I liked it when Apple was a hardware company. Sure, as a stockholder, the services income is great. That's where the growth is. As a user, I hate Apple's services push.

Here's one small example: I have the 200 gig iCloud service that runs $3 a month. I have members of my Apple Family using it too. For some reason, two members have used craploads of iCloud space in the last month. We're nearly out.

Do I get a warning that "A & B's use of iCloud has jumped 400% in the last month [bonus if it says "mostly edited video"]. You might request that they check if the usage is required"?

No, no I get this:

 

macOS

That's a notification on my Mac. Apparently iCloud is going to go away. This implies I can't even use it, though of course all the stuff I have in iCloud continues to work now. I'm just headed to the state where I can't add anything new until something is deleted. But why be measured when you can yell the sky is falling?

Update: Had a reason to open System Preferences later on today. Was greeted with this screen.

Certainly nothing there to suggest I have an option other than paying [more] to play. I could get picky and say the 200 GB listing should say, "Shared with your family" to be clear you're not getting something new there with the 2 TB option.

Regardless, the implication is clear: We're going to need seven more bucks a month from you. No other guidance given. (At least it says clearly here that it's auto-renewing.)
 

Mail

This is from iOS' Mail app. Nevermind that I don't even really use my iCloud email account. This little red warning stares at me every time I open Mail. The clear implication is that all of my email is about to go kaput. 

Spoiler: With the exception of the @me.com or whatever account I have, my email is not under attack. Gmail, Outlook, personal webservers, whatever, they're all still good, and good in iOS Mail, regardless of my iCloud storage space situation. I'd say 50+% of iPhone users wouldn't be savvy enough to understand that right off.

That "Learn More..." link leads you to this overlay. Dark pattern alert: Note how the auto-renew warning is partially obscured by default on my SE2 screen. (I've scrolled in the second.) You can say that's minor, but so would making the "Add more storage..." font a bit smaller. Priorities.


The message is clear. Pay to play or your email goes away.

 

iCloud online/through a browser

The least offensive by a mile is the one from iCloud online.


That's a nice, measured, informative description. You haven't run out of space yet. If you do, you'll still have photos, video, and docs; they just can't be updated. Add a, "You might want to clean up your existing files or purchase more space; here's how" and it's perfect.

The best part is that its "Learn More" link goes here, which is a website that includes an entire section on "Make more space available in iCloud". But guess what's above that nice, reasoned section of true information?

That's right: Buy More Services!!1!!!?!?!

It's subtle, but subtle pushes make millions at Apple's scale. 

Aside: Though probably not at macOS scale. This page is a place where they could afford to leave the services money on the table. 

And that's probably what drives me crazy. Apple used to be the "leave money on the table company". Remember "We don't think you need a larger phone"? The slightly larger 5 size was "good enough" for a while. They could've made a larger phone sooner, but didn't until they were ready, not when the market was ready.

It's a horrible trope, but let's use it. Can you see Jobs saying, "And if you want to keep using your email, you just need to pay us an extra $7 a month above the $3 you're already paying us." This, the guy who wanted to sell you albums of music without DRM. He's going to hold your email hostage?

 

As a whole, these seem like horribly unpolished, crass, rushed, used-car lot sales techniques. If you haven't seen it, you should take a look at the YouTube video that's made the rounds recently (though it's from October), embedded below, about the embarrassing state of the macOS Music app. The dude narrating obviously plays dumb several times to expose poor design choices that might not actually stymie him, but someone is hitting them without the expertise and savviness to get out.

The poor, half-arsed design choices he points out in Music reminds me of the ham-handed services advertisements, above. Lots of verbiage that isn't perfectly clear. UI is not deliberately designed. Each, with the possible exception of iCloud online, refuse to do a respectful job thinking through all the likely use cases at each step. 

Each Apple UI in these cases has a single goal, a happy-path-or-no-path mentality. In Music, it seems it's a very junior programmer fulfilling some acceptance criteria to the letter, and nothing more.

Above, with iCloud, that single use case is, clearly, PUSH SERVICES REVENUE, and do it under the guise of serving the customer.

NOTE: Language in the video is VERY NSFW.




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