I do wonder if this is why the American attitude (In a gross... disgustingly gross exaggeration) seems relatively insular compared to many other countries. Too much naval gazing because you're already the centre of the universe.
Although that is a common perception, especially here on Slashdot, it is not accurate.
There is a certain amount of fear of outsiders in every country. Americans with Mexicans. The French with north Africans. Austrians and Germans with the Turks. Hong Kongers with mainlanders.
It's just in fashion right now to bash America, so that's why you see that stereotype more than others.
This frightens the labels; if iTunes already does much of the labels' work for them, they may decide to cut out the middleman entirely. The labels have been afraid of becoming obsolete for years now
Think of the iTunes/Starbucks/iPhone/TouchPod as the next step in this evolution.
Apple's iTunes cut the stores and delivery middlemen out of the process.
Starbucks started its own label and signed some pretty big names to it, cutting out the traditional big record companies.
Then the wireless free iPhone/iPod Touch iTunes Store drives the nail into their chests by letting people load up their music players WITHOUT EVEN HAVING TO OWN A COMPUTER, opening it up to millions more people.
I know a number of fashionistas who don't have the time/interest/hardware necessary to load up their iPods with music, so they give them to someone else who does it for them either for free (if it's a friend) or for a couple of bucks. There are even some small companies that have formed to perform this service. Now even that step is no longer necessary.
Your solution sounds cumbersome and unreliable. The more links you put in the chain, the more points of failure there are.
Exclusive contracts of any type should be illegal
That's just dumb. In your world 50 TV channels should all be able carry the same sporting event at the same time. A worker you hired could work for someone else on a competing project. There would be no patents, no copyrights, no innovation. I don't think you've thought this through. While you might envision more competition on the consumer side, there would be less competition on the producer side.
Wouldn't selling it for use on any network generate more sales?
Yes, and no.
The problem is that Apple/Steve had to convince a cell phone company to CHANGE ITS NETWORK to work with the visual voicemail feature. It's the first time I know of that a network has bent to an outside phone maker. How did it/he get AT&T to do that? By offering the five-year exclusive.
You have to give something to get something. It's called negotiation.
I don't use Visual Voicemail, because I use my cell phone mostly as a data device (I average 13 minutes a month of talk time used). But from what I hear, people who do use the VV feature a lot (sales people, frequent business travelers, etc...) say it's completely changed their way of communicating. Without it, the iPhone would be just another smartphone to that segment of the market.
the USD is flushing even further down the international toilet with the recent Fed rate cuts. Enjoy.
That's one very limited way of looking at it. Remember, we're in a global economy now. My company has more than tripled its business because of orders from England. Thanks to the "weak" dollar and the ability to have a London phone number through Vonage, I'm getting three times as much money from them as last year.
The weak dollar has me crying all the way to the bank.
(Note to Europeans: ONLY applies to mobile-to-mobile on the same carrier, not to others in the U.S.)
Actually, some of the plans do allow unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls to people on different networks, and even landlines. I think the T-Mobile MyFaves plan is one.
3) letting me use the computer's keyboard for anything I'd do on the phone (IE, SMS or entering text in any app on the phone)
OS X already allows this on many phones (the SMS with the computer keyboard thing) through the Address Book application. It shouldn't be hard to implement on an iPhone.
A pony? Why do you want to lock yourself into some DRM-crippled equine variant? If it doesn't have full unicorn options, it's nothing less than Micro$oft in disguise.
Funny how battery life on 3G just isn't that big an issue on other phones.
Actually, it is. SonyEricsson phones (including the one I own) tend to only get 2-3 hours of talk time in 3G mode, compared with nearly twice that much in GSM mode. When I'm in the United States I can chat on my phone all I need because it's in GSM mode. When I take it to Japan I have to be careful how much I talk. It's one of the reasons Sony added a feature to the M600i so you can turn off the 3G search feature and extend the battery life by only using GSM when you need to.
I recently looked at the specs for some 3G phones when I was thinking of getting a new one, and their 3G talk time is pretty close to half of what an iPhone's talk time is. There's a lot of hype in the Nokia and SonyEriccson brochures about "up to 7 hours" of talk time, but when you dig deeper, that's always GSM mode, not 3G.
