That just shows that Apple doesn't have to have a monopoly to compete. They can offer better features, services, etc that people may be willing to pay more for.

Not everyone pays for the extended warranty when they buy electronics/tools but some do because they find value in it.

I think a more apt analogy would be: I'd pay a premium to shop at a store where there aren't any pushy associates trying to get me to buy an extended warranty in the first place.

^ This! At least here in New Zealand almost all perks of "extended" warranties are useless, as pretty much all things you buy here are already covered under our consumers guarantee act.

Nothing is free. An extended warranty is an insurance policy, the purchase price for it is the premium. It's pretty much the same for the original warranty. It may be included in the purchase, but it's still just an insurance policy that the manufacturer has rolled into the price of the product.

So when you have strong regulation like a consumer guarantee act, it just means everything you buy is priced higher to account for it.

"An extended warranty is an insurance policy"

Not at all, insurance company protects you from unpredictable events it has no control over - robberies, hurricanes, etc.

The manufacturer has complete control over how long the products will last.

You know what we call selling protection from something you control? A racket.

"Nice Jewlery Store you have there, would be a shame if something happened to it"

Very true, which is why it's such a scam to sell extended warranties here in NZ, as you get almost no value for it. Yet allot of the big retail chains still do it.

I think the real scam is the tax forcing everyone to pay for the warranty whether they want it or not.

It's a reasonable of life warranty in nz. 2 years is standard for products. But a fridge would reasonably expect to last for all least 4 years so the manufacturer would be obligated to cover it if say the compressor failed. But if it was something like an electric toothbrush then 2 years would be the warranty.

This is ... not true, though?

Consumer goods are more expensive in most of Europe, sure, but that's because of VAT - after adjusting for VAT, the price is usually the same.

This makes sense if you consider that customer protection usually covers (1) returns and (2) defective goods. Returns are not exactly a cost to the retailer - they can still sell the merchandise, and replacing defective goods obviously only applies if you stock them. If you weren't selling bad goods, you wouldn't have that problem.

Nothing of value is free.

But many things of no value are costly.

I'd pay a premium to shop at a store where I could buy something quickly. Vs Apple stores where first I have to flag down someone, then they go tell me to stand at some table and wait, then 5-10 mins later someone comes to help me and ask too many questions, then they say in 5-10 mins someone will bring out the thing I wanted. And finally I can buy >:( Even ordering online for pickup my stuff wasn't at the pickup counter and they had to call into the back room. That might be fine if it was unannounced but they made choose a 15 minute window to pickup. You'd think they'd prep for that window. Instead of waiting until the pickup time I could have just gone to the store without the preorder and waited a similar amount.

If that were true of most customers, Apple could easily allow other storefronts, since nobody would be inclined to use anything but their service. Without competitors though, there's no way to determine if Apple's offerings really are competitive.

I do not pay a premium and have no problem telling pushy "associates" to go eff themselves.

Good for you.

Unfortunately, they don't have to actually offer better services. Because they already have the customer base signed up with cc on file, they simply have to not be terrible. Then, no one will even try out individual subscription services because they already have good enough with apple defaults.

They do offer better services, though. Subscription wise, it is significantly more consumer friendly in the way they can be managed and cancelled compared to signing up with people directly.

They offer good services, not "better" ones, since we have no basis of comparison for what other shops on iOS could look like.

Yes, we do. Every other subscription service on earth which requires hoops to jump through to cancel, usually on their own site with own logins.

Rather than a list where I could just cancel all.

We can and do compare it to the experience we get from the developers of the apps/subscriptions directly. Many are a much worse experience than clicking a simple button in iOS.