[jyl]

Apple user since the Newton.

On the hardware side, Apple is very strong but not uniquely so. That's usually been the case. Apple has more of an advantage with the iPhone because they make more of the hardware, less with the Mac.

On the Mac OS side, I use Windows 10 a lot along with Mac OS and still find Mac easier to use and more stable and easier to use. Win 10 is pretty good but still has a lot of irritating things, the update process has been troublesome, Microsoft's browser strategy is such a mess that you have to run both Edge and IE, and in 2 years my Win 10 has had to be reinstalled to fix fatal corruption three times.

On the IOS side, I don't use Android so can't compare usability. But it's pretty clear that if you value security and privacy, IOS is the choice.

On the services side, it's kind of like the hardware. In features and usability, Apple is among the best but not uniquely superior. Compare Spotify to iTunes, Roku to Apple TV, etc. But as with IOS, security and privacy is a big differentiator.

The big advantage is the integration. Running all your devices on the same AppleID, sharing the same iCloud, handing tasks between devices - that's much harder to cobble together with a mix of Dell, Huawei, Windows, Android, Google, Spotify, etc. When your kid or spouse breaks their iPhone and you magically restore their replacement iPhone to yesterday's iCloud backup, that's utterly convenient. When your kid's MacBook is missing and you locate and lock it from your iPhone, that's really useful. When your wife takes a photo with her iPhone and you can see it on your iPad, that's cool.

I see the integration getting even tighter as Apple brings IOS and MacOS together, replaces Intel with Apple chips, builds out ApplePay, Siri, iCloud, etc.

Apple has been surprisingly timid about using its strength to integrate even more of the pieces. Airport should have been what eero is, or Apple should have bought eero. Having to cable an ugly LG monitor to an iMac is ridiculous. It feels like the beancounters have too much sway: so what if Airport was a financially immaterial business, it was important but Apple let Google and Alexa get between their parts of the customer experience.

Apple has also been too financially demanding of content providers, partners, and new products. Instead of demanding 25% revenue share up front, why not start at 10% and only go up when you've delivered 300% growth to your partner?

The "next iPhone" is out there. Apple's reluctance to pursue business models in which user data is the actual product is a limitation - they have to charge the consumer which narrows the possibilities. Apple's high profile and thus need to avoid public failures - they can't launch ten products and be happy for one success and nine disasters - makes it harder for them to trailblaze a brand new category. Buy they'll find a promising thing and take it over.