| > Their push for a tax holiday is going to go over extremely poorly in an election year. Apple is not the only company requesting this and most of the discussions have been behind closed door. It hasn't been an issue previously and won't be an issue in the future. >Their extremely slow iPhone hardware update cycle leaves them vulnerable to fast-evolving competitors and a single bad product will poison the well for years. The update cycle has been in place for a number of generations now and every successive update has been more successful than the last. So this is factually baseless. Also many people like the fact that Apple supports their devices a lot longer than Android OEMs. >The colossal amount of value stored nowadays in a single Apple ID means the damage from a security breach or intrusion is astronomical. No different than if your online banking, Amazon, Google login was compromised. And infinitely more 'value' can be obtained by simply stealing a person's laptop or phone. > Apple has nothing interesting or heartening to say about their law enforcement policies vis a vis the data they collect. No evidence that this is an issue for most people. Telcos you would argue have a longer and deeper history of compliance with federal enforcement agencies and there hasn't been much of a uproar about it. > Stitched leatherette Contacts. Again factually baseless that this has impacted Apple in any way. Overwhelming popularity of recent iOS and OSX updates discredit your belief that it is an issue. Not to mention Apple has had 'unique' UI metaphors in place since 10.0 beta with Aqua, Pinstripes, Brushed Metal etc. |
I agree that the law enforcement issues and tax holiday aren't really registering in the public consciousness, but they're important to me and the PR downsides for Apple could be significant.
I'm not backing down on the phone cycle or the security issues. A poorly received iPhone loses Apple the substantial market for "status" phones, poisons the next two years of 'budget' iPhones, and takes them months to a year to recover from. Those aren't small stakes.
And the security thing could be an apocalypse. Think bigger than just a single ID: someone finds out a way to silently break their way into Apple's infrastructure and start pulling databases. It's not just your Gmail or easily reversible banking information walking out the door: it's every text conversation you've ever had with a loved one. It's your voice, it's your passbook, it's your email settings, it's your contact book, your calendar, your billing address, you name it. It's all tied to a single ID and password. And there's hundreds of millions of them. That's incredible value, and there will be those who will go after it. The consequences for a major breach are severe.