Which company is worth more? Dell or Apple?

The iPhone will easily sell out for it's first 6-months or so. Then demand will start to die off a little, and they'll release gen 2, and it'll be sold out all over again.

Yes, Edge is a little old, but at the same time, the new 3G networks aren't everywhere. Additionally, Jobs knows he can sell the phone now with some of yesteryears technology and people will buy it. the second gen will have a 3g network.

As far as interoperability, etc - Apple hasn't said what it's doing about that yet. Given the look and feel of the device, and the fact that it runs a striped down version of OSX, my prediction is that other software will be able to run on it - it just has to be certified by Apple first, so they know the users won't have any problems with it.

And if thats not enough for you, wait two months and the iPhone will be completely cracked, just like the Apple TV - you'll be able to do anything you want with it.


As for the company in general... I read a report the other day that said PC sales were up something like 10% year over year for the first quarter... Apple's were up 30%.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26 @ Apr 23 2007, 07:51 AM) [snapback]428244[/snapback]</div>

Most people buy a cell phone and an iPod (or two in my case). If you do the math you'll do better with the iPhone.

I think it is powerful enough for most smartphone users, but more importantly for most people. You will be able to use all the Google apps, including google docs and spreadsheets. And will likely work with keyboards.

Once you use the smart playlists in iTunes you can't go back. Remove files of audiobooks you've already heard or TV shows you'll already watched. This is how my system works: sync the same audiobook over 2 ipods, an AppleTV and an iMac. I can literally start the book in the iMac, walk downstairs and continue were I left off in the AppleTV, hop in the car and continue were I left off in the iPod(s).

It's only edge but also wifi. 90% of the time I am within reach of a wifi network with unlimited fast data.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ Apr 23 2007, 10:55 AM) [snapback]428313[/snapback]</div>

I have a cell phone with edge, but I avoid using the data features due to the high cost from my service provider. If it had wifi, I'd be on all the time.

Tom

 

One more important thing to remember - As it currently stands, this device isn't targeting high powered business users. It's not designed as a Crackberry replacement for management, it doesn't play nice with micro$suck exchange server. This is designed for your every day individual, not business needs. And take a look around your office - If it's anything like mine, the management has Crackberries and the dozens of people beneath each manager don't - Seems there's a HUGE gap to fill here.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Apr 23 2007, 11:13 AM) [snapback]428326[/snapback]</div>

Everyday individual users so far have been pretty happy spending 20-100 on cellphones that use memory cards for MP3 storage. And, lets face it, those phones are *better* MP3 players than the iPhone can hope to be. Any flip phone that has external controls for a music player has got the iPhone beat for usability as a music player.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jonnycat26 @ Apr 23 2007, 10:20 AM) [snapback]428336[/snapback]</div>

People are even happier buying an iPod nano or shuffle with no removable memory.

Have you seen the iPhone? Its a better iPod than the iPod.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ Apr 23 2007, 11:27 AM) [snapback]428340[/snapback]</div>

Yes I have, and no it's not. : )

Nanos and Shuffles are great for runners and people on the go... the iPhone won't be.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Apr 22 2007, 06:06 PM) [snapback]427949[/snapback]</div>

If you were replacing a dead drive, couldn't you have used it's mounting clips and screws?

 

Believe it or not, a TON of computers and cases are sold now a days with similar clips... In general, they make it easier to take a drive in and out, and are a god send to computer builders/moders like me... I've been using them for a large number of years, even back when they were a specialty item you'd have to pay premium prices for.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Apr 23 2007, 11:12 AM) [snapback]428379[/snapback]</div>

No, because the drive was good enough to read off of, just not good enough to boot off of. I was then going to swap everything from the bad drive to the good drive, so I needed both in there at once (before anyone asks, yeah, I had backups of everything, especially since I knew the drive was on its way out).

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Apr 23 2007, 11:18 AM) [snapback]428383[/snapback]</div>

Huh. Where do you get said clips? All my local electronic stores had NO idea what I was talking about, even when I showed them said clip which I brought with me.

 

Assuming we're talking about the same thing, most places call them sliding rails - they attach to the sides of the hard drive and allow you to slide it in and out of place by squeezing two tabs, instead of having to undo 2 screws on each side of the hard drive to get the drive out of the case (which is just a PITA when you have to do it).

