Their Windows monopoly was the issue, not their IE monopoly (which they didn't have yet). And you'd be hard pressed to say Windows doesn't have a de-facto monopoly these days. Just look into your average computer store, and see what OS is running on all those laptops they have for sale.
Does anyone still really care about Windows Mobile, now named Windows Phone 7? According to your theory they probably have gotten it right by now. The video demos that I have seen about it do look good. App support is most likely their greatest hurdle.... developers, developers, developers! isn't it?
The problem with those knock-offs is not so much product copying, but brand copying. E.g. US Superbolt produces quality and strength certified bolts, with a price tag to match. Then Chinabolt produces the same bolts, but sells them at lower price under their own brand. Fine: you know what you buy, you know there is no strength certification, so don't use these bolts when you need such a quality guarantee. That doesn't say Chinabolt's bolts are poor quality - they may be just as strong, they're just not tested and certified to be.
The problem starts when Chinabolt starts selling their bolts in Superbolt look-alike packing, claiming to be guaranteed strong enough, just half price. And that's a problem that should be tackled head-on. You must know what you buy, and currently in China unless you're absolutely sure what you buy is the original (how to be so sure, that's another matter) you'd better assume it's a knock-off.
And it's about time that they start to develop their own brands. China has been developing for several decades by now, and their manufacturers have only managed to establish a handful of brand locally, and even less internationally. For the rest it's all brand-less, no-name stuff that can compete on nothing but price.
Brands tell who it comes from, and give an indication of quality. Be it low, mid or high quality - the important thing is that you see BMW your expectations on quality, price, etc. are different than when you see Volkswagen. This allows BMW to charge higher prices than Volkswagen. But put two no-brand cars next to one another... well everything else being the same (on the outlook) the customer will go for the cheaper one.
Indeed it will probably not work. Like so many attempts didn't work. Part of the reason is of course corruption, part of the reason is moral. People just don't care. I recall the story of a complete company that was faked: some Chinese businessmen set up a company using the exact logos and names etc. like some foreign company, in the same business, and were trading quite well. They were caught for trademark infringement and so. Comment from the journalist was something like: "explaining to the defendants what they did wrong will be the hardest part of the trial".
Copying is in their blood it seems. If one is successful in a certain business, everyone else will jump on it and do the same. If a hand bag sells well, other people will start making the exact same hand bag. It is really extreme. The copies often hit the market before the original.
But at least from the central government the will is there to do something about it. Not that they care so much about foreign copyrights and patents, they know they have to do it to protect their own companies, and to foster innovation of their own. Because that's what's currently thoroughly lacking in China: they copy, but do not improve anything of it or create their own designs based on imported designs, which is what gave the Japanese their early edge and what helped propel that country to the top of the world's economies.
I currently pay the equivalent of USD 13 per month for a total of four mobile phone numbers (three Hong Kong numbers, one China number, three SIM cards). That includes 500-800 minutes of air time in each plan. That USD 13 is the total amount.
I've three numbers on my phone now (2x HK, 1x China), diverting to one another. That's some USD 10 per month. My phone at USD 290 plus two years of fees costs about USD 530 all together. How much is your subsidised phone including plan costing you in two years? I bet it's costing you much more thanks to the mark-up on the plan: in the end the subsidy comes out of your own pocket.
So this flagship device is roughly as good as the $99 iPhone4 or a $99 Android handset but without the app catalog.
Where you get those phones so cheap? Last time I checked my fairly low-end LG P-500 model, one year old now, is currently selling at about USD 150 each. Haven't seen much cheaper Android handsets so far. I paid about double for it, when it was just released. The iPhone 4 is retailing here for more like USD 500 each.
WP7 comes with, from the face of it at least, a quite different UI. That's what makes it interesting to me. Whether that UI is better than Android/iOS (in that sense Android is just an iOS clone) I don know - the fact is that MS came up with a different idea is interesting enough. I wonder what good bits Apple and Google will learn from it for their next versions.
What is that with "putting it on AT&T" or "available on Verizon" all the time? Why not just putting it for sale in the shops, like in the rest of the world? With those stupid contract lock-ins you never get a vibrant market. Like in Hong Kong where on average people have a new phone every six months. That means they can sell four times as many phones per number of population than the US where you're stuck for two years each time.
