Cisco beats Apple to the punch

A recent article describes Cisco's latest gadget. It is called "The iPhone". Yes Cisco has the trademark for the name iPhone so Apple is out of luck using that name for there supposed new phone. Cisco released the phone under there Linksys division. So now what should Apple call there phone. My suggestion is "iCon" as in connection. It keeps you connected to the rest of the world and the silly pun can't be missed. For better or worse.

Link to story.

Zune is on clearance

You knew it had to come down to this. Amazon has a clearance type section for I believe is products they want to clear out of inventory. For a short time you were able to buy a white Zune for only $90! This was far below the asking price of $250. And Microsoft even said that the $250 price was a loss for them. I hope Amazon did not take the loss for this inventory. If they did, then they might think twice about stocking the next version of Zune Microsoft is hyping. This probably goes for other merchants too. I saw a big Zune display in Sears. Of course Sears has not been a trend setter for quite some time.

Apple stock still shooting for the moon

Apple stock continues to soar lately. A major investment firm ( name escapes me ) just raised it's projected price for Apple from $90 / share to $110 / share. I am not sure what is driving this directly. Is it mostly based on projected holiday iPod sales? Is it in anticipation of future products at MacWorld in January? Such as the iPhone or iTV? One other article I read said that the Macintosh side of the business is growing very well too. Much faster than the PC market as a whole. All in all, it's all good.

SanDisk is Apple's real competition!

I have been checking the Amazon bestseller list for electronics, and although the black 30 Gb iPod is consistently the top MP3 player, SanDisk occupies the second and third slots! Right now the Zune is a non issue, but the SanDisk player is a serious competitor at the low end. I heard SanDisk is selling these things for huge discounts, and when you look at them, they really are cheap! It's a little disconcerting!

What, no iPods to North Korea?

So you go and develop nuclear weapons to try to take over the world and where does it get you, without iPods. This should lead to the kind of revolution that will topple the likes of Kim Jong Il. He doesn't look too happy about this monumental decision. The little guy will just have to be content with his Michael Jordan basketball (thanks alot Albright). No news yet on whether the Zune is prohibited. Of course there should be a glut of Zunes available after the holiday.

Zune still dropping.....

The Zune sales popularity according to Amazon (Electronics) is:

Black - No. 93
Brown - No. 346
White - No. 556

I heard MS sales goal was low to begin with. About 500,000 Zunes total.

Home Theatres at Risk?

I found an amazing article that, if true, indicates new lows for a segment of the entertainment industry. Apple is increasingly intertwined with how entertainment is distributed, so I feel this is a relevant issue. The upshot is that the MPAA is considering a registration fee for Home Theatres because other people can come over and watch a DVD without having paid for the DVD. This is stunning if it is true! Any thoughts?

Home Theatre Registration

Beatles on iTunes?

Gentlemen, do we dare hope for the ultimate iTunes coup? Can Apple woo the mightiest name in popular music to the most popular online-MP3 device combo in the world? Will Apple release the iPod Beatles special edition iPod? Can we hope for music nirvana? Is the best truly yet to come?

I touched a Zune

Of course I had to wash my hand many times over to sanitize it though. But seriously, I did touch a Zune in person at Best Buy. I didn't spend too much time with it but here are my impressions. Having a big screen was a nice feature but it seems like a cheap big screen. The resolution is the same as the smaller iPod screen and you can tell. The overall feel of the device is that it was smaller than it looked in pictures but did not have that "hand in glove" feel of the iPod. It seems unusually thick for it's size. The substitute pad where the click wheel would be felt just like that. "The click wheel fell off and we glued on this four button knob." Very cheesy. At least some of the other MP3 players tried to come up with an alternative to the click wheel. Even Dell's sensitive strip seemed better. I did not get a chance to listen. The thing was glued to the counter. All in all, it did not feel like a real competitor to the iPod. Of course the game is not over and the iPod needs to keep innovating because Microsoft has shown that given enought design monkeys in a room and enough time and money, they can make a competitive product.

Zune is number 42 and dropping fast

According to an article online * the Zune has dropped to 42nd most popular item on Amazon.com. And has continued to dropped in popularity since its introduction. I just did a quick check for "Best Sellers" in electronics on Amazon and found that the Zune has dropped again to 55. Of course the number one seller is the 30GB black iPod. There are even other MP3 players besides the iPod which are ranked higher than the Zune. Of course the advertising blitz may not have hit yet, but so far not a lot of takers.

An iPod can save your life!

A young man was saved by the light of his iPod in Oregon after getting lost on a mushroom picking excursion. The man was lost in an area with thick underbrush when nightfall came. He did not have a flashlight so he used the light from his iPod to lead the way. Rescuers saw the faint glow of the iPod from a distance and saved the man after 20 min of hacking through the brush to get to him.

Once again, another compelling reason for owning an iPod.

Link to the story.

Zune Press

Gents,

The press on the new MS Zune has been 'acceptable' at best, and downright questioning the reason for its existence at worst. Thoughts?

-Le

Nancy Long - Latest Switcher

Well, after 6 long, boring years, my mother-in-law has officially made the change from her dinosaur Dell (Dull) to a bright shiny new iMac. The Dell made so much noise while crunching info that you could barely hear each other in the same room. The new iMac is whisper quiet and the screen has her jaw still on the ground. She is not a heavy user but will no doubt benefit from the ease of use of her mac. My wife and I have been working on her for the last few years and now she has come over from the dark side. So the next switch commercial just may feature a senior citizen on the right side, "I'm a mac". I just want to know when I should expect my 10% commission from Apple for my presale cohersion.

John Martellaro's Zune analysis

Gerntlemen, there is a columnist who I highly respect who has a fascinating take on the Zune player. He is extremely intelligent (in my opinion) and has great insight into things Apple. He has a different take on the Zune player than we have, and It's a great read. Here it is:

Zune Column
I'm very interested to hear what you guys think!

The Zune Unwrapped

Here is a blog of a guy who bought a new Zune and posted the pictures online. It's interesting...

Zune Unwrapped

The Brown Zune

Will the brown Zune become known as the "Zune Turd"? I can't help it - I still can't believe they're going to sell a brown Zune! At the same time, the brown Zune does receive quite a bit of press, and some say there's no such thing as bad publicity! November 14 is the big day - it'll be intersting!

2G iPod Shuffle sales

Some of you may know that I periodically check the online Apple Store to see what is the best seller. I'm not proud of this, but I am not ashamed either. I am neutral.

Anyway, I was shocked to find that the Shuffle is now the number one seller on the Apple Store. For months the iPod nano was the best seller, even after they started taking preorders for the Shuffle. Now that it's shipping, it's the best seller! Phil Schiller said they were very happy with the Shuffle sales. They must be selling a ton of them!! This may be Apple's runaway hit this holiday season!

MSN Music Store closing!

Gentlemen, the MSN music store that opened in 2004 to compete with iTunes has officially closed its doors!
MSN Music Closes Doors
They hoped to compete with iTunes, but I guess it's abandoning that avenue in favor of Zune. Things sure have changed!

I think we can agree that with cell phones taking on music capability, that's where the iPod needs to go. All the signs point there!

Unpacking an iPod Shuffle

Gentlemen, here is a link to photos of the unpacking of a new iPod shuffle. This clearly reinforces the Mac addict's obsession with the packaging (or, I should say, unpackaging) of new Apple products. I admit to having some of that obsession myself!

iPod Shuffle disrobing

Macs at Harvard

Reports are coming out that nearly half of the personal computers sold at Harvard are Macs. Wow! Things sure have changed! The fairer platform is making its move!