Slashdot Mirror

He got modded down because he is clueless. Apple App Store was never intended to be profitable. That said, the high markup on iDevices makes up for it. Yes there are a huge number of games on App Store but its there to fuel the iDevice sales so that people won't have any incentives to switch to Android or WM7 (when it's out). Apple can say: Hey! We got 200k Apps! Buy our iDevices because if you go with Android they got only 50k!

I love my work Droid- best work phone I've had, but fragmentation really is a problem with the Android eosystem. To show my point check out this site. Now I realize this is an Apple-fansite, but the numbers quoted are from GOOGLE's Admob. One of the smart things Apple has done is make sure old HW is supported. An original EDGE iPhone for instance, runs the same version as the iPad or 3GS. Fragmentation not only affects the user experience, but it makes things a lot harder for developers too.

Something that's often missed is that "Flash" is a set of various versions and video formats. As I understand it, mobile Flash 10.1 will not support Actionscript 1.0 and 2.0, only giving you Actionscript 3.0. How many websites and games were made in the older format and continue to be?

Not only that... this is weird but according to this chart it won't support H.264 but instead have On2 video format. That would be the guys that Google just bought. Perhaps this is another part of why they're supporting flash.

Always hilarious that comment.

Meanwhile here in the current century this will make another great addition to Mac gaming, just as Mac steam recently announced will.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/29/valve_sets_public_mac_steam_release_for_may_12_2010.html

You can use a stylus with them - Apple uses the Pogo Sketch stylus in the Apple Stores... http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/03/exclusive_look_at_apples_new_ipod_touch_based_easypay_checkout.html http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php

I'm talking about the percentage of overall profit - not units sold. Apple is a dominant player in that and in terms of mobile internet use. This link is from last year when the 2 companies combined controlled 35% of the profit and were predicted by the WSJ to have 58% this year. Units sold doesn't mean much if you aren't making money. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/07/20/apple_rim_profit_margins_far_exceed_market_share.html

The only significant hardware vendor that refuses to support Ogg is Apple. Even that's not necessarily true if you're a fan of the Rockbox firmware. Either way, all the Apple guys probably stopped reading this thread two or three levels back.

Ok, I'll keep this short. There are two marginally popular DAPs that support Ogg Vorbis - Cowan and iRiver. See http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/PortablePlayers

It's not just Apple that doesn't support Ogg Vorbis. It's basically everyone. But assume for a moment you are correct. You make it sound as if Apple makes up an insignificant percentage of the DAP market. Apple's iPod makes up 90% of the market for hard-drive based DAPs and 70% of the overall market. Including other Apple products, that number increases to at least 75%. Ignoring 75% of the market is actually a big deal. See http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/05/24/ipod_how_big_can_it_get.html AND http://battleangel.org/2006/08/26/dap-market-shares/

Furthermore, the Ogg Vorbis supporting players all fall into the last category which appears to make up 6% of the total market. Do you really think that being excluded from nearly 95% of the DAP market is inconsequential?

You keep citing to statistics on file-sharing sites, for the formats that leeches would prefer to have provided to them for free. Number one, I frankly don't understand the motivation behind catering to those who would look a gift horse in the mouth. However, if you want to share a CD with the torrent community, or your girlfriend, or whoever, then fine... rip to MP3. I don't see what any of that has to do with the format that you choose to rip for your own personal purposes.

The reason is obvious. Nobody wants to their CD collection multiple times. Ripping to MP3 ensures you can share with anyone. Ripping to FLAC or another lossless format ensures you can transcode to any format. Ripping to Ogg Vorbis ensures you have a format that virtually nobody wants.

Don't forget that Apple also holds patents for the nifty multitouch stuff that makes the iPhone so great, then they don't let their own developers use them!!

People identifying themselves as representing Apple last week visited and sought permission to search the Silicon Valley address of the college-age man who came into possession of a next-generation iPhone prototype, according to a person involved with the find.

It's a free country. You are allowed to go to someone's door and ask them a question, and ask to come in. They can say no. If you keep it up, they can call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing/harassment. But asking "can I come in to talk to you" is perfectly legal.

According to Apple Insider:

On Friday, the REACT task force executed a warrant to search the home and car of Gizmodo blogger Jason Chen, who had possession of the iPhone prototype before it was returned to Apple, and who was responsible for the gadget blogs breaking stories on the device.

