Whats it like to own an Apple product.....

[psychotropic]

what beats me is that, good and evil apart, a company that is so good at designing great interfaces (OS X, iPhone, iPod etc.,) can make a software like iTunes that is so incredibly rubbish to use. I do agree that the iPods are lovely devices though, purely from a user interface and industrial design perspective.

 

[teky]

Hey how do you make custom smileys? I like that one!! It has the potential to make look really cool and smarter than the rest of you crowd ...

Cheers

Gobble ji

Picture URL posted using Insert image option. Source is http://www.pic4ever.com/images/4chsmu1.gif

I liked this one

 

[gobble]

Gobble frankly that makes you even more dumb than the other ..... first getting an apple product and then not even using it ....

Just a joke BTW ....

Nah! I'm being clever by not allowing Apple to lock me in

And did you notice my Will Power? Having a shiny sleek iPod Touch 32GB 3rd generation and not frothing in the mouth, not going ga-ga, not announcing my arrival in the Apple fanboy club, not ooozing over how great itunes was and how it liberated me from the hell that is this poor third world country? :clapping:

I fee llike a sage already hyeah:

Cheers

 

[gobble]

I liked this one

Thank you! And in turn I pray this never happens to you

Cheers

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Hmmm...

It seems to be general opinion that they make the best phone. Others will catch up.

I am certain that the iPad will soon be overtaken, if it hasn't been already, and then it will only sell on brand loyalty

The shere beauty of their portable music players is only seductive to a point, because there is, simply, better stuff. Would an audiophile rather have an iPod or a Cowon? That's just a make picked at random, because I know they have a good name for sound quality. (the fact that I have one id neither here nor there! )

As for their computers, I've only used one once, but I am quite willing to accept that they are probably better than the incredible march of rubbish that MS has sold the rest of us, update by update, over the years. So... why didn't I join the Apple camp of computer users. Probably because, until the last errrmmm... seven or eight years, I never had a PC at home and it was all MS (an Unix) at work. I never wanted to use a PC at home when I had to all day at work!

 

[sam9s]

Gobble ji

Picture URL posted using Insert image option. Source is http://www.pic4ever.com/images/4chsmu1.gif
[/img]

Right click image => properties ........... smart one teky

 

[The_Falcon]

I believe the crave is partly due to the fact that the products are priced "almost" out of reach in terms of price...we unknowingly opt for its products as they feel exclusive...not everyone can afford them...and the fact friends and family members will say oooh iPhone etc. How many would take out their Chinese mobile and show off ?:lol:

Having said that..its not that Apple doesnt make bad products. My iPhone 2G is now being used as a iPod in dock...the lower part of the screen has lost touch sensitivity. And not to mention the fact that iPhone Bluetooth cannot be used with any other phone brand...sick is int it.

 

[venkatcr]

Irrespective of whether you hate or love Apple products you have to agree to one thing. The sheer genius of Steve Jobs as a ideas and marketing man. From a guy who was thrown out, to a company that was nearly bankrupt, Steve took an existing idea, realized success depended upon content availability and created the iTunes Library and easy access at ridiculous rates for millions of songs. That, more than any thing else, made the iPod succeed.

For all practical purposes, iPod should have been the end of the road for Apple. A hugely successful product riding the market. But then he went and took another existing idea that many others did not know what to do with - a touch screen. Thus the iTouch was born. The issue is even if any other company such as Nokia, LG, or others bring better products they will all look like copy cats.

The next step was to encroach on one of the largest markets in the world - mobile phones. This market was monopolized by two companies - Nokia and Blackberry. A bit of working with software and hardware and presto - the iPhone was born! All the features of the best Nokia and Blackberry phones, and the familiarity of the iTouch.

A few weeks ago, this nearly bankrupt company overtook Microsoft in valuation to become one of the largest companies in the world. This is no mean achievement.

Microsoft has whittled away it's position by trying to exert it's strength as a monopoly. Legal cases, pressure on users and millions of dollars and time spent on pressurizing existing and potential clients. I have personally received hundreds of threatening calls from MS.

I am sure if Apple decides to open Tiger X into the market, it has the potential to kill Microsoft. Of course, MS saw this coming, and has signed a non-compete agreement with Apple.

You can crib and rant as much as you want. At the end of the day, these guys are too huge and will decide the course of the market. The only option you have is to buy or not to buy. Companies such as Sun and DEC did make an attempt to break this grip, but were finally just bought out and shut down. A few billion dollars is a small price to pay against a potential loss market control.

For the brave, there are a large number of product and software made by smaller companies that will do exactly what you want. But, you have to be knowledgeable to use these product and software. Then you can thumb your nose at Apple and Microsoft.

Cheers

 

[ajay124]

Most cell phones,desktops,laptops,mobile music devices currently in the market are clones and bad copies of some Apple product...

 

[gobble]

Microsoft has whittled away it's position by trying to exert it's strength as a monopoly. Legal cases, pressure on users and millions of dollars and time spent on pressurizing existing and potential clients. I have personally received hundreds of threatening calls from MS.
Cheers

Curious... Why did. They threaten you?

Sent fom my iPod

 

[keith_correa]

Steve took an existing idea, realized success depended upon content availability and created the iTunes Library and easy access at ridiculous rates for millions of songs. That, more than any thing else, made the iPod succeed.

Not completely accurate. The iPod was already a massive success for ~2 years before the iTunes store was launched. The launch of iTunes only consolidated the success of the iPod.

The next step was to encroach on one of the largest markets in the world - mobile phones. This market was monopolized by two companies - Nokia and Blackberry. A bit of working with software and hardware and presto - the iPhone was born! All the features of the best Nokia and Blackberry phones, and the familiarity of the iTouch.

What features of the best Nokia & BB does the iPhone have? All good phones have those features - not only the Nokia and BB.
Also, I thought the iTouch was launched AFTER the iPhone so I don't think users/buyers could be attracted to the iPhone due to the familiarity of the iTouch. If may have been the other way around.

Microsoft has whittled away it's position by trying to exert it's strength as a monopoly. Legal cases, pressure on users and millions of dollars and time spent on pressurizing existing and potential clients. I have personally received hundreds of threatening calls from MS.

I'm fascinated. Care to elaborate on those threatening calls and why?

I am sure if Apple decides to open Tiger X into the market, it has the potential to kill Microsoft. Of course, MS saw this coming, and has signed a non-compete agreement with Apple.

I thought OS X Tiger was already in the market for some years now.

For the brave, there are a large number of product and software made by smaller companies that will do exactly what you want. But, you have to be knowledgeable to use these product and software. Then you can thumb your nose at Apple and Microsoft.

No need to be knowledgeable for usage. It's not complex at all. You just have to be knowledgeable to take the plunge.

 

[venkatcr]

I'm fascinated. Care to elaborate on those threatening calls and why? I thought OS X Tiger was already in the market for some years now.

What MS does is to hack into every corporate network and get the IP address of every machine you use. They then search each machine for software installed. These software is then checked against their license database. If there is a mismatch, they get in touch with you through their dealers to make you buy all the licenses. If there is a delay, they call your directly and threaten you. If even that does not work, they put pressure on you through NASSCOM and local industry associations. Oracle also follows a similar methodology and between them they have even shut down a few companies. This was really bad during the days of Dewang Mehta, but I am not sure how it is nowadays.

One company I worked with had a 400 machine network with not a single MS software and was running completely on Unix/Linux combination. Even then we used to get calls from MS regularly. I had to get my IT head to scan every machine regularly every week to ensure that there was no MS software inadvertently installed by an employee.

In terms of the Apple OS, what I meant was to make the OS as a product that could be purchased and installed on any machine. Of course Apple cannot do it any more because of the agreement they have with MS.

Cheers

 

[svenkateshsmart]

What MS does is to hack into every corporate network and get the IP address of every machine you use. They then search each machine for software installed. These software is then checked against their license database. If there is a mismatch, they get in touch with you through their dealers to make you buy all the licenses. If there is a delay, they call your directly and threaten you. If even that does not work, they put pressure on you through NASSCOM and local industry associations. Oracle also follows a similar methodology and between them they have even shut down a few companies. This was really bad during the days of Dewang Mehta, but I am not sure how it is nowadays.

