Another boring money post

[Scott Campbell]

It's quite ironic the stance RG is in this discussion about fancy devices when he at least used to drive a Mercedes. Is there any thing more delta bravo and hypocritical about bitching about the price of a high end luxury good when you drive a Mercedes? LOL!

Not the way he does it. He's buying used and not getting killed on depreciation. I think people might be shocked if they looked at what he's paying on a cost per mile basis.

[MJZiggy]

I'm still not entirely sold long term on the tablet market. They may still be selling on their novelty value vs. their practical value. But the sales numbers are pretty eye popping. So I'm watching developments with an open mind.

The market looks like it's playing out a lot like the PDA cellphone market. Apple has taken a concept that's been around a long time and built a UI that transformed the potential of the market into an actual market. Android ain't there, and doesn't currently have a competitive product. But Google has proven adept at playing "me too" over time, and I wouldn't write them off in the table space yet.

P brought up an entry by RIM as a competitor to the Android tablet, but if RIM puts out a decent product, how do we know that it will eat at Android's share of the market and not Apple's?

I ran into a friend today at the store today and she said she'd considered asking for an iPad for her upcoming birthday, but decided she didn't want a tablet. I don't either. I've seen someone playing ABirds on one and it looks nice, but I don't see a tablet doing anything my phone can't do and it doesn't have a keyboard, so if I'm writing, I'd rather have my laptop. I also don't want to carry it around because I prefer to travel light, usually carrying only my phone/wallet and keys. What's the tablet niche for a smartphone user?

[Scott Campbell]

They dominate ATT. They went onto Verizon more than half way through their typical product cycle. The product, despite being a foolish buy now in my opinion, remains Verizon's best selling phone. It's been on Verizon 9 months so, so it's (24 months - 9 months) - time remaining on contract before a lot of people can affordably get an iPhone on Verizon. Assuming an average distribution of contract signings throughout the year, 5/8 of the people interested in an iPhone on Verizon haven't had the opportunity to upgrade yet.

We'll see what happens. AAPL has to give people a good reason to switch platforms and work through a new OS learning curve, and there's not the much differentiating the two at the moment. Sammy's releasing some really nice Andoroid stuff that is being reviewed favorably in comparison to the iPhone.

[MJZiggy]

Not the way he does it. He's buying used and not getting killed on depreciation. I think people might be shocked if they looked at what he's paying on a cost per mile basis.

He also keeps his cars for a long time which is why he sticks with the Mercedes brand. Longevity. I have an Acura that I got for the price of a used Civic and will keep it for a long, long time. It never breaks down, gets good mileage and is cheap to maintain and insure.

p.s. If I take a photo with my phone, I REALLY don't want it automatically synched to my computer.

[Scott Campbell]

Ya, there was a time when Sony was the consumer electronics god. Sony TV's were widely viewed as a cut above the rest for a long time, too. Sony audio systems for quality and price as a combination. Sony gadgets too.

Being better isn't necessarily enough. Hitachi built the best plasmas. They're out of the market now. Then Pioneer built the best plasmas. They're out of the market now too.


Even when it comes to the iPod, the audiophile community avoids them. There are better sounding players out there.

[retailguy]

Not the way he does it. He's buying used and not getting killed on depreciation. I think people might be shocked if they looked at what he's paying on a cost per mile basis.

He also keeps his cars for a long time which is why he sticks with the Mercedes brand. Longevity. I have an Acura that I got for the price of a used Civic and will keep it for a long, long time. It never breaks down, gets good mileage and is cheap to maintain and insure.

p.s. If I take a photo with my phone, I REALLY don't want it automatically synched to my computer.

Thanks guys. And you're exactly right.

He's really scraping the bottom of the barrel out of desperation here.

Partial - I bought my mercedes when it was 6 years old and had 55k miles. I paid $10k, cash. I'm still driving it. It will hit 170k miles in about a month and a half. In the time I've owned it, I have put less than $4k dollars in it that I do not consider routine maintenance (Not bad for 7 years of driving, I don't think). I do some work myself (replace O2 sensors, recharge a/c, plugs, etc). The rest, I have a mobile mechanic who comes to my home and does the work in my driveway. He charges $80 an hour, and doesn't care if I buy parts or he does. There are a plethora of after market parts (big difference from apple, huh?), and availability has NEVER been a problem. Nor price. the car has never seen the inside of a Mercedes dealer and never will...

I have no intentions of getting rid of the car anytime soon, my 15 year old will be driving in a year. Will make a good 1st car for her, if she can afford it. (NO free cars in this family).

