James Katt's Profile

Apple is trying to save enough money to buy Microsoft.

The iPad can use any eBook with any DRM. Pundits don't realize this. This frees the consumer to purchase any eBook they want. The iPad user can read: 1. Apple Fairplay DRM ePub books using the iBook app 2. Kindle DRM books using the Kindle app 3. Adobe DRM ePub books using the Stanza app (owned by Amazon). 4. Barnes and Noble eBooks using the Barnes and Noble app. 5. Courseware Textbooks using the Courseware app. 6. Palm doc ebooks using the iSilo app and others 7. iSilo ebooks using the iSilo app 8. Microsoft Word eBooks using multiple apps 9. Plain Text ebooks using multiple apps 10. PDF eBooks using multiple apps 11. etc. etc. Unlike other eBook readers, the iPad frees you from having to worry about whether or not your eBooks are compatible. They are.

Apple already has a NetBook. It is called MacBook AIR. A better product would be a Tablet Version of the iPhone, the size of a Paperback Book or larger. Apple can sell it as the "iBook". Apple could then sell books or texbooks using the standard eBook format through iTunes. And users can create their own PDF books to read on it. Optional would be an external keyboard. New applications could be sold through the iTunes iBook App Store. It would be an entirely new platform. It would still be based on OS X. But it would be a lot simpler than a desktop. And it would have fewer headaches on a smaller screen than a desktop. The screen of the MacBook already is too small for desktop use. I don't believe you can shoehorn a desktop OS on a smaller format. This is what Microsoft always tries to do - and fails in doing so. The beauty of the iPhone is the use of an entirely new UI using the same underlying OS. The iBook would have cell phone capabilities via a PC Card. This would allow the cell phone capabilities to change as technology changes. It would have a largeer speaker than the iPhone, and can thus be a good speaker phone. It could have a camera in front thus would be a natural for doing iChat. The iBook can be sold to every university and high school student as a replacement for their textbooks. Imagine that! This would reduce the cost for publishers since their is no hard copy. This iBook would certainly lower the weight that students carry in their backpacks. The iBook would kill the Kindle. It would be far better than whatever Amazon can design.

Spell Catcher does EVERYTHING that TextExpander does AND MORE: It also does spell checking, (optionally) journals all your typing keeping a backup, changes text characteristics (e.g. changing everything to uppercase), etc. It does this all at the same price that TextExpander has.

The Android will be on multiple, diverse, cellphone forms. As such, it will be diluting itself from the start. Developers will have to develop for the many different forms of Android. Cell phone manufacturers will want to distinguish themselves from other Android products. Thus they will customize Android further. This will further dilute Andriod. Android will then become like multiple versions of Linux. Applications will have to be branched onto several different versions for each version of Android. This will complicate application installation and the customer experience. Compare this to the grand-unified experience that customers have with the iPhone. The iPhone is a smooth, easy to use, high-quality product that stands head and shoulders above the mob. Remember that marketshare is not the goal of the iPhone. Best of breed and making profit are the goals. And do this it does better than any other smarter than smartphone. There is a lot of room in the cellphone market for everyone. But the iPhone will always be the most lusted after, highest quality product, that attracts long-lines of customers weeks after the introduction. Those who want the best will get the iPhone. Period. Those who can't afford it will get a cheaper copy.

I have bought and owned more than 21 Macintoshes and iPhones and iPods since 1984. And I own a lot of Apple stock. And I develop software on the Mac and soon the iPhone. As a long-time Apple fan and Apple company owner, I would say that you can have your own opinion about Apple's prices. However, Apple will NEVER sell to the low end of the market - the commodity items, the cheap stuff, the breakable stuff. Apple's goals are to make the BEST products they can and to make a PROFIT. Apple is currently growing FASTER than any other PC company and making a TON of money selling their high end products. They are doing extremely well. They make take in more revenue per square foot from the Apple Stores than Tiffany's. They make 25% of Microsoft's Profits while having only about 3% of the PC Market despite their current gains. Apple does extremely well with a small marketshare. Apple would NOT do better to grab for marketshare by selling cheap products. Marketshare is for companies that do very little research and product development. Marketshare is for companies that have very thin profit margins, for companies that can die on an economic downturn. Marketshare is for companies that are very unstable, that can fire thousands of employees at a moment's notice. Marketshare is for companies that treat employees like slaves and have employees that make below minimum wage. Marketshare is profitable only for companies - such as Microsoft - that have a MONOPOLY. Otherwise, the companies and their employees suffer. When you compare Apple's products to SIMILARLY spec'd products then Apple's products are usually less expensive. Apple's products are high end. If all you need are to check email and browse the web, then get a cheap Linux or Windows PC. Don't get a Macintosh. People who use Macs do much more with their computers than people who use Linux or Windows PCs. The Mac environment enables you to do more. As such, it is a premium product, an enabling product. it is worth its price and more. When I bought my first Mac, as a college student, I worked and saved for 3 years to get the first Mac 128K ($4000 with printer). I could have chosen an IBM PC, an Atari, an Apple II, Radio Shack, or other PC. But I chose the Mac and spent the extra money for it. I saw how much easier and productive I could be on the Mac than any other PC. Macs have much higher re-sale value than PCs. The Laptops have a longer useful lifespan than PC laptops. You don't have Windows Rot, where the system slows down over time as it accumulates crud. You don't have viruses. You don't have constant antiviral and security software running in the background. You don't have all the work you have to do to keep a PC going on the Mac. Macs are a quiet and productive working environment. Macs are like BMWs. Yes, the metal is the same. The plastic is the same. But a BMW is not like your cheap Hyundai or mass produced Chevy. The 15-inch laptop is the MacBook Pro. It is Apple's premium laptop. Sorry, it is not a cheap laptop. I think it is the BEST laptop in the world. If you don't like the price of a Mac, then buy a Linux PC or Windows PC. Go ahead. I encourage you to. Otherwise, do what other people do. Work, save, or even get a second job, to get the best laptop in the world - a Macintosh.