Lets get one thing straight. The limitations of the iPhone, some of which Woz alludes to, are ENTIRELY due to ATT and how the cellphone industry currently works in the US. Jobs has commented on this before (referring to mobile phone service providers as sphincters or something). Also, Walt Mossberg had an article on this subject recently in the Wall Street Journal. Im sure the iPhone would be more like a computer and a lot freer if it werent for the paranoid business model of mobile phone companies.
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Steve Wozniak on Apple, Leopard and Jailbreaking the iPhone
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It's easy to excuse Apple, but maybe you're forgetting that even if it is due to AT&T, they agreed to these terms. I'm sure they could have negotiated something better for consumers, but I guess the shareholders weren't too thrilled about it. I can see it now: "What? We can't charge the consumer twice for what they already own!?! Blasphemy!" Apple is as guilty as AT&T regardless of whether or not they favored such terms.
First, I heart Woz.
He's the only person I'd rather head Apple than Jobs.
Second, redapple is most definitely right with regards to ringtones: has everything to do with the labels, the RIAA and greed.
Third, what exigentsky touches on is a prefect example of the short-sightedness that is killing the industry (be it music or film).
If I ran a recording label - we would be offering free ringtones as fast as possible. Every track of our entire catalog. No strings attached. Free. Go get em. Use them. Share them. Spread the word.
Why?
Exposure.
Saturation.
It's not rocket science. It's no different than the free samples at the grocery store. The odds dramatically increase that I'll buy some new cracker if I get a free sample. Otherwise, like most people, I'll stick with what I know. Same goes for music. If I can freely acquire, use and share ringtones, the odds of me and my friends actually purchasing the single (or album or concert ticket) increases, big time.
The alternative is what we have today: people, like me, that like the concept of ringtones but are not willing (or able) to purchase the track and then repurchase the ringtone. Thus, less exposure, decreases the odds of their product being purchased and so on...
It's this moronic, short-sighted greed that is completely missing the point and actually, in the end, costing those same greedy f*cks even more revenue.
It really can be both this simple and extremely profitable. Just look at Phish's open taping policy.
http://www.phish.com/guidelines/index.php?category=6
This allowed fans to freely enjoy and share the band's music which led to their massive following and constant sold out tours. They got right what the labels have gotten so incredibly wrong.
I'm just saying...
You totally contradict yourself when you say that. First you say that Jobs was good when the company was in trouble and now that he has brought it up to a profitable company he should take a hike? The company is where it is today because of his being a good CEO. What do mean by control freak? How has SJ being a control freak affected your daily computing?
You can't just make anyone who seems like a nice guy and has a passion for the company a CEO.
Apple's products are top notch and their OS is better than ever and Apple has become the king of multimedia and now you think the CEO needs to step down? When the company starts going down is when the CEO needs to leave which is why SJ was fired in the beginning.
The company is big today because of him and you have to admit he makes the Macworld shows exciting, WWDC is exciting, his idea to keep quiet on new products before they are unveiled has made it fun.
Not even Bill Gates makes computing fun.
Woz is not the right person to be CEO of Apple (not now, not yesterday, not tomorrow) but Apple only exists because Woz was in the right place at the right time to design the Apple I and II (dram architecture, 1200 bps tape interface, IWM floppy controller, hand-coding integer basic in machine language, etc.)
I will eat a shoe if there's a single Woz hater here with a tenth Woz's engineering chops. Y'all snot-nosed hater punks need to grow up.
I will eat a shoe if there's a single Woz hater here with a tenth Woz's engineering chops. Y'all snot-nosed hater punks need to grow up.
And if I were a shareholder with the company that you ran, I'd be calling for your head. Do you really believe that giving away ringtones would push regular music sales so high that they would throw away a 500 million dollar industry?
I guess I'm the minority. I'm only 25, but I know enough to know that music has never been free. It's a product, and there are companies that own that product. You have to pay to use the product.
Say Apple let's you use any mp3/aac as your ringtone. They piss off the owners of all that precious material at the iTunes store, who don't see any reason to piss 500 million down the drain. I don't think Apple can afford to do that, and lose all those precious iPod sales.
