Apple taking over the world...

[solace]

As in a physical keyboard with a midi controller? Do you a usb converter for that or do Macs have midi ports these days? Or are you just using a keyboard that connects via USB?

keyboard that connects to Midi via USB (M-Audio Keystation 61es)

[a.miller]

I'll hop on the wagon and proclaim that being tied to Cingular will, indeed, be the downfall of this product.

[solace]

Cisco suing Apple over the iPhone name

 

http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/10/technology...sion=2007011019

 

no shock here, Linksys announced their own product using the iPhone name last week

[street spirit]

keyboard that connects to Midi via USB (M-Audio Keystation 61es)

 

this is sort of shifting the topic... but how do you like that midi controller?

 

i want to pick one up.

[cryptique]

The afterglow has waned, and now the reality is setting in.

 

Registration required to read that link (NY Times), or get a login from BugMeNot.

[EL the Famous]

I couldn't see cryptique's article, so if this is just regurgitating the same thing then soooorry:

 

Apple results put new focus on iPhone

Analysis: Device unlikely to become overnight sensation

 

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Are Apple Inc.'s legion of devout fans overeager to buy into the idea of the iPhone becoming an overnight success?

 

More than a few industry analysts think so. While they admire the creativity and design of Apple's latest device, they question whether it can become a mass-market sensation and deliver a huge boost to the company's sales and earnings anytime soon.

 

Those questions have been raised anew following Apple's fiscal first-quarter results and its cautious forecast for the second quarter. Sales of Macintosh computers did not grow as much as expected in the final three months of 2006 and the company offered profit and revenue projections well below the Wall Street consensus for the first three months of 2007.

 

Shares of Apple more than 5% Thursday on concerns about the weaker forecast and Macintosh sales. The stock had leaped as much as 14% last week and set an all-time high of $97.80 -- a remarkable move for a company of Apple's size -- after Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone.

 

The early fanfare, however, has begun to die down and many are wondering whether the iPhone can duplicate the success of the iPod music players. In the first quarter, iPod shipments surged 50% to 21 million, and the device accounted for almost half of Apple's revenue.

 

Yet while growth in iPod sales was quite strong and is likely to remain so for the next few years, the market for digital music players is beginning to mature. In the U.S., Apple already sells about three out of every four digital music players and its share is steadily rising in Europe and Asia.

 

Hence investors hope that the iPhone and the company's new Apple TV device will turn out to be the next big things in consumer electronics. The success of both could help drive Apple's future sales.

 

Cannibalizing the iPod

Ironically, though, the company's aggressive public campaign to spread the word about the iPhone could cost Apple in the short run. Some prospective iPod customers could wait for the iPhone to hit the market in June.

 

If that happens, iPod shipments could prove disappointing in the first three months of 2007, when sales typically taper off after a holiday-season boomlet.

 

"As we enter the seasonally weaker period of the year, iPod shipments may disappoint investors' heightened expectations," wrote J.P. Morgan analyst Bill Shope, who cut his rating to neutral from overweight. "We believe this risk is particularly pronounced given our concerns that some consumers may delay iPod purchases ahead of the iPhone launch."

 

Beyond the next quarter, analysts also question how quickly iPhone shipments will expand, especially given its high price, unique design and limited availability. What's more, Apple is entering a fiercely competitive global handset market where the best designs are soon mimicked.

 

The high price of the iPhone - starting at $500 -- is clearly one potential detriment to a quick start for Apple, and perhaps part of an intentional strategy. Apple likely wants to gauge demand before ramping up production, while limited availability will help sustain the device's price.

 

The iPhone's fully touchscreen-based design also represents a gamble. While Jobs claims his new device will "reinvent the phone," other mobile manufacturers have also experimented with touchscreens to mixed success. Business users in particular may be wary of switching to a device without hard buttons that they can easily find and press.

 

"They don't tend to give the tactile feedback that most people usually accept," said In Stat wireless analyst Bill Hughes, although he acknowledged that Apple has succeeded where other companies have not.

 

Limited availability

What's more, the iPhone will operate exclusively over the network of Cingular Wireless for the next few years. By aligning solely with Cingular, Apple is missing out on at least two-thirds of the mobile-device owners in the U.S.

 

Some may switch to Cingular simply to acquire an iPhone, but most probably won't. Only about 20% of U.S. wireless customers spend more than $100 for a mobile handset and millions are locked into contracts that are too expensive to break before they expire.

 

Cingular's network is also slower than the networks of rivals Verizon Communications when it comes to sending data or surfing the Web.

