[snarkyturtle]

Apple's PR department really is an outlier in the tech industry and I don't think it's worth it for other companies to aspire to it, especially now that so many people go to online reviews to check out gadgets before committing to a purchase.

Making awesome products that has great reviews and having a frictionless way to buy online would pay off way more than throwing money at a way to try to steal some of Apple's limelight when it comes to product launches and culture.

[jasomill]

Careful what you wish for. Microsoft's "frictionless ways to buy online" always seem to involve more restrictive, less comprehensible licensing. I'd love to see Microsoft move to Apple's simplified model for non-volume licensing: one license = your choice of

  1. all users on all devices you own or control for personal, non-commercial use.
  2. all users on a single device for commercial use.
  3. one named user on all devices for commercial use.

C.f., e.g., Mac Office, where it looks like the only (non-subscription) option for individual, commercial use on multiple devices going forward is a $220 license per device, with no upgrade or multipack pricing, and moves towards electronic delivery at MSRP rather than (frequently discounted) retail sales of packaged product. Net result: an Office license I can get for $150 today will cost $440 next year.