I also agree that Sony has dropped the marketing ball here in the States. That doesn't mean they aren't being successful elsewhere, like Nokia, HTC and a few others. There are other markets out there, and these are 3 foreign companies.
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Sony Preparing New Handheld Devices to Take On Apple
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Oops, I inadvertently lied on that one. My wife had one of those Sony Walkman phones before she got my 1st gen iPhone. The interface on that phone was pure misery and the joystick-with-button-surrounds navigation was a real PITA (even worse than my T610 when it actually worked). She only used it to make calls because she couldn't figure out how to work the rest of the features (and the hardware didn't make it pleasant to try).
Garbage.
Sure, right after you've explained how all of Apple's competitors are just a figment of our imaginations, and don't actually exist. Logic, meet LagunaSol, LagunaSol, logic. I assume this is the first time you've met?
Nah, Mac people are a passionate bunch, I should know, I am a Mac person. the iPhone is a passionate extension. This is also a Mac related rumor thread, so any opposing views are seen as treading onto home turf. I enjoy the debate, and I know these are two great guys who have put in a lot of time and thought into their years here on macrumors.
It annoys me how people keep saying ooh 30%/40% failure rate. This was a problem fixed with the new chipsets on the Xbox quite a long time ago.
And those people committed to the 2 year contract. It all add up in the end.
But Mac sales are NOT low. They have proven to be the best selling high priced computers, and on top of that, amidst this recession. Apple is outselling their competitors in their price range. And let's at least agree on one thing: Apple hardly ever has the "best specs" compared to the competition, yet they're premium priced computers and yet they still outsell their competitors. Why?
I'll agree though about gaming for the most part. Pricing in the video game sector is key. But even more key is software. The amount of games the DS has dwarfs the PSPs easily. More than any thing, you need to lure in developers to make games for your platform, or you'll just fall behind.
But it's not impossible to have a premium priced machine and still be #1. Best case example: the Playstation 2, which came out at $400-$500 initially. The rest of course, was history. The Super Nintendo was also premium priced and it held it's ground firmly against the Genesis.
So regardless of pricing, it is still about software and games. If you build it, they will come, so to speak.
Then I'm afraid you will never buy one.
It depends what kind of gaming you're talking about. For twitch-finger first-person shooters, it's not ideal. But the gaming world is much larger than that and expanding. Touch screens work well for all kinds of card and puzzle games, Myst-type adventure games, Tomogotchi/virtual pets, and so forth. I think the iPad is ideal for these types of games, which is perfect because Apple is going after non-hardcore users with it anyway, in other words, lots of people who aren't playing cutting-edge FPS at super high resolutions on custom gaming PCs or consoles. A large touch screen would be absolutely fantastic for a real-time strategy game like Starcraft2, potentially even a better interface than a keyboard and mouse. Something like that you can't fix by adding more physical buttons.
You're speaking gibberish. The argument was that Apple only improves its products when threatened by competitors' products, and that argument is rubbish. Apple already owned the DAP market with the original iPod. No competitor was anywhere in sight sales-wise. They could have coasted with that product for years (The Microsoft Way (TM)). Yet Apple delivered the iPod Touch anyway.
As many have said before, Apple's #1 competitor is Apple itself.
Competition = Lower Prices and/or BETTER PRODUCTS!
I say good luck Sony I hope you can become the company you once were. Better yet I hope there is an American Company inspired the same way Apple was in the beginning to offer truly amazing products that I want to spend my hard earned money on. . . Now lets just hope Apple or Google doesn't gobble it up for a fraction of it's true worth.
I say good luck Sony I hope you can become the company you once were. Better yet I hope there is an American Company inspired the same way Apple was in the beginning to offer truly amazing products that I want to spend my hard earned money on. . . Now lets just hope Apple or Google doesn't gobble it up for a fraction of it's true worth.
Meh, I was never thrilled with the software / interface, it was pretty typical compared to all the other handsets at the time. I still have a P900 around somewhere that took a number of beatings and kept going. I'm just saying the hardware felt and responded like it was well made.
That is why I am excited for Android and a decent Symbian update to make it's way onto SE smartphone lineup. If I was excited over just the hardware, I'd be pounding a SE handset on the wall for WinMO failure.
