And precisely how do you know what Amazon's Fire does? It's still not officially out yet and of those that have tried it, its deficiencies are beginning to show.

Two types of consumers will buy the Fire. Those focused strictly on price, and iHaters.

The price folks will think it's "just like an iPad" and realize after the return-period has expired that it is nothing like how they advertised it (like most electronics) and while some may find use for it as a glorified e-reader, most will end up gathering dust in some desk drawer.

iHaters will buy it and attempt to root it because they don't care about the Amazon experience. They just want to get a cheap(er) Android tablet. These folks are few and far between so after consumer demand falls after the novelty wears off, this group of people will not be enough to sustain it and it will get discontinued.

This is of course just a guess, but history so far seems to indicate another has-been.

Hey AC, keep your whining down. All that cussing from the basement may wake up your parents on the top floor.

Typical fandroid responses. "Been available on Android for long".... Kind of like how the android community preached the XOOM in all its multi-core, NVidia GPU glory, and it could not even outperform a 1-year-old single-core iPad. Apple gets the hardware and software working together like a swiss watch. It's the same tired responses from tech-heads that they refuse to accept. Android slaps together a bunch of half-baked solutions, supporters say "see!! we did it first", and cringes when iOS does the same thing, except it actually works and makes it simple for the joe-consumer to use.

What's even more sad about these whiners is that they think consumers really give a rat's-ass what's under the hood of their phone. I've had both iOS and Android phones. Android is great for tinkerers and tech-heads that want absolute control over their devices. Everyone else (where the money is at) just want a toaster, and a darn-good toaster. And the /. dickheads here simply label those folks as too stupid to deserve using a smartphone if they are unable (or have no desire) to root their phone. Pathetic.

That's why the iPhone is the single best selling (and most profitable) individual smartphone out there. Because it works well.

They want to continue to behave childishly by calling me a fanboy, it's because I have better things to do with my time and life than to live in a basement and manage phone resources and overclock phone CPU's.

"relatively minor hardware upgrades"?? Did you even know what they did under the hood? The iP4 design is already a huge hit with consumers - much to the dismay of fantards everywhere. They ran with that design (which makes case manufacturers happy) and put in the iPad2 A5 chip which still outperforms anything the competitors have, GPU performance 7-9 times faster than the already-impressive iP4, the nicest camera yet, and with iOS5 this is is a solid update for a phone.

"minor hardware upgrades".... wutever..

Sure... and then Samsung comes out with their iSuck clone called "iSwallow". Looks and functions exactly alike, yet takes it all the way down the throat like a true whiner should.

Nonsense... this just shows your cluelessness. If you want a stock that does nothing but go up, then I have stock in Unicorn Inc. I'll sell you.

Fact: AAPL has been consistently going up for ages now. They have a great lineup now, and for the foreseeable future. They have a ridiculous amount of cash on hand, and time-and-time again the bitching of /.'rs preaching the "Apple is doomed" mantra has been proven wrong.

So it goes down 3%. BFD! Considering how high my AAPL holdings have gone up since I bought a bunch more - during the 2008 meltdown - ignoring the whining and bitching from folks like you about wasting my money, I am quite happy with the current level and after phantards like you finish your weekly anti-apple propaganda, the stock will continue to lead the industry. Continue ranting, I'll continue cashing in. Buh-bye...

Of course this is news. Although I'm sure all the whining AC's would change their tunes if it were an Android phone.

Way to go AC. Sling verbal insults at the very same people you want help from. Does that work method work for everything else in your life?

The thinner a laptop gets, the more complicated it gets to keep everything cool and compact. That engineering costs serious money and if not done right, the manufacturer will end up getting a huge boatload of returns.

There are heat issues, durability issues, etc.

Apple's build quality is not just good, it's the best, and Apple has the highest customer service ratings than all the other players.

They are simply a bunch of whining crybabies that got left out of the AAPL party. Pity them... oh wait... never mind.

Don't burst AC-tard's bubble. In this case, the "Betamax" that he thinks is the iPad did in fact end up being the consumer's choice.

That's the reality. The moment people talk about "rooting" and "hacking" their tablet, they are already lost virtually the entire customer base. These tinkerers need to get off their shaky pedestal and realize that the largest and most profitable market is made up of consumers that could truly not care any less about the ability to root their device and as to how "open" it is compared to Apple's walled-garden. That market is made up predominantly of people that want simplicity (not complexity) in their life, they want what is essentially a "toaster" in that it "just works", and all the parts that make up the whole - software and hardware, and apps - work fluidly and seamlessly.

Even the TouchPad firesale is made up predominantly of tech-heads, geeks, and nerds that simply want that "cheap" table to either convert into an Android tablet or use as reading material on the toilet. Unless, you're an entrepreneur and are simply buying it to put on Ebay for 2-3 times the price and sell to.... you guessed it.. the same folks I mentioned in the beginning of this.

There is no "tablet" market, only an iPad market. So until the industry realizes why the iPad is so successful, and also figure out the consumers that are wanting it (most are not iSheep), they will continue to crash and burn.

As smart as many /.'s here "think" they are, they are really having a hard time figuring that out.

Not exactly... Perhaps he did do a third act indirectly.

He saved Apple

Bought George Lucas' graphics division and out came Pixar

Because of Pixar, definitely saved Disney's backside buy having them buy Pixar and no personally saving Disney's film industry and pocketing 7% of Disney's stock!

So would this qualify??

I'm going to miss Steve Jobs. He really is the last of the special breed of luminaries.

God Speed Steve. I hope long life follows you, if only as the Chairman. You'll be missed.

Of course. Let's all make a statement by refusing to purchase any products from the following companies (from Wikipedia) since AC's tend to conveniently ignore them while making it sound it's only Apple:

Acer, Amazon, Intel, Cisco, HP, Nintendo, Nokia, Microsoft, Sony, Vizio

Let's see how long your crusade lasts!

I'm from San Francisco. That guy had more than one knife on him. He rolled the dice the moment he threw the knife at the officer. Nothing to read here, move along.