This seems like the biggest non-screwing known to man. It can't be right. .mac migrates to .me, for free, doubles storage, adds push, keeps web sites, galleries and all the other .mac stuff. You can use your .mac address or your .me address, so you have to change nothing.
Hmm. You get the full features of the new iPhone in iPhone software 2.0, save real (rather than triangulated "fake") GPS and 3G, which are hardware things, and the price break, which is an early adopter thing and if you don't expect tech prices to plunge in a year, you don't know anything about tech prices. Total App Store functionality, etc. And I get to keep my metal iPhone, which I prefer, even at the cost of 3G and "real".
See, Apple usually does pretty well by their existing customers, but they do always tend to arm-twist you to upgrade with one or two carrots held ou. The final 3G iPhone roll out has to be the result of a down economy. If you don't give your current installed base and subscribers (.Mac) everything the new product and subscription service (MobileMe) can do -- save hardware issues they can't do anything about (3G, real GPS) -- your customer base only becomes a handful of people you can sell new hardware to. Who are fewer than would be, because they just watched the owners of the original model get the shaft and know in about 10 months, they're going to get the shaft, too. And original model owners will stick with their units and subscription service only as long as they must, or until they can find an alternative, and then they're gone and won't come back.
Good move on Apple's part, reading the market, realizing they'll clean up on app sales via the App Store, and on .Mac (now MobileMe) sign-ups and renewals, by making iPhone first gen and second gen the same platform with only a couple minor differences, really as insignificant as the difference between an 802.11g MacBook and 802.11n MacBook with a small processor speed bump. They're both still essentially the same MacBook, just like the iPhones.
Hmm. You get the full features of the new iPhone in iPhone software 2.0, save real (rather than triangulated "fake") GPS and 3G, which are hardware things, and the price break, which is an early adopter thing and if you don't expect tech prices to plunge in a year, you don't know anything about tech prices. Total App Store functionality, etc. And I get to keep my metal iPhone, which I prefer, even at the cost of 3G and "real".
See, Apple usually does pretty well by their existing customers, but they do always tend to arm-twist you to upgrade with one or two carrots held ou. The final 3G iPhone roll out has to be the result of a down economy. If you don't give your current installed base and subscribers (.Mac) everything the new product and subscription service (MobileMe) can do -- save hardware issues they can't do anything about (3G, real GPS) -- your customer base only becomes a handful of people you can sell new hardware to. Who are fewer than would be, because they just watched the owners of the original model get the shaft and know in about 10 months, they're going to get the shaft, too. And original model owners will stick with their units and subscription service only as long as they must, or until they can find an alternative, and then they're gone and won't come back.
Good move on Apple's part, reading the market, realizing they'll clean up on app sales via the App Store, and on .Mac (now MobileMe) sign-ups and renewals, by making iPhone first gen and second gen the same platform with only a couple minor differences, really as insignificant as the difference between an 802.11g MacBook and 802.11n MacBook with a small processor speed bump. They're both still essentially the same MacBook, just like the iPhones.
For current .Mac users:
Can keep @mac.com or use @me.com
http://www.apple.com/mobileme/migrating/
(most) Everything you'd want to know.
