BBC Blog Network

User Profile

HermitElectric

Listed below are comments made by HermitElectric between Tuesday, 2nd December 2008 and Tuesday, 8th September 2009.

«Newer
Older»

Will T'Orange be good for shoppers? 4:26pm on 08 Sep 2009 @CaledonianComment

"On the other hand, less competition will inevitably mean price increases for customers."

It probably will, yes. But this would not be a bad thing if in return for higher tariffs we see improved network performance, reliability, and bandwidth. There is a risky 'race to the bottom' in the UK telecoms market, across phone, broadband, and mobile. It's great while we get cheap services, but it also causes operators to defer investment in infrastructure and to broaden their customer base at the expense of good service. I would prefer we payed a moderate premium, and received a better service, than that we pay less and less for a diminishing product.
Schmidt and Jobs part company 09:27am on 07 Aug 2009 @11 "Yes one needs to ask the question why the iPhone doesn't have a browser ballot screen.
Or why I can't have Bing as my default search on my iPhone."

I think the browser ballot thing is totally idiotic for Windows - patronising or confusing depending on the user - and we shouldn't extend it elsewhere. Whether Apple should open App approvals is another thing.

Bing will soon power Yahoo, so if you prefer Bing's results, switch your default iPhone search to Yahoo!
Schmidt and Jobs part company 10:30am on 04 Aug 2009 This is about Android, Chrome OS, and regulatory problems surrounding the fact that Google and Apple's board shared two members (which, by the way, is why the investigation might continue - Schmidt wasn't the only Google Director at Apple). It's surely highly unlikely that the app store caused this, but both issues point to a new era in which the two companies' interests are not aligned even as they step up against Microsoft in personal computing.
Networks and the iPhone 7:34pm on 17 Jul 2009 @ Mark_MWFC

You say "the Phone is currently hot but something new will come along and take its place as always happens".

Simply unknowable, or maybe just irrelevant to Apple's future business. The sheer growth Apple have seen - from zero to ten per cent of the smartphone market share in the 18 months to Q109 (Gartner) - is quite a foundation. iPhone is the current standard for mobile website development. Meanwhile iTunes and iPod retain their market leadership in music, video, and mobile apps. The iPhone draws immense strength from that.

Yet despite not being especially 'hot', RIM is growing its share. And Nokia, though declining, still has the largest share by some margin. As you point out, Apple may have saturated their market on current pricing and network restrictions. But there are many options - already we see some differentiation in model features with the 3G/3GS. Whilst Steve Jobs may have overstated Apple's functional lead on rivals' phones, they look better placed than almost anyone else to grow their business.
How smart is Nokia? 10:13am on 17 Apr 2009 Dominance in technology sometimes breeds complacency (consider Internet Explorer, PlayStation), but it doesn't always lead to failure. Nokia hasn't been cool since the 8210. But there's lots of room in the market for inexpensive mass-market consumer phones and higher-end bricks for the iPhobes.
Apple playing catch up? 09:10am on 19 Mar 2009 @Mark_MWFC

Yes, Apple is providing some basic stuff here. Out of interest (genuinely - I don't know the answer to this), when Nokia added their music and app stores to their platform, were these also provided to existing users as well?
iPhone wish list and tablet talk 09:05am on 19 Mar 2009 @Mark_MWFC

"Actually Nokia do care about Macs which is why they released iSync."

'They' being Apple? iSync is software released as part of the Mac OS: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/isync/
Apple playing catch up? 11:05am on 18 Mar 2009 Apple had got themselves into a position where they were damned either way - either for refusing to add basic smartphone features, or indeed for adding them after so long. Frankly, they unveiled a fairly comprehensive sweep of the mundane but irksome deficiencies within the iPhone OS, and made a few worthy additions (in-game voice, push notifications). And as the poster above said, this is all free to existing iPhone owners.

I wouldn't be surprised if a hardware upgrade in June drops the other shoe. Expect one or more of: improved camera with video support, video calling with an 'iChat AV' app, better processor(s), higher screen resolution (Engadget report an announcement in the the Q&A that Apple are adding HD video support - for a handset which currently doesn't have an HD screen!?). Of course the 'tablet' rumours continue as well.
Is Apple recession proof? 09:48am on 26 Jan 2009 There are many reasons why Apple can expect to continue trading well through the recession. It has a diversified business: the 'ecosystem' of Mac, iPod, iTunes Store, and iPhone each being thriving businesses in their own right. Each of these has unique strengths within their market. Its customers are loyal. Its market is not saturated (iPod being the possible exception). Its largest customer bases are the creative industries, education, and high income home users, who are less likely to be affected by recession than the PC platform's key customers in business and mid to low income home users. Laptop computing is growing much faster than desktop, and this is where Apple excels.

However unless the whole edifice fails, we can never know how well some of their individual products are performing: I would guess that the iPod Classic, Apple TV, and Macbook Air are relatively weak, for example. And if they repeat the kind of fiasco we saw with iPhone 2.0 and MobileMe, the reputational damage could be serious. As ever, Apple's supreme secrecy allows them to lose the inconvenient detail behind their general success.
Can the Mac catch a cold? 4:52pm on 02 Dec 2008 Sorry, that link should be:

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/os-market-share.aspx?qprid=9

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

HermitElectric