Late Seating Policies in Theaters = Bad Customer Service

July 16th, 2010

Alright, I’m back to gripe once again. Sorry for the hiatus.

I don’t know if you have one of these sorts of movie theaters in your area but here in Los Angeles, there are a handful of theaters and theater chains (if you can call them that) which are trying to differentiate themselves with a few nice features:

1) Assigned seating (no more struggling to find a place for you and yours)

2) Stadium seating (no more fuzzy borders for your movie)

3) Bars and 21+ screenings (so you can enjoy that crappy movie your girlfriend wants to see because you’ll be drunk)

4) No late seating (so that jack-off who weighs 400lbs doesn’t drop popcorn all over you while smashing your feet as he tries to get to his seat).

That last one is the the reason we’re here today, class.  Is it a good policy? Damned right it is. I’ve been in enough theaters where you’ve got to watch silhouettes of morons trying to find their seats 15 minutes into the movie.

Here’s the thing though: late seating isn’t a crime. It’s not nice and it can be annoying but it doesn’t always have to be. Here was my situation today:

1) Delayed by a last minute work thing.

2) Traffic for no apparent reason at 10:40 am. It’s usually find by now, especially on a Friday.

3) Finding a parking space.

4) Dealing with a disorganized and slow concessions stand–you’ve got to love it when they have 3-4 people behind the stand and just two customers, one of which is me, and it still take 5-10 minutes to get to me and get my order filled.

All told, I was 30 minutes late. Sure that sucked and was well beyond any time I’ve been late to a movie. But check it out:

1) It was a 10:45am showing on a weekday.

2) I’ve been to plenty of screenings on weekdays, though at more reasonable times (like 12 or 1pm). Even popular movies have no more than 20-30 people).

3) The theater seats upwards of 400 people and has stadium seating.

4) I was in an aisle seat…I’m ALWAYS in an aisle seat.

5) The theater has a back door.

6) I’m a paying customer at 10-fucking-45 AM. I’m like solid gold. You’re showing the movie whether the theater’s full or not.

This is the point where you as a supervising member of staff at the theater have to decide something. Is it better to have an irate/pissed off/disappointed customer under these circumstances or do you make an exception, collect your $34 dollars (with concessions after all), and find some way to accommodate a regular customer?

The Letter of the Law

Let’s put it another way. When it comes to laws (as in those that say you can’t kill someone or something like that), there’s this idea of the “spirit of the law“. It basically means adhering or enforcing a law based on what it was intended to do, rather than just following it to the letter. Hell, California’s even got one of these “fuzzy” laws to govern driving rules.

For instance, if you have a law that says something like “You can’t kill someone.” You look at that and understand what it means…you aren’t allowed to just kill someone. Nice, great law. Wait, what happens when that someone is a murderer who’s trying to kill you? The letter of the law says you can’t kill someone so guess what happens when you snuff out that murdered in self-defense? You’re getting a priest and a needle.

But, the spirit of the law would interpret it more like, “You can’t kill someone, unless they’re trying to kill you.” And, I think most people would agree, that is what you’d want to enforce.

I know, I know, extreme example. But it’s a simple one too. Just like customer service. I’m sure you’ve been the victim of some stupid (or maybe even good…most of the time) customer service policy at some company. Why? Because not every customer service department head or policy maker is a genius at customer service…and not all of them are guided by ensuring the customer’s well-being is top priority–they’ve got to make money too.

Customer Service

Still, you’ve seen both sides of the story I’m sure. For instance, if you’ve ever made a purchase from Zappos you’ve probably experienced some great customer service. Whether it’s them randomly upgrading a shipment to overnight free of charge or just dealing with their hassle-free (and, well, free) returns policy, they do a great job of customer service because they think about the customer first. They aren’t giving away the farm but their policies are designed to keep the customer happy since happy customers mean return customers and more revenue.

Meanwhile, you’ve got other companies that will charge you restocking fees, return shipment costs, and make life as hard as possible for you to return items and otherwise deal with the “abnormal” aspects of commerce.  In fact, a lot of companies seem to hide behind their policies, whether it’s a returns policy or some other policy that is meant to protect the company in some way.

What’s the point?

Which brings us back to this issue. The theater in question? Arclight Theaters. Will I go back? Probably but they’ve definitely lost points here. I mean c’mon. It’s like some fucking idiot standing in front of a stand of chairs surrounded by rope with a sign saying, “No late seating.”

