Clazh » Apple

2007 Year Of the Apple Bashing

Arpit Jacob — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:35:20 +0000

Apple is the new Microsoft or so they say, 2007 has been a great/bad year for Apple. I am seeing a lot of Apple bashing taking place place, grow up people its just a company. Though I admit it is one of the most tight lipped closed company. Lets see where they seem to be screwing up.

Locked iPhone and iPods. (Apparently according to Apple Safari is a SDK)
The lacklustre launch of leopard, Major Upgrading problems. 300 new features yeah right, take a look and tell me if Descriptive Error Messages, Updated Language Guide, Russian Localization and ripping off Spaces from Linux counts as new features, you know something is wrong with what you are doing when people are hacking your code to make the menu bar opaque.
Hardware problems, System Hangs, Restarts etc. (after paying them a premium for their superior hardware)

I wasn’t aware Apple needed to hire PR people, it gets free press from most of the media journalists and bloggers, they’ll gobble down anything to do with Apple.

Found this today on the valleywag Blog.
A British journalist attempts to ask Apple executive Phil Schiller a question about the effective iTunes monopoly on downloads for the iPhone. Apple’s PR people jump in and try to end the interview, saying how they’re “excited” about the iPhone and “want to stay focused.” The problem? Their body language betrays them.

More from the valleywag Blog.
I never ran this myself, but through a friend of a friend I heard that Apple PR teams are not allowed to communicate internally with one another, i.e. the iPod PR people are not allowed to know what iMac PR people are up to. It is totally divide-and-conquer inside the company.

Externally, you’re also not supposed to cultivate relationships with journalists. It’s the complete opposite of other vendors. In fact, my friend said, if you’re an Apple PR person and you are seen in the company of a journalist, at a party or any place other than an Apple event, you better have a good reason why.

Source: Valleywag

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Apple, General, Technology Tags: Apple

Get A Mac Ad: Choose A Vista

Arpit Jacob — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:31:07 +0000

One of the very few apple ads that I completely agree with. One of the Biggest screw ups with Vista are the various different version.

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Apple, Software, Technology Tags: Apple, Mac, Videos

Apple Numbers

Arpit Jacob — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:38:46 +0000

With this whole hype of the iphone, Mac OS X Leopard, new ipods and the new imacs, much of the attention is focused on Apple. Bad luck Microsoft! But has Microsoft released anything in past 6 months? The answer is ‘Yes’ and they are:

Windows Home Server 2008
New Microsoft Zune models
Halo 3
Windows Live services

Since the attention is focused on Apple, here are it’s earnings, market share and sales:

On the Apple earnings call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer cited some research from Strategy Analytics placing the iPhone as the â€œfourth highest selling handset in the U.S. market in the September quarter.â€ (The Motorola V3 was No. 1).

Apple has sold 1.4 million iPhones in a little over a quarter. It took the iPod more than two years to reach the same number of sales. The price cut helped it reach that number, by nearly doubling the daily sales of the iPhone. And Apple says it is on track to sell 10 million iPhones by next year.

Of those 1.4 million iPhones, Oppenheimer estimates 250,000 (or 18 percent) were unlocked to work on networks other than AT&T. (That explains why Apple was so aggressive in bricking those iPhones. Apple only gets paid by AT&T for iPhones connected to its network).

The iPhone starts selling in the UK (with O2) and Germany (with T-Mobile) on November 9th, and in France on November 29th (with Orange).

iTunes has now sold 3 billion songs, and 100 million TV shows.

Appleâ€™s retail strategy continues to power an increasing portion of its sales. In the September quarter, 57 percent of Appleâ€™s sales were direct through its stores or Website, compared to 53 percent a year ago.

