You’ve got to hand it to Apple when it comes to saying the loud part loud and the quiet part quiet. The company has spent the last few years cranking up an enormous services business that’s growing by double digits quarter after quarter and generated nearly 50 billion dollars in the past 12 months—yet it tries very hard to emphasize that making customers happy comes first.
This week, Apple launched its subscription video streaming service, Apple TV+, and also released its quarterly financial results. In the regular phone call with Wall Street analysts, Apple CEO Tim Cook tried very hard to get investors excited about Apple’s opportunities to make lots of money while not making it seem like Apple’s lost its soul in the process.
The goal of services companies is to trick you into signing up for as many different confusing services as possible, so that you forget about them or find it too burdensome to cancel them. Apple has already gone well down this path, and instead of tiptoeing around it all the time out of fear of pissing off Tim Cook, I wish the media would just flat-out say it: it’s sleazy.
It’s not illegal or wrong or anything like that – but that doesn’t make it any less sleazy.
It’s sleazy to offer services that people want with transparent pricing.
Think about that sentence for a bit Thom.
Glad it isn’t just me confused as to why Apple’s approach is sleazy. I am completely non-plussed by the accusation.
sleazy cuz thom said apple?
I am still marveling that Thom thinks that something can be not wrong, but sleazy…
“It’s sleazy to offer services that people want with transparent pricing.”
A sentence neither Thom nor the article made.
You could try reading the linked article, which makes it very clear what the issue is.
“the issue is more that focusing on ARPU is often a sign that a business is on a path that will attempt to wring every last penny out of its customers. It’s a sign of nickel-and-diming, sliding in hidden fees, and all sorts of other questionable practices that make sense if you’re looking at a balance sheet—but are so infuriating if you’re a customer.”
It’s not just Apple with practices like this, they are sadly common, but to ignore the article and criticise Thom in this case seems like people may have their Fanbois filters on maximum.
> It’s not just Apple with practices like this, they are sadly common, but to ignore the article and criticise Thom in this case seems like people may have their Fanbois filters on maximum.
Still not sleazy in the slightest. Users of devices use streaming music, streaming video, cloud storage, and now perhaps streaming game subscription services. If apple doesn’t offer those services then those people get them from Google, Amazon, Dropbox, or any other company. If Apple does offer those services, then people can continue to buy them from those other companies or they can buy them from Apple.
And yes that means ARPU goes up for apple. So what?
The article speculates that looking at ARPU is a sign of “nickel-and-diming, sliding in hidden fees, and all sorts of other questionable practices” and yet doesn’t have a SINGLE example of such a practice with Apple services.
So this is sleazy because… Apple might do bad things in the future? What kind of thought crime approach is that?
I think the supposed sleaziness comes from the disjoint between on the one hand focussing on ARPU, and on the other repeating the mantra that “The most important thing for us… is that we want to have a great customer experience… it’s a gift to our users”. Apple wants it both ways, and while they may not be literally incompatible, it’s most likely a sign of insincerity. Apple doesn’t have to pretend it’s working to a higher standard than other companies, but if it does, people will notice when the mask slips.
Having said all that, I do think Apple should be judged on results. Apple makes bold claims about design, customer experience and privacy. If its products and service don’t live up to the hype, that’s when customers should be rightly upset.
See also rent seeking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking