YOU are the one who swallowed the purely manufactured hype when you claim there was an "iPhone debacle" and "reception-gate." We owners of the product did not because we did not experience what we were being told we should be experiencing! Believe me I tried to get my iPhone4 to drop signal; I couldn't get it to do it!
The fact is that as soon as the totally UNCHANGED iPhone4 was released in the world market, away from the Google and Verizon manufactured hype machine, the Antenna Gate hype completely fell apart! The rest of the world's Cell phone markets simply could not duplicate the issue. Absent AT&T's already flakey network, the iPhone4 performed as advertised. In fact, as of November, the "flawed antenna" iPhone4 now commands 72% of the smartphone market in Japan!
When the iPhone4 was released in those markets the reviewers COULD NOT DUPLICATE the problem. They, almost to a man, claimed the Americans were wrong! Strangely, the issue disappeared almost overnight in the American press as well as more and more glowing foreign reviews came in WITHOUT claims of reception and antenna problems. Gee, what happened? Apple changed nothing about the phone. The only thing that was different was the FUD hype engine got turned off... It was too expensive and unnecessary to run in too many markets where the Android phones were not yet being released.
You asked for "first hand experience" to refute these claims, I offer that I have no over thirty friends and family with iPhone4s and ONLY ONE has experienced reception issues and she lives in the boonies, and had worse problems with her iPhone 3Gs. NONE of us can duplicate the attenuation problems to the degree we drop any calls. Independent tests done by competent signal engineers who tested the iPhone4, not the amateurs at Consumers Reports who had NEVER done such tests before and had no clue how to do it, found the iPhone4, got BETTER reception than it's predecessors. I have posted the certified results on here, along with their critiques of the CU tests.
On September 30th, Apple ended the free case program band-aid it had to put on the scratch it got from the FUD attack in the US. Sales of iPhone4s went up.
So much for "antenna gate." it was and is FUD.
Secondly, Apples main stratagem has been to market to the technically challenged. If you can’t see this, it is because you take exception, or feel insulted that by using an apple, you are lumped into that category. This thread is not about emotion, where many apple posts go, it is about the closed end proprietary method that the author is touting as a strength, when that very thinking, for all practical purposes, put Apple out of business for over a decade.
Again, you ASSUME something not based in fact. When, exactly was Apple "out of business for over a decade?" are you talking about the period before the return of Steve Jobs 13 years ago? You assume that a system based on open source UNIX and open standards is somehow "closed end" and "proprietary" yet Microsoft's reliance on proprietary licensed file systems and proprietary DRM Systems is not? The thinking that you claim and denigrate as merely "marketing to the technically challenged" is what has made Apple the largest and most successful tech company in the World... By making products that are easy to use yet still very powerful AND still give access to industrial strength hardware and abilities just under the surface for any geek to tweak as needed... Along with providing best in the world tech support.
As to marketing to the Eco friendly, that's what's expected these days. So you found ONE PAGE on their website about it. You'll also find them giving lip service in their store ads. BUT you won't see big TV ads showing vistas of blue skies and babbling brooks with bunny rabbits leaping in their ads with no sign of their products anywhere to be seen. The ecology push is merely an addenda. Not a PUSH. It's an afterthought. The icing on the cake of their well thought out product mix, not the marketing thrust.
I do agree that Apple HAS performed like a start up, but the trend this year, and the product line for the next year, leads myself, and those who invest into the product to be gun-shy about further investments, thinking there are other options that will play out stronger. Of course, there are always analysts on both sides of the isle, but as an investor, and not a fanboi, I have to wade through and sort out the propaganda from the fact, and base my decisions on ROI, not on what feels good.
As far as becoming the number 1 tech company... Texas Instruments also held that title for 3x the period that Apple has, and they didn’t have the benefit of the Inventor of the Internet, Al Gore on their board.
Forgive me, but you apparently seem to fall for the propaganda and the hype without really digging for the facts underlying the stories. Your research is seriously flawed and out of date. I disagree that TI ever held the number 1 tech position, as I believe IBM was probably in that slot during TIs biggest heyday. Your last point about Gore being on Apple's board is twaddle and has nothing to do with reality and certainly nothing to do with making serious investing decisions, although during his tenure on the BoD, Apple's stock has more than quintupled in value. It's a non sequitor. In fact most of your conclusions about Apple are based on myth and simply do not follow... and are apparently much more based on emotion than a fanboi's; making your opinions those of an anti-fanboi.
