Apart from the fact there is conclusive proof that Apple exists, or are we going to have a deep philosphical discussion on the meaning of existance

Stone the heretic. Each to their own. I do criticise other platforms purely because they are not Apple. If it were not for the fact that Google are behind Android I could possibly consider an Android Phone. I am open minded enough to compliment Microsoft when they do something right.

Is Apple bigger than God?

I guess it depends on which god we are talking about. There are some pretty small ones I feel certain.





Also bigger in which way? Are we measuring what each has done recently? Or just how rich a given god happens to be?

< Big Apple

Or just a really tiny person.

Mark

Largest at the top, smallest at the bottom:

The queue at the post office
God
Apple
.... every other god.... Thor and the like....
Scientology

My main problem is their current attitude.

The God reference goes back to the Beatles (Apple Records), so an obtuse reference, I suppose.

The problem with Toyota and the advert is that Apple are trying to ban a legal advert on a legal website... The fact that Toyota are also a Microsoft partner for in car entertainment (since 1998) probably doesn't make Apple any more friendly towards them.

Then there is the attitude to their customers, as I stated, we had a dead htc and iPhone 4.

htc's reaction? "Sorry for the inconvinence, we'll send you a replacement tomorrow and get you back up and running.

Apple's reaction? "Give us your old phone and then we'll send you a replacement in 2 weeks."

For somebody who relies on the device (4 hours calling a day, plus checking e-mail on the road), that isn't an acceptable solution...

Why would you want to?

I can't change the theme of my freezer or kettle...

Obviously, it's a reference to the famous public pronouncement by John Lennon. However I think it's become more generally applied - at the time it was seen as extremely arrogant and hubristic for Lennon to say what he said, so the idea that some person or organisation think they are 'bigger than God' has come to mean they are equally arrogant and hubristic. I think it's a valid analogy in this case; you can certain throw allegations of arrogance at Apple with some justification.


Now I rather think you're ascribing more influence than exists. Apple haven't 'banned' anything in this case, it's not within their purview to do so. At worst/best, some executive at Apple has talked to an equivalent at Toyota and explained that they really don't like the fact Cydia exists and Toyota decided to do the polite thing. Toyota could equally have carried on if they'd wanted to - it's not as if Apple have any actual leverage in the car market anyway and it's not as if Toyota are in a position where they're so weak they have to try to please everybody. At the end of the day it was Toyota's decision to go with the idea and their decision to stop it, nobody else's. I suspect they think they've got value out of it anyway - the publicity it got probably vastly outweighs the number of people who would have actually downloaded it anyway.


That's poor customer service, no doubt. However I've been into Apple shops with faulty items and had them swapped immediately without even any discussion. It would be fair to infer that the customer service at the Apple shop you were in was rubbish, but to ascribe that attitude to the entire company would be an inference too far, IMO. Apple as a company generally comes very high in customer satisfaction surveys, and I've seen hugely variable customer service between different branches of other businesses before now..

Jon

We don't have any Apple Stores, Apple sell through the equivalent of PC World here, which is even worse than the telephone support.

My nearest store is a 6 hour round trip away.

Because, apparently unknown to Apple, there are better themes than the default out there.


Do you change desktop wallpaper?

I've changed the kitchen wallpaper and my freezer has custom magnets on it. I'm now contemplating painting my kettle, just so I can say that I have

Shouldn't that be Apple bigger than iGod?

Yes, and I change the wallpaper on my iPhone too...