Author: The Macalope

Is the iPhone half full or half empty?

Depends who you ask.

The Macalope was amused to read the following two headlines this morning.

iPhone demand in the UK is ‘soft’, survey finds.

The UK’s largest iPhone survey undertaken by iPhone blog iphonic.tv has found that while interest in Apple’s upcoming mobile is very high, even Apple die-hards won’t invest in the handset unless it is competitively priced and available on their network.

Many iPod users will switch network for iPhone

The iPhone looks set to make a big impression when it launches in Europe.

Both cite the same poll.

The author of the second piece, Macworld UK’s Jonny Evans, also noticed the disparate interpretations.

You see, first thing I thought when I read a survey claiming one-in-four people would switch networks in order to get their hands on an iPhone was “oh, that’s a lot of people”.

…

But it’s being reported as failure. It’s as if some reporters think that the iPhone will be a failure unless it achieves the same level of dominance within the mobile industry as the iPod has in terms of music players.

That’s ever so sophistic. You can’t accuse an unreleased product of potential failure when you describe an unrealistic target for it.

Jonny sadly hasn’t learned that his Earth logic has no bearing in the world of Apple coverage.

iFlop?

Seeking Alpha sets the bar a little low.

Ah, Seeking Alpha’s Todd Sullivan. It’s appropriate that your head shot shows you standing in a forest which you likely cannot see for all those damn trees.

The iPhone: Apple’s First Flop

Apple’s first flop? Wow, you really are quite the student of Apple, aren’t you. The Macalope is sure we’re going to be treated to some top-notch analysis.

I do not want to have to turn off my music to get a phone call.

“I do not want to be able to hear the people I’m talking to.”

Well, OK. Seems a little strange to the Macalope, but different strokes for different folks. (Note to Sullivan: the iPhone automagically lowers the music volume when you get a call.)

If I am driving my family in my car and we are listening to the iPod, having to turn off the music to answer my phone becomes a major hassle.

So…

You want to listen to music while you’re talking on the phone while you’re driving your family down the highway.

Well, Mr. Father of the Year, please tell the Macalope where you live so he can make sure to never, ever drive around there.

All of have cell phone agreements [sic] and have a cancellation fee. This varies from $100 to $150 dollars. This price need to be added to the costs of the iPhone for those who want it right away or it will cause a lag in initial sales. This lag will allow cell competitors to create their own, cheaper versions to compete, hurting future sales.

It needs to be added to the cost for those who aren’t already Cingular customers who feel compelled to switch to the iPhone right when it comes out. Which is one of the reasons Apple went with the largest carrier.

A $599 phone will not gain mass acceptance no matter what it does…

Like a monkey typing on a keyboard, you’ve finally typed something that’s true.

…especially when people can still get its functionality from their existing devices.

Yes, the price sensitive people will continue to buy a cheap phone and an iPod shuffle and call it good. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a whole other group of people who want one device and are willing to pay for it. Is the latter group as large as the former? Certainly not. But that does not mean it doesn’t exist.

Give us a 2GB capacity so we can put our favorite stuff on it and listen when we want, cut the price to $299 and you may have something.

Todd, keep your pants on. iPhone nano. 2008.

You know, maybe the iPhone isn’t for you. The Macalope himself is not a Mac mini guy. That doesn’t mean he can’t see that it has value to a great many people.

Also, the exclusive deal with AT&T Inc. (T) was not a very bright idea.

So says you.

Well, dear reader, never fear. The Macalope has a lovely tonic for Sullivan’s jungle fever that addresses that very issue.

Why Apple’s iPhone Is Not The Next iPod.

Additionally, Apple has limited itself by committing to Cingular, which has a customer base of about 60 million. It is notable that 55 per cent of those polled in the ChangeWave survey expressed satisfaction with their existing cell phones — indicating no intention of switching networks.

[Macworld editorial director Jason] Snell points out that that doesn’t necessarily mean Apple made a mistake however. It would have been impractical for the company to try to launch the iPhone independent of an established service provider. Had it done so, Jobs and his team would be faced with creating different versions of the phone to fit the capabilities and structures of different networks.

Indeed.

And Sullivan, in his rush to apply the flawed “all-in-one” analogy, fails to point out the ground-breaking benefits of the iPhone as a platform.

“What the iPhone potentially does promise is to make the features that most people don’t use on their phones — web browsing, more advanced kinds of messaging, email, music playback, etc — far easier to use,” states [Macworld’s Chris] Breen.

