New iMacs
Apple announced the new iMacs today. Stunning machines. Almost time for me to get a new computer.
Tag Archive for: apple
I’m a Mac
A friend of mine recently moved to the U.K. with his company. He is also trying to kickstart his acting career on the side and he was placed in the new I’m a Mac ad series. Given his passion for the Mac, I know he will do well. Just remember that line: “I’m a Mac.”
Thunder, Lightning, and iPods
Some Canadian doctors sent a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. They said, in part:
A 37-year-old man was brought to the emergency department at our hospital. He had been jogging in a thunderstorm, listening to his iPod, when an adjacent tree was struck by lightning. Witnesses reported that he was thrown approximately 8 ft (2.4 m) from the tree.
The patient had second-degree burns on his chest and left leg. In addition, two linear burns extended along his anterior chest and neck to the sides of his face, terminating in substantial burns in the external auditory meatus bilaterally, corresponding to the positions of his earphones at the time of the lightning strike.
Both of his tympanic membranes were ruptured, and he had a severe conductive hearing deficit. He also had a mandibular fracture. Computed tomography of the mandible and of the temporal bones showed bilateral dislocation of the incudomalleolar joints.
Jogging in a thunderstorm with an iPod is very dangerous. Therefore an iPod is very dangerous. The logic is obvious. Stop buying iPods. Buy a Zune. No one has been seriously injured while jogging in a thunderstorm and listening to a Zune.
Of course, I’ve never seen anyone with a Zune, but that really doesn’t matter. Zunes are taking over the market. You can read all about Zune’s market share here.
How To Lose A Billion
Reuters had an interesting note:
Microsoft Corp. said it still expects its Xbox video game division to make a profit in fiscal 2008 after announcing a fiscal 2007 charge of more than $1 billion to cover repairs to Xbox 360 consoles.
“Our goal has been to have Xbox profitable in the coming fiscal year 2008,” said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices unit. “We don’t think this changes that in any way.”
The chart below shows how Microsoft stock continues to respond to the management capability of Microsoft.
Bach, who leads a unit that consistently loses billions of dollars for Microsoft, also conceded that Microsoft will miss their unit forecast for the Xbox. Interesting that he continues to predict a profit in FY2008. We’ll see.
Wii is currently outselling Xbox and PS3.
But pity the poor Microsoft shareholder. Apple, on the other hand, is performing exceptionally well.
Apple Patches
I received an email from someone yesterday highlighting a recent security patch from Apple. I wasn’t sure why. I regularly receive updates for my Mac. Not sure why this one was anything special.
Yawn.
I’ve run Macs for years now. Without any of the tedious nonsense that I have endured with Wintel boxes. You know the list: driver conflicts, viruses, spyware, adware, crashes.
My computing experience is simply better on a Mac. And so, I would rather use a Mac than a Wintel PC. Big deal. I know lots of people who get by running a Wintel PC.
My concern with Microsoft has been, and continues to be, its dismal performance for shareholders. This post sums up the frustration that I have with the company as a whole. The chart below shows the performance of Microsoft’s stock against Apple’s stock over the past five years. And yes, the Apple line shows about a 600% price increase. MSFT is so close to zero that it ain’t worth tracking.
Is it worth holding MSFT?
Apple Best Retailer
I came across this article in Fortune which describes why Apple is the best retailer in America. Some interesting data points.
Saks generates sales of $362 per square foot a year. Best Buy stores turn $930. Tiffany takes in $2,666. Apple? Apple turns $4,032 per square foot.
Apple currently has 174 stores. They attract an average of 13,800 visitors a week. In 2004, Apple reached $1 billion in annual sales faster than any retailer in history; last year, sales reached $1 billion a quarter.
Sadly, there was no Apple store in Bermuda.
The Cult Of Apple
Mitch Wagner, an editor of InformationWeek, decided to make the switch from Windows to Mac. He has been a PC user for about 24 years.
He has been switched over for about a week now. Here is his conclusion:
The Mac is just another kind of computer, and changing brands still leaves you the same person. The Mac does the same things as the PC: It runs word-processing, browses the Web, runs spreadsheets, does instant messaging, and so forth.
It just does those things better.
Yes. So much better.
His full post can be found here.
Death, Taxes, Vista
Looks like I am not the only one wondering about the Vista launch. Mini Microsoft bemoans the current state here.
He asks about Microsoft’s campaign slogan: “Microsoft Windows Vista. Hey, you’re going to end up with it anyway.” Death, taxes, Vista. Just a matter of time.
And I agree with him.
Apple’s Allow or Deny ad has more marketing presence than Vista. And the ad is really funny. You can watch it here.