In the past, i've either been able to find them at on line retailers such as newegg, or they've come with my case... For the msot part the "brick and mortar" stores don't tend to carry stuff like this, although they are getting better.

 

I wouldn't compare the iPhone to a Wii or a PS3. I am thinking more along the lines of Tickle-Me-Elmo...

 

Dell had an excellent customer and quality-focused philosophy in the beginning, and they provided a long-needed alternative to Compaq-HP's mediocrity. Then Dell got greedy and outsourced customer service to India. They immediately saw a significant decline in corporate and individual customers because of the horrible customer service. Now Dell provides corporations with domestic customer service but we are still stuck with CS workers we can't understand and they can't understand us, so their solution is always the same: "reformat and reinstall." Dell saved a little money by putting Americans out of work and hiring cheaper foreign employees. They lost those savings and $millions more. More losses to come.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Apr 23 2007, 09:23 AM) [snapback]428290[/snapback]</div>

Pretty good for a company which recently took the word 'Computer' out of its name.

Don't forget that PC's account for about 90% of all the personal computers sold.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Apr 23 2007, 06:17 PM) [snapback]428683[/snapback]</div>

What is the percentage of computers in use? Macs tend to last longer than PCs.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Apr 23 2007, 01:02 AM) [snapback]428176[/snapback]</div>

:lol:

I think the iPhone will be wonderful. If they can manage to increase the hard drive space.

 

The second gen iPhone should have double the capacity. from what i recall reading, the iPhone doesn't actually have a hard drive, just solid state memory... And as it turns out, someone about a month ago (can't remember who) came out with a new chip with double the memory in the same space.

Sales will be off the charts for the first few months... there are already millions of people in the Us on Apple's e-mailing list about the iPhone

 

Dell, Gateway, Apple and other manufacturers tend to buy cases from overseas vendors in mass quantities. Any clips are proprietary to the case and it has been this way since I started my career in the IT industry almost 20 years ago... Dell flirted with proprietary power supplies back in the early 1990s and got away from the practice as small service shops would match the wire outputs, install a new power supply, and blow the system board.

Power supplies for Apple, Dell and others are also typically manufactured overseas in large quantities are rarely proprietary any more. Same for system boards, except Apple, which is proprietary... Intel, Microstar, Asus, Abit produce most of the motherboards for other so called "manufacturers".

Drives are also generally not proprietary, except in the old days Apple used to embed special Apple instruction sets in the drive bios to force people to buy their branded (not manufactured) drives.

As far as "lasting longer", unless the software applications used are extremely fast moving and require frequent updates, a computer is not outdated until it fails to do what is required. Apple does a great job controlling the quality of their product and as such the components often fit better, look better, and are sometimes easier to access. However despite the extra effort and engineering Apple uses to define it's computer products, after 20 years in the computer business, I have seen no marked reliability patterns pointing to Apple's products lasting longer than those of any other stable and reliable manufacturer when apples to apples are compared.

Sure the crappy retail three hundred dollar e-machines will not last like a better built model (in general), but that is not a fair comparison. If you take a 1,500 Apple and put it side by side with Dell, Gateway, or even Acer in terms of longevity, and with appropriae hard drive and memory, there will be no difference in terms of lifespan of the product in terms of the durability of the construction and longevity, although the Apple product may be quieter, or appear to be better built, or simply look nicer.

The fact of the matter is that despite growing market share, Apple constitues a very small percentage of the total computer ownership base outside of design, education, and publishing industries. The simple reason is the world runs, for better or worse, on MS products.

I have fought against MS for years espousing alternatives but the bottom line is that from a commercial perspective it is usually in the best interest of my clients to utilize a majority of MS application in an MS operating environment, on a name brand server platform from HP, Dell, or Gateway. Apple is not even a consideration and it is simply because the bottom line is by implementing an Apple environment my clients will have less support options, less software options, less performance, less security, higher cost of entry and higher total cost of ownership over a five year time frame.

 

Apple will never catch up to Dell until they move their tech support to another planet.

Once the average consumer can no longer understand the support person, the company has reached a pinnacle of success.

Here's one of those "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound" kinda questions...

When someone in Calcutta buys a Dell laptop and needs to call support, do they get someone in Texas who they can not understand? :lol: