Anyone who supports this FRAND patent abuse because its Microsoft and, you know - fuck Microsoft, they deserve it, is being horribly shortsighted and a hypocrite. This is gross abuse of FRAND agreements and sets a dangerous president and, just because its Google vs Microsoft doesn't make it ok.
Abuse of FRAND patents is abuse of FRAND patents regardless of who does it and to whom it is done.
I didn't say "every other manufacturers" - I said " other manufacturers". I was referring to manufacturers like RIM and Nokia and HTC who are seeing their unit sales decline.
Unfortunately, on Slashdot, "patent troll" means "company I don't like using their patents".
Apple and Microsoft often get labeled as patent trolls despite the fact that they invest large (and, by that, I mean ENORMOUS) amounts of resources in R&D and actually create numerous products but now it's cool to dislike them so, patent troll it is.
Samsung, however, who utilizes their FRAND patents in anti-competitive ways are cool so their "victims of patent abuse". It's how things work on Slashdot now.
I mean, really - I knew as soon as I saw the news that Apple and HTC had come to a licensing agreement that, somehow, Slashdot's crowd would find some way to vilify Apple and the majority of the comments in this thread bear that out. They reach a licensing agreement to mutually share their patents (current and future) with another company and somehow they're still perceived as the villain.
...because its easy to see that IOS is beginning its death spiral...
iOS is beginning its death spiral? Are you joking? It's market percentage might be decreasing (and it seems to actually be holding pretty steady right now, going up in one quarter, down in another, and back up again) but it's unit sales continue to rise - their declining percentage is simply an indication of how fast the entire market is growing. Other manufacturers/OSes are seeing their unit sales decline but Apple most certainly isn't one of them. Their sales figures have been on a constant upward trajectory (with the only slowdowns easily attributable to consumers waiting for the new iPhone and thus delaying purchase).
If that's a death spiral, I think a lot of companies want to be in a death spiral...
Well I, for one it seems, thank them for giving me a better maps app. Google _could_ have given me turn by turn navigation in their version but they chose not to. Apple's version does.
And it's excellent.
Anecdote time: my sister bought a new place in the middle of nowhere Ontario. I plunked in her address and followed the turn-by-turn that Apple's app gave me and got there without a problem. Had I been using Google's version, thanks to their neutering of the app, I wouldn't have had turn by turn navigation and would have been forced to actually look at my phone on a regular basis (bad while driving in the middle of nowhere Ontario) to make sure I was going in the right direction or, more likely, download another app to get that functionality.
Sorry - Google could have offered me that functionality but they chose not to. I understand why - they wanted Android to be more appealing, but they didn't offer that functionality. Apple now does. And I thank Apple for that.
Your analogy is stupid (sorry - there's no other word to describe it). Apple aren't selling "fish and there's other food to eat." Apple, using your analogy, are selling "Atlantic Salmon" and there are a) other fish to eat and b) other salmon to eat.
Or, to be clearer, Apple doesn't have a monopoly position in ANY market they operate in. The closest they've ever been to that position was the music player market with the iPod and, even there, they didn't get close to what regulators consider a monopoly position. In the smartphone and tablet markets, while they have strong positions, they aren't even vaguely in the realm of monopoly positions.
And, not to sound snarky, but nobody cares what you consider a monopoly position - all that matters is what regulators consider a monopoly position and that number starts to appear up around 90%-ish and Apple is FAR from approaching that.
If you're a developer and you don't like Apple's terms, you have MANY other options. And that's the way regulators would feel so Apple is in absolutely no danger of facing regulator pushback. Apple isn't remotely close to being "dangerously close", as you put it.
If you think it's going to be rejected then, and this is only an idea, design it so that it follows Apple's clearly published rules for Appstore apps - rules that EVERY other app publisher follows - and that should solve the problem.
I know that's not as fun as intentionally designing your app to break some rules so you know it'll be rejected resulting in a whole PR shitstorm, which is what you're really after, but other app publishers seem to be able to manage to get their apps published so I imagine Google's developers should be smart enough to figure out how to follow the rules. But that's not their goal...
When you file your taxes at the end of each year, do you take advantage of the tax deductions available to you to reduce your tax burden or do you pay the maximum amount?
