Why Apple Is So Sticky 595
Hugh Pickens writes "'Sticky,' in the social sciences and particularly economics, describes a situation in which a variable is resistant to change. For websites or products it usually means that visitors or customers keep coming back for more. Now Fortune Magazine reports on an analysis by Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore on what makes the (iTunes-based) iPhone-iPod-iPad platform so sticky and why it's going to get harder, not easier, for Apple users to switch, no matter what Google and the rest of Apple's competitors have up their sleeves. Whitmore says the investment Apple's customers have made in content for those devices in terms of apps, videos, and music purchased at the iTunes Store creates Apple's 'stickiness.' Apple has an installed base today of about 150 million iTunes-dependent devices that could grow to more than 200 million by the end of 2011. Whitmore comes up with a cumulative investment in those devices of about $15 billion today, growing to $25 billion by the end of next year. 'This averages to ~$100 of content for each installed device,' Whitmore writes, 'suggesting switching costs are relatively high (not to mention the time required to port). When Apple's best-in-class user experience is combined with these growing switching costs, the resulting customer loyalty is unparalleled.'"
To each their own... (Score:4, Funny)
For websites or products it usually means that visitors or customers keep coming back for more.
For some websites on the Internet, "sticky" has a completely different meaning. :-)
And by "some" I mean "most", and by "websites" I mean "porn". To quote Dr. Cox on Scrubs, "If you shutdown all the porn sites on the Internet, there would only be one site left and it would be called 'Bring back the porn.'"
it's the sugar, obviously (Score:3, Funny)
Why is an apple sticky? when you cut an apple and hold it with your bare hands, the juice will make your hand sticky, no question about it, that's what hand washing is for.
Oh, you are talking about the company? Same reason applies.
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As for the truth of the statement, as much as for some people it is absolutely 'sticky', for others it's too sweet - sugary and unpleasant. I like my computers the way I like my coffee - no sugar. I can't stand Apple's products at all, it's a personal internal thing, when I see all of the Apple computers in all these movies, and all these 'creative' people with the logos all over the place - makes me cringe. You can't make me use an Apple product if you pay me.
Re:The question is (Score:2, Funny)
News for Apple. Stuff that Apple.
Re:music? (Score:2, Funny)
Come on, give me a break. Give Randall *something* to do; don't prove all of his work for him!
Re:Apple "It Just Works" (Score:4, Funny)
Yep. Apple computers never crash [wordpress.com].
That's what happens... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:The question is (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The same can be said for Microsoft's domination (Score:0, Funny)
No it doesn't. You assume that there's actually offices that invested in Linux out there...
Re:What "sticky" really means (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Absolute horse shit (Score:5, Funny)
I'd like to know where you got your kool-aid
This motherfucker jumped through my wall screaming "OHHHH YEEEAAAHHH" and then poured me a glass of kool-aid.
Caramel (Score:5, Funny)
.
Re:Apple "It Just Works" (Score:1, Funny)
Yeah, a scratched DVD will freeze my MacBook, and if I'm watching via FrontRow the freeze can be unrecoverable requiring a forced-power-off restart to recover (I can't eject or even bring up the force quite dialogue via hotkey presses).
My main use of my MacBook is as a Media Centre (running eyeTV and itunes, QT, iDVD etc). Generally speaking I find it is a great platform for this applicaton. But c'mon, a scratched DVD causing a total system freeze?!?
Give me a fricking break!
Re:Apple "It Just Works" (Score:5, Funny)
"I've not had to field a single phone call the past couple years."
So I guess he's really pissed and won't call you anymore. Sorry.
Re:The question is (Score:3, Funny)
Arseload?
Re:It's because (Score:1, Funny)
Premature appleculation is a serious thing, not to be joked about.
Re:Apple "It Just Works" (Score:1, Funny)
And it only took him about a week to make that transition between christmas and new years.
That's usually the time it takes to transition from Christmas to New Year's, yes.
Re:Love/hate relationship (Score:3, Funny)
My brother has a Mac, and I'm having the hardest time getting the hang of it: why do windows lose focus when I move the mouse
They don't.
And *I* say it sounds like your brother installed Linux on his Mac. The behavior you're describing is not that of standard Mac OS X.
he does run MacOS X 10.x, and
they do. every time i, or my nephew, shove the mouse out of the way, i get a bunch of tiled windows of all running apps, all inactive. given the huge taskbar that already takes up a bunch of screen estate, i don't grok what that's good for, except forcing me to pay attention to the mouse at all times (he's got a very small d ...esk).
on Windows, when I right-click on a network icon, I get the network setup. that's kinda more intuitive: it's just there.