You walk up, there’s not one seat with anyone in it. You ask the idiot: “Can I get a seat?”

Idiot: “Sorry, sir, the event started 30 minutes ago.”

You: “But, no one’s sitting in there.”

Idiot: “Sure, but you’re 30 minutes late. We don’t seat anyone after the event starts.”

You: “But, it’s not like I’m disturbing anyone…no one’s sitting there!”

Idiot: “Our policy states we don’t seat anyone after the event starts.”

You: “WTF?”

Idiot: “Sorry, sir, those are the rules.”

You: “How about if I give you some money…after all, who’s going to pay for the event?”

Idiot: “No thanks, if you’d like us to give you some money, please step over to the customer service booth.”

You: “Wait, you want to give me money that I’m happy to give you?”

Idiot: “Yes, we don’t need it. Our first priority is customer service.”

You: “I’m a customer.”

Idiot: “And we’d be happy to provide you with service at the booth.”

You: “You love your job, don’t you.”

Idiot: “Sorry, sir, I don’t have a stored response for that statement. Please go to the customer service booth.”

You could almost make a movie out of that…but then, who’d want to be on time for that piece of crap?

Moral of the story: Figure out what you’re here to do. If you really want to take care of your customers, stop gripping your policies like a security blanket and start paying attention to what you’re saying to your customers when they’re most unhappy…you might actually learn something.

out

Tags: , ,
Posted in Bad Business Model, Movies | No Comments »

Microsoft = Anti PC Gaming?

February 16th, 2010

Here’s a prime example of irony. Microsoft is axing the PC version of upcoming thriller Alan Wake. The big question is whether you believe the PR line (that it’s a game better suited to a TV in a living room than the “intimacy” of a PC) or if you want to read between the lines and look at the revenue line ($10 per unit sold isn’t pocket change).

The irony of course is this is coming from the company that CREATED the PC platform (well, the OS at least) and squeezed out the absolutely putrid Games for Windows initiative…you know for the first time in I don’t know how many GFW games I’ve bought the Update function ACTUALLY worked in BioShock 2.

Maybe instead of making a stupid announcement like this they should’ve just said they’re delaying the PC version “until it’s ready” or something lame but less lame than “PC gaming is useless to us”.

Granted, Alan Wake might be a completely stupid game, though Remedy did make Max Payne (and MP2), bringing one of the first if not THE first game to make Bullet Time a key gameplay function. This game’s supposed to be innovative in the use of light and dark…an interesting idea if pulled off right.

But, back to the gripe. I know right now is essentially the polar opposite of the game industry ten years ago when console gamers were griping about not getting a lot of good games that just released for PC only. So, you might expect this sort of uprising…especially after the whole COD MW2 debacle. Plus, more and more games that do make it to PC tend to be hampered with controls that were obviously geared towards a gamepad.

What does this mean? Nothing. It just means PC gaming is slowly being relegated to the state that Mac gaming was in just a few years ago. The better selling games will make it over with sales figures filtering out the crap that doesn’t sell on the console side.

The real downside? Independent game developers who don’t have the benefit of millions of development and marketing dollars might never get to expose their product across platforms if the console gaming crowd (which includes a younger demographic more interested in fast-action games than the type of games coming out of indie establishments).

Honestly, though, Microsoft’s PR department needs a reboot (which just happens to be the best advice for anyone running their OS and having issues). Who cares if you don’t want to worry about or waste time on a PC version of Alan Wake…a game that might make a dent but won’t likely achieve COD/Sims-like numbers when it’s released. Why would you stir up the bee hive with dumb comments like that (especially with Remedy personnel making it look like they don’t have a choice in the matter and are on the PC gamers’ side) when you could just let it lie? Just say nothing: “Alan Wake is hitting shelves this Spring for XBox 360!” If someone asks, just tell them, the standard gaming PR line: “We have not set a release date for the PC version as yet. Stay tuned.”

It’s always funny how Microsoft seems to step on toes all over the fucking place. If it isn’t tossing out substandard OSes (no, I haven’t tried Windows 7 yet…any reason for me to? Right…), mediocre IDEs (though I can’t say any of the open source IDEs out there have impressed me…they try too hard to be everything for everyone), and craptastic Games For Windows support. The whole initiative seems more like Guantanamo than Eden. The funny thing? I think despite the drawbacks of Steam, they’re doing a better job of promoting PC gaming and bringing together a community.

