Before even starting, I want to let you know that I’ve been a proud Apple products owner for at least 7 years already. This relationship began with an iPod Photo in the summer of 2006 and has grown stronger ever since. As I currently own a Macbook Pro, an iPad and an iPhone, I can confidently say that I am one of those Apple fans. 🙂
Still, the number of things that bother me about Apple and their products has grown exponentially in the past months. Before the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2013 begins on Monday, let’s have a look at numerous reasons why one might hate Apple and everything about it.
1. Pathetic Macbook Chargers
OK, this one is personal. As a company that made $41.9 billion in profit in the fiscal year of 2012, you might think that they could invest at least a tiny portion of that money to make chargers that last? Yes, the magnetic click is nice, but it doesn’t matter if the charger breaks down after one year of usage (which happened twice to me already). Not cool.
2. Hysterical Fans
Yes, Apple fans are hysterical, to put it mildly, which is really irritating for everyone else. Samsung were quite correct with their advertisements that mocked crazy Apple fans who don’t care about less expensive, more powerful devices just because “Apple is shiiiinyyyy!”.
3. Losing its “Shiny”
Talking about it, the user interface of Macbook is brilliant and I love it. But Apple is surely losing its ground in this field. Owing a Mac made you cool, hip, swell or swag, as we say in these days. And now it’s fading away because Apple went for the masses, disappointing their most loyal fans.
4. Items Are Overpriced
Ask anyone who doesn’t own an Apple device and they’ll tell you that it’s greatly overpriced. At the same time, Apple could probably charge twice as much for their devices and they’d still have loads of customers who’d want to associate themselves with their brand. Also, considering that most of iGadgets are made in China, can these prices be really justified?
5. Suicidal Work Conditions in China
Safety nets at Foxconn factory by Thomas Lee
In 2010, at least 14 people committed suicide in the Foxconn factory in China which is one of the main manufacturers of Apple devices. Tim Cook visited the factory twice since then and a lot has been done to increase the working conditions: a relatively higher salary that might be sponsored by Apple itself, a team of psychologists and care counselors, a 24/7 help-line, even safety nets to prevent suicides.
Sadly, the problem still remains, as 3 more workers committed suicide just a few weeks ago.
6. Using Multiple Tax Loopholes
According to New York Times, “Thanks to what lawmakers called “gimmicks” and “schemes,” Apple was able to largely sidestep taxes on tens of billions of dollars it earned outside the United States in recent years.”
A comment on MacRumors in response to such situation: “It sickens me that the richest corporation in the world pay no taxes to nobody while millions cannot afford basic necessities like food, and even more millions pay lots more in taxes to take up the slack. Apple is scummy.” – would you agree?
7. Screwing Their Investors
In 2012 Apple had $97.6 billion in cash (which now grew to $144 billion in 2013). But it was only after Tim Cook became the CEO of Apple, that they decided to pay dividends to their investors for the first time since 1995.
What about the forecasts for the future? Forbes gives you seven reasons why it might be doomed, including a share price that’s too high, no new products in the pipeline, no more Steve Jobs and his innovations, and a few other strategical problems that Apple currently faces.
8. Where’s the Magic?
This device [insert the name here] is nothing like we’ve made before. It’s revolutionary. It’s ground breaking. It’s magical.
Well, no, not anymore. You changed the game with the first iPhone and the first iPad but you have only made incremental changes since then, which is not the definition of revolutionary. So please stop using magical for every single device that you release as its becoming a cliche.
iOS maps, with its roller-coster airports, disappearing lakes and missing roads, houses, cities and even countries, was an epic flop as well.
Vilnius Airport on iOS maps – truly magical
9. Screw-ups and (Missing) Apologies
Apple is making mistakes and they’re doing it more frequently now. Remember the iPhone4 antenna problems? They didn’t admit it was their fault, ‘You’re holding the iPhone the wrong way‘, they said.
With the Apple Maps, Tim Cook did make a public apology, but who wants to be part of a brand that doesn’t deliver quality?
