sunman42

tenthousandthings said:

The previous “leak” got a lot of traction in the media. It's possible this one is on purpose, to throw doubt in the earlier one, which was likely fake.

Frankly, that was my first thought as well.

The 14,6 numbering frankly doesn't make a lot of sense. MacPro's have "MacPro" in their model ID, iMacs have "iMac," &c. and the Studio's is "mac13,1." I figure it's a smokescreen.

robin huber said:

Guess I’m one of those for whom the card is 4.5. Wife and I have accumulated a couple of thousand in Apple Cash over the time we’ve had the card (early adopters). We do regularly upgrade our many Apple products so that part’s a no-brainer. That, and we pay off our balance due every month so APR is meaningless. Those students getting their first cards under pop-ups on campus would do well to adopt that habit from day one! Then there is the unparalleled Apple Card security that was never mentioned. Our Capital One Venture card (our go-to back up) has had to be replaced three times due do security breaches which is a pain in the ass. Apple Card with its unique number for each transaction? Never. “What’s in YOUR wallet?”

Lines up pretty well with my experience. A Visa issued by my credit union has had to be replaced four times over the past three years because of breaches, which so far are not a problem with the Apple Card. My initial credit limit ($2500, iirc) was low enough that I had to make more than one payment a month to afford some Apple hardware, but I waited a year and requested a raise to the limit, to $5K. In a few seconds, that is, too short a time for a human to have been involved, I got a message back saying it had been increased to $10K. And my current APR is 14.74%, which I understand is pretty good these days. (My other cards currently have APRs like 16 or 17%.)

I am concerned that despite the retreat from such practices during the Great Recession, card issuers are throwing high-APR cards at young people with no prior credit experience, not even a high school class in adulting, including personal finance. The banks want them to run up balances they can't possibly pay off each month, which is, as noted in several responses here, the only sane way to use a credit card if you can afford it. If you can't afford it, cut up the card.

charlesatlas said:

Sounds like Gassee is still bitter that Apple didn't want to pay him $275 million for BeOS and opted to give Steve much more for NeXT instead.

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Considering that for $400M, Apple got not only NeXT, but Steve Jobs as well. The rest, including putting several dents in the world and running the price of Apple shares to previously unimaginable levels, is a history in which Gasée had no part part whatever.

I tried out a couple of versions of BeOS when they were giving it away. Maybe it had great internals, I don’t know. The user experience was lackluster and the graphics were laughable.

jingo said:

Why do people like Gassee feel they need to proclaim in the way that they do? He is diminishing himself in my eyes (he is after all a flawed genius) by not appreciating that not everyone feels like he does, and some value their iPad very highly. Let them, please!

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My guess is that Gassée imagines himself to be a French public intellectual, a set of people for whom arrogance and above all an assumption of being totally correct about any subject at all are a way of life.

darkvader said:

JLG is right. 

I mean, it's the perfect device for playing solitaire.  It's not good for much of anything else outside of a few niche applications like medical check-in stations.

It's not a phone.  It's not a computer.  It's this weird thing that just isn't good for much, and it always has been.

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M. Gasée is wrong, as he has so dependably been the last 25 years or more.

I use an iPad for sending this post (much better for my fingers than any phone keyboard, much more portable than a t laptop). I use it for reading books, for reading the news, for checking weather forecasts, for reading emails, for watching movies when I’m not around a bigger screen — or moving them to a bigger screen when I am.

I can’t think of anything a smartphone does better than my iPad, and as I prefer a large screen for a desktop computer over a laptop, anytime I’m on the move, the iPad wins.

You’re entitled to a different opinion — for yourself.