Speaking of Steam, if you get VAC banned, you can’t use any of your games on VAC servers…it’s not just one game…ALL of your games…not that I cheat but all it takes is one Blizzard-like banning event to fubar your game collection. Sort of bullshit if you ask me…

Is there a solution to all this (the PC gaming thing)? Of course, but the game publishers out there don’t really care. They don’t spend time finding a solid anti-piracy solution (including a simple phone home feature similar to online activation with a built-in expiration date so it’s not required after a year or something) and have their developers hack out a simple solution that fails or use something draconian like SecuROM which ends up fucking people’s computers up.

Whatever…here’s to hoping game publishers learn where their money originally came from (and there are still a lot more PCs out there than consoles…just fewer kiddies behind them). And as each subsequent generation starts earlier and earlier with electronics and computers, more of them will be in front of computing devices other than consoles more often (sorry, my console doesn’t go with me when I travel or when I’m at lunch at work). Talk about money on the table…

out

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Game Development | No Comments »

Visual Studio 2005 Slowness

February 6th, 2010

Wow…despite the fact that I know there’s something else going on with my computer that’s slowing everything down when there’s a lot of disk access (e.g. AV scans, large copies, backups), Visual Studio’s been having it’s own fun running slow, especially during initial loads of files and projects.

At first I figured it was just VS being…well…a Microsoft product, combined with the HD issue. Then I decided to see if anyone else had issues and found this. Awesome. I can’t say I had the problem they had (definitely not 15 minutes) but (so far) it seems like it works.

In case the link goes dead, all they did was go to Tools > Import and Export Settings and select the Reset option. It won’t affect add-ons, just the core MS stuff. You will have to go in and change some of your settings back but definitely do NOT try to re-import your saved settings.

I guess the settings get bogged down or some setting gets set without your permission? I’m guessing here…after all, Microsoft products will let software installs to update your registry and other settings on your machine but if you try to do something, it’s all User Account Control, bitch!!

Whatever…suffice it to say, software and OSes developers need a swift kick once in a while to wake them up to their laziness and fragmentation (of teams). Or maybe I need to upgrade to VS 2008 before 2010 comes out…I can’t help it that Microsoft has trained me to stick with what works rather than upgrade to the latest and greatest. Every buggy, overpriced, and fundamentally different (in a bad way) new piece of software just turns me off the “arms race” of keeping up with the latest software.

I get that they need to make money and update the technology but really? I was just thinking about how much I hate the fact that we have to still support IE 7 (and are only just kicking IE6 out like a 20-something kid that needs to get a job). If it wasn’t for the whole software lifecycle process that Microsoft has (anyone notice how FireFox 2 just got it’s ass kicked and that was it?!?), we could be just worrying about IE8 which actually works almost like FF so there’s less of this BS I need to do to support both of them. One stylesheet for both browsers!

Anyhow, enjoy the tip above if it helps you…unless of course you’ve upgraded already and are enjoying the benefits (or trials?) of using VS 2008 or the 2010 rc.

out

Tags: ,
Posted in Microsoft, Visual Studio | No Comments »

Apple iPad: That’s it?

January 27th, 2010

So, the long-awaited Apple Tablet announcement has come and gone. It’s got everyone talking and a subset of them are currently having multiple orgasms over the next “must-have’ tech from Apple.

Am I the only one who’s underwhelmed by this? It’s just an iPhone on steroids. Not even that…that might be more interesting. No, it’s an iPhone with a learning disability. It grew up to be linebacker huge but with no corresponding increase in features and the more “fun” stuff of a novel product. Okay, novel-ish since tablets/slates have been around for a while.

Where’s My Flash?!

The specs are here (or here for those who like it official) and aren’t bad or anything but there are some things missing:

  1. Flash support for the browser (I mean, c’mon)
  2. A web-cam capable camera for iChat (Macbooks have this)
  3. Support for a stylus (think pinpoint touch resolution)
  4. USB ports for peripherals

Note: I swear that article didn’t have its own “what’s missing” list when I started writing this.

In the end, this is just the marriage of the iPhone with an eBook reader. Or, just a glorified eBook reader…taking it away from the computer class and putting it in the gadget class.