I've bought exactly one ring tone, and I don't use it. Apple's system is amazing. It was worth $2. That's certainly cheaper than the systems in place now, and the implementation is obviously far, far superior. Definitely worth it.
Yup. That's exactly it. I'm all for popular ideals, but I'm for practical ideas more. When push comes to shove, where do you stand on the hard decisions where there is no "right" answer... and when the smoke clears, how will history regard your choices you made? Legacy is painful when the buck stops at your desk.
~ CB
"Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I've made? How would that hurt AT&T's network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that's unprotected"
Ouch... I feel hurted and it wasn't with me.
Ouch... I feel hurted and it wasn't with me.
holy cow...
As an AAPL shareholder, I am glad teenagers like some of the folks on this forum are not running multi-billion-dollar companies I own a stake of.
First, people have no idea what Woz even contributed to the original Apple. Hint -- almost nothing you now think of as a "Mac" was created by Woz. Woz, way back in the day, was good at designing elegant hardware circuit-boards and the like. Now, Apple has Intel to do that stuff. Woz I believe still technically is an Apple employee, although I guess it's probably in name only, because any responsible employee wouldn't spout so much crap abut their employer. Woz WAS involved in a cellphone/communicator startup, it was called Danger, and if you think he would be involved with a better phone than Steve Jobs go pick up a Sidekick and shut up, because that was Woz's cellphone.
10.5 kicks butt, I don't care about some of it's rough point-oh edges. It's freaking awesome, it dramatically improved the performance of my dual 2GHz MacBook Pro and gave me a ton of new features AND stability to boot. Apple has an awesome hardware lineup now, although servers/RAIDs could seriously stand updates. But desktops, laptops, and software-wise, they are doing awesome. Not to mention iPhone, iPod, etc. Why does anyone feel Apple is floundering now? They are a stronger company now than they have EVER been. They are innovating, making tons of money, expanding their business -- anyone who wants Jobs to step down needs to stay as far away from the world of business as possible, because you have no idea what you're talking about, at all.
As an AAPL shareholder, I am glad teenagers like some of the folks on this forum are not running multi-billion-dollar companies I own a stake of.
First, people have no idea what Woz even contributed to the original Apple. Hint -- almost nothing you now think of as a "Mac" was created by Woz. Woz, way back in the day, was good at designing elegant hardware circuit-boards and the like. Now, Apple has Intel to do that stuff. Woz I believe still technically is an Apple employee, although I guess it's probably in name only, because any responsible employee wouldn't spout so much crap abut their employer. Woz WAS involved in a cellphone/communicator startup, it was called Danger, and if you think he would be involved with a better phone than Steve Jobs go pick up a Sidekick and shut up, because that was Woz's cellphone.
10.5 kicks butt, I don't care about some of it's rough point-oh edges. It's freaking awesome, it dramatically improved the performance of my dual 2GHz MacBook Pro and gave me a ton of new features AND stability to boot. Apple has an awesome hardware lineup now, although servers/RAIDs could seriously stand updates. But desktops, laptops, and software-wise, they are doing awesome. Not to mention iPhone, iPod, etc. Why does anyone feel Apple is floundering now? They are a stronger company now than they have EVER been. They are innovating, making tons of money, expanding their business -- anyone who wants Jobs to step down needs to stay as far away from the world of business as possible, because you have no idea what you're talking about, at all.
Think about it .... Why is Woz not working for Apple?
You are wishing for what it could be without knowing the reasons for the way they are.
Answer: The two of them are not as close as some would think.
If you are not happy return the fricking phone or sell it in eBay. Why you buy a closed device and then sit here and complain?
I think you should attend the next shareholder meeting and raise those issues and ask for a vote to remove Steve.
If you are not a shareholder then buy the stock and do the above.
If not willing to buy and participate in governing the company, why you posting?
It was only quite recently that we learnt Apple only allow ringtones uploads that are bought from iTunes. Before that, it was a guessing game to whether apple would allow freely uploadable ring tones.
Yes he should stop complaining and instead do something positive, it is not like he is poor, and abously he has an opinion that is different from the direction Apple is taking.
It is easy to do the talk, it is much harder to do the walk and that goes also for all those that think they can do better than Steve and the Board of directors.
