Apple 能让 Siri 成为 Muse 的竞争对手吗？｜Ben Thompson 的《Sharp Tech》
- Ben 认为，Mac 正夹在两类彼此不兼容的用户之间：看重安全性的主流用户，以及希望不受限制地使用计算机的高级用户。 他表示，Mac 曾同时是友好的消费产品和 Unix 工作站，但 Apple 日益强调权限与保护，意味着“我只是不认为 Apple 还能同时服务这两类人”。
- AI agent 已经改变了 Ben 对电脑的需求，甚至可能让他等了很久的 MacBook Pro 不再适合自己。 即便新机据报会采用更轻的设计和 OLED 触屏，他也可能放弃购买，因为“对我来说，未来由 agent 定义”；他尤其认为 Linux 命令行非常适合运行 agent。
- Apple 的安全模型可能限制 agent，但这些限制确实针对真实威胁。 软件不能代替用户点击某些权限弹窗，因为恶意软件也能这么做；代价是，无头 Mac 和 agent 可能在不说明原因的情况下直接停止工作。Ben 对这一取舍的结论是，Apple 正让 Mac“越来越不适合黑客或开发者”。
- Ben 自己的一次安全事故，暴露了 Apple 家长式安全管理的悖论。 他承认自己因开放 5900 端口而遭到入侵，但表示 Apple 坚持替用户管理安全，反而让他“放松了警惕”——这是一种不同于 Linux 的“共依存关系”，在 Linux 上他清楚知道责任仍在自己。
- Apple 推动一体化智能家居，正好与 DIY 式 agent 计算形成鲜明对照。 在得知 Apple 支持 LG 开发配件后，Ben 从怀疑转为热情，因为碎片化生态会带来不可靠的体验和不想要的应用；可行的替代方案，要么是全部自己搭建，要么让一家可信赖的公司实现“从 AI 直接到硬件”。
- Ben 认为，Apple 的规模让成文化的企业文化变得有用，但也带来了僵化风险。 他在 Apple University 的经历让他理解了公司如何维持自身身份认同，也看到了把“什么让 Apple 成为 Apple”写下来后，如何变成僵硬教条，把员工变成“唱诗班的一员”。
- iPhone Duo 的讨论，暂时停在了国际市场定价上。 一位听众把这款售价 $2,000 的折叠屏手机，比作 Uber 创造了此前不存在的出行需求，但 Ben 修正了自己此前的定价判断：Apple 在美国以外大幅提价，在台湾 Duo 的售价可能比美国高出约 $400-$500。
1. Apple 的文化会随规模积累，也会随之硬化
Ben 将自己如今的怀疑态度追溯到 2010 年的 Apple University。当时这项计划正围绕“什么让 Apple 成为 Apple”这一问题搭建。Apple 的“Top 200”并不只是职位最高的管理层，也可能包括某个名不见经传的人，只因为“他理解整个系统”，掌握着关键的组织知识。
他担心，把文化写下来会造成“某种程度的僵化”：原则会从随公司发展而变化的东西，变成一套教条。他认为，Apple University 后来基本演变成了人力资源和培训项目；在公司规模大幅扩张后，它确实有助于“向队伍灌输理念”，但也不可避免地更加僵硬。
在 Apple 工作也打破了他作为 Apple 粉丝的自我认知。一位经理对某款 Ben 记得很平庸的产品——可能是电池充电器——表现出夸张的热情，让他意识到，欣赏很容易滑向“Apple 做什么都不会错”。他也在自己身上看到了同样倾向：一个关注设计的 Mac 爱好者，甚至以为自己创办或领导过一个商学院 Mac 俱乐部。
尽管他原本认为自己进入了理想的工作环境，Ben 在完成 Apple University 的工作前就决定不再回去：“对我而言，在智识上不会再有任何价值。”加入 Microsoft，意味着从 Apple 的对立面学习，而不是变成“唱诗班的一员”；不过 Andrew 指出，不回 Apple 可能让他在财务上有所损失。
2. AI agent 正把高级用户从 Apple 的核心轨道上拉走
Ben 把自己如今对 agent 的热情，比作 1990 年代组装 PC：亲手折腾的过程，加深了他对 AI 能做什么、不能做什么的理解。他也自嘲说，当自己问“我是不是得了 AI 臆想症”时，“也许有时候答案确实是肯定的”；但对工作带来的实际收益，在他看来是真实存在的。
Mark Gurman 报道中的轻薄版 OLED 触屏 MacBook Pro，按理说应该正是 Ben“想了很多很多年”的那台机器。然而，即便他仍在用 MacBook Pro 录制节目、拥有 iPhone、期待 Air 2，并且已经深度依赖 macOS 工作流，他也可能选择等待而不购买。