One company I worked with had a 400 machine network with not a single MS software and was running completely on Unix/Linux combination. Even then we used to get calls from MS regularly. I had to get my IT head to scan every machine regularly every week to ensure that there was no MS software inadvertently installed by an employee.

In terms of the Apple OS, what I meant was to make the OS as a product that could be purchased and installed on any machine. Of course Apple cannot do it any more because of the agreement they have with MS.

Cheers

Hi,

We didnt get any threat as such, but we have had experienced this a couple of times in our branches where we got calls from their so-called "gold certified partners", but both times we had amicably solved it by buying a few licenses. Since then, we have been receiving only follow-up sales calls from them.

Cheers!

 

[thevortex]

Its interesting to read about people's take on iTunes the player. Have a question for you - have you ever used the earlier version of iTunes which did not have the market store feature integrated with it? About 5 years back, iTunes was among the better players available. Very nice default skin and functionality. However even then it was not light on resources.

Today it has deteriorated a great lot. And for people who believe that there are no other options for synchronization with an iPod other than iTunes - please google. There are excellent and free alternatives. But yes, in principle I am against such bundling - especially when you have paid money to own the device.

Venkat - I am curious to know about this non-compete that you talk about. Why would Apple sign such a deal? Whats in it for them? I dont get that idea at all. I know of graphic design companies which still get dozens of Apple machines direct from the dealer.

 

[thevortex]

The other interesting thing Venkat is about the hacking bit. If that is how they are getting their information - which I doubt - then it is not valid, legally speaking. At least it should be.

Vinay might be knowing more about the legalities of this.

And Venkatesh - that horrible practice of just getting people to buy a few extra licenses instead of solving the entire issue is reprehensible. Just another example of our fast developing culture of taking the easy way out. Read - quicker way out.

 

[unleash_me]

