Tag Archives | Apple

Dear Tablet Industry: The Opportunity to Beat the iPad on Price is Still Wide Open

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 16, 2011 at 1:57 pm

That leaked Best Buy ad spoke the truth: The Verizon 3G/4G version of Motorola’s upcoming Xoom tablet is an $800 product (or, if you want to be precise, a $799 one). Motorola says a Wi-Fi-only one will go for around $600.

With both versions, an analysis of the specs you get for the money you plunk down makes the prices look…well, not nutso: The Xoom is a fancier piece of hardware than the iPad in multiple respects. But the fact remains that tablet shoppers will get to choose between an iPad that starts at $499 and has an extremely deep selection of apps and content and a Xoom that starts at $100 more and is just getting started on the apps/content front. In other words, it’s Apple that appeals to price-conscious folks. That’s an utter reversal of what seemed to be an eternal verity of tech: Apple makes high-end products but doesn’t attempt to appeal to bargain hunters.

I know there are such things as low-cost Android tablets; Archos is probably the best-known maker of them.  So far, though, most of the great big companies that are taking on the iPad don’t seem to be interested in competing for the business of the teeming masses of folks for whom even $499 may sound like a stretch. The one exception: RIM, which will apparently start the PlayBook at $499. (The PlayBook has a 7″ display versus the iPad’s 9.7-incher, but otherwise looks like it’ll be a beefy piece of hardware for the price.)

When the iPad was announced more than a year ago with its $499 pricetag, I assumed we’d shortly see iPad-esque devices from other major manufacturers that undercut it by $100 or more. Hasn’t happened yet; still seems like a big opportunity to me if it can be done while still eking out a profit. I’m beginning to wonder if the first big-name $399 tablet could end up being…an iPad.

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ZOMG! Has Verizon Only Doubled iPhone Sales?

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 16, 2011 at 1:32 pm

There’s almost a degree of absurdity to the amount of armchair quarterbacking going on when it comes to Verizon iPhone sales. It appears as if nothing short of  armies of consumers descending on Apple and Verizon stores would stop the opining masses from predicting doom and gloom.

BGR has what it claims are internal numbers showing that the launch of the iPhone on Verizon has “failed” to meet expectations. Here’s the numbers from five selected Apple stores (including two “prominent” locations): Continue Reading →

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Rhapsody Isn't Rhapsodizing Over Apple's New App Store Rules

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 15, 2011 at 2:33 pm

How are content providers going to react to Apple’s new App Store rules, which mandate that providers of music, video, e-books, and other stuff sell their wares using Apple’s in-app purchasing and subscriptions–at least as an option–and give Apple a 30 percent cut when they do? Music purveyor Rhapsody is the first company I’ve seen to respond in public. And it’s taking an almost-hard line–it doesn’t say it’s pulling out of the App Store, but it does call Apple’s 30 percent fee “untenable” and says it “would not be able to offer” Rhapsody under Apple’s new terms.

It issued this statement by Rhapsody’s President, Jon Irwin:

Rhapsody is the leading digital music subscription service in the U.S.,with 750,000 subscribers.  Music fans can access the service using free apps from any Internet-connected device, be it on an Android, Sonos, Tivo, BlackBerry, iOS or personal computer. Today, Rhapsody subscriptions are available for purchase exclusively via Rhapsody.com.

Rhapsody offers a content-based subscription service that makes millions of tracks available to fans pursuant to longstanding partnerships with thousands of rights holders, all of which then distribute revenues to artists and other creators.

Our philosophy is simple too – an Apple-imposed arrangement that requires us to pay 30 percent of our revenue to Apple, in addition to content fees that we pay to the music labels, publishers and artists, is economically untenable.  The bottom line is we would not be able to offer our service through the iTunes store if subjected to Apple’s 30 percent monthly fee vs. a typical 2.5 percent credit card fee.

We will continue to allow consumers to sign up at www.rhapsody.com from a smartphone or any other Internet access point, including the Safari browser on the iPhone and iPad.  In the meantime, we will be collaborating with our market peers in determining an appropriate legal and business response to this latest development.

Sounds like someone’s going to have to call someone’s bluff here: Either Apple reduces the fee, or Rhapsody pulls out (unless it chickens out and stays in). That’s assuming that the reference to “appropriate legal…response” doesn’t turn into a lawsuit.

