I've said it before and I'll say it again: far too many people judge Apple products based on what they don't have, which illogical since you buy products based on what they have, not what they don't have.
I think that the bottom line for most folks is that they DON'T buy Apple products. Perhaps it is based upon what they don't have, at least for the prices charged. Perhaps there are other reasons too.
That's far from the only reasonable guess. Another might be that things are not going well with regard to attracting partners, so Steve is forced to step in.
Frankly, it matters zilcho whether or not he has found 'partners.' The media needs the iPad more than the other way around. They are on their last throes and some of them, inclduing some well-known names, will not survive to get a second chance.
If this thing is nothing more than a glorified iPod Touch enlarged - it is way beyond that in so many different ways and I need not go into here - it will still be a massively successful product.
In other words, some of these traditional 'content' providers would be complete idiots to not get in line. Time will tell.
Frankly, it matters zilcho whether or not he has found 'partners.' The media needs the iPad more than the other way around. They are on their last throes and some of them, inclduing some well-known names, will not survive to get a second chance.
If this thing is nothing more than a glorified iPod Touch enlarged - it is way beyond that in so many different ways and I need not go into here - it will still be a massively successful product.
In other words, some of these traditional 'content' providers would be complete idiots to not get in line. Time will tell.
Of even more importance, Apple already has several big media partners in place. They were announced the day the iPad was announced. Steve seems to be doing the full court press on the others. Knowing something about the way he thinks, this doesn't entirely surprise me. He wants to do for the print industry what Apple did for the music industry. I don't think he'll be satisfied with anything less.
It is just an iPod Touch Pro that you can access 3G with (from AT&T who sucks btw). Correct me if I am wrong
on this one but why exactly would people like me want to lug around an iPod Touch and an iPad? It'll fit right in between a laptop - Dolt!
There is no way I could charge my iPad from my work computer's USB port - so what? - no really - who cares? (it is too big and therefore too conspicuous in a work environ)
It is an at home device and therefore only WiFi is needed
One mistake every 10 years ain't bad (and the iPad is still better than the Zune and Windows Vista!!!). - the Zune and Vista? - oh, I get it - hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts? - no really - are you thinking?
"Correct me if I am wrong" - OK - YOU'RE WRONG! - Dolt!
You just admitted that the iPad will be a home device
There are 121,318,000 dwellings in the USofA (2005 stats),
Of even more importance, Apple already has several big media partners in place. They were announced the day the iPad was announced. Steve seems to be doing the full court press on the others. Knowing something about the way he thinks, this doesn't entirely surprise me. He wants to do for the print industry what Apple did for the music industry. I don't think he'll be satisfied with anything less.
I enjoy doing that with Rush. I point out examples to my kids when they are in the car and Rush is on the radio. He is masterful with that technique. He knows how to sound like he is actually making a cogent point without letting a single sound bite slip through. A common technique is to set up a point, start the conclusory sentence, and then digress before he ever states any conclusion.
"My point is a niche product isn't going to help the Times all that much"
The electric light bulb, the telephone, the automobile, the personal computer, the cell phone, and indeed the iPod as well as many many more were ALL niche products at one point. Apple is not playing for "niche" ... the iPad will be far more successful than most people believe. Why? One big reason is the App Store, and there are many others.
I respect your views and thanks for the anecdotes. One could say that the shit has yet to hit the fan- namely that the Chinese economy will at first feel the tinges of economic despair gripping the West and then soon accelerate in its decline and China's decline will be far steeper than ours. China relies on American consumers and European Consumers to buy its goods. It is great for them that African and Middle Eastern countries are buying as well but even they are feeling the hurt of the global economic crisis (Dubai getting loans from Abu Dhabi, etc). What I fear though is that the opportunists you mentioned have already arrived and instead of having noble goals (like push for job creation) they are instead filling their own pockets from the ship (USA) that they see as sinking. Liberal or Conservative nothing is ever done in Washington precisely because that is how the corporations that pay lobbyists want it to be. But it is wrong to say that nothing gets done- a whole lot gets done for the corporate interests - look at wall street, auto makers, etc... The question is where do we go from here as a society? And why do we hold ourselves up to ideals that never existed in the first place (free market, etc). We are capitalist in regards to profits and socialist in regards to losses.
I usually avoid this type of discussion, but I am not fully awake yet... so here goes:
On one hand we have an economy (USA) whose future depends on unrealistic, unsustainable debt.
On another hand we have an economy (China) whose future depends on unrealistic, unsustainable growth (based on human exploitation and acquisition of USA debt).
By what logic (of any kind) can the USA realistically sustain consuming more than it produces (incurring debt)?