这次转向并非阵营之争，而是功能变化：“对我来说，未来由 agent 定义。”每增加一项能力，他就想再追求“10 件事”，仿佛生活中到处都是可以由软件填补的缺口；他说，过去几个月完成的许多酷事，甚至让自己都难以置信。他还在一台 Linux 服务器上花了不少钱，同时把无头 Mac 描述为计算体验中的重大痛点。
Andrew 进一步概括了这种转变：这不是“Apple 要完了”，而是愿意探索替代方案；Andrew 认为，在过去 10 或 15 年里，大多数人都没有这种意愿。Ben 依然认可 Apple 非凡的硬件和规模，只是得出结论：“这家公司已经不适合我了。”
3. Mac 的安全交换，正变得对自主软件不友好
直接诱因是 Apple 宣布，用户如果要授予应用完整磁盘访问权限，就必须采取“非常明确”的操作。面对 Andrew 关于 Apple 是否会以安全和控制为名损害 AI 应用及 agent 的担忧，Ben 的回答是“100%”。这一趋势早于 agent：Apple 长期以来一直增加权限弹窗和限制，试图防止应用滥用广泛访问权限。
这种安全逻辑本身是成立的。如果软件可以代替用户批准敏感权限弹窗，恶意软件也能点击“确定”。因此，agent 可能只会感知到某项功能停止工作，却不知道原因；最终还可能需要人到机器前进行干预。Ben 说，Golden Gate 带来了更多弹窗，让无头运行“变成一个大麻烦”。
一次重大的 Golden Gate 升级还破坏了重启后的自动登录，迫使用户进行物理操作，或者使用 KVM 切换器。Ben 之前部分就是因为这个原因而避免自动更新；另一方面，他完全承认自己因开放 5900 端口而遭到入侵的责任，但认为 Apple“交给我们来处理”的姿态，降低了他自身的警惕性。
过去的 Mac 处在一个罕见的甜蜜点：对普通买家来说“拿来就能用”，同时又为开发者提供了接近服务器环境的 Unix 工作站。Apple 努力让 macOS 更像 iPhone 或 iPad，保护了普通用户，却损害了 Mac 的另一重身份。“现在已经不是 2004 年了。”
4. Apple 最聪明的反制策略，是掌控智能家居体验
Andrew 代表了一个不情愿的主流消费者：他不想要更多联网家电或 AI 助手，而他那台本来就很优秀的 LG 电视，在断开互联网后反而变得更好。持续更新和不断弹出的提示，让电视软件“烦得要命”。
Ben 同意如今的智能家居生态“糟透了”；他的设备只能部分互联，妻子更是无法忍受。用定制软件和 agent 自己搭建一套系统，可能会非常出色，但 Andrew 认为，这类用户大约只有“0.1%”。
Apple 与 LG 正在开发门铃、恒温器等配件的报道，改变了 Ben 的看法。如果发烧友的路线是“把一切都黑出来”，那么相反且自洽的方案就是“让 Apple 全部搞定”——这也是 Microsoft 式企业模式：一家供应商未必提供每个品类的最佳组件，但整合能力能够做到“出了问题只找一个责任方”。
碎片化模式之所以失败，是因为第三方最终都会向最低公分母靠拢。消费者可以容忍一个平庸的手机应用，但“如果恒温器很糟，你会想掐人”。Ben 不想要任何恒温器应用：“如果这些恒温器还需要一个应用，那它们就已经失败了。”
他想要的界面，是由 Siri 直接操作硬件，同时由 Apple 负责完整的软件体验和隐私保护。Ben 表示，如果 LG 设备由 Apple 负责，他会相信 Apple 不会允许他联想到 LG 电视的那类监视行为，这也给了 Apple 一个可信的隐私叙事。这种合作并非完全由 Apple 自研，而是第二方模式；但只要由 Apple 销售并提供背书，就仍可能保住一体化方案的核心价值。
5. iPhone Duo 的讨论停在国际定价上
一位听众反驳了 Ben 对单手手机的偏好，认为 iPhone Duo 可以通过类似 iPad 的体验创造新的需求：在候诊室、美食广场、孩子参加棒球比赛时，甚至在卫生间里都能使用；这就像 Uber 让此前不存在的出行变得可能。
Ben 称这封邮件“因为很多原因而荒谬”，但节目预告在他回应手机形态之前就结束了。他完成的修正很关键：此前他低估了 Apple 的涨价幅度。他说，美国以外市场的价格已经大幅上涨，台湾的 Duo 可能比美国贵 $400-$500；这位听众此前引用的加拿大价格是 $3,000。
完整逐字稿
Hello, and welcome to a free preview of Sharp Tech. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Sharp Tech. I'm Andrew Sharp, and on the other line,
Ben, how are you doing?
