Roxio (Napster) has an interesting setup at Target these days.
Across the isle from the traditional CD's and around the corner from Apple's iPod display including cool $15 pre-paid iTMS gift cards sits Roxio's marketing "all in".
They have branded Napster pre-paid cards (at $14.85 vs. Apple' s $15 pre paid card, though you do get $15.00 worth of single tracks or full albums) as well as "Napster brand" blank CD's (perfect for audio burning) and even CD cases for your car, complete with the Napster Kitty logo.
I think this is brlliant myself. They are making Napster the Brand - so everytime you pull out that burned CD, today, tomorrow, two years from now, you remember you got that crap for $99 a track off Napster.com. Plus, they are sure to make better margins off their re-branded merchandise than on their $0.99 music.
Yes, then we can have 2 giant software monopolies and a third company that will sink under it's own weight before the next antitrust trial is over. This is as brilliant an idea as breaking up the Bells, but at least when they did that they put enough restrictions on the Bells, and massive regulation in place, to prevent them from competing in the same markets as the other phone companies which sprung up afterwards.
If MS were forced to split into an OS company, and an applications/peripherals/xbox/etc company then it would NOT be like the Bells. They had this huge infrastructure to break apart and share. MS has code. The point is they should not be able to have preferred access to the OS code (or application code).
As product manager of Microsoft Applications, Inc. a sound business decision would be to offer Office on other platforms than just XP and OS X. Likewise, the Microsoft OS, Inc. PM would need to find new ways of legally encouraging product purchase - e.g. INNOVATION in the OS!
Aren't the time lines for these things rediculous? From the time an investigation starts, trail is held, conviction is appealed and re-tried, it takes about a decade to exact "justice" on an international corporation.
In the meantime, the victims such as smaller competing firms and consumers have long since picked up the pieces and moved on. The companies at the amepx of it all aren't even relevant anylonger (Netscape?).
Until the law can put some spring in their step, a $600 Million fine 10 years after putting awa your competition is paultry.
Microsoft will be the one's to save Apple - by means of their own greed.
Follow me here: 1. Microsoft saw that new computer sales were being lead by games, so they build the Xbox to dominate the game machine market. 2. The next gen Xbox is running IBM's G5 processor (getting the idea) 3. When games are released that will run on a G5, it makes sense that by hacker or by legal means (game writers por to OS X), those games will make it onto Apple desktops. 4. Apple becomes a viable gaming platform 5. Gamers start choosing Apple over Xbox 6. Game writers start writing for Apple natively 7. Microsoft's Xbox saves Apple
After reading the article all I can say is
on
Junkie Loves His Spam
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I am willing to vote with my wallet - not only by not purchasing these "Trusted" computers and buying Macs instead, but also by donating money to "anti-trusted" / "untrusted" computing groups.
Does anyone know of a legal, non-profit group that one can send tax deductable donations to to fight "trusted compuing", WMA, and DRM other than fairplay?
So why do you say: "What are the core differences and how could things turn around Gateway or Apple's currernt trends?" - It may not be a rhetorical question, but it's not really a valid one either IMO, as it compares Apples to Orang^WGateways. What makes the above question invalid? "Compare two computer manufacturers' company owned retail stores." You say they are "Apples and Oranges" GREAT, it is invalid to compare and Apple and an orange? I don't think so. You can say what is similar and what is different. That's a comparison, it is totally "valid".
People who want Macs have to get them from a) an Apple store, b) online, or c) an authorized Apple retailer. How is this different for a Gateway? a) Country Store, b) gateway.com, c) Gateway reseller (no, Gateways aren't sold by distributers to retail outlets like digital cameras and other electronics are. You want to sell Gateways, you have to be a Gateway authorized reseller.)
In general, markets who have an Apple store do not have many (if any) authorized Apple retailers, for reasons you can probably imagine. Markets with no Apple store generally have 2 local Apple authorized retailers. This is just not true. New York City disproves that little theory. In fact, since Apple stores are in the major metro areas, I would say they are MORE common where existing Apple retailers exist.
Is the size of the drive starting to be like the megahertz myth? I mean, aren't two 200GB drives faster/better than one 400GB in any application where the physicial size is not a limitation (laptop/blade)? Lets say you were editing digital video and then saving the stream in real time. Seems simultaneous read/write ability would be huge. Large drives become even less significant in non physician size limited applications when you can view two devices as one partition.
For desktop use, there are so many open drive bays in a PC that I think I prefer two drives to one monster.
When Apple first announced they would open stores nationwide, people pointed to the then already declining Gateway Country Store profitability and said "Jobs, what are you thinking?"
But there is an obvious difference between the two retail stores. What are the core differences and how could things turn around Gateway or Apple's currernt trends?
