boisterousbob

The Google Phone, Unlocked (Confirmed and More Details)

Unlocking an iphone is free. A quick search on google (see, I am with the program), coupled with the ability to follow a few simple plain english instructions is all that is required.

Or as you say, a trip to the nearest china town and a $10 bill.


On Dec 13 04:22 PM M-P wrote:

> You can already jailbreak or crack the iPhone + others (at least
> for TDMA/GSM variant vs. CDMA) ... at least it's available to do
> for a reasonable price ... I agree that it's better to be the "arms
> dealer" here vs. alienating the channel ... we'll see.

The Google Phone, Unlocked (Confirmed and More Details)

I think this concept is a bit silly. Maybe I am being naive.

People don't like paying for their phones they want them subsidized. This leads to two consequences:

People with contracts almost always buy a new phone when their contract expires, so who cares if it is unlocked or not?

People with pay as you go are looking for lowest price, and will almost always choose an inexpensive handset. So who cares if it is unlocked or not?

I suppose this could open up the market for second hand handsets, for people who want to spend even less money on portable communicators. But new phones are so cheap, who cares if old ones are unlocked or not?

The Unlocked Phone Movement Gets a Big Boost

I am struggling with the idea that the tablet kills smartphones. Assuming the most common forecasts are in the right ballpark, do I really want to try stuffing a $1000, 10" tablet into my pocket instead of a phone? Personally, I wouldn't bet on it.

For me the most obvious target market is currently satisfied by netbooks and smaller laptops. AAPL would presumably make a product which is less open and significantly less expandable than current offerings, but does have that slick AAPL appeal. An interesting competition!


On Dec 13 02:05 PM JamesApple wrote:

> Apple tablet is making every smartphone, cellphone, notebook and
> netbook, e-readers obosolete. Apple tablet is the game changer that
> makes even unlocked smartphones obsolete.
>
> Apple tablet can run Apple OSX, Microsoft Windows, iPhone OS concurrently
> in up to 7 concurrent Apple tablet windows. The Apple tablet runs
> on a Intel I7 975 CPU, 32 gigabytes of Ram, 2 terabytes of RAID 0
> harddisks, the 10.1" HD screen has a resolution of 4096 x 8192, battery
> life is 6 months, 0.2" thick, 8 USB3 ports, 2 Bluetooths, satellite
> modem capable of dynamic CDMA, GSM, WiMax, LTE, all the radio technologies
> available, 12 megapixel camera with 36x zoom Niki lens with 2x natural
> sunlight flash torch, the entire Apple tablet weights only 0.8 pound,
> has NSA tripleDES hardware encryption top secret level security,
> 52 card slot readers, made of space shuttle alloy capable of taking
> meteor impacts, submerge up to 6000' under water, and yes, free if
> charge if you subscribe to a 1 year contract with China Unicom.<br/>
>
> Merry Christmas, and sleep well. Zzzzzz

Nokia Look-Ahead to December 2009 Quarterly Results

I can't help feeling that the last three comments mistake making the coolest products first from running a profitable enterprise. First mover advantage is expensive and risky. Updating and cleaning up on other people's innovations less so. A reminder for the AAPL officianado's, the massive innovation of Sony's Walkman coupled with buying music studios was updated into a massive success by AAPL with ipod. The much bigger innovation was by Sony, mobile personal music was a whole concept which did not previously exist. Turning it into mp3 equivalent, and updating the distribution mechanism was an incremental innovation of Sony's model, and look at that success!

Don't count Nokia out in areas where they aren't first, unless you are day/swing trading rather than investing. They still have 40% of the worlds handset market. And we can bash RIMM all we like, but they still sell the most popular smartphone in america and in case you missed it that means AAPL doesn't.

Nokia isn't dead, and still worth watching if not investing in now, to see what they can do with their billions.

Disclosure, long AAPL and RIMM.

All Eyes on Employment

I have never seen any support for the notion that BLS statistics are manipulated. Inaccurate, sometimes wildly so? Yes. Need deep care in interpretation? Yes. Get revised too frequently, and sometimes enormously? Yes. None of this is evidence of manipulation.

In any event the whole point seems to me moot. When media can create a frenzy with Dubai having a massive amount of failed debt, then only 2 days later cut the problem to one tenth, trading desks with free money can drive the market any way they like.

In my opinion you conspiracy theorists are looking in entirely the wrong place.

Bye, Bye iPhone - Not So Fast!

I can only agree with the author, as a long time iphone user I have to say that while it totally rocks as a highly portable computer and entertainment centre, it really is very average as a telephone, and that's being kind to it.

The Global Oil Scam: 50 Times Bigger than Madoff

You completely miss the point. There is absolutely no need to go to all the trouble and expense of actually producing oil, in order to benefit from the schemes the author outlines.


On Nov 19 03:47 PM GhostOfSpec wrote:

> There is a bit of paranoia going on here. If oil prices really were
> massively manipulated to much higher than they "should" be then new
> companies would enter the market, produce oil, and collect big profits.
> Granted, this takes time but it would happen.
>
> The oil markets do have strange nonlinearities. However, as the
> first post pointed out, oil prices will continue to go up, up, and
> up in the long term since there is a finite quantity of oil and the
> demand for oil increases almost every year. (Oil demand has dropped
> but that is only because of massive recession and an oil price that
> hit $140/barrel).
>
> Most of the easy to extract oil has been found and is being pumped
> out. Newer oil discoveries tend to cost much more to extract since
> they are deep underwater or in difficult forms such as tar sands.
>
>
> So, a paranoid conspiracy theory cannot account for high oil prices.
> It can merely account for temporary bubbles &amp; nonlinearities.

