Poll: Who should be Apple’s new enemy?
Following Apple’s latest earnings report, CNN Money’s David Goldman wrote a post comparing Apple’s Market Cap and quarterly earnings to that of Microsoft. A few months back Apple surpassed Microsoft in Market Cap for the first time, and with Microsoft about to report its own quarterly earnings tomorrow, most analysts are suspecting Apple will actually have surpassed its long time rival in quarterly revenue for the first time as well. But Goldman brings up a very good point when he asks, should Microsoft care?
It’s no longer 1997, and now that Apple makes the majority of its money from consumer electronics versus its software, is Microsoft even Apple’s rival anymore? Sure, its fun to see Apple beat Microsoft given their history, but one could make the argument that the two companies currently do not really compete the way they used to, and newer threats have reared their multi-colored logoed head.
Now, we all know a large part of being a fanboy is not only sharing a common love of a company, but a common hatred of competing companies. So to that end, we’re putting out a poll: Who should we, as Apple fans, focus our outrage, hatred, and biting blog posts on? Who can we burn in virtual effigy?
Loading ...iPhone voted a more important invention than the Toilet, Space Travel
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Opinion, Polls, contests, iPhone
According to a poll of 4,000 (presumably crazy) Brits, the iPhone has been ranked as the number 8 invention of ALL TIME, outranking such notable milestones as cars, Email, the toilet, and Push-up bras. Of course one has to call into question ANY list of inventions that not only does NOT place Air Condition as the number one invention of all time, but puts it 11 spots lower than “Hair straighteners”. The iPod also made the list, clocking in at number 56. Here’s the complete list if you want to yell at your computer screen.
100 GREATEST INVENTIONS
1. Wheel
2. Aeroplane
3. Light bulb
4. Internet
5. PCs
6. Telephone
7. Penicillin
8. iPhone
9. Flushing toilet
10. Combustion engine
11. Contraceptive pill
12. Washing machine
13. Central heating
14. Fridge
15. Pain killers
16. Steam engine
17. Freezer
18. Camera
19. Cars
20. Spectacles
21. Mobile phones
22. Toilet paper
23. Hoover
24. Trains
25. Google
26. Microwave
27. Email
28. The pen
29. Hot water
30. Shoe
31. Compass
32. Ibuprofen
33. Toothbrush
34. Hair straighteners
35. Laptops
36. Knife and fork
37. Scissors
38. Paper
39. Space travel
40. Kettle
41. Calculator
42. Bed
43. Remote control
44. Roof
45. Air conditioning
46. SAT NAV
47. Wi-Fi
48. Cats-eyes
49. Matches
50. Power steering
51. Tumble dryer
52. Bicycle
53. Sky+
54. Tea bags
55. Umbrella
56. iPod
57. Taps
58. Crash helmet
59. Wristwatch
60. eBay
61. DVD player
62. Nappies
63. Ladder
64. Sun tan lotion
65. Lawnmower
66. Make-up
67. Chairs
68. Sunglasses
69. The game of football
70. Sliced bread
71. Sofa
72. Razor blades
73. Screwdriver
74. Motorways
75. Head/ear phones
76. Towels
77. Push-up bra
78. Binoculars
79. WD40
80. Mascara
81. Hair dryer
82. Facebook
83. Escalator
84. Hair dye
85. Wellington boots
86. Spell check
87. Calendars
88. Cheese grater
89. Buses
90. Post-it notes
91. Gloves
92. Satellite discs
93. Pedestrian crossing
94. Baby’s dummy
95. Curtains
96. Bottle opener
97. Food blender
98. Dustpan and brush
99. Desks
100. Clothes peg
[via newslite]
So, what are the odds that Amazon will sell the iPad?
Loading ...I was looking around Amazon to see if they were taking pre-orders for Apple’s upcoming iPad yesterday, and I noticed the only search results returned for “iPad” on their site are for 3rd party cases and screen protectors and such. This seemed a little odd to me as Amazon traditionally is right on top of Apple pre-releases, and in fact has actually slipped up and let pre-orders for unannounced Apple gear show up a day or two before previous Mac events, much to Apple’s dismay. However, it looks like the iPad may be the one Apple product that is not going to be welcome on the Amazon store, and I’m guessing we can chalk it up to the Kindle.
In fact, a quick search for eBook readers of ANY sort on Amazon reveals nothing but the same types of 3rd party accessories, such as chargers, cases, and batteries – at least not directly from Amazon. Amazon DOES allow other retailers to sell gear through its webstore, and you can find various eBook readers from a those retailers, however these sellers do not offer the same Amazon Prime shipping and return/warranty deals that Amazon itself traditionally does.
So why is the iPad different from the Apple MacBooks, iPods and iLife bundles that currently dominate Amazon’s sales charts (and help make Amazon a very rich company) ? Simple. Amazon’s first foray into the world of consumer manufacturing is the Kindle, and they are scared the iPad will eat its lunch. Thus far no other Apple product has directly competed with anything Amazon sells (digital downloads notwithstanding) and it looks like Amazon may be defending its product by keeping the iPad off of its virtual shelves, as it appears to be doing with all e-readers.
Ironically odds are the iPad WILL in fact crush the Kindle, and Amazon might have ending up making more money by getting a fraction of the iPad sales commission that actually selling the Kindle itself. But we’ll have to wait a few weeks before we know for sure how Amazon feels about the iPad, so in the meantime, take our poll and pretend you know something.
Poll: What Should Steve Jobs name his Autobiography?
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Polls, Steve Jobs, contests
Well, we’ve gone through all your brilliant submissions for our What Should Steve Jobs name his Autobiography contest, and we’ve narrowed it down to what we feel are the 10 best choices. Now, normally our egos would demand that we pick the winning entry, but for once we’re actually going to pretend we care about what YOU think, and let YOU decide the winning name! So pick your favorite from the list below, and please be sure to make your choice carefully, as Steve Jobs is legally bound to go with the winning entry. (Poll closes Mach 21st).
Loading ...New study says fewer people thinking of buying an iPad now that they actually know what it is
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Polls, iPad
Retrevo, everyone’s favorite tech polling site, has published a comparison between its customer’s desire to buy an Apple tablet both pre- and post iPad keynote. The results show a marked decrease in interest in the new Apple product, with half of all respondents now saying they have NO desire to buy an iPad, down from 26% before the announcement.
I kind of find this poll interesting in that I had the exact OPPOSITE reaction to the iPad unveiling. For years I had said I would never want to buy an Apple tablet, but each day I find I am more and more interested in buy an iPad. Why? Because it ISN’T an Apple tablet.
Sitting here typing on my MacBook Pro while watching the Super Bowl, I can’t imagine sitting in the same position and typing as easily on a tablet. Sure, tablets look great for reading eBooks and webpages, but for actual computing tasks they would suck. I would have to have my knees raised an extra 15-20 degrees, and my arms bent in, uncomfortably close to my body in order to type, and I would have to give up my ability to have my screen tilted to a comfortable viewing angle. But aside from typing, I primarily use my laptop for editing photos in iPhoto, editing video in Final Cut, and creating Photoshop, After Effects, or Flash graphics, none of which I would want to do on a 10-inch touch screen.
What I WOULD want to do would be surf the web, e-mail, play games, and watch SlingBox and (hopefully) Netflix content on it. It also might be a cool way to control Airtunes and the Apple TV. But I was never looking to replace my laptop or tower with a tablet. The idea that carrying a 5lb computer is such a chore over carrying a 1 lb computer has always seemed ridiculous to me. You would still buy a bag for it, likely with a shoulder strap. Unless you walk more than 2 miles while carrying your laptop each day, you’re not going to convince me that carrying a MacBook Pro is a burden vs an iPad.
Sure, I don’t NEED an iPad – no one who owns an iPhone and MacBook DOES– but it isn’t as hard to justify buying decision as a true Apple Tablet would have been.
Scooter users heart their Macs
Faithful Macenstein reader Eric from the Chicago Scooter Club (yes, it exists) ran a poll on their site about their member’s computer preference, and it looks like scooter owners prefer Macs over PCs by a factor of nearly 2 to 1! I’m not sure whether to be proud about that or not, but since scooters and geeks go hand in hand, I think we’ll take this as a win. Mac users made up 60% of the results, versus 31% for PC users, 6% using Linux, and 3% claiming they use “other”. Of course, those claiming “other” should really just go ahead and stuff themselves into a locker.
POLL: When will Apple release the “September” iPhone update?
This holiday weekend my new iPhone 3G crashed twice, bringing my two week crash total since purchasing it to 5. I am now running only 2 and a half pages of apps instead of my normal 7, not because I think it will make the phone any more stable, but simply because it takes less time to restore. Unfortunately, this now means I have to decide in advance which games I will want to play on a given day, whether or not I will want to use certain GPS or social networking apps… it’s not the ideal iPhone experience I had envisioned. So reports that Steve Jobs himself has begun answering frustrated 3G iPhone owners e-mails with the lines “We are working on a software update for September that should fix these problems. Thanks for your patience. – Steve” is very welcome news indeed.
However, Apple hasn’t been its usual punctual self lately. While we realize Apple pretty much HAS to get this iPhone update right, and deadlines may slip in the interest of quality control, if the CEO says the update is coming in September, then it better come in September.
Of course, the problem is, September is a long month. So…. When do you think Apple release the “September” iPhone update?
Loading ...Poll: Is Apple’s logo “girly”
Don’t get me wrong, I love Apple, and I still drink the Apple Kool-Aid three times daily (it helps gives my coat a healthy shine). Yet, for whatever reason, lately I have been looking at the bright white Apple logo peering back at me from the uber powerful 17-inch MacBook Pro my colleague just got, and I think, “Damn, that logo’s looking a little girly…”
I know, what choice did Apple really have? If you name your company after a noun, you sort of have to use an icon of that noun as your logo (although it might have been cool to use a banana as the logo, just to be ironic). Maybe it’s all the recent female celebrities I’ve seen brandishing Apple laptops (Jennifer Aniston, Paris Hilton, Heather Graham, Beyonce, Jessica Simpson), although man’s man George Clooney didn’t exactly look Marlboro-tough holding his either. And granted, a boring logo like Dell’s, Sony or Panasonic – just uncreative blocky text – isn’t exactly going to win any awards. But somehow when in a meeting setting, with a MacBook Pro sitting across from some ugly, blocky PC laptop, the Apple logo just looks too “cute”, for lack of a better word. Am I crazy?
Loading ...Poll: Is the MacBook Air’s keyboard ugly?
Above: One of these things is not like the others.. but for how long?
AppleInsider’s reports of an aluminum upgrade to the MacBook line is welcome news, at least to those of use who feel our white MacBooks are a tad on the girly side. However the one aspect to the rumor that has me a bit worried is that the new MacBooks will adopt the MacBook Air’s keyboard, which I find to be ugly. It reminds me of a PC notebook’s keyboard. I guess I am old-school, but I like my laptops like I like my women – the curtain needs to match the carpet. In other words, I like a white keyboard on a white laptop, black keyboard ona black laptop, and an aluminum keyboard on an aluminum laptop. But many have said I am insane, so I will throw this out to a poll.
Loading ...Poll: How much EDGE data has your iPhone sent/received?
iPhone critics often like to point to the iPhone’s reliance on AT&T’s EDGE network instead of 3G as a reason not to rush out and buy the uber phone. Personally, I’ve been quite pleased with EDGE, in both its speed and coverage. I recently checked out my iPhone’s EDGE data stats and was somewhat surprised to see I had downloaded almost 1GB of data in the 8 or so months I have owned the phone. This seemed like a lot to me, as I use my iPhone more as an iPod than anything else. I rarely use it to check mail, and usually only do a light amount of web surfing each day, most of which occurs while using a WiFi connection. I also noticed during that same period, I had only sent about 80 MB of data, since I have no friends.
Given that so many other iPhone users are likely far more popular than me and probably putting their iPhones through a veritable gauntlet of “unlimited data” abuse, I thought it might be interesting to take a couple quick polls (both sending and receiving) to see how much data they’ve been pushing via their iPhones, and see how my usage stacks up. (You can find this info under “Settings>Usage”).
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