Bottom line, if anyone including apple thought they could makes buckets of money off a 7" we will indeed see the 'it's available for pre-order for xxx dollars". You can bet on that.
The RIM thing, I think they pull it off, I don't know where it'll go, but I do know blackberry does have a pretty loyal customer base and they re expanding internationally. Not sure why they're loyal myself, but hey, to each they're own.
The Droid has a big, beautiful screen AND great battery life. Seemingly, Motorola didn't let the balance tip too far one way or the other, and got the trade-offs both into a sweet, sweet spot.
Your arithmetic and specsmanship don't appeal to average consumers.
Actually, the regular consumers does not give a damn about trade-offs and sweet spots, only techies and geeks care about that . Does it work consistently as promised and can I use the damn thing right now are what appeals to the average consumers.
10? is better than 7? for me, and I?m tired of RIM telling me I should think 7? is ?good enough.? I can make up my own mind.
Sure 7? is great?better than a phone size, for many tasks... but not THAT much better, while being far less portable. If you?re going to give up portability, then give me something closer to printed paper size... like an iPad.
10? is better than 7? for me, and I?m tired of RIM telling me I should think 7? is ?good enough.? I can make up my own mind.
Sure 7? is great?better than a phone size, for many tasks... but not THAT much better, while being far less portable. If you?re going to give up portability, then give me something closer to printed paper size... like an iPad.
Rather than a 7"-er from Apple, I'd like to know where the 9"-10" tablets from Samsung, Dell, BB et al are.
Distortion or not, doesn't matters to most of the consumers.
Having used a 7" android-based tablet, I would gladly say its use is much limited due largely to the small screen sized. Surfing, word processing, etc are a pain. It is so bad that it now serve as a video player for my nephew, to keep him entertained while we are out dining, etc.
My brother who was so into 7" tablet in the past, is now convinced and disappointed with 7" as he found out for himself how limited its use is. He can't even do decent work with it due to the small screen. And after I got my iPad, he tried for himself and come to agree that indeed 9.7" is a better size to do some decent work like word processing, emailing, surfing. But the iOS platform does have limitations that also affects usagability for his work. Thus, in his perspective, if a device that's combo of iPad h/w and android OS, he will be glad to jump onboard.
"For those of us who live outside of Apple's distortion field
...says the company with a demo only unit that they didn't let anyone outside the company touch!
Quote:
"we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience," Balsillie said in his response.
For a company with absolutely no tablet experience they sure know allot!
Quote:
"We also know that while Apple's attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash."
Developers want to make money, and Apple is delivering the eager customers with low barriers to entry - more-so than any company in history, and better than any of their current or impending competitors.
Customers also don't want flash, they want web sites that work and don't trigger plug ins that will crash their device, bog it down or drain the battery. Flash is becoming less and less relevant under the withering assault from the iOS devices. Live it up why you can! Will Adobe even ship flash on the majority of non-iOS devices before it's irrelevant? Interesting race indeed!
Quote:
"As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story."
As usual, competitors with no direct answer to the substantive points of the iOS ecosystem grasp at straws like antennas and flash - and continue to be steamrolled by Apple's success. Perhaps that's the real resentment going on, no?
I am so relieved that SJ said no 7" iPads. The type of application that suits iPads is quite different from the iPhone - sure, there is some cross-over, but the "killer apps" for iPad just would not work on a 7" machine.
Flash is a lost cause, but I find myself agreeing about the 7" tablet. I would love to ditch the too small iPhone and the too big iPad and just use one mid-sized device. It would suit my needs better than either of the two current alternatives and I know i'm not alone. I've heard the same thing from far too many people for us all to be wrong.
I also find that Steve's remark about the sandpaper is just rude and juvenile. ....
I agree with all that you said; however, could it be that he really is just being a bastard and Apple has its own 7" tablet around the corner? Maybe ole Steve is just kicking sand in their eyes while his product isn't ready? At least I'm hoping that's what happened, I'd really like a smaller iPad.