For the sake of moving this conversation along a little faster, rather than wait for your reply, I'll make the assumption that you do take advantage of the tax deductions that are available to you to reduce your tax burden (because, well, anyone who doesn't is simply an idiot). Why is it ok for you to reduce your tax burden and not ok for Apple (*)? Or are you just ticked off that they are better at it than you/your accountant? I mean, really - if you could legally pay 2% taxes, are you trying to tell anyone here that you wouldn't? Are you seriously trying to tell anyone that your sense of honesty and integrity would stop you from taking advantage of legal tax deductions?
*I love how this is a story about Apple yet EVERY SINGLE COMPANY does this - it's just a question of how good the company's accountants are at finding all available tax deductions to maximize the payments but EVERY SINGLE COMPANY does this to one degree or another. But let's rage against Apple because that's cool and hip and that generates page views...
Hey, dimwit, not everyone is a large and imposing male. I won't be harassed either but being a 6 foot tall adult male makes that possible. There are, however, people who are not 6 foot tall adult males in the world.
Or do you suggest they use a reasonable manner _AND_ become 6 foot tall men to deal with situations like this?
You've clearly never been harassed by a rent-a-cop on a power trip. That you think a reasonable manner will make things easy-peasy amuses me enormously. Just because they're wrong doesn't mean they won't do it. Sorry to break it to you but rent-a-cops who are on a power trip will abuse any hint of power that they have and they don't give a damn what tone of voice you use.
Give your theory a shot some day and see how well it works out for you. I'm pretty certain your reasonable manner will fail in the face of unreasonable abuse of power.
What's more, Google has no reason to use patents to attack Apple or Microsoft.
Then why are they doing exactly that? You do know that Motorola, a company that has filed patent infringement suits against both Apple and Microsoft, is owned by Google, right?
Google only uses its patents defensively, never attacking like Apple does.
BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!!
Perhaps you've heard of this company called Motorola? Yeah - they're owned by Google. They are using their patents offensively against a significant number of companies.
Just because people _think_ Google is all sweet and nice and wonderful doesn't mean they actually are. They're just smart enough to hide their less-than-savory activities behind the Motorola brand...
There really is no legit reason why a Mac will cost 1.5 - 2 times more than a similarly specced Windows PC.
This has been debunked _CONSTANTLY_. How is this myth still being thrown about, especially by people who should know better? A similarly specced PC is typically about 10 - 20% cheaper (varying depending on the exact machine you decide to compare). The problem is most people think "same amount of RAM and same clock speed" equals "similarly specced". It does not. If you're going to look at a similarly specced machine, look at a machine with the same connections, the same monitor, the same _EVERYTHING_. Most all-in-one computers have crap monitors compared to an iMac, for example, so comparing an all-in-one with an iMac won't result in a similarly specced comparison. Actually compare a similarly specced machine and then you'll realize that, yes, the Mac is more expensive but it's nowhere close to 1.5 to 2 times. Not even vaguely close.
Makes me wonder how much an iPhone would cost to manufacture in the U.S.
Probably a similar amount to any other phone being manufactured in the US but let's make this about the iPhone and ignore that other phones are made a) at Foxconn and b) in China factories essentially identical to Foxconn. Let's also ignore the fact that _NO_ smartphones are made in the US and make it sound like Apple is the villain because _THEY_ don't make their phone in the US.
Or, to put it differently, I know that mentioning the iPhone generates page views and heated conversation but this is about a whole lot more than the iPhone. If people are upset with the worker conditions in China, then there are a LOT of phones (and TVs and toasters and refrigerators and...) that they should also be upset about.
They think the phone is faster because they're told it's faster, not because it is.
Actually, I think it's faster because it is faster. Or did you miss the story where it was made clear that Apple's claim of the phone being twice as fast as the 4S was confirmed?
And while your commentary on marketing is valid, the point _I_ was trying to make, which seemed to do its own woosh for you, is that you can find a collection of random people on the street that will inevitably say anything you want to further paint the image you want. Kimmell wanted to make consumers look stupid. You even backed it up with your "If that doesn't say something about the mindset of Apple's userbase, I don't know what does." But you could have done that with any phone and gotten a similar result. As Mercer has proven many a time, you can do that with damn near any subject and get enough people saying stupid crap. It has nothing to do with marketing or intelligence - it's simple human nature. Throw a camera in someone's face (which makes them nervous and puts them off-kilter) and tell them you're showing them the new iPhone (or anything else you want) and you're likely to get enough people who believe you to provide amusing comments allowing you to make a humorous highlight reel.
