The iPhone comes out today, and from what I read, you should wait for version 2. I have always had mixed feelings about Apple products. I've used a Macintosh (the first ones) at SFSU when I had a business writing class. I liked their word processor program as it was easier to you use than Wordperfect at the time (yes I'm old enough to have used Lotus and one of the original Macs.....shut up). The main problem I have with Apple is the main issue I have with some of Sony's stuff: it's proprietary. Sony is trying to push this new next Gen DVD format called blu ray (it's read with a blue laser instead of a red one....this means they can cram more info on it or something) whereas the rest of the manufacturers in the world are pushing HD DVD.....meaning you don't have to purchase it from Sony or give money to Sony to buy your DVD's. The iPod is like that. From what I know, you can only buy songs from it from iTunes or Apple. If you buy an Apple computer, you can only buy it from Apple. The hardware for it comes from Apple. Thus the higher prices than any PC product you can buy from any manufacturer. Apple does licsense out peripherals (speakers for the MacBooks, docking stations for the iPod etc) but the main hardware; keyboards, mice.....come from Apple. Sony's Blu Ray scheme is like they tried to do way back when with the Betamax format for video tape. Sony lost that one because folks like choice. The iPhone has some cool features, but the exclusive cell provider and wireless provider is AT&T (formerly Cingular). It is using a slow browser for some reason and it's a 2 year contract. The iPhone is like a pocket secretary in the Shadowrun universe....oh sorry I should have warned you about that slight Geek moment there......basically a pocket computer. You can browse the web, watch TV, watch movies, answere emails, listen to music....oh yeah and make phone calls. If you have a ginormous iPod library, you might not want to throw that puppy away yet; the iPhone only holds 800 songs or so.....not alot. It's also, like any product from Steve Jobs and Apple, expensive. Apple rarely lowers their prices and thus makes it cost ineffective for business's to buy whole departments worth of Apple computers. Thus Apple's 2% market share. Of course it's harder to hack an Apple product, and they are practically virus free (it has to do with the operating system and where the root directories are.......if you really want to know, email the Perfect Line I'm sure he will happily describe it in detail), and yes they come out of the box ready to use. PC's come with lot's of promotional software installed, and basic Microsoft Products like Word, Excel are given to you as a "trial" basis and not part of it. I'm not really sure why, but oh well. There are IT guys where I work......nuff said. Apple computers are great for multi-media stuff (the Discourser has detailed just how easy it is to make movies on it) alot better than PC stuff. The price keeps alot of people away, and the fact that you use a PC at work, you neighbor has a PC, you have one, your brother has one, etc etc is what keeps folks away I believe. I remember working with someone once who was an audiophile. He loved the old school stereo systems. He was looking for a laser tracking turntable.....this was when CD players had finally come down in price to the point where a kid with 20 dollars could buy one. He liked this keyboard called the Dvorak keyboard. The letters were arranged differently than on the standard Qwerty keyboards we all learned on and use to this day. Apparently the arrangement on the Dvorak is a more logical arrangement, but it was the late runner and everyone had already learned on the qwerty so too bad so sad. Apple's were the first true powerful home computer. Sure there was the Commodore 64 (ah....I miss my C64) but you really needed to know how to program in basic to use it whereas the Apple's were for the average Joe to use. IBM got involved thanks to this Geek named Bill.....you know Satan Himself, Bill Gates.....actually he's not really Satan, we just let him be. Hell the man's so rich he's practically giving money away, and to really good causes too. Amen Brother. The PC bust out when the started giving an open licsence to anyone that wanted to make a Clone of their computer. The reason we have Compaq, HP, Gateway and Dell to this day.
The iPhone, nifty cool gadget or $600 paperweight? Time will tell.
Ciao for Now.
No comments:
Post a Comment