The emphasis is mine, though that was a link in the original. A branch of the police executed a warrant. That's legal too. That's the way it's supposed to work.

If Apple did their own search, that would be bad. But they used the process. They did it by the book. This article says that the police aren't analyzing what they found until the question of the shield law is settled. Does that sound like someone following Apple's agenda, damn the consequences?

People identifying themselves as representing Apple last week visited and sought permission to search the Silicon Valley address of the college-age man who came into possession of a next-generation iPhone prototype, according to a person involved with the find.

It's a free country. You are allowed to go to someone's door and ask them a question, and ask to come in. They can say no. If you keep it up, they can call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing/harassment. But asking "can I come in to talk to you" is perfectly legal.

According to Apple Insider:

On Friday, the REACT task force executed a warrant to search the home and car of Gizmodo blogger Jason Chen, who had possession of the iPhone prototype before it was returned to Apple, and who was responsible for the gadget blogs breaking stories on the device.

The emphasis is mine, though that was a link in the original. A branch of the police executed a warrant. That's legal too. That's the way it's supposed to work.

If Apple did their own search, that would be bad. But they used the process. They did it by the book. This article says that the police aren't analyzing what they found until the question of the shield law is settled. Does that sound like someone following Apple's agenda, damn the consequences?

No, but I think Apple, a company known to intentionally promote rumours through controlled leaks, might have done it as a PR stunt.

Apple isn't flat lining no matter how much the Droid fans might hope so. They had another record quater with almost 9 million iPhones sold in the latest March quarter. It was their best non-holiday on record.

Although I'm sure there are folks who will bail on iPhone if they find it too constricting, there is obviously no shortage of folks who don't need porn on their phones, and are just fine with that. I love porn, but I don't 'rub one out' while waiting on a doctors appointment. I browse the web, read e-mail, maybe play a game or two, but moans coming from my phone while out out in the public eye just isn't a huge draw for me.

And exactly whose life is in danger from the losing of a prototype phone?

The loser who lost it.

You really think that this device is subsidized? I can't imagine where you think it should cost more then $499 for the base unit to be manufactured, and the base software written. This is more expensive then I can buy a fully functional laptop for, are you saying a laptop is subsidized?

I'm assuming a 100% markup beyond component costs, which isn't unreasonable for electronics, afaik. Component cost is estimated at $260. After other costs like warranty and manufacturing, it's guessed Apple ends up with a 50% markup. That said, is it immoral to charge too much for an unnecessary luxury item?

Your comparison of the iPad to a laptop is insufficient, since the most costly components of a tablet are the touch-screen. That $500 is roughly equal to (or cheaper than) comparable windows-based tablets. Again, I guarantee if Apple didn't make a percentage of all App Store sales, and the App Store wasn't the only way to get applications, the iPad and iPhone hardware would be more costly in order to maintain the same lifetime device profit margin.

Unfortunately, when he woke up, the phone had been remotely bricked, so he couldn't get the contact info back again...

So, without any better option available, such as calling Apple and saying "I found something that I think one of your engineers lost but I don't know which one - I'd like to return it to the poor guy" he instead went with the other option of shopping the phone around to media outlets looking for the highest bidder and ended up making $5 grand.

Or he stole the phone and immediate started shopping it around because he knew he had something valuable and Gizmodo bought stolen goods and could be fucked under California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

I know which of these options I'm guessing is closest to the truth. Greed. It's a powerful motivator.

It's likely that he's going to be terminated (from his employment, not physically)

Don't be so sure. Don't forget what happened to the last guy that lost an iPhone prototype.
iPhone prototype goes missing

Exhibit A

Because Apple apparently wanted to wipe it to prevent the software from being usable/visible. Once you wipe it, the configuration for FindMyPhone is wiped too (the device has to be linked to an account in order to be found).

It's better to lose hardware that can only be looked at than lose the hardware and the software, which would reveal a lot more about features. Gizmodo couldn't even say what the screen resolution was, because all it does it ask to be re-imaged with software Gizmodo doesn't have access to install.

Apple never leaks prototypes into the wild for promotional purposes. If anything, the phone was stolen. Apple likes buzz, but is not going to benefit from two months of "don't buy an iPhone until this new one comes out."

