figure 1: I spent so much time hunched over Legos that it’s a miracle I don’t have a hunchback
Lego artist Nathan Sawaya put together a rather awesome Lego iPhone. His art piece is available for just $399. Of course, just buying the Lego pieces individually would cost you dramatically less, but exactly how much less depends on the weakening strength of the U.S. dollar against the Euro. Of course, Sawaya’s review of the iPhone is short and sweet:
“It is just about actual size. The service is spotty. And before you ask, yes, it costs $399.”
Woot.com mocks Steve Jobs’ open letter to early adopters. It seems they were selling Zunes at $149, then dropped the price to $129, and they got three angry emails. So, they figured that they’d write mock open letter, get a price cut, and get mentioned on some blogs. And it’s worked, since here we are. After the break is the full content of their open letter, preserved since I can’t find a permanent link to the page. It’s witty and cutting, as you might notice in the quick quote posted below:
“If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product. I mean, why should you? Truth is, you don’t really need any of this junk. We’re afraid you’ll catch on to that fact and overpaid frauds like me will have to go back into fields like telemarketing and burrito construction. Fortunately, most of you continue to languish in a consumerist stupor, wallets spread wide for us to plunder as we please.”
In other news, the Zune guy got his 3rd Zune tattoo. He gets progressively happier with each tattoo; with the first tattoo he looked positively bewildered.
Update: Zune guy’s name is Steven Smith. If I just call him Zune guy, he’s just as soulless as the company that his tattoos embody. But there’s a person behind those tattoos. Sure, he’s totally confused. The Zune sucks reportedly sucks pretty bad. Maybe Zune 2.0 won’t suck? No, unfortunately — by the time Microsoft comes out with a decent Zune, all the logos and slogans he’s currently got inked on him will be obsolete.
Bill Maher throws it all at the iPhone early adopters in his show which recently began airing on HBO. Some enterprising viewers have encapsulated his tirade in a YouTube clip.
“New rule: stop bitching that Apple cut the price of the iPhone. Early adopters always pay a premium. Early adopters being a business term meaning dips***s who stand in line for 6 hours for a freaking phone. It’s not a price cut, it’s a repeal on the nerd tax. If you didn’t have to be the first on your block to have the latest gizmo, you’d now have an extra $200 to spend on your imaginary girlfriend.”
Awwww… sounds like someone’s jealous. Maybe he tried to get one two days after they went on sale (Sunday July 1st) and they were sold out.
Well known comedian, and marijuana advocate, Bill Maher humiliates iPhone fanboys still rabid over iPhone’s $200 price cut. Maher goes on to call angry early adopters “dipshits” for having stood in line for a hours to buy a phone, and tells us to stop our bitching. His commentary is delightful and insulting, as always.
Sorry, Bill. I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome my iPhone is.
figure 1: Woz is now apparently openly dating Kathy Griffin. Just humor me, I’m sick.
Steve “Woz” Wozniak, Segway-Polo-playing co-founder of Apple, brokered a handshake at the 2007 Emmy Awards celebration. The handshake marks the end of formal Kathy Griffin / America Ferrera hostilities. This handshake will likely go down in history as one of the more famous handshakes — right up there with Sadat-Rabin.
In a rare candid interview, we sat down with Fake Ed Colligan, chief executive officer of Palm Computing. Ed graciously agreed to a conversation with us to discuss a number of relevant issues including Palm’s troubled past and market missteps in the handset industry. So let’s get to it.
TIB: Ed, first off I want to thank you for taking time out from your schedule to speak with us. I’m sure you’re a very busy guy these days, what with the board transition, the Elevation Partners deal, and shareholder approval.
Ed: Oh, not all. My pleasure. In fact I’m really not that busy these days.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster notes that the iPhone sales have tripled since the price cut. There’s also a fun trail of percentage errors, too. It’s like followingbread crumbs! Business2 has already fixed their error, but information week hasn’t yet. So let me show you Eric Zaman’s error:
figure 1: his errors. let me show you them.
Remember folks: math is hard. An increase x2, aka “double,” is 100%. Triple is 200%. It’s okay to say that it was 300% of original sales, sure. But it’s not a 300% jump. Pedantry out.
Now that Apple has posted their sales numbers, some analyst doubters are poking their way out.
First up is Ted Wallingford of downloadsquad, who forgot that the 10 million mark goal is for the end of 2008, not 2007, and he’s just not excited about the hype anymore.
When the sentence read this:
In order to achieve this feat now, he needs retail to sell 9 million units in four months
I could understand the premise of the article. But when it’s changed to this:
In order to achieve this feat now, he needs retail to sell 9 million units in four 16 months
ZOMG! They’re going to have to sell an extra two million at the same rate in the next year and a half. The comments there are worth a read.
And this sales analysis article is crud too, as noted by John Gruber of Daring Fireball (I’m pleased to note that we’re sponsoring his RSS feed this week). I would also hope that a stock analyst can work with graphs that are something other than linear. Otherwise… it may be time to find a new analyst. Here’s a hint, they don’t call it the “demand curve” for nothing.
Something to lighten your dreary Monday morning, perhaps? A geek comic strip called HijinksEnsue has posted its hardy har har take on Apple’s abrupt decision to recompense iPhone users with Apple Store credits, or whatever they’re doling out to us.
figure 1: Rob Enderle, in the news for all the wrong reasons
Some people never learn the difference between positive attention and negative attention. Rob Enderle might be one of those people, but at least it keeps him in the news. From the New York Times:
Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group, a market research firm in San Jose, Calif., was skeptical of the store credit.
“A $100 credit could be perceived as adding insult to injury,” said Mr. Enderle, noting that store credits are seldom well received. “It’s a way to make you go buy something else, and gives the company a chance to make more money.”
Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel. I’m not thinking “Sweet, Leopard will be a $29 upgrade,” or “time for a pair of noise-canceling headphones.” I’m sure no one is thinking “iPod Nano for $50″ either. Or “$100 iTunes certificate!” That’s certainly crossed no one’s mind. Really, I know the NY Times put him in there because it will get people to link to their story. Well, it worked. And I’m just sorry for everyone involved.
In other news, congrats on the NY Times quote, Kevin. Thank you for saying something intelligent instead of trolling to keep your name in the news via negative attention.
The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