I agree with all that you said; however, could it be that he really is just being a bastard and Apple has its own 7" tablet around the corner? Maybe ole Steve is just kicking sand in their eyes while his product isn't ready? At least I'm hoping that's what happened, I'd really like a smaller iPad.
Maybe they'll increase the size of the iPhone. That way they aren't offering a smaller tablet, they're offering a bigger phone \
My dad died this year at 87. He was sitting at his new 27" iMac and had an aneurism. I have 23,000 e-mails from him to go back over, Dad's are a great miss.
It's like listening to the chortles of a couple of adolescents in a drainpipe when one of them farts.
BOT, So Google has openly stated that Android doesn't belong on a tablet but are being ignored by Samsung and the rest. RIM tacitly acknowledges that BB6 isn't up to dealing with even 7 inches of screen real estate and they buy up QNX to give them something to throw at it. HP gives up on Windows for tablets/slates, and buys PalmOS.
And the trolls crawl out to chortle and gas about the response of one of RIMs CEOs who was goaded into flinging silly lame-ass items like RDF because they don't have a working 7 inch model even on the bench (according to some well-placed insiders I know). What they have is a prototype which can't run most of the legacy Blackberry apps, and there are no new apps ported yet. Interface is borderline theoretical ala Torch, and not ready for primetime.
Archi and Blackie, I seldom open you out of the ignore list due to the extremes of your commentary and your own very potent Delusion Fields, but I figured what they heck, even I enjoy really bad humor and commentary - like a good car wreck.
problem for most CEO's competing with Apple is that they likely have a better product but people still buy Apple.
it's a headscratching exercise for most.....
you can list half a dozen products in the relevant sectors (mp3, phone etc.) that are better than anything Apple has offered or will offer.
If by "better" you mean more meaningless long checklists of features, sure.
If by "better" you mean a superior and well integrated user experience, your wrong - other companies fall short. And it's not just me - look at Apple's market cap which is a direct reflection of the agreement with their philosophies.
I submit the reason that people like you are scratching your head is your in the minority, and you are focused on things that matter to a very small minority of people. A minority that is also online and hang out in forums like this and tend to be represented out of proportion with reality since most "normal people" wouldn't be hanging out in forums like this talking about very "inside baseball" subjects like, well, this entire web site's focus.
Long feature lists matter to geeks with yardsticks. For everyone else, how a device works and accomplishes what they want is what matters more. Guess who there are more of - geeks or everyone else?
Quote:
Macs are rubbish for the money
Actually part for part, Macs are very cost competitive. Most people who have a problem with Apple and price are trying to compare Mac's to cheap PC's with minimal features. Apple doesn't compete in the bargain basement space - there is no reason for them to. Just because they don't offer the equivalent of a $400 netbook doesn't mean the MacBook is overpriced It just means Apple isn't targeting your desires. Oh well - guess you will just have to buy elsewhere...
Quote:
and iTunes is a joke.
iTunes is very good if you use it like designed - let it manage the files and manage your content via meta data. Most people complaining about iTunes, for whatever reason, want to tend files in folders. Why? This is 2010 - let the computer do mundane file management. If you have relevant information like artist/album/title in folders instead of metadata, there are plenty of utilities out there that will help you correct that and get the information out of the file structure and into the MP3 tags where it belongs.
Once you have the proper meta data, smart folders are very powerful and iTunes works quite well. I have over 40,000 tracks - there is no practical way to manage that manually. iTunes handles it with ease.
Quote:
they are masters in 'desperately average'
They are masters at "desperately useable" - which is directly reflected in the popularity of their products as well as their market cap.
Quote:
I fully agree with Mr RIM and I hope he finds a solution soon.
Ha! The "solution" is to actual create products people want, not just products that have long lists of features. Pretty simple, actually - the problem is you have to be willing to either leave stuff out, or perhaps drop it to increase usability. Hard for most companies to do when there are people like you whining about "desperately average" and other such nonsense. The irony is your complaints are actually perpetuating that which you are complaining about!