Adobe slips mobile Flash Player 10.1 to second half of 2010

Not only is there plenty of competition in the smartphone market, but RIM is still the undisputed leader in the US by about 16 percent. Google more than doubled its small installed base (from 2.5% to 5.2%) between September and December. The analysis firm comScore has a press release covering third-quarter 2009 cell phone growth patterns.

Worldwide, Symbian kicks everyone's ass at 47% for the year of 2009 (as a platform), but Nokia "only" sold 39% in the third quarter (as a hardware solution.

The handset data vs. platform data is interesting, especially considering that by listing handset manufacturers Apple news sites completely avoid mentioning Google and Android. Some of the HTC, Samsung, and "others" would be listed as Windows Mobile and some would be Android or Maemo/Meego, obviously.

Despite all the hype about the iPhone, it's still only a quarter of the US market and 16% of the worldwide market from the latest data I could find.

However, they're probably not defenses that Adobe or people who support the general concept of "openness" would appreciate.

AppleInsider claims it's due to the new multitasking features in iPhone OS 4.0. I don't know if I fully buy that, though the argument that Apple's policy change is part of the 4.0 release seems to support the idea (if they merely wanted to cut out Adobe from the beginning, they could have changed their policy much earlier).

Personally, I think it's a UI-based decision. Apple's whole schtick is focused on a consistent interface that functions smoothly and easily to the end user, rather than trying to pack in as many little features as possible. (Feel free to debate the merits of this type of thinking; it's certainly not for everyone but it seems to be working for them.)

Apple does not want a flood of half-assed iPhone and iPad apps written in a "write once, run on any number of systems and interfaces" manner. In Steve's opinion, if you want sell an iPhone app, write an iPhone app, with all the care and diligence to the iPhone's interface which that entails. Now, I'm sure it would be possible to use Flash's cross-compiling feature to make some wonderful, perfectly native-UIed iPhone apps, but I'm also willing to bet that 99% of the time this feature would be used to half-assedly convert some Flash game to an iPhone game. Again, feel free to debate the merits of such a closed ecosystem, but you can't exactly claim there's no rational basis behind the rules.

Watch and See

True multi-tasking isn't coming to the iPhone. The multi-tasking will be limited. If it falls under 7 different categories it will be supported.

Apple has always been against mult-tasking because they claim it hampers performance and drains the battery. As a Window Mobile user, I can't count the number of times my phone was freaking sluggish only to find that certain apps were running in the background that didn't kill themselves properly. With this Apple will allow certain types of behavior. Most of the multi-tasking that most consumers have wanted falls under one of these categories. Now if you're trying to sequence a genome while twittering your friends, that's probably not supported.

"The good thing is that this tiny fraction of a percent that this device represents won't have significant impact on changing the web as we know it...not in the least."

Hm:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/21/google_fights_flash_adds_html5_support_for_youtube_videos_in_safari.html

http://i.tuaw.com/2010/03/25/cbs-planning-html5-videos-for-ipad-compatibility/

http://www.dtechgadget.com/brightcove-announces-support-for-html5-video/

The iPad certainly isn't solely responsible for all of that, but Flash would seem to be a pretty poor horse to back going forward.

They presumably did not have any expertise with building online services when they started building their infrastructure for iTunes... Yet now they have a all division for Music store, App Store, Book Store, MobileMe, etc...i

This came from the fact that they did a massive ad campaign for the iPod (at the height of the campaign, where couldn't you find an iPod being mentioned? So electric rail stations I rode had had iPod ads taking over the whole station) and made sure to pack and make mandatory iTunes. Apple is good for marketing. Look at any of it's products and see the huge marketing campaign behind them. Apple knows that marketing is what sells something, not a good product. Look at every fad that has come and gone. Apple didn't make the mp3 player or the online store, they got the idea from looking at others and then made a huge marketing campaign to make it seem like it's their unique thing. Look at the iPad, it's a tablet pc like everyone else from the past 10 years with a huge marketing campaign. The only Apple product I can think of that didn't have a huge campaign to it was the Apple TV, and it's not selling well even though its built by Apple (they want to down play it as a 'hobby' since the numbers are low on it).

They presumably did not have any expertise dealing with cell phone technology, yet we all know what happened to iPhone...

