>> but I have never had to worry about ads suddenly appearing after an update
The problem is that Android TV users used to think the exact same thing. It's even said in the reviews explicitly by some people. I don't and I won't trust a corporation, be it Apple or Google, to not do something in a future update - if it works fine right now then unfortunately that has to be good enough.
Of course. But companies change all the time - today Apple is very privacy focused and we can reasonably say they wouldn't do such a thing. Can you absolutely guarantee that they won't in 2 years? In 5? in 10? What if the CEO changes and they think that ad-derived value is the best thing ever?
Like, this isn't meant to be a post against Apple btw. Just that I don't see a point in saying "company X did a bad thing, that's why I buy company Y, they would never do this!" - they don't right now, that's what counts. But for the future? Who knows.
We have to make reasonable assumptions when making purchasing decisions. Just because something could happen does not make it a likely thing to happen and assuming that any company is equally likely to start serving advertisements on their devices is unreasonable and foolish.
While people may not have had the foresight to know that Google would be adding advertisements to their tv box, the behavior itself isn't unexpected given that Google is an advertising company. For Apple the behavior is both unexpected and disincentivized by the brand they've built for themselves.
I could die tomorrow but living my life under that impression would be foolish.
Apple subjects its users to entirely different type of abuse: purposeful incompatibility and vendor lock-in on every imaginable level from cable connectors to keyboard layouts. You always have to go all in to their ecosystem and pay a 50% premium on everything just for the Apple logo.
I guess it's a choice of if you want to bend over at the checkout or at home when you have started using the product.
> Apple subjects its users to entirely different type of abuse: purposeful incompatibility and vendor lock-in on every imaginable level from cable connectors to keyboard layouts.
By cable connectors I'm assuming you are mostly referring to the lightning connector, which came before USB-C was an option. I actually still think it's a better connector than USB-C, but the advantages of adopting USB-C at this point heavily outweigh the merits of keeping it. Still, Apple doesn't shy away from adopting new standards that it thinks it's better. They famously ditched their own serial connector (ADB) for USB in the iMac.
I have no clue what you meany by keyboard layout or how Apple in any way locks someone into a specific keyboard layout.
> You always have to go all in to their ecosystem
Why do you have to go all in on their ecosystem again? There are plenty of people with airpods or an iPad without any other Apple device and are perfectly happy with just that. Apple puts a lot of effort into creating an attractive ecosystem because their business is in selling hardware.
> pay a 50% premium on everything just for the Apple logo.
... And for the software, the ecosystem, the hardware, and a lot of other factors. I find it extremely weird that you say this in the same sentence that you mention the ecosystem. Beyond that, it's not even true? What devices cost 50% more when compared against comparable options from other manufacturers?
> I guess it's a choice of if you want to bend over at the checkout or at home when you have started using the product.
You're making of choice of paying for higher quality hardware that isn't subsidized or lower quality hardware that is. The biggest slap in the face here is for people that bought premium Android TV devices like the Nvidia Shield and still have to put up with this bullshit from Google.
The future is uncertain, that is life. But while a company is privacy focussed, reward that behaviour so they (or their new competitors for when they stop supporting privacy it) know people vote with wallets.
The problem is that Android TV users used to think the exact same thing. It's even said in the reviews explicitly by some people. I don't and I won't trust a corporation, be it Apple or Google, to not do something in a future update - if it works fine right now then unfortunately that has to be good enough.