I've noticed a lot of people here sharing similar feelings about Apple, but here's my perspective.
I really didn't have an opinion on them until I began working for AT&T.
For better part of 3 years I worked in a call center for AT&T, all but about 6 months as a manager. When I started in 2011 I was informed of Apple's relationship with AT&T. Until 2012 the Iphone was exclusively sold and used via AT&T, this brought AT&T a lot of customers but it came at a price. Unlike every other phone manufacturer ever, Apple dictated strict pricing guidelines and rules on how Iphone customers could be dealt with. Apple didn't like the idea of upgrades, offering discounted equipment for a 2 year contract. We could NEVER discount an Iphone below standard upgrade price, we could almost never waive an early termination fee (ETF) when a customer cancelled service, since that fee is what allowed that phone discount, and finally we could almost never offer early upgrades to/from an Iphone. People have been fired for waiving termination fees on Iphones, or promising to do so, in situations when doing so with any other device would have not been a big deal. That contract had to be strictly adhered to, even if AT&T wanted to do something special for a tenured customer who may have had a bad experience.
In the early years of AT&T's relationship with Apple it was even worse. Agents weren't even allowed to give courtesy credits or promotion plans to Iphone customers, since the bill is one way the loss on discounted equipment is covered, and discounting the bill sort of defeats the purpose of contract upgrades. People have been fired for offering courtesy credits for legitimate reasons, like a terrible store experience or defective equipment, just because the customer had an Iphone.
After 2012 things relaxed significantly, but it is still not totally even. AT&T reps still cannot offer discounts on Iphones and a few other limitations. Sometimes they work around this limitation by offering a credit on the bill to reimburse for paying full price on a phone they wish they could discount for the customer.
If Apple offered a superior product, then this would be understandable, but they offer a sub-par product as if it were premium.
The Iphone 4 had the worst cell reception of any phone offered in my time working for AT&T, with the possible exception of 2010/2011 Blackberry devices. It became a joke in the call center. Whenever a customer would call in complaining about call quality, if there were multiple lines on the account, we could be sure almost every time the Iphone line either had the worst reception or was the only line with issues. To be fair, this got significantly better since then. I still wouldn't bet on an Iphone getting better reception than any Samsung.
From a consumer perspective, I think smartphones are a waste of money in general, so I don't have one. But if I were to get one I would stay away from the Iphone for several reasons:
-No customizability compared to the options offered by Android.
-Apps selection is limited and almost never free. Android offers a wide variety of apps and they are almost always free. I don't need Apple telling me what products are good/safe. I'm a smart consumer who does my homework before I install anything.
-No/limited interface with Windows computers. Vast majority of Americans use Windows, why would I want to limit myself to exclusively Apple products?
-They make sure their products are not compatible with third party options, often not even backwards compatible. If you buy a new device, you buy new accessories. Charging ports for example.
Apple sucks.
They are arrogant and overrated. I know very few people that I worked with in the callcenter who used Apple. Many converted away because of what they saw, and took pride in converting others to anything but Iphones.
