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Post by CdnPhoto on Apr 13, 2024 6:24:57 GMT -8
Have we seen the recent bottom? I sure hope so. I'm hoping this is the run up to earnings, then a run up in to WWDC.
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Post by Luckychoices on Apr 13, 2024 10:11:29 GMT -8
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4aapl
Moderator
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Post by 4aapl on Apr 13, 2024 17:29:41 GMT -8
It's interesting to hear what people have heard about, or not heard about.
I'm taking a Wilderness First Aid class, and the instructor mentioned in the backcountry when leading groups and not having cell service, that you might want to have a Garmin Spot or one other similar thing. I talked to her later, and though she has an iPhone (maybe 12 or 13), and goes on backcountry winter and summer trips, both as a guide and with friends, she didn't know about the newer iPhone SOS feature.
Sometimes we think that there is enough news out there, of lives saved by the feature. But apparently even with someone who could really use the feature, sometimes people haven't heard of it. I hope Apple advertises this a bit more, both the SOS side of things but possibly with an inexpensive non-emergency option too.
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Post by deasys on Apr 13, 2024 22:10:13 GMT -8
It's interesting to hear what people have heard about, or not heard about. I'm taking a Wilderness First Aid class, and the instructor mentioned in the backcountry when leading groups and not having cell service, that you might want to have a Garmin Spot or one other similar thing. I talked to her later, and though she has an iPhone (maybe 12 or 13), and goes on backcountry winter and summer trips, both as a guide and with friends, she didn't know about the newer iPhone SOS feature. Yet another Apple marketing failure. (AI is the other recent one.)
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Post by CdnPhoto on Apr 14, 2024 4:52:48 GMT -8
It's interesting to hear what people have heard about, or not heard about. I'm taking a Wilderness First Aid class, and the instructor mentioned in the backcountry when leading groups and not having cell service, that you might want to have a Garmin Spot or one other similar thing. I talked to her later, and though she has an iPhone (maybe 12 or 13), and goes on backcountry winter and summer trips, both as a guide and with friends, she didn't know about the newer iPhone SOS feature. Sometimes we think that there is enough news out there, of lives saved by the feature. But apparently even with someone who could really use the feature, sometimes people haven't heard of it. I hope Apple advertises this a bit more, both the SOS side of things but possibly with an inexpensive non-emergency option too. I'm guessing there are a lot of publications and sites dedicated to backcountry hiking. Apple should be advertising there. The publications should also have articles on people who have been saved by the technology.
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4aapl
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Post by 4aapl on Apr 14, 2024 17:18:29 GMT -8
It's interesting to hear what people have heard about, or not heard about. I'm taking a Wilderness First Aid class, and the instructor mentioned in the backcountry when leading groups and not having cell service, that you might want to have a Garmin Spot or one other similar thing. I talked to her later, and though she has an iPhone (maybe 12 or 13), and goes on backcountry winter and summer trips, both as a guide and with friends, she didn't know about the newer iPhone SOS feature. Yet another Apple marketing failure. (AI is the other recent one.) I'd probably call it a missed opportunity instead of a failure. I thought there had been at least one TV ad, but maybe I am thinking of an intro to a keynote. Either way, it seems like there is room for more, especially since they had added a roadside issue option for something that isn't a medical emergency but still important. The support site item that pulled up with a search still calls it a 2 year thing. My guess is that there will be a push before we hit the 2 year limit, at least on a way to extend that timeframe. And an annual plan that gives just an emergency option, but also another plan that covers limited basic texts similar to some of the competition in the field (such as one of three standard texts, plus a timestamp and GPS location), seems ideal. There are still places without cell service, but it seems easier to give some everyday usage features instead of selling a "just in case" feature, though both can sell at times. I let her know today of the support for the iPhone 14/15, but should have brought it up to the whole class like it was at a chainsaw course last year. Ideally people buy one for themselves, but it's also good to know that in an emergency without cell service you could also ask the group if anyone has one, instead of hiking up mountains or out miles in order to reach emergency services. And sometimes that is in-bounds at a ski resort, like the whole backside of Kirkwood, or at a major National Park like Death Valley or Yosemite.