*
I guess you need to listen, observe, and analyze a bit more. Here are a couple of points for you to think about (I am not going to do your thinking for you):
1) How people 'sustain' a college loan, a car loan, mortgage debt?
2) How do hundreds of successful, valuable, growing companies 'sustain' themselves despite debt on their balance sheet?
3) Do you know the difference between a flow variable (income, GDP, measured on a per-year basis), and a level variable (debt, equity, metrics that reflect a cumulative outcome measured over many many years), and how to compare the two?
Common sense is not all that 'common.' And what 'common'ly passes off for it can sometimes be wrong.
I guess you kind of missed the whole "Steve goes to NYC to court John Sculley" private talks a few decades back?
Yeah. Thought so.
You're absolutely right. Why would I want to follow his every move as you obviously have? You probably also have every keynote he's ever made on your hard drive and light a candle in front of your screen every time you watch one.
My sentiments expounded exactly. Closed systems aren't good in countries (N. Korea or Cuba) and certainly not in consumer products. Apple has always fashioned itself as creative, free spirited, etc but it is on closer examination one of the most dictatorial corporations (maybe that has led to its success, much like China being a closed regime and having an off the charts GDP growth)...It is an interesting topic and one that I am sure will be studied at universities in the future...
I guess you need to listen, observe, and analyze a bit more. Here are a couple of points for you to think about (I am not going to do your thinking for you):
1) How people 'sustain' a college loan, a car loan, mortgage debt?
2) How do hundreds of successful, valuable, growing companies 'sustain' themselves despite debt on their balance sheet?
3) Do you know the difference between a flow variable (income, GDP, measured on a per-year basis), and a level variable (debt, equity, metrics that reflect a cumulative outcome measured over many many years), and how to compare the two?
Common sense is not all that 'common.' And what 'common'ly passes off for it can sometimes be wrong.
Yes, that is all very nice, but it still does not answer the simple question:
By what logic (of any kind) can the USA (or any entity) realistically sustain consuming more than it produces (incurring debt)?
BTW, I never had a college loan, but had a loan to start a business, loans to expand the business, car loans, credit cards, and mortgages. I paid them all off by producing more than I consumed. I am now, debt free, living of my retirement and investments (assets produced by my efforts).
By good fortune, luck of birth, and diligence of my antecedents, I was born into a country and an environment that allowed an individual to fail and to succeed based on his own initiative.
I had my share of both!
Unfortunately, we are allowing that country and that environment to be dissipated.
I count my contribution to this nonsense (looking the other way, too busy to pay attention, etc.) to be my biggest failure in life. By lack of due diligence, I have squandered my greatest inheritance and my progeny will suffer for it.
"My point is a niche product isn't going to help the Times all that much"
The electric light bulb, the telephone, the automobile, the personal computer, the cell phone, and indeed the iPod as well as many many more were ALL niche products at one point. Apple is not playing for "niche" ... the iPad will be far more successful than most people believe. Why? One big reason is the App Store, and there are many others.
Unless you have some idiosyncratic definition of niche, I disagree with your remarks regarding the telephone, light bulb and the automobile. Each was intended for the mass market from day 1.
IMO, we need to trim the current accounts deficit. This can be helped by massive "Made in the USA" and "Buy American" campaigns.
I recently bought a laptop. I bought an American brand on purpose. I wish that everybody would use the country of origin as a factor in their purchase decisions.
By what logic (of any kind) can the USA realistically sustain consuming more than it produces (incurring debt)?
*
We need to invest in economically productive areas: Education, industry, infrastructure. Reducing consumption would help too. But the goal is to sustain consumption, so work on the production side seems to me to be the best strategy.
IMO, we need to trim the current accounts deficit. This can be helped by massive "Made in the USA" and "Buy American" campaigns.
I recently bought a laptop. I bought an American brand on purpose. I wish that everybody would use the country of origin as a factor in their purchase decisions.
What brand laptop is that? Last I checked, there are no laptops made in the USA, except for the ones Ben Heck makes.
Comments
I've said it before and I'll say it again: far too many people judge Apple products based on what they don't have, which illogical since you buy products based on what they have, not what they don't have.
I think that the bottom line for most folks is that they DON'T buy Apple products. Perhaps it is based upon what they don't have, at least for the prices charged. Perhaps there are other reasons too.
That's far from the only reasonable guess. Another might be that things are not going well with regard to attracting partners, so Steve is forced to step in.
Frankly, it matters zilcho whether or not he has found 'partners.' The media needs the iPad more than the other way around. They are on their last throes and some of them, inclduing some well-known names, will not survive to get a second chance.
If this thing is nothing more than a glorified iPod Touch enlarged - it is way beyond that in so many different ways and I need not go into here - it will still be a massively successful product.
