You're conflating and combing a lot of things here into a big Apple-is-bad bundle.

I don't think I can respond to all of it.

I don't even necessarily disagree with your conclusion -- at the moment, I don't know enough to decide if Apple, all things weighed, is predominantly "good" or "bad", relative to what you might be able to expect from a large corporation. I probably never will.

But if I think it's a fairly extraordinary claim if you think Google is relatively "good". As I see it, for Apple, the iPhone is the product and I'm the customer. For Google, I'm the product and advertisers are the customer. That doesn't mean Apple never jerks me around. Sure they do. But Apple jerks me around when they screw up, and Google jerks me around when they are doing their job right.

> What is Apple really selling you aside from a status symbol and the feeling that you belong to some unique elitist club?

Hm. I've heard this kind of thing before but I just can't see how the iPhone can be conceived of as a status symbol or a sign of an elitist unique club. Hundreds of millions of people are walking around with these phones (and everyone knows this). I realize it can be different in different parts of the world, but in the U.S., where I live, there's no sense of exclusivity or luxury from owning an iPhone, at least not in the middle class circles I run in. In fact, it seems the iPhone does the best in richer economies -- places where it is NOT a sign of luxury or exclusivity. Think about it. I think you're fundamentally misunderstanding the appeal of these devices.

I think I am fundamentally misunderstanding the appeal of these devices, which is why I don't own one. I don't want to use iCloud, iTunes, or anything else to lock me into an ecosystem that is expensive and restrictive. I don't want to buy exclusive hardware to use an operating system. I run Linux and use rclone with Google Drive and it is still supported. Why? Because Google actually has an API. What about Apple?

https://github.com/ncw/rclone/issues/1778

I don't even want to get into AirPods that are excessively marked up pretty much like every Apple accessory and product:

http://a.co/h3yPiSv

If it isn't about status, then I don't really get why people would choose this path. It doesn't make sense to me. I work in the tech industry and watch people spend $3k all the time for Apple computers and equipment that I can get the same or better specs for half the price by choosing a different company. Maybe I've just never felt it was very ethical to support a business that overcharges for devices that can help educate and provide tools and training to people. I always felt it was the responsibility of companies like this to make their equipment and software as equally accessible as possible, not actively exploit people through social engineering. Not everyone will agree with this, but that is my perception.

If you think this is important you should definitely buy an Android device instead. No need to belittle and mock people who have different priorities than you. That's a nasty way to be.

I wouldn't take it personal because I don't like Apple. Maybe it came across that way, but it really is more about the company and culture as a whole.

Android is so pure, they'd never do this type of throttling. Oh wait:

https://plus.google.com/+YgorCortes/posts/CZ2GhoxgHk3

Except people post solutions/tools to diagnose & fix the problem in that link, because it is a significantly more open platform.