en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/1961745 Comments by TomCF http://www.asymco.com/2011/04/13/mobile-device-os-upgrades-how-hard-can-it-be/#IDComment142842161 I should have stated that I was talking about what I've seen in the software industry: companies skimping on QA to get the software out the door. It's sometimes seen as a cost with no revenue attached to it. It often isn't sufficiently budgeted. Those companies that fail to plan well for QA also put out mediocre (at best) products. It's short sighted. The value of QA (in software at least) is down the road you get happier customers. The problem is that it doesn't add anything to this quarter's numbers. I didn't mean to imply the argument against QA is a valid one. :) But it seems like that isn't stopping carriers... Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:04:27 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/04/13/mobile-device-os-upgrades-how-hard-can-it-be/#IDComment142842161 http://www.asymco.com/2011/04/13/mobile-device-os-upgrades-how-hard-can-it-be/#IDComment142575658 The argument doesn't seem that different than the argument for/against better quality assurance. Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:16:03 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/04/13/mobile-device-os-upgrades-how-hard-can-it-be/#IDComment142575658 http://www.asymco.com/2011/03/08/disney-still-loves-android/#IDComment133232348 Or is Disney waiting for the damages to pile up before suing? Tue, 8 Mar 2011 00:14:19 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/03/08/disney-still-loves-android/#IDComment133232348 http://speedliting.com/how-to/illegal-upload-download-speedliters-handbook/#IDComment130728786 Whether you think the business model is broken or not doesn't have anything to do with the fact that someone else was being a jerk by distributing his work. Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:25:43 +0000 http://speedliting.com/how-to/illegal-upload-download-speedliters-handbook/#IDComment130728786 http://speedliting.com/how-to/illegal-upload-download-speedliters-handbook/#IDComment130724421 By your logic, I'm not a writer, but I write software, so it's ok for me to steal books, because I think they're priced too high? After all, they're just words. If there's a typo, it's not like anyone HAS to go back and fix it, unlike software, where bugs can make something unusable. Writers get to make a living, but software engineers don't? I don't mind people using free software alternatives. If you like OpenOffice and Linux, have at it. But don't steal my work and somehow call it just. If you don't like the price of something at a high end grocery store, do you just take it? And don't give me the tired response of something non-tangible doesn't cost anything. Software costs me 40 to 80 hours a week of my effort, and time away from my family. If you don't like the price, buy something else, but don't steal my blood sweat and tears. Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:08:39 +0000 http://speedliting.com/how-to/illegal-upload-download-speedliters-handbook/#IDComment130724421 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment128006126 Thanks. Makes sense. I think the analogy is more like Apple made a Model T, and everyone (including Apple) is now making advances in transmission, stereos, armrests, etc. Then while everyone is competing with Apple in automobiles, Apple goes and invents an airplane, and everyone starts competing there. So I agree, Apple is not the only innovator, but they continue to lead the direction of the innovations. Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:03:44 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment128006126 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment127998430 I misunderstood your post. Sorry about that. There is one kind of "better": Apple's margins. People are willing to pay more for Apple's devices. ;) Out of curiosity, can you give a few examples of things you want to do that your iPhone won't let you do (without jailbreaking)? (I'm not going to argue about them, I hate reading arguments about how what others want is right or wrong.) Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:08:18 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment127998430 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment127985957 Many continue to mistake a checklist of features for design of a product. Apple was first to remove carrier demands from the phone hardware and software in order to make something better for the consumer. Apple does not innovate individual features, they design complete products. For every feature you can find in any piece of Apple hardware, you can find someone else who did it first. The iPod was not a hit because Apple was first to play MP3s from a portable hard drive. It was the first easily usable portable music player. Apple accomplished this by putting the consumers' interests first and getting the music distributors to get out of the way. Apple did the same thing with the carriers, getting them out of the way of the consumers getting a usable smart phone. Apple led the way again in tablet computing, carefully choosing which features, software and hardware mattered most to them. They're not always right, but they're right more often than the competition. Apple is conservative when choosing hardware and software. They do not use bleeding edge technology in their consumer devices. They didn't invent flash memory, touch screens, mice, trackpads, etc. They just put all the pieces together in a way that makes sense for most people, that works, and reduces friction between the consumer and the task at hand. Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:53:05 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment127985957 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment127576070 "Huh? The whole iPod Shuffle/Nano thing must be a fluke then, because if those are commodity items I don't know what is! " The iPods are still part of a larger ecosystem, but lets call them commodities for the sake of argument. Do you think that the management that is so good at the current Apple will stick around for the commoditized Apple? Do you think their leverage due to its non-commodity offerings will still be there when they're all commodities? What fraction of Apple's revenue is commoditized? Apple can do just fine with commodities, but that's not who they are. I think the people will move on, or the products they sell will move on. "And as far as tablets go, the iPad is far more of a commodity item" That makes no sense. By what definition is the iPad a commodity? "'Apple is too expensive' (which is pretty much what you are implying) " I said nothing of the sort. I have no idea how you got from what I wrote to what you say I implied. I'm backing up the truck on Apple stock and options. I think it's undervalued. Sat, 12 Feb 2011 19:28:03 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment127576070 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment127371364 "At such time when there will be nothing to follow Android will be the king of the last commoditized innovation" This assumes two things: 1. There will be a time when there is nothing to follow. 2. Apple will either be unable or unwilling to sell a commodity. I think the latter is likely. It's not in their corporate culture (though that can change). I think the former will take quite a while. There are still a lot of hard problems to solve or at least make easier. Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:43:44 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/two-turkeys-dont-make-an-eagle-but-no-penguin-will-ever-soar/#IDComment127371364 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/10/the-ipodtouchipad/#IDComment127160891 I think Symbian has (or had) the building blocks, but got fragmented at the UI level. Android is more than just the summit. It's built with the assumption that everything will be in the Google "cloud". Apple skates to where the puck will be in the near future. Google's skating a bit further out. Their problem is that other than search, they're *always* further out, and nothing ever really gets finished. If they rein it back in just a bit, they're really on par with Apple. Windows Phone is also there, but Microsoft has their legacy anchors tying them down a bit, and seem to always be a step behind. If they got some good leadership, I think they could quickly become a strong competitor. I think the way to tell the pretenders from contenders is to see who is just copying Apple's leadership, and who is presenting new ideas. I didn't understand the Motorola Xoom ad that aped 1984 while offering a device that looks and acts just like every other leading iPad...I mean tablet. Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:16:38 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/10/the-ipodtouchipad/#IDComment127160891 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/04/nokia-employs-as-many-engineers-for-symbian-and-meego-as-apple-does-for-all-its-product-lines/#IDComment125953338 I bet Nokia's relationship with the carriers has something to do with that. Motorola is similar. The carriers are their customers, not mobile users. The carriers force odd choices on the handset makers. Apple was possibly the first phone manufacturer that refused to compromise their product. (Maybe RIM was first, but I think they made concessions as well.) Fri, 4 Feb 2011 17:34:43 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/04/nokia-employs-as-many-engineers-for-symbian-and-meego-as-apple-does-for-all-its-product-lines/#IDComment125953338 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/02/the-asymco-way/#IDComment125484730 If you're following <insert adjective> people, you'll get <same adjective> links. Wed, 2 Feb 2011 18:58:31 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/02/the-asymco-way/#IDComment125484730 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/24/wall-streets-infinite-loop-the-tragic-tale-of-apples-valuation/#IDComment123541020 MSFT engineers aren't poor in any sense of the word. There is a lot of important knowledge there. There's fluff as well, but MS Office is probably Microsoft's strongest offering. Excel crushes Numbers in a lot of little ways, in ways similar to how the iOS crushes Microsoft's previous mobile offerings. (I haven't played with Win Mobile 7 to make that comparison.) Keynote and Powerpoint are probably about equivalent, unless you start needing automation. Word has some cruft, but is a VERY strong word processor at its heart. And as silly as Visual Basic is, it's fantastic if you need to write a tool incorporating Office. Applescript is a complete mess. Windows and its UI, well that's a whole different story... Mon, 24 Jan 2011 23:31:02 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/24/wall-streets-infinite-loop-the-tragic-tale-of-apples-valuation/#IDComment123541020 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/21/how-exclusivity-distorted-the-us-smartphone-market/#IDComment122837806 You could compare iPhone 4 sales against Android sales (just AT&T) to see if you're correct. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:12:20 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/21/how-exclusivity-distorted-the-us-smartphone-market/#IDComment122837806 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/19/an-new-era-in-financial-analysis-is-dawning/#IDComment122556472 Given the stock price movement, I'm wondering if anyone who invests in AAPL is listening to the professional analysts. The numbers far exceeded even the most optimistic, and the future guidance given by Apple far exceeded analysts' future expectations. That guidance is historically laughably conservative. So if the future is so much brighter than expected, I wonder if the drop from 348 (pre-earnings announcment) to 332 (as I write this, post Jobs health/earnings announcement) is just selling on the news, or the effect of Jobs' health on the stock or were investors THAT optimistic? Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:01:48 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/19/an-new-era-in-financial-analysis-is-dawning/#IDComment122556472 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/19/unforeseeable-growth-analyst-failure-on-ipad-as-indicator-of-disruptive-change/#IDComment122331178 I'm not so sure about that. I would think supplies of parts would be an issue (they already have been snatching up a LOT of flash memory), and the conservative projections don't hurt, but overly optimistic ones would. They need enough initial demand to stoke the fire, but I bet they don't lose many customers, just delay them. When they introduced the product they had essentially zero competition, and what is coming down the pipe is still behind what Apple is delivering. Other than getting cash sooner (hardly a problem for Apple), what's the benefit of being way over the top optimism? (As opposed to nearly double the most optimistic pundits optimism.) Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:08:39 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/19/unforeseeable-growth-analyst-failure-on-ipad-as-indicator-of-disruptive-change/#IDComment122331178 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/12/remembering-january-14-2008-the-day-the-market-lost-faith-in-apple/#IDComment121361386 What if Apple suddenly decided they wanted to buy AT&T, because they got tired of the stupid carrier games? $50 billion is a lot of leverage when dealing with Verizon, Orange, Docomo, etc. even if they do nothing with it. Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:43:16 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/12/remembering-january-14-2008-the-day-the-market-lost-faith-in-apple/#IDComment121361386 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/12/remembering-january-14-2008-the-day-the-market-lost-faith-in-apple/#IDComment120939911 I would guess that most of the volume is mutual funds and investment firms, who don't tend to get overly emotional about their investment decisions. I don't think individual investors have a lot of sway in the stock price. (I could be wrong...) Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:54:47 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/12/remembering-january-14-2008-the-day-the-market-lost-faith-in-apple/#IDComment120939911 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/12/remembering-january-14-2008-the-day-the-market-lost-faith-in-apple/#IDComment120939691 Instead of "unforseeable", maybe "underestimated"? "Actively ignored"? Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:52:59 +0000 http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/12/remembering-january-14-2008-the-day-the-market-lost-faith-in-apple/#IDComment120939691