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Apple to Release Subsidized Tablet Through Verizon Later This Year?
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Verizon WTF?
So the millions of people with iPhone's would have to get a contract from two wireless providers?
No... Wireless lock-in/subsidy... WTF?
First of all, Apple is not going to tie what I assume they'll believe to be the 'next big thing' (agree or not) to a second carrier, which would AUTOMATICALLY result in zero purchases from their pride and joy... the existing iPhone base.
Seriously... explain to me why anyone with a brain would pay double (and with home internet, triple+++) access fees just for the privilege of accessing the internet from a second device? This is nuts. Stupid big Comcast bill for home internet, $30 for AT&T, and another $30 (probably) from Verizon? Get serious.
Frankly, I don't WANT wireless connectivity from the tablet. (And I'm one of those who think the tablet with just wifi will be GREAT.)
The realization of all the chinese workers (slaves) who have been toturtured and or killed to bring this product to market has TOTALLY ruined the excitement I've had for it.
At least Apple is saving money with their manufacturing partners.....right?
At least Apple is saving money with their manufacturing partners.....right?
Your bias is so strong, it's like watching the Faux News channel.
Let me ask you this one question: Why should Apple (or any company) pour resources into competing in a market that pays back so poorly, when the same energy and attention could be put into a different market that promises to pay much better?
The landscape is littered with companies that didn't pick their markets as carefully as Apple does. "Filthy margins" are the oil that keeps all the parts moving smoothly.
I also see a lot of references to the "billions in cash" Apple has, and people seem to think that is something that Apple should be spending like a drunken sailor instead of adding to it.
It's their careful stewardship of their resources that have created that pile of cash, and when they find a good use for it (like being able to buy an unique chip company) they have the ability to use it to be even more competitive in lucrative markets and don't need to bottom-feed where-ever they can scrounge a nickle.
There are companies that play loose with ethics in their markets, however I don't see Apple as one of those companies.
I (and my fellow AAPL holders) thank you for not being involved in Apple's product design.
And you're going to instead buy from.... who? Well, I guess Rand typewriters are still manufactured in the US.
Maybe the recent suicide can be a change catalyst, but I doubt it as long as the note-holder for our multi-trillion $$ war debt is in the driver's seat.
"The fault dear Brutus lies not in our stars but in ourselves."
Or as MJ said, take a look at the man in the mirror.
Speaking of which (typewriters)...
NYPD SPENDS NEARLY $1M ON TYPEWRITERS FOR DESK COPS AT POLICE STATIONS
You make it sound like the rest of the market is on the verge of bankrupcy. The planet is swamped with companies that are doing splendidly without the obscene profit margins that Apple are gorging on. Someone should write a book on Apple's peculiar kind of supergreed, the audacity of it is nothing short of spectacular, if vomit inducing. I'm fine with capitalism and I think premium products warrant a higher pricetag, but Apple doesn't MAKE premium products. They sell the same Chinese garbage as everyone else (and as you can see below, I bought a LOT of that garbage before I decided to stop feeding the scam machine). They are the Faux News Channel.
And for me its about redundancy too. I pay the gas company to fuel my backup boiler and the electricity company to run the geothermal heat pump. Each source does a better job at what I need it to do.
You do not need to be an "amoral/unethical <person> to have to pay twice" if that is how you feel about it. Quit playing a victim.
At one time I had my home phone, my DSL, my email, and my cell phone all through one provider. Due to sell-offs and buy-outs I now have three providers and I never tried to make one change...it was all done around me.
I called my DSL/home phone provider and asked if I could drop my home phone and keep my DSL since I really don't use the home phone. They said, no problem, we'll let you keep your home phone for a dollar a month and you can still be in the phone book and receive calls. Later they were purchased by Windstream and required me to change my email suffix to windstream.net. In response, I changed my email to gmail.com and freed myself from being tied to Windstream (or whoever should buy them next) and feel safer when I have business cards or sales materials printed up.
Veerizon has excellent service in my area, and I use an out-dated Moto phone with them currently. When they have something much better (such as an iPhone or iTablet) I may upgrade if it adds to my experience, but I only feel slightly inconvenienced at present because the alternative is a weak local presence by ATT and I'd rather have good coverage than a better phone.
