It's not about stupid consumers, or stigma or some other techie specific paranoid fever dream but Google doesn't want to be screwed over.

Who owns Linux? Not just the kernel, but the copyright? I don't know, but I'm sure it's not Google. And this has a serious implication, if Google promotes the linux-ness of their Laptops (and smartphones), you'll have copycats marketing their products with Linux laptops (Just like Google!!).

These copycats will poison Linux and Google. And ruin opensource for everybody.

The Cable business makes sense to people within the cable business. HBO gets paid twice from your local cable provider. HBO gets a flat fee from your cable provider, then they get a cut of all the subscription prices. It works out for the cable provider because they get to charge you for the 200 channel package and a cut of the money they send to HBO. This type of arrangement also goes for ESPN and pretty much all the channels an average cable viewer would actually want to see (and the flip side, the Home Shopping Network and others pay a fee to the cable providers to carry their station).

If HBO/ESPN/AMC would offer an internet only option, cable providers would be pissed and would demand terms costing HBO/ESPN millions.

In addition if HBO went with a monthly subscription model, they would be at the mercy of their hit shows and scheduling. People would add/drop channels every three months.

So instead of the $15 a month for the HBO/Cinemax bundle or the $3.99 per show on Itunes. It would be $30 a month for a la carte HBO or $8.00 per show on itunes.

And then we'd have all you crying about how you have to steal because the "Price isn't Fair." (Piracy is stealing, let us pretend to be adults here).

The PLO did this first with the Black September Organization (Munich).
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2001/12/hoffman.htm

Really, Apple is the bully? In one corner you have Apple, a consumer products company that was left a little over 10 years ago, in the other corner you have Google, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, RIM, HP, Dell, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, LG, Acer, SONY, Amazon, Asus and a couple of dozen other companies.

And Apple is the bully.

You sound like one of those evangelicals who cry out "I'm being oppressed" when the cashier clerk says "Happy Holidays."

You are terrified of getting screwed over by your boss. And that's the worst position to be in because you'll have nothing to show for it, but at least you weren't screwed over.

You'll have hours of work sitting on the hard disk of your home computer, everyday you'll have to deal with clunky processes, non-automated tasks and services and end users calling up asking where this or that service is, but you weren't screwed over. For your next performance review, you won't have to worry about your boss gushing about how you took initiative reducing the burden on your entire department, but at least you weren't screwed over. For your next job interviews you won't be able to show a fully functioning system which "streamlines several critical processes, allows for a central repository of FAQ, and provides end users with access to multiple systems all in one place," but you weren't screwed over.

In case the paragraph above wasn't clear: Only good can come about by going to your boss and offering to take on the project and using your personal code(assuming you are competent). In the best case scenario, you have your boss and the school by the balls because you are the only one who knows the awesome application which "streamlines several critical processes, allows for a central repository of FAQ, and provides end users with access to multiple systems all in one place." In the worst case scenario, you've got one hell of a CV for your next job. You've got one hell of an answer to the question: So what was your greatest accomplishment at your previous job.

Do you know why drug dealers have loyal customers? Because the first hit is always free.

Let's flip it around: Why should customers who use less expensive services subsidize the customers who use the more expensive services?

They could just as easily offer a $2 discount to the auto-pay customers, but that isn't an effective incentive.

Note: I'm a verizon auto-pay customer, they email me my bill about two weeks before my auto-pay is schedule, so I can look at the bill to make sure everything looks right and if there are any problems, I can fix it in time.

You forgot overweight living in mom's basement virgins.

1) Siri is just a stupid toy and not that important.
2) Android had it first and it was almost as good a Siri, but nobody cared because Android is just a mom and pop shop with no money to advertise and build up hype.

Many people will start-up their own blog/websites/e-commerce a few will be wildly successful with little capital expense, a few will be wildly successful with a lot of capital expenses, the vast majority will be "failures."

While we can talk about hosting, downloading, bill handling, etc from the App Store the real value Apple provides small developers is Trust.
The consumer knows giving their credit card info to the App Store is secure, some guy's website could just as much be a front for the Russian Mafia as a ernest indie programmer. The consumer knows the App was tested by apple therefore won't f*ck up their iphone/ipad. They know the App store won't let them buy something that's incompatible with their phone. And finally they know if there's any problem, Apple will have their back.

Unless he owns a part of facebook, youtube or the rights to Thomas or the Girl's picture he vandalized somebody else's property.

Let's take the situation into the real world, the family gets a permit to hold a small memorial service in a public park. Her family, friends show up and are having a nice moment. Strangers walk by, see what's happening and either stay and be quiet, say some meaningless words of comfort or just walk away. Now let's assume a couple of douchebags walk by, Gallant Douchebag looks around figures out what's happening stifles a laugh walks out of earshot and then makes fun of everybody. Doofus Douchebag looks around, figures out what's happening proceeds to go to the center of the crowd and starts making fun of the girl, her friends and everybody else. When asked to leave, Doofus Douchebag makes an even greater scene, more offensive statements, in the middle of it all.
Should the gathered just sit there and take it?
Should they call the cops?
Should they beat Doofus Douchebag within an inch of his life?

Apparently you think everybody should just sit there and take it. He's not actually vandalizing anybody's property.

Fulfilled Promises, User Interface, Build Quality, Price.
Apple dominated the mp3 player market, not because it had the best specs, not because it was cool but because it delivered what it promised. The interface was easy to use, a few minutes and you knew all you needed to know. When you pick up one of the early $500 ipods, you knew you could kill a hobo with it. My 10GB 2nd Gen Ipod lasted 6 years 4 continents and dozens of countries and three hobos that got out of line. A lot of people say Itunes is crap, but nobody has mentioned a better music management system.

My Droid X, it's pretty good except Motorolla tells me I should reboot it once a day, the buttons might react when I touch them, the battery won't last 10 hours and sometimes the phone doesn't work. My work issued iphone 3G had none of those problems.

The Xoom was shipped with a worthless SD Slot, broken 4G and who knows what else. The positive reviews of the Touchpad used words like "cheap" and "bulky." And reviewers of Android and Touchpad tablets all mentioned about the unusually high number of freezes, crashes and reboots.

You know if I wanted a multi-tasking device whose battery dies out after 6 hours of use, I'd get an Android phone.
Oh wait I already have one.
Yes, I have a startup killer running.
Yes, I have wifi, bluetooth and GPS turned off.
No, I don't want to buy a second battery to carry it around.
Friends with Iphones are able to do the same as me and their phones don't die in the middle of the day.

What this sounds like is a Major Retail Chain moving into a new city and selling their products at a loss to drive the Mom and Pop shops out of business. Google is effectively shutting down the OS Market to new competitors and innovation. HTC, et al are able to sell their phones at the same price as Apple because they don't have to pay for their OS.

So the question becomes when MS & RIM leave the smartphone market, what will Google do?

Oh those b@stards trying to sell more of their product to a larger audience. You must really love Aryan Man.

But if the hardware isn't lighter or thinner then it's not superior. One of the important requirements of a tablet is portability.

And you only have to worry about ram and processor speed if your OS is a bunch of crap. Apple is able to get away with "Lower Specs" because the OS runs insanely efficient when compared to windows and android. For example the Ford F150 has a 390 horsepower engine, A BMW 328 has a 230 horsepower engine. Which vehicle has the better specs?