Gak! I had to pause my reading. Every single tech advance in the past century from automobiles to TV to Jet Planes to antidepressants has ALWAYS been touted as "bringing us closer together." I need a break. Appreciate your work Matt!
Matt, don't get captured by the hype. A very small number of people will buy and walk around with goggles on their face.. It's technically appealing but like the meta verse, it's anti-human and will suffer the consequences thereof.
Incredibly interesting article. I am stoked to try the Apple Vision Pro. I’m a huge fan of Apple tech, but the implications discussed here are very thought provoking, and obvious cause for concern.
The closed Apple ecosystem made me think about the little discussed lack of electronic health records (EHR) data interoperability between healthcare institutions. I don’t think it’s a “weird” monopoly, per se, but it is impactful and ultimately harms people. This Epic Systems monopoly relies, in part, on the CareEverywhere interoperability function which allows doctor and nurse caring for patients to review history, meds, prior labs and imaging reports done at other institutions… so long as all other institutions use the Epic Systems EHR as well.
This is very interesting topic that is with your evaluation and analysis, and apologies if you already covered it. It’s another example of medical businesses and institutions working together to maximize profit, create waste in the system and stick patients with the bill.
"In other words, the Apple Vision Pro, with its breathless feature set, is built in a way designed to foster a hot war with China."
The word 'designed' there suggests intent on the part of Apple to foster such a war. While I agree with most everything else in your post, that claim strikes me as unsupportable. Couldn't Apple (or anyone else) plausibly respond: "Hey! Better we manufacture our high-end chips in Taiwan than in China!"?
Why make statements like this? You have zero insight into what apple is thinking. Producing a chip is a project that spans over a decade, requiring dozens of companies in many countries.
A short sighted plan would be to switch to Intel IFS or something silly like that because “China”.
Apple's strategy is well-understood, TSMC's monopolistic position thwarts rivals who want to buy high-end chips on a level playing field. More broadly, dominant firms usually grab the nickels in front of a steamroller in the face of geopolitical problems, you can go back to any war with any economically significant rival and you'll find our own companies selling us out. Standard Oil and Alcoa had deals with Nazi cartels while we were at war! Today, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Apple, and Intel are all lobbying against moving chip supply chains out of China, even though that would benefit Intel (and reduce risk for the others).
If you don't believe China would follow through on its often-stated intentions to invade Taiwan, a project into which it is investing hundreds of billions of dollars, then it's not as significant a risk. I do believe what they say because they are preparing for it. But even if you don't there is a coming invasion, and many national security experts do not think China will invade, massing production in Taiwan is *still* a huge risk, if for no other reason than there are frequently earthquakes there. Putting all your eggs in one basket is *always* short-sighted. And dominant firms often make the short-sighted choice. We saw this during the pandemic.
It's not easy for Apple to change its supply chain, in many ways it is caught in a dynamic it created. But it's quite possible. And Tim Cook has very little interest in doing so in any reasonable length of time.
Thanks for making this clear but pls drop the "taxpayer dollar" myth. Why it matters is what's currently funded is not nearly enough to reshore production. Will take more investment the govt can do; only requires votes not taxes. Great characterization of Apple. It's a cult. I worked there.
This is so important to highlight in this time. Spacial computing is likely the next big breakthrough, especially with the upcoming of AI. This feels like the "calm before the storm". Super glad we're having this conversation now, I'm definitely mentioning this to my Congressman the next time we talk. He's an Ag guy so I doubt he'll act on it, but it should be known.
Stop and think a minute before condemning Apple. I've been a user of Microsoft PC equipment and related software since the early 1980s. All of this stuff is/was based on "open source" design and compatibility. In my extensive experience this has led to nothing but conflicts, errors, compatibility issues, and a host of other problems. Enter Apple: They have a basically "closed source" system and products despite the efforts of government and other actors to try and infiltrate their integrity. This has resulted in Apple products being reliable, safe, non-buggy, free of conflicts and generally a pleasure to use. Of course, those who wish to infiltrate and abuse the Apple system and products rail and complain endlessly.
I was not an early adopter of the iPhone. I experimented with Motorola, Microsoft and Blackberry products thinking that Apple stuff was merely a passing fad. After all, how could some little Silicon Valley upstart run by an egomaniacal dictator (Jobs) ever beat the establishment. Well guess what? He did, and his successor Tim Cook is masterfully continuing the legend including product quality, innovation and the undeniable fact that Apple stuff "just works - all the time - few if any bugs - trouble free".
Just a couple years ago I decided to make the switch to 'All Apple' and purchased my first Mac. I already had the phone, iPad, and watch. All I can say is "I should have done it much sooner". I still keep an old PC in the house for the odd occasion where something out there simply won't allow itself to work with a Mac. There are always a few holdouts but they are few and far between. Bottom line: If Apple wants to control all their supply chain, make their own chips like the newest Apple Silicon M2 and so on, That's Great! Keep up the good work Apple.
