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Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

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Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#13
post #4

Since he doesn't detail the nature of the problems he had with his failing Macs, I can't really say anything definitive. Personally, I've owned 4 Macs over the past few years and the worst failure I've suffered has been a hard drive crash, so maybe he just has bad luck. I do believe his criticism of MobileMe is warranted though. I'm happy enough to play with it on my free trial but I wouldn't trust its reliability to…

I just found it hilarious that to paraphrase he said 'My Macbook Air couldn't stay connected to our office router so we took it apart for another project.'

Wait...what? You realize that there could be many reasons for that - and many solutions.

Follow that up with his 'high end' black Macbook had a problem...wait just because you pay 200$ more for a different colour doesn't make the laptop high end.

Yes, quite an 'expert' able to judge how a company is doing by his folly with devices.

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#15

"I love that damn phone, and it will take a lot more than lost apps and dropped calls to get it out of my hands." As long as stuff like this (and you can see a lot more of it here on HN) is the prevailing wisdom, Apple has little motivation to actually do anything to fix their problems. The hype around the iPhone is particularly telling - people put up with developer draconian restrictions, they put up with unstable…

Lots of iPhone users never had a smartphone before. You can think of them as the AOL of smartphones. Considering that, maybe the draconian babysitter policies they have over apps make sense. EDIT - iPhone users I know: Me - programmer, but no longer an early adopter. Had a Palm V awhile back, but found it annoying to have the additional device. 1st time smartphone user. Fellow musician - singer, engineering student.…

> Lots of iPhone users never had a smartphone before.

This statement may be technically true, but I highly doubt it's true among the writers and commentators like Arrington that we hear so much about the iPhone from.

In fact, most of the people I know who have iPhones are early adopter types. People like my mom -- a prototypical AOL user -- wouldn't have a clue as to what to do with an iPhone.

Arrington's willingness to put up with the bugs, flaws, and "draconian" babysitter policies is a less a statement about Apple as it as about the rest of the smartphone marketplace, which frankly stinks.

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#16
post #12

A couple anecdotes of broken machines does not make a trend, or a commercial failure.

And to prove that the plural of anecdote is not data, today's news is that Apple has once again topped the PC industry in consumer satisfaction scores [http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10019711-37.html?part=rss&...] and is the only company in their class whose satisfaction rating actually increased since the last survey.

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of iPhone users never had a smartphone before. You can think of them as the AOL of smartphones. Considering that, maybe the draconian babysitter policies they have over apps make sense. EDIT - iPhone users I know: Me - programmer, but no longer an early adopter. Had a Palm V awhile back, but found it annoying to have the additional device. 1st time smartphone user. Fellow musician - singer, engineering student.…

> Lots of iPhone users never had a smartphone before. This statement may be technically true, but I highly doubt it's true among the writers and commentators like Arrington that we hear so much about the iPhone from. In fact, most of the people I know who have iPhones are early adopter types. People like my mom -- a prototypical AOL user -- wouldn't have a clue as to what to do with an iPhone. Arrington's willingness…

No, its more of a statement to the power of Apple's marketing and trends.

The BB Bold vs. iPhone 3G is pretty telling - the Bold was announced a month before the 3G iphone, but is only to be released a few weeks from now. Meanwhile, Apple went ahead and released their product with piss poor battery life and according to many users, unstable software, often unresponsive UI etc. When the Bold comes out it won't have these problems.

iPhone users have made a pretty clear choice: looks above ALL else.

> "statement about Apple as it as about the rest of the smartphone marketplace, which frankly stinks."

I'd really love to see you try and back that statement up

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#18

"I love that damn phone, and it will take a lot more than lost apps and dropped calls to get it out of my hands." As long as stuff like this (and you can see a lot more of it here on HN) is the prevailing wisdom, Apple has little motivation to actually do anything to fix their problems. The hype around the iPhone is particularly telling - people put up with developer draconian restrictions, they put up with unstable…

I went through several Palm Treos before getting an iPhone. The Treo made me almost give up on smartphones; I was considering going back to a non-smartphone, but decided to give the iPhone a try, as I like Apple computers.

I was very happy with the iPhone, far more than the Treo. I haven't noticed dropped calls, lost apps, or, really, much of anything significant. The interface seems sluggish at times, but overall it's a net win for me.

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#19
post #4

Since he doesn't detail the nature of the problems he had with his failing Macs, I can't really say anything definitive. Personally, I've owned 4 Macs over the past few years and the worst failure I've suffered has been a hard drive crash, so maybe he just has bad luck. I do believe his criticism of MobileMe is warranted though. I'm happy enough to play with it on my free trial but I wouldn't trust its reliability to…

[deleted]

Re: Apple Is Flailing Badly At The Edges

#20
post #2

Apple is definitely the worst computer company. Except for all the other ones.

What's wrong with Lenovo and Dell? They both make millions of solid machines. I suppose that they're not very sexy... but I tend to pay attention to what's on the screen, not whether or not the case won any design contests.

(And FWIW, the Thinkpad has won a lot of design awards. The matte-black box is beautiful and durable. The Macbook feels like a cheap toy in comparison.)

Finally, Asus' eeepc is also a beautiful computer.

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