"TechPoint" - The techie edge

Apple has been making the "I am a Mac, I am a PC" ads for quite sometime now. Their brand new ads are here.

Check this out, a rap video spoof of Apple's advertising campaign.

Apple's iPhone has generated an insane amount of discussion on the internet. Is it because of the design or because of the nifty new features or simply because it's made by Apple or all of the above? Whatever the answer is, the bottom line is as a consumer, what is the first choice your heart makes? Quick.....Are you in or are you out?

Yes I am in!

1. iPod was kool, so will be the iPhone.

2. I carry my iPod and cell phone all the time, both in one - the iPhone is what I always wanted.

3. When I want to take pictures, even though it's only 2 MP, the assurance that a camera(built in on the iPhone) is with me all the time is a big plus.

4. I can browse the internet on widescreen and drag pages with my fingers (oh gosh, drives me crazy, love it)

Details here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Oh wait...On second thought:

1. What? I can only buy it through Cingular and I have to sign a new 2 year contract with them?

2. Apple is historically known to a) over promise b) release multiple versions of it soon, just like we had the ipod nano, mini, etc. c) Apple is known to make huge transitions without backward compatibility. So I should wait.

3. 4 GB or 8 GB is less. I bet 30 GB or more should be out pretty soon after initial release. So I should wait.

My thoughts now:

I love the concept of the iPhone - it has everything I always wanted to carry with me. While still in its infancy, I would not make any bad comments about the iPhone. iPhone will definetly go through all the cycles that iPod went through, from color to size. Built in GPS would be nice, but then it's over killing a small device. Since it's a GSM phone, I'd expect it to work with any carrier by flipping the sim card rather than being tied to any single carrier.

I think its a great product if you look at it in the following perspective:

"Primarily, the iPhone is a phone, the other features are there if you ever wanted it. If you are trying to replace your camera or want to watch movies on a regular basis, this may not be the best device!"

So, How about you? Are you in or are you out?

Related stories:

Apple Announces iPhone, Stock Soars
Scobleizer dislikes the iPhone after initial excitement
Top 5 reasons why the iPhone sucks

A look back at the rumored iPhone designs

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Apple made a series of commercials with "I am a Mac, I am a PC" tag line.
The company ditched the Mac guy - actor Justin Long - from the commercials.
But the commercials are staying. Apple's ad agency declined to comment, but a rep for Long said, "Justin's a movie star, not a commercial guy".

The State of Florida's People First Job Portal is using one of the extremely old-school browser detection scripts. If not using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 6.2 or higher, it redirects you to an error page. This is ridiculous because Firefox is the second-most popular browser on the web and shares the layout engine with Navigator 6.2+.

read more | digg story

Apple has made a series of ads ridiculing the PC.

Mac: "I am a Mac"
PC: "I am a PC"

The above is the initial dialogue in the ad series.

Apple despite several years of critisizing Microsoft has never been able to win over the battle. PC still rules the market by more than 95%.

Prior to this ad, Mac ran ads on its website with the theme "Switcher". Anyone who switches from PC to Mac is called a switcher.

Few of the main reasons for the non acceptance of Macs are the following:
1. Macs cost more than the PCs.
2. PC dominates the world - more than 95 % of computer users are PC users.
3. Macs underwent major changes in very short period of time both in hardware and software; causing frustration among Mac users and sometimes leaving no option other than forcing users to spend money on upgrades.
4. Apple is well known for creating huge hypes about even the smallest things.
5. Common comment: "I can live without a Mac, but I cannot live without a PC"
6. There are not many games on Macs
7. Many software titles that are available on a PC are not available on the Mac.

Macs are very popular among people who do video editing. Apple is well known for its perfection in design. Apple computers with Intel chips can now boot to Windows also if needed.

Interesting article on "Switching from Windows to Mac"

Steve has decided to make a new transition from Power PC to Intel processors. After so many years of ridiculing Intel, Jobs has finally understood that Intel processors are indeed powerful in performance. Jobs claims his company has been secretly working on a version OS X that is processor independent compiling the operating system source code with every release to make universal binaries.

Steve says Rossetta and Xcode 2.1 will help Mac OS X applications work on Intel processors without any problem, but with a little performance loss.

Now that Mac is on Intel processors, I guess Apple could increase its hardware market share if it lets users to install windows. I think allowing users to install Windows on a Mac has many advantages for apple. People have always loved the Mac for its kool and creative designs. If they can install windows (may be a dual boot with Mac OS X), I beleive people will slowly migrate to OS X given more exposure and the ability to compare the two operating systems. Guess what, every time windows freezes or gets chocked up with spyware users are more prone to boot to OS X.

But Steve will never allow windows to run on Mac, because the power of Mac lies mostly on the OS X operating system.

Michael Dell says he'll sell Mac OS X if Apple will license it. Steve says "NO".
When SIRIUS (satellite radio) asked steve to integrate SIRIUS radio with iPOD, Steve said "NO".
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....!!!

Microsoft's and Apple's web-enabled software update technology is a patented technology by BTG International Inc. BTG asserts that MS Windows, MS office and Apple operating systems use their patented technology. BTG is trying to enter into a licensing with Microsoft and Apple to settle this issue. What a move? Imagine how it feels for a company to have such a control over two biggest players in the computer industry!!!

Apple computers teamed with BMW and integrated their iPod in to some models of BMWs. Now Microsoft has teamed with FIAT to integrate devices such as cell phones, handheld computers and digital music players into cars.
Microsoft and fiat are talking about a Windows based software for the car and usb connections on the dashboard and a dedicated hardware and so many other stuff.