And let's not forget, until the government broke up the greatest monopoly of all time - AT&T in the 1980's - America had the best and most reliable communications system in the world. We no longer do. Bell Labs created many, if not most, of the technological advances of the 20th century. And, the Bell system always worked, rain or shine, hurricane or not, snow storm or not, even with power failures. That isn't the case today. Since the breakup there have of course been many new technological advances. My money says that they would have happened anyway had the original AT&T not been broken up. The only thing that the breakup guaranteed was that ultimately the American consumer is paying more and more for less and less of almost everything
But aren't a lot of these quality issues faced today due to the concentrations of power and unbridled capitalism? Remember that a lot of these monopolies did in fact invent many things BUT then kept them inside locked doors. Apple's birth at Xerox Parc is a perfect example. Here was this revolutionary user interface based on a graphical interface and Xerox said... meh shelve it.
As a long-time Mac use I can guarantee that there were periods in which MacOS was crap and years behind. There is a reason why Jobs came back with the purchase of NeXT. Apple was incapable of fixing its OS issues in house. I think we had great service because innovation was voluntary and innovation does break things.
Microsoft and open source were arch enemies back in those days actually (and the friendship is awfully onesided now). Apple does vendor lockin at the hardware level, yes, and is far ahead of Microsoft in vertical integration of locking down the software that runs on top of the platform, sure. But Microsoft has never been fully open either. Just think how many non-Microsoft Windows variations there are, or how many binary compatible Windows competitors there are: none.
"By 2020, Apple was dictating to government leaders all over the world how the smartphone maker would allow their health departments to manage contact tracing during a pandemic. That’s too much power. Far too much."
Private companies deciding that they don't want their products used in a way that they feel is too invasive of people's privacy is a bad thing? Should they also give the NSA encryption keys to private messaging? What am I missing here?
Private companies getting to make that decision for whole countries because there are too few competing private companies in their product line, yes, that's a bad thing. Apple may have been on the right side of the issue in practice; but they're not a publicly accountable lawmaking body or something (and they're not supposed to be), they're just a business. They can generally do what they want because they're just a business and not a state, but by the same token, they shouldn't get to act like a state.
(This goes for every other company too, by the way. Nothing special about Apple in this regard. A lot of people have strong feelings about what Facebook would like to dictate, for instance; and it's not just big tech companies, tech has nothing to do with the principle of the issue.)
Gak! I had to pause my reading. Every single tech advance in the past century from automobiles to TV to Jet Planes to antidepressants has ALWAYS been touted as "bringing us closer together." I need a break. Appreciate your work Matt!
Matt, don't get captured by the hype. A very small number of people will buy and walk around with goggles on their face.. It's technically appealing but like the meta verse, it's anti-human and will suffer the consequences thereof.
There are many more use cases beyond 'annoying nerds walking around with goggles on their face.'
I had not heard the chip angle before with Apple.
Apple Vision Pro sounds like a glorified Skype. I'll pass.
The green bubble thing is how Apple pushes teenagers to iPhones. It's kinda vile.
Incredibly interesting article. I am stoked to try the Apple Vision Pro. I’m a huge fan of Apple tech, but the implications discussed here are very thought provoking, and obvious cause for concern.
The closed Apple ecosystem made me think about the little discussed lack of electronic health records (EHR) data interoperability between healthcare institutions. I don’t think it’s a “weird” monopoly, per se, but it is impactful and ultimately harms people. This Epic Systems monopoly relies, in part, on the CareEverywhere interoperability function which allows doctor and nurse caring for patients to review history, meds, prior labs and imaging reports done at other institutions… so long as all other institutions use the Epic Systems EHR as well.
This is very interesting topic that is with your evaluation and analysis, and apologies if you already covered it. It’s another example of medical businesses and institutions working together to maximize profit, create waste in the system and stick patients with the bill.
"In other words, the Apple Vision Pro, with its breathless feature set, is built in a way designed to foster a hot war with China."
The word 'designed' there suggests intent on the part of Apple to foster such a war. While I agree with most everything else in your post, that claim strikes me as unsupportable. Couldn't Apple (or anyone else) plausibly respond: "Hey! Better we manufacture our high-end chips in Taiwan than in China!"?
No, Apple knows exactly what they are doing. They don't care. It's all short-term thinking.
Why make statements like this? You have zero insight into what apple is thinking. Producing a chip is a project that spans over a decade, requiring dozens of companies in many countries.
A short sighted plan would be to switch to Intel IFS or something silly like that because “China”.
Apple's strategy is well-understood, TSMC's monopolistic position thwarts rivals who want to buy high-end chips on a level playing field. More broadly, dominant firms usually grab the nickels in front of a steamroller in the face of geopolitical problems, you can go back to any war with any economically significant rival and you'll find our own companies selling us out. Standard Oil and Alcoa had deals with Nazi cartels while we were at war! Today, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Apple, and Intel are all lobbying against moving chip supply chains out of China, even though that would benefit Intel (and reduce risk for the others).