Quite so. It seems like some people might actually pay for having that functionality actually be usable.

It might help you find your way out of the woods.

Time for an intervention

Full release of Tiger at WWDC? Son, are you high?

Now, the Macalope himself has sniffed a little Leopard glue in the past. But he’s been clean and sober for four months and he’s here to scare MAC.BLORGE.com’s Triston MacIntyre straight!

Jeff Gamet at the Mac Observer said, “When a product reaches the technological feasibility state, Apple typically ships it shortly thereafter.”

That being said, if both items, as Apple said, are “technologically feasible” and Apple is on schedule for its June release of the iPhone, couldn’t Leopard see an earlier release?

What if Apple was planning all along to postpone the release, only to shock the world by throwing an amazing release of iPhone after displaying the final production of Leopard at WWDC?

Triston, just say “no”!

The Macalope knows that Steve Jobs is a diabolical marketing genius, but he’s not insane, and “We’ll announce we’re delaying Leopard and then we’ll look like heroes when we don’t!” is just nuts.

Also, before you kids “get your freak on” or whatever you call it these days, you should meet a little friend the Macalope likes to call “Mr. Google”.

Search on “technological feasibility” and “SEC” and the third entry is from the very same Mac Observer, which quotes Apple’s report to the SEC on Tiger’s release thusly:

Tiger achieved technological feasibility following its public demonstration in August 2004 and the subsequent release of a developer beta version of the product.

Tiger’s eventual release date?

April 29, 2005.

OK.

Triston?

Give the Macalope your keys.

Or at least your keyboard.

The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!

The Mac name in print! Things are going to start happening to us now!

In an interesting addendum to the post below about Mac coverage, the Macalope has learned from his friend the Ratboy…

You may have heard of him. Part boy, part rat. He’s been in the papers.

Not to be confused with the bat boy. That guy’s just a publicity hound. And a total name dropper. Phew.

Anyway, according to the Ratboy, IDG — the parent of Macworld — is hiring a Mac reporter for the mother ship. While IDG does frequently cross-post Macworld stories to its various publications, a dedicated Mac reporter at the parent will likely mean more Mac coverage and wider distribution.

That sound you hear is the sound of the Mac universe expanding.

Or, possibly, somebody hates these cans.

As lithium:heroin, is iPhone:Crackberry?

Probably not, but…

Listening to this week’s MacBreak Weekly, the Macalope found himself shouting “iPod! iPod!” at the lovely Merlin Mann and the talented Scott Bourne.

Discussing why a Blackberry user would be inclined give Apple the benefit of the doubt on the iPhone, the suggestion was that they’d only do it if they were also Mac users.

Well, the Macalope suspects not many are going to because they’re so thoroughly entrenched in the platform, but they don’t necessarily have to be Mac users.

They could just really like their iPods.

The Macalope knows some Trojan horses and, frankly, they’re kind of pissed that the iPod stole their shtick.

The other shoe

Thoughts on the Mac’s online market share increase.

Computerworld reported yesterday that the Mac’s share of U.S. computers surfing the web doubled in the last 8 months.

Computerworld talks about what this means for web developers, but it also has implications for content providers and advertisers. Mac users want to read about Macs and they want to buy Mac products.

And people are seeing dollar signs in their eyes.

The Macalope’s hairy ears have picked up interesting portents of late. When Jason O’Grady was hired to blog by ZDNet, it seemed to be mostly just a publications that doesn’t really care for Apple taking an obnoxious shot at the company by hiring one of the targets of its famous “Asteroid” lawsuit.

It also fit in with ZDNet’s blog strategy which seems to be “we don’t care if it’s good, just get us some hits.”

But O’Grady’s not the only one. The Macalope has watched as large media outlets have been trying to increase their presence in the online Mac community, sometimes through acquisition of online talent or partnerships (see: Fake Steve and Wired). Finally, we apparently count for something.

How about "10 Things We Hate About List-Based 'Journalism'"?

PC World’s 10 Things We Hate About Apple is a dud.

Well, PC World decided to go ahead and publish its 10 Things We Hate About Apple (tip o’ the antlers to Andrew Kramp via email) but included an accompanying 10 Things We Love About Apple piece.

You can read their explanation of the decision here where they say it’s all just a joke.

As far as these craptacular lists go, this one is really not that offensive — most of the complaints are factual and, therefore, rather minor. And like the rest of these craptacular lists it’s exceedingly banal.

Right off the bat it seems PC World can’t even come up with 10 as number 1 and 2 are about basically the same thing: Apple’s secrecy.

