Someone pick up my jaw, I’m stunned. In a totally unexpected move Steve Jobs posted a personal letter to customers delivering a peace offering to angry iPhone users upset over yesterdays dramatic price cut. Jobs goes on to reiterate his stance that price cuts come with the territory of being an ealry adopter, but also concedes that we are the pioneers that propelled iPhone on the road to success.
In short he’s rewarding our loyalty by offering a $100 coupon good towards the purchase of any new Apple product, redeemable at any Apple Store, for iPhone users not covered under a 14-day rebate, regardless of whether their iPhone was purchased at an AT&T or Apple Store. You can read Steve’s open letter here. A method for claiming your coupon will be available on Apple’s website next week.
That my friends is class. As the saying goes…always dance with the one that brung you, and he did. Way to go Steve.
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Hot of the presses and live on stage from Moscone Center, Steve Jobs just announced iPhone Ringtones will be available for download via iTunes, in an updated release rolling out later tonight.
Keep watching.
[update] According to his Steveness, ringtones will cost $.99, in addition to the price of downloaded tracks. Uh, so that means I have to buy the song and pay another buck to get the ringtone? Not liking that arrangement.
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Those commie rats in China will stop at nothing to topple Western Democracy. This time defiling our beloved iPhone. According to Chinese state newspaper Dian Nao Bao, illegally unlocked iPhones are being sold in electronics stores from Beijing to Guangzhou. Interestingly these phones apparently originate from Shenzhen, the location where iPhones are manufactured for Apple. Didn’t Steve Jobs make a remark at D5 about ships that leak from the top? Better look in that Steve-O.
Freedom comes with a price, however. The Commie-friendly iPhone has crippled functionality, capable of making only outgoing calls and text messages. What it can’t do is receive incoming calls, which leads one to wonder why anyone, Chinese or otherwise, would drop serious cash on a disabled phone? Speaking of cash, the price tag for one of these Red iPhones is roughly 8,800 yuan ($1,170) for a taste of capitalist decadence.
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Oh Gartner, what is it with you and your schizophrenic predictions about Apple’s movements into the corporate world? One minute you’re saying iPhone is not a serious business tool and has zero chance of gaining corporate adoption, then you do a flip-flop by predicting Apple will roll out some kind of enterprise-focussed iPhone thingy. What the hell? You’re starting to worry me.
Let me clue you in on something that should help you along the way in understanding the fruity consumer company from Cupertino. Apple is purely focussed on the consumer market and not an enterprise play. Not now, not ever. The closest contraption Apple offers in its product line even remotely approaching enterprise-class is the Xserve, a blade server targeted at creative firms to simplify media storage and distribution.
Steve Jobs has no interest in suits carrying iPhones, other than his golfing buddies Eric Schmidt, Marc Benioff, and Larry Ellison.
Gartner, keep your unhinged analysis directed where it belongs…on Microsoft.
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Apple has reason to celebrate today. According to a new report published by iSuppli, iPhone topped the charts during the month of July, outselling every Smartphone on the U.S. market, even rivaling the most popular feature phone sold; LG’s Chocolate.
I find this news particularly interesting because, since its launch, numerous Smartphone fansites have long contended that iPhone isn’t a Smartphone, but rather a luxury feature phone. And therefore doesn’t compete in the same market with Palm, Blackberry, Nokia, et al. Yet according to this report, iPhone managed to best every Smartphone vendor in sales, including Palm’s entire line of Treos. Even Blackberry was soundly trounced by iPhone in popularity and sales.
Not bad for an alleged feature phone, eh? Hey, whatever helps you Blackberry and Treo fanboys sleep at night night, go right on living in that fantasy world you’ve created.
iSuppli was particularly bullish about iPhone’s growth prospects, even projecting triple-digit growth over the next two years, topping out at 30 million units sold by 2011. Not surprisingly Apple stock is up nearly 4% at the time of this post.
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What better way to start off your post-holiday work week than a strong dose of highly caffeinated unsubstantiated Apple rumors, courtesy of the Washington Post’s Sam Diaz, who claims to have received documents from one of Apple’s partners, proving the existence of new iPhones.
Speculation runs high among analysts and the press that an iPhone Nano-like device, smaller and less expensive than the original, is in the works and set for release sometime in Q4. Fact or fiction, the very thought of such a device has many fanboys sporting woodies.
Personally, I’m looking forward to Apple releasing a software update for the current model, integrating the long list of absent features demanded by users.
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The brain trust of Burton Group put their heads together to debate iPhone’s viability as a component to corporate mobile computing. In a media briefing titled iPhone for the Enterprise - you’d think a firm with such smart people would come up with more creative names for these events, Burton concluded iPhone isn’t quite ready, but holds a world of opportunity and untapped potential. Thank God for Burton’s timely, hard hitting, analysis. I’m sure CTOs in every fortune 500 had thousands of pending iPhone orders.
Citing issues such as lacking features, missing manageability for large enterprise needs, and no built-in foot massager, as reasons why iPhone won’t be wearing pinstriped suits, Burton later goes on to concede that iPhone is in fact a consumer device, not targeted at enterprise customers. Uh…ok, so why the hell did you guys hold this briefing? For ten minutes and $25 I could have presented the same conclusion in a single paragraph.
Next week the Wharton School of Business will be holding a roundtable discussion questioning the viability of Pink Tutus in the workplace, titled Ballet Attire, the New Business Casual?.
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Psst! Hey buddy, over here. Yeah, you - the one in front of the keyboard. You looking to buy a notebook or iPhone, real cheap? I know where you can get a “hot” bargain. These here just ahem fell off the truck, as they say.
My supplies are rather limited, at least until another “shipment” arrives. Heheh.
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A website called iPhone-SIM-Free is claiming that it will release to the world a fully software based SIM unlocking solution for iPhone, within the next 48 hours. That’s a pretty bold claim, so either its is legit or a shameless grab for traffic. We’ll know in just 48…no…make that 47, no wait. I think 45 hours? Whatever, just bookmark this website and keep checking back.
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Holy bug fix, Batman! Apple has quietly rolled out another dot release - the second, if you’re keeping track. Per Apple this is a bug fix, not a major software release…sorry fanboys.
I’m downloading the update right now and haven’t yet installed it, so I’ll keep everyone posted should I discover hidden treasure. Frankly my hopes will be more than satiated if Apple resolved the numerous issues I’ve had with Mail.
Happy installing.
[UPDATE] Knock on wood alert: I think Apple may have nailed the Mail issues. So far it is behaving as it did prior to the first update, so thing may be looking up. Back to testing…