So, to put it clearer, that says nothing about the mindset of the Apple userbase beyond the fact that they are normal humans.
Oh my god. If I have to read one more BS Apple story like this on the internet, I'm going to go nuts
Oh my god. If I have to read one more utterly ignorant post that completely misses the point of the article, I'm... well, sadly, it's going to happen because twits like you are everywhere of late...
Others have already pointed out - the article is about ARM. It just happened to be an iPad 2 that was used in the testing.
Rick Mercer has gone out and talked to Americans and had many an interesting conversation. If that doesn't say something about the mindset of Americans, I don't know what does.
See what I did there. I used a comedian's skit where he puts a camera in someone's face and airs the best reactions to make a point. Interesting that, wouldn't you say? Might even relate to the point you're trying to make.
As an aside in the source data I have problems OSX being well above 8% (now at 12%) of sales and the figure for market share being around 6-7%. I'd love to see some breakdown that explicates the discrepancy between sales figures and usage figures when they show up, because they are rather common.
I imagine (and it's just a guess) that it has to do with people still using very old PCs. While sales percentages have shifted, legacy equipment still in use results in a discrepancy in usage percentages.
Just a guess though. It could also be the people running these surveys don't know their ass from their elbow.
Slashdot Mirror
Biased summary much?
Any value Slashdot once had as a source for tech news is entirely gone now. Sensationalistic crap for the win.
Meh.
Let's start a pool for how long it takes for this "attorneys' eyes only" document to be "accidentally" leaked to the public. I'm going to take 3 days.
Anyone who supports this FRAND patent abuse because its Microsoft and, you know - fuck Microsoft, they deserve it, is being horribly shortsighted and a hypocrite. This is gross abuse of FRAND agreements and sets a dangerous president and, just because its Google vs Microsoft doesn't make it ok.
Abuse of FRAND patents is abuse of FRAND patents regardless of who does it and to whom it is done.
I didn't say "every other manufacturers" - I said " other manufacturers". I was referring to manufacturers like RIM and Nokia and HTC who are seeing their unit sales decline.
Unfortunately, on Slashdot, "patent troll" means "company I don't like using their patents".
Apple and Microsoft often get labeled as patent trolls despite the fact that they invest large (and, by that, I mean ENORMOUS) amounts of resources in R&D and actually create numerous products but now it's cool to dislike them so, patent troll it is.
Samsung, however, who utilizes their FRAND patents in anti-competitive ways are cool so their "victims of patent abuse". It's how things work on Slashdot now.
I mean, really - I knew as soon as I saw the news that Apple and HTC had come to a licensing agreement that, somehow, Slashdot's crowd would find some way to vilify Apple and the majority of the comments in this thread bear that out. They reach a licensing agreement to mutually share their patents (current and future) with another company and somehow they're still perceived as the villain.
...because its easy to see that IOS is beginning its death spiral...
iOS is beginning its death spiral? Are you joking? It's market percentage might be decreasing (and it seems to actually be holding pretty steady right now, going up in one quarter, down in another, and back up again) but it's unit sales continue to rise - their declining percentage is simply an indication of how fast the entire market is growing. Other manufacturers/OSes are seeing their unit sales decline but Apple most certainly isn't one of them. Their sales figures have been on a constant upward trajectory (with the only slowdowns easily attributable to consumers waiting for the new iPhone and thus delaying purchase).
If that's a death spiral, I think a lot of companies want to be in a death spiral...
Google got nothing in return for the data. No ads, no ad revenue, no fresh data, nothing, zilch.
You believe that???
Wow. Um, ok.
I've seen some ill-informed opinions on Slashdot lately but that one ranks pretty highly on the list...
Well I, for one it seems, thank them for giving me a better maps app. Google _could_ have given me turn by turn navigation in their version but they chose not to. Apple's version does.
And it's excellent.
