Apple Sceptic

 For years I have been an "Apple sceptic". I have thought they produced good products and I was fully aware that the iPhone and associated services pulled people into a walled garden. All things Apple work together. The web page you are looking at can be sent to a Mac. The map you annotate on a Mac will also receive the same annotations when you open the maps application on the iPhone. 

A couple of years back I bought an Apple Watch. At the time I had some vouchers and cash from birthday gifts, the pandemic was ongoing, face id on my iPhone didn't work with masks. As an almost angry purchase to fix the problem of constantly typing in codes, I bought an Apple Watch. 

It kept good time, counted my steps and generally did a lot of basic stuff very well.

This week I have been on holiday in Paris. If you watch YouTube then you will know that pickpockets work throughout the city. You have to keep you bags sealed, your money hidden and your iPhone out of eyesight. Despite the fact that an iPhone is useless as a stolen item due to iCloud lock, they don't care. 

Suddenly the walled garden ecosystem has been working for me with my Apple Watch. I do my basic navigation on the iPhone, pop it in my bag, then the directions come on the Watch. I can just glance down and check directions. This is where the ecosystem of closed walled gardens in tech does help. You could have open standards but having things working together has been really useful this week.


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