I think only the biggest carriers have relatively cheap nationwide service.
That's interesting. I've always been under the exact opposite impression -- that even the smallest Americn carriers have nationwide roaming agreements. I know Cincinnati Bell does (as one example) and I don't think there are very many carriers smaller than it.
Okay it's thicker, but it's also smaller, and although it has a smaller screen my SE K800i has all of what you list plus 3G, MMS, video calls, a 3Mp camera, a video camera, decent bluetooth with PAN, and a media player which will play iTunes+ tunes and H264 video.
I had the SE K800i. My wife has the iPhone. The SE product is VASTLY inferior, and it really shows when you use them side-by-side.
The primary use for my phone, apart from being a phone and occasionally media player, is providing my laptop a network when I'm away from wi-fi.
A week ago I would have agreed with you on this. The reason I didn't get an iPhone up to now is because I couldn't tether it to my laptop when away from wifi. Then it finally dawned on me... the iPhone is another laptop, in a micro form factor. It has a full-featured browser that no other phone can touch and real e-mail. The only other applications I use on my laptop when I'm mobile is Photoshop. So, instead of teathering my laptop to my phone, if I get an iPhone... I'll only need the phone! Brilliant! I don't know why I didn't realize it sooner.
The iPhone does SMS just fine. In fact, its method for doing SMS is much improved over the offerings I've used from Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Nokia, and Motorola. It organizes your SMS messages into logical chats that are easy to follow. Why no one else has done this before is beyond me.
Anyone saying the iPhone doesn't do SMS is just spreading FUD. But that's what Slashdot is for.
In Belgium locking phones is illegal. That would mean that there won't be a single operator who can get an exclusive deal. That would mean everybody would be able to buy it and use it anywhere in the world.
Also it means that the price will be the price for the phone and only for the phone.
Or it could mean Belgium doesn't get the iPhone.
In spite of Brussels' inflated view of itself, when you're a global company losing Belgium is no big deal.
Selling a device like the iPhone in a market like Europe without 3G support is destined to failure.
What makes you think that the Euro iPhone won't be 3G? When Jobs made the public announcement in front of thousands of developers early this year he very specifically stated that the Europen version would be 3G. Do you have some information to the contrary?
Yeah, I was going to put that new MacPro and 30" Monitor on my bike and bike the 5 miles to the outskirts of town. But then I figured I could single handedly carry it to the subway with all the crowds with less effort. Then I realized people making comments like this were either clueless or were rich enough to have servants to do their dirty work...
In cities they have these things called taxis. You appear to have never heard of them. For a small fee they will haul you and pretty much anything else you want a certain distance. The greater the distance, the greater the "fare."
To put it in terms that a suburban basement-dwelling geek would understand: It's like timeshare computing with a car.
Most urban centers would be dead if cars would be baned. Just ask a young family to do their grocery shopping by bus.
If it's a true urban center, then they don't have to take the bus. They buy a couple of bags two or three times a week. Or they do what I do: Have Peapod, Potash, or one of the other grocery delivery companies bring over a big load of staples (toilet paper, bottled water, etc...) every other month, and the inbetween buy a little bit here and there.
Since I switched to this system, I eat much healthier because I eat fresher. Instead of having the suburban mentality where I have to buy a week or two week's worth of bread and fruit that's full of preservatives to last until the next shopping trip I buy a fresh new apple or two each day. I buy a bagette once or twice a week when I need some bread. It's fresher food, healthier, promotes walking, seeing neighbors, supports local businesses, improves the neighborhood and is just plain old better.
The problem is we have too many people in the suburbs trying to impose their lifestyles on people who live in urban settings. People who live in the 'burbs don't understand that you don't need a car because they've never tried.
I watched Chicago crews remove dozens of parking meters over the course of a couple of weeks as the city switched to a new system. You don't have to repair the sidewalk. They have a kind of bendy circular saw that cuts the bolts flat with the sidewalk. There's a crapload of sparks for about 10 minutes, and then the parking meter falls over. The remaining sidewalk is nice and smooth and flush. It's pretty neat to watch at night.