Ah, to be 25 and inexperienced again...

Scott, my $ per mile is about a cheap as it could ever get. the only knock against my car is that I'm down to about 19mpg after averaging about 22mpg for most of the life I've had it. Haven't figured out why yet, but I will. Not bad for a 4.2 litre v8, but it's a challenge.. you know?

[retailguy]

I'm still not entirely sold long term on the tablet market. They may still be selling on their novelty value vs. their practical value. But the sales numbers are pretty eye popping. So I'm watching developments with an open mind.

The market looks like it's playing out a lot like the PDA cellphone market. Apple has taken a concept that's been around a long time and built a UI that transformed the potential of the market into an actual market. Android ain't there, and doesn't currently have a competitive product. But Google has proven adept at playing "me too" over time, and I wouldn't write them off in the table space yet.

I bought two android tablets last weekend. they got here in the past few days. I really like them. They do more than my girls IPAD 1's. That's to be expected as they are different technologically.

I like the HDMI ports, the SD card slots, and the USB connections. Nothing proprietary about any of them. A $4 adapter for the HDMI port, and I'm streaming to my TV. Nice feature when I'm traveling on business.

I agree with Ziggy about the novelty factor. I see some uses, and in some ways, not so much. I don't have an IPAD 2 to compare it to, but I really can't see anything i'd want to do that it can't do. I paid less for 2 android tablets than I would have paid for 1 IPAD 2 that would've met my needs. Maybe I've got a dinosaur, but I doubt it.

My experience has been great so far, and for the price I paid, if it doesn't work out, I'll use them as photo frames and mount 'em on the wall.

If there is one thing I am not, it's trendy. That stuff isn't important to me, which is why I drive a 13 year old mercedes..... LMAO.

[retailguy]

Being better isn't necessarily enough. Hitachi built the best plasmas. They're out of the market now. Then Pioneer built the best plasmas. They're out of the market now too.


Even when it comes to the iPod, the audiophile community avoids them. There are better sounding players out there.

Cheaper players too.

I love the griping he's done over Samsung copying Apple's patents. Remember the $10m that Apple paid Creative for violating their patents related to the IPOD? Convenient how that gets forgotten.....

I love my old Creative mp3/video player. Still meets all my needs. Paid $99 for it about 4 years ago on clearance out of the Creative online store. Still use it when I travel. It's a little thick, but who gives a shit? I get about 4 hours out of it when watching video. It'll play anything and I've never once had to use ITUNES... I just copy the files to it using Windows explorer... Takes about 2 minutes and it never crashes on me..... LMAO.

[retailguy]

I don't get it?

Your analogy is the last one I gave you in the last email I wrote you three weeks ago... At least I know you read it.

[Partial]

Your analogy is the last one I gave you in the last email I wrote you three weeks ago... At least I know you read it.

I don't recall this but I'm sure you're correct. It's a common expression. I didn't intend to rip your line.

Thanks guys. And you're exactly right.

He's really scraping the bottom of the barrel out of desperation here.

Partial - I bought my mercedes when it was 6 years old and had 55k miles. I paid $10k, cash. I'm still driving it. It will hit 170k miles in about a month and a half. In the time I've owned it, I have put less than $4k dollars in it that I do not consider routine maintenance (Not bad for 7 years of driving, I don't think). I do some work myself (replace O2 sensors, recharge a/c, plugs, etc). The rest, I have a mobile mechanic who comes to my home and does the work in my driveway. He charges $80 an hour, and doesn't care if I buy parts or he does. There are a plethora of after market parts (big difference from apple, huh?), and availability has NEVER been a problem. Nor price. the car has never seen the inside of a Mercedes dealer and never will...

I have no intentions of getting rid of the car anytime soon, my 15 year old will be driving in a year. Will make a good 1st car for her, if she can afford it. (NO free cars in this family).

Ah, to be 25 and inexperienced again...

Scott, my $ per mile is about a cheap as it could ever get. the only knock against my car is that I'm down to about 19mpg after averaging about 22mpg for most of the life I've had it. Haven't figured out why yet, but I will. Not bad for a 4.2 litre v8, but it's a challenge.. you know?

I think it's a very rationale thing to do, I would do the same, but when applied to Apple, you contradict yourself.

You bought a luxury car. Most people buy luxury goods because they're a sign of quality, the design is better, the car is more comfortable, powerful, or has some features that differeniate itself from the pack. Whatever the reason is, it's because the luxury product ultimately provides some value to the user that the entry level would not have.