A little groggy. Not super sharp, not super clear. The only way to honor your baseball team drinking a lot of beer in the clubhouse is to drink a lot of beer yourself. We'll see how it goes, but good.
Groggy but victorious. Triumphant here on Sharp Tech. You know what I love? I love that there was an entire first-round series played in about 6 days. As somebody who's been through a lot of first-round playoff series that take 2 and a half weeks in the NBA, I like MLB keeping it nice and tight for us.
Well, it is actually the second round, because there was the wild-card round first.
Oh, I don't count that. Whatever. First real playoff series.
No. It's one of the craziest things about the playoffs in baseball: it is over fast. It has to be, because part of the whole thing is that you need to be tested on your pitching core, right? You need to be playing every day. That's part of figuring out whether you have a good team or not.
Ah, sure.
The end result is the games—you're super excited—
Blink and you might miss it, you know?
You're there, and then it's done. My condolences to the Padres. I like that team a lot. We have a good friend who's a big Padres fan. Alas, someone has to lose if the good guys are going to win.
You had to do what you had to do.
You had to do what you had to do.
The Brew Crew taking care of business. Here we go. NLCS on deck.
Speaking of fast, last year we lost four over the Dodgers. It was very ugly. It was over quick.
Talk about blink and you miss it. Yes, indeed. I recall.
We'll see what happens.
Nowhere to go but up from that performance.
That's right.
As for the show, we'll kick things off with a handful of questions on Apple. On Monday, you wrote about news from Apple. Late last week, I believe it was Friday, the company announced, “We will introduce additional controls to ensure that Mac users who genuinely wish to grant an app full disk access can only do so with very explicit user action.”
Of that news, which was sort of ambiguous, you wrote, “To say that I'm nervous about what Apple's solution will entail is a massive understatement.” That was part of a much larger article. We're not going to spend that much time on the article, but as a reader, I was curious: Why specifically are you nervous, and will Apple's decisions actually affect normal people, or just you and other weirdos? What do you think?
It's always funny how you get feedback on what you wrote.
Uh-huh.
With you, it's like, “We're not going to spend much time on that.”
But it's very technical. We're not coding to the metal here on the podcast.
Unfortunately, you can't control me. We're going to be talking about the article.
Great.
1. AI Changes Ben’s Computing
It's been kind of a self-reflective period, not just over the last few weeks but over the last few months, I think, for me and my relationship with computing, AI, agents, and all these sorts of things. The extent to which I am excited and enthused about this sort of stuff, I'm pretty sure it's coming across as me being very excited and very enthused. Are you getting that impression on the podcast?
Yes. I am. Every now and then, I see tweets about guys in their 40s who may have AI psychosis, and I think of you as a friend.
Absolutely. I've been trying to be very self-aware and concerned: Do I have AI psychosis? Maybe sometimes the answer is yes, and you have to be honest with yourself. But it's fun. For sure, it is fun in a way. I've called back to this being like the '90s and building your own PC and understanding how all this stuff works.
I think—this is my current rationalization, my justification—I think it's been very positive for my work because I do feel that the extent to which I understand this stuff is much higher than it was even previously. Fortunately, I feel like a lot of my intuitions I had before were pretty accurate. Now, I think the depth has definitely gotten much greater the more you get into this: understanding the strengths, understanding the weaknesses, what works, what doesn't, what is going to work, what is always going to be a challenge, et cetera.
