FreeRange

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    • Mon Jul 7th 10:46 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Screws Tighten on Apple Investors
      The sky is falling doesn't work here. First, left out is the very important component of the described Apple ecosystem - Mac sales momentum and the halo effect on Mac sales created by this ecosystem - the Mac is probably the most important leg of the stool based on margin and revenue. Anecdotally, my retired mother-in-law is visiting us now from China. She and all her retired friends plan to buy the iPhone when it becomes available in China. Unfortunately she leaves for China the day before the 3G launch as some of her friends wanted her to bring phones back. This is a group of people who all worked in the theater on the governments payroll with low salaries and pensions. Is the global impact underestimated here? The largest opportunities for Apple are in fact global.
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    • Sun Jun 29th 20:24 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Apple Is Positioned to Take Olympic Gold
      As oil and food prices climb, the worlds economies slow, and inflation sets in across all product areas, the Apple product line becomes even more compelling. Apple products and their related ecosystem are THE efficient and powerful tools for communications and entertainment as we spend more time in our homes, local communities, on mass transit, and at our desks! Cocooning is here, and Apple products will become more and more the tools of choice because of their shear ease of use, vertical integration, and access to media and entertainment through iTunes and the Apps store. NOTHING can touch this full suite of products and services.
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    • Mon Jun 23rd 17:49 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      'Best of Breed' Business Model a Chink in Apple’s Armor?
      Jamie4419 - get a life. My wife is Asian / Chinese and the use of the word chink in the context of the idiom "chink in the armor" is not offensive to me, her or her family in the least! Only when it is used as a racial slur is it in fact offensive. Lets not be ridiculous here...

      From the dictionary, the common use of the word goes back to the 16th century, while the offensive slang dates from the 19th. Read more here:

      chink 1 | ch i ng k|
      noun
      a narrow opening or crack, typically one that admits light : a chink in the curtains.
      • a narrow beam or patch of light admitted by such an opening : I noticed a chink of light under the door.
      PHRASES
      a chink in someone's armor a weak point in someone's character, arguments, or ideas, making them vulnerable to attack or criticism.
      ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: related to chine 2 .
      chink 2 |tʃɪŋk| |tʃɪŋk|
      verb
      make or cause to make a light and high-pitched ringing sound, as of glasses or coins striking together : [ intrans. ] the chain joining the handcuffs chinked | [ trans. ] they chinked glasses and kissed.
      noun
      a high-pitched ringing sound : the chink of glasses.
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    • Wed May 21st 15:31 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Could iPhone Subsidies Be Apple’s Ticket to Mainstream USA?
      The biggest problem is that no one knows what a high-end phone is worth anymore because the carriers are whores - they discount the other guys product instead of their own - THEY are the commodity, not the iphone/smartphones. Why not discount your services if someone buys an iPhone???? Instead of ruining the handset market? Further, the iPhone is the world's most sophisticated handheld computer that has a phone function and should be valued as such. Don't let the carriers destroy the perceived / actual value of this device! Protect the brand! In the long term, this is what is best for the brand and shareholders.
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    • Fri May 16th 12:44 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Samsung, Apple and Vertical Integration
      Giving away an iPod? Why not an iPhone - that would make a lot more sense...
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    • Fri May 16th 11:51 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      AT&T Builds Out CDN, Prepares to Push Into the Market
      So what are the prospects for Level 3 - they have seen good movement recently.
      View article »
    • Wed May 14th 12:34 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Will Apple Be Dragged Kicking and Screaming to the Business Market?
      Sean / Stiphy - why in the world would I want .net apps running on my mac? .net may be easy to develop with, but by and large it is classic MS bloated crapware. The SDK for the iPhone is going to blow open the doors for the migration of good developers to the Mac - maybe not the greedy MS ones that live off of the MS ecosystem where they just throw money at people to get them to NOT develop on other platforms, thus achieving their goal of burying the competition in the applications arena. (Think MapQuest and many others that have suffered...)

      As to your comments - "There is also a sense that AAPL is just way too greedy when it comes to allowing developers to profit from their work. Not sure if this is totally justified, but it is true that very few devs have gotten rich writing Mac programs compared to PC programs." - this is a market share/sze issue, not Apple greed, and the tide is changing.

      And to your comment - "Part of it is likely Job's following his decree that they are a consumer electronics company and THEY want to control the entire user experience. That doesn't really leave a lot of room for innovative developers to create new software outside the realm of web based applications (which have significant limitations)." - This is just nonsense - there is significant and impressive innovation going on related to the mac platform, both in software and web apps! It is exactly because Apple keeps such tight control over the user experience that their customers are so unbelievably satisfied. It may make it more difficult to develop on the platform, but its all about the user! Its that singular focus that has made Apple so successful.
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    • Tue May 13th 11:15 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      What's Better: BlackBerry or iPhone?
      Agree with most of the comments here - this article is BS. I've dropped mine several times and only have a small dent in one corner. Also, typing is quite fast and easy, and only gets easier over time, just like originally learning type on a computer - duh!!!!!