Number 3 — Apple’s jibe at Windows when it shipped virus-infected iPods — is spot on, but number 4 — we don’t like words that start with a small “i” — really scrapes the bottom of the barrel.

Number 5 — where’s the Blu-Ray? — well, blah, blah, blah, where are my 18 flash card ports, blah, blah, blah, where’s my DVD RAM drive, blah, blah, blah. Number 6 starts off OK — the hockey puck mouse was unforgiveable — but degenerates:

Don’t forget the Shuffle audio player, whose lack of a screen or other discernable navigation aid Apple has successfully spun as a “feature.” (Yes, we know that the Shuffle is wildly popular–and yes, we’d still rather buy a player that can tell us what it’s playing.)

Ah. “We know the shuffle is wildly popular and is being imitated by the other vendors in a desperate attempt to claim the scraps of market share that might be left, but we don’t like it.”

Sort of like “We know that cupcakes are tasty treats that are enjoyed by young and old alike across the globe, but we don’t like them.”

Whatever.

Numbers 7, 8 and 9 have some truth to them while playing a little loose with certain facts but, really, this list is so mundane the Macalope’s having a hard time really caring at this point.

Number 10 is the silliest but is in territory that’s been so well covered already that there’s no point going over it again.

You can give credit to PC World for not resorting to base Enderle-ism and just making things up, but the list is so yawn-inducing that what it really shows is that there just isn’t that much to complain about.

So…

Why make a list?

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all

Making the whole widget, that is.

On his new blog, Walt Mossberg (tip o’ the antlers to Michael Gartenberg) talks about how Microsoft and Sony are gettin’ themselves some o’ that old-time Apple religion: making the whole widget.

Those of you who, like the Macalope, lived through the 1990s where every yahoo analyst and oh-so-well-meaning Apple basher swore up and down that the company needed to license or die can feel free to bask in the schadenfreude.

Of course, they’re still doing it, but not nearly as much.

Information Weak

Apple due for a fall? So says lazy journalist.

InformationWeek’s John Soat’s got 10 Indications Apple’s Headed for a Fall! (Tip o’ the antlers to Gene Moreau via email.)

Aaaaaiiiii! Say it isn’t so, John!

It’s list time! The list is a journalist’s best friend–easy to write and very popular online.

Well, at least you’re being open. So, you’re lazy and you’re trolling for hits. Good to know.

Let’s forge on. Tell the Macalope: why is Apple headed for a fall?

10) The same reason the Dow won’t stay at 13,000–gravity.

That, John, is effectively saying the same thing as “evil spirits”. Boy, you really are feeling lazy today.

And, unfortunately, the rest of the list isn’t much better.

9) Just about everyone who might possibly want an iPod has one.

Well, yes, iPod sales growth is tailing off, so it’s a good thing Apple makes other products. They also have this thing coming out called the iPhone. You might have heard about it. It was in all the papers. At least the ones where the journalists don’t fall back on lists all the time.

8) Apple hasn’t refreshed its computer line in a few years.

A few years? OK, most of the lineup hasn’t been refreshed since mid-2006, but the Mac Pro just got eight cores. That ain’t too shabby.

7) When an online impersonator of the CEO is more interesting than the CEO himself, that’s not a good sign.

Now you’re just making things up. Sure, we all love Fake Steve, but is he really more interesting than real Steve? If real Steve had a blog, whose do you think would be read more?

6) Apple opened seven stores last quarter, for a total of 177 worldwide, and a third store is planned for Manhattan. Are there enough thin, cool, good-looking young people in the world to staff them?

Ha-ha! Ahhhh…

C’mon. Tell the truth. You couldn’t come up with 10 real problems. Maybe these list things aren’t that easy. Or you’re even lazier than you think.

5) Everyone is getting tired of those “I’m a Mac … And I’m a PC” commercials.

Well, some people are. Like Bill Gates. The Macalope bets he’s real tired of them.

4) There’s increasing speculation the iPhone will flop.

Uh, yeah, but Steve Ballmer’s opinion isn’t exactly unbiased.

3) Windows Vista is better than it’s getting credit for.

Yes. So is broccoli. Don’t expect a rush on it.

2) That pesky stock options backdating thing won’t go away.

1 out of 10. Monkeys could do better.

1) I just bought an Apple iMac, which carries with it my personal version of the Sports Illustrated cover curse.

Ah, so the whole thing is just a build-up to a joke about your poor personal buying record?! Awesome!

Grrr…