this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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Shows and TV
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Oh, I already ranted over in https://lemmy.world/post/22226162 first but,
As an Android user, how do you propose I watch? I'm aware that you released to some Android TV devices a few years ago, you haven't released to the Android OS yet and as a Chromecast user I'm still out of luck.
You're ignoring a huge section of the market, so go fuck yourself Apple. You don't get to ignore users and then complain that no one is watching.
Do you remember when Game of Thrones was only available via HBO Go, which was only available via iOS devices and then Game of Thrones was the most pirated TV show? I FUCKING WONDER WHY???
I've (somehow?) watched a number of Apple shows and they are good shows. Mythic Quest, Shrinking, Severance. I'm you're target audience, it's time you pay attention to that audience.
You're not picking me up now, I've already found "other methods" but you can win me back if you make it easier. It's going to take some time, but time to get started.
The reason is Apple is not in the streaming business, it's in the hardware business and sales business.
Apple is not trying to get you to just join it's streaming service. It's trying to get you to buy it's hardware so you're in it's ecosystem so it gets 1/3 of everything you spend on content and services. It's the ultimate route in upselling.
You buy an Apple TV device, you watch some of their shows but also you buy some apps, and you sign up for other services (who have to pay apple for access), maybe you buy content through iTunes.
Apple wants you using Apple TV, and get an IPhone and a Mac and tablet etc. If you're not on an Apple device they don't want you because you're able to spend money elsewhere.
Apples whole business is vendor lock-in. They just lock you in a gilded cage so you don't realise you're a prisoner. And they make you pay for the gilding.
$20bn is nothing in the scale of Apples ecosystem.
I think you're 100% correct. I'm bothered by the article dancing around this by using the word "marketing".
I wish the article pushed back against Apple and pointed out their obviously missing flaw, even if it's part of their strategy.
Long-time Ars reader/subscriber here. They're a pretty source for English language tech news. I am particularly fond of their reporting on tech adjacent public policy issues (US centrism notwithstanding).
One area where they are weak is taking a critical look at Apple. They keep promoting the notion that Apple is somehow different.
They did report on Apple's censorship of steaming content on AI (due to the upcoming release of Apple intelligence) and critiques of the CCP, but beyond the initial reporting it's like nothing happened.
They all use Apple products, nothing wrong with that they have excellent products, but you would think that a tech news site would have at least one or two journalists who use Windows/Android/Linux full time.
It's almost as if they need a "hero company" in their lives and can't deal with the notion that all these tech megacorps are the same; sketchy, dishonest and corrupt.
To be fair as someone with no Apple products I'm always on the other side. As a result I'm usually extra critical of them.
Apple makes fine products. They haven't made one I want to use, but they're fine. I have plenty of complaints about Android as well.
I think reviewing tech products/software is difficult, especially from a neutral angle. It's easy to fall into a side or want a "hero" product. Especially when, I'm sure Apple TV users are big fans of their product. I'm sure the designers made a good product. I bet I would even enjoy using their product.
But do I want to spend $120 on a new physical device plus subscription just to watch Severance? I already have a device that can watch everything else (Chromecast Ultra). Oh I need to buy a new version of the device I already have because that one supports apps like Apple TV and I'll still be able to watch all my apps the way I do today but for Apple TV I'll have to use the remote.
Somewhere in there the company who makes the product I am using also fucked up. I guess I should have bought a Roku. (I won't go into that.)
As you said these mega corps can make good products. But sometimes they do be sketchy.
I like the article I'm just disappointed they missed, to me, such an obvious angle.
I have no issues with them even bring fans of Apple products and giving glowing reviews that may not appeal to my sensibilities.
Just he intellectually independent and honest. Don't be suckers.
All the journalists at Ars exclusively use Apple products outside of work assignments. The notion of not wanting vendor lock-in, needing flexibility and wanting intense price competition is not part of their MO.
They are more and more in the cloud data subscription business instead, utilizing their closed ecosystem and then using the data for their own advertising side hustle like google (though at least they don't sell the data to the lowest bidder like google)
I don't know if many people have switched to an iPhone recently, but my mother did.
An iPhone gives you 1 GB of iCloud storage "free" and automatically force-enables icloud backup for everything on the phone like photos, videos, contacts, etc... So that it is immediately full and then gives you almost constant big warnings and reminders that you will lose all of your data and there is a problem with your phone unless you pay 5€ per month to upgrade your iCloud storage.
It is a royal pain to use a different backup service instead.
Apple also artificially caps storage on their phones and laptops (256GB on their 1100€ macbook air model in 2024? 512 GB on their 2000€ macbook pro model??) And push iCloud and iCloud plus hard, just like Microsoft is doing with their horrible OneDrive decisions and baking in "One drive save" as default in all of their apps.
Kinda funny too when Android has something like a 70%+ global market share.
This is the purpose of “the customer is always right”. If the demand is already there but there’s no supply, that’s bad business.
Apple's focus is vendor lock-in. Everything in their ecosystem integrates perfectly. They're selling devices that lock you in to their ecosystem and they get a 1/3 cut from all digital sales from competitors also using their platform.
They're not interested in getting as many people as possible watching their shows. They're interested in getting as many people as possible buying Apple TV devices, and then getting drawn into the Apple ecosystem.
Regard the $20bn spent on TV shows as marketing spend.
sigh. As a full apple/linux user, you are so right. The pain of extracting my family from our integration in the apple ecosystem would just be too much. They got us.
I tried to sign up for a 3 month trial that came with my TV. I had to create an account on my phone or PC. No problem. Then I had to validate my account somehow? It was essentially impossible to do without an Apple device. I went through tier 2 and tier 3 support, nobody could figure out how to activate my account. They wanted me to send screenshots of my error messages, but I could only submit them through my activated account.
After a few days I got an email saying my account was permanently locked. I called about that and they put in a ticket to have my account unlocked. Another few days and an email saying my ticket request was denied. I called to have them delete my account, they said I could only initiate that request by logging into my activated account. Most incompetent service I've ever encountered (not the customer service agents, the people who created such a horrible process).
They were recently added as a channel in Prime, at least in the US. Can’t you access it through that?
Oh I figured out a way a long time ago. But since they make it a pain to watch, I'm going to make it a pain to be a user.
I pay for enough streaming services as it is, and they all behave in a way that makes me happy (enough).
Also looks like I'd need to already be paying for Amazon Prime, so I'd already be out of luck. Plus of all the apps Prime is the worst, so I'm not looking to jump back into the Prime app. (I dropped Prime earlier this year once they added ads.)
Apple TV is available for pretty much every major TV platform. Chromecast has been abandoned by Google so why would Apple support it?
Because that article is from August and Apple has had YEARS to implement it. Also they're just discontinuing the Chromecast device, not the Chromecast protocol which means if I bought this new device I could use every single app I use right now in the exact same way I have it right now. EXCEPT Apple TV would require remote navigation.
You are conflating the Chromecast device with Chromecast the tech.
Chromecast the tech still exists. I wouldn't support it, but thats not the same as it being discontinued.
So the issue is that Apple TV is available but it doesn’t support Google’s Airplay equivalent?
No, the issue is that someone else requested Chromecast support and you claimed it was discontinued. Just the branded dongle is, and even then it was essentially resold with AndroidTV installed.
Got it, thanks. I couldn’t imagine this being a reason enough for someone not to subscribe to Apple TV. I don’t even know which services I subscribe to support Airplay to my TV but then again I know people swear by chromecasting things.