Ask HN: Can Apple Ever Be Disrputed?

TTaikhoom2010 about 6 hours ago 8 comments

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Curious to know, just wondering about Apple and its current position. It feels like there is no way it can be unseated. It has customer lock-in in terms of the brand, as well as the subscriptions and ancillary devices to the iPhone. Developers will not stop developing for Apple, considering they are missing out on a large, if not the majority of their potential market. No hardware company can really leapfrog Apple because of the consumer mindset for Apple products.

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Discussion (8 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

sandcat_•10 minutes ago

At one point it felt like Google search could never be unseated, then suddenly within six months or so, I barely use it. I'm not saying it's dead yet, nor do I know what Apple's killer will be, but it is hard to see these things coming.

If I had to guess? All of Apple's strengths lie around the domination of the (local) personal computer. Top notch UX, best in class performance etc. AI could make that significantly less important. Who cares about beautiful UX when you only interact via MCP? Who cares about incredible silicon when it's not your hardware and it runs, fast, a thousand miles away?

But more likely, it'll be something else neither of us see coming.

maattdd•7 minutes ago

You are American aren't you ?

al_borland•about 5 hours ago

It’s not the consumer mindset, other hardware vendors simply aren’t making products at the same level. I have yet to use a trackpad on a non-Apple laptop that feels good to use. Meanwhile, Apple’s laptops have had buttery smooth trackpads for decades. Every time someone tells me laptop X has a great trackpad and I try it, I’m disappointed.

How is it that with decades of opportunity, hardware and software on the PC side have been unable to come together to solve this problem Apple solved so long ago?

Apple can and will make mistakes. They’ve done so in the past and they will do so in the future. The real question is, does the industry have anywhere for those users to go?

I’ve been using Apple computers at home for 23 years. I like the idea of being on a more open platform, but I feel stuck. Not because Apple has me trapped, but because no one else offers a compelling package that seems worth the move. These days, that package has to include mobile in the equation, in addition to the laptop/desktop… and the software that goes with it needs to be up to par as well.

These other companies need to stop releasing dozens of models that technically tick a bunch of boxes and instead actually focus on making something that works really well. Pay attention to the minutiae that no one might be able to articulate, but it can be felt when using it. This extends from the hardware through to the software.

Taikhoom2010•about 3 hours ago

Perhaps, maybe the modular tech future? Framebook is interesting, but that is likely a niche market. If you are interested, I tried to articulate what keeps Apple around specifically here - https://open.substack.com/pub/taikhooms/p/apple-has-the-lowe...

dotcoma•about 5 hours ago

Could not agree more.

Can Apple Be Disrputed? Yes, in theory, in part. In practice? Unlikely.

Taikhoom2010•about 3 hours ago

agreed, if your interested I tried to explain it here - https://open.substack.com/pub/taikhooms/p/apple-has-the-lowe...

lpsatwork•about 4 hours ago

If you trapped a billion engineers into a room to outearn Apple, it would collapse overnight. Because Apple shaped the rules 10 years ago.

qadjk•about 4 hours ago

No way, Apple is now controlling the ai wave by providing infra