Reminds me of those 1980's shaver commercials gone bad - "I liked it so much I bought th ecompany".
A company I used to work for bought one eMachine to see if we wanted to deploy them throughout the organization. They were horrible. came deliverred with the ram unseated so it wouldn't even boot out of the box.
After using just one eMachine, I have no idea what someone would do with the entire company.
Re:Memory and English: An Informal Study
on
The Memory Masters
·
· Score: 1
During the "good ole days" (1998-2001) when dot-com money was fluid, training centers were handing out MCSE cert training and testing and getting better than $2000 or even $3000 for it. Now, I doubt many people care as they saw what it bought them.
Enter Apple growing market share. Companies will still need someone to show the secretary how to use the Dock. It isn't that it's difficult to use, it's that she just doesn't have the self confidence that she's doing it right.
The winner (besides our favorite produce supplier) is the training company that now has a service someone will buy.
I *do* find the reasoning behind the return - if as clear as the writter makes it - to be reasonable.
The POINT of a 10 day eval is to do just what the writer did - evaluate the unit, in this case the 3rd party software compatibility.
I would agree that if there are "add-ons" available during the buying process, they should be noted as "customizations". To further the car analogy, usually "dealer installed options" and "manufacturer options" are differentiated on the window sticker (dealer options are often a smaller sticker to the right of the large dealer window sticker in my experiences).
In either case, I am disappointed that Apple would refuse a return configured only with appel memory and apple hard drive options.
I do love Apple, but i have found their sales and returns policies to be in need of improvement in my own personal experience.
No need to take it personally - It isn't that Apple does not think you worthy of their product. To the c ontrary, I think that Apple may have more of a short term threat from Linux than Windows in that OS X is so similar to a Red Hat (et al) distribution functionality wise that they need the differentiation in order to get Linux folks to switch to OS X.
Since there are few details provided, its hard to say, but I wonder if there wuld have been better luck returning say a 20" iMac for an exchange on a G5 w/ Cinema Display setup.
Try anyone else - Dell, Gateway, etc. Customize the system, then try to return it for a non-warranty reason.
A good reference for the size of this thing....
on
iPod Mini Ships
·
· Score: 4, Funny
If you want to get an approximate size of the Mini iPod, dig through your wallet and find a business card, or a stack of about twenty for thickness comparisson.
While you're in your wallet, pull out $249.
The odd oclor out is Silver?
on
iPod Mini Ships
·
· Score: 4, Informative
According to the Montley Fool the color not sold out was silver which would indicate either the color was not as popular or Apple did not produce the same number of each color Mini iPod.
It is interesting to note that when the color iMacs were introduced, vendors were required to purchase them in lots that included one of each color. This draw the ire of some Apple resellers who were stuck with unpopular colors while they could not order only the most popular ones.
But will you be able to justify to yourself the prmium price tag for a G5 over a G4?
let's make some guesses since no one knows, that a G5 laptop, in some type of configuration, could be had for $2,999. We know you can today purchase a 15" 1 Ghz PB for $1,999.
For the price premium (50%), you get a laptop you assume will last more than 50% longer as an investment in technology.
I feel that the better investment is to buy a mid-range system where you will get several years out of it, but then you get to go shopping sooner because you didn't spend as much in the first place.
My own formula for hardware expenditures is $250 per year for desktops, $500 per year for portables. If I spend that much, I expect that much life out of them. It has been a good rule thus far and allows me to have a great system - never top of the line but never obsolete - while working within my budget.
- The numbers Napster gives are questionable because there are three things going on: sales, complementary "5 free songs" promotions, and subscriptions. When Apple reports numbers post Pepsi promotion, they will no doubt be called into question. As of now, both apple numbers - $99 songs and $9.99 albums are heavily questioned. - What is questionable about Apple's sales tactics? This is Well known? then give us say, the top three best known examples. - proprietaty software from Apple? How about Darwin's core is GPL. How about Apple uses open standards (like AAC being MP4 + fairplay) How about Rondevous and IEEE and USB and on and on. - What makes you think Apple will change the terms and conditions of the DRM? Some example from.Mac e-mail addresses being forever free? Well if you will recall, when Apple users gave push back to the me@mac.com e-mail address being included in the host of new services called.Mac that cost $99 a year, Apple relented and gave all existing mac.com accounts free access to their existing users for as long as they wanted. What's wrong with that? - Apple has never had a monopoly. They currently do not have an on-line songs monopoly (56%) so what leads you to believe they will "become monopolist in attitude as well as fact"? That has never been the company culture.
Slashdot Mirror
Roxio (Napster) has an interesting setup at Target these days.
