> ...I bought stock, which payed for my new headphones.
This reads as: "What's your problem? I have lots of money, so I can afford this."
When people talk about classism and privilege in the tech industry, this is the sort of thing they mean. Nobody claimed that bluetooth headsets aren't better in some situations—but their benefits are not necessarily in areas that interest everyone. "Forcing people's hand" to buy the more expensive but unneeded thing is precisely what the OP is complaining about, and your post does not address that argument even a little bit.
Then buy a budget phone that is cheap and still has the jack. Don't turn a comment about picking up new headphones into your manifesto on Bay Area elitism.
Sure, and those people won't get new iPhones at all, or if they do, can use the free dongle to use their old 3.5mm jack headphones with their new iPhone.
Nobody is being forced to buy expensive new headphones, or new phones.
I agree my comment does sound brash, which wasn't my intention.
But what I meant was, apple is selling products, and trying to maximize it's profits. If you don't like the feeling of manipulation, you don't need to buy into it. Marketting, social pressure, device ecosystems, they are all strategies that get you to buy, and keep buying.
And I implicitly did address the OP's comment, in that I agree. They are forcing people's hands, it sucks. But if you are going to buy into it, you might also recognize that other's will buy into it and try to make profit for yourself by owning a portion of the company.
I was in no way implying that I'm rich. I was implying that you can play the game too if you want. What do you think will happen as AI continues to develop? Either you sit idly complaining about robots taking your jobs, or you start trying to gain part ownership of the companies that will build those robots. You have to be proactive because companies don't give a sh*t about your wellbeing, they have no incentive to do so.
You know, the classist argument is probably stronger than my old-tech cheerleading, and is a good point that I was only barely thinking about. So, thank you :)
Apple’s market is people who want to pay more money for products that they at least consider to be superior. Complaining about the price of Apple products seems silly to me, it’s clear Apple doesn’t place much importance on affordability, but there are plenty of other companies that do.
This reads as: "What's your problem? I have lots of money, so I can afford this."
When people talk about classism and privilege in the tech industry, this is the sort of thing they mean. Nobody claimed that bluetooth headsets aren't better in some situations—but their benefits are not necessarily in areas that interest everyone. "Forcing people's hand" to buy the more expensive but unneeded thing is precisely what the OP is complaining about, and your post does not address that argument even a little bit.