Remember Microsoft and Windows? Apple could be on the same path as well.
10. Ridiculous Patents War
Am I the only one who thinks that patenting a disappearing vertical scroll indicator bar is a nonsense?
Or suing a Polish online grocery store, www.a.pl, because according to Apple “by using the name that sounds similar, is using Apple’s reputation”?
Or the battle between Apple and Samsung about copying the iPhone’s design? Samsung’s comment after losing this lawsuit in the US is spot-on: “unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners”.
Samsung obviously copied the design and even the CEO admitted it. But it’s not about it. For me, Apple looks like a desperate guy trying to clinch to its power in every possible way.
As an Apple fan, I didn’t care if Samsung had copied the iPhone. I didn’t want an iPhone copy, I wanted an Apple iPhone, with it’s functionality and quality. But Apple doesn’t understand it and it makes them look like a crybaby.
11. Monopoly on Your Purchases
OK, so you start with iTunes, you buy an iPod, than a Macbook, then an iPhone, then an iPad… you keep purchasing apps, books and movies, and live a very happy life. But let’s assume that 20 years from now there will be a completely new tech company, far far better than Apple (impossible? remember the situation 5 years ago with Nokia), which will make you decide to switch.
BUT, you realise, it’s close to impossible. All the apps you bought and accumulated during the years are only compatible with iOS devices. Books and movies you purchased via iTunes? Same thing. And although you would be able to transfer your music, it will still be a painful experience – compare that with Android, which is compatible with Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Sonny Ericsson, LG and other mobiles phones, thus, providing an effortless way to move all your purchases.
Finally, you may not know that you don’t actually own any digital content you purchased, you only get a licence to use it. So even after you die, you lose the rights to all the content you’ve paid for.
12. No International Insurance for iPhones
Apple is a multibillion, multinational brand, and it doesn’t have a global warranty system for iPhones. Even if you paid extra for an extended coverage, you can only service it at the country of purchase.
Sucks big time if your iPhone breaks down while traveling abroad.
13. No Customisation
On Android, you can personalise your screen to the slightest detail, on iPhone, all you can do is change the home screen, and buy a sticker or a bumper case to change the looks of it. Is this how Apple understands creativity?
14. Poor User Interface
There’s a great article on Business Insider which lists the flaws of iOS 6. Jan Yarow argues that a mere design update for the iOS will not be enough and that it should require a very deep an thorough update of the software to provide value for the customers.
If we look at the iOS 6, Apple Maps is worse than Google maps, Notes is worse than Evernote, Camera and Calendar apps are beaten by many other apps, popping-up notifications are not convenient as they cover the screen and limit your work, changing settings is not convenient either (e.g. it takes too many steps just to change the brightness or switch off/on the bluetooth), among many others.
The Samsung phone has many more features, while the personalisation of the phone makes it a real winner, which I think is exactly why there are so many people switching their iPhone for a Samsung’s Galaxy S4. Let’s see if the new iOS 7 will be able to revert this negative trend.
15. Nightmare for Gamers
Although the situation is getting slightly better, owing an Apple computer is still a nightmare for the no-lifers. One can get very excited about new game releases and quickly disappointed after he realises it will not come out on Macs.
16. Incompatible With Windows
This is another thing I hate about it. I love Pages and Keynote, but those files are not compatible with Windows, which is still the most popular desktop operating system, racking up a huge 91.67% of all desktop users.
Yes, I can convert it to .doc and .pptx or something else, but most often it would lose the beautiful formatting and style that I worked so hard on, which is a waste of time.
17. Multiple Adapters
You won’t be able to show your wonderful Keynote presentations if you don’t have a VGA adapter. Having to buy and carry them all is a pain.
18. Environmentally (Un)Friendly?
A year ago Apple made a statement that they will withdraw their Macbook’s from EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool). Macbook Pro with Retina display was ineligible for the standard because the battery and glass were glued to the case, thus, very difficult to replace or recycle (which is one of the most important things for EPEAT).