 

Cautious first steps

Indeed, Apple's decision to sign an exclusive multi-year agreement with Cingular indicates the company has no plans to push the iPhone as aggressively as the iPod despite Jobs' promise to reinvent the mobile handset.

 

Apple's overseas plans are also proceeding at a leisurely pace. The company doesn't plan to begin selling the device in Europe until the end of 2007, and the iPhone won't make its way to Asia until 2008.

 

That's plenty of time for giants in the mobile handset market, such as Nokia Corp. , Motorola Inc. and Sony Ericsson, to develop competing touchscreen models if they prove to be successful.

"I don't know technologically that it will be hard to duplicate," said Hughes, who points to a Motorola as a recent example.

Motorola took the wireless market by storm two years ago with the introduction of Razr, then the thinnest wireless phone in the world. Yet all of its rivals have since introduced their own thin phones, some of which are even thinner than what Motorola offers, and most models are quite cheap.

 

While Hughes admits he wouldn't mind having an iPhone himself, he's not sure tens of millions of customers will rush to shell out big bucks to get one. He said the iPhone is likely to be a niche product, at least until prices fall sharply and availability becomes widespread.

 

While Jobs and Apple clearly hope the iPhone becomes much more than that, the company is treading carefully for now - and perhaps investors should, too. Apple has conservatively estimated that it aims to sell 10 million iPhones globally in 2008, which would equal a meager 1% of the handset market.

Jeffry Bartash is a reporter for MarketWatch in Washington.

[Sir Stewart]

What does that article say?

[Spawn's dad]

 

Apple makes really cool stuff but their definition of fair play is severely lacking and will ultimately be their downfall.

[EL the Famous]

What does that article say?

 

basically that this thing is going to be really neat device...but a niche play versus a huge mass-market play that will turn the cell phone industry on it's ass. for all the same reasons we were all saying here in the office when it was announced.

 

i bet porn will look pretty good on it though.

[Sir Stewart]

Thank you friends.

[cryptique]

I couldn't see cryptique's article

Here's the one I linked to ... sorry, it's really long.

 

Want an iPhone? Beware the iHandcuffs

 

By RANDALL STROSS

 

STEVE JOBS, Apple

[Moe_Syzlak]

This just in: Apple sucks just as bad as Windows. Fed up with crashes and freezes, I switched to a brand spanking new Mac in the spring. After about six months with it, I can unequivocally say that Apple is NO BETTER than Windows and I may like it less. First, I get Apple's own version of the blue screen of death (the black box message that tells me I need to hold down the power button to shut off my computer) on average once per week. That is MORE than I have EVER had crashes with a PC. The little rainbow pinwheel thing indicating the Mac is working is pretty much omnipresent. Lastly, beyond performance, Apple is like AOL in that it is much more difficult to get in and customize things. My understanding is that this is Apple's way of insuring that performance is kept to peak levels. Well, mission NOT accomplished. I think there is irrational hatred for MS and irrational love for Apple out there and I am a bit miffed that I fell for it and spent way more than I should have for a computer.

 

/rant

[Spawn's dad]

[Sir Stewart]

Sounds like you got a bad product, man. I've had 2 iMacs over the past 10 years with one hard drive crash. I don't think Apple is perfect (i'm currently frustrated to no end with iTunes), but your situation sounds damn unlucky.

[bleedorange]

I've had success with both. Recently bought a MacBook for my wife and it has worked like a charm. I bought a Velocity Micro PC a couple of years ago or so and it has worked beautifully also.

 

I've also never had any problems with iTunes on a Mac or a PC. What problems have you been having?

[Moe_Syzlak]

Sounds like you got a bad product, man. I've had 2 iMacs over the past 10 years with one hard drive crash. I don't think Apple is perfect (i'm currently frustrated to no end with iTunes), but your situation sounds damn unlucky.

Well my first one was worse and I returned it. Are you telling me that I got "unlucky" twice? If so, that doesn't bode well for Apple's QA.

[uncool2pillow]

Somewhat unrelated, but I'm on Vista for 6 mos. now and no major problems tor report.

[solace]

This just in: Apple sucks just as bad as Windows. Fed up with crashes and freezes, I switched to a brand spanking new Mac in the spring. After about six months with it, I can unequivocally say that Apple is NO BETTER than Windows and I may like it less. First, I get Apple's own version of the blue screen of death (the black box message that tells me I need to hold down the power button to shut off my computer) on average once per week. That is MORE than I have EVER had crashes with a PC. The little rainbow pinwheel thing indicating the Mac is working is pretty much omnipresent. Lastly, beyond performance, Apple is like AOL in that it is much more difficult to get in and customize things. My understanding is that this is Apple's way of insuring that performance is kept to peak levels. Well, mission NOT accomplished. I think there is irrational hatred for MS and irrational love for Apple out there and I am a bit miffed that I fell for it and spent way more than I should have for a computer.

