Okay, this is not an iPhone vs Android Phone debate. I respect your right to choose whichever platform that you want.

I mean, iPhone seems so antithetical with the idea of freedom. You have to connect it to a server to even use it, all apps have to go through a centralized server, no option to install whatever apps you want, which means, you literally cannot have any third-party apps without an online account.

Most of my fellow americans seems to love the idea of freedom so much, yet just buy into a closed ecosystem with no freedom? 🤔

Like almost 60% of Americans use iPhone, kinda weird to preach freedom when you cant even have an app without a corporation’s approval. If it were any other country, I wouldn’t find it weird, but for a country that’s obsessed with the idea of freedom (so much so that they disobeyed mask mandates), it’s really weird to be using a device with zero freedom.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    4713·
    13 hours ago

    Conspicuous consumption.

    Americans have been propagandized by Apple advertising into thinking Apple products are “high class.”

    Ask yourself: Why does anyone wear a Rolex?

    It boils down to the same thing, showing people your wealth and thus “social value” (barf) via conspicuous consumption.

    If it wasn’t conspicuous consumption, why would US people literally judge potential dating partners on what kind of phone they use?

    Example: https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/technology-blog/story/2008-08-07/apple-removes-1-000-featureless-iphone-application

    Its function is exactly what the name implies: to alert people that you have money in the bank. I Am Rich was available for purchase from the phone’s App Store for, get this, $999.99 – the highest amount a developer can charge through the digital retailer, said Armin Heinrich, the program’s developer. Once downloaded, it doesn’t do much – a red icon sits on the iPhone home screen like any other application, with the subtext ‘I Am Rich.’ Once activated, it treats the user to a large, glowing gem (pictured above). That’s about it. For a thousand dollars.

    This was barely a year after the original iPhone’s release. The attitude toward Apple products has persisted ever since.

    • jeffw@lemmy.world
      114·
      13 hours ago

      Conspicuous consumption doesn’t really hold in this case because the alternative is around the same price.

      I’d also question any claim about the dating partner. Maybe a study said it has an impact, but I doubt it’s a strong impact on evaluation of a potential partner. By all means, I’d love to see the source for that

      You also cite an example of what was basically a meme. Literally nobody bought that app (and iirc those who were tricked got their money back)

      • sanpo@sopuli.xyz
        92·
        9 hours ago

        the alternative is around the same price

        You know that’s not true.

        There are stupidly expensive Android flagships, but there are also a lot of phones for a fraction of the price.

        • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          4·
          2 hours ago

          And the phones that cost a fraction of the price are significantly slower, have a much worse screen, barely get any software updates, and overall just kinda suck.

          Sure low and mid range phones are “good enough” but if it’s a device you use for hours every day do you really only want “good enough” for right now?

        • CthuluVoIP@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          2 hours ago

          But those inexpensive phones most often don’t deliver a comparable device experience to the flagship devices. Honestly, this is the crux of things. Comparing iPhone to “Android” is a fool’s errand. Apple often only has one more budget conscious model available explicitly. But OS support tends to last longer on Apple devices, so multiple model years are viable at once.

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        164·
        13 hours ago

        https://web.archive.org/web/20241008034217/https://nypost.com/2024/10/07/lifestyle/are-iphone-users-petty-youll-be-surprised-how-many-wont-date-android-fans-survey/

        The different colored texts in iMessage and forced downgrade of any MMS sent via an Android is part of that perception by iPhone users that Android’s are inferior devices, even if they cost similarly.

        Apple refused to implement RCS until very recently. Not saying Google is better in terms of RCS, they have their own issues, this is just about how Apple has leveraged iMessage to the end of people viewing it as a "higher class’ device than Android.

        All the sleek white design was a part of that too. People thought it looked futuristic/costly and the rest of the industry tried to copy their design philosophy due to that. You can’t deny that Apple devices look classy. Apple didn’t pay Jony Ive an absolute fuckton of money per year for nothing.

    • Oisteink@feddit.nl
      34·
      13 hours ago

      It about not beeimg sold as the product. Its about using the browser that dont rat you out