Apple’s Poor Optics

I’ve been an Apple fan (boy?) for a while. The company’s hardware is excellent. The company itself, though, is less so in my eyes these days, due to its apparently greedy or self-serving business practices of late.

Lackluster ethics

From Dan Moren at Six Colors:

“Were Ambrose Bierce still around today, he might define optics as “the art of making people feel good about giving you money.”

So due to Apple's stance/attitude on the App store, EU DMA, and developers like Epic and Spotify, I’ve become wary of giving Apple money.

But not only that, I'm wary to use its devices/services that I already bought into. I’ve been seriously considering a switch to non-Apple tech.

There are other factors at play here (like I’m a Chronic Switcher), but the ugliness of Apple’s business moves lately has put me off. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a share-holder driven for-profit company is actually all about the bottom line and not to be loved.

Lock-in ecosystem

It isn’t surprising, though, that leaving Apple would be hard. I’ve got my family locked in to a degree. The ecosystem works so well.

My wife and I with three of our teens each have an iPhone and use Apple Pay and Apple Cash. We share Apple Music, iCloud storage, and an Apple family calendar. We rely on Find My to see where each of us is around town with our busy schedules. Me and my wife use Apple Card. We have iPads and a MacBook and Apple Watches…okay, wow, we’re pretty entrenched, for better or worse.

Anyways, I just wish Apple was less developer hostile and more user friendly. For example, why in the Year of our Lord 2024 can I still not just buy a Kindle eBook within the Kindle App on my iPhone? Seriously. I don’t use iBooks (Apple Books). Heck, why can’t I even see the price of a Kindle book in the Amazon app (but I can in the browser)?

Final Thoughts

It’s a shame, really, that Apple’s pristine reputation is soured. It’s like when Google used to have the slogan, “Don’t be evil,” but eventually broke its one rule. It makes people disenchanted.

Tech won’t save us, but it sure will take your money.

If I sound too soured, let me counter-balance the negative focus. My iPhone 12 mini, M1 MacBook Air, and even iCloud work great overall. The company may not be as good as it once seemed, but Apple’s ecosystem (walled-garden) is still a modern tech marvel.

For now, its lemonade from a yellow Apple (lemon).