It doesn't surprise me that iPad sales have tanked, there are just to many glaring issues with this rev one device. For one people are starting to realize the thing doesn't have the RAM to make it a good investment. More so they are realizing the screen size of the device really sucks. It is simply to big for many uses and is combined with a terrible aspect ratio.
This is all BS, there is absolutely nothing stopping the construction of usable Controls on an intermediate iPad. Nothing.
Besides the sales of similarly sized E-Book readers ought to cause people to wise up here. Sometimes portability for a given level of functionality is everything.
OTOH, the slightly greater usability the 7" screen gives you over the iPhone, is not worth the extensive loss of portability
The screen area difference is massive.
Frankly I think his point was to confuse the market!
I don't think this is the case either. IPad is a device with extremely limited functionality that has to be supplemented with very expensive add ons. Be it the cellular modem or the camera connection kit. In the end iPad is one expensive kit.
Well if you look at iPhone that advantage isn't being passed on to consummers. IPad of course doesn't have competition right now but you would have to be delusional to think it is a good buy. All I need to do is offer up Apple TV and its low price to squash any arguement about iPad being a good buy. For the most part the same basic hardware.
Beyound that why in the hell does iPad get so expensive for modest increases in flash memory? Seriously if Apple is getting such good deals on parts why doesn't it pass along these savings.
The biggest problem I have with the above is this idea that the sofyware is so perfectly tuned for iOS devices. Clearly it isn't as can be seen by the rapid drop in support for older iOS devices.
And that is a good thing?
The real Apple tax is convincing people that their high prices are in actuality a bargain. Snake Oil salesman could learn a thing or two from Apple.
This is tough, because I both agree and disagree-- and I know you get your facts right and don't shoot from the hip.
Here goes:
I don't think iPad sales have tanked (mellowed is a better term) -- According to Tim Cook they don't yet, have enough supply in the channel to meet anticipated holiday demand... They pissed off CostCo, by refusing them the iPad.
I don't think the RAM or specs matter much to most consumers (only us techies), The consumer looks what it can do for him.
Every aspect ratio is terrible -- practical for some things, not for others.
I agree that there is nothing stopping construction of usable Controls on an 7" tablet. Except no one has done it. The Galaxy Tab has provided its own UI on top of Android that is scaled to their 7" form factor -- for system apps: email, calendar, contacts, etc.
To many, portability/pocketability is a major issue. I certainly would consider a 7" form factor (as well as one greater than 10").
I agree, that it is very Jobsian to "confuse the market" and deflect attention. I suspect they built and tested several sizes of iPads, That the price / capability sweet spots were the technology in the 10" iPad. I believe these sweet spots will evolve and other sizes will be offered.
I think that Apple released the iPad form factor they did, when they did because it bought them a year advantage and first to market (setting the bar) advantage over the competition,
The key price is $499 -- everything else is the "art of price / forecast". The existence of a real product at those specs and price forced the competition back to square 1. They were expecting something at $1,000. Apple delivered a usable tablet at $500. How'd they do that... More importantly, how can we match that? By tiering price and features the way they did, Apple can measure demand, gain additional profit, provide choice, and protect devices at lower cost (iPod Touch) and higher cost (MacBook).
Ahh.. the software tuned to the devices. Like it or not these are appliance devices-- not meant to be a long term investment -- rather a current realization of practical state of the art technology. As you know, software evolves much more slowly than hardware. The new hardware capabilities must be exploited by software. Legacy software support is too expensive and restrictive for this class of device. I have 3 day-1 iPhones (all running iOS 3,1)--one has a bad touch area on the bottom of the screen-- mostly unusable except for some testing. Another was hit by a baseball bat and has a chipped/cracked screen in one corner. A little packing tape makes it usable. These 2, gen-1s, plus a 3G are SIMless and used as PGPs by the gran kids -- in lieu of buying $150 game players and $40 games. We've certainly gotten our money out of them.
