What is the Apple Ecosystem and why do people like it?

[Issac Zachary]

This is an honest question. Although I admittedly have a small degree of prejudice against Apple, I would like to understand more about why people choose Apple. When hearing reviews about anything Apple, the term "Apple ecosystem" pops up a lot, but seeming without an explanation of what it is, other than iMessage. But I don't even understand fully what iMessage is. Is it just a way to send texts on other Apple devices, or is there something more to it? What other Apple products are there that "lock" people into their ecosystem?

 

The great majority of my family and friends use mostly Apple products, yet they always seem reluctant to tell me what they like about their Apple products. About the only thing I've heard is how much better Facetime is compared to Skype. Some younger ones in the family said "because iPhones are the fastest, have the best cameras and have the most 'sensitivity.'" I couldn't get an explanaition of what "sensitivity" meant, but that was what both of them told me.

 

And what is the difference between using Apple products on an Apple product vs. on Android or Windows? Is Apple Music better on iPhone than on Android? Or do iPhone users not know that Apple Music is available on Android and Windows?

• I will say this observation though. I've used iTunes on Windows off and on for years, practically since the moment it had launched. But in recent years it has stopped working correctly, with no indication as to why. Researching on my own has lead me to believe that Apple apparently is transitioning away from iTunes on Windws to Apple Music on Windows and Apple TV on Windows, although they never have communicated that. (For an example, over 2 years had passed since Apple Music on Windows had launched before I even knew it existed). If I had used iTunes more on my computer, I could definitely see me wanting to have transitioned to a Mac several years ago so that iTunes (or whatever replaced it) could "just work" unlike the experience thus far with battling to get iTunes to work on Windows.

 

There are times I've been interested in buying an iPhone SE, but that's mainly been due to wanting lots of longevity out of the phone, and Apple's update policy and update practices have always appealed to me in this regard. But other than that, I don't understand what other reasons I, or anyone for that matter, should be interested in an iPhone or other Apple device over the competition, other than things like iTunes, or perhaps Apple Music, may work better on Apple than other devices. What am I missing?

[Slottr]

There's no other array of hardware that matches how well Apple's works together. It's incredibly seamless. 

 

When those reference "the ecosystem" its the collection of phones, laptops, watches, tablets, desktops, etc that all work extremely well together over apples existing infrastructure. 

 

People aren't buying iPhones for the hardware. They're fine for performance, but the software is really robust. The cameras are at most fine, and they perform heavy tasks fine. 

 

Because of market share, developers generally focus on iOS rather than Android as that is where the significance of their sales are. 

 

13 minutes ago, Issac Zachary said:

Apple apparently is transitioning away from iTunes on Windws to Apple Music on Windows and Apple TV on Windows, although they never have communicated that.

This was communicated, but not well enough. There's an existing overlap of Apple Music and its accessory apps on Windows, however iTunes is still technically supported. I believe they're in an extremely odd transition period.

[Kilrah]

-> Moved to Programs, Apps and Websites 

 

Say you take a picture on your iPhone. If you have a Mac and an iCloud account it'll sync to your Mac straight away seamlessly with perfect user experience. That's very convenient. If you have a Windows PC there is an iCloud app but it's horribly janky and feels like it's been written by an intern 15 years ago and not touched since. Sometimes it works, sometimes it crashes Explorer. So better use a Mac.

 

If you have more photos on your iPhone than your free iCloud account can hold you have to upgrade it for a monthly fee or that convenient feature stops working. So you do, now you have 2 Apple devices and a subscription, but everything works and you like it that way, and you'd rather keep that than figure out an alternative, so when your Mac breaks you buy another one to avoid that. You're now in the ecosystem and getting out of it would mean significant effort finding alternatives and reconfiguring your whole setup, because of course e.g. on a Mac the Photos app keeps things neatly organized in a proprietary library, and while moving the actual photos somewhere else is possible you'd lose any edits you've done, would break the sync to any other devices, any added metadata would be lost...

 

All of what Apple provides can be replicated with other solutions, but they make it the easiest to use as possible as long as you're using their devices, and as hard as possible if you're not / want to transition out so that you won't.

[Avocado Diaboli]

The term "ecosystem" simply refers to the fact that if you use multiple Apple devices, they're able to interconnect and interoperate in ways that you usually don't get if you buy products from a bunch of different companies. Or if you can, it's often a clunkier implementation.

 

If you have Apple devices, you're logged in on all of them with the same account, so you instantly have access to everything in that account, like contacts, stored media in iCloud, passwords in the password manager, etc. 

 

Sometimes you also have bespoke functions that are only available if you pair two Apple products. Using AirPods on Android is possible, but never as seamless as on iOS, which also gives you the option of configuring them to a much greater extent than on Android.

