Apple? That's it? That's all ya' got?

As we all know, the new Apple company--you know, the one without Steve Jobs--had yet another product release this last week.

Yes, they did.

And whoop-ti-freaking-do.

Apple unveils two new iPhones -- the 5S and 5C 

One's a cheaper model and the other offers colors.

Zounds.

Forgive me if I'm neither impressed nor dissuaded from thinking that unless things change at that company, they're going down.

Not even a bigger screen.

Seriously, Mr. Cook?

That's all y'all can come up with?

Beginning of the end for Apple's dominance?

Any Apple computer follower--and lots of others--heard the news last week, surely:

Apple CEO Tim Cook Apologizes for New Maps Glitches

It seems when Apple introduced its own maps feature, it didn't work.

At all.

And between this rather glaring shortcoming, combined with the last iPhone release that was, while hugely financially successful (read: they sold a lot), the phone didn't have that many new, great, new gadgets or features to it.

I think Samsung hits Apple pretty hard because of it, too, in this, their latest advertisement:



We'll see, of course.

Perhaps it's just a blip. Maybe it's not over for Apple's ascendancy.

I'm afraid, for them, it may well be.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-apologizes-maps-glitches-131156675--abc-news-tech.html

One more thing you can't steal

Much as so many people love these things, these Apple iPhones, it's clear now, it's one more of two thing you can't steal. From local news today: Police Use iPhone To Track Robbery Suspects It seems a young man got his iPhone stolen this morning on the way to work. He later thought about the tracking device already on it so he phoned police and got with them. They tracked the phone from the Missouri side of town to KCK and voila'--one iphone returned and two men in custody. It reminded me of the story a couple years ago of the men who stole a new Cadillac, as I recall. The problem, for them, was that it had OnStar on it. The victim, again, got with the police and they tracked the car--within 10 minutes I believe they said--and found the car and the men who stole it, inside their house, eating dinner. Isn't technology wonderful? Link: http://www.kmbc.com/news/30003402/detail.html

I'll keep my "dumb" phone, thanks

I've wanted an iPhone since I saw them. I love the design, I love the things it could do. Clearly, it started doing things no other phones could do. Very cool. But then lots of other new phones came out and the race was on. Sure. I get that. But now? I didn't yet get one, mostly because of the prices and largely because I just didn't need it. That and the fact that it seemed like every 20 minutes, another new one--iPhones--kept coming out. Well, now I see that they aren't just a phone any more. Now they're a small computer in your pocket. And that would be okay except between the text meassages people can and do send, and pictures, and the fact that it can--and does--get your emails and facebook messages and who knows what all AND the fact that the thing "goes off" every time it gets any of this stuff, well, I just don't need or want anything in my pocket that's doing that every 10 seconds or so. No thank you. Is it any wonder people in the world are getting more and more attention deficit disorder? First it was the television set, with all it's twenty thousand advertisements coming at you, all while you're watching only one show. Now this. The phone that is nearly constantly vibrating in your pocket, telling you someone's sent you something or said something to you or--last of all--phoned you.

RIP Steve Jobs

Love him or hate him, a brilliant, brilliant man. Truly a visionary.

I'm so old...

...I remember when learning how to type was a choice. "Should I take typing class?" It wasn't absolutely necessary to exist, it was an option--usually for "secretaries." Remember them? And remember when being called a secretary wasn't pejorative? Yeah, THAT old.

Great article on Sprint last evening

I wasn't looking for one but saw a terrific article on Sprint last evening, asking one simple question: "Why Is There No Sprint iPhone? Which got me wondering, naturally. So read it I did and it was brief, incisive and helpful and now I know. (If you're curious, go check it out. Link at bottom, as usual). But in the meantime, check out their reason number two for why there isn't any Sprint iPhone: "Apple disdains Sprint. Apple execs tend to have personal feelings about U.S. wireless carriers that they don't have about international carriers. For Apple, brand is everything, and the company doesn't want to be associated with brands it sees as "losers." it wants to be a winner, associated with winners. This has worked well for Apple in the past. Apple execs could simply see Sprint and T-Mobile as hopeless loser carriers headed towards extinction, and not worth the company's time." Yeah. Ouch. That's got to hurt. And it can't portend well for our hometown phone company. Hopefully they can turn that ship around. We keep hoping, don't we? Link: http://news.yahoo.com/why-no-sprint-iphone-114941806.html

Something more up Apple's sleeve this week?

From Yahoo! News this morning:

Rumor: Apple planning to launch new product this weekend

Is Apple about to surprise us with the launch of a smaller iPhone? Or could it be something completely different – there’s been a lot of talk about its rumored iCloud service recently.

Steve Jobs just wants to know where you are

Apple slammed over iPhone, iPad location tracking

Follow up to iPad: HP's reputedly better version

The first wave of the flood of pads begins.

You can see more about the purported pluses and minuses of HP's Slate here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100406/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1480

And remember what I said about the proliferation of backpacks, due to the new "pads"? I saw these advertised on Facebook, to go in said backpack: http://www.case-mate.com/Apple-iPad-Cases/Apple-iPad-Cases.asp?utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=ipadcases