Views from the Ivory Tower - August 2008
By Ted Bade
Apple and the iPhone seems to me to really be an experiment.
You see, Apple is trying to determine the effects of annoying its fans by
reducing the price of the iPhone every time they release a new version! People
who stood in line to buy the first iPhones were (according to most news
articles), appalled when Apple released version two and dropped the price by
$100. With the reduced price, a number of people who were holding out because
of the price, dashed out to buy their iPhones, patting themselves on the back
for holding out and getting the better price.
At the WWDC in June, Apple announced the third generation
iPhone, with lots of added features, including a real GPS, they also announced
the price of the base model would be, yes, $100 less then the previous version!
This got me to wondering, who was more annoyed by Apple? Would it be those
people who recently patted themselves on the back for buying Gen 2 iPhones and
saving $100 over those nuts that dashed out to buy the thing when it was first
released, or would it be the nut who dashed out to buy the iPhone when it was
first released, realizing they paid $200 more then the guy in July 08 will?
(Then again, perhaps the most annoyed person is the one who wants to buy a iPod
Touch instead of the iPhone, and who realizes that for $100 LESS, you get a
real GPS!
In any case, I cannot imagine that Apple is creating a lot
of good PR by changing the price the the iPhone with every release. Personally,
I am waiting for Gen 5 iPhones, ☺
Zune steps up to the
plate - I can still recall all the noise about how Microsoft's Zune
was going to seriously compete with AppleÕs iPod. In a recent magazine I read
this interesting piece of information. After 1-1/2 years of being available
Microsoft finally sold 2 million Zunes. Not bad overall. But lets put that
number into perspective. In the final
quarter of that year and a half period, Apple sold 10.5 million iPods.
Put another way, Apple sold almost 5 times as many iPods in one quarter as
Microsoft sold Zunes in six quarters.
This is no surprise to me. The iPod works. I expect the Zune
isnÕt a bad piece of hardware, but Apple has a lot of customer satisfaction.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has been getting a reputation as the corporate
monopoly company, who would want to buy an entertainment device from a
corporate monopoly?
RIAA at it again
- Never, never, never buy music from a RIAA artist. I am serious. Those RIAA
people are really out to destroy anything they donÕt directly control. Listen
to and buy from independent artists, youÕll be happier and wonÕt be giving the
RIAA idiots money to mess with things.
So what is my latest complaint? It appear that the RIAA is
working with some computer manufacturers to remove stereo audio inputs from
their computers. According to an article found on
the Electronista site.
ŌUsers of Dell systems with SigmaTel chips in particular
claim to be only allowed single-channel recording out of the box and are told
that an official solution that restores stereo input will cost $99; Gateway and
(in Europe) Packard Bell systems with the audio hardware are also said to be
affected.Ķ
Wow! Those RIAA guys are really evil. Next I expect a lie
detector test for every citizen in the US. Step right up, answer a few
questions, and pay your RIAA fine as you walk out the door! Give it up people,
the RIAAÕs era of music is dead, dead, dead.
I do note that Apple wasnÕt one of the companies to sell out
on this, so I guess we and out Macs are safe for the moment. In the mean time,
listen and enjoy Independent label artists.
Another market share
increase - Yet another great piece of news about Macs. It seems that
Apple now holds the third place position in computer sales behind HP and Dell. Check out the
article on the Eletronista site.
Another related article on the
MacNN site, explains this information comes from the IDC
research firm. Take at look at this article, since it has a nice data table!
What this indicates is that more people are buying Macs.
With more people buying Macs, more software companies will consider making
products for the Mac. A great thing for those of use that have been using Macs
for years!
Conserving power
- We have been hearing a lot about conserving power lately. It is important for
a number of reasons. The most personal one is that it helps you save some
money! I was recently reacquainted with a power conservation feature of may
years ago: A power sensitive power strip.
The way this item works is when you turn on one device, such
as a computer or receiver, the strip turns on the other outlets. Turning on
things like your monitor, external hard drive, printer; or in the case of your
audio receiver, your powered speakers and DVD/CD Player. When the main device
is turned off, these controlled outlets turn off.
For the most part, we could try to remember to turn all
these peripheral off when we shut the computer down, but letÕs face it, more
often then not, we forget. While the amount of power most of these devices use
when not really doing anything is minimal, over time it can add up. Multiply
that by tens of millions of people and you can see a real effect. I once heard
that the power consumed by power bricks that are left plugged in and are not
connected to anything over the entire USA added up to the amount of energy a
typical large power plan can produce! ThatÕs a lot of wasted power.
One of the main reason these type of power strips went out
of common use was that computers began to draw so much less power. The original
devices werenÕt sensitive enough to act of the draw of a typical modern
computer. I have a friend that got around this by using a light fixture in
place of the computer. To turn his system on, he turns on the desk light! But
that solution requires that the light be on all the time.
I recently set up two such strips. One to turn off my
powered Bose speakers and DVD player when I wasnÕt using the stereo receiver.
To do this, I connected the receiver to the main outlet and the Bose speakers,
the CD/DVD player, and the power brick I keep by the stereo for an iPod to the
outlets that are turned on (or off) when I turn on (or off) the receiver. The
other situation I set up was for a Mac Mini. When the Mini is turned on, it
turns on the monitor, the external hard drive, and the powered speakers. Turn
off the Mini and it all goes off! Wonderful.
I had to search for a power strip that was sensitive enough
to work with a very low powered computer like the Mac Mini. I found one company
that I was very very satisfied with. They not only make a strip that works with
typical computers, but also make a more sensitive strip that works with
extremely low powered computers, such as AppleÕs Mac Mini. The company is Bits Limited. They
make a number of decides to help conserve power. Their line of power strips is
terrific and their customer service is really outstanding!
Take a moment to look over their strips (or any other of
this type) and see if you can find a way to make one or more work to help you
conserve power.
Apple financial report - June ended AppleÕs third quarter
and on July 21st Apple presented its quarterly financial statement. Here are
the results I find interesting:
Apple posted a revenue of $7.46 billion and net quarterly
profit of $1.07 billion. These results compare to revenue of $5.41 billion and
net quarterly profit of $818 million of the year-ago quarter.
Apple sold almost 2.5 million Macs, (representing a 41%
growth), over 11 million iPods (representing a 12 % growth, and sold 717,000
iPhones which compares nicely to the 270,000 is sold in the year-ago-quarter.
To quote the web page:
"We're extremely pleased with the growth of our
business and the generation of almost $5.4 billion in cash in the first three
quarters of fiscal 2008," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO.
"Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of
about $7.8 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.00."
Read them for yourself by visiting the Apple
site.
In the mean time, keep on enjoying your Mac!