 

And the thing is, once you're in an ecosystem (Apple aren't the only ones doing it, but they're arguably the furthest along and generally the best with their implementations), it's hard to get out of it for some people. The convenience that comes with it, the ease of use, never mind the identical UX/UI language across all your devices makes switching to a Windows or Linux PC/Laptop, an Android phone, a Tizen watch, etc. like a very unappealing prospect. As much as I'm very critical of Apple's walled garden approach for myself, I can certainly see why for your average normie, who isn't deeply into tech, having a single, consistent experience across all your devices is just easier.

[Issac Zachary]

1 hour ago, Slottr said:

This was communicated, but not well enough. There's an existing overlap of Apple Music and its accessory apps on Windows, however iTunes is still technically supported. I believe they're in an extremely odd transition period.

I remember the news that Apple Music was replacing iTunes on iPhones, but that the headlines read "... but not on PC." I still have yet to read any news source that says that Apple is transitioning away from iTunes on Windows.

 

It is still technically supported, but iTunes is also broken as far as video playback goes. You cannot get iTunes on Windows to show most video content (say, a rented movie). I haven't tried Apple TV on Windows since I'm too burned out on this Apple antics.

[DrMacintosh]

The Apple Ecosystem:

• I'm traveling with my laptop and I need another display -> iPad w/ Sidecar lets your Mac use your iPad as an external display.
• I take a photo with my iPhone -> It shows up on all my devices.
• I delete a photo on my Mac -> It gets deleted from all my devices.
• I'm working on my MacBook and get a phone call -> I can answer it on my Mac.
• I copy some text/a link/a file on my iPhone -> I can paste it on my Mac.
• I'm listening to Music with AirPods on my iPhone and log into my Mac -> My mac asks if I want to use the AirPods and the connection transfers.
• I'm wearing an Apple Watch and wake my Mac -> The watch will unlock the Mac for me.
• I have an email/website/app open on one Apple Device, another Apple Device nearby will suggest that content and open it where I left off.
• I can wirelessly stream content to my AppleTV/HomePod from anywhere in my home network with two button taps.
• I can use my iPhone as an AppleTV remote.
• Standardized MagSafe accessories and cases.
• iOS, macOS, tvOS, and HomePod can control my HomeKit accessories.
• Supported HomeKit Routers can secure my HomeKit accessories from communicating outside of my home network.
• iCloud Keychain (free password manager)
• Apple Music syncs across all your devices. Including music that you provided. (Its a personal cloud for your ripped music library)
• iCloud Drive syncs across all your devices.
• I can upload a .epub file and the Books app will sync that file to all my devices (even if I didn't buy that .epub file from Apple)
• All Macs, iPads, and iPhones come with a free Office Suite (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers)
• Preview.app on the Mac has many premium features that Adobe Acrobat charges your first born son for. All for free.
• The FindMy Network
• Emergency SOS & Crash detection
• GPS way points on Apple Watch
• FaceTime/iMessage
• AirDrop
• Apple CarPlay (my 2007 Ford Taurus has a totally modern infotainment system).

The list continues, but these are just some of the reasons my personal electronics (outside of my gaming desktop and select accessories) are all Apple Products.

 

[Issac Zachary]

21 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

The Apple Ecosystem:

• I'm traveling with my laptop and I need another display -> iPad w/ Sidecar lets your Mac use your iPad as an external display.
• I take a photo with my iPhone -> It shows up on all my devices.
• I delete a photo on my Mac -> It gets deleted from all my devices.
• I'm working on my MacBook and get a phone call -> I can answer it on my Mac.
• I copy some text/a link/a file on my iPhone -> I can paste it on my Mac.
• I'm listening to Music with AirPods on my iPhone and log into my Mac -> My mac asks if I want to use the AirPods and the connection transfers.
• I'm wearing an Apple Watch and wake my Mac -> The watch will unlock the Mac for me.
• I have an email/website/app open on one Apple Device, another Apple Device nearby will suggest that content and open it where I left off.
• I can wirelessly stream content to my AppleTV/HomePod from anywhere in my home network with two button taps.
• I can use my iPhone as an AppleTV remote.
• Standardized MagSafe accessories and cases.
• iOS, macOS, tvOS, and HomePod can control my HomeKit accessories.
• Supported HomeKit Routers can secure my HomeKit accessories from communicating outside of my home network.
• iCloud Keychain (free password manager)
• Apple Music syncs across all your devices. Including music that you provided. (Its a personal cloud for your ripped music library)
• iCloud Drive syncs across all your devices.
• I can upload a .epub file and the Books app will sync that file to all my devices (even if I didn't buy that .epub file from Apple)
• All Macs, iPads, and iPhones come with a free Office Suite (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers)
• Preview.app on the Mac has many premium features that Adobe Acrobat charges your first born son for. All for free.
• The FindMy Network
• Emergency SOS & Crash detection
• GPS way points on Apple Watch
• FaceTime/iMessage
• AirDrop
• Apple CarPlay (my 2007 Ford Taurus has a totally modern infotainment system).

The list continues, but these are just some of the reasons my personal electronics (outside of my gaming desktop and select accessories) are all Apple Products.

 

Thank you! I think I understand it now. Very interesting.