It had the huge marketing campaign and just copied the concept of the Palm PDA (which the Palm cell phones predate the iPhone, not to mention Blackberry). There isn't really anything different in using it then I was using in PDA's ten years before beyond the phone function and updated parts(and I have used an iPhone). Again, nothing new from Apple just someone else technology with the Apple marketing campaign.

I think people assume that Apple is only good at UI stuff because Apple does not really advertise the core technologies that they have behind the eye candy...

They have a very good core OS technology behind their computers and other devices, but really not something that anybody cares about... It think it would be naive to believe that Apple cannot gain or acquire the expertise and technology needed for a search engine if they wanted too...

I don't think Apple really advertises the core technologies that are beyond the eye candy because it's not theirs, it's just technology they 'borrowed' and farmed out really. OSX at it's heart is running UNIX/FreeBSD mixed with NeXTSTEP which is made from the Mach kernal. Apple didn't make UNIX, FreeBSD or the Mach kernal, other people did. Apple just changed it a little and now people think it's their technology. Thing is, it isn't. In the end, Apple doesn't make anything new, they make ads for product idea's they borrowed and rehashed from others.

The better question would be, would they really want to, and for what purpose ?

Don't know if they will, considering there is already talk that Apple talking to Microsoft about making Bing the iPhone's default search engine.

IMO, they items they lock out are just not important to the average Joe. To geeks and some business users, yes some apps are important, like WiFi Scanners, Tethering, Google Voice, Jiggly Tits (ok, granted, that one may have a wider appeal), but for the average user, they get what they need from the app store.

I have a good friend who went with the droid. He loves Apple Mac, but hated the restrictions on the iPhone. All he did after that was complain that it was hard to get it working properly, just the way he wanted it. When I suggested an iPhone so he didn't have to mess with such things, you'd think I suggested taking his porn collection away ;)

The droid is great for Apple customers, as it's forcing Apple to expand into areas where it's weak, and that's always a good thing. The rumored multi-tasking in 4.0 should make some iPhone owners very happy. Personally I don't have much need for it, but the forums are jumping with anticipation over the rumored release.

And the Ipad will also be only one of numerous devices, so how will that help Apple any better?

Surely the Linux world learned its lesson from the desktop wars, hasn't it?

What, you mean the desktop where Windows runs on the vast majority of computers, even though there are vast numbers (far more than 50) of different PCs to run on? And where the OS-and-hardware-from-one-company model remains a niche?

Perhaps we could compare to phones instead, you know, the market where Symbian runs on 250 million devices, Windows Mobile runs on 50 million - and Apple are where, remind me? (It's 42 million, for the curious.)

The troubles Linux has had on the desktop have bugger all to do with fragmentation of hardware, nor of companies selling that hardware.

You'd better read it again (like I just did). To me, the site is quite agnostic toward jail-breaking, and is no less useful to someone with a non-jailbroken device. I believe I feel the same way about jailbreaking as you do (currently not considering jailbreaking my device, fairly sure I'll never do it), but as another poster has said: There's not a chance in hell that Apple have properly audited all the application for security, and it's flat out impossible they'd be able to do so adequately anyway (they don't audit the source). The App Store is not about that at all.

Apple may not audit the source but they do have analysis tools to scan for the use of non-public APIs. This provides some security but everything you can do with the public API's will not get checked, unfortunately this includes phoning home some information (because there are times when this behavior is wanted.) So this guy should be applauded for taking the time to check a lot of applications for this kind of behavior and shaming the ones that do.

Have they decided for the last time what the Courier name should be used for?

http://images.appleinsider.com/courier.001.png

They are playing catch-up to Apple so hard it is almost painful to see.

I believe that every Mac laptop since 2006 has supported 802.11a. Joining an "a" network is seamless, and much of the time you won't even notice it.

Ring.. Ring... your wake up call is here. Apple has one one the top smart phones on the market. They sold over 24 MILLION iphones in 2009 putting them in the number 3 spot in world wide smartphone sales.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/23/gartner_apples_iphone_was_no_3_worldwide_smartphone_in_2009.html
Some niche!