1. Apple didnt have two founders. It had three. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.
2. Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive share the same middle name: Paul.
3. Before working at Apple, Jonathan Ive worked for a company called Tangerine.
4. The original Apple 1 computer sold for $666.66.
5. The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (the cube) is said to be one of the most photographed landmarks in the world.
6. Nine U.S. states dont have Apple stores: Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
7. Before co-founding Apple, Steve Jobs worked for Atari.
8. Jonathan Ive has worn the same shirt in every Apple product intro video since 2000.
9. Steve Jobs is a Buddhist.
10. Steve Jobs birth father was a Syrian Muslim, Abdulfattah Jandali.
11. Steve Jobs met Steve Wozniak when Jobs was 16 and Wozniak 21.
12. Steve Jobs bought Pixar from George Lucas for $10 million and sold it to Disney for $7.6 billion.
13. Steve Jobs has four children: one son and three daughters.
14. Jonathan Ive has twins.
15. Steve Jobs originally denied he was the father of his first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs.
16. Steve Jobs sold his apartment in New York City to U2 frontman Bono.
17. In 1998 Steve Jobs let Bill Clinton use his mansion in Woodside, California.
18. Steve Jobs underwent a liver transplant at a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee in 2009.
19. Apple was established on April Fools Day.
20. Apple has more than 35,000 employees worldwide.
21. Apple once disposed of 2,700 unsold Lisas in a Utah landfill. The computer originally sold at $10,000 each.
22. Only 30-50 of the original Apple 1 computers still exist, with originals selling for up to $50,000.
23. Apples original logo in 1976 featured Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree.
24. Apples current logo was designed by Rob Janoff.
25. First slogan: Byte into an Apple.
26. Apple was the first company to introduce the mouse and the trackpad.
27. After being kicked out of Apple, Steve Jobs started an unsuccessful company called NeXT.
28. In 2001, Apples stock price was less than $8 per share. In April 2010 the price reached $272.
29. In January 2007, Apple Inc. dropped Computer from its corporate name.
30. Apple.com is in the top 50 websites visited worldwide and in the top 30 visited in the United States.
31. Apple wasnt started in a garage, it was started in a bedroom at 11161 Crist Drive in Los Altos.
32. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak both worked together as summer employees at Hewlett-Packard.
33. The longest-lived Apple computer of all time was the Apple IIe, which was on sale for nearly 11 years.
34. Apple didnt sell a Windows-compatible iPod until nine months after the iPod was introduced.
35. The time shown on all of the devices in pictures on Apples website is the same (9:41 a.m. for iOS devices and 10:50 a.m. for Macs). The time is coordinated with when the pictures will be shown during Steve Jobs keynote address.
36. Apple once created a stand-alone game console called the Pippin.
37. The famous 1984 Macintosh ad was directed by Ridley Scott, director of Alien and Gladiator.
38. Apple created the Dogcow in 1983. The sound she makes is Moof!
39. Steve Jobs largest parody Twitter account is @ceostevejobs.
40. Steve Jobs pays himself an annual salary of $1.
41. Steve Jobs annual income from Disney shares is $48 million.
42. Despite being one of the biggest companies in the world, Apples current board of directors (at six) is among the smallest in the Fortune 500.
43. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is on Apples board of directors.
44. Steve Jobs was a college drop out.
45. Steve Jobs was awarded the National Medal of Technology from Ronald Reagan.
46. Steve Jobs commonly dons a black long-sleeved mock-turtleneck made by St. Croix, Levis 501 blue jeans (he owns more than 100), and New Balance 992 sneakers.
47. In 2008, Bloomberg accidentally published a 2,500 word obituary of Steve Jobs in its news service, leaving blank spaces for his age and cause of death.
48. Steve Jobs traveled to India looking for enlightenment in 1974.
49. Steve Jobs is dyslexic.
50. Steve Jobs said he let snakes loose in his third grade classroom and exploded bombs.
51. While Steve Jobs worked at Atari, he was moved to the night shift because he had poor personal hygiene and smelled bad.
52. Steve Jobs and his wife are strict vegans.
53. Apples are Steve Jobs favorite food.
54. Steve jobs convinced the president of PepsiCo to work for Apple.
55. During the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Steve Jobs used the phone to call Starbucks and order 4,000 lattes to go.
56. Steve Jobs has big feet, at size 14.
57. Steve Jobs often parks in Handicap spaces at Apple headquarters.
58. Steve Jobs sister, Mona Simpson, is a novelist.
59. Apple is now a $50 billion company.
60. Apple sells 91 percent of $1,000+ PCs.
61. Apples idea for the graphical user interface actually came from Xerox.
62. John Hodgman, the PC in the Im a Mac commercials, uses a Mac.
63. Apple has been in the retail store business since 2001.
64. Apple has had six CEOs: Michael Scott, A.C. Mike Markkula, John Sculley, Michael Spindler, Gil Amelio and Steve Jobs.
65. Philip W. Schiller, senior vice president of marketing, began but didnt complete a Ph.D. in English.
66. Steve Jobs was portrayed by Noah Wyle in the film Pirates of Silicon Valley.
67. Macs last an average of six years. PCs last an average of four years.
68. The average PC owner spends 50 hours a year troubleshooting. The average Mac owner spends 5 hours a year.
69. Teachers and students using Macs are found to be 44% more productive.
70. When it was first released Steve Jobs gave every Apple employee a free iPhone.
71. Apple began work on a touch-screen tablet before work began on the iPhone. The iPad wasnt released until three years after the iPhone, however.
72. The iPods codename was Dulcimer.
73. Gonzo, Jedi, Malibu, Peter Pan, Rosebud, and Yikes! have all been codenames for Macs.
74. The signatures of the Macintosh hardware team were originally engraved inside the computers case.
75. Steve Jobs originally considered Macintosh to be a code name and wanted to rename the project.
76. Time Magazine considered naming Steve Jobs Man of the Year in 1982, even sending a reporter for interviews multiple times, but instead, the magazine named the computer the machine of the year.
77. Susan Kare once created a computer icon of Steve Jobs while she worked on the Macintosh team.
78. Anya Major, a discus thrower, threw the sledgehammer at the screen in the famous 1984 commercial.
79. The 1984 ad was originally proposed to be used as a print advertisement in the Wall Street Journal to promote the Apple II.
80. Apples Board of Directors hated the 1984 commercial when they saw it but decided to take the risk anyway.
81. The very first image shown on the Macintosh was of Disney character Scrooge McDuck.
82. In 2010 Apples market cap exceeded Microsoft for the first time since 1989.
83. Apples online store began on November 10, 1997.
84. The first Apple retail stores opened in Virginia and California.
85. Apples Cupertino campus has six buildings that total 850,000 square feet and was built in 1993.
86. Steve Jobs birthday is February 24, 1955.
87. When he was growing up, Steve Jobs lived on 45th Avenue in San Francisco.
88. In his childhood Steve Jobs swallowed a bottle of ant poison and had to go to the ER.
89. While in high school Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made and sold Blue Boxes to get free calls from public telephone systems.
90. In 1972, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak took $3 an hour jobs dressed as Alice in Wonderland characters at the Westgate Mall in San Jose.
91. At the first Apple Halloween costume party, Steve Jobs dressed up as Jesus Christ.
92. When the first IBM PC debuted, Apple took out an ad in the Wall Street Journal with the words Welcome, IBM. Seriously.
93. In 1982 Steve Jobs made Bill Gates and Microsoft promise never to work on any business software that would use a mouse unless it was for Apple.
94. Steve Jobs dated singer Joan Baez.
95. Steve Jobs once starred as President Roosevelt in a war-themed 1984 ad parody called 1944, where Macs start a war with IBM computers.
96. Paul Rand, the creator of the IBM logo, was hired to create the brand identity and logo for NeXT.
97. Steve Jobs and Laurene Powell were married ay the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park on March 18.
98. Jonathan Ives first piece of work at Apple was the 20th Anniversary Mac.
99. Steve Jobs once sold the King of Spain a NeXT computer at a party, even before it was released.
100. Steve Jobs once tried to get NASA to let him ride the space shuttle.