Apple says that content companies need to abide by the new policy by June 30th. It’s going to be an interesting four and a half months…

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The Known and Unknown of Apple's New App Store Subscriptions

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 15, 2011 at 11:22 am

This is one of the more significant moments in the history of the iPhone and iPad: Apple has announced its system for selling subscription-based content through its App Store. As with apps and one-time purchases such as game content, it’ll take a 30% cut of the sale.

The company’s announcement says that content owners will be free to sell their wares outside the App Store as well–no 30% fee to Apple involved–as long as they provide the same (or better) offers within the App Store. That’s a relief. But it also says this:

In addition, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app.

That means that the current content-acquisition system used by Amazon’s Kindle and numerous other apps–which all happens in the Mobile Safari browser, not the app–is now verboten. Continue Reading →

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Four Reasons Why a Cloud-based iOS is Ridiculous (For Now)

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 14, 2011 at 11:13 am

While there’s good business in posting Apple rumors, sometimes one comes along that is just so out there that you have to think, where do they get this stuff? The latest is that the newly rumored “iPhone Nano” will sport a cloud-based OS. While “to the cloud” has become a popular idea in tech, the mobile world is not ready to join it just yet.

Why wouldn’t a cloud-based OS work for the newest Apple iPhone? There’s a multitude of reasons, and all seem to indicate that Cult of Mac’s sources (the originator of this rumor) may be a little off base.

Continue Reading →

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Is the "iPhone Nano" Really an iPhone Shuffle?

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 14, 2011 at 9:24 am

As Jared reported on Thursday, rumors are back that Apple is working on an “iPhone Nano”–a smaller, cheaper phone designed to be sold without a carrier contract. (The idea dates back to at least 2008, but the media outlets writing about the latest version–including The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg–give it new credibility.)

Now Leander Kahney of Cult of Mac is reporting a new twist: The “iPhone Nano” supposedly has no storage, and instead streams entertainment from the cloud, using the technology Apple picked up when it bought (and shuttered) LaLa.

As Leander says, the notion of an iPhone having no storage doesn’t make sense. But maybe it has the bare minimum it needs to function, rather than the massive amounts–4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB–that are mandatory for phones that store music and movies locally.

Continue Reading →

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The Glorious Minimalism of the Backside of the Verizon iPhone

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 13, 2011 at 11:08 am

At the moment, I’m walking around with two iPhone 4s in my pocket: my personal AT&T phone, and a Verizon iPhone lent to me by Apple for review. (More thoughts on it coming up.)

As everyone reading this knows by now, the two flavors of iPhone are close to identical. So much so that I keep getting confused about which one is which–at least until I turn them on, whereupon I can check out the carrier identifier in the upper left-hand corner.

Without turning the phones on, I could examine the slightly different placement of the antennas and mute switches. But there’s a more obvious difference that I’ve found quite handy: The Verizon iPhone has way less fine type on its back, and is missing an entire row of regulatory logos.

By happy coincidence, I just read an Ars Technica piece by Casey Johnston that explains the stuff on the back of iPhones, and helped me figure out why there’s so much less of it on the new Verizon model.

Continue Reading →

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Verizon iPhone 4 Launch: Why the Lack of iLines?

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 12, 2011 at 10:44 am

I went to my local Apple Store yesterday night, in the wake of yesterday’s release of the Verizon iPhone 4. It was an utter mob scene.

Of course, it’s almost always an utter mob scene in there–and tonight, it was no more crazy than usual. I commented on the lack of Verizon-induced insanity to a salesguy. “We’re surprised ourselves,” he said.

When Apple releases a new iPhone, there are supposed to be hordes of folks willing to show up at the crack of dawn and wait for hours to get their hands on one. Everybody knows that. But this time, it didn’t happen–across the country, people did show up to buy Verizon iPhones, but not in droves.

Why the startling degree of normalcy? A few theories…

Continue Reading →

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Steve Jobs, Like You've Never Seen Him

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 10, 2011 at 7:39 am

For decades now, we’ve known Steve Jobs as a confident, photogenic personality. But video has now surfaced on YouTube of a young entrepreneur that looks much more meek, nervous, and well–hairy. It’s unclear when this video may be from (it’s believed to be around 1978), but Jobs appears to be in his 20s.

Whomever is off camera also informs him “they can see you in New York,” which means the interview aired on national television. I know we have a few longtime Apple fans on Technologizer. Maybe someone recognizes his appearance here and can able to tell us where he appeared?

One of my favorite lines, after they ask him if he needs anything: “You need to tell me where the restroom is, too, because I’m deathly ill, actually, and ready to throw up at any moment..”

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