In other words, some of these traditional 'content' providers would be complete idiots to not get in line. Time will tell.
Frankly, it matters zilcho whether or not he has found 'partners.' The media needs the iPad more than the other way around. They are on their last throes and some of them, inclduing some well-known names, will not survive to get a second chance.
If this thing is nothing more than a glorified iPod Touch enlarged - it is way beyond that in so many different ways and I need not go into here - it will still be a massively successful product.
In other words, some of these traditional 'content' providers would be complete idiots to not get in line. Time will tell.
Of even more importance, Apple already has several big media partners in place. They were announced the day the iPad was announced. Steve seems to be doing the full court press on the others. Knowing something about the way he thinks, this doesn't entirely surprise me. He wants to do for the print industry what Apple did for the music industry. I don't think he'll be satisfied with anything less.
It is just an iPod Touch Pro that you can access 3G with (from AT&T who sucks btw). Correct me if I am wrong
on this one but why exactly would people like me want to lug around an iPod Touch and an iPad? It'll fit right in between a laptop - Dolt!
There is no way I could charge my iPad from my work computer's USB port - so what? - no really - who cares? (it is too big and therefore too conspicuous in a work environ)
It is an at home device and therefore only WiFi is needed
One mistake every 10 years ain't bad (and the iPad is still better than the Zune and Windows Vista!!!). - the Zune and Vista? - oh, I get it - hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts? - no really - are you thinking?
"Correct me if I am wrong" - OK - YOU'RE WRONG! - Dolt!
You just admitted that the iPad will be a home device
There are 121,318,000 dwellings in the USofA (2005 stats),
let's just say 2.5% take up the 'home device'
some 3,000,000 odd? - on your recommendation.
I'm like you ................ (read 'freethinker' that is)
OK, - that's fine with us - you're an idiot too - it's OK
Of even more importance, Apple already has several big media partners in place. They were announced the day the iPad was announced. Steve seems to be doing the full court press on the others. Knowing something about the way he thinks, this doesn't entirely surprise me. He wants to do for the print industry what Apple did for the music industry. I don't think he'll be satisfied with anything less.
Exactly.
I enjoy doing that with Rush. I point out examples to my kids when they are in the car and Rush is on the radio. He is masterful with that technique. He knows how to sound like he is actually making a cogent point without letting a single sound bite slip through. A common technique is to set up a point, start the conclusory sentence, and then digress before he ever states any conclusion.
He's masterful.
*
So the example you are setting for your kids is:
1) Listen to Rush while in the car...
2) Pay careful attention to what he is saying,,,
You sly fox
*
The electric light bulb, the telephone, the automobile, the personal computer, the cell phone, and indeed the iPod as well as many many more were ALL niche products at one point. Apple is not playing for "niche" ... the iPad will be far more successful than most people believe. Why? One big reason is the App Store, and there are many others.
I respect your views and thanks for the anecdotes. One could say that the shit has yet to hit the fan- namely that the Chinese economy will at first feel the tinges of economic despair gripping the West and then soon accelerate in its decline and China's decline will be far steeper than ours. China relies on American consumers and European Consumers to buy its goods. It is great for them that African and Middle Eastern countries are buying as well but even they are feeling the hurt of the global economic crisis (Dubai getting loans from Abu Dhabi, etc). What I fear though is that the opportunists you mentioned have already arrived and instead of having noble goals (like push for job creation) they are instead filling their own pockets from the ship (USA) that they see as sinking. Liberal or Conservative nothing is ever done in Washington precisely because that is how the corporations that pay lobbyists want it to be. But it is wrong to say that nothing gets done- a whole lot gets done for the corporate interests - look at wall street, auto makers, etc... The question is where do we go from here as a society? And why do we hold ourselves up to ideals that never existed in the first place (free market, etc). We are capitalist in regards to profits and socialist in regards to losses.
I usually avoid this type of discussion, but I am not fully awake yet... so here goes:
On one hand we have an economy (USA) whose future depends on unrealistic, unsustainable debt.
On another hand we have an economy (China) whose future depends on unrealistic, unsustainable growth (based on human exploitation and acquisition of USA debt).
Is the USA too big to fail?
Who will bail them out?
Is China too big to fail?
Who will bail them out?
Can anything be done to rectify the situation?
What?
Does it matter?
*
I
On one hand we have an economy (USA) whose future depends on unrealistic, unsustainable debt.
On what logic -- not political talking points -- do you make the judgment/statement that USA's future depends on "unrealistic, unsustainable" debt?
Oh, by that, I mean economic logic.
On what logic -- not political talking points -- do you make the judgment/statement that USA's future depends on "unrealistic, unsustainable" debt?
