Microsoft’s confusing pitch for Windows Phone
Who remembers those Windows Phone commercials from when it launched? It showed people doing clumsy things because they were paying too much attention to their smart phone. Microsoft’s pitch at the time was “Designed to get you in, and out, and back to life.”. This was a pretty smart ad campaign. It showed how quickly you could get stuff done on your phone without having to pay too much attention to it. Brilliant.
They continued this angle in their ad campaigns with the online “Smoke by Windows Phone” campaign. In this campaign, they have Ben basically daring people with various other smartphones to do a task, like post a picture to Facebook, and do it faster than he could on a Windows Phone. If you beat him, you got $100. Again, a brilliant campaign to show just how quickly and simply you could get shit done on a Windows Phone. So far so good.
Then comes last night on ESPN during the NBA Playoffs when I see this ad:
Do you see the difference? In this ad, the “joke” is that the guy is so stuck to his phone, he’s making all sorts of bumbling mistakes, like being late for The Wave and walking in to the women’s restroom. Uhhh.. alright? But, wasn’t the whole point of Windows Phone that it got you “In, out, and back to life”? So, this isn’t the case for the Lumia 900? Is it just users of the Lumia 900 that suffer from this deficiency, or is it all Windows Phone 7.5 users? And if it’s all WinPhone 7.5 users, why did Microsoft break WP7.5 so bad that this is now the case? Did they realize people want to be stuck to their phones at all times? So many rhetorical questions.
I thin Windows Phone is a great mobile OS and has potential for a long lifespan. I just hope Microsoft doesn’t fuck it up with crazy, mixed message advertising like their doing right now.
Ashton Kutcher dressed as Steve Jobs
Yes, I do realized this link is to TMZ. I just feel dirty saying the name. Anyways, it’s young Steve Jobs in old Steve Jobs clothes (he didn’t start with the jeans and mock turtleneck until a while after his return to Apple in 1997).
Also of note, Ashton Kutcher is not playing Steve Jobs in the movie based on the ‘Steve Jobs’ bio by Walter Isaacson. The one being written by Aaron Sorkin. Nope, this is the other Steve Jobs movie being made to capitalize on his popularity and untimely demise.
There is already an ‘iPhone 5′
I sure hope these Apple rumor sites start realizing there is already an iPhone 5 on the market. It’s called the iPhone 4S. That is the 5th iteration of the iPhone since its launch in 2007. So, you can stop calling the next iPhone ‘iPhone 5′. How about ‘iPhone 6′, instead?
Writing on a curve.
Ina Fried, writing at AllThingsD:
Apple sold three million new iPads in just the first weekend. That led some analysts to conclude Apple might be able to sell as many as 12 million of the new models during the quarter.
Lets keep in mind that Apple sold 11.8 million iPads. Now, lets see what she has to say earlier in the article:
But, when it comes to Apple, those sales were actually something of a disappointment.
So, Apple sells 11.8 million iPads in a quarter, some analysts say it could sell 12 million, yet this is “something of a disappointment”? Yeah. Let’s forget the fact that iPad sales increased 151 percent over the same quarter last year. The exact same quarter that saw the iPad 2 launched. Yup. Smells like a failure to me. Oh, wait. IT’S ONLY 200,000 OFF THE ESTIMATE. How is this failing, exactly? It’s a goddamned rounding error.
Oh, and Apple sold only 35 some-odd million iPhones in the quarter. It’s a shame the iPhone 4S is such a failure, or else they could have sold even more. I guess.
The Mac rumor sites.
This isn’t specifically about MacRumors.com, but more about the sites dedicated to Mac rumors.
This past week, AppleInsider posted a story in which they claim Tim Cook paid a visit to Valve Software (the makers of Steam). Well, it turns out that was bogus. Here’s what Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, had to say in a podcast interview:
We actually, we all sent mail to each other, going, “Who’s Tim Cook meeting with? Is he meeting with you? I’m not meeting with Tim Cook.” So we’re… it’s one of those rumors that was stated so factually that we were actually confused.
No one here was meeting with Tim Cook or with anybody at Apple that day. I wish we were! We have a long list of things we’d love to see Apple do to support games and gaming better. But no, we didn’t meet with Tim Cook. He seems like a smart guy, but I’ve never actually met him.
