Tweet Getting rid of Samsung as a processor supplier and, at the same time, capturing the crown jewel of the American semiconductor industry. How could Apple resist the temptation to solve its cash problem and make history again? Halfway through the second quarter of the 2013 fiscal year, most of Apple’s top execs meet at [...]
Tweet Besides its ads, Apple says very little, confident numbers will do the talking. This no longer works as others have seized the opportunity to drive the narrative. The day before Samsung’s big Galaxy S4 announcement, Apple’s VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller, sat down for an interview with Reuters and promptly committed what Daring Fireball’s [...]
February 17, 2013 – 9:56 pm
Tweet Rumors don’t actual Apple products make, see the perennial Apple TV — and the latest iWatch rumors. This is an opportunity to step back, look at Apple’s one and only love –personal computers — and use this thought to sift through rumors. Every week brings new rumors of soon-to-be-released Apple products. The mythical Apple [...]
January 20, 2013 – 8:49 pm
Tweet For years, Apple’s been told its products were too expensive – and prospered mightily. Today, many suggest Apple should launch a low-cost iPhone. Will history repeat itself, or have the rules of the Smartphone Wars changed in ways that will force Apple to alter its strategy? Dismissing the prospect of a Low Cost iPhone [...]
December 9, 2012 – 10:11 pm
Tweet We all want TV Done Right, free of the Soviet Era set-top box, UI and opaque contracts. We imagine Apple will put all the pieces together. But what’s desirable and “obvious” might not be so simple or soon… “When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I [...]
November 18, 2012 – 7:38 pm
Tweet In 2007, Microsoft introduces a new version of Windows called Vista, a grand name for what turns out to be an embarrassing dud. (Memories of my first and determining interaction with Vista can be found here.) Steven Sinofsky, once a Bill Gates technical assistant and, at the time, head of Microsoft Office development, is [...]
September 23, 2012 – 5:09 pm
TweetWhile still a teenager, my youngest daughter was determined to take on the role of used car salesperson when we sold our old Chevy Tahoe. Her approach was impeccable: Before letting the prospective buyer so much as touch the car, she gave him a tour of its defects, the dent in the rear left fender, [...]
September 9, 2012 – 10:20 pm
TweetOver the years, Apple has produced a number of memorable TV commercials. The “1984” Super Bowl spot, with its dystopian noir and portrayal of Big Blue as Big Brother, is arguably the most celebrated commercial ever made. This bit of sixty-second cinema by Ridley Scott (now Sir Ridley) — director of epoch-making films such as [...]
September 2, 2012 – 10:05 pm
Tweet“Monsieur Voiture, you hopeless [redacted French slur], you still can’t prepare a proper mayonnaise! I’ll show you one last time while standing on one foot…” [Bear with me, the connection with today's title will become apparent in a moment.] The year is 1965, I’m midway through a series of strange jobs that I take between [...]
August 26, 2012 – 10:07 pm
TweetOnce upon a time, Steve Ballmer blasted Apple for asking its customers to pay $500 for an Apple logo. This was the “Apple Tax“, the price difference between the solid, professional workmanship of a laptop running on Windows, and Apple’s needlessly elegant MacBooks. Following last week’s verdict against Samsung, the kommentariat have raised the specter [...]