 

/rant

i've never had issues like that with any of my 5 Mac's (iMac, Mac Mini, + MacBook at home, iMac + PowerBook G4 at work)

[OOO]

What you are describing is a Kernel Panic, and I too haven't had one of those happen in over a year. Unless you have some unique software on your computer that you installed on both computers, it does sound like you have gotten unlucky. Sorry to hear it.

[Moe_Syzlak]

So more issues with my piece of shit Mac. I am using my fiance's XP laptop to type this (which incidentally is about $1k less and works much better). I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and has a fix for me. Whenever Safari is open (this happens in all programs when Safari is open, not just Safari), and the mouse cursor is in the main window of whatever program is on top, the screen scrolls up and down erratically. I tried restarting, but no luck. This has happened before, but it corrected itself relatively quickly. This time I can't get it to stop.

[isadorah]

So more issues with my piece of shit Mac. I am using my fiance's XP laptop to type this (which incidentally is about $1k less and works much better). I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this and has a fix for me. Whenever Safari is open (this happens in all programs when Safari is open, not just Safari), and the mouse cursor is in the main window of whatever program is on top, the screen scrolls up and down erratically. I tried restarting, but no luck. This has happened before, but it corrected itself relatively quickly. This time I can't get it to stop.

 

 

ooh, i know what this is. the mac mousepads on a laptop have special tap combinations to them. if you use two fingers on the pad, you can scroll without clicking on a scroll bar. there's a tapping combination that if you click and tap the pad it gives you the mega scroll feature where all movement is a scroll. to deactivate it you have to do that magic tapping combination again. i'll do some searching to see if i can find the combination. it's one of those bizarre things where if you hold your jaw a certain way and then click/tap it scrolls like this. it has nothing to do with safari.

[Moe_Syzlak]

ooh, i know what this is. the mac mousepads on a laptop have special tap combinations to them. if you use two fingers on the pad, you can scroll without clicking on a scroll bar. there's a tapping combination that if you click and tap the pad it gives you the mega scroll feature where all movement is a scroll. to deactivate it you have to do that magic tapping combination again. i'll do some searching to see if i can find the combination. it's one of those bizarre things where if you hold your jaw a certain way and then click/tap it scrolls like this. it has nothing to do with safari.

Thanks, I'll search around a bit too. But it has to have SOMETHING to do with Safari because it only happens when Safari is open.

[isadorah]

I can't seem to find it now in the manuals they have online. I'll have to check the manual on mine when I get home because I know there's a quirky track-pad feature that's different from the two finger scroll. I'm pretty sure is is if you tap the pad and hold the button down or some odd combination of this it activates the funky scrolling, i think a double-tap deactivates it. I remember reading this somewhere. does it still do it if you close it and open it back up. that might reset it.

 

you can also go into the Keyboard&Mouse pane in the system preferences (the gear icon on your dock) and turn off the additional trackpad features. that might help stop it from happening in the future.

 

also, i'd recommend switching from Safari to the newest Firefox. It is far more stable and has some really great features that Safari lacks. I ditched Safari when Firefox 3 came out. It is well worth the switch. That might help a bit too if you find that the eratic scrolling only happens when you have Safari up.

[Moe_Syzlak]

Thanks! Yeah, to clarify, this is not a trackpad issue, but a Bluetooth mouse. It's not the Mighty Mouse, but it seems from the brief searches I did that the problem exists with all Bluetooth mice. And I was wrong, the reason I didn't think it was happening when Safari was off was due to the fact I didn't have any windows open that were larger than the screen, so nowhere to scroll. Once I opened one, the prblem came back.

 

There seems to be all sorts of explanations for this from signal interference to a dirty trackball. None of the fixes are working for me though so I'm hopeful you can find somethiing.

 

I have tried restarting EVERYTHING, including removing the batteries from the mouse. Also, I have tried a wired mouse and the problem persists even with that mouse. That suggests to me that it is not the mouse but a software issue as you said.

[explodo]

Sucks, Moe. I have had absolutely no problems* in going on two years. Outside of updates and that sort of thing, I've never even had to restart the computer. Is your Macbook one of the newer aluminum ones? I have heard that they have some issues, but not like what you are describing.

 

*with performance. My case is cracked on the bottom a bit and my screen flickers unless I have the brightness set to a certain level.