So half of all smart phone buyers in the US constitute a "small niche"?

Guess, how they are most profitable? Obviously nothing to do with overcharging you, NOHOHO, NOT AT ALL.

If they were "overcharging", they wouldn't be selling as many. Amazing how the free market works isn't it?

That is 24%. That means your device could be 20% cheaper and they would STILL make more money then anybody else in percentage per product in the electronics world.
So instead of 500USD for the Ipad2, you could be paying 400USD and they would still make money.
And some people don't think Apple is overpriced.

I am sure some people think software developers are overpriced, but I am not going to walk into my managers office and tell him to give me a pay cut.

So now a "cult" is half of US smart phone buyers?

What does that make Linux users then?

Only if the DoJ continues to look the other way in the face of continuing flagrant Sherman act violations in the form of secret exclusionary agreements with OEMS

You mean the "exclusionary" agreements that don't allow companies like Dell and HP to sell hardware running Android and ChromeOS? Have you been to either of their websites lately?

To make the analogy complete you must include the fact that congress passed a law making them the only ones able to push out an update

Really Congress passed a law not allowing phone manufacturers the right to update their phone? Has Apple been breaking the law for over 7 years?

I'm not aware of ANY other phone manufacturer that has managed that feat before or since

Windows Phones can be updated without the carriers permissions.

Apple abandoned the original iPad in under 2.5 years.

But on the other hand, Apple released a security patch for the iPhone 3GS - released in 2009 -- last February.

The iPad 2 released mid-2011 can still run the latest OS.

The problem is when your carrier prevents you from upgrading. Blame for this issue lies soley at the feet of Verizon, At&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.

Strange, my carrier has never stopped me from updating my iPhone.....

http://www.dailydot.com/politi...

He was asked if Google received detailed information from Chrome users that other browsers do not receive and, if it did, whether there was a danger that federal authorities would track said data.

"If you're concerned, for whatever reason, you do not wish to be tracked by federal and state authorities, my strong recommendation is to use incognito mode, and that's what people do,"

Wrong. 680x0 based Macs were being sold until 1997.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

Two years of support.

Reading is fundamental....

From your link....

The last 68K based Performa was introduced 5/1/95. The rest of the Performas were based on the PPC.

From your second link, the last 68K based Duo was introduced in 1/1996

The original poster tried to draw an analogy between "680x0" Macs and PPC Macs to Google Glass.

The facts are that Apple supported 68K Macs for five years after the last one was sold - OS 9 came out in 1999. Do you think that Google will support Google Glass in 2020? The IPhone 4s introduced in September 2011 is still getting updates. Can you still get an OS update for any Nexus sold in 2011?

That's a inappropriate comparison.

To patch that vulnerability would require the ability to update Android on existing handsets.

You mean like Apple can on iPhones and MS can on Windows Phones?

For this to work, the handset manufacturers would have to provide a new version of Android for the given handset.

I don't have to wait for Dell to provide a new version of Windows for me to patch a security vulnerability.

For this to work, the Android development model of "partner, not Google, productizes Android" would have to change.

huh?

For this to work, there would have to be ongoing development on an older hardware platform.

And my 2006 Mac running Windows 7 is still getting Windows updates from Microsoft.....

For this to work, there would have to be carrier involvement in certification.

Do you really think Apple waits for "certification" from all 160+ carriers worldwide before updating iOS?

For this to work, the carrier revenue model of locking you into a two year contract every 18 months would have to change.

And my old iPhone 4s introduced 9/2011 is still getting updates.....
-

It's in absolutely no ones financial interest to provide updates to Android in already shipped handsets, and Google is not in a position, as an OS supplier, rather than a phone vendor (which is what Apple is), to force changes in operational model into the carrier or the partner device vendor.

Microsoft is an "OS supplier", yet and still my Mac Mini running Windows 7 , Sony, Gateway, and Dell can all get OS updates, but you still have to wait for Verizon to get updates for the Google Nexus on their network?

U.S. Carriers are *NOT* going to change their revenue model just so people can buy ala carte devices that will work with any carrier,

The reason that one phone can't be used worldwide are because of the different bands that the different carriers support and the different technologies (CDMA/GSM) .

You can buy an iPhone right now that will work with varying degrees on all carriers in the US.

and cost more up front for you to go with their service, rather than rolling it into the monthly payment when you go with a competitors service. Everyone would have to change at once (collusion, a violation of both the Sherman Antitrust Act and the RICO Statutes, and definitely something that would be prosecuted), or the carrier that tried to move to the European model would find itself out of business.

All of the carriers have an option that allow you to buy your phone up front and just pay for service.

Likewise, the handset vendors, whose revenue model is completely built on thin margins,

Every heard of this little company called Apple?

And then they'd need to change their FAS accounting to match that of Apple's, or face charges under Sarbanes-Oxley, which is what Apple had to do before it could give away the WiFi updates to 802.11g/n for iPods. You'll (maybe) remember that they got a percentage of the monthly wireless fee from the carrier for iPhones, but realized their income at time of sale on iPod Touch and non-3G iPads, and so they had to charge $5 for the update.

And seriously, would you be willing to pay $5 for a bug fix for a bug you were pretty sure wasn't impacting you anyway, and was just some security "researcher" throwing a hissy fit to get their company name in the news so they got audit contracts out of it?

Not true, the law changed years ago. That's why Apple has been able to "give away" free OS upgrades for all of their devices for years.

MacOS 8 came out only two years before MacOS 9. That's not very long-term support. The same thing for MacOS 10.5 to 10.6, only two years of support.

Google Glass is hardware -- OS 8 is software. If you bought the last 68K Mac, the last day it was available, you had OS updates for five years.

If you bought the last PPC Mac, the last day it was available, you had four years of support.

You're right, Apple didn't sell the Pippin (based on _Macintosh_ hardware), they TRIED to sell it, failed miserably and dropped all support. You can still go buy one on ebay if you want to waste the money.

Apple never attempted to sell a Pippen. It was sold by Bandai.

Yes, just like they supported 680x0 CPUs for years after the switch to PowerPC and again how they gave 110% support for years and years and years for the PowerPC after they switched to x86.
Or maybe you mean like how they had extensive support for the Newton for just ages! Let's not forget the wonderful support they provided for the Pippin too.

MacOS 9 - the first one that didn't support 68K Macs came out 10/23/1999. The first PowerMac came out in March of 1994. The last 68K Mac came out in 7/1994.

The last PPC Mac was discontinued 8/2006. The first version of MacOS that didn't support the PPC was introduced in 2010.

Apple never sold Pippen. It was third party hardware.

How long does Google support its own Nexus line?