Competition by Apple and Google in these areas will imo always be a bit asymmetrical as long as Apple makes its money off of selling luxury products and services while Google instead makes its money off of advertisers or data.
I mean... at what point does something become a luxury product? What does it mean to be a luxury product? I see homeless people with iPhones, people put Apple watches on payment plans.
I agree with your point about Google and ads, but I feel like this meme of Apple being a luxury product is slowly just not making sense to me.
I would say products where the product price is high, the social status of using the product is high, and the profit margin of the product is high. You could add some other details, but I generally think of those things when I use that term. With that said, it's true the term is a bit overused for a company like Apple. But regardless of the labeling, I think customers of Apple fitness devices will, on average, be happier than customers of Google fitness devices for the aforementioned reason.
Yeah, I don't really buy the "luxury product" label either, but I suppose everything is relative. All the major brands of smartphones have offerings at similar price points to the iPhone lineup. And in the United States, iPhones have around 50% of the smartphone market share.
The same largely applies to Apple's other product lines too, which the exception that they simply don't attempt to compete in the bottom-dollar markets for laptops or desktop PCs. So I would definitely say that Apple doesn't make junk for the race-to-the-bottom market, but I'm hesitant to call them a luxury brand.
Thanks. I certainly think it’s a luxury product in certain markets, but not in the US. I’ve had others say it’s a status symbol or luxury product and I’m always thinking... a Ferrari is a luxury product. Moet and Chandon is a luxury product... but an iPhone that 50% of Americans have?
It's the only reason why its perceived value is so high in the US, and later gets carried to other foreign markets (like China). Apple is this single entity that creates these products that run this unique OS alone, while Android manufacturers are a dime a dozen - too visible. If I don't get the latest Samsung, I don't mind because I'll just go ahead and buy the latest OnePlus or Huawei or something. But I have nowhere to go if Apple stores run out of the iPhone, and if I'm really bought into the whole design oo-la-lah shtick, I'll just camp outside the Apple store (aside: I have seen fewer campers with each passing year).
Ferrari is a luxury product because every engine made is a machining masterpiece largely created by hand. Most and Chandon is a luxury product because it takes a good year and tons of time to perfect that taste. Apple fans may have had something to boast about with the design quality during the Steve Jobs years, but right now, there's little to boast about their mass-produced devices made by underpaid workers in a Chinese/Vietnamese/Indian factory, so they generate artificial oomph over things like the fonts or the app store or whatever. As a Tesla owner, I've seen the same kind of behavior from other Tesla owners, although I find Tesla to be a relatively flawed product compared to other cars such as a Porsche or an Audi.
Honestly, I suspect that if Jobs were alive right now, he wouldn't be really happy with today's Apple. Out of the nearly a decade since he's passed, the only thing that was really revolutionary on Apple's part were the Airbuds. And with Jony gone, I suspect there's going to be less of that too.
To me what makes the AW a luxury product is its something that absolutely no one needs (Except maybe old people). For almost all people buying it, its just a nice to have thing that makes things you could do before a little easier/better.
For me I really enjoy using it for walking directions in the city. Yes I could use my phone but this lets me walk more naturally without looking like a phone zombie.