2. Apple Culture Starts To Ossify
The reason why the Apple angle is particularly interesting, though, is that when I was at Apple University, the biggest challenge that I perceived with the Apple University concept—and I was there right when it first started—was Joel Podolny was there. I think he might still be there. The concept was that we were going to create this sort of program.
Apple famously has this Top 200. It's an annual retreat where the top people in the company go. It's not necessarily the top 200 if you look at the org chart. It's the 200 people who actually matter in terms of building stuff. There might be some random guy who doesn't report to anyone, and you're like, “What's he doing over there?” Actually, he understands the entire thing. It's all in his head.
The idea was: How do you maintain culture? What makes Apple Apple, and how do you keep that going?
My number one chief concern, which I think remains the biggest problem with something like that, is that once you start writing that sort of stuff down, you're going to get a certain level of ossification. It becomes rigid, and you don't change over time.
Predictably, I think Apple University in the ensuing years is still around as a brand name, but it's like an HR program. You could do these cool classes and trainings and stuff like that. I think there is still the “What makes Apple Apple?” presentation, which is fine. Apple is a massive company, and there's real value in that—it's much larger than when I was there. I was there in 2010, and it already felt like, “Man, I can't believe how much bigger we are than a few years ago.” Now it's multiple times the size. There's value in having to preach to the troops: This is what the company is.
The fact that it's rigid and ossifying is just a fact of life when you're as large as that.
The other issue that I had when I was there was that there were a few people, particularly my direct manager, who I thought had drunk just a bit too much Kool-Aid. Apple could do no wrong. Apple came out with some absurd product when I was there. I want to say it was some sort of fancy charger. I don't know. Someone go back to 2010 and see what the most ridiculous product Apple released that year was. This person bought it on the first day and was raving about it.
Okay.
I'm like, “Relax. It's really not that big of a deal.”
Was it a bad product or just a mundane product?
It was just a mundane product.
Okay.
I want to say it was a battery charger or something. I can't remember what it was. That sort of vaguely—I think I remember—
But this manager was all in.
That was sort of pervasive. It was a bit of a wake-up call for me, because I was definitely an Apple fanboy.
I wasn't a lifelong Mac user. I had been a tinkerer, building my own PCs, and I finally got a Mac around 2004, I think it was. I wanted to play with GarageBand. I loved music, and it seemed super approachable and easy. It was so great. The experience was so good. I was sick of dealing with Windows stuff—figuring out whether something worked, dealing with drivers, troubleshooting. It just worked.
All the clichés were there, and layered on top of that, you had this incredible story: Steve Jobs leaving and coming back, beautiful design, and Apple at the top of the world in the 2000s. It was a very easy and attractive train to hop on.
Going to Kellogg Business School, Windows ruled the roost, which it still does. Excel on Windows is still much better than anything else. I think I was the head—I think I created the Mac Club or something like that. How do you actually use a Mac in business school? It was much tougher back then than it is now. We did, like—
Let's work together.
Pool all our—
Right.
…nerd impulses here, sure.
Right. But the Apple nerd was a specific type of nerd. It was like, “No, we’re a nerd that actually cares about design.”
Mm-hmm.
We’re not—we’re making fun of the people obsessed with—
Oh, yeah.
—speeds and—
The Apple nerd was a particularly insufferable brand of nerd way back when.
Absolutely. You know what? I wore it with pride. I remember I went to Apple University, and it was a bit of a wake-up call. I’m glad I did this, because people in business—it’s like this very—
Mm-hmm.
I think it’s filtered down to undergrad now at this point. Everyone’s just thinking about, “What’s my job? What’s my job? What’s my job?” It’s this very sort of dystopian FOMO environment. But before I finished at Apple University, I told someone, “I do not want to come back here to work.”
Wow.
Even though I thought I had my dream job.
Mm-hmm.
Not only was my dream to work at Apple, but I was also doing strategy, all these sorts of things, or at least adjacent to that. I wasn’t actually doing Apple strategy, but I was interacting with Apple executives. We were actually talking, particularly the 4 managers—
Also a pretty good company to join in 2010 if we’re looking backward.
