All things Apple, the tech not the fruit

[Nice Guy Eddie 13506]

46 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I was way slow on buying airpods because I hated the Apple earbuds and didn’t think I had a need. My wife got me the airpod max a few years back, and that spiraled into eventually buying the airpod pros as well and now those are in my pocket all the time along with my keys wallet phone etc. Great product. There’s something too about the noise cancelling that is extremely calming for me.

I hate carrying things around. Minimal money wallet with an ID, couple of credit cards. Keys. Phone. Like you, AirPod Pros are now in the mix for about 1/2 of my trips away from home.

If I'm grabbing lunch alone somewhere or shopping in Home Depot, why not keep listening to the podcast that I started in my car. It's probably bad for human interaction to wall myself off from others like that but it's also not like I was chatting everyone up before anyway.

Edited September 12 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Dbeasy 15039]

Tim Cook has been riding Job’s innovations for his entire CEO tenure. I have spoken. 

[Celery Man 20929]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I hate carrying things around. Minimal money wallet with an ID, couple of credit cards. Keys. Phone. Like you, AirPod Pros are now in the mix for about 1/2 of my trips away from home.

If I'm grabbing lunch alone somewhere or shopping in Home Depot, why not keep listening to the podcast that I started in my car. It's probably bad for human interaction to wall myself off from others like that but it's also not like I was chatting everyone up before anyway.

There’s something about being out in public but having the sound off that I love. Having to schlep myself all the way cross O’Hare becomes enjoyable if I’m just moving and looking around and there’s nothing but A Tribe Called Quest in my ears.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13506]

3 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Tim Cook has been riding Job’s innovations for his entire CEO tenure. I have spoken. 

Yeah but the following speaks to Cook's tenure.

• Oct 2011 (Jobs' passing) market cap: ~$375 billion
• Sept 2024 market cap: $3,390 billion

[YChang 3441]

3 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Tim Cook has been riding Job’s innovations for his entire CEO tenure. I have spoken. 

I would give Watch and AirPods to Tim and those two products alone could be Fortune 500 companies. Steve left behind a really strong design and user experience culture. But with that said as an employee here, I'm not thrilled with how big this company has gotten. 

Edited September 12 by YChang

[Dbeasy 15039]

8 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Yeah but the following speaks to Cook's tenure.

• Oct 2011 (Jobs' passing) market cap: ~$375 billion
• Sept 2024 market cap: $3,390 billion

A trained monkey could manage the revolutionary products created by Jobs leadership that are responsible for almost all of the revenue and profits of this company. Cook has been a bus driver of one of the greatest sets of product innovations in history.

4 minutes ago, YChang said:

I would give Watch and AirPods to Tim and those two products alone could be Fortune 500 companies. Steve left behind a really strong design and user experience culture. But with that said as an employee here, I'm not thrilled with how big this company has gotten. 

Those products are nothing but derivative products that have decimal points of business impact. Nothing burgers that are wholly dependent upon the iPhone for their success.

Let’s see if his almost meaningless tenure turns around with some sort of revolutionary AI product or something else of significance. He still has some time.  

 

[YChang 3441]

Just now, Dbeasy said:

A trained monkey could manage the revolutionary products created by Jobs leadership that are responsible for almost all of the revenue and profits of this company. Cook has been a bus driver of one of the greatest sets of product innovations in history.

Those products are nothing but derivative products that have decimal points of business impact. Nothing burgers that are wholly dependent upon the iPhone for their success.

Let’s see if his almost meaningless tenure turns around with some sort of revolutionary AI product or something else of significance. He still has some time.  

 

I mean, he's not gonna be a game changer in that sense like Steve. You're right in that sense, he'll never be that. Maybe his successor will be. But who knows, again this company is so huge now some of that type of innovative culture that comes from such a strong willed founder is probably lost forver.

I do think the direction he's set and guiding the watch and aripods toward in health has really huge impacts that moves it past merely "nothing burgers" as you described it. 😄 Plus come on man, it's all about keeping our customers in the ecosystem! 