Oh, by that, I mean economic logic.
I used no political talking points...
I listen, observe, analyze...
Then I use...
Common sense!
By what logic (of any kind) can the USA realistically sustain consuming more than it produces (incurring debt)?
*
I used no political talking points...
I listen, observe, analyze...
Then I use...
Common sense!
By what logic (of any kind) can the USA realistically sustain consuming more than it produces (incurring debt)?
*
I guess you need to listen, observe, and analyze a bit more. Here are a couple of points for you to think about (I am not going to do your thinking for you):
1) How people 'sustain' a college loan, a car loan, mortgage debt?
2) How do hundreds of successful, valuable, growing companies 'sustain' themselves despite debt on their balance sheet?
3) Do you know the difference between a flow variable (income, GDP, measured on a per-year basis), and a level variable (debt, equity, metrics that reflect a cumulative outcome measured over many many years), and how to compare the two?
Common sense is not all that 'common.' And what 'common'ly passes off for it can sometimes be wrong.
I guess you kind of missed the whole "Steve goes to NYC to court John Sculley" private talks a few decades back?
Yeah. Thought so.
You're absolutely right. Why would I want to follow his every move as you obviously have? You probably also have every keynote he's ever made on your hard drive and light a candle in front of your screen every time you watch one.
Get a life!
My sentiments expounded exactly. Closed systems aren't good in countries (N. Korea or Cuba) and certainly not in consumer products. Apple has always fashioned itself as creative, free spirited, etc but it is on closer examination one of the most dictatorial corporations (maybe that has led to its success, much like China being a closed regime and having an off the charts GDP growth)...It is an interesting topic and one that I am sure will be studied at universities in the future...
Very well put.
I guess you need to listen, observe, and analyze a bit more. Here are a couple of points for you to think about (I am not going to do your thinking for you):
1) How people 'sustain' a college loan, a car loan, mortgage debt?
2) How do hundreds of successful, valuable, growing companies 'sustain' themselves despite debt on their balance sheet?
3) Do you know the difference between a flow variable (income, GDP, measured on a per-year basis), and a level variable (debt, equity, metrics that reflect a cumulative outcome measured over many many years), and how to compare the two?
Common sense is not all that 'common.' And what 'common'ly passes off for it can sometimes be wrong.
Yes, that is all very nice, but it still does not answer the simple question:
By what logic (of any kind) can the USA (or any entity) realistically sustain consuming more than it produces (incurring debt)?
BTW, I never had a college loan, but had a loan to start a business, loans to expand the business, car loans, credit cards, and mortgages. I paid them all off by producing more than I consumed. I am now, debt free, living of my retirement and investments (assets produced by my efforts).
By good fortune, luck of birth, and diligence of my antecedents, I was born into a country and an environment that allowed an individual to fail and to succeed based on his own initiative.
I had my share of both!
Unfortunately, we are allowing that country and that environment to be dissipated.
I count my contribution to this nonsense (looking the other way, too busy to pay attention, etc.) to be my biggest failure in life. By lack of due diligence, I have squandered my greatest inheritance and my progeny will suffer for it.
*
*
So the example you are setting for your kids is:
1) Listen to Rush while in the car...
2) Pay careful attention to what he is saying,,,
You sly fox
*
Well, the real point is the dissection of shibboleths. If you'll notice, I do that here too...
"My point is a niche product isn't going to help the Times all that much"
The electric light bulb, the telephone, the automobile, the personal computer, the cell phone, and indeed the iPod as well as many many more were ALL niche products at one point. Apple is not playing for "niche" ... the iPad will be far more successful than most people believe. Why? One big reason is the App Store, and there are many others.
Unless you have some idiosyncratic definition of niche, I disagree with your remarks regarding the telephone, light bulb and the automobile. Each was intended for the mass market from day 1.
Can anything be done to rectify the situation?
What?
*
IMO, we need to trim the current accounts deficit. This can be helped by massive "Made in the USA" and "Buy American" campaigns.
I recently bought a laptop. I bought an American brand on purpose. I wish that everybody would use the country of origin as a factor in their purchase decisions.
By what logic (of any kind) can the USA realistically sustain consuming more than it produces (incurring debt)?
*
We need to invest in economically productive areas: Education, industry, infrastructure. Reducing consumption would help too. But the goal is to sustain consumption, so work on the production side seems to me to be the best strategy.
IMO, we need to trim the current accounts deficit. This can be helped by massive "Made in the USA" and "Buy American" campaigns.
I recently bought a laptop. I bought an American brand on purpose. I wish that everybody would use the country of origin as a factor in their purchase decisions.
What brand laptop is that? Last I checked, there are no laptops made in the USA, except for the ones Ben Heck makes.