People! Quit the whining and quit playing the victim card. Take charge of yourself. You sound too much like spoiled children denied a lollipop.
If they use the Qaulcomm Gobi Chipset, or equivalent, they could support any network. The Gobi is becoming a standard for Notebooks for that very reason.
Qualcomm's Gobi card
http://www.gobianywhere.com/
pdf datasheet: http://www.gobianywhere.com/gobi2000_overview.pdf
would be very tough to fit inside of a iPhone/Touch but does ship inside of a wide range of netbooks. The gobi card can function all of the popular 3G data networks. (the data networks all have CDMA aspects to them. Throw away all the legacy voice support and much easier to do multiprotocol support. ) So with one multiprotocol card Apple could ship single hardware device that just needs a firmware tweak for each different network (and primarily just for their access/authentication protocol). If the tablet has a much larger screen and not quite as thin they could squeeze this kind of card in much easier.
So no.... it wouldn't necessarily limit sales. Doesn't seem to limit sales for netbooks already leveraging the exact same functionality. Since this device would have to compete with those that would probably be an essential feature to have.
P.S. for many of the other response I scanned quickly. you do NOT have to buy this if you have a Touch/iPhone. Why does someone have to buy one of everything that Apple sales. Billions of people on the planet who own neither a Touch or an iPhone. (similar for not owning any kind of MacBook) There are very likely millions who could buy one of these if it served their uses better than a iPhone/Touch would (if an iPhone OS device) or MacBook (Air/Pro/whatever) would (if a Mac OS X device).
How much lower are Verizon's smartphone data/voice plan rates? The answer is zero. (I am looking at AT&T and Verizon's sites and you can get an iPhone plan starting at $70 with pay as you go texting and a Verizon smartphone plan starting at $80 with pay as you go texting... so I was wrong; the answer isn't zero, it is negative $10
)So do you enjoy getting raped by Verizon's data/voice plan?
So not only are their rates the same or worse, they remove the flexibility of using WiFi as well?
AT&T keeping their data rates as high as the market will bear is what their investors like to see. One cannot defend Apple's choices with "its great for the investors" and then not do the same for other companies.
Ehhh.. touch-type fast, accurately, comfortably and at length?
Virtual keypads such as on the iPhone are probably fine on small portable devices, simply because their hardware keyboards are too small to be much better! On the desktop, the keyboard is going nowhere.
You can touch-type fast, accurately, comfortably and at length on a touch keyboard.
Haptic feedback would allow positioning on the home row and provide keystroke feedback.
The home row can be automatically positioned (synchronized) to wherever your hands are currently located on the surface.
The keyboard could converted in seconds to Dvorak, Shorthand, StenoType, Chording, Speedwriting, Emoji, etc. where your output could actually exceed that from the traditional QWERTY format.
Not to mention the possibilities of customizing your keyboard(s) for specific tasks (HTML markup) or physical attributes (fat fingers).
Here's a history of FingerWorks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks
Here's some interesting info from FingerWorks web site (circa 2005):
http://www.fingerworks.com/typing.html
Notice the health warning... should be included with any hard or soft kb, IMO.
I think the "hard keyboard / typing speed" issue is a "chicken / egg" thing. Once enough MultiTouch keyboards get "out there" in heavy use, I truly believe they will become the de facto standard.
Saved the best for last... And, you can spill your favorite beverage on the MultiTouch surface with no adverse effect (other than losing a little speed
.
You seem to forget the multiple taxes and other fees that go along with a wireless contract, and oh yeah... the contract itself
Having separate cable and internet providers don't require contracts. Mobile carriers are a pain to deal with. The fewer the better.