Following a customers’ backlash, Apple reenlisted the Macbook Pro notebooks to EPEAT and suddenly were given the highest ranking – wait, what?
A notebook with its parts glued to the body, thus, impossible to replace, is not only environmentally unfriendly, but it also sounds like a way to force people buy new notebooks, instead of just repairing them.
19. Virus Free? Not anymore
“Apple computers are virus free”, they advertised. But with the growing number of Apple users, it was just a matter of time when more hackers will focus on cracking Apple’s security systems. They’ve already proved that Macs are no longer safe from hackers, and this can get much worse in the future.
20. Steve Jobs
According to Google, there are around 89,100,000 results online, corresponding to the “hate Steve Jobs” search, and that is quite a biiiig number.
“The bullying, manipulation and fear that followed him around Apple”, “a reputation internally for acting like a tyrant”, “Jobs regularly belittled people, swore at them, and pressured them until they reached their breaking point”, “Apple’s factories in China have regularly employed young teenagers and people below the legal work age of 16, made people work grueling hours, and have tried to cover all this up.” – tells Ryan Tate at hist article on Gawker, What Everyone is Too Polite to Say About Steve Jobs.
Indeed, people either hate him for his temper, or love him for his brilliant mind.
21. No Social Media Engagement
Let me tell you this, no social media engagement is the main reason why Apple will go bankrupt. Yes, you heard me right.
While Samsung is putting their effort into creating a dialogue with their customers, Apple is not communicating at all. In the contrary, they use everything they can to limit any news coming from Cupertino about their products.
In the past, this technique worked quite well: combined with Steve Jobs’ charisma, highly entertaining keynotes and mind-blowing products, they managed to generate a huge amount of media and fans coverage for themselves.
But this approach is outdated.
Even if they do release new mind-blowing projects, it is just a single event, which happens not more than a few times a year. Hoping that it will keep their fans energised for the rest of the year is not only naive, it’s a straight path to failure.
Samsung uses country based communication to address and engage their fans. They do it constantly and with great quality, having 20+ million fans on Samsung Mobile Facebook page and 23+ million fans on Samsung Mobile USA – these are the people Samsung reaches every. single. day. As a result, they generates an insane amount of buzz coming not only from their own customers but also from people who don’t even own a Samsung phone.
Apple uses a YouTube channel to show their ads, they have a Facebook page for both iTunes and Apple Store, and numerous Twitter accounts for their products. But they don’t use it to engage with their fans, they use it just to generate more money.
Even if it doesn’t go bankrupt in the next 5-10 years, Apple will significantly lose its market share to Samsung, believe it or not.
22. What’s the 22nd Reason to Hate Apple?
I’ve tried to be as thorough as possible but I might have missed a reason or two.
What about you, would you add anything to the list?
They don’t pee in my coffee, so I’m cool with them.
That’s one way to put it haha!
they create excitement about their phones, they look good you want one but … you can’t get them anywhere. It’s purely marketing. This is not good marketing, it belittles the buyer, gives him the run around. it pisses me off. They do it every year. Well they are not so good that we can’t live without them. Samsung Galaxy s4 is perhaps not so cool (COLD) but it has more innovation than the 5S. So stuff you Tim Cook: apple is on the way down.
Exactly, every year we hear the same things about the ‘next big thing’ and the truly ‘ground-breaking’, ‘like never before’ devices of Apple. But it’s not the case anymore. It’s undeniable that Apple built an incredible amount of hype around their brand and their products, but what else is there about it? Users satisfaction and products quality is going down, innovation is stalling out, and Apple is playing silly patent wars instead of focusing on the real issues. I don’t see how this can be maintained in the long run.
An or all the Apple gripes, this is the most shocking:
“Even as Apple became the nation’s most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and went beyond anything most experts had ever seen, Congressional investigators disclosed on Monday”.
Tim Cook may think he was clever doing this but to most ordinary people it is just plain greedy, short sighted, selfish and criminal.