This may also be a reason for Nokia to ignore the US market for now. Only people at the end of their contract may buy their new WP7 phone. Other markets without that lock-in all users are potential customers.
US is in a worse crisis than Europe. Just look at the EUR/USD rates: even though there's a very serious financial crisis looming in Europe, the Euro is still very strong. That indicates very clearly in how bad a shape the US economy is at the moment. Oh and besides Europe is way bigger than the US when it comes to population.
And they deserve credit for that. Within an hour of the the problem they report on it already.
Mistakes will happen, no matter how hard you try to prevent them. The most important part is: how do you handle those mistakes. Many other companies should take note of what El Reg has done here, and follow their example.
My biggest gripe is the menubar on the top of the primary screen. I can understand that this made sense in 1984 when screens were small (and there was only one).
Interestingly, Ubuntu 11.10 with Unity interface is doing just that.
But then about Unity: I hate it. That's the best I can say about Unity. Switched to Gnome3 classic - was strongly considering to dump Ubuntu over it. Got fed up with having windows maximise themselves all the time, not being able to find windows (no window list at the bottom of the screen or anywhere else), not being able to find applications (hidden in between hundreds of others instead of in a nice menu; typing the name "terminal" is the fastest way to find a terminal, for example!).
But the menu on the top, well that's a bit of getting used to but it's also nicely out of the way. I'm used to that from my iBook and liked it there, too. That feature I actually liked of the new Unity. But that's also the only thing that I liked about it, as the rest sucks. Maybe it's nice on a netbook though. Vertical screen space is always too limited.
Considering how long it took them to really support digital music sales (and as of this day this support is still not wholeheartedly), I'd say yes they would pull out of the complete deal if there is the tiniest bit not to their liking.
How is it going with Google's online personal storage of digital music, by the way? They were doing that too going against the wishes of the RIAA. Claiming what they do is legal, while the RIAA claims it's not, and without reaching an agreement between the parties.
I have the same issue with my smartphone. Considering buying a second phone, a more traditional "dumb phone", to go with it. My LG P500 has pretty poor sound quality even. For the rest it's a great device.
That, and I don't understand why Android can't just read it's contacts from an LDAP server.
I would also guess that there probably aren't that many people outside of Google who build their own Android images.
And those that would, are most likely big companies that have a very good reason for wanting to do that, and also don't mind having to buy a bit more RAM. It's not that expensive these days anyway.
Then indeed this must be due to air enclosures: either in the material, or in the final shape of the object you made (small spaces very easily trap air, for example). Most plastics shrink quite a bit when cooling down, and as I understand the makerbot uses molten plastic to make its shapes, and that also can create air bubbles inside the material.
ABS sinks in water. It's density is about 1.2 g/cm3 so it's 1.2 times heavier than water. Of commonly used plastics, only PE and PP float in water. The rest sinks.
Both failed to actually set off their bombs. The first caused a burn instead of explosion, the second failed completely. They are not suicide bombers, they are just attempted suicide bombers. If a suicide bomber is successful in doing their bombing there is not much left to arrest.
If terrorists wanted to simply take down planes, a simple bomb in the cargo bay would be simpler and more effective. Hell, they wouldn't even have to board the flight.
For many years already Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) does not allow flights to take off if the owner of a piece of checked luggage isn't on the plane. They WILL unload this luggage from the plane if the passenger doesn't board. And yes that may cause serious delays.
Then there is of course air cargo, some carried on combi flights, but then cargo carried on combi flights is inspected much more thoroughly than cargo carried on cargo-only flight.
In Hong Kong maybe 10% of the population owns a car. The majority doesn't even have a driving license.
There is no need for a car when public transport is well organised and cheap. Buses, minibuses, trains get you almost anywhere and taxis are very affordable too. In fact unless you drive really a lot a taxi is cheaper and more convenient as there is no need to park it after arriving at your destination.
I don't think the issue of being arrested is that important after setting off that belt of explosives strapped around your waist. Come to think of it, I don't recall knowing about any suicide bomber to be arrested after the act.
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Their Windows monopoly was the issue, not their IE monopoly (which they didn't have yet). And you'd be hard pressed to say Windows doesn't have a de-facto monopoly these days. Just look into your average computer store, and see what OS is running on all those laptops they have for sale.