If you don't believe China would follow through on its often-stated intentions to invade Taiwan, a project into which it is investing hundreds of billions of dollars, then it's not as significant a risk. I do believe what they say because they are preparing for it. But even if you don't there is a coming invasion, and many national security experts do not think China will invade, massing production in Taiwan is *still* a huge risk, if for no other reason than there are frequently earthquakes there. Putting all your eggs in one basket is *always* short-sighted. And dominant firms often make the short-sighted choice. We saw this during the pandemic.
It's not easy for Apple to change its supply chain, in many ways it is caught in a dynamic it created. But it's quite possible. And Tim Cook has very little interest in doing so in any reasonable length of time.
Thanks for making this clear but pls drop the "taxpayer dollar" myth. Why it matters is what's currently funded is not nearly enough to reshore production. Will take more investment the govt can do; only requires votes not taxes. Great characterization of Apple. It's a cult. I worked there.
This is so important to highlight in this time. Spacial computing is likely the next big breakthrough, especially with the upcoming of AI. This feels like the "calm before the storm". Super glad we're having this conversation now, I'm definitely mentioning this to my Congressman the next time we talk. He's an Ag guy so I doubt he'll act on it, but it should be known.
Stop and think a minute before condemning Apple. I've been a user of Microsoft PC equipment and related software since the early 1980s. All of this stuff is/was based on "open source" design and compatibility. In my extensive experience this has led to nothing but conflicts, errors, compatibility issues, and a host of other problems. Enter Apple: They have a basically "closed source" system and products despite the efforts of government and other actors to try and infiltrate their integrity. This has resulted in Apple products being reliable, safe, non-buggy, free of conflicts and generally a pleasure to use. Of course, those who wish to infiltrate and abuse the Apple system and products rail and complain endlessly.
I was not an early adopter of the iPhone. I experimented with Motorola, Microsoft and Blackberry products thinking that Apple stuff was merely a passing fad. After all, how could some little Silicon Valley upstart run by an egomaniacal dictator (Jobs) ever beat the establishment. Well guess what? He did, and his successor Tim Cook is masterfully continuing the legend including product quality, innovation and the undeniable fact that Apple stuff "just works - all the time - few if any bugs - trouble free".
Just a couple years ago I decided to make the switch to 'All Apple' and purchased my first Mac. I already had the phone, iPad, and watch. All I can say is "I should have done it much sooner". I still keep an old PC in the house for the odd occasion where something out there simply won't allow itself to work with a Mac. There are always a few holdouts but they are few and far between. Bottom line: If Apple wants to control all their supply chain, make their own chips like the newest Apple Silicon M2 and so on, That's Great! Keep up the good work Apple.
And let's not forget, until the government broke up the greatest monopoly of all time - AT&T in the 1980's - America had the best and most reliable communications system in the world. We no longer do. Bell Labs created many, if not most, of the technological advances of the 20th century. And, the Bell system always worked, rain or shine, hurricane or not, snow storm or not, even with power failures. That isn't the case today. Since the breakup there have of course been many new technological advances. My money says that they would have happened anyway had the original AT&T not been broken up. The only thing that the breakup guaranteed was that ultimately the American consumer is paying more and more for less and less of almost everything
But aren't a lot of these quality issues faced today due to the concentrations of power and unbridled capitalism? Remember that a lot of these monopolies did in fact invent many things BUT then kept them inside locked doors. Apple's birth at Xerox Parc is a perfect example. Here was this revolutionary user interface based on a graphical interface and Xerox said... meh shelve it.
As a long-time Mac use I can guarantee that there were periods in which MacOS was crap and years behind. There is a reason why Jobs came back with the purchase of NeXT. Apple was incapable of fixing its OS issues in house. I think we had great service because innovation was voluntary and innovation does break things.
Microsoft and open source were arch enemies back in those days actually (and the friendship is awfully onesided now). Apple does vendor lockin at the hardware level, yes, and is far ahead of Microsoft in vertical integration of locking down the software that runs on top of the platform, sure. But Microsoft has never been fully open either. Just think how many non-Microsoft Windows variations there are, or how many binary compatible Windows competitors there are: none.
"By 2020, Apple was dictating to government leaders all over the world how the smartphone maker would allow their health departments to manage contact tracing during a pandemic. That’s too much power. Far too much."
Private companies deciding that they don't want their products used in a way that they feel is too invasive of people's privacy is a bad thing? Should they also give the NSA encryption keys to private messaging? What am I missing here?
Private companies getting to make that decision for whole countries because there are too few competing private companies in their product line, yes, that's a bad thing. Apple may have been on the right side of the issue in practice; but they're not a publicly accountable lawmaking body or something (and they're not supposed to be), they're just a business. They can generally do what they want because they're just a business and not a state, but by the same token, they shouldn't get to act like a state.
(This goes for every other company too, by the way. Nothing special about Apple in this regard. A lot of people have strong feelings about what Facebook would like to dictate, for instance; and it's not just big tech companies, tech has nothing to do with the principle of the issue.)
(Pardon me if that double posts; Substack said there was an error on the first attempt.)