Anecdote time: my sister bought a new place in the middle of nowhere Ontario. I plunked in her address and followed the turn-by-turn that Apple's app gave me and got there without a problem. Had I been using Google's version, thanks to their neutering of the app, I wouldn't have had turn by turn navigation and would have been forced to actually look at my phone on a regular basis (bad while driving in the middle of nowhere Ontario) to make sure I was going in the right direction or, more likely, download another app to get that functionality.
Sorry - Google could have offered me that functionality but they chose not to. I understand why - they wanted Android to be more appealing, but they didn't offer that functionality. Apple now does. And I thank Apple for that.
Your analogy is stupid (sorry - there's no other word to describe it). Apple aren't selling "fish and there's other food to eat." Apple, using your analogy, are selling "Atlantic Salmon" and there are a) other fish to eat and b) other salmon to eat.
Or, to be clearer, Apple doesn't have a monopoly position in ANY market they operate in. The closest they've ever been to that position was the music player market with the iPod and, even there, they didn't get close to what regulators consider a monopoly position. In the smartphone and tablet markets, while they have strong positions, they aren't even vaguely in the realm of monopoly positions.
And, not to sound snarky, but nobody cares what you consider a monopoly position - all that matters is what regulators consider a monopoly position and that number starts to appear up around 90%-ish and Apple is FAR from approaching that.
If you're a developer and you don't like Apple's terms, you have MANY other options. And that's the way regulators would feel so Apple is in absolutely no danger of facing regulator pushback. Apple isn't remotely close to being "dangerously close", as you put it.
If you think it's going to be rejected then, and this is only an idea, design it so that it follows Apple's clearly published rules for Appstore apps - rules that EVERY other app publisher follows - and that should solve the problem.
I know that's not as fun as intentionally designing your app to break some rules so you know it'll be rejected resulting in a whole PR shitstorm, which is what you're really after, but other app publishers seem to be able to manage to get their apps published so I imagine Google's developers should be smart enough to figure out how to follow the rules. But that's not their goal...
When you file your taxes at the end of each year, do you take advantage of the tax deductions available to you to reduce your tax burden or do you pay the maximum amount?
For the sake of moving this conversation along a little faster, rather than wait for your reply, I'll make the assumption that you do take advantage of the tax deductions that are available to you to reduce your tax burden (because, well, anyone who doesn't is simply an idiot). Why is it ok for you to reduce your tax burden and not ok for Apple (*)? Or are you just ticked off that they are better at it than you/your accountant? I mean, really - if you could legally pay 2% taxes, are you trying to tell anyone here that you wouldn't? Are you seriously trying to tell anyone that your sense of honesty and integrity would stop you from taking advantage of legal tax deductions?
*I love how this is a story about Apple yet EVERY SINGLE COMPANY does this - it's just a question of how good the company's accountants are at finding all available tax deductions to maximize the payments but EVERY SINGLE COMPANY does this to one degree or another. But let's rage against Apple because that's cool and hip and that generates page views...
Give us the option to buy DRM free.
Do you live in a cave? And been in that cave since the beginning of 2009?
Hey, dimwit, not everyone is a large and imposing male. I won't be harassed either but being a 6 foot tall adult male makes that possible. There are, however, people who are not 6 foot tall adult males in the world.
Or do you suggest they use a reasonable manner _AND_ become 6 foot tall men to deal with situations like this?
You've clearly never been harassed by a rent-a-cop on a power trip. That you think a reasonable manner will make things easy-peasy amuses me enormously. Just because they're wrong doesn't mean they won't do it. Sorry to break it to you but rent-a-cops who are on a power trip will abuse any hint of power that they have and they don't give a damn what tone of voice you use.
Give your theory a shot some day and see how well it works out for you. I'm pretty certain your reasonable manner will fail in the face of unreasonable abuse of power.
What's more, Google has no reason to use patents to attack Apple or Microsoft.
Then why are they doing exactly that? You do know that Motorola, a company that has filed patent infringement suits against both Apple and Microsoft, is owned by Google, right?
Google only uses its patents defensively, never attacking like Apple does.
BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!!
Perhaps you've heard of this company called Motorola? Yeah - they're owned by Google. They are using their patents offensively against a significant number of companies.