Oh, for sure, yeah. Probably much richer. But—
Cost yourself some money with that decision.
Yeah. Well, the same thing with Microsoft, to be honest.
Yep.
But what bothered me at the time was, I felt this had been an amazing summer. I’d learned very deeply and fundamentally how Apple worked, I think in a very tangible way that augmented things I’d known before. Also, there would be no intellectual value for me in coming back here.
Mm-hmm.
I would worry I was just becoming a member of the choir.
Yeah.
Preaching to the choir is not useful. I actually want to learn new things. I rationalized my going to Microsoft as, above and beyond the fact that they actually gave me a job, which was great, let’s go somewhere totally different, the exact opposite. I think that actually played out and turned out. So, all that to say, that’s a long and distorted story.
No, but an interesting personal history. I’m not mad at it. So where are we today?
3. Agents Change The Mac Equation
I’ve been waiting for years for this touch-screen MacBook Pro.
Mm-hmm.
I actually think touch screens are cool. I was at Microsoft when they were first coming out. They’re surprisingly useful in ways you wouldn’t expect. OLED screens are amazing.
Mm-hmm.
If you’ve seen the Dell XPS, for example—
They’re so amazing that every time I see a new OLED screen, I just want to buy the product. The new iPads, the new iPad mini, the MacBook Pro—I want all of it. So, yes.
And then Mark Gurman comes out and says, “Not only is the long-awaited MacBook Pro with an OLED touch screen coming out, it’s also significantly lighter because they completely reworked it,” all these sorts of things. This has been the computer I’ve been dreaming about for years and years and years, and I don’t think I’m going to buy one.
Yeah.
Maybe I’ll buy one eventually, but I’m going to wait and see. I have a bunch of Mac minis that I’ve accumulated from my channels and things like that. The experience, as I wrote about in that article, of operating a headless Mac mini is so bad.
Mm-hmm.
It’s one of the biggest pain points in my life. Sorry, that overstates it, but in my computing life. I spent a significant amount of money buying a new server that runs Linux.
Will run on Linux, yep.
There’s this whole thing with David Heinemeier Hansson, this whole movement, and I’m like, “Oh, Omarchy Linux.” I don’t know. I can’t remember what it is. I’m not sure if that’s the answer, but what I know is the future for me is denominated by agents.
Mm-hmm.
The level of capability it gives you, the things you can do—for me, every new thing that I can do makes me want to do 10 more things. We talked about the holes in your life, software-sized holes. Once you start seeing them, you see them everywhere, and you can fix them. You can get them done right now. I’m so excited and enthusiastic about it, and I feel a twinge of regret.
Yeah.
I got over my love for Apple in part by being there, in part by writing about them.
Mm-hmm.
When you write about tech, it’s kind of like talking to people who write about sports teams. One of the sad effects is you end up not really being a sports fan.
Demystifies it. Sure, yes.
You kind of end up not really being a sports fan. I think you’ve done a pretty good job. An underrated thing Bill Simmons has done is somehow he’s been in sports media for 30, 40 years, and he’s still—
Mm-hmm.
—is a diehard fan.
A diehard. Yeah.
Because you talk to a lot of people who—you talk to your favorite podcaster who covers your local team, and if you talk to them in person, they don’t really care if they win or lose. It’s—
Totally.
—it’s all about the content.
It’s a real skill, being able to manufacture the enthusiasm year after year, decade after decade, and your Apple enthusiasm has waned over the years.
No, it’s dead completely. I bought a bunch of Macs because I understood macOS very, very well, and my workflows were highly attuned to it. I don’t like messing around with that.
Mm-hmm.
But for years, I’ve been—
Mm-hmm.
—an OS version behind. I dread buying a new computer because it’s such a pain to set up a new one, right? It’s the—
Yeah.
But also, just covering a company, I’m not cheering for any of these companies. I’m trying to analyze them as best that I can.
Mm-hmm.
But deep down in my soul, way down there, if you peel off all the layers, there is an Apple fanboy.
Sure.
This isn’t a company for me anymore.
Yeah.
That doesn’t mean they’re doing anything wrong. It’s just, it’s not you, it’s me.
Fair enough. Well, the thing is, they still make incredible hardware, make it at an unbelievable scale, and deliver it to millions and millions of people—
Right. To be clear—
—all over the world.