Across the isle from the traditional CD's and around the corner from Apple's iPod display including cool $15 pre-paid iTMS gift cards sits Roxio's marketing "all in".
They have branded Napster pre-paid cards (at $14.85 vs. Apple'
s $15 pre paid card, though you do get $15.00 worth of single tracks or full albums) as well as "Napster brand" blank CD's (perfect for audio burning) and even CD cases for your car, complete with the Napster Kitty logo.
I think this is brlliant myself. They are making Napster the Brand - so everytime you pull out that burned CD, today, tomorrow, two years from now, you remember you got that crap for $99 a track off Napster.com. Plus, they are sure to make better margins off their re-branded merchandise than on their $0.99 music.
I'm a proud user of the Wal-Mart DVD rental service
Are you being serious? You are a *proud* Wal-Mart customer?
If MS were forced to split into an OS company, and an applications/peripherals/xbox/etc company then it would NOT be like the Bells. They had this huge infrastructure to break apart and share. MS has code. The point is they should not be able to have preferred access to the OS code (or application code).
As product manager of Microsoft Applications, Inc. a sound business decision would be to offer Office on other platforms than just XP and OS X. Likewise, the Microsoft OS, Inc. PM would need to find new ways of legally encouraging product purchase - e.g. INNOVATION in the OS!
It's an american joke -
when someone gives you some small amount of money, kids used to say "thanks, now mom can have that opperation"
Aren't the time lines for these things rediculous? From the time an investigation starts, trail is held, conviction is appealed and re-tried, it takes about a decade to exact "justice" on an international corporation.
In the meantime, the victims such as smaller competing firms and consumers have long since picked up the pieces and moved on. The companies at the amepx of it all aren't even relevant anylonger (Netscape?).
Until the law can put some spring in their step, a $600 Million fine 10 years after putting awa your competition is paultry.
Break up Microsoft - THAT is the solution!
"Great, now the EU's mom can get that opperation"
I was ready to plunk down some bucks for the next version of Sid Meier's "Civilization on Mars".
Been several years since my favorite game, Civ 3 was a new release title.
Microsoft will be the one's to save Apple - by means of their own greed.
Follow me here:
1. Microsoft saw that new computer sales were being lead by games, so they build the Xbox to dominate the game machine market.
2. The next gen Xbox is running IBM's G5 processor (getting the idea)
3. When games are released that will run on a G5, it makes sense that by hacker or by legal means (game writers por to OS X), those games will make it onto Apple desktops.
4. Apple becomes a viable gaming platform
5. Gamers start choosing Apple over Xbox
6. Game writers start writing for Apple natively
7. Microsoft's Xbox saves Apple
FREAK!!!
I am willing to vote with my wallet - not only by not purchasing these "Trusted" computers and buying Macs instead, but also by donating money to "anti-trusted" / "untrusted" computing groups.
Does anyone know of a legal, non-profit group that one can send tax deductable donations to to fight "trusted compuing", WMA, and DRM other than fairplay?
(1) Extend arm 90 degrees in front of you
(2) Rotate palm side up
(3) Make the sign of a Vulcan
Viola! The first spork!
So why do you say:
"What are the core differences and how could things turn around Gateway or Apple's currernt trends?" - It may not be a rhetorical question, but it's not really a valid one either IMO, as it compares Apples to Orang^WGateways.
What makes the above question invalid? "Compare two computer manufacturers' company owned retail stores." You say they are "Apples and Oranges" GREAT, it is invalid to compare and Apple and an orange? I don't think so. You can say what is similar and what is different. That's a comparison, it is totally "valid".
People who want Macs have to get them from a) an Apple store, b) online, or c) an authorized Apple retailer.
How is this different for a Gateway? a) Country Store, b) gateway.com, c) Gateway reseller (no, Gateways aren't sold by distributers to retail outlets like digital cameras and other electronics are. You want to sell Gateways, you have to be a Gateway authorized reseller.)
In general, markets who have an Apple store do not have many (if any) authorized Apple retailers, for reasons you can probably imagine. Markets with no Apple store generally have 2 local Apple authorized retailers.
This is just not true. New York City disproves that little theory. In fact, since Apple stores are in the major metro areas, I would say they are MORE common where existing Apple retailers exist.
Is the size of the drive starting to be like the megahertz myth? I mean, aren't two 200GB drives faster/better than one 400GB in any application where the physicial size is not a limitation (laptop/blade)? Lets say you were editing digital video and then saving the stream in real time. Seems simultaneous read/write ability would be huge. Large drives become even less significant in non physician size limited applications when you can view two devices as one partition.
For desktop use, there are so many open drive bays in a PC that I think I prefer two drives to one monster.