I never liked Apple and I never will.. I used to use G4 and it constantly froze (lollipoping as me and my friends call it). Did not like the personality of Steve Jobs and did not like anything about their product. Currenly, I use Galaxy series to do my work. Personally speaking, yes. Samsung did copy Apple especially in Galaxy S. However, I believe it was (for them anyway) a necessary move for them in order to keep their mobile phone market. They will first copy and make one for themselves, meaning put a little interference on marching of iPhones. Then they will slowly make new products with their own design like G S2 and now G S4. I used to own an iPhone 4s as well but I just got tired of the UI so I ended up not using it. Right now it is safe to say Samsung is leading smartphone market, meaning their strategy worked. Whether or not Apple fanboys (fanboys as serious serious fanboys, not just Apple users) think Samsung sucks, it must be doing something right to keep its first or second place. So while I use products from Samsung, I wouldn’t use Apple. Beside, Apple is becoming more like a religion.
I think Apple has already become a religion – why else would people wait for 15 straight days (!) outside of a store just to be the first ones to get a piece of metal?? 🙂
Yes, Apple were the first ones to introduce a smart-phone and it gave them a huge head-start. Samsung did copy the design but they focused much more on the phones functionality and user’s experience rather than anything else. There’s so many complaints about Apple products, different bugs and crashes these days, but I don’t see enough effort from Apple to actually address them. I’m getting very frustrated with the Apple devices I own and I have many friends who are having the same problems. Do Apple actually think they can maintain their customers, if they keep letting them down again and again?
And let’s not forget while Apple introduced the smartphone to the world the mos successfully at its outset, they continued to assemble it using Samsung/Intel/etc…hardware on the inside. Samsung and other companies just did what you’d expect. Apple making billions selling other peoples hardware to consumers while telling them what they can and can’t do (unless they pay more) with their expensive, “shiny” device leaves a lot of room for companies with a customer first approach to take market share-lots of market share. In my opinion the biggest problem for Apple is the open source Android platform. Let’s be honest. It’s way more fun than the Apple platform! For too many reasons than can be listed here.
And yet Apple continues to try and intrigue us with its mystery. Ooooh…what’s next?! Who gives a ****. What every it is they come up with now…I’m already on the third generation of a better version through Android. Cheers!
iPhone 5s, price in Apple Store > about 700$ manufacturing price > 144$ What are all these people doing with his life?
Just some comments on your points:
1) Macbook chargers. Agree they are terrible, fail after an average of 15 months (based on my usage over 8 years)
2) Hysterical fans. I just want to beat them up. They really p**s me off
3) Loyalty, true they are now trying to cater for the masses, but I suppose they have become such a giant, they can’t just cater for the few geeks anymore, not as much profit in that. But they are a business and want to make money. I do remember a time in the late 90s early 200s when I looked forward to a update on hardware or software, in particular OS x and subsequent updates. Started to fade around 10.5 I’d say.
4) Disagree with over pricing, sure, they market products as premium, and there’s a few extra bucks to pay for the unibodies etc. But take a windows based machine with the same spec, the price is not that different. Most of my friends use these machines and we do compare prices.
5) Suicidal working conditions in China may be more to do with the working conditions rather than Apple. After all, most of the clothes we all wear are made in places like India, Bangladesh etc by 5 year olds working 16 hour days. Do we complain about that?
6) Who doesn’t want to pay less tax, I know I don’t. Many companies are using tax loopholes to pay less tax such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Zynga to name a few all saving hundreds of millions in this way. Not to mention Facebook, who saves BILLIONS of $$$$ in this way. But yet I don’t hate any of these companies.
7) Apple does pay out dividends, now. However eBay, Google, Adobe, Biogen, Yahoo, all did not pay out dividends either. I don’t hate these companies. (Johnson and Johnson do by the way, I love them!!)