Actually studies that show that Mac users tend to be more educated than typical PC users:

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-943519.html

Mac users are also found to be less gullible than PC users:

http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/10/microsoft-users-gullible-advertising/

On that last link, I'm also happy to note that Linux users are not gullible..they are actually a even less gullible than the typical Mac user. Just because a Mac user likes a no-fuss system doesn't mean we aren't interested in what makes it tick or the specs it comes with. The weirdest outcome of one of these studies? 85% of Mac users also own a Windows PC (either via multi-boot or hardware purchase). They aren't shy about using either platform.

Its well known that Apple doesn't shove the biggest processors into their laptops (or iMacs) which isn't surprising. Most laptops don't have quad core processors yet either. Most of the Mac line IS laptop hardware so this isn't a surprise. In addition, for typical Mac users, it isn't always about having the latest and greatest. They want stability, good performance, and a PC that won't break down in 2 years. I agree that some of their hardware could get higher end graphics cards and processors sooner, but they make up for it with systems that are rock solid. There is a reason they always top the charts in customer satisfaction and reliability.

I was wondering how long it would take you to start quoting 'home built' costs. I already responded to that. I already consider it a non-issue. Apples prices are comparable to other Manufacturers with the same specs. No surprises here that they cost more than a home built PC.

On the Steam topic - Why double the effort? Because there is money to be made? You do realize that they do make games for Mac? They are already successful in the PC market. Why stop there? I'd take a crack at the Mac if I had the funding as there is a LOT of potential revenue there. Steam obviously does have the capitol.

On point #5 - The iMac isn't user serviceable (well it is for a ./ user, but not the typical end user). 10 years ago, I would have been replacing my video card every year or two. I find as I get older, I simply don't care. I'll use this Mac for 2-4 years, and simply replace the Mac when I get tired of it, and donate this to some family member. One of the advantages of a long career in the IT industry. It does have some financial benefits ;)

I see your point on the display, but I have no use for a second display, nor do I have the desktop space. 27" is perfect for my needs but an iMac isn't for someone who wants dual monitors.

There are a couple of things that were important to me a few years ago:

a) Tear down and upgrade piece mail
b) more flexibility on display options
c) Purchase a faster desktop unit

None of these are important to me now, so the iMac is a good choice for me. If it wasn't, I'd probably just build a hackintosh and be done with it.

Postnote: If you're looking to get a Macbook Pro, hold out a bit..a hardware refresh is rumored to be in the pipe with I5 or I7 options.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/24/macbook_pros_in_tight_supply_new_models_could_broaden_gap_with_macbooks.html

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/24/apple_creates_explicit_category_for_app_store_software.html

A merchant app that sold bikinis was dropped too, for showing girls in bikinis. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/23/swimwear_seller_hit_by_apples_removal_of_sexual_apps.html

Pure hypocrisy. The bikini store isn't a corporate behemoth like Time Warner, whose SI Swimsuit app remains on the App Store. If there is an app expressly designed for prurient interest, the SI Swimsuit app is it.

A merchant app that sold bikinis was dropped too, for showing girls in bikinis. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/23/swimwear_seller_hit_by_apples_removal_of_sexual_apps.html

Oh, yeah, somebody posted it to attract the "Apple is a funny cult" posts. Compare them to Jim Jones and Kool-Aid. Interesting that it didn't. There's a very good reason that no-one would do this in one of those wildly popular Microsoft stores. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/18/microsoft_retail_store_gets_odd_viral_marketing_buzz.html

Thanks for clarifying that you think Flash is not a problem on a multitouch device like the iPad because it works just fine on your non-multitouch Pocket PC device, as long as you have a joystick type controller to move around the mouse cursor.

The point is that existing Flash content assumes a mouse pointer because it's all designed to work on a Windows PC. That makes it a poor choice as a mobile platform.

Even as a lowest common denominator platform, Flash isn't capable of being deployed on the iPhone, the iPod touch, and the iPad, nor RIM's Blackberry. The Flash experience on Macs and PS3 and Wii and various other platforms that Adobe supposedly supports Flash playback on are similarly poor.

So unless you want to just drag a proprietary binary from the desktop to a mobile device and then kluge up the hardware to work like a mini-puter running Windows without any consideration of what makes a mobile device useful, Flash isn't any better than Windows Mobile.

Inside the iPad: Adobe Flash

HTML5 has client-side storage. Yet another reason why Adobe wants HTML5 to be delayed or blocked altogether.