Does anyone still really care about Windows Mobile, now named Windows Phone 7? According to your theory they probably have gotten it right by now. The video demos that I have seen about it do look good. App support is most likely their greatest hurdle.... developers, developers, developers! isn't it?
The problem with those knock-offs is not so much product copying, but brand copying. E.g. US Superbolt produces quality and strength certified bolts, with a price tag to match. Then Chinabolt produces the same bolts, but sells them at lower price under their own brand. Fine: you know what you buy, you know there is no strength certification, so don't use these bolts when you need such a quality guarantee. That doesn't say Chinabolt's bolts are poor quality - they may be just as strong, they're just not tested and certified to be.
The problem starts when Chinabolt starts selling their bolts in Superbolt look-alike packing, claiming to be guaranteed strong enough, just half price. And that's a problem that should be tackled head-on. You must know what you buy, and currently in China unless you're absolutely sure what you buy is the original (how to be so sure, that's another matter) you'd better assume it's a knock-off.
And it's about time that they start to develop their own brands. China has been developing for several decades by now, and their manufacturers have only managed to establish a handful of brand locally, and even less internationally. For the rest it's all brand-less, no-name stuff that can compete on nothing but price.
Brands tell who it comes from, and give an indication of quality. Be it low, mid or high quality - the important thing is that you see BMW your expectations on quality, price, etc. are different than when you see Volkswagen. This allows BMW to charge higher prices than Volkswagen. But put two no-brand cars next to one another... well everything else being the same (on the outlook) the customer will go for the cheaper one.
I think the word you're looking for is "black-listed".
Indeed it will probably not work. Like so many attempts didn't work. Part of the reason is of course corruption, part of the reason is moral. People just don't care. I recall the story of a complete company that was faked: some Chinese businessmen set up a company using the exact logos and names etc. like some foreign company, in the same business, and were trading quite well. They were caught for trademark infringement and so. Comment from the journalist was something like: "explaining to the defendants what they did wrong will be the hardest part of the trial".
Copying is in their blood it seems. If one is successful in a certain business, everyone else will jump on it and do the same. If a hand bag sells well, other people will start making the exact same hand bag. It is really extreme. The copies often hit the market before the original.
But at least from the central government the will is there to do something about it. Not that they care so much about foreign copyrights and patents, they know they have to do it to protect their own companies, and to foster innovation of their own. Because that's what's currently thoroughly lacking in China: they copy, but do not improve anything of it or create their own designs based on imported designs, which is what gave the Japanese their early edge and what helped propel that country to the top of the world's economies.
I currently pay the equivalent of USD 13 per month for a total of four mobile phone numbers (three Hong Kong numbers, one China number, three SIM cards). That includes 500-800 minutes of air time in each plan. That USD 13 is the total amount.
I've three numbers on my phone now (2x HK, 1x China), diverting to one another. That's some USD 10 per month. My phone at USD 290 plus two years of fees costs about USD 530 all together. How much is your subsidised phone including plan costing you in two years? I bet it's costing you much more thanks to the mark-up on the plan: in the end the subsidy comes out of your own pocket.
So this flagship device is roughly as good as the $99 iPhone4 or a $99 Android handset but without the app catalog.
Where you get those phones so cheap? Last time I checked my fairly low-end LG P-500 model, one year old now, is currently selling at about USD 150 each. Haven't seen much cheaper Android handsets so far. I paid about double for it, when it was just released. The iPhone 4 is retailing here for more like USD 500 each.
WP7 comes with, from the face of it at least, a quite different UI. That's what makes it interesting to me. Whether that UI is better than Android/iOS (in that sense Android is just an iOS clone) I don know - the fact is that MS came up with a different idea is interesting enough. I wonder what good bits Apple and Google will learn from it for their next versions.
What is that with "putting it on AT&T" or "available on Verizon" all the time? Why not just putting it for sale in the shops, like in the rest of the world? With those stupid contract lock-ins you never get a vibrant market. Like in Hong Kong where on average people have a new phone every six months. That means they can sell four times as many phones per number of population than the US where you're stuck for two years each time.
This may also be a reason for Nokia to ignore the US market for now. Only people at the end of their contract may buy their new WP7 phone. Other markets without that lock-in all users are potential customers.