We’re recording, and all my stuff’s right up to my MacBook Pro. I have nothing there in front of me.
I know. Everybody on this podcast—
I have an iPhone.
—is using a Mac for everything, yeah.
I can’t wait for the Air 2. And so, just to be clear, this isn’t an “Apple is doomed, I’m throwing up the Air” situation. I’m not doing the—I’m not going Omarchy or whatever, or Linux. I actually love Linux. Once you have an AI agent with Linux, it’s unbelievable.
Yeah.
The command line is perfect. It’s great. So, no, this isn’t about that. It’s more: am I going to buy this new computer? I’m going to think about it a little bit. Maybe I’ll get it.
Sure.
But—
But also, a willingness to explore other options that hasn’t been there for most people over the last 10 or 15 years is interesting and is a shift. I think there’s a dispassionate respect for Apple, but also mounting frustrations with various aspects of being an Apple user.
I will, however, return to my initial question as the host of the podcast. Will Apple’s changes affect me, or just people who are hardcore users like you? I’ve been worried that Apple could restrict access in various ways and degrade what’s possible for various AI applications that we want to use over the next 5 to 10 years. They could do so in the name of security, in the name of protecting data, whatever it might be, all of which would also help Apple maintain control and Apple’s own primacy.
Going back to the very early innings of OpenAI and its hardware experiment with Jony Ive, that was one of the animating concerns that made that idea potentially not crazy. So are we worried about Apple potentially doing that to Macs going forward and changing the way agents operate on our computers?
Yes.
Or is that not really what the issue is? Okay.
4. Apple Locks Down The Mac
No, 100%. They’ve been going down this road for a while—not with agents in mind, just in general. I’ve been complaining about this for a very long time. This isn’t a new complaint. I’ve brought up the headless Mac, these stupid—
Mm-hmm.
—permission dialogues that come up that—
And there’s a reason for them: apps can abuse the access they have. If you brought up a permission dialogue that could be accessed via software, malware could just click “OK” for you. There’s a reason it’s completely separated, such that the agents on my computer just don’t know when things aren’t working. They don’t know why: “Oh, gotta log in.” Yep, there it is.
Yeah.
By the way, Golden Gate is way worse: way more dialogues. It’s a big pain in the rear end. I have an additional complaint. I updated because I wanted to be fully up to date, but if you update a headless Mac—even if you have the permission set so that, on restart, it should automatically log in.
Mm-hmm.
That’s kind of essential because you don’t want to have to go to a login screen for this computer.
On your headless Mac, sure.
Once you update Golden Gate, it does not log in automatically. You have to go in and physically log in or have a KVM switch.
Oh, God. Okay. Yeah.
Which, by the way, is why I didn’t have “Apply Updates Automatically” checked.
Hmm.
Now, I think that doesn’t cover completely new OSes. I think it’s because going to Golden Gate was a major upgrade, but I don’t know for sure. I didn’t want to risk it, so I just checked “Update Security Patches.” The other thing I want to add: it’s my fault I got hacked. I had port 5900 open. That was dumb.
Mm-hmm.
So I take full responsibility. But we’re in this weird middle ground where Apple is so insistent on taking care of security on my behalf—
The nanny state.
I let my guard down.
Yeah.
I let my guard down and trusted they were taking care of it.
Mm-hmm.
When I have another Linux computer, I’m super diligent. I think very carefully about the security there because I know I’m on the hook, right?
Yeah.
There’s this enabling aspect to using Apple’s stuff where they’re so insistent. It’s kind of like a codependent relationship: “Let us take care of it. We will do it. Don’t worry, we got it.”
Mm-hmm.
I’m like, “Okay, fine. I’ll leave the port open. I’m sure you’ll take care of it. You’ll update it.”
Right.
And they’re like, “Right.” And so—
Well, what’s interesting to me as a normie is that it’s inseparable from the Apple value proposition. When you look at how much better Apple computers have worked than PCs—well, than Windows—over the last 20 years, it is a night-and-day experience from what I remember. Maybe Windows has gotten better. I haven’t felt the need to try because Apple just works and is more secure from a virus standpoint and everything else than anything I experienced previously.
