Is Apple Scamming You?

Technology today is constantly in a state of fluctuation. Whether it be evolution of the technology itself or the price, there is no denying this. While almost all companies have been attempting to incorporate the latest and greatest chips from AMD and Intel, one company ships out chips that feel outdated. Apple, at times, feels like a company that should be along side Ubisoft and EA. Those were some bold comments about one of the most well-known companies ever, so why would one think like this? Well, let's find out!

Credit: Apple.com

The first thing that I want to talk about is Apple's marketing. Talking about Apple's marketing is, to say the least, a tricky business. Their marketing is different across each one of their products. Let's, for the sake of finishing, focus of marketing will be on the iPad and MacBook line of products. First on the chopping block, the iPad. The iPad today is one of Apple's most talked about product. Take a look at this market campaign from the recently released, iPad Mini 4. Up above is the punchline for the iPad Mini 4. Note the period in between mighty and small. It is the little details that can drive an average consumer to buy a company's' product. Apple has their slogan there, then they have some programs that look like they are running very beautifully. Taking into account the marketing for the iPad, let's move on to the MacBook.
To the right you can see the slogan for the 2016 MacBook. Again, note the period between light and years ahead. While the light part may be true, the years ahead is extremely misleading. If you have been using Apple's products you may think that this is true, because you have been mislead. While yes, the light part of this is true as I said before and is quite innovative for the people who travel a lot, it is pretty much the only option for these people and it costs $1299-$1599. While you could argue for portability, it becomes immediately immediate that this computer is not years ahead, at all.
Now for part 2 of our deseeding of Apple, specs. Yes, I am going there. First, the continuation of the MacBook. Please note; for the specs of the MacBook the specs are coming directly from the Apple website (click here to see the proof) and is the $1599 version. First off, no graphics card. No, graphics cards are not just for nerdy video games. If you want to learn more about computer with video games, check out Max's blog post. Video editing is relied heavily on graphics power. Apple offers an excellent form of video editing called Final Cut Pro but, can it really be used to the fullest when the processor is the one doing all the work? Short answer, no. People build graphics intensive computers, just to get the video editing done. Adobe's Premier and After Affects are just a few examples of these programs that are graphics intensive. While Final Cut Pro may be an excellent program, it is an Apple exclusive and if you really want to put it to good use, you may have to buy an even more expensive Apple computer (Mac Pro). While we are still on the topic of specifications, customization is huge and is totally pro-consumer. An average consumer may think that buying a product is just that, buying a product. The well informed consumer knows that you have to look into the long term. Apple tries to focus on the demographic of non-informed average consumers. While someone may say that building a computer is something for gamers or video editors, you could build a fast computer, with a graphics card and a headphone jack, for about $400-500 and get quite a bit of life out of it. Once the computer starts slowing down, go ahead and upgrade. Well, what if one does not know how to build a computer. Two words for those people, the internet. Doing some research and asking people for help will help a lot. For my last point, innovation. Apple used to be innovation. The iPhone revolutionized the way one uses a cellular device. The Apple I was one of the first computers that was accessible to a wider demographic. Even the iBook introduced the idea of bringing a desktop on the go. Then, it stopped. We got minor upgrades and some degrades with yearly releases. The iPhones began to release half-baked models of each others in the form of the, "S" models.

An excellent example of a lack of innovation is the new MacBook Pro. Apple released two versions of the new MacBook Pro. One, was just a rehash of the previous model but with USB type C (that is a discussion for a whole different day) and one had a brand new touch sensor on it. Without diving too deep into it, the USB type C fiasco is absolutely ridiculous. You give me a touch bar to play around with, and you remove normal USB types? This is an example where Apple hypes stuff up like alchemy. For those who do not know what alchemy was, it was a myth of sorts that was aimed to make everyday objects into gold. What I mean when I say this is that Apple says that something else is the future, and does something flat out bad with it. The USB C idea is pretty bad, but not nearly as revolting as something else. Something that most saw coming from a mile away, the lack of a headphone jack on the iPhone 7. In today's day and age iPhone's are some of the biggest products that Apple has released. Apple, this is the one time where you sold worse in sales than the previous year. This is without a doubt because of the lack of a headphone jack. Apple tried to make up for this by giving us new colors such as Jet and Matte Black, but the damage has been done. Apple, I hope you learned your lesson with that. This concludes my blog post. Apple is the modern day equivalent to alchemy, promising something, and never delivering to its full potential. Promising gold, but never able to create it. Looks like people liked the headphone jack, eh Apple? Apple is the modern day equivalent to alchemy. They say every year that they will create the best product on the market, but are never actually able to. Alchemy had the same thing, promising gold from simple objects and while that is a cool idea, you would have to change the entire molecular structure. Who knows what is to come with the next iPhone. Maybe, they will put back the headphone jack? Probably not. Slow clap Apple, you just earned it.