US is in a worse crisis than Europe. Just look at the EUR/USD rates: even though there's a very serious financial crisis looming in Europe, the Euro is still very strong. That indicates very clearly in how bad a shape the US economy is at the moment. Oh and besides Europe is way bigger than the US when it comes to population.
And they deserve credit for that. Within an hour of the the problem they report on it already.
Mistakes will happen, no matter how hard you try to prevent them. The most important part is: how do you handle those mistakes. Many other companies should take note of what El Reg has done here, and follow their example.
My biggest gripe is the menubar on the top of the primary screen. I can understand that this made sense in 1984 when screens were small (and there was only one).
Interestingly, Ubuntu 11.10 with Unity interface is doing just that.
But then about Unity: I hate it. That's the best I can say about Unity. Switched to Gnome3 classic - was strongly considering to dump Ubuntu over it. Got fed up with having windows maximise themselves all the time, not being able to find windows (no window list at the bottom of the screen or anywhere else), not being able to find applications (hidden in between hundreds of others instead of in a nice menu; typing the name "terminal" is the fastest way to find a terminal, for example!).
But the menu on the top, well that's a bit of getting used to but it's also nicely out of the way. I'm used to that from my iBook and liked it there, too. That feature I actually liked of the new Unity. But that's also the only thing that I liked about it, as the rest sucks. Maybe it's nice on a netbook though. Vertical screen space is always too limited.
And indeed when putting it back up after the counter notice, the host is supposed to be in the clear.
I'm just wondering: is there any obligation to put back up the work under dispute?
Considering how long it took them to really support digital music sales (and as of this day this support is still not wholeheartedly), I'd say yes they would pull out of the complete deal if there is the tiniest bit not to their liking.
How is it going with Google's online personal storage of digital music, by the way? They were doing that too going against the wishes of the RIAA. Claiming what they do is legal, while the RIAA claims it's not, and without reaching an agreement between the parties.
I have the same issue with my smartphone. Considering buying a second phone, a more traditional "dumb phone", to go with it. My LG P500 has pretty poor sound quality even. For the rest it's a great device.
That, and I don't understand why Android can't just read it's contacts from an LDAP server.
You know, /. summaries are just teasers, to get you on the subject. For the meat you have to either read TFA or just read the comments.
I would also guess that there probably aren't that many people outside of Google who build their own Android images.
And those that would, are most likely big companies that have a very good reason for wanting to do that, and also don't mind having to buy a bit more RAM. It's not that expensive these days anyway.
Then indeed this must be due to air enclosures: either in the material, or in the final shape of the object you made (small spaces very easily trap air, for example). Most plastics shrink quite a bit when cooling down, and as I understand the makerbot uses molten plastic to make its shapes, and that also can create air bubbles inside the material.
ABS sinks in water. It's density is about 1.2 g/cm3 so it's 1.2 times heavier than water. Of commonly used plastics, only PE and PP float in water. The rest sinks.
Both failed to actually set off their bombs. The first caused a burn instead of explosion, the second failed completely. They are not suicide bombers, they are just attempted suicide bombers. If a suicide bomber is successful in doing their bombing there is not much left to arrest.
If terrorists wanted to simply take down planes, a simple bomb in the cargo bay would be simpler and more effective. Hell, they wouldn't even have to board the flight.
For many years already Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) does not allow flights to take off if the owner of a piece of checked luggage isn't on the plane. They WILL unload this luggage from the plane if the passenger doesn't board. And yes that may cause serious delays.
Then there is of course air cargo, some carried on combi flights, but then cargo carried on combi flights is inspected much more thoroughly than cargo carried on cargo-only flight.
In Hong Kong maybe 10% of the population owns a car. The majority doesn't even have a driving license.
There is no need for a car when public transport is well organised and cheap. Buses, minibuses, trains get you almost anywhere and taxis are very affordable too. In fact unless you drive really a lot a taxi is cheaper and more convenient as there is no need to park it after arriving at your destination.
At least it solves your unemployment problems. And it keeps the children safe and the terrorists from entering your country. Win/win/win!
I don't think the issue of being arrested is that important after setting off that belt of explosives strapped around your waist. Come to think of it, I don't recall knowing about any suicide bomber to be arrested after the act.