You want to know annoying? Talk to the legion of owners on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th (or beyond) Xbox. (My brother is on his 3rd).
And those people committed to the 2 year contract. It all add up in the end.
But Mac sales are NOT low. They have proven to be the best selling high priced computers, and on top of that, amidst this recession. Apple is outselling their competitors in their price range. And let's at least agree on one thing: Apple hardly ever has the "best specs" compared to the competition, yet they're premium priced computers and yet they still outsell their competitors. Why?
I'll agree though about gaming for the most part. Pricing in the video game sector is key. But even more key is software. The amount of games the DS has dwarfs the PSPs easily. More than any thing, you need to lure in developers to make games for your platform, or you'll just fall behind.
But it's not impossible to have a premium priced machine and still be #1. Best case example: the Playstation 2, which came out at $400-$500 initially. The rest of course, was history. The Super Nintendo was also premium priced and it held it's ground firmly against the Genesis.
So regardless of pricing, it is still about software and games. If you build it, they will come, so to speak.
Then I'm afraid you will never buy one.
But Mac's DON'T outsell their competitors. The competitor is Windows! Windows 7 is now up to 100 million copies sold since it launched just a few months ago. Have there been 100 million OSX macs sold in the history of the world? I would doubt it if 3 million macs a quarter is some kind of landmark number. MS now estimates 300 million copies of Windows 7 sold, in 2010 alone.
Sure, Apple sells more high priced machines than any one retailer perhaps, but that's because almost no one else sells 1k+ consumer devices. And that is almost all they sell. So Apple fans brag about it, but it's also a sign of how overpriced they are. 1k+ in the "real world" is workstation range, not cheap desktop or laptop like Apple's line, barring the gimped mac pro.
Ok, so Apple, the sole proprietor of OSX sells more machines than HP or Dell alone. Aggregate everything and Apple hits that magical 4% worldwide share it currently enjoys.
It's really not brain surgery to understand this.
I shall expedite a white cane to you right away so that you can find your way out of the Apple store into the big wide world.
This is why I didn't like Apple going Apple Corp. vs. Apple Computer. At some point they "simplified" their offerings so much, that it dumbed down what they had. I saw machines that worked so well helping people become trendy and lose the touch.
Specs are pretty much irrelevant nowadays. That's what the Wii has made very clear. Also, Sony often implements stupid proprietary technologies (in the case of the PSP those horrible UMDs) and calls them "specs". That game is so over.
You are very much guilty of selectively picking your parameters.
The iPhone is still a very small player in the mobile phone market (market share 1-2%). Even if you take the smartphone market (in which most companies make quite a lot of money, not just Apple), they are only at 18%. How exactly does this fit into your failed Corolla comparison?
Sticking to your methaphor, the iPhone sales could triple and it would still be more similar to BMW than to Toyota in terms of market position.
What about the people on their 8th and 9th 2000 dollar iMac? I'd take a few 300 dollar xbox's over that debacle any day. Not that either is good. But one of them is definitely worse.
Too true. It's an odd situation, but that's what happens when your attitude about the user's relationship with tech is often in direct opposition to "conventional" knowledge and assumptions.
Apple creates change.
Not this again....Macs as in computers, not operating systems. Competitors, as in HP, Sony, Dell, etc... Please, let's stay on subject here.
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/01/npd-90-of-1000-pcs-sold-in-fourth-quarter-2009-were-macs/
McDonalds sells billions of hamburgers. McDonalds must have awesome hamburgers.
So first it was 30%, now it's 40%?
Anyway, they haven't been failing that often for YEARS now. They fixed the issue. So, the argument is kinda old, just to let you know ...
Also, failure rate has nothing to do with the gaming experience of the platform. Most people never had an issue with their Xbox and are quite happy with it.
Not enough to make a difference.
http://lowendmac.com/newsrev/10mnr/0212.html
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/02/18/apple_leads_2009_customer_satisfaction_survey.html
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent...ustomer_satisfaction_survey_despite_slip.html
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/12/30/apple-takes-holiday-customer-satisfaction-honors