Apple's most valuable intangible asset isn't its patents or copyrights - it's an army of people who believe that using products from a $2.89 trillion multinational makes them members of an oppressed religious minority whose identity is coterminal with the interests of Apple's shareholders.
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones
1/
@pluralistic I wonder how this will age when you can do a 3rd party app store and the iphone and its customer base remains basically unchanged.
I find condescending commentary like this very weird. Iphones are simply really nice to use. Having a phone thats nice to use seems like a weird concept to some people.
@NBAnthony2k I assure you, I find commentary that assumes that Apple spends millions of dollars lobbying to prevent the emergence of rival app stores that no one would use anyway even more baffling.
@pluralistic What measurable metrics you think will change once 3rd party app stores are allowed on iphone?