Playing the Options Game in RIM; Cel Sci Not Yet Trading to Its Potential

RIMM isn't "giving it's phones away", the network operators are subsidizing them more heavily. RIMM's gross margin on each phone sold increased over the last Q, with guidance for this to increase further in the current Q.

Do you believe AAPL is worried because a new iPhone "fell" from $399 to $99? I sure don't.

If you want to look at the price of a phone you have to look at the money recieved by the manufacturer, not the price "paid" upfront by the consumer.

Disclosure. Long both. Short Nokia.

On Nov 16 12:35 PM JamesApple wrote:

> Don't know much behind Rim's giving away blackberrys like free candies,
> they are lousy phones that belong in junkyards anyway. But it's
> common sense that companies that keep on giving away their products
> will go bankrupt quite soon. HTC, Samsung, Nokia, LG all make phones
> that look much more like phones than the blackberrys, and these phones
> are much higher quality and cost less than Rim blackberrys. Rim should
> be squeezed out by these competitors and go bankrupt by year 2013.

Stock Prices and Unemployment Peaks

I find this a curious distinction. The reason "employment" matters is that it dictates how confident consumers feel, and how much cash they have to spend.

Returning furloughed workers, increasing the hours of hourly paid workers, and having others feel more secure in their employment are all big positives for economic activity, and should not be dismissed just because they do not result in the same reduction in unemployment statistics.


"naturally they will begin to boost the workweek and just getting back to pre-recession levels would be the same as hiring more than two million people. Then there are the record number of people who got furloughed into part-time work and again, they total over nine million, and these folks are not counted as unemployed even if they are working considerably fewer days than they were before the credit crunch began."

Research In Motion: Still the Best Positioned Smartphones Play

On Nov 06 01:27 PM JamesApple wrote:
>
> What makes you think Apple cannot make a new iron clad
> secure corporate smartphone

Nothing. You completely missed the point. I didn't suggest AAPL "couldn't do this". I suggested that they are not trying to.

Research In Motion: Still the Best Positioned Smartphones Play

I would have thought this list is testimony to AAPL's abject lack of interest in corporates so far. Kraft is the only notable large multinational that I see. Can you imagine what this list would look like for RIMM?

AAPL has no history of great success with corporates in any of its product lines. Maybe this is about to change, but I just don't see the focus on it.

iPhone is a nightmare to deploy in a corporate environment compared with a Blackberry. For a start you have to disable most of its features such as access to appStore, integration with non corporate email systems etc in order to make it safe enough to use. And, I'm sorry, what exactly IS an iphone without these features? Then you are missing features you need which are antiethical to AAPL, such as native ability to read MSFT format documents.

I am sure AAPL could crack this market, I just don't see them trying.


On Nov 06 09:09 AM pk de cville wrote:

> Here's the business argument for iPhone.
>
> Highly competitive creative businesses are using it in very innovative
> ways. How long will it take for testimonials like these to open the
> doors to large enterprise environments?
>
> www.apple.com/iphone/b...
>

Research In Motion: Still the Best Positioned Smartphones Play

We do see that VZ has positioned RIMM against other phones for some time. Of concern to me, though, is VZ seemingly positioning the new MOT phone as its new flagship product. If we believe marketing can make a difference, and as VZ is pouring money into Droid as its "biggest marketing campaign ever", then this has to concern RIMM stock holders.

Long RIMM and not bashing, but RIMM do rely on network operators to market their product and so I do have concerns in this area. Let's watch how splashy and successful this marketing campaign really is.

Friday Outlook: Commodities, Global Markets

It's about time I added a thankyou thankyou thankyou for sharing your views with us - Brilliant!

Advance Q3 GDP: +3.5% vs. +3.2% consensus and prior -0.7% - the best growth in two years. GDP price index +0.8% vs. +1.3% consensus and prior flat.

Although you are thumbs down by other commentors I have to agree.

We are seeing cash for clunkers annualized, as well as the homebuyers tax credit. Clunkers is done and with rates inching up and mortgage applications falling off a cliff, maybe homebuyers tax credit is done too.

Backing out the effect of these two programs leaves this Q GDP probably closer to 1%.

I agree your comments on employment as well, sustainable GDP growth is going to be very difficult with no sign in sight YET of a notable upturn.

While we can expect to rally off the back of these numbers, backing out these programs from next Q and assuming the employment picture doesn't change, the early estimates for NEXT quarters GDP could be a nasty reality check.


>"Not truly "the best growth in two years". Eliminate cost cutting and
>"tax dollars for clunkers" and you've got a very dire situation.
> Oh, and more ugly unemployment data just came out as well.
> I trust no market pump off any of this "smoke-n-mirror" GDP data. "

How Hard Is It to Transfer Credit Card Debt?

That depends on who has increased rates. If they have increased rates correctly for those customers who were ultimately going to default anyway, then they will drive some of them to other banks.

So I would suggest it depends on how successfully the rate increases have been targetted.


On Oct 27 09:51 AM Smalltownbanker wrote:

> Good customers go away, those who are struggling now can't move and
> will now default. Citi loses, customer loses. Taxpayer loses because
> we bailed out these morons.