Gottheil dismisses the notion of an artificial premium on Apple products, noting that they often compete well for the features, but is certain that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has reached a breaking point where perceived quality can’t override genuine financial woes from customers.
“It is too much to ask consumers to pay more than twice as much for a PC in these times,” the analyst says.
Instead, he and TBR are confident that Apple will release a computer in the netbook class within the first half of next year, but one that doesn’t obey many of the rules dictated by the industry. Like the MacBook Air ultraportable, this future system would be at least as thin and light as others in its category but would potentially have a larger surface area to allow a larger display or more comfortable input. Netbook owners carry their systems “in stacks with papers and books” and care more about thickness than footprint, according to Gottheil.
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Do You Hear What I Hear?
Back in September, Steve Jobs promised new earbuds at the event that unveiled the new iPod Nano and other goodies. They were supposed to be out in October, but things… well… didn’t work out, and the new buds just hit shelves this week. Here’s a nugget of CNET’s review of the $79 earbuds:
I’ve only been listening for a few minutes, but so far, it looks like Apple has delivered a worthwhile pair of headphones. They don’t quite have the crisp, high frequency detail of the Etymotic HF2 headphones I had at my desk, but they blow away Apple’s stock earbuds (not too difficult a feat) with a buttery low end and pleasant mids and highs.
Microsoft to Launch T-shirt Line
We’re not exactly sure if this is one of the worst marketing ploys ever, or one of the best. All we know for sure however, is that you can bet the bank that you will definitely find an MS DOS shirt added to our wardrobe once this new line kicks off. You hear that Microsoft? Hook it up! Microsoft is reportedly turning to seasoned ad vet Crispin, Porter & Bogusky to help it launch a line of graphic tees brilliantly dubbed “Softwear by Microsoft”. Cute.
$*#& Auto-Correction
If you have the iPhone 2.2 operating system, you can turn off the auto-correction entirely. But that will make things ducking inconvenient, though. The auto-correction in the iPhone is what makes the touchscreen usable and fast when it’s time to write an email or SMS.
Fortunately, TJ Luoma has had a great idea to fix it: You only need to load your favorite swear words as contacts. Remember to put them all in lowercase, and every time you write duck or ducking or motherduckers, the iPhone will not try to correct them.
300 Million is a Big Number
CNBC:
Apple now says that iPhone users have “downloaded over 300 million” applications from the App Store, from games to business programs. Why is that stunning? Consider that on the company’s conference call on October 21, Apple disclosed that the following day, Apple expected users to download their 200 millionth app. Which means, as of today, users have downloaded a staggering 100 million apps in just the past 6 weeks.
$0.99 too Little for iPhone Apps?
The tap tap tap blog on the App Store:
iPhone apps are typically much smaller and more focused than desktop apps and as such, should be priced accordingly. In addition, you need to take into account the much larger market that you’re dealing with here… Apple is selling well over 10,000 iPhones per day and these are all potential new customers, plus all the existing iPhone owners and iPod touch sales.
This dollar store mentality even goes beyond the iPhone as most of the Mac developers we know have been experiencing significant downward trends in their software sales since the App Store opened. It appears that the “instant-gratification-on-the-cheap” factor has implications on the desktop, too. It’s going to be tough to compete with impulse purchases when you can get around 20 iPhone apps for what a typical desktop app costs.
Old New Stuff
Wired shows off some old prototypes that never evolved into anything real. Here’s a sample:
Legendary Silicon Valley design firm Frog Design lent Gizmodo a couple of Apple prototypes to display, including this MacBook Tablet mock-up…
…Although this portable tablet computer never saw the light of day, echoes of its design can be seen in the Apple IIc.
It looks like an Apple IIc, just flat. I don’t think it would have done well then.
How the Big 3 Must Be Feeling
“A man said to the universe: ‘Sir, I exist!’
‘However,’ replied the universe. ‘The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation.’”
Flickr Brings Video to Mobile Safari
The video encoding is handled by the new video platform Yahoo has been developing. The platform is a transcoder that converts any uploaded video to H.264 format, and it’s accessible through an API. It’s only available internally right now, and Yahoo will continue to expand its use across the rest of its video-heavy sites like Music, News and Sports. The company says it plans on eventually opening up the video transcoder platform for use by independent publishers and developers.
Let’s Hope They Don’t Find Out How
Ask.com has released a list of the most popular searches for 2008. The number one most asked question of the Internet site:
How do I get pregnant?
Oh my.
Apple Pulls the Plug on Kbase #HT2550
Apple’s kbase article on antiviral software that created such a stir the last few days has been taken out back and shot in the head. Macworld:
“We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans, told Macworld. “The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box.”
Ning Pulls the Plug on Porno
Ning, the build-your-own-social-network company posted this today on their blog:
We architected Ning so many diverse types of social networks could create their own social space and this is still one of the proudest achievements we have of the service today. It’s from this foundation that we’ve seen Ning grow to hundreds of thousands of social networks and millions of users around the world.
Therefore, the decision we’re announcing today to discontinue our Red Light District is a tough one. However, from a practical perspective, this difficult decision is the right one.