Chris Seibold's Profile

Research further? I just got back from Disney World (5 nights, Coronado) and I've spent plenty of time researching Apple products. Why I could probably write a book about it. It would probably be six hundred pages long and published by O'Reilly. That noted I probably wasn't clear enough in what I was trying to say since I wrote it on the way back from Disney World. What I was really trying to get across was that Apple can take the same ingredients as everyone else and come up with something special. IT is a little like giving two people peanut butter, jelly and white bread and then discovering one person has made a really good sandwich while the other has made the standard pb&j;. But instead of peanut butter I went with Disney rides. I suppose the flame thrower small world thing was juvenile. In retrospect I should've said small world and samurai sword cause those doll heads floating in the water would just be awesome. Besides, it isn't as if Disney never updates rides. Mr. Toads wild ride is now (from what I can tell) Pooh's Windy Day. I preferred it as Mr. Toads Wild Ride but that was dated when i was a kid in the 70s! But there is a chance that I'm the only one who thinks its a small world sucks. If you actually like its a small world substitute some other ride. As for Disney compared to other amusement parks, well I live close to Dollywood (the fattest place on earth) and if you have to spend money to travel to a park I'd head to disney.

absolutely correct homeworld, thanks

Wow, good points all around! @jdjd: IT depends on the carrier and the cell phone I think. For palm and rim you can usually install those programs by downloading the software off the internet. When I had verizon if you wanted to buy a program for your razor you had to buy it through verizon. verizon sucks. But this is the first time to my knowledge you have to pay the manufacturer of the phone for programs. @parky: I'm not sure Apple ends up with the same amount of money with the new plan. you end up paying the same amount of money but that doesn't mean it all goes to the same place. Maybe at&t;is going to kick back more money to apple but I doubt it. @jbravo: I see your point. If you compare the it to the wii it seems a little simpler. Except you pay cash to target and no one knows what you have on your wii. I suppose it depends on your point of reference. If you liken the iPhone to a psp it is business as usual, if you liken it to a smart phone the situation is odd, if you liken it to a computer it seems kind of crazy. As for the distrubution costs and so forth, I think that is a bit of a red herring. I can create and distribute an application on the internet for basically nothing. Unless lots and lots of people are downloading the app it isn't going to cost me a great deal of money. iPhone apps will likely be smallish so it isn't really a problem. The credit card cost (or a proxy like kagi) can be significant but most people are going to be buying apps from established companies, not the little guy. Rogue Amoeba (just to pull a name out the air) already has the infrastructure in place to handle credit cards and downloads. You're right, for the small time guys, it is worth it but for the people who sell a lot of programs the app store is redundant, it is a tax on those guys to be part of the revolution. The biggest disadvantages are loss of consumer choice (appole picks the apps for you), the loss of choice of where to get you apps (one outlet only) and the level of control Apple will assert over your choices. Honestly I suspect it will be abetter experience for consumers over all but I'm a little miffed that Apple knows better than me what I want. @greg I really liked the idea of buying a phone without a contract. It made the process much less painless and you could get a new phone without reupping. As far as the pricing goes, I suspect that At&T;knows what they are doing on this one. They've spent a lot of money to roll the network out so most of their costs are probably fixed. I'd wager that that $10 a month is almost pure profit. But I don't have any problem with that, I'm willing to pay for more speed. I'd bet if people could up the speed of an iPhone for 10 they'd all do it. The contract extension is a different matter. This time it won't matter, at&t;+apple has a 5 year deal going with one year gone so I'll sign the new deal without a fuss but when it is time to sign up and the end of the deal at&t;apple is less than two years away I'll have to really think about it. Oh, if some android phone is better, I'm going to be seriously pissed.

Wow, the comments were much more insightful than the article! Thanks everyone.

Randomly selected winner is.... Sundaro. So Sundaro, email me at cseibold@mac.com and I'll get the book to you. Jojo and faintdreams should email me as well, maybe everyone is a a winner this time!

Thanks Steve, but I think this must be the club of "If you love what I love for the wrong reasons I hate you." On the bright side, I finally made it in a club!

I agree Machelp. But there is a difference between buying something consciously realizing you're paying more to be cool (I suppose there are people who really think that a Mount Blanc is worth the five g's based on utility alone but they're in the minority) and buying something because you think you need something more. Honestly, I could get by with a mini no problem but there's a good chance I'll get a 24" iMac or a MacPro. In the past I've always told myself I needed something more than the entry level but this time I realize that I don't. So if I get something more than a mini I'll know I'm paying X for the pretentious factor. On a side note: That watch is an excellent value. If anyone is interested in purchasing it they can feel free to send it to me for safekeeping.

Interesting points Robo, allow me to respond. "Indeed. Perhaps those upward pointing nostrils of our Mac snub comrades are what you are insinuating in your hyper-extended article." I don't see Mac users as snobs in general, though there are exceptions. As for the length thing I consider that an valid criticism and I will try to keep things shorter in the future. "But I don’t buy it even when it’s for the taking, CS. Your readers here at AM are more intellectual than that. These Mac guys/gals know what they want from a Mac. Yes, sir! Your very readers happen to love the Mac for it is the very BEST damn computers out there." I agree completely. The point I was trying to make wasn't that the Mac is inferior to say an alienware machine or something but rather that the Mac is great, in fact the MAc is so good all anyone likely needs is a mini. "CS, your article’s premise is interesting but hovers above hypothetical, meaning it can never be proven and that means it will never become a factual information." Well that is a relief. Actually, this article is purely opinion so any factual information that crept in was purely accidental. " Your fine taste in Macs is based on its tangible properties and will never equate to your exquisite taste in red wines - neither here in Cali or France" Most of the goodness that is MAc can be found in a mini. I don't know much about wine except to order the second cheapest bottle at the restaurant. "I can see why Zato is very inflamed by this article." I never write articles as comment bait, or to make readers irate. I stick to writing whatever topic seems interesting at the moment. that said, I didn't really imagine this article would actually generate any passion at all.