Right, but won't both companies lower their prices once there are two competing iPhone carriers...? $80 sounds like a joke, I'm paying about $25 a month. Then again I don't live in the U.S. where the free market is supposed to work wonders for consumers.How much lower are Verizon's smartphone data/voice plan rates? The answer is zero. (I am looking at AT&T and Verizon's sites and you can get an iPhone plan starting at $70 with pay as you go texting and a Verizon smartphone plan starting at $80 with pay as you go texting... so I was wrong; the answer isn't zero, it is negative $10
Yep, they wouldn't have to worry about having to make the device with dozens of different keyboard versions like manufacturers of regular netbooks do. Major cost savings there.
Who needs another wireless?
If the thing has Wi-Fi, that's all I need or want. I can't see paying a different wireless provider for a poor cellular connection when I can do pretty much anything I want on a Wi-Fi connection--especially in my own home.
I've been wanting a tablet for a long time; one that can replace a laptop computer and be usable with one hand instead of having to put it down on something to use it. If this thing can work with my photos, my writing, my reading and maybe even my gaming, then I'm interested.
I just won't worry about it being subsidized.
If the thing has Wi-Fi, that's all I need or want. I can't see paying a different wireless provider for a poor cellular connection when I can do pretty much anything I want on a Wi-Fi connection--especially in my own home.
I've been wanting a tablet for a long time; one that can replace a laptop computer and be usable with one hand instead of having to put it down on something to use it. If this thing can work with my photos, my writing, my reading and maybe even my gaming, then I'm interested.
I just won't worry about it being subsidized.
Good. Verizon's quality of service when it comes to signal strength, 3G availability, speed, etc is far better.
Verizon isn't a poster child for being the easiest carrier to get along with. However, Apple may have enough leverage to get them not to clobber the WiFi feature. If left up to Verizon they probably would nuke it though.
The is a chance that folks as Verizon aren't dim. If they get a new product that doubles the number of data network substribers then could afford to drop the price 20% and still make more money than they were. The best solution for paying for expensive infrastructure is to get a broader range of folks to pay for it , not a smaller one.
Similar to ATT throwing in few texting (and I think a slightly lower data plan) with the iPhone when it came along. The data network costs billions to deploy, but if you put more users onto the network sharing the costs the average cost can go down and still make money. Now they could be extra greedy and just try to keep the costs. I'm sure the folks at Sprint and ATT will be extremely happy if they do. Just wait for the lockout contract to end and get their own iTablet (or whatever it is called) and out compete them or throw more inexpensive netbooks at it in competition.
If Apple built a vendor neutral data network tablet then don't have to stick to one of these past some initial launch window contract that allows Verizon to get a long head start on the others.
Tying a data network only tablet to just one wireless vendor would be like tying a laptop to one ISP. There is no real integration with their network required other than login. It is an ISP provider that is over the airwaves instead of some wire to your house.
P.S. Not sure if part of this but I think Verizon bought up huge chunks of the Analog TV airways that just finally got vacated. Verizon dumped billions into buy that too. Up till now haven't been able to bill anyone. Charging higher than market rate prices won't help draw folks in for that too. [ that would be a network specific device though. so perhaps not. ]
Exactly! Let's get these two companies competing against each other for the price and services they provide. Right now AT&T can't even deliver a tethering plan or MMS to iPhone users. What a great way to light a fire under their corporate butt!
I don't understand why this gets a negative rating except to note how fickle some of the forum users are. From reading posting on other threads you'd think AT&T was the devil incarnate and that they would welcome the competition another service provider would bring to the game. AT&T certainly got a BIG FAIL after the 3.0 SW announcement.
If the tablet is in some way subsidize by Verizon for use on their network, that in no way implies that the user can't also purchase it with out the Verizon subsidy (for a premium) and use it on someone else cellular network when those plans and add-in cards become available.
I thought that was what people on this site were arguing against for the iPhone/AT&T subsidy?
When and IF that becomes available from AT&T we will all have that option TOO.
I agree. If the quality and speed of the service and price of the plan are reasonable, I will certainly consider it.
But we do have these options for laptops available now from other companies, including Verizon (Myfi, for one - http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/watch_out_wifi_here_comes_mifi.php)
... and we don't have 60% of our income taken by the government in the form of taxes. I think I come out ahead even paying $60/month for my iPhone.
So what you're saying is, "the truth is so far away you can't ever hope to see it"?