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» Currently browsing posts tagged with: iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3GS Report: A Peeve or Two

July 20th, 2009

You probably know my history with the iPhone, I presume. Well, at least those of you who are regular readers. I got my first in January, 2008, a review sample from Apple. After spending four weeks with that unit, and on the day I returned it, I went over to the nearest AT&T factory store and bought one.

The iPhone 3G was an easy acquisition. I paid $299 for the 16GB version, and sold the original model for nearly that much. I presume someone probably unlocked it and sent it overseas, but it was a perfectly legal sale, and I got paid within three days after shipping it on to the dealer in question.

I acquired the iPhone 3GS simply because AT&T liberalized the upgrade policy to allow customers who bought their iPhones 11 months earlier to obtain the new model for the standard price, no penalty. How could I refuse?

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About Apple’s Forthcoming Financials: Just Ignore the Analysts

July 15th, 2009

For a once-beleaguered company, the amount of attention that will be focused on Apple’s quarterly financials next week will likely come close to matching that for a statement about health care or national security from the president. That may seem surprising, but it’s true. Nearly everything that happens with Apple these days is fodder for extensive coverage.

Certainly estimates of how well Apple will do are all over the map. Some suggest that Mac sales must be lower than last year, before the worst of the economic crunch hit. If you go along with that proposition, then the only issue is how much sales have dipped.

The reality appears to be pointing in a different direction, and some analysts are even revising their forecasts as a result. For one thing, early reports from the retail front indicate that Apple’s sales actually rose beginning in May, perhaps coinciding with the beginning of their annual “back to school” bash. The reduced prices for Mac notebooks first announced at the WWDC also boosted demand.

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Apple Still Won’t Play the Game — Well, Mostly

June 11th, 2009

It’s fair to say that the fairly decent price reductions of the MacBook Pro series will have an impact. People who complain that Macs are too costly will have less ammunition to assert their case. Microsoft will have to recast its lame laptop buyer spots to recognize the new reality. Or maybe not.

While not unexpected, it’s encouraging to see Apple keep the 8GB iPhone 3G in the lineup, for just $99. Former Apple hardware executive Jon Rubenstein, who now heads Palm, is going to be under severe pressure to somehow match that price cut with the new Palm Pre, and it’s not as if Palm is in terribly great shape these days.

Regardless, I suppose some of you will feel Apple listened to those Microsoft spots, and the price reductions will spark a trend, that Apple will soon do precisely the same with its desktop line. Cheap Macs — what a concept!

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After the WWDC IV: Get Ready for the Silliness

June 10th, 2009

In the wake of what seemed to be significant announcements from Apple, it’s clear Wall Street wasn’t super impressed, but does anyone take the financial community seriously anymore after the recent economic debacle? And don’t get me started on some members of the tech media.

Take an article I read the other day that suggested that, by relabeling all unibody notebooks as MacBook Pros, Apple had suddenly left a gaping hole in its product line. I suppose that’s because there’s a lone white MacBook available for $200 less. The author failed to consider the full impact of the price reductions, which clearly make Apple’s portables far more competitive with the Windows variety and make claims about an Apple Tax sillier than ever.

Of course, it may take a few days for Microsoft to comprehend the changed state of affairs. As of Tuesday evening, their notorious laptop ads were still running, and it was curious to see someone again dismissing a $1,999 MacBook Pro as too expensive, then buying, for less than $1,000, something more comparable to the $999 MacBook. Stupid is as stupid does.

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