8) Come on now, every company wants to talk up their latest product line, do you really expect them to say, ‘Well, this not much really, just a slight tweak on an existing product, so more of the same’ What message would that send out? the whole marketing department would be sacked for one. I know they would at the organisation I work for.
9) Many companies experience screw ups, not just Apple. The 75 million lost calls due to an AT&T network collapse is one example, the 210 million gallon oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 thanks to BP, it screwed up the environment.
10) Patent wars also happen all the time. In 2010 Boston scientific had to pay Johnson & Johnson $1.7billion in a patent lawsuit, loads more examples out there to research.
11) Monopoly on purchases? It’s nothing new that a publisher will want to protect their intellectual property, pick up a book and it will usually say that you are not allowed to re-sell or even loan out the book. You also see this on DVDs etc. Digital Rights Management compel Apple to enforce certain restrictions on the content. Apple do own the software and hardware. However, Kindle books to iBooks doesn’t work either, unless you want to strip the Digital Rights Management from the file, now you wouldn’t want to do anything illegal, would you?
12) If my phone broke down while travelling abroad it would be covered by my personal insurance. However I have been travelling abroad several times per year since the late 90’s and my phone has never ‘broke down’ so, statistically, that doesn’t apply to me. How many times has it happened to you?
13) No customisation… yawn……ZZzzzzzz
14) Poor user Interface… Mmmm.. you seem to only referring to iOS devices from Apple and you only name a couple of apps, Notes is fine for very basic stuff, Evernote is good for other type of note taking. iOS 7 has addressed other concerns. I use both Windows and MAC OS professionally for years (since Windows 95 and Mac OS 8.5. I only use the MAC OS for personal use and leisure, why? because I prefer the user interface.
15) Nightmare for gamers. Why is this a nightmare for gamers? a bit of a dramatic statement don’t you think? Look, most gamers use a Windows PC, a playstation or an Xbox etc. There are games that can be used on a Mac. But personally when I used to play lots of games I had a playstation. My computer is used for other functions like video and photo editing amongst other things.
16) I use both Microsoft Office and the Apple equivalent, I do find that there is some loss, but nothing major, when exporting pages to word or keynote to powerpoint. At least Apple make an effort. For me Keynote is superior to ppt. but word is superior to pages, depends on your own perspective. But certainly not reason enough to hate Apple.
17) Really… VGA adaptors are pretty small, you wouldn’t really notice them in your laptop bag. We use wireless projectors in my company, so presentations are a breeze because cables are not needed.
18) The 1st virus on a Mac was in the early 1980s, they are very rare. Like all PCs, if you are careful and know your PC, you can minimise outside attacks. By the way, MAC OS is based on UNIX which has a very robust Kernel, unlike Windows.
19) I’ve lost count…..
All modern technology has an environmental impact, just check out how E-Waste is disposed of and the effects it has on the planet and society. I’ve never had to replace the screen on my MacBook or iMacs, but I can assure you that other components are user friendly, I’ve been doing my own memory upgrades for years, replacing batteries, installing new drives, replacing HDDs with SSDs…. no issues whatsoever.
20) Who cares about the CEOs of companies? Do you care about Kwon Oh Hyun or Michael S. Dell or Peter Chou? I don’t… but if we like the products their company makes, we want them to be successful and make more products we like. My plant manager is an A**hole, but he’s good and under his guidance the organisation is growing and hiring and delivering products that our customer wants. But believe me, I would not want to socialise with him. Ever!
21) This could be true, social media is how to engage customers in the current climate especially for tech companies. However, on the other hand, you could argue that the lack of this type of engagement has not stopped Apple from becoming such a large and highly profitable company even though they have only 18% market share.
I can’t believe I typed this, what a waste of my time….
Doesn’t have the apps I actually want
I shit on anything apple. Apple = justin beeber.
#20 is completely misleading. As an advocate for Google systems, you should know that searching “hate steve jobs” in Google without quotations around that phrase pulls up all results that contain the words “hate,” “steve,” “jobs,” “steve jobs,” etc. This will of course pull up all results relevant to Steve.