The same is true, to some extent, with iPads -- 2 of these are cheaper and more flexible (transferrable to a another vehicle, motel room, etc.) than a car entertainment system. The grandkids use them in lieu of a TV to stream content form our MediaCenter, play games, stream from netflix, read books. We have a couple of hundred apps (1 purchase) that run concurrently on all our iDevices. Many are games, quite a few are creative or educational.
My youngest grandson, 10, is saving his money so he can buy an iPad -- he learned to tell time on one (missed some school when it was taught and was too embarrassed to tell anyone) -- there's an app for that!
I expect that we'll get our money out of the iPads, many times over -- its the funnest computer I've ever used (dating back to an IBM 650, circa 1956).
I completely agree. The more Apple products I've purchased, the more integrated everything has become and the more seamless and efficient my computing devices have become. It would be hard to move away from this and because of this, when I wanted a new phone recently, the iPhone was the ONLY smartphone option for me. I either got an iPhone that played well with everything I had or got a basic mobile phone for just making calls (and used my iPod Touch for everything else). I'm so glad I got my iPhone.
Well said, Canucklehead...so many out there are really missing the point of Apple. Yes, a Sprint phone can have 4G (but battery life is suspect at best) and maybe an Android phone can have one or two "wiz-bang" features but for an overall eco-system, from iMac (desktops) to portables, (Laptops/iPads) to iPhones and I have to include AppleTV here, there is no equal.
Best regards and I too would not consider any other phone!
Chris
PS. I know a lot say competition from Google, MS, RIM, etc., is good and I do agree. But consider Apple's iPod line....they have had 70%+ market share for a number of years now and yet they're continuing to improve the line-up. That's a testament to Apple's basic philosophy.
Did he really use the term distortion field? When did legitimate CEOs start talking like forum members? Strikes me as unprofessional and tantamount to saying that people who like the competitor are stupidheads. It's just a dressed up kind of name calling
Comments
Bottom line, if anyone including apple thought they could makes buckets of money off a 7" we will indeed see the 'it's available for pre-order for xxx dollars". You can bet on that.
The RIM thing, I think they pull it off, I don't know where it'll go, but I do know blackberry does have a pretty loyal customer base and they re expanding internationally. Not sure why they're loyal myself, but hey, to each they're own.
The Droid has a big, beautiful screen AND great battery life. Seemingly, Motorola didn't let the balance tip too far one way or the other, and got the trade-offs both into a sweet, sweet spot.
Your arithmetic and specsmanship don't appeal to average consumers.
Actually, the regular consumers does not give a damn about trade-offs and sweet spots, only techies and geeks care about that . Does it work consistently as promised and can I use the damn thing right now are what appeals to the average consumers.
Sure 7? is great?better than a phone size, for many tasks... but not THAT much better, while being far less portable. If you?re going to give up portability, then give me something closer to printed paper size... like an iPad.
At the end of the day... it's all in the stock. Everybody else can suck it.
AAPL 300+
There's not one company, that everyone is fighting for in this thread, that can match that. Yeah, Wallstreet is under Steve's 'distortion field' too.
Whatever.
10? is better than 7? for me, and I?m tired of RIM telling me I should think 7? is ?good enough.? I can make up my own mind.
Sure 7? is great?better than a phone size, for many tasks... but not THAT much better, while being far less portable. If you?re going to give up portability, then give me something closer to printed paper size... like an iPad.
Rather than a 7"-er from Apple, I'd like to know where the 9"-10" tablets from Samsung, Dell, BB et al are.
Rather than a 7"-er from Apple, I'd like to know where the 9"-10" tablets from Samsung, Dell, BB et al are.
They're all on the shelf waiting for someone to design a proper tablet OS for them.
Having used a 7" android-based tablet, I would gladly say its use is much limited due largely to the small screen sized. Surfing, word processing, etc are a pain. It is so bad that it now serve as a video player for my nephew, to keep him entertained while we are out dining, etc.
