Apple, begone!

I’m pretty sure my next smartphone, tablet, laptop, and desktop won’t be from Apple. My future hardware will be powered either by Android or  by Linux (Ubuntu to be precise). And here’s why.

I knew when I bought my first iPhone that it was made to work well with Apple computers, and Apple treated Windows interoperability more or less as an afterthought. While iTunes does exist for Windows, it plainly sucks. I’ve seen it work on Apple and it’s a different story, but it won’t make me get rid of my computers and switch to Apple laptops that are (at least) 3 times as expensive. Also, iTunes does not exist at all for Linux, and nobody can demand that from Apple; it’s their product and they are free to choose where to offer it.

What I dislike about Apple is that it is so damn hard to make the iPhone play nice in a non-Apple environment, and I’m beginning to realize that it is impossible to get an iPhone to connect meaningfully with Linux. Many skilled developers are working hard on iPhone/Linux connectivity but they are realizing that some things are deliberately broken or obfuscated, and changes with every new Apple software update.

It’s no secret that Apple does not want you to be able to access your smartphone’s data via USB. They don’t  want you to manage music or anything else outside of iTunes. They don’t  want you to customize your device. But I do! Instead of continuing to fight against this, I am simply taking the logical step of choosing a manufacturer that does not actively prevent me from working the way I want.

So why did I choose an iPhone in the first place, when I knew about (some of) these limitations already? Simple: When I chose Apple three years ago, the alternatives were not as good as they are today. Precisely because these alternatives have grown to be at least as good as the iPhone, I am now making a new choice: it ends here. Apple keeps making very enticing products, but the combination of being expensive and limited is just too much for me.

This decision doesn’t mean that I will immediately sell my iPhone and go out and buy an Android, but when the time comes for a smartphone replacement, my choice will not be Apple. My choice will be freedom.