yes, Apple is *evil*

[sammyg2]

LOL, reminds me of people who ran out and bought LED watches when the first came out. For the kiddies here, those were watches that had the numbers "light up" in red only when you pushed a button.
people were paying up to $250 for these things, a year later when the LCD watches came out you could get one for free with a fill-up or a car wash.

How about when I paid $1300 for a 486SX-50 computer back in 1990 something? should I get a rebate? Is the company that sold it to me evil because the computer went down in value quickly?

I remember driving all the way to the city of industry to buy a 4 meg strick of RAM for that computer for $180! that was so cheap, everyone else was getting $50 a meg for ram.

IIRC I paid about $5 to see "the empire strikes back" in the theatre. Several years later I saw the same show on TV, for free! Imagine my dismay at realizing I was ripped off by the theatre.

No, the only blame falls on the types who had to be the very first ones on the block to have something new and then act surprised later on because the price fell.
When new technology comes out resist the hype and wait. the price will fall, it always does.

or pay the inflated prices and accept it.

[sammyg2]

Oh man, ROFLMAO! Sorry for the hyjack but I can't help it.
I did a quick google search for those old early 1970 something LED watches that started out at around $200 and dropped to $1.99 after the LCD's came out.

Seems those LED's are now so uncool they are cool again. Collectors are grabbing them up at FIVE TIMES THE ORIGINAL PRICE!

A fool and his money are my best friends.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by SlowToady

This just in...iPhone user and ATT subscriber gets hit with $4,800 monthly bill after taking his phone on a Cruise.

The phone was turned off the entire time.

Apparently the phone, even when OFF, automagically checks and updates E-Mail.

Gotta love that Apple Engineering and Innovation, huh?!?!?!

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=292751&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=20537695#20537791

It was not 1 phone it was at least 3. His, the wifes and the kids. It was ~$1800 per phone.

They were using roaming data minutes.

By default email checking is manual, not automatic.

They changed the default.

Can't fault the carriers and manufacturers if the consumer does not know how to use their hardware.

[techweenie]

Humor from the InterWebs:

"Early adopters of the iPhone weren't the only ones receiving in-store credit from Steve Jobs. In an overlooked announcement, Jobs said that early adopters of the Apple Lisa would be receiving a $7000 in-store credit. Apple released the Lisa in January of 1983 for $9,995, and the similar Macintosh was released a year later for $2,495.

'I've felt bad about people who bought the Lisa for a long time. Anybody who bought one of the first Apple Lisas really got screwed,' said Jobs. 'Now that we've got some cash, I think it's about time we made it right.' "

-- Humor site BBspot

-------------------------

Apple announced their one millionth iPhone was sold Sunday, pointing out that it took 2-1/2 years to hit that sales number with the iPod.

[sammyg2]

Time to clear up some misconceptions here.
no one ever said it was an apple. They said it was the fruit from the tree of knowledge.
And besides it wasn't the fruit that was evil, it was the serpent.

No thanks necessary but you're welcome

[kstar]

Originally Posted by techweenie

. . .snip . . .

-------------------------

Apple announced their one millionth iPhone was sold Sunday, pointing out that it took 2-1/2 years to hit that sales number with the iPod.

A million iPhones in 73 days! Jobs would have known that when Apple decided to lop $200 off the 8GB model.

I think it's clear now that the price cut was designed to grab market share, not because iPhones were not selling well.

Best,

Kurt

[FrayAdjacent911]

Originally Posted by SlowToady

This just in...iPhone user and ATT subscriber gets hit with $4,800 monthly bill after taking his phone on a Cruise.

The phone was turned off the entire time.

Apparently the phone, even when OFF, automagically checks and updates E-Mail.

Gotta love that Apple Engineering and Innovation, huh?!?!?!

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=292751&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=20537695#20537791

Apparentlly the dumbass(es) thought turning off the screen meant the phone was actually OFF. It's not. And if they set the email client to check every x number of minutes... they're gonna get charged for the data usage.

They should have put the phones into Flight Mode... but then, they're probably not that smart.

[island911]

Originally Posted by techweenie

Humor from the InterWebs:

"Early adopters of the iPhone weren't the only ones receiving in-store credit from Steve Jobs. In an overlooked announcement, Jobs said that early adopters of the Apple Lisa would be receiving a $7000 in-store credit. Apple released the Lisa in January of 1983 for $9,995, and the similar Macintosh was released a year later for $2,495. .....

Yeah, that is *just the same* . . .2 months . . . a qtr century ... eh, what' sthe diff' ? Technology prices drop by 1/3 (after much hype about exclusivity) all the time, just two months after release.
Just look at . .. ? Hmmm, Plasma screens? - nope. LCD's? - nope. HD-DVD? - nope.

You guys are committed to Jobs, or WHAT?

The guy TOTALLY PLAYED the i-faithful. ...and the i-faithful are saying "thank you sir, may I have another?"

Too funny.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by island911

Yeah, that is *just the same* . . .2 months . . . a qtr century ... eh, what' sthe diff' ? Technology prices drop by 1/3 (after much hype about exclusivity) all the time, just two months after release.
Just look at . .. ? Hmmm, Plasma screens? - nope. LCD's? - nope. HD-DVD? - nope.

You guys are committed to Jobs, or WHAT?