My brother who was so into 7" tablet in the past, is now convinced and disappointed with 7" as he found out for himself how limited its use is. He can't even do decent work with it due to the small screen. And after I got my iPad, he tried for himself and come to agree that indeed 9.7" is a better size to do some decent work like word processing, emailing, surfing. But the iOS platform does have limitations that also affects usagability for his work. Thus, in his perspective, if a device that's combo of iPad h/w and android OS, he will be glad to jump onboard.
"For those of us who live outside of Apple's distortion field
...says the company with a demo only unit that they didn't let anyone outside the company touch!
"we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience," Balsillie said in his response.
For a company with absolutely no tablet experience they sure know allot!
"We also know that while Apple's attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash."
Developers want to make money, and Apple is delivering the eager customers with low barriers to entry - more-so than any company in history, and better than any of their current or impending competitors.
Customers also don't want flash, they want web sites that work and don't trigger plug ins that will crash their device, bog it down or drain the battery. Flash is becoming less and less relevant under the withering assault from the iOS devices. Live it up why you can! Will Adobe even ship flash on the majority of non-iOS devices before it's irrelevant? Interesting race indeed!
"As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story."
As usual, competitors with no direct answer to the substantive points of the iOS ecosystem grasp at straws like antennas and flash - and continue to be steamrolled by Apple's success. Perhaps that's the real resentment going on, no?
Flash is a lost cause, but I find myself agreeing about the 7" tablet. I would love to ditch the too small iPhone and the too big iPad and just use one mid-sized device. It would suit my needs better than either of the two current alternatives and I know i'm not alone. I've heard the same thing from far too many people for us all to be wrong.
I also find that Steve's remark about the sandpaper is just rude and juvenile. ....
I agree with all that you said; however, could it be that he really is just being a bastard and Apple has its own 7" tablet around the corner? Maybe ole Steve is just kicking sand in their eyes while his product isn't ready? At least I'm hoping that's what happened, I'd really like a smaller iPad.
My Dad died in 2008. Same boat. Touched me, dude.
Thanks!
I agree with all that you said; however, could it be that he really is just being a bastard and Apple has its own 7" tablet around the corner? Maybe ole Steve is just kicking sand in their eyes while his product isn't ready? At least I'm hoping that's what happened, I'd really like a smaller iPad.
Maybe they'll increase the size of the iPhone. That way they aren't offering a smaller tablet, they're offering a bigger phone
My dad died this year at 87. He was sitting at his new 27" iMac and had an aneurism. I have 23,000 e-mails from him to go back over, Dad's are a great miss.
So good of you to say!
Best
Fanboi got nailed!
It's like listening to the chortles of a couple of adolescents in a drainpipe when one of them farts.
BOT, So Google has openly stated that Android doesn't belong on a tablet but are being ignored by Samsung and the rest. RIM tacitly acknowledges that BB6 isn't up to dealing with even 7 inches of screen real estate and they buy up QNX to give them something to throw at it. HP gives up on Windows for tablets/slates, and buys PalmOS.
And the trolls crawl out to chortle and gas about the response of one of RIMs CEOs who was goaded into flinging silly lame-ass items like RDF because they don't have a working 7 inch model even on the bench (according to some well-placed insiders I know). What they have is a prototype which can't run most of the legacy Blackberry apps, and there are no new apps ported yet. Interface is borderline theoretical ala Torch, and not ready for primetime.
Archi and Blackie, I seldom open you out of the ignore list due to the extremes of your commentary and your own very potent Delusion Fields, but I figured what they heck, even I enjoy really bad humor and commentary - like a good car wreck.
problem for most CEO's competing with Apple is that they likely have a better product but people still buy Apple.
it's a headscratching exercise for most.....
you can list half a dozen products in the relevant sectors (mp3, phone etc.) that are better than anything Apple has offered or will offer.