Yeah. And I think the brilliant thing about the positioning of the Mac, just to go back to that Polyam article that I cited, is that it was also a Unix workstation. You had the command line. You had full access to the entire tool set. Back in the day, before we got containers and things like that, it was the closest thing you could get to working in the same environment that was up on the server. It was the perfect developer machine.
Yeah.
So they were in this sweet spot of being the perfect developer-hacker machine and also being the best machine for normies.
Mm-hmm.
And what’s happened over the last few years is that they have leaned more and more into—
We must protect the normies.
—the best machine for normies—
Yeah.
—trying to make it more and more like an iPhone or an iPad, and adding in all these protections and permission dialogues and all these sorts of things. It is making it worse and worse for a hacker or a developer—
Mm-hmm.
—or anyone who wants to use it the way I want to use it. And that’s where it’s not you, it’s me.
Yeah.
I don’t want to go down the normie road. I’m so excited about this other road, and I just don’t think Apple serves both anymore.
Mm-hmm.
And I don’t know that it’s possible to serve both anymore. If it’s possible, Apple’s not doing it.
Yeah.
And that’s why it is what it is. It’s not 2004 anymore.
There you go. You mentioned this other news that we had with Apple. Mark Gurman reported that Apple’s upcoming push into smart-home devices will include a doorbell, thermostat, and other accessories developed through an unusual partnership with LG. The products will be part of an ecosystem of devices that work with Apple’s new smart-home hub, as well as an upgraded HomePod mini and a new TV set-top box, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Gurman added on Twitter, “The accessories are meant to outfit Apple’s major new smart-home ecosystem, all with Siri AI at the center.”
As a normie, let me just say that none of that sounds appealing to me. I don’t know whether I’m crazy, but I don’t want a smart home. I don’t want more stuff in my life that’s connected to the internet, more appliances. I don’t want any of these AI assistants. Even the Charms don’t really have that much appeal to me. Am I wrong for feeling that way? Are you excited by the possibilities here? Is there upside that I’m leaving on the table?
I love this approach by Apple.
Okay.
I kind of wish I had known about this before I wrote my article because it really is the counterpoint to what I was trying to express. I think my article comes across as too negative toward Apple.
Mm-hmm.
What I was trying to describe is that the moment when the Mac was great for hackers and great for normie people was a weird moment in time.
Yeah.
The actual expectation is that there are 2 paths for computing. I am so excited about this one path: writing software for everything.
On the frontier, yeah.
And getting a 3D printer, soldering circuit boards, and all the rest. There's so much stuff. The number of ideas I have so vastly outweighs my time to do them. And yet, even then, because of AI, I’ve accomplished so many cool things in the last few months that it blows my mind.
Mm-hmm.
So I’m all the way down this path, and that path doesn’t include Apple products.
Yeah.
That could be because it’s an insecure path, a dangerous path, a risky path, and a fun path. That’s the path I want to go down. That’s not Apple’s value proposition anymore, and that’s okay.
Yeah.
The other path is that the reason to do all this stuff is that a lot of this stuff is actually pretty great.
Mm-hmm.
A lot of the smartphone and smart-home concepts are really good concepts. The reason you don’t want to do it is your assumption that it all sucks and it’s going to—
Yeah. I have an LG television that insists on connecting to the internet, and you finally told me, “Just disconnect it from the internet,” because I just want it to be a TV. I don’t want it to be constantly updating its software and hitting me with all these different prompts. It’s a phenomenal TV.
Oh, that’s my value.
Best TV I’ve ever owned.
Yeah, and that’s my value.
The issue is that the software is a pain in the ass, and it doesn’t need to be a connected device.
Right. And so all those are—right now, the smart-home ecosystem stinks. I have a bunch of stuff. It kind of works together, but it drives my wife up the wall. She can’t stand any of it. I’m totally sympathetic to that. This was my concern about Apple announcing a new home device, and I put in Monday’s article, “Not really excited about this,” because the whole ecosystem stinks.
Mm-hmm.
The only way I think to get the ecosystem to work is that you have to do it yourself. You write all the software, you get your agent working, and then you’ll get this experience that’s bespoke and custom to you, but also super cool, which is not like—
Nobody’s going to do that.
I do it because it’s fun, right?
0.1%, yeah.
Yeah, 100%. And then this announcement drops about all these devices, and I’m like, “Aha, actually really smart.”