Just because people _think_ Google is all sweet and nice and wonderful doesn't mean they actually are. They're just smart enough to hide their less-than-savory activities behind the Motorola brand...
There really is no legit reason why a Mac will cost 1.5 - 2 times more than a similarly specced Windows PC.
This has been debunked _CONSTANTLY_. How is this myth still being thrown about, especially by people who should know better? A similarly specced PC is typically about 10 - 20% cheaper (varying depending on the exact machine you decide to compare). The problem is most people think "same amount of RAM and same clock speed" equals "similarly specced". It does not. If you're going to look at a similarly specced machine, look at a machine with the same connections, the same monitor, the same _EVERYTHING_. Most all-in-one computers have crap monitors compared to an iMac, for example, so comparing an all-in-one with an iMac won't result in a similarly specced comparison. Actually compare a similarly specced machine and then you'll realize that, yes, the Mac is more expensive but it's nowhere close to 1.5 to 2 times. Not even vaguely close.
It's sad how insightful and accurate that post was...
Makes me wonder how much an iPhone would cost to manufacture in the U.S.
Probably a similar amount to any other phone being manufactured in the US but let's make this about the iPhone and ignore that other phones are made a) at Foxconn and b) in China factories essentially identical to Foxconn. Let's also ignore the fact that _NO_ smartphones are made in the US and make it sound like Apple is the villain because _THEY_ don't make their phone in the US.
Or, to put it differently, I know that mentioning the iPhone generates page views and heated conversation but this is about a whole lot more than the iPhone. If people are upset with the worker conditions in China, then there are a LOT of phones (and TVs and toasters and refrigerators and...) that they should also be upset about.
They think the phone is faster because they're told it's faster, not because it is.
Actually, I think it's faster because it is faster. Or did you miss the story where it was made clear that Apple's claim of the phone being twice as fast as the 4S was confirmed?
And while your commentary on marketing is valid, the point _I_ was trying to make, which seemed to do its own woosh for you, is that you can find a collection of random people on the street that will inevitably say anything you want to further paint the image you want. Kimmell wanted to make consumers look stupid. You even backed it up with your "If that doesn't say something about the mindset of Apple's userbase, I don't know what does." But you could have done that with any phone and gotten a similar result. As Mercer has proven many a time, you can do that with damn near any subject and get enough people saying stupid crap. It has nothing to do with marketing or intelligence - it's simple human nature. Throw a camera in someone's face (which makes them nervous and puts them off-kilter) and tell them you're showing them the new iPhone (or anything else you want) and you're likely to get enough people who believe you to provide amusing comments allowing you to make a humorous highlight reel.
So, to put it clearer, that says nothing about the mindset of the Apple userbase beyond the fact that they are normal humans.
Oh my god. If I have to read one more BS Apple story like this on the internet, I'm going to go nuts
Oh my god. If I have to read one more utterly ignorant post that completely misses the point of the article, I'm ... well, sadly, it's going to happen because twits like you are everywhere of late...
Others have already pointed out - the article is about ARM. It just happened to be an iPad 2 that was used in the testing.
Rick Mercer has gone out and talked to Americans and had many an interesting conversation. If that doesn't say something about the mindset of Americans, I don't know what does.
Here, watch the video if you'd like a sample: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-7111005509913775935
See what I did there. I used a comedian's skit where he puts a camera in someone's face and airs the best reactions to make a point. Interesting that, wouldn't you say? Might even relate to the point you're trying to make.
Yet they get far more criticism than Microsoft and Apple running increasingly closed ecosystems.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahaha!!!
Oh shit! That was a damn funny joke. That or you must be real new here son.
More criticism than Apple. On Slashdot. That's rich.
Too funny.
I am proud to not own an iPhone. I am proud in knowing that the % of profits from my phone are minimal and did not come from slave labor.
So, what phone did you buy?
As an aside in the source data I have problems OSX being well above 8% (now at 12%) of sales and the figure for market share being around 6-7%. I'd love to see some breakdown that explicates the discrepancy between sales figures and usage figures when they show up, because they are rather common.
I imagine (and it's just a guess) that it has to do with people still using very old PCs. While sales percentages have shifted, legacy equipment still in use results in a discrepancy in usage percentages.
Just a guess though. It could also be the people running these surveys don't know their ass from their elbow.