As Apple's indie sheen fades and they're increasingly perceived as just another big consumer electronics company people are going to start feeling less and less comfortable about being locked in to the whole Apple ecosystem.
If kids haven't decided Apple is the establishment yet they will soon.
people are going to start feeling less and less comfortable about being locked in to the whole Apple ecosystem.
What is this lock-in that people keep talking about wrt to Apple? I can export my iCal data with .ics files. I can export my Address Book data with standard .vcf files. iTunes uses MP3, AAC and WAV files. iPhoto handles jpg, tiff, and png files. Mail.app grabs mail over IMAP and/or POP and data can be exported as mbox files. iTunes plays nicely with my Nokia E71. DRMd video files from the iTunes store are the only thing I can think of that can't be easily used outside of Apple products, but at least I have the alternative of using those videos on Windows (and it doesn't affect me since I don't buy videos from the iTMS).
The thing that keeps me "locked in" to Apple's products is that I like them better than the alternatives. But the moment that stops, there's nothing keeping me from moving over to Windows, Linux, *BSD, etc.
DRMd video files from the iTunes store are the only thing I can think of that can't be easily used outside of Apple products
That is the lock-in. A lot of people are pretty heavily invested in DRM'd Apple content now. They're not going back to Windows and they're sure as hell not going to Linux.
Where's the legal non-DRM alternative for purchasing TV shows and movies, though? (The illegal ones of course run fine on Macs.)
What do you mean when you say they're not going back to Windows? -- if they're not, it's because they've switched to the Mac and like it better, not because they're locked in, since their iTunes stuff plays just fine in iTunes for Windows.
There isn't really a good non-DRM alternative and the longer Apple rules this market the less likely it becomes that there ever will be one. Personally I think subscription services are the future here though.
I'm sure that many people that switched from Windows to Macs are enjoying the experience. The point is that what they did voluntarily today they may be compelled to continue doing in the future because it's too expensive to switch. A lot of people enjoyed life on Windows at first too and realized much later they were trapped.
Not video, but I still buy my e-books on Amazon - much wider hardware support (PC, Mac, Android, iPhone, iPad, Kindle). Not to mention Amazon has no incentive to prevent me from reading their content on someone else's device.
Even though they are all DRM'ed, my money feels more secure with Amazon than Apple.
The thing that keeps me "locked in" to Apple's products is that I like them better than the alternatives. But the moment that stops, there's nothing keeping me from moving over to Windows, Linux, BSD, etc.
Me too, but there's a problem here. The alternatives are so bad, Apple can rake me over the coals in terms of things like iphone-lockdown and I still won't leave because Apple is still better (in my relative, entirely biased, personal opinion!).
I would jump ship in a second, but there's nothing I think is worth jumping to.
"I would jump ship in a second, but there's nothing I think is worth jumping to."
When I hear someone say this it seems more like the lock-in is coming from within them not from Apple. If you can't find another setup worth jumping to you must not care about Apple's policies, etc as much as you say.
I never said the lock-in came from anywhere but from "within" me. Allow me to simplify:
(apple user experience) - (annoying policies) > (everbody else's user experience)
Now, this is just my opinion. You might think Linux on the desktop is great, or Windows doesn't make a bad workstation. But I think everybody else has such a godawful UX, I don't know where else to turn.
If someone else managed to couple a great UX with polite policies, I'd switch. Immediately.
Depends on what we're calling "the establishment". Popular brands known for having good products don't generally have trouble just because they're popular - just the opposite: Nike, Coke, etc do fine and to a good degree are bought because of their "establishment" brand. Of course there are going to be groups of kids who go against it just to go against it, though.
Only the hardcore hipsters are hipster enough to stop liking a band, company, restaurant, coffee shop, etc. because they got famous. OMG not indie enough!!! WTF is with this "eastablishment" talk? Apple has been a huge public company for probably longer than you have been alive.
Consumers will continue to love Apple as long as Apple makes products that bring value and make consumers' lives easier. If Apple starts making shitty products, consumers will stop buying.
You have to realize that only in the echo-chamber of the tech scene does startup, small company, etc. make someone want a product more. The average consumer seldom cares, and mostly doesn't even know, how large a company is. Consumers want products to solve problems and make their lives easier. That's it.
If kids haven't decided Apple is the establishment yet they will soon.