Stop the bull and do the action.
News Flash: Woz LEFT Apple...over 2 decades ago. If he wanted to go back, he would. He doesn't. He works the education sector now. He wasn't fired or booted or anything like that.
Second: If Jobs left Apple now, we would return to the Apple that existed from the Mac II to the 20th Anniversary Mac. OS X would undergo slight improvements over the next 20 years, getting to version 10.7.45 Rev. B Update 2.0, with System Enabler 1.3 (or some insane garbage, old time System 7 users can feel me). Macs development would become stagnant. iPods would increase in capacity...but no new interface would come out.
A lot of people don't realize that Steve Job's cracking the whip, beating people into the shape that his ideas take, constantly demanding more and more is what makes Apple what it IS. Without his insanity, no one would push the envelope quite as hard. I, for one, dread the day when he does get to be too old to be CEO. Then what will we do? (hopefully we gain ~50% market share by then!).
Second: If Jobs left Apple now, we would return to the Apple that existed from the Mac II to the 20th Anniversary Mac. OS X would undergo slight improvements over the next 20 years, getting to version 10.7.45 Rev. B Update 2.0, with System Enabler 1.3 (or some insane garbage, old time System 7 users can feel me). Macs development would become stagnant. iPods would increase in capacity...but no new interface would come out.
A lot of people don't realize that Steve Job's cracking the whip, beating people into the shape that his ideas take, constantly demanding more and more is what makes Apple what it IS. Without his insanity, no one would push the envelope quite as hard. I, for one, dread the day when he does get to be too old to be CEO. Then what will we do? (hopefully we gain ~50% market share by then!).
"Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I've made? How would that hurt AT&T's network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that's unprotected"
Ouch... I feel hurted and it wasn't with me.
You can, just need a different phone. This one is closed and has always been, and it was known from the start.
Why is it that everyone wants the iPhone to be something it is not?
There are other phones out there that may meet your needs better.
Before that it was not a choice that Apple provided. It is a closed phone, it has the features they decide to implement and they are implemented in the way they decide.
How come nobody complains this bitterly about the capabilites of other phones?
Lets be fair folks, we all knew what we were getting into, deal with it. If you don't like it return it or sell it or write to Apple and complain.
What exactly are people getting accomplish by moaming and telling everyone how much better they and Woz would run the company?
Take action, vote your shares, vote with your wallet or quit bitching.
This is not constructive and it hurts the company you seem to love.
Do you kick your mom when she does not let you see a ceirtain TV show?
Why you kicking Apple?
Because other phones ( bought out of contract ):
- don't lock the consumer into a carrier
- freely allow 3rd party apps to be installed
- not locked down to high heaven
- allow ringtones to be uploaded freely ( clearly: an Apple decision to make the consumer buy from iTunes )
- more importantly: have capabilities far beyond what the iPhone offers ( except UI )
- don't lock the consumer into a carrier
- freely allow 3rd party apps to be installed
- not locked down to high heaven
- allow ringtones to be uploaded freely ( clearly: an Apple decision to make the consumer buy from iTunes )
- more importantly: have capabilities far beyond what the iPhone offers ( except UI )
So why you want an inferior product like the iPhone when you have so many other reasonable and fair choices?
Again, the iPhone is what it is, take it or leave it. Buy it when it meets your needs, until then buy something that is appropriate to your opinion and life style.
Not trying to be a smart-alek, this is a serious question, why don't you just buy one of those?
Seriously, if one has such problems with the iPhone then don't buy it.
It's amazing how you conveniently forgot about the main feature that other cell phone companies block the customer's freedom of use. Shall we say, Bluetooth? Almost every cell phone company disables the majority of the Bluetooth features accept for the ability to use it for the Bluetooth headset. T-Mobile is the only company I was able to buy a Razr phone from that had all the Bluetooth functionality open.
It pisses me off that these companies block the Bluetooth because many of them won't allow me to even sync my phonebook on the computer. So since I want that feature what did I do? Bought a phone from T-Mobile that allowed me to use Bluetooth the way I want.
Stop complaining about what Apple blocks from the customer, they are not the only ones. Get what works the way you want our don't buy anything.