If by "better" you mean more meaningless long checklists of features, sure.
If by "better" you mean a superior and well integrated user experience, your wrong - other companies fall short. And it's not just me - look at Apple's market cap which is a direct reflection of the agreement with their philosophies.
I submit the reason that people like you are scratching your head is your in the minority, and you are focused on things that matter to a very small minority of people. A minority that is also online and hang out in forums like this and tend to be represented out of proportion with reality since most "normal people" wouldn't be hanging out in forums like this talking about very "inside baseball" subjects like, well, this entire web site's focus.
Long feature lists matter to geeks with yardsticks. For everyone else, how a device works and accomplishes what they want is what matters more. Guess who there are more of - geeks or everyone else?
Macs are rubbish for the money
Actually part for part, Macs are very cost competitive. Most people who have a problem with Apple and price are trying to compare Mac's to cheap PC's with minimal features. Apple doesn't compete in the bargain basement space - there is no reason for them to. Just because they don't offer the equivalent of a $400 netbook doesn't mean the MacBook is overpriced
and iTunes is a joke.
iTunes is very good if you use it like designed - let it manage the files and manage your content via meta data. Most people complaining about iTunes, for whatever reason, want to tend files in folders. Why? This is 2010 - let the computer do mundane file management. If you have relevant information like artist/album/title in folders instead of metadata, there are plenty of utilities out there that will help you correct that and get the information out of the file structure and into the MP3 tags where it belongs.
Once you have the proper meta data, smart folders are very powerful and iTunes works quite well. I have over 40,000 tracks - there is no practical way to manage that manually. iTunes handles it with ease.
they are masters in 'desperately average'
They are masters at "desperately useable" - which is directly reflected in the popularity of their products as well as their market cap.
I fully agree with Mr RIM and I hope he finds a solution soon.
Ha! The "solution" is to actual create products people want, not just products that have long lists of features. Pretty simple, actually - the problem is you have to be willing to either leave stuff out, or perhaps drop it to increase usability. Hard for most companies to do when there are people like you whining about "desperately average" and other such nonsense. The irony is your complaints are actually perpetuating that which you are complaining about!
It doesn't surprise me that iPad sales have tanked, there are just to many glaring issues with this rev one device. For one people are starting to realize the thing doesn't have the RAM to make it a good investment. More so they are realizing the screen size of the device really sucks. It is simply to big for many uses and is combined with a terrible aspect ratio.
This is all BS, there is absolutely nothing stopping the construction of usable Controls on an intermediate iPad. Nothing.
Besides the sales of similarly sized E-Book readers ought to cause people to wise up here. Sometimes portability for a given level of functionality is everything.
OTOH, the slightly greater usability the 7" screen gives you over the iPhone, is not worth the extensive loss of portability
The screen area difference is massive.
Frankly I think his point was to confuse the market!
I don't think this is the case either. IPad is a device with extremely limited functionality that has to be supplemented with very expensive add ons. Be it the cellular modem or the camera connection kit. In the end iPad is one expensive kit.
Well if you look at iPhone that advantage isn't being passed on to consummers. IPad of course doesn't have competition right now but you would have to be delusional to think it is a good buy. All I need to do is offer up Apple TV and its low price to squash any arguement about iPad being a good buy. For the most part the same basic hardware.
Beyound that why in the hell does iPad get so expensive for modest increases in flash memory? Seriously if Apple is getting such good deals on parts why doesn't it pass along these savings.
The biggest problem I have with the above is this idea that the sofyware is so perfectly tuned for iOS devices. Clearly it isn't as can be seen by the rapid drop in support for older iOS devices.
And that is a good thing?
The real Apple tax is convincing people that their high prices are in actuality a bargain. Snake Oil salesman could learn a thing or two from Apple.
This is tough, because I both agree and disagree-- and I know you get your facts right and don't shoot from the hip.