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There is a certain amount of fear of outsiders in every country. Americans with Mexicans. The French with north Africans. Austrians and Germans with the Turks. Hong Kongers with mainlanders.
It's just in fashion right now to bash America, so that's why you see that stereotype more than others.
There's a great program for the Mac called Coconut Identity Card that tells you where your Apple gear is from (computers and iPods).
It tells me my PowerBook was made in Taiwan. Something my wife had (iBook maybe?) was made in Ireland. Her iPod is from Shanghai, though.
There's stuff out there, but you have to look really really hard.
No kidding. The only jury I ever got to be on was two lawyers suing each other over their share of a fee from a divorce case.
Apple's iTunes cut the stores and delivery middlemen out of the process.
Starbucks started its own label and signed some pretty big names to it, cutting out the traditional big record companies.
Then the wireless free iPhone/iPod Touch iTunes Store drives the nail into their chests by letting people load up their music players WITHOUT EVEN HAVING TO OWN A COMPUTER, opening it up to millions more people.
I know a number of fashionistas who don't have the time/interest/hardware necessary to load up their iPods with music, so they give them to someone else who does it for them either for free (if it's a friend) or for a couple of bucks. There are even some small companies that have formed to perform this service. Now even that step is no longer necessary.
Game over for the record companies.
The problem is that Apple/Steve had to convince a cell phone company to CHANGE ITS NETWORK to work with the visual voicemail feature. It's the first time I know of that a network has bent to an outside phone maker. How did it/he get AT&T to do that? By offering the five-year exclusive.
You have to give something to get something. It's called negotiation.
I don't use Visual Voicemail, because I use my cell phone mostly as a data device (I average 13 minutes a month of talk time used). But from what I hear, people who do use the VV feature a lot (sales people, frequent business travelers, etc...) say it's completely changed their way of communicating. Without it, the iPhone would be just another smartphone to that segment of the market.
The weak dollar has me crying all the way to the bank.
If you pop out the SIM card, will it do this, or does it kill the wifi, too? If not, this might be a workaround you can use.
OTOH, I haven't had a phone in 10 years that didn't promise voice dailing, but I could never get it to work.
A pony? Why do you want to lock yourself into some DRM-crippled equine variant? If it doesn't have full unicorn options, it's nothing less than Micro$oft in disguise.
Great link. Thanks for that.
I recently looked at the specs for some 3G phones when I was thinking of getting a new one, and their 3G talk time is pretty close to half of what an iPhone's talk time is. There's a lot of hype in the Nokia and SonyEriccson brochures about "up to 7 hours" of talk time, but when you dig deeper, that's always GSM mode, not 3G.
The iPhone does SMS just fine. In fact, its method for doing SMS is much improved over the offerings I've used from Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Nokia, and Motorola. It organizes your SMS messages into logical chats that are easy to follow. Why no one else has done this before is beyond me.
Anyone saying the iPhone doesn't do SMS is just spreading FUD. But that's what Slashdot is for.
In spite of Brussels' inflated view of itself, when you're a global company losing Belgium is no big deal.
Great page.
The irony is that when I went, Google showed an ad for a social networking site.
To put it in terms that a suburban basement-dwelling geek would understand: It's like timeshare computing with a car.
Since I switched to this system, I eat much healthier because I eat fresher. Instead of having the suburban mentality where I have to buy a week or two week's worth of bread and fruit that's full of preservatives to last until the next shopping trip I buy a fresh new apple or two each day. I buy a bagette once or twice a week when I need some bread. It's fresher food, healthier, promotes walking, seeing neighbors, supports local businesses, improves the neighborhood and is just plain old better.
The problem is we have too many people in the suburbs trying to impose their lifestyles on people who live in urban settings. People who live in the 'burbs don't understand that you don't need a car because they've never tried.
I watched Chicago crews remove dozens of parking meters over the course of a couple of weeks as the city switched to a new system. You don't have to repair the sidewalk. They have a kind of bendy circular saw that cuts the bolts flat with the sidewalk. There's a crapload of sparks for about 10 minutes, and then the parking meter falls over. The remaining sidewalk is nice and smooth and flush. It's pretty neat to watch at night.
Oh, and I'm probably partially blind now.