When Apple first announced they would open stores nationwide, people pointed to the then already declining Gateway Country Store profitability and said "Jobs, what are you thinking?"
But there is an obvious difference between the two retail stores. What are the core differences and how could things turn around Gateway or Apple's currernt trends?
Not a rhetorical question - please don't flame!
Reminds me of those 1980's shaver commercials gone bad - "I liked it so much I bought th ecompany".
A company I used to work for bought one eMachine to see if we wanted to deploy them throughout the organization. They were horrible. came deliverred with the ram unseated so it wouldn't even boot out of the box.
After using just one eMachine, I have no idea what someone would do with the entire company.
...The technical trainers.
During the "good ole days" (1998-2001) when dot-com money was fluid, training centers were handing out MCSE cert training and testing and getting better than $2000 or even $3000 for it. Now, I doubt many people care as they saw what it bought them.
Enter Apple growing market share. Companies will still need someone to show the secretary how to use the Dock. It isn't that it's difficult to use, it's that she just doesn't have the self confidence that she's doing it right.
The winner (besides our favorite produce supplier) is the training company that now has a service someone will buy.
I *do* find the reasoning behind the return - if as clear as the writter makes it - to be reasonable.
The POINT of a 10 day eval is to do just what the writer did - evaluate the unit, in this case the 3rd party software compatibility.
I would agree that if there are "add-ons" available during the buying process, they should be noted as "customizations". To further the car analogy, usually "dealer installed options" and "manufacturer options" are differentiated on the window sticker (dealer options are often a smaller sticker to the right of the large dealer window sticker in my experiences).
In either case, I am disappointed that Apple would refuse a return configured only with appel memory and apple hard drive options.
I do love Apple, but i have found their sales and returns policies to be in need of improvement in my own personal experience.
No need to take it personally - It isn't that Apple does not think you worthy of their product. To the c ontrary, I think that Apple may have more of a short term threat from Linux than Windows in that OS X is so similar to a Red Hat (et al) distribution functionality wise that they need the differentiation in order to get Linux folks to switch to OS X.
Since there are few details provided, its hard to say, but I wonder if there wuld have been better luck returning say a 20" iMac for an exchange on a G5 w/ Cinema Display setup.
Try anyone else - Dell, Gateway, etc. Customize the system, then try to return it for a non-warranty reason.
If you want to get an approximate size of the Mini iPod, dig through your wallet and find a business card, or a stack of about twenty for thickness comparisson.
While you're in your wallet, pull out $249.
According to the Montley Fool the color not sold out was silver which would indicate either the color was not as popular or Apple did not produce the same number of each color Mini iPod.
It is interesting to note that when the color iMacs were introduced, vendors were required to purchase them in lots that included one of each color. This draw the ire of some Apple resellers who were stuck with unpopular colors while they could not order only the most popular ones.
But will you be able to justify to yourself the prmium price tag for a G5 over a G4?
let's make some guesses since no one knows, that a G5 laptop, in some type of configuration, could be had for $2,999. We know you can today purchase a 15" 1 Ghz PB for $1,999.
For the price premium (50%), you get a laptop you assume will last more than 50% longer as an investment in technology.
I feel that the better investment is to buy a mid-range system where you will get several years out of it, but then you get to go shopping sooner because you didn't spend as much in the first place.
My own formula for hardware expenditures is $250 per year for desktops, $500 per year for portables. If I spend that much, I expect that much life out of them. It has been a good rule thus far and allows me to have a great system - never top of the line but never obsolete - while working within my budget.
- The numbers Napster gives are questionable because there are three things going on: sales, complementary "5 free songs" promotions, and subscriptions. When Apple reports numbers post Pepsi promotion, they will no doubt be called into question. As of now, both apple numbers - $99 songs and $9.99 albums are heavily questioned. .Mac e-mail addresses being forever free? Well if you will recall, when Apple users gave push back to the me@mac.com e-mail address being included in the host of new services called .Mac that cost $99 a year, Apple relented and gave all existing mac.com accounts free access to their existing users for as long as they wanted. What's wrong with that?
- What is questionable about Apple's sales tactics? This is Well known? then give us say, the top three best known examples.
- proprietaty software from Apple? How about Darwin's core is GPL. How about Apple uses open standards (like AAC being MP4 + fairplay) How about Rondevous and IEEE and USB and on and on.
- What makes you think Apple will change the terms and conditions of the DRM? Some example from
- Apple has never had a monopoly. They currently do not have an on-line songs monopoly (56%) so what leads you to believe they will "become monopolist in attitude as well as fact"? That has never been the company culture.
If you really want to try it out, then why not use Wine to run Windows on X on Linux and then try the iTMS for Windows?
I thought Linux geeks were supposed to be able to figure this stuff out on their own.