Here goes:
I don't think iPad sales have tanked (mellowed is a better term) -- According to Tim Cook they don't yet, have enough supply in the channel to meet anticipated holiday demand... They pissed off CostCo, by refusing them the iPad.
I don't think the RAM or specs matter much to most consumers (only us techies), The consumer looks what it can do for him.
Every aspect ratio is terrible -- practical for some things, not for others.
I agree that there is nothing stopping construction of usable Controls on an 7" tablet. Except no one has done it. The Galaxy Tab has provided its own UI on top of Android that is scaled to their 7" form factor -- for system apps: email, calendar, contacts, etc.
To many, portability/pocketability is a major issue. I certainly would consider a 7" form factor (as well as one greater than 10").
I agree, that it is very Jobsian to "confuse the market" and deflect attention. I suspect they built and tested several sizes of iPads, That the price / capability sweet spots were the technology in the 10" iPad. I believe these sweet spots will evolve and other sizes will be offered.
I think that Apple released the iPad form factor they did, when they did because it bought them a year advantage and first to market (setting the bar) advantage over the competition,
The key price is $499 -- everything else is the "art of price / forecast". The existence of a real product at those specs and price forced the competition back to square 1. They were expecting something at $1,000. Apple delivered a usable tablet at $500. How'd they do that... More importantly, how can we match that? By tiering price and features the way they did, Apple can measure demand, gain additional profit, provide choice, and protect devices at lower cost (iPod Touch) and higher cost (MacBook).
Ahh.. the software tuned to the devices. Like it or not these are appliance devices-- not meant to be a long term investment -- rather a current realization of practical state of the art technology. As you know, software evolves much more slowly than hardware. The new hardware capabilities must be exploited by software. Legacy software support is too expensive and restrictive for this class of device. I have 3 day-1 iPhones (all running iOS 3,1)--one has a bad touch area on the bottom of the screen-- mostly unusable except for some testing. Another was hit by a baseball bat and has a chipped/cracked screen in one corner. A little packing tape makes it usable. These 2, gen-1s, plus a 3G are SIMless and used as PGPs by the gran kids -- in lieu of buying $150 game players and $40 games. We've certainly gotten our money out of them.
The same is true, to some extent, with iPads -- 2 of these are cheaper and more flexible (transferrable to a another vehicle, motel room, etc.) than a car entertainment system. The grandkids use them in lieu of a TV to stream content form our MediaCenter, play games, stream from netflix, read books. We have a couple of hundred apps (1 purchase) that run concurrently on all our iDevices. Many are games, quite a few are creative or educational.
My youngest grandson, 10, is saving his money so he can buy an iPad -- he learned to tell time on one (missed some school when it was taught and was too embarrassed to tell anyone) -- there's an app for that!
I expect that we'll get our money out of the iPads, many times over -- its the funnest computer I've ever used (dating back to an IBM 650, circa 1956).
.
Vertical integration always fails.....always will.
LOL - yup, that's what Apple is doing, failing.
Priceless. I love it...
I completely agree. The more Apple products I've purchased, the more integrated everything has become and the more seamless and efficient my computing devices have become. It would be hard to move away from this and because of this, when I wanted a new phone recently, the iPhone was the ONLY smartphone option for me. I either got an iPhone that played well with everything I had or got a basic mobile phone for just making calls (and used my iPod Touch for everything else). I'm so glad I got my iPhone.
Well said, Canucklehead...so many out there are really missing the point of Apple. Yes, a Sprint phone can have 4G (but battery life is suspect at best) and maybe an Android phone can have one or two "wiz-bang" features but for an overall eco-system, from iMac (desktops) to portables, (Laptops/iPads) to iPhones and I have to include AppleTV here, there is no equal.
Best regards and I too would not consider any other phone!
Chris
PS. I know a lot say competition from Google, MS, RIM, etc., is good and I do agree. But consider Apple's iPod line....they have had 70%+ market share for a number of years now and yet they're continuing to improve the line-up. That's a testament to Apple's basic philosophy.