>> B.S. Due to economies of scale, Apples competitors could always produce the components for cheaper than Apple, assuming they know what they're doing, which apparently they do not.

Uhh.. What? Name one phone, music player, or tablet, that is produced in greater numbers than the iPhone/iPod/iPad. Economies of scale work in Apple's favour here.

>> In many ways the iPod is the wallmart player, it shows the power of bulk purchasing and putting it in a saleable package but little else.

Usability. It's the feature that tech people don't think is a feature.

So? Some people do the same with physical objects that have far longer return windows. Buy something you only need once, use it, return it. There is always going to be some fraud.

What you could do is only allow someone one return. If they've returned it once, the next time there is no return period (barring major version changes).

>> Because allowing the Skype PtP client on to office computers makes them insecure, and probably uncontrollably violates the Congress firewalls in the process.

Can you provide a link that discusses this in detail? I'd like to know what about Skype is inherently insecure.

Seamless wireless synching across mobile devices and pcs. If you don't have an iPhone you probably don't have a use for it.
I do have an iPhone, and it is going to be awesome.

And they still don't have Skype video that works properly.

>> The current Skype client for iOS, Android, and Linux sucks. The current OS X client is very poor.

Skype for iOS works great. What do you want? Skype for Linux is a bit clunky, but not bad considering how small that market is and the fragmentation. Same goes for Android (fragmentation making development difficult).
The OSX client works great. The 5.x series is essentially up to par with the Windows client.

>> I've always thought Apple has a great marketing machine. But really, their job is made unbelievably easy thanks to all the fanatics.

You've got this backwards. What do you think is more probable?
1. There is a huge base of natural "fanatics" out there, and Apple seems to have scooped most of them up through some magic.
2. Apple makes good products with a primary focus on usability, and many people therefore have grown to like them, some going too far into illogical "everything Apple does is good" land.

Apple is successful and has many devoted fans because their products are top notch. Some people take it too far like with any brand on earth, but that doesn't represent the majority.

No. They're not computers. They're phones. Just because something has a CPU doesn't mean that it should be exactly the same as a computer. It's not like you're losing functionality here. You're just not gaining new features, which is exactly the same as on a computer. I don't expect my 2 year old desktop to play the latest games without a hardware upgrade. So quit your bitching.

I also like to have choices. Currently I have an iPhone4, and love it, but sometimes I still miss functionality on certain sites. Most interesting video sites now support alternate formats, but there is still the occasional one that doesn't. Not the end of the world, but definitely a downside to using Apple products.

However, I do hate the idea of flash, and if Apple's refusal to allow it is what it takes to finally drive the web to never rely on it as the only way to deliver functionality, then that is a good thing. So I'm willing to put up with the inconvenience if it pushes the web towards that goal.

>> I just told you you can buy an Advent Vega for £250.

That's $410 USD. So for slightly cheaper than an iPad 2, you get a slightly crappier product. Less battery life, screen not quite as good,build quality not quite as good. Good to have the choice, for sure, but it's not like it's worlds cheaper.

>> It's called Archos 43 and it sells for $250.

So a much smaller, much slower device with worse battery life is cheaper? SHOCKING!

>> The future is convertible laptops. Mark my words.

LOL. You do realize that convertible laptops have been around for 15 years and haven't caught on, right? That was microsoft's big push and it was a gigantic failure. People don't want shitty convertible laptops with flimsy hinges.

>> I bought my Droid 2 last september and noticed exactly what you mention. In 2.3, that's no longer true

Good to hear. The jerky UI performance on Android is what prevented me from getting an Android phone. Love my iphone4 right now, but it's definitely nice to hear that Android is catching up and I can easily switch in the future if Apple's restrictions start to bother me.

>> Apple makes money on their sale up front. Frequently, its based on premium pricing.

Please explain how having the best price in the tablet market is premium pricing.

>> Apple then makes money on warranties which almost never require payouts. Also known as free money

You mean like every single company that offers warranties.

>> Apple then makes lots and lots of money on all the electronics still in service which require battery replacement over the next several years, after the initial two years or so.

Possibly.. I think that number will be pretty small first off.. When the battery is so degraded the device will be quite out of date anyway and most people will just recycle it.

>> People are standing in line to hand them money for absolutely nothing

People are handing them money for an excellent product. People have made the decision that having a thin, sleek device is worth more than a device with a replaceable battery that is twice as thick and has panels and screws like a laptop.

Anyway, there are any number of external battery cases available that make this issue pretty much moot. Want a bulkier device with a replacable battery? Just get a case for it, problem solved.