Hey Siri, ...

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Temperamental
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Can't comment on US home appliances. Nice German ones last for years if not decades.

It always amazes me how happy the true followers are to dispose of perfectly functional pieces of hardware, at the behest of their Cupertino masters.


Mentalities are different in Europe RE: material possessions and money.

Cars and home go through the same shorter ownership cycles here in the US.
It's a combination of planned obsolescence, marketing and easy access to financing. Everything can be had for a "low monthly"payment!" :)

Beyond the fact that you are dealign with people who love tech and therefore are more inclined to get the "latest", the introduction of new features are worth the update. Maybe not every year personally but you stand to benefit from the advances of tech every 2-3 years for sure. The relatively high resale value of Apple helps you get rid of toys to get the newest one.


How did you witness it personally?
Temperamental
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Here is a fascinating read (Engadget and The Verge are usually not this insighful when they are busy serving puff pieces):

https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/07/how-apple-reinvigorated-its-ai-aspirations-in-under-a-year/

This piece goes into the dynamics of AI behind the scenes. It's a very small world and its participants are anchored in academia and bent on "publishing"/ sharing... so annoying...
ratty
Can't comment on US home appliances. Nice German ones last for years if not decades.

It always amazes me how happy the true followers are to dispose of perfectly functional pieces of hardware, at the behest of their Cupertino masters.
Temperamental
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people go out and spend money on toys they won't be using 3 years from now..Could that perhaps be on account of planned obsolescence by the manufacturer? Now, I wonder which company immediately springs to mind... hmm....


Are you sure you meant company (singular)?

Whirlpool?


🙂
ratty
people go out and spend money on toys they won't be using 3 years from now..Could that perhaps be on account of planned obsolescence by the manufacturer? Now, I wonder which company immediately springs to mind... hmm....
Temperamental
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Because the most vocal Apple users are passionate and are on forums demanding things.
I thought the SONOS owners were too but I am starting to realize they do a lot of winning but it isn't the same level of affection for the brand you might find with Amex, BMW or Apple.
Apple users call the company, they call SONOS, they fill out feedback forms and track down executives to send unsolicited emails... :)

This voice command craze is novel and is driving the sales of gizmos.
It comes in waves, people go out and spend money on toys they won't be using 3 years from now.
Who can blame some companies for wanting to let the dust settle?
It's risky though because for some it will mean being left behind.
Even then, anyone can leap forward and introduce an amazing product to stage a comeback. SONOS will prob. delight its customer base soon.

This trend will be good for SONOS. I talk to regular people and it is true: they don't really enjoy music let alone have a multiroom set-up at home. In those cases though, the price objection comes up immediately. It takes a tech respect/ inclination to look past that.

I cringed when Patrick Spence (a former RIM exec) explained he looked to his kids (with the Amazon dots or whatever it was) to catch a glimpse into the future/ what's trendy. All these execs say the same thing, I have heard that from VC execs too. The difference is that the latter operate on a momentum strategy whereas companies like SONOS are in the business of shaping that future.

@melvimbe I am curious, do you use any Apple product(s)?
melvimbe
Of course but SONOS is large enough to cover the cost of their global operations and be profitable.
The question is what does the future hold for them.
They could be content now (and profitable) but the marketplace won't let them rest so they must continue to grow.

Sonos has said the exact same thing. They have said that they must get involved with voice control and have promised to do something with Amazon this year. Amazon being the biggest player in the market right now...not Apple. Honestly, I can't imagine the people who want SONOS and want Homepod is probably rather small since there is a lot of feature overlap. I would also imagine (I don't know) that of the 3, Amazon, Google, and Apple...Apple would be the one who least wants to do business with Sonos because of the feature overlap (which Apple created by the way).

I'm just not seeing why Sonos needs to drop everything and do whatever Apple fans want, at the expense of everything else, or fear going out of business.
Danny
Temperamental
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Of course but SONOS is large enough to cover the cost of their global operations and be profitable.
The question is what does the future hold for them.
They could be content now (and profitable) but the marketplace won't let them rest so they must continue to grow.
jgatie
But you have to admit that you may not be concerned with market share, profit share means nothing to a company like Sonos when compared to the weight given to actual market share. So even if one brings a secondary point about average income of an Apple user vs. Android to the party, chicks point about overall market share is valid and applicable.
Temperamental
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I can't stand the looks of Android, Material Design included. Android is weak at its core and it is a stolen product.

The only reason Android has the biggest market share is because it's free.
Apple makes over 90% of that industry profits with their "small" marketshare.

I have no issues with the Apple EcoSystem.
chicks
Just 18% of smartphones shipped last quarter had iOS installed. 80% had Android. As always, Apple is overhyped.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/2/16/14634656/android-ios-market-share-blackberry-2016
melvimbe
I imagine there are a ton of customers out there who won't give a crap about your questions or even understand why they are important. All they want is Apple, so if it works with everything Apple, that's what they want.

As far as the market goes, it's quite possible that everyone increases sales this year since the 'need' for a voice assistant/multi-room/wireless audio is increasing.
Danny
ratty
Well said.
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