 

[svenkateshsmart]

And Venkatesh - that horrible practice of just getting people to buy a few extra licenses instead of solving the entire issue is reprehensible. Just another example of our fast developing culture of taking the easy way out. Read - quicker way out.

Hi,

Yeah, I agree completely with you. We were in the budding phase then and we were using windows 98 by then and we were forced to move to XP as they didnt have any 98s. They were really behind us every single day and on a bottleneck situation bought around 35 XP licenses at a time. Also, we were not using any sophisticated software or anything, our work was very simple, mainly related to documents, emails, etc. We then somehow managed to grab MS 98 OS for the remaining systems through our "sources." Since then, we avoid using MS products and use WP, Star Office and Corel products. We now have our own software for our needs!

Cheers!

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Most cell phones,desktops,laptops,mobile music devices currently in the market are clones and bad copies of some Apple product...

I don't think so. They only entered the phone market very recently: how can most phones be copies of an Apple product? If there is a great grand-daddy of phones, surely it is Nokia. Similarly, Apple did not invent the portable MP3 player: they were not first, so how can most music devices be Apple clones?

EDIT: Woops, missed a dozen or so posts... going back to read them now.

 

[svenkateshsmart]

I don't think so. They only entered the phone market very recently: how can most phones be copies of an Apple product? If there is a great grand-daddy of phones, surely it is Nokia. Similarly, Apple did not invent the portable MP3 player: they were not first, so how can most music devices be Apple clones?

EDIT: Woops, missed a dozen or so posts... going back to read them now.

Hi,

To be honest, I started using mobile phone only from 2005, after I got one as a gift with an airtel connection. so dont have much idea about the history and all. I always thought motorola and ericcson were the pioneers, though Nokia made its presence felt in every nuke and corner.

Cheers!

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

You could be right. I, too, was a late convert to carrying a mobile, although I guess I started around 2002/3. Actually I never wanted one, until the day I heard the phone as I was going out of the door, and it was telling me that the rehearsal I was heading for had been shifted. It could so easily have been a wasted three-hour round trip, and I decided that I should have a mobile. Siemens was my first: do they still even make them?

iPhone is possible the only Apple product that tempts me --- but I still want nothing to do with iTunes (especially as I have now gone Linux anyway) and I still do not use many of the facilities of a "smart" phone to spend on a really expensive one.

And... going back to the original post and the cartoon... How long has it been? And we are onto iPhone 4 already!

My first phone was stolen, my second was a short-lived impossible to use disaster, my third lasted several years until I upgraded to something with a camera --- which I am still using three years on. That's only four phones over all those years!