Good catch, I pulled the number too quickly. How about 17% market share.

So what else is new? Did anyone expect different?

This is the default position of Microsofts old guard to any competitor product.

Android:
http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/11/06/microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-pokers-fun-at-google-android
Chrome:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/07/14/steve_ballmer_laughs_off_googles_chrome_os_threat.html
iPhone:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/microsoft-ceo-claims-new-zune-market-share-laughs-at-iphone/

Gates playing down iPhone:
http://www.iphoneworld.ca/news/2007/02/03/bill-gates-wont-buy-an-apple-iphone/

Gates: "So, it’s not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, ‘Oh my God, Microsoft didn’t aim high enough.'"

Ballmer: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance."

Looks like Apple and Linux platforms are putting Windows CE on phones between a rock and a hard place.

ASUS and Acer have bailed on the ARM slate thing, and those are big wins for the evangelism team.

The thing is, if HP and Dell bail out also too soon, Google will go to market with their own-branded slate and win. You need to get those two to vaporware some products that never see market, and that's +1 difficulty level. It's easy to get them to bail early, it's entirely different to get them to lead us on with products they won't deliver. If Google has a first tier partner that's still pretenting to try to go to market then they'll hold off own-branded product until it's too late.

Can it be done? I doubt it.

If you can get them to fake products long enough to prevent a Google direct product for Christmas, then you have some hope of selling WiMo7 next year. Miss the window and WiMo7 is sunk. Miss the delivery date for WiMo7 and they'll roll with what they have. The risks are high, but those are the stakes.

We live in interesting times.

Two devices would be perfectly reasonable - one for things that demand connectivity (talk, text, net), and one for the other stuff (games, videos, music).

AppleInsider would seem to agree with you (though the data is a little old): http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/04/23/apples_ipod_touch_sales_double_nearly_on_par_with_iphone.html

The sadly amusing thing about the "1984" commercial is how much the setting resembles a Steve Jobs presentation.

Ever wonder why there's no camera in the iPad? It wasn't ready yet. That's right, it's a mobile Telescreen.

File this one under "why you shouldn't consider wikipedia a source.": The entry quotes specific numbers (which are years old, btw) and then cites an apple blog as it's only reference. The cited reference at http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/05/24/ipod_how_big_can_it_get.html only uses conjecture to come to the conclusion that 10% of computer users use 1 or more ipod, which isn't impressive at all. Appleinsider doesn't state any numbers comparing ipod sales to overall portable media player sales (a quantity which would be hugely difficult to estimate in any case).

It would appear that wikipedia plagiarized their numbers and then cited a blog in lieu of the real source.

With that in mind, the rumors of no camera on the new iPad may be exaggerated.

"The reason for the app store has nothing to do with security and everything about Apple wringing every last penny out of developers"

FUD. Apple doesn't make much money from the App store: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/26/app_store_wildly_successful_but_not_hugely_profitable_for_apple.html

What is the current generation FOSS alternative that does the same?

That would be Ogg Theora. Read this Wikipedia article on "Use of Ogg Formats in HTML5" on why it didn't remain a recommnedation in the HTML5 spec. Read this article on Theora on the debate over whether Theora has the same quality as H.264.

You can form your own theory on why a patent-free open-source product that exists hasn't gained prominence over propriety formats, but here's one AppleInsider writer's opinion.

I'm sorry - are you high? You claim that iPhone has "1%" of the smart phone market, and that Android has more? Utter crap. The most recent data I could find from the end of last year gives Apple 18%, behind Symbian and RIM. Android is showing a whopping 3.5%. Now I'm sure Android did much better in Q4 and will continue to rise, but I would bet my house they won't even reach iPhone by the end of 2010, never mind pass them.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/08/23/apple_to_pay_creative_100m_in_settlement.html The settlement is reported at $100, although no one knows for sure. I had a first generation Zen, with a 20gb HDD and firewire, and still have the next model with a 30gb HDD, but USB - and it still works. And I do not have one file locked by DRM, all my music came from my CDs and now DRM free MP3s.

I hate to break it to you, but Apple makes more money selling iPhones than any other cell phone company in the world, including Nokia. They make 32% of the profit of the entire cell phone market, not just smart phones.