[Credit/data: Tech Crunch]

This post is by Michael. Find out more about him HERE

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Apple, General Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPod, Mac, Mac OSX, Microsoft

Good Bye Apple You Suck Really Bad

Arpit Jacob — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:36:32 +0000

Apple you suck. Here’s Why

I have more than 900 Songs from iTunes in the last 1 year and I can play it only on an iPod or using iTunes on a PC I can’t play them on my Phone or portable music player.
I wanted to buy a Mac Book Pro, I decide to check the Apple India Store and find that they are listing Products which are more than 2 years old. I send a mail to Apple complaining about this I receive no reply and the site is take down the next week and hasn’t been put back or updated in the past 2 months and currently still shows an under construction page.
When I call up Apple Customer Sales Support they don’t pick the phone most of the time.
I finally manage to get a Friend to find out the price of a Mac Book Pro from the Apple Store in Bangalore and found out they cost $ 525 more than the one being sold in the US. Dell sells a much better configuration and laptop model(Inspiron 1520) for a lower price and the price is almost the same as the one being sold US price.
You dropped the price of iPhone by $200 in just 2 months. Which means you sold it for much higher price to the early adopters.
You are blocking Third party Apps for the iPhone. (Nokia should step in with a better touch screen phone).
Your Mac vs PC ads are beyond stupid.
Lastly while not really important the number of search results for Apple Sucks have doubled in the last 3 months.

iPhone Nano Can It Be True ? Naaa

Arpit Jacob — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:22:48 +0000

Alright I been sick of all the iPhone this iPhone that news. But now rumors are floating that there is a iPhone Nano in the works. I bet its Apple secret hype machine working overtime. I liked this quote from righton

The mainstream media is VERY easily duped in the past and basing speculation on patent reports has proved futile about one BILLION times in the past.

Using words like “we believe” and “makes sense” just do not convince me that the journalist has any more sense of what he’s speculating on than anyone else.

Yet another Apple rumor that COULD come to pass.

Just because they file a patent, doesn’t mean it will pan out into a product.

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Design, Technology, iPhone Tags: Apple, iPhone

iPhone Demo and iPhone Video Online

Arpit Jacob — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:47:21 +0000

Every one has been all hyped up about the recent announcement made by Apple about the iPhone. If you dont want to watch the iphone demo video on Apple site because its in a Quick Time format then you can watch these iPhone Demo Videos in Flash. These are high Quality videos of the iphone taken directly from Apple’s site.

Iphone Demo Flash Videos

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Apple, General, Internet Tags: Apple, iPhone

Confirmed iPhone To be Launched on June 29

Arpit Jacob — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:53:15 +0000

Well all the hype, speculations and rumours can now come to an end. Apple itself has revealed that the iPhone will launch on the 29th of June, watch the new iPhone ads here. No other product has ever been able to create this much hype and speculations. Personally I think the iPhone is a cool product, cool but not practical I like Paul’s post on why he might not be getting a iPhone even though he is a huge Apple Fan.

While you might have read umpteen post on why the iPhone Rocks.

Some Reasons not to get a iPhone.

Only 2-megapixel camera.
Low battery life. Non removable battery.
Not Upgradable.
No 3G: EDGE.
Over Priced.
No Support or Limited Support for Third Party Applications.
The Interface is most likely to get scratched after sometime.

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Hardware, Technology, iPhone Tags: Apple, iPhone

Bill Gates Vs Steve Jobs Who’s the Better Person?

Arpit Jacob — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:21:26 +0000

Just came across this excellent article on Wired by Leander Kahney Titled Jobs vs. Gates: Who’s the Star?. I am love both Microsoft and Apple products I think both produce some really innovative products. I get a bit sick of all the MS bashing that usually exists in the geek world. People seem to have double standards when it comes to Apple Vs Microsoft. I found the article interesting since people like to paint Bill Gates as an evil capitalist and Steve Jobs as a innovator, When in fact the facts are completely opposite.

Here are some Key points from that Article.

Gates is the cutthroat capitalist. A genius maybe, but one more interested in maximizing profits than perfecting technology. He’s the ultimate vengeful nerd. Ostracized at school, he gets the last laugh by bleeding us all dry.

