Remember this...
This September Apple will (probably) be releasing a new version of something. Lots of analyst have predicted it to be a tablet PC of some sort. Some have gone as far as saying it's going to be a 6-inch screen device and a second one with a larger screen (9to5mac). Others have guestimated the price at starting around $679 (BusinessWeek)There are even moc images of what the device will look like.
Some of those enthusiastic persons may be close to the whatever it is as some of them have been right in the past. But knowing how ultra secretive Apple is we all can only guess what what this new thingy will be.
We hope that's it's not going to be just a big-ass iPod Touch. And even if it were, it would still be friggin awesome. We're not expecting something revolutionary but something extraordinary (hopefully). While the earnings potential and and cult following of this device all hangs on what exactly it is, we're all anticipating something super cool. Look out for it. Apple's new iSomething, coming very soon.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Beginning of the end of AT&T iPhone exclusivity?
So you all know that I've hated the idea of the exclusivity deal between Apple and AT&T ... infact any exclusivity deal between cell phones and carriers. But Apple's deal with AT&T is especially upsetting to me for several reasons of which I will mention a couple.
First is the fact that AT&T service plans suck. Plain and simple. Customers are charged too much for services that other carriers are providing for much less. AT&T remains the longest running carrier in the US and one would think that at this point they would be able to offer such services at much more competitive prices. But no. An average iPhone bill, as understood, runs about $100 a month. The other carriers offer much better plans (many more minutes, more texts, more data....even unlimited in some cases) and they do it for much less. If they can do it, why can't AT&T?
Secondly, I think this exclusivity with AT&T is actually hurting Apple sales of the iPhone, and ultimately their profit margin. Had it been open to any carrier of course the maker of 'the Jesus phone' would have had a lot more sales. Why they chose to partner with AT&T and limit their sales numbers may have probably been to keep the phone an exclusive item, but that does not hold, totally. AT&T may have been the ones to bend the most to their demands and so they beat out the other potentials. Why else?!
But here comes the good news. Along comes war hero - John Kerry. Kerry, chairman of the Commerce Subcommitee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, along with Roger Wicker, Byron Dorgan and Amy Klouchar are taking up the case for consumers and questioning/challenging carrier-cell phone exclusivity deals. Hearings will be occurring soon to discuss such alliances and their harmful, anti-competitive nature.
Oh Happy Day
Not just yet. We still have to wait and ride the matter through...and we all know how long the political system takes. But of course ultimately this is great news for the millions of us who want to get the iPhones and/or Palm Pre's but can't because that would mean we would have to leave our current carriers to migrate to those who have exclusivity offers of those phones. Often such transfers involve an increase in our monthly bill alongside a reduction in actual service we receive.
But to be fair to the matter - we don't necessarily hate other carriers, we chose our current carriers because they offer what we want at prices we can afford. Tmobile service is not for all, Verizon service is not for all and likewise AT&T service is not for all. But they are for those they are for. We don't want to have to leave our current carriers and switch over to another when we don't want to because there is a particular phone that we really want. We just want to buy any phone we want, and we want an iPhone, and be able to use it with our current carrier. Plain and simple! Cell phone-Carrier exclusivity deals not very competitive and not consumer friendly. We deserve better.
Story posted on 9to5Mac. Read article here.
Thank you for taking this step John Kerry, Roger Wicker, Byron Dorgan and Amy Klobuchar. Let's get this going.
Update: 7/6/09
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice has launched a review (not an investigation...Yet) into the exclusivity deals of telecoms. At this point the review is focusing on AT&T and Verizon.
[Read Article]
"The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they've amassed in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter."
Let's hope the best comes out of this.
First is the fact that AT&T service plans suck. Plain and simple. Customers are charged too much for services that other carriers are providing for much less. AT&T remains the longest running carrier in the US and one would think that at this point they would be able to offer such services at much more competitive prices. But no. An average iPhone bill, as understood, runs about $100 a month. The other carriers offer much better plans (many more minutes, more texts, more data....even unlimited in some cases) and they do it for much less. If they can do it, why can't AT&T?
Secondly, I think this exclusivity with AT&T is actually hurting Apple sales of the iPhone, and ultimately their profit margin. Had it been open to any carrier of course the maker of 'the Jesus phone' would have had a lot more sales. Why they chose to partner with AT&T and limit their sales numbers may have probably been to keep the phone an exclusive item, but that does not hold, totally. AT&T may have been the ones to bend the most to their demands and so they beat out the other potentials. Why else?!
But here comes the good news. Along comes war hero - John Kerry. Kerry, chairman of the Commerce Subcommitee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, along with Roger Wicker, Byron Dorgan and Amy Klouchar are taking up the case for consumers and questioning/challenging carrier-cell phone exclusivity deals. Hearings will be occurring soon to discuss such alliances and their harmful, anti-competitive nature.
Oh Happy Day
Not just yet. We still have to wait and ride the matter through...and we all know how long the political system takes. But of course ultimately this is great news for the millions of us who want to get the iPhones and/or Palm Pre's but can't because that would mean we would have to leave our current carriers to migrate to those who have exclusivity offers of those phones. Often such transfers involve an increase in our monthly bill alongside a reduction in actual service we receive.
But to be fair to the matter - we don't necessarily hate other carriers, we chose our current carriers because they offer what we want at prices we can afford. Tmobile service is not for all, Verizon service is not for all and likewise AT&T service is not for all. But they are for those they are for. We don't want to have to leave our current carriers and switch over to another when we don't want to because there is a particular phone that we really want. We just want to buy any phone we want, and we want an iPhone, and be able to use it with our current carrier. Plain and simple! Cell phone-Carrier exclusivity deals not very competitive and not consumer friendly. We deserve better.
Story posted on 9to5Mac. Read article here.
Thank you for taking this step John Kerry, Roger Wicker, Byron Dorgan and Amy Klobuchar. Let's get this going.
Update: 7/6/09
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice has launched a review (not an investigation...Yet) into the exclusivity deals of telecoms. At this point the review is focusing on AT&T and Verizon.
[Read Article]
"The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they've amassed in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter."
Let's hope the best comes out of this.
Friday, January 30, 2009
On a particular system
We as human beings seem bored with ourselves. We no longer seek the true pleasures of life and living in real harmony with each other, in love, and with our physical and natural environment. Rather we spend our time, efforts, and resources on just trying to get more and more for ourselves. And the very nature of our system, which reveals its failures from time to time, which some proponents discard as 'market failures', serve only to reinforce the self-perpetuating nature of that existence, whereby our every action and thought is directed by the need of gain in order to live...to survive...to remain 'relevant.'
"Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains." Self-betterment is fine, living a life simply to spend and acquire material possessions brought on / forced upon by a social system and all its many negative consequences, to me, is a deprived, incomplete and sad one. It seems we remain in chains even as we try to get out and attain some semblances of freedom.
I ask, am I too hard on capitalism? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's short-comings are what I protest against.
"Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains." Self-betterment is fine, living a life simply to spend and acquire material possessions brought on / forced upon by a social system and all its many negative consequences, to me, is a deprived, incomplete and sad one. It seems we remain in chains even as we try to get out and attain some semblances of freedom.
I ask, am I too hard on capitalism? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's short-comings are what I protest against.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
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