Techno-Iconoclast

The Mac vs. PC Debate Was Never Clearer

On Jul 24 12:17 PM ebworthen wrote:

> Apple uses the same hardware PC makers use. Same motherboards, processors,
> ram, video chips, etc.

Sorry but you're just plain wrong on this. Apple designs their own motherboards from scratch for every single computer they make. They are the only computer manufacturer who does NOT use Intel's designs. And they frequently custom design many of the other hardware components inside their machines.

The chips they use may be the same but all of the design is theirs. This is frequently necessary because they need custom form factor everything in their products which is necessitated by the overarching control that Jony Ive and the other industrial designers have over the products.

If Apple used Intel designs for motherboards and such they could easily build a sub $500 machine but it would never fit into one of their ridiculously pretty but expensive enclosures.

The Mac vs. PC Debate Was Never Clearer

I think you're being a little bit of an Apple fanboy when you talk about quality being the reason Apple does anything.

Let's be honest here and say that the reason is margins. Apple machines are of no higher quality than any other computer. See: <www.appledefects.com/>;. And after all, no matter the brand they're ALL made by the same people in China at the same factory complexes. Apple can't compete on low margin products, period. That's why they don't do the low end of the market.

They can't sell into the low margin end and they can't sell into the enterprise because they don't know how to do either. Hence they stay out of both markets for the most part. It's just that simple. Nothing to do with "quality".

PALM: Ready to Break Out?

On Jul 02 05:23 PM peter02l wrote:

> You seem to forget when iPhone initially came out there were no products
> quite like it. Pre on the other hand was one-upped in a week.

You guys don't seem to understand that the Pre doesn't need to compete with the iPhone. There's tons of room to grow in that segment of the phone market simply by competing with the likes of LG, HTC, Samsung, MOT & Nokia.

www.mobilemarketingmag...

Or maybe you should get some research on the handset market...

www.pyr.com/mhfcst.htm

Palm's gonna fail because they won't compete against Apple? There's just zero actionable data in that sentiment.

PALM: Ready to Break Out?

Wow there's a lot of revisionist history going on here with the iFanatics. Do none of you remember when the iPhone launched? Did it have 3G? No. Did it have MMS or tethering? No. Did it have an App Store at all or 3rd party applications? No. Did it have initial QC and supply problems? Yes. Does the latest model still have QC problems? Yes, just google for "overheating 3gs".

Does Palm still have a long way to go? Sure they do. Will they be plagued by the same problems as in the past? Probably not, because two of the guys that did the real work to turn Apple around are now at the helm at Palm. These guys know how to deliver products and how to run an organization that designs and builds groundbreaking products.

Is Palm going to 'break out'? They have a decent chance if they can capitalize on this momentum over the next two years just like Apple did over the last 3 years. The smartphone market is only growing. To say that Palm and RIMM aren't going to be stealing overall share from Motorola, Nokia and Sony/Ericsson is just naive. The big three in smartphones will most likely be Apple, Palm and RIMM in two years unless someone drops the ball.