      And then the author says the following related to the upcoming 3G iPhone: "However, given the serious flaws the company has with the phone design, I’m not sure what impact (if any) this will have on subscriber numbers." Are you fricking kidding me - the incompetence of this author is unbelievable... is he really talking about the iPhone which has the highest user satisfaction levels of any phone out there????
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    • Wed May 7th 13:59 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Apple Links Higher Sales with Higher Prices
      Sane_Man - you're an idiot! The big difference between Apple, and the bubble of the 90's, is that Apple actually builds great/superior products people want, AND THEY MAKE MONEY doing it. In fact, they make great margins. Go back to school.
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    • Thu May 1st 18:23 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Apple's $199 iPhone Is a Game-Changer
      Discounting the iPhone is a terrible idea. It really isn't a phone but a full on computer that also has phone capabilities, and its a device that is easily integrated through great software to your computer, itunes, ipod. And it's far far far easier to use than any other device out there, and oh by the way, there ARE more expensive phones out there, but guess what, the carriers heavily subsidize them so you have no idea what their true worth/value is other than you signed a 2 year contract to get one for free or for say $99 - why not pay for a device what it is actually worth, and let the carriers discount THEIR services when you buy one. After all, they are the commodity, not the iPhone. The carriers in the US have totally screwed consumers by subsidizing phones and then dictating to the manufacturers what features and functions the phone can have thus suppressing innovation in this country. Apple builds great products that people want, by the 10's of millions - I'm long on apple and am perfectly happy with their current growth rates - selling the phone at a cheaper price cheapens the brand and the perceived value of the iPhone and will hurt apple in the long run. Quit being short term thinkers! There is plenty of pent up demand at current prices - 10's of millions around the world are on the fence waiting for the 3G iPhone.
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    • Sat Apr 26th 13:04 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Microsoft Did Us a Favor - Andreessen
      While this argument may have held water in the early days of MSFT, in fact their anti-competitive and oppressive business practices over time suppressed innovation, destroyed competition, and has held us all back while we wasted countless billions of dollars on training, support and downtime while using buggy counter-intuitive MSFT products. Their market dominance has hurt us all and continues to do so. One only needs to read through some of the MSFT documents available to the public from the justice dept. proceedings against them to see how evil and anti-competitive this company truly is.
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    • Fri Apr 25th 14:04 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      What It Would Take To Fix Microsoft For Me
      Amen - unfortunately the government had the opportunity to force the breakup of this anticompetitive 900 lb. gorilla, one that holds back innovation, but blew it. In reality, MSFT would have flourished and become more profitable by being broken up, just as happened with Standard Oil. Once the government broke them up way back when, the individual parts became much more profitable.
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    • Fri Apr 25th 12:17 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      For Microsoft, Apple Is the Elephant in the OS Room
      The key factor for MSFT is that companies don't want to upgrade to Vista because of all the bad press, as well as the incredible additional costs (as usual) required for training and supporting ALL employees when implementing it. MSFTs claim of increased pirating as an issue is a total smokescreen. The largest PC base in Asia is China. Up until Bill went crying to senior Chinese govt. officials in the last year or so (and hosted the Chinese president for dinner at his house), something like less than 10% of computers in China shipped with an OS leaving a huge opportunity for pirated software. Bill convinced China to implement new rules that all PCs sold had to now ship with an OS and in exchange started investing in Chinese companies and opened additional MSFT facilities there. On my trips to China XP was running about 12 yuan or $1.50 US. At the time I maintained that Asia was the only place in the world that people were actually paying what an MSFT OS was worth.
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    • Fri Apr 18th 11:33 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Apple to Experience Market Share Madness
      Malkiel - you must not be reading the same article as the rest of us...

      "NPD saw significant gains in notebook systems sales for Apple during February, sales rose 64 percent in units and 67 percent in revenues year over year." The train is gaining momentum across several product categories is the point of the article, and each of those categories holds huge opportunities. Current iPod users are now buying other products... like high margin computers and iPhones... and not sure where you got "stuck with the same market share", Apple market share has been building quite handsomely (4x competition) especially in the US market, with the rest of the world ready to start coming up to speed as well. And long time Mac users are buying more and more Apple products, and convincing others to do so in droves... The cash register is ringing.
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    • Thu Apr 17th 11:42 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Wanted, Dead or Alive: The iPhone Killer
      The whole premise of this "article" is ridiculous, and the analysis absurd - these are web visits folks, not sales!

      "4% of everyone who viewed the iPhone on att.com in February also viewed the Voyager on verizonwireless.com represents a healthy interest"

      4% Healthy interest...You are joking right??????
      View article »
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