You dismiss me with the claim I don't read much. . . or spend time on college campuses. To the latter, I will plead guilty. I got my degrees in Finance and Economics over 40 years ago... and my time has been spent using them, managing businesses, and reading. Lots of reading. What little time I spent back on campuses was spent guest lecturing. I wager I've read a LOT more about Apple and other tech companies than have you.
Look, I understand. You and your alternate monikers have thoroughly convinced me. I have capitulated more than once, and have thrown in the towel.
It is not good enough for someone to not like a product, you will brow beat them into submission. So, I’ve submitted, but yet you continue to beat this dead horse.
So, I will outline to you, my submission, and I advise anyone who disagrees with you on the threads here, that they too sign the submission, in hopes that they are not harassed or harangued for days on end.
Here goes:
1) Apple is the greatest company that has ever existed in the history of the world.
2) Apple products are now, have always been, and always will be, the greatest products ever created.
3) Apple has never made a mistake in the history of its existence.
4) Apples strength lies in its proprietary control, yet, it is not proprietary, and actually more open than a PC, so that is also its strength.
5) Apple is cheaper than a PC.
6) Even an Apple II+ from 1984 is faster than the most up recent Intel chip-set in a PC.
7) Big Blue is actually an Apple IIc with a big blue box around it.
8) The iPhone is better than anything that will ever come around, and anyone who disagrees is a moron.
9) Every story that degrades Apple is a lie.
10) Every story that promotes Apple is understated.
11) Al Gore on the BoD of Apple is irrelevant (unless you want it to be relevant, then it is).
12) Apple does not promote themselves as green (unless you want them to be green, then they are green)
13) Apple runs MS programs better than MS based machines.
14) Even when Apple had less than 1% of the market, they secretly had 90% of the market. Those who disagree are “deniers”.
15) The Droid was developed by Apple, just for fun, and will have no impact on Apple.
16) Apple cannot be harmed by any virus or malware, even if you download constant porn or run malicious software. There is no need for anti-virus or firewalls, because Apple is that solid.
17) Steve Jobs can kick Chuck Norris ass.
18) Everything Apple has done since day one, has been “part of the plan”, but since Apple doesn’t use committees, or think tanks, it has all just been off the top of Steve Jobs head. Even his firing was part of “the plan”, so when he came back, the stock price would soar even more!
19) Apple is NOT the preferred computer of gays, hippies and liberals (unless you are a gay, hippy or liberal, in which case it is).
20) Apple has never attempted to force folks into the iTunes store. That is a big lie.
21) Apple products work just fine with a PC, in fact, they work so well, they make a PC run better.
22) It is just as easy to change the speakers on an Apple as it is a PC. That goes for the graphics card, and hard drive as well. Oh, and it’s cheaper, and you have more to choose from.
23) The one button mouse is brilliant.
24) Since Apple never makes mistakes, the long term deal to make AT&T the sole provider was brilliant as well. Those who disagree, are just too dumb to understand the calculations of Mr. Jobs.
25) On the 7th day, God created Apple.
I hope that sums up where all of us who were not so thrilled with Apple previously have gone wrong. I doubt this will curb your 20+ daily posts about how great Apple is, I have to wonder if you are paid by the word or by the posting?
But, to further acknowledge my misdirected past, and to show penance, I further propose the following:
a) All PC’s be confiscated by the government.
b) Since we can force everyone to buy health-care for the good of the nation, we should also force everyone to own an Apple.
c) The first day of every month shall be known as Appleday.
d) Since Apple promotes secularism, Christmas will now be known as Steve Jobs Birth Celebration Week.
e) To celebrate the repeal of DADT, every serviceman will be given an Apple in his favorite color.
f) Those who continue to favor a PC over an Apple, will be tied down to an iChair and beaten with an iClub until they come to their iSenses.
g) As Apple is the greatest company in American History, Steve Jobs will now be appointed as the Technology Czar for Life.
h) Games and applications that don’t run on an Apple, will be outlawed, as they have no place in the New iWorld. There is no need for such things.
Hope I didn’t miss anything. Perhaps you can finally see that you have convinced me, that Apple is greater than even God, Country or Pie (Apple Pie of course).
You win.
And again, I suggest anyone who has a disagreement as to the greatness of Apple, go ahead and try and make a point, try and voice your like of a PC over Apple, and after the 5th day of getting harassed, just sign the above document and submit it. Maybe Swordmaker and his alias accounts will leave you alone.
But I doubt it.