But they're all converging on capability. Do I care if it's a 72% or 74% on SWEBench? Practically, probably not. And if I'm not paying per token locally, then if it takes a tiny bit longer to get to the result, I don't care.
Smartphones and laptops are also "converging", but Apple is always a year or two ahead so it doesn't matter. "Converging" is a meaningless term when things move quickly and cost billions to develop.
1. People buy Apple because of the broader ecosystem of products and the “it just works” aspect of that ecosystem. Other companies make phones with features that are objectively better but folks don’t switch because the Apple ecosystem is sticky.
Despite trying, neither OpenAI nor Anthropic has managed to move up the stack beyond “hey guys new model release today!” announcements that everyone yawns at.
2. Switching costs are real. It’s a PITA to switch not just the phone but everything else. Switching model providers is a line of code and takes almost no effort.
Apple has a true moat which is why they can command a premium. OpenAI and Anthropic have no moat which is why they’re in trouble.
Apple would have probably lost more customers if it didn't also create a hard-to-leave lock-in ecosystem.
Lots of people use old iPhones and don't care about some "up to" benchmark bumped every year, but are stuck with iMessage contacts, their stuff in iCloud, Apple Watch or apps that are not allowed by Apple to even mention they have Android versions.
There's been a spike in cases of people eating death cap mushrooms in California this year, and I would bet almost anything that LLM adoption has something to do with it.
They look like the Asian Paddy Straw Mushrooms, so people used to collecting those, being new to the area and not knowing about the Death Cap run afoul of it. The San Francisco Chronicle often has stories about this after it rains.
I liken it to the auto-industry in America during the 1950s. Back then, single income families could take long summer vacations to cabins they might even own. The jobs came with good benefits and company culture was important. It feels very similar.
> Programmers are usually not encourage to wear button-down shirts
You're basing this view on a very small subset of companies (startups). the vast majority of places where people work still expect professional dress above the level of t shirt + cargo shorts and flip flops.
reply