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Comment by convolvatron | Hacker News Reader

why do you call it disintermediation? apple is still the big intermediate here

> why do you call it disintermediation?

Because Apple want to control the quality of the user experience.

Right now Apple Hardware and Apple Software are tightly interlinked. Apple can do things in software because they design 100% of the hardware, and vice-versa.

There's a lot of stuff Apple do in terms of quality of experience that's only possible because of that tight integration. Stuff that would be impossible to do with generic hardware and generic software.

But equally Apple know that if you buy an iPhone, you are dependent on a carrier for service. Like the rest of the world, it has probably not escaped Apple's attention that the quality of service you get from the carriers is becoming rapidly worse by the day. As a result, an Apple user's poor experience with an iPhone might have nothing to do with Apple but everything to do with the carrier.

Having carrier level integration with iPhone could also open up further user experience improvements (e.g. maybe they could do clever stuff at carrier level to help preserve battery).

As I sit here on an iPad Pro that refused to correctly highlight and copy a piece of your post so I could directly reply to it, I just want you to know that nobody views the whole “Apple can do unique things because they own the hardware/software stack” in a positive light. Apple is very bad at software and I will always stand by that… it is very sad that such nice pieces of hardware are married to some of the worst software.

Subjective, but I'll second this as an Apple user - at least for iOS devices. I mostly like the design, but I'm appalled at how glitchy the interface controls are, for one. And it has been consistently so for years.

Don't even get me started on the Apple TV. I've never been able to reliably use the remote (physical or app).

> Like the rest of the world, it has probably not escaped Apple's attention that the quality of service you get from the carriers is becoming rapidly worse by the day.

In my experience, mobile connectivity just keeps getting better and better. I have lived on both US coasts and traveled to multiple developing countries, and even in places like Zimbabwe I had pretty great connectivity considering where I was.

> In my experience, mobile connectivity just keeps getting better and better.

To clarify ....

When I spoke of "quality of service" above, I didn't mean technical service (although for some carriers it can be a factor), I meant customer service.

I think you'll struggle to find anyone who will say their carrier's customer service has improved in recent years. Carrier customer service, irrespective of what country you live in, is generally globally accepted to only be in the "awful to non-existent" range.

My experience with T-mobile US is one of the things I'll rarely gush over. They are hands-down the best customer service I've ever gotten from a carrier.

Even with several friends/family on our 10-line plan (to share costs) - it's been a breeze to maintain.

> Because Apple want to control the quality of the user experience.

you nailed it.. they are concerned about the "quality of the user experience" and not the billions of dollars at stake?

Is this why Apple artificially limits which machines can be updated to MacOS as well, to ensure the quality of the user experience and not to drive sales?

They aren't mutually exclusive. Quality of the user experience is what people will pay for.

The real word here is "monopolisation".

A monopoly would require they control the entire market for a given product or service. Apple isn't a monopoly in any area - but they are a strong competitor in many areas. They're more like a western take on a chaebol [1] in my opinion.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol

> Apple isn't a monopoly in any area - but they are a strong competitor in many areas.

New term: "Vertical Monopoly"

Intermediate to what? They own the software, hardware, and are moving toward owning the network and billing relationship.. Intermediate between consumers and app builders maybe, but as they build more features into their own devices (e.g. Apple Maps), even those relationships are being brought into the ecosystem.

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