We actually, we all sent mail to each other, going, “Who’s Tim Cook meeting with? Is he meeting with you? I’m not meeting with Tim Cook.” So we’re… it’s one of those rumors that was stated so factually that we were actually confused.
No one here was meeting with Tim Cook or with anybody at Apple that day. I wish we were! We have a long list of things we’d love to see Apple do to support games and gaming better. But no, we didn’t meet with Tim Cook. He seems like a smart guy, but I’ve never actually met him.
So I decided to go see what AppleInsider had to say about the supposed “visit”:
Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook reportedly visited the Bellevue, Washington headquarters of Valve Corporation earlier today, inciting questions about new potential for collaboration between the two companies.
Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook reportedly visited the Bellevue, Washington headquarters of Valve Corporation earlier today, inciting questions about new potential for collaboration between the two companies.
Uhhh… whut? “Tim Cook reportedly visited…Valve Corporation”. No evidence. No “anonymous sources say”. Nothing. Just a claim that he visited Valve. The writer then goes on to give us the history of Valve and their support of the Apple platform. But the actual meat of the story comes in the first paragraph and is a mere 27 words, the last 11 of which are meaningless.
The problem I had was the other Mac rumors sites (and some mainstream ones) that ran with this as fact. There’s no facts listed. There’s nothing backing up their claim. Someone just pulled something out of their ass, sent it in, and they ran with it.
Folks, if you believe anything coming out of the mouth of a Mac (or any) rumor site, take it worth a grain of salt and do a little critical thinking before running with it.
The ups and downs of buying a mountain bike
So I’m in the market for a new mountain bike. I’ve spent the last few months hopping around the web, checking out the various manufacturers websites, MTBR.com, YouTube, and just thinking about mountain bikes far too much to be healthy. I’ve finally saved up enough pennies, and made enough decisions to finally head out to my LBS’s this weekend to hopefully purchase one (provided someone has one of the bikes I like in stock). Oh, and FWIW, it’s supposed to be 80 degrees here this weekend. So this is the *perfect* weekend to buy a bike and break it in on some trails.
Anywho, as part of the purchasing process, I’ve also been acquiring various new supporting bits, rear light, shoes, etc. The shoes, so far, have been the most vexing part. I decided on some shoes, found them for a good deal on line, and ordered them. On Monday. They finally arrived today only to find out the size I picked was too small. Curse that EU to US conversion bike shoes manufacturers make you go through. Anyways, those shoes are boxed up and read to be picked up by UPS tomorrow to be sent back.
Since now it is only a few days away from the weekend, I didn’t want to risk reordering from the same place and having it take forever to arrive. Thankfully, I found the same shoes on Amazon with Prime shipping for cheaper. In retrospective, I should’ve gone to Amazon to begin with. Lesson learned. I ordered those right away with what I thought was 1-day shipping. Uhh, nope. 2-day. Arrives Monday. By the time I realized this it was too late to cancel. Again, my bad here.
So, here I am ordering a third pair with 1-day shipping, now to arrive Saturday. The ones arriving Monday will either be denied, if I can, or sent back ASAP.
What a pain in the ass.
Now, I really hope I don’t have to drive all over tomorrow to find a place that has a bike I like in stock. Even worse, I hope *someone* has at least one of the bikes on my short list in stock. If I don’t get to ride this weekend Imma be pissed.
‘Free Dongle!’
ASUS:
ASUS prides itself on delivering an unrivalled user experience, and we offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that our customers may have encountered.
That was the last paragraph under the title above. Apparently, delivering “unrivalled user experience” means having to carry around a dongle with your new-fangled tablet. Sounds totally awesome to me. Really.
Your Monday dichotomy.
AOL is selling its soul (i.e. 800 patents) to Microsoft for $1 billion. On the other, less dying, end of technology, Facebook is buying Instagram for $1 billion. Who’s getting the better deal?
One share of AAPL or….
As of the closing of the market yesterday (Thursday), one share of Apple stock costs less than a 16GB iPad 4G+WiFi. Or, if an iPad doesn’t interest you, it also costs less than a base Mac mini. At $633 and change, a share of Apple stock is quickly becoming more expensive than actually buying an Apple product. And with earnings coming up in a few weeks, I would expect the number of products that cost less than one share of AAPL to increase significantly.