say that?