Comment Re:And people would trust this? (Score 1) 114
Way to play up the stereotypes - little too much cold war propaganda me thinks !
Yes - in North Korean that would be culturally offensive but the exaggeration is a bit over the top.
Way to play up the stereotypes - little too much cold war propaganda me thinks !
Yes - in North Korean that would be culturally offensive but the exaggeration is a bit over the top.
Then again, except for this publicity stunt (?) from Schmidt, I have no idea why most people would have any interest in going to North Korea.
Personally I'd travel to North Korea before I ever travelled to the US again. Batshit Crazy comes in many forms !
Try flying into any major US city as a foreigner (even as a white westerner) and you might be ready to re-board the plane before even getting out of the airport.
LAX holds a special place in my heart as being about as welcoming as any third-world dictatorship !
More complete ignorance
North Korea has 3G networks covering more than 90% of the population.
However, given the general poverty and rural lifestyle, market penetration is only around 5% and that is predominantly limited to the educated/employed population in major cities. External internet is not available but 3G telephony certainly is.
and all the time I thought a data warehouse was a warehouse for data and could be used for more than just data mining
Even worse
There is currently no demand for it for water for fuel or mineral for in-space construction
Current value on that basis = $0 !
Distribution is mostly digital and where it isn't the cost at worst is a couple of dollars to ship it to a store.
Most of the software with big differences is commercial stuff sold through distributors, resellers or local sales/marketing staff - it costs money to have that network. And both Microsoft & Apple certainly do have local operations, particularly in the corporate space.
Now for someone like EA selling games I could understand your argument - but they are not the type of companies in question
Tyres at $900 each are obviously at the very premium/niche end of the market - either high-performance or unusual size (or both!)
Sad reality is they just don't sell enough to be economical but instead of not offering them at all, they make them reflective of the actual costs.
Your typical Commodore/Falcon or small hatchback tyres are basically the same price as the US and recall that we pay substantially higher wages all the way through the supply chain and have higher overheads like property costs for warehouse, transporting tyres, etc
Depends which "they" you are referring to ???
Apple and Microsoft certainly have large operations in Australia but would still wouldn't push through many copies of niche products.
I don't know about Adobe however - they certainly have corporate offices here.
Smaller market = higher overheads
There are still support, distribution costs and compliance costs associated with having a local operation - only a fully online model alleviates that and even then time zone issues imply potential for increased costs
To some extent, digital distribution and limited local support brings these costs down - the perfect example is Apple whose products are now more or lineball with US markets thanks to digital distribution of software, useless tech support and enough volume to compare to US stores for sales and basic support overheads.
High cost, low volume products will always have a premium (or at least an argument to made that this is the case with enough spin even it's not the case in reality)
There is NOTHING this committee can do to prove otherwise !!!
she was good at estimating cube roots of 4 digit numbers in her head too.
No great trick given there only a dozen or so integers that produce 4 digit results
How does that logic hold?
I lose my wallet in the street but because my income for the year is still net positive I didn't actually lose anything after all?
Don't think so - a loss is a loss even is the long term impact is just less profit.
Now - whether there was a $5M loss - that is a whole different question
huh?
I was suggesting what I'd do in the OP's situation ie worried about network lock-in
If network and eco-system lock-in were both a concern, then you move onto a Google Nexus or potentially even a Nokia depending on your world view.
Really, a phone is just a phone - just find the one that best suits and move on - it shouldn't define who you are nor cause the amount of distress it seems to cause some people
I travel overseas and like to purchase a local SIM to avoid enormous roaming charges. I still pay my monthly fee and I don't end up using my included minutes on my plan.
Of course you do
But you also like the subsidised handset upfront
It is pick one-or-the-other in this case.
I do agree its unfortunate that some phone are not offered unsubsidised/unlocked or that some networks do not have 'bring your own phone' / un-contracted plans
How do you suggest I proceed?
How do you want to proceed? You bought a phone that is locked to Sprint
Personally, I would be buying an unlocked phone and if Samsung does not make them available, then Samsung would lose my business to Apple.
There is nothing in the contract about an installment plan.
Is that normal is the US?
I thought most contracts had an early termination costs which represents the rest of the installments? Certainly in Australia that is the case - sometimes as explicit handset/plan items (where you pay the remaining handset installments) but sometimes as a single bundled cost (where you pay a percentage break-cost like 50%)
The sooner all the animals are extinct, the sooner we'll find their money. - Ed Bluestone