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@Mastokarl @sam @sean @praxeology

Oh, I do get it. Hardware is the gross majority of their revenue. I don't even have to check ChatGPT's work on that one, even though I don't generally trust it to be factually accurate any more than I could lob a 747 across a football field.

But (and this is a tenuous argument to make, so bear with me)... just because their income is from hardware doesn't necessarily make them a hardware company.

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R. L. Dane :debian: :openbsd:

@Mastokarl @sam @sean @praxeology

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Their business model isn't straight-up hardware. Delta, the faucet company? THAT is hardware. Intel? Hardware. AMD? Hardware. NVIDIA? Hardware.

though? Yes, they make their money FROM hardware... but they do not make their money BECAUSE of hardware. They make their money because of vendor lock-in, reputation, and their vaunted ecosystem.

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@Mastokarl @sam @sean @praxeology

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The only reason I would buy an iPhone would be... because the hardware is great? Heck no. The hardware is trivial to replace/repoduce. Samsung makes far better hardware, IMHO, and I've never had a Samsung phone. It's the interplay between hardware, software, ecosystem, luxury brand status, and vendor lock-in.

People don't buy iPhones because they're great phones. They're GOOD, but pretty grossly overpriced phones.

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@Mastokarl @sam @sean @praxeology

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PEOPLE BUY iPHONES SO THAT THEY CAN FACETIME THEIR MOM.
People buy iPhones so they can have freaking blue-bubble status in chats.
People buy iPhones not because they are good, but because they are iPhones.

That is simply not a hardware company. It's a luxury brand. It's a corporate cult. It's... something else, man. :/

@clacke @praxeology @Mastokarl @sean @sam

I guess? I don't think they care so much about restricting the usage of iOS to specific hardware (like an old fashioned hardware copy protection dongle) as they do restricting what *you* do with the hardware and software so that you're beholden to their "ecosystem."

admiral_ackbar_its_a_trap.mp4