[deft 6828]

When thinking about Apple and their AirPod Pro 2 hearing test/hearing aid feature, I give them props that they work to release new features for existing products. It would be easy for them to have added this feature plus a tiny hardware improvement and call it AirPod Pro 3. Other companies do this all the time.
Now I wish Apple Intelligence would work on more older iPhone models but I give them the benefit of the doubt that there is a hardware limitation preventing it.

Apple literally does this all the time. I’m actually surprised with as big as the certified hearing aid feature could be that they *didn’t* release this as an air pod pro 3 only release. They probably had their team of actuaries sit down and assess how many customers and potential customers are ultimately affected by having legit hearing aids and realized they can’t bilk a upgrade cycle out of such a small niche.

[52-80 19140]

Whatever philosophies and processes Apple uses to ensure good user experience, its amazing. 

Decided to get the Apple Card on a whim. No annual fees so why not. 

Application was done through the iPhone Wallet app. Because Apple already has my email and address, all I did was enter birthdate, ssn, and income, and the card was instantly approved — and added to the app to use for Apple Pay. 

Start to finish it took all of 2 minutes from when I got the idea to when I had a new payment acct on the phone ready to go. 

When physical card got home, activation of it only needs an NFC tap of the phone…or instead just hit confirm in the app itself. No calling a number and talking to human or robot. 

No forex fees. Did a few foreign purchases and charge converted to 1% atop of market rate. With a 2% cashback reward, thats a net 1% earned — better than most native cards outside the US. 

The whole app to manage the account is just so much more pleasant than JPMC/AMEX/etc too… they really nailed the design. 



 

 

[Jkwellborn 6686]

The Apple Card does cash back with no fees?

[52-80 19140]

9 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

The Apple Card does cash back with no fees?

3% on Apple goods and select affiliated stores (including Exxon, CVS, and Uber)

2% on everything when you use Apple Pay (meaning both tap-terminals in person and also online shopping!)

1% on everything else

Instant feedback in the app on what youve earned which is kinda neat too

 

[swraith 345]

Apple card is moving away from GS?

[52-80 19140]

Opposite, GS is moving away from retail banking. They partnered on this Apple Card thing shortly after launching Marcus.  I think theyre deciding the juice is not worth the squeeze. 

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

They (GS) are losing a shitload of money on it.

The rumor is that Chase will take over.

[Jkwellborn 6686]

3% on Apple goods and select affiliated stores (including Exxon, CVS, and Uber)
2% on everything when you use Apple Pay (meaning both tap-terminals in person and also online shopping!)
1% on everything else
Instant feedback in the app on what youve earned which is kinda neat too
 

I knew they did some on their stuff. I may have to get one

[swraith 345]

So we could imagine the perks changing, if the bank changed ?

[52-80 19140]

My guess is all the benefits will be retained , at least for a while , because Apple would want to maintain those perks and JPM's business can support it.

GS' consumer profitability problem is they have twice the credit loss rate of JPM (unknown how much come from Apple card vs General Motors cards), and very high overhead and operating expenses relative to the revenue due to their smaller scale.  JPM can run the card portfolio more efficiently, and probably better at credit assessment and collections.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13506]

You can also set up an Apple high yield savings account, managed by GS, where the rewards are automatically deposited to the savings account. All managed thru the same Apple Card app. 

[deft 6828]

4.4% on that account btw

[bschoolprof 6251]

I'm a big fan of the apple card and savings account.  Every once in a while I take the cash back savings, turn it into apple cash on my phone, and eat out "free" for the next week or so.  It's nice having everything (the card, payment, rewards, bill pay) all integrated into your phone.  

[deft 6828]

Make that 4.25%
Thanks Obama

[Nice Guy Eddie 13506]

5 hours ago, deft said:

Make that 4.25%
Thanks Obama

yep. All HYSA rates are dropping.

[52-80 19140]

If you can open a bank account in Turkey, you’ll get around 50% annual yield on your liras. 

[Hate 20106]

I just got the new Airpods Gen 4 and they are fantastic.  The noise canceling will be game changing for me since I travel so much.  I can't wait to try them on the plane tomorrow.