The luxury good is often purchased because of the quality and the intention to keep something a long time. Because you intend to keep it a long time, you need something that is made of quality components and materials, maybe using metals where other, cheaper cars use plastic, or providing all-wheel drive where as cheaper cars only have front wheel drive. Maybe the sound system is better. Maybe the engine is more powerful and better designed. Maybe it can sit more people. Who knows. You get where I'm going with this.

What's different about the car from the computer? The computer is expected to last a long time, at least 5 years for most people. Like a luxury car, it's important to have durable, long lasting components such as metal enclosures, glass trackpads and the best in class batteries. Luxury features on a computer are equivalent to luxury features in a car. After all, it's something you constantly for work, yes, so why would you not want something that's a little bit nicer and a cut above the rest? As someone who appreciates the finer things of a Mercedes, I cannot wrap my head around how one can not appreciate the design, build quality, etc put into Apple products.

You get what you pay for with just about everything. Whether it's a Cadillac, a Carolla, or a Cavalier this is true. It's also true whether it's an Inspiron notebook, a MacBook Pro, or an HP business class notebook.

The whole parts thing doesn't make a lot of sense. There are a plethora (in fact, basically the exact same) for any Mac as there are for a typical PC. In a notebook, the upgradeable things are batteries, ram, hard disks, and extensions through usb. The MacBook Air has soldiered on ram and disk due to size constraints, but this situation will exist in Ultrabooks as well. The iMac and the towers are upgradeable as well. The iMac can't upgrade graphics, I will give you that, but I don't think it's a huge deal because they do include latest gen discrete graphics, so it'll be very fast for years to come.

I'm not criticizing, I just think it's interesting. Personally, I think you're afraid to try it for fear you might like it. I would bet my bottom dollar that if you went in with an open mind you'd really enjoy the experience after a week (once you settled in) and would see the value. I'm unbelievably cheap and even *I* see the value.

[Partial]

If I take a photo with my phone, I REALLY don't want it automatically synched to my computer.

You can disable it if you'd like. You taking some naughty pics Zig?? If not, why wouldn't you want your photos automatically managed instead of having to take the time to do it yourself? It just seems silly to do it yourself when you think about the state of technology. Just my opinion.

[Partial]

We'll see what happens. AAPL has to give people a good reason to switch platforms and work through a new OS learning curve, and there's not the much differentiating the two at the moment. Sammy's releasing some really nice Andoroid stuff that is being reviewed favorably in comparison to the iPhone.

Galaxy S II is a beautiful device no doubt. It's being favorably reviewed compared to the old iPhone because of the screen (The Amoled plus displays are incredible) and the speed. The new iPhone will have the 4" screen and will be even faster than the Samsung, so I expect this won't last long.

Verizon is passing on the Galaxy S II because they don't think it can hang with the iPhone 5. Having said that, they're going to get the next Nexus handset which is looking like a monster spec wise. 720P on a 4.5" screen sounds awesome to me.

There really isn't much of a learning curve with iOs.

[mraynrand]

MMrrrxxx zizzip. Flatsltapperrs!

[MJZiggy]

You can disable it if you'd like. You taking some naughty pics Zig?? If not, why wouldn't you want your photos automatically managed instead of having to take the time to do it yourself? It just seems silly to do it yourself when you think about the state of technology. Just my opinion.

It's your opinion because, as usual, you've demonstrated that you can't think beyond your own experience. Naughty pic, huh? That's the best reason your brain can come up with? In case you don't recall, I'm an amateur photographer who also sometimes shoots images for work when it's handy. Now try to figure it out.

[MJZiggy]

Galaxy S II is a beautiful device no doubt. It's being favorably reviewed compared to the old iPhone because of the screen (The Amoled plus displays are incredible) and the speed. The new iPhone will have the 4" screen and will be even faster than the Samsung, so I expect this won't last long.

Verizon is passing on the Galaxy S II because they don't think it can hang with the iPhone 5. Having said that, they're going to get the next Nexus handset which is looking like a monster spec wise. 720P on a 4.5" screen sounds awesome to me.

There really isn't much of a learning curve with iOs.

Samsung passed on the Galaxy 5 because they already have a new Samsung that they feel is about the same thing. I read a quote on that when I was investigating the Incredible. And if I can get a Nexus, what do I want an iPhone for? Again, it's a bigger, better screen than the iPhone. No need to switch and buy all new equipment.

I'm assuming it does, but does the iPhone come with a free Kindle app? Does it have free books on it? Can you get apps for free? Can you get sample music free? Like I said, I'm assuming yes, but everything else with the iphone is more expensive so I thought I'd check.