On the other hand, Jobs has never seemed much concerned with business, though he’s been very successful at it of late. Instead, Jobs has been portrayed as a man of art and culture. He’s an aesthete, an artist; driven to make a dent in the universe.

But these perceptions are wrong. In fact, the reality is reversed. It’s Gates who’s making a dent in the universe, and Jobs who’s taking on the role of single-minded capitalist, seemingly oblivious to the broader needs of society.

Gates is giving away his fortune with the same gusto he spent acquiring it, throwing billions of dollars at solving global health problems. He has also spoken out on major policy issues, for example, by opposing proposals to cut back the inheritance tax.

In contrast, Jobs does not appear on any charitable contribution lists of note. And Jobs has said nary a word on behalf of important social issues, reserving his talents of persuasion for selling Apple products.

Jobs once offered to be an advisor to Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election, and he invited President Clinton over for dinner when Bubba visited Silicon Valley in 1996 — hardly evidence of deep political convictions.

Jobs can’t even get behind causes that would seem to carry deep personal meaning, let alone lasting social importance. Like Lance Armstrong, he is a cancer survivor. But unlike Armstrong, Jobs has so far done little publicly to raise money or awareness for the disease.

Given Jobs’ social detachment, I’m confused by the adulation he enjoys. Yes, he has great charisma and his presentations are good theater. But his absence from public discourse makes him a cipher. People project their values onto him, and he skates away from the responsibilities that come with great wealth and power.

Some Interesting comments from DIGG users.

Menso says: For truth. No matter how much people may dislike Gates/Microsoft, Gates/Microsoft have done much more for people than Jobs/Apple has done for anyone. Although Microsoft is still pretty shady business wise…

th3heretic says: Pretty easy to tell look at Apples policy vs Microsoft’s. Microsoft just wants everyone to run windows, and use xbox 360’s. Apple wants you to run OSX only on Apple hardware, only use their software (itunes, quicktime) with their music play which they want you to get with your mac, they want to own ALL of your digital entertainment not just your pc and console.

Anrkist says: Monopoly?? There’s no competition out there for Windows? Or other countless products that come from MS? I’ve made the choice to use products by his company, they didn’t make the choice for me. If people felt his products weren’t worth using… then they wouldn’t use it. Give people a little more credit then that, stop talking down to everyone with your high & might attitude.
ME is a good example of how the people react when you release a crappy product. They quickly released XP soon after and the people were happy again.
You can then argue that “Windows comes on purchased PCs!! The people don’t have a choice!” – You have the choice to use the Internet and download another O.S. There’s hundreds of choices, people have the options, they just choose not to use whatever else is out there.
You can be Anti-Gates/MS all you want, the fact is his company has helped shape the technology world for the past 2-3 decades & given the growth in technology over those past few years, it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

logicwax says: you think plugging in your USB scanner would make your computer automatically install drivers? ha!
Microsoft got things rolling by making sure everyone sticks to a standard. Look at how fragmented Linux is/was between distro’s and windowing systems. Yeah, choice is great……but for the home PC market, microsoft making sure everyone using one OS was what catapulted PCs into every home of america.

tanveer says: Action speaks louder than any words, no matter how ‘reality distortion worthy’ they are!
Its about f’**** time someone in the major tech journal/publishing did away with trendy snobbery of looking bill/microsoft with a biased eye and admitted the truth – which honestly has always been obvious as a day light for anyone interested in the facts and not what’s considered ‘cool’ or ‘hip’ by the fellow ‘tech-savvy’ crowd.
I don’t hate apple, i think they make beautiful machines (albeit pricey – but worth it – except for AppleTV, oh and mighty mouse…and in-your-ear ipod ear buds, iMac keyboards…)
I just can’t stand baseless anti-Microsoft/Bill Gates cow dung!

Highlights of the joint interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: General, Microsoft, Software, Technology Tags: Apple, Microsoft, People