The current status quo of smartphone design, repair and longevity could finally be upended in favour of users – and the planet. That is the message from campaign groups on the landmark overhaul of rules concerning batteries and eco-sensitive design working their way through the various legislative bodies of the European Union – a market big enough to force manufacturers to change, even if EU rules don’t directly apply to other regions.
It’s a strange thing. Without the grinder and the treadmill, we might have got stagnation and degradation on the App Store. Countless products that stick around regardless – the iPhone equivalent of a Windows 3 app on a brand new PC. Some app and game creators might argue that should be their right, and that this wouldn’t negatively impact the platform. Apple doubtless disagrees. I imagine this, then, is the one true constant of what Apple created all those years ago – an inherent source of tension that will survive should the App Store last for another 15 years.
Maybe that makes the relatively small library that critics scoffed at when the service launched in 2019 a strength — rather than throw money at 50 different shows to see what sticks, alienating audiences in the process, Apple is laying down markers with big, bold science fiction and following through on their promises. Of course, it helps that the company "has an absurd amount of money in the bank," as The Verge's Julia wrote presciently just before the service's launch in 2019. The continued dominance of its other products means that it can afford to risk billions on pricey genre shows that other networks and streamers might not even consider.
I was just about to publish this post, and then I started to think “why should I publish this text? Who is going to loose their time to read this crap?”, but you know what? I just don’t care what you think, here’s my post and you can do nothing about it :)
I subscribe to both Apple TV+ and Netflix. Here's the difference for me:
I will start watching an interesting new show on Apple TV+, unless I read reviews that tell me otherwise.
I will start watching an interesting new show on Netflix, only when I read reviews that encourage me.
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Thanks for reading.