The guy TOTALLY PLAYED the i-faithful. ...and the i-faithful are saying "thank you sir, may I have another?"

Too funny.

I think it's fairly amusing watching you get all worked up over such silly stuff.

Have you formulated your negative spin for the million iPhones sold in 70+ days yet? That should be a hoot!

Best,

Kurt

[techweenie]

Give it up.

The guy's not perfect. He's worth a billion or so. He doesn't think $200 is anything. Nor $600. He doesn't make many mistakes, and when he does, he usually figures it out fairly quickly. I've been very critical of him at various times, but he's been rather successful, overall. Name another American industry leader who has built two multibillion dollar companies that remain among the world's most respected brands.

[island911]

"worked up " ?

techwee equating 2 months to a qtr century, all in an attempt to rationalize the actions of his hero.... This is pure entertainment.

...and besides, that is a funny pic.

[island911]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

I've got a Razr. I don't like it. Too many bells and whistles that I don't use and that don't work well. ...-Wayne

Agreed. Moto phones have some poor UI. I've gone to using mostly 'voice tags' for dialing. (esp on the road) -Press one button on the side of the phone, say the name. It works great.

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by island911

"worked up " ?

techwee equating 2 months to a qtr century, all in an attempt to rationalize the actions of his hero.... This is pure entertainment.

Surely you can't be so emotional about this as to have missed that I was quoting a joke?

Oh, I guess you did miss that. Check the first word: "humor..."

[island911]

Wayne, fwiw, I've had great luck with the "trained" voice tags, but terrible with the canned voice recognition look-up.

Originally Posted by techweenie

Surely you can't be so emotional about this as to have missed that I was quoting a joke?

Oh, I guess you did miss that. Check the first word: "humor..."

OH . . . Just HUMOR. . .

You mean like:

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by island911

You guys are committed to Jobs, or WHAT?

The guy TOTALLY PLAYED the i-faithful. ...and the i-faithful are saying "thank you sir, may I have another?"

Too funny.

Does anyone else find this funny...an i-Rant from i-Sland911 ?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

Jobs is indeed very successful. But I think you guys are missing the point. You can't compare the iPhone price drop to similar drops in plasmas, DVDs, etc, because that was a market-driven drop over years involving many companies in an entire industry.

In this case, Steve Jobs basically said, "I'm going to milk my loyal followers for as much money as I can get because I can". I don't think it's good business practice, and I don't run my company that way....

I don't know if it's "milking". Imo, most products are designed to recoup development costs over the first generation or so, thus the initial "buy in" premium. I think Jobs saw the writing on the wall...he has a winner, but it was simply over priced for most consumers (it still might be). I remember six months ago, many (myself included), indicated we would wait for a 2nd generation (at least) before considering one. Maybe Jobs is attempting to break out of the "loyal following" (i.e. Mac users), with the iPhone, much like the iPod did. I think that these types of devices (iPhones, Blackberrys, Razrs, etc.) are absolute "cash cows", and will be for a long time for quite a few of the market leaders. Don't underestimate the power of marketing... I think it trumps technology most of the time (for better or worse).

[sammyg2]

Did someone say pizza?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

If anything, I think that the newest price drop indicates that a second version of the iPhone is *not* coming any time soon (for example, in time for the holiday season). If a 2nd version was coming, he probably would have waited and brought that out at a similar price point (similar to past Apple pricing strategies).

On that note too, will people really buy others an iPhone for the holidays? ...

You might be absolutely correct on the this, but I would think (hope) that it's more hindsight than a pre-planned "fleecing" of the early buyers. There's no doubt in my mind that Apple is targeting the holiday season. Apple's revenue stream & performance had already been stellar prior to the iPhone, and this is just gravy. As a sidenote, I just heard that Apple was thinking about buying/building it's own wireless network, etc. I don't know what the future holds, but once the AT&T "handcuffs" are removed (and a few technical kinks are resolved), all bets are off. I'm still thinking a couple years out, but imo, we are seeing the "beginning" of a VERY lucrative ongoing endeavor for Apple.

[island911]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

... I'm probably going to get one of those to hold all of my photos...

-Wayne

IMO you should check out the Nokia N800. For pictures it rocks. It has a 480x800 pixel display. (2.5x more than the i-touch/phone) The Nokia also has two expansion slots (read: pict's on SD cards as needed) It also has a punny little camera and an FM recvr. Priced about the same. ($358 Amazon) Or, you can get the ealier version (770) ~$140 ...same screen, but only one expansion slot.


here is a (itouch weighted) comparison.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/09/11/quick-comparison-n800-v-ipod-touch


OR, for holding (and viewing at 480x800 pixels) all your pix (160 Mb) check out the Archos 605.

[stomachmonkey]

Here is why I think Apple lowered the price.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/13/iphone-now-software-unlocked-in-32-countries-and-69-carriers/

It's been known that people all over the world have been buying them at the original place waiting for the SIM unlock to arrive.

A free SW unlock was announced last week and a GUI for it just came out.

So far it has been tested and confirmed to work in 42 countries and 90 carriers, (title of page is incorrect, look for update in article).

I think the global demand was so huge and people have been buying them with no promise that it will ever work and Apple knowing, (maybe hoping) that it would be hacked wanted to take advantage of the expanded market.

Remember the price adjustment came on the heals of 3 unlocking announcements.