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Dave
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"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." Yogi Berra
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Post by Dave on Apr 15, 2024 1:13:31 GMT -8
It's interesting to hear what people have heard about, or not heard about. I'm taking a Wilderness First Aid class, and the instructor mentioned in the backcountry when leading groups and not having cell service, that you might want to have a Garmin Spot or one other similar thing. I talked to her later, and though she has an iPhone (maybe 12 or 13), and goes on backcountry winter and summer trips, both as a guide and with friends, she didn't know about the newer iPhone SOS feature. Yet another Apple marketing failure. (AI is the other recent one.) I’ve got to agree with you. After spending huge amounts of money designing, testing and implementing a product or feature and then not tell the world about it is insane. Why leave it to third parties to inform the public about the operation of the products you sell. YouTube is full of people that make a living providing instructional videos about Apple’s hidden features or settings that few people even know about. Why all of the secrecy?
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mark
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Post by mark on Apr 16, 2024 14:35:56 GMT -8
It may not be so insane to not market the satellite emergency feature very widely. That's because it's likely the kind of thing that stops working well if too many people use it due to very limited bandwidth. If they widely advertise it, let's say with a prime time TV ad, and half a million people grab their phone to try it, performance will suffer, probably dramatically.
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4aapl
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Post by 4aapl on Apr 16, 2024 21:09:22 GMT -8
It may not be so insane to not market the satellite emergency feature very widely. That's because it's likely the kind of thing that stops working well if too many people use it due to very limited bandwidth. If they widely advertise it, let's say with a prime time TV ad, and half a million people grab their phone to try it, performance will suffer, probably dramatically. I think it only works with the satellites if you don't have cell or wifi coverage. We were in a location that had coverage, and just trying to turn off cell service via the diagonal swipe didn't make the SOS appear. Playing with it now, it looks like you have to go into settings and turn off the "turn on this line". With that and wifi off, and being near a window, I saw the SOS icon display. I know people on two different SAR teams nearby. I asked the one of the Tahoe Nordic SAR, and he said they have had a few calls aided by it this year, but still have more from the Garmin Spot and InReach. This makes sense, party because a larger percent of their calls are for planned trips that went wrong, and if you are already getting a bunch of avalanche gear, you probably have a specific communication device, or at least one in the group. He mentioned Pacific Crest Trail hikers often having a Spot, which also makes sense due to their multi-month long trip, battery life, and being able to use it for more than just emergencies. He likes the added features of the InReach, saying he can connect with his phone to it, and send 140 character texts. In emergencies, it can give much more focused info, such as what injuries there are. But even the limited info (he said there were something like 14 responses to choose from) the iPhone gave, plus the location info, helps a lot. Others have called it changing things from a Search and Rescue to just a Rescue. The other team is for all of Washoe county, which covers a vast section of Nevada. Some of their calls have included some older women who got a flat out on a remote dirt road without cell service. My guess is that they have a larger range of types of calls, and so a bigger range of preparedness. And right now that might be an area where having a feature in the iPhone 14 and 15 would shine, as an extra option when one really isn't expecting that they need a device. Either way, I hope Apple is working on this. Personally I'd like to see the limited emergency response stay free (possibly for the life of the device), but have them add on a service for those that want to be able to send limited messages to others, like the Garmin devices. It would be great if that was free for a bit too, but $5-$15/month, or $5-$10/month if prepaying for a year, seems decent. We'll see what they do with it. I notice the option every time I am in a place without signal, but I don't know how many other people notice this sort of thing. FWIW the person on SAR also said that even without Apple's SOS feature, there are times where a phone says you have no service, but you can still get through to 911 for an emergency. I had heard of there still being that option if you didn't have a cell plan, but hadn't really heard this sort of thing before. But he would know better than I, or maybe we were just misunderstanding.
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