Mm.
If there are 2 paths, those 2 paths should be as opposite as they can be, such that if one makes sense, the exact opposite also makes sense. If one path is to hack everything, write your own custom software for everything, and do it all yourself, the other path is to let Apple do everything.
Mm-hmm.
The reason why the smart home stuff stinks is everyone's trying to say, “I'm gonna do the core piece,” like the Google Home thing or the Amazon thing or whatever Apple's gonna propose, and then we're gonna have an ecosystem where developers can plug in and do all their bits and pieces. And the problem is there's a lowest-common-denominator problem here. No one else does it well enough. We tolerate bad apps on our phone. When it comes to having a bad thermostat, you're gonna throttle someone.
Yeah.
Totally.
And so the opposite of wanting to hack everything is trusting one company to do everything. It's like the Microsoft approach to enterprise software. For a lot of businesses, it has always made sense: just buy all the Microsoft stuff.
Mm-hmm.
It might be kind of mediocre. It might not be as good as best of breed, but it all kind of has to work together.
It's interoperable, which has also—
And if it doesn't work—
—been an Apple specialty. Yeah.
If it doesn't work, you know who to blame, right? One throat to choke.
Yeah.
This makes tons of sense for Apple. The opposite path for me is the Apple-does-it-all path, and it doubles down on their commitment to privacy. Like the LG thing—LG TVs spy on you.
Mm-hmm.
I trust that if Apple's in charge of the LG thing, that's not going to happen.
They won't.
They actually have a credible, credible sort of story to tell there. I don't want to integrate third-party software. At the end of the day, I don't want an app for my thermostat. If there's an app for these thermostats, they've failed.
Mm-hmm.
What I want is to tell Siri to turn the temperature down, set XYZ.
Anyway.
This whole middle layer—applications have been this middle layer that is going away for almost everything outside of where they make a ton of sense. If there's an app for your smart device, it's probably gonna suck.
Mm-hmm.
I want direct from AI to the hardware, and you're only going to get that, number one, if you do it yourself, or number two, if one company does it all.
Integrated, yeah.
That's Apple's value proposition. Do it all. Now, this is second-party. They're not making their own thermostat, but I think it's a middle ground that potentially makes sense.
Okay.
Apple's gonna stand behind these, put them in their store, be on the hook for making sure their software works for it. I can see that path. We'll see if it works, but it makes a lot of sense to me.
Rational and coherent. Well, to Apple's credit, going back to you and your Apple nerd club at business school, they do still make elegant products and well-designed products, and so I'm sure this will be cool. I just don't personally feel like I need it, but maybe that's because I just haven't experienced what a good version of this could look like with a smart home. But keeping it moving, another Apple initiative that we have not discussed at all on the podcast.
5. Foldables Unlock New Use Cases
Rahim says, “Hi, guys. Ben recently said he wasn't interested in the iPhone Duo as he mostly uses his iPhone one-handed and that the current form factor suits him well. Isn't the whole point of technology to see what new use cases a new form factor might unlock? With an iPhone Duo, you get an iPad-esque experience in places you've never had it before: waiting rooms, the food court, your kids' baseball games. Yes, even on the can. Is Ben making the same mistake as Aswath Damodaran made with valuing Uber, not accounting for the new rides that would take place now that a convenient service such as Uber existed?
“P.S. If Ben got a Duo and shared his experience, it would help those of us on the fence justify spending the astronomical $2,000 on the iPhone Duo, or $3,000 for those of us in Canada.”
Any thoughts on Rahim's push to get you on the Duo bandwagon?
Yeah. This is a ridiculous email for lots of reasons. Number one, as a note, I should have noted this. I was like, “Oh, Apple didn't raise prices that much.” Apple raised prices like crazy all over the world. So in Taiwan, the iPhone Duo is gonna be like $500 more than it is in the U.S., or $400 more, or something like that. And I think that's the case in lots of places. Number two, this comparison to Uber.
All right, and that is the end of the free preview. If you'd like to hear more from Ben and I, there are links to subscribe in the show notes, or you can also go to sharptech.fm. Either option will get you access to a personalized feed that has all the shows we do every week, plus lots more great content from Stratechery and the Stratechery Plus bundle. Check it out, and if you've got feedback, please email us at email@sharptech.fm.