Features, Features

It’s all about the features offered (and missing)…who cares that it’s a slate? Been done. Aluminum body some Mac heads will be making love to? You DO have an Air right?

No, outside of the larger multitouch screen (oops, been done), there wasn’t anything new hardware-wise here. It’s about how the damned thing will operate. But, with an iPhone OS…well, there ain’t as much to do in this particular neighborhood.

What you’re going to do with it:

  1. Watch movies and videos
  2. Read books, news, magazines
  3. Listen to music while doing #2
  4. Look at your photos…joy
  5. Fuck around with apps
  6. Play games (1 out of 6 ain’t bad)

What you’re NOT going to do with it:

  1. Replace your notebook in college or when you’re working on that MBA.
  2. Travel with it a lot (laptop vs eBook reader with apps…hmmm)
  3. Connect to the Internet (at least not if you do #2)
  4. Quickly share documents with someone standing next to you
  5. Use this to be productive

Yes, I mentioned the “P” word. My garage is littered with fancy devices that were cool when they came out but ended up in some box. Why? Because once everything wore off and you’re in that gadget afterglow, you realize you have no other use for it. Look at all those iPhone games you’ve loaded onto your phone. How many of them are you really playing actively today? Right.

Potential Productivity

My biggest disappointment is the lack of an app on launch that will do the whole notebook thing. I mean, Christ, it’s called iPAD for crying out loud. And, here’s the funny part: you don’t need to do anything with the hardware really. Check out engadget’s coverage of the iPad…namely the video near the bottom of the article. Now, advance to 0:50 in the video. Watch the part where they’re playing with the presenter’s tools for the presentation. Look at that fucking potential (the yellow lines).

Picture this:

You’re going to a meeting that someone already sent you a PowerPoint for (so organized…must not be a start-up). You’ve loaded that bitch (the PowerPoint, not the meeting organizer) up and are toting all you need: your hot new iPad.

As you follow along with the presenter, you’re drawing lines and funny faces and all sorts of other shit on the presentation itself! Just like you used to with the printed copy you printed/got. Now, you double tap a spot on the presentation and an annotator’s note box shows up and the virtual keyboard activates. BAM, you note how stupid the idea on the slide is and that you need to call Bob ASAP).

Meeting’s over, you head back to your desk and plug that iPad in (will the Thai version be called iPadThai? Yum…). Sync and BOOM all those annotations are on your PC/Mac along with the original (or a copy of) the presentation. Now, you’ve got everything in there and don’t have to manually copy anything in. If it was your sorry assed presentation, you could even update it with the changes you made! Fuck yeah!

Then you wake up and it’s all a dream because Apple things looks beat out features. Surprise, surprise.

Price = Innovation?

Some areas of the media ecosystem, perhaps lacking anything better to say, are talking about the price “revolution”.  Is it a revolution? Sure if you consider paying more for an iPhone a revolution. Of course, Apple is going to try to avoid cannibalizing their Macbook sales. Wouldn’t you want to avoid having people buy an iTouch iPad when they can buy a Macbook for more. Oh wait, this is supposed to be the crowning achievement for Mr. Jobs.

How is this a revolution? It isn’t. It’s an annoyance. If I wanted an iPhone…wait, I HAVE an iPhone. It cost me $299. I’m good. If I wanted a tablet…oh, well, I’ve got a Macbook. Okay, sure, that cost me upwards of $1999. I guess nowadays, it’ll set me back $999 (at the low end).

Realistically, why not just add the needed features  (see above) and price it near $999 or even AT $999 and make it an option. Do you like laptops, grab the Macbook. You want something interesting/cool that actually does what you need? Grab the iPad.

Sure, it might cannibalize some parts of your laptop sales…I mean, it’s natural. It’s a slate, dammit. But, if you can offer it for less than $999, wouldn’t the higher margins that $999 offers you can more than compensate! Besides, the slate isn’t for everyone.

Where’s the Apple Magic?

You want to know where the REAL revolution is? Check that one slide about the AT&T deal. Check out the different bullet points. No, not the one about the $29.99 unlimited data package. This one:

No contract – cancel anytime

Sweet fancy Moses! AT&T isn’t going to milk you with a two-year fucking contract and an early termination fee of $150 or more?!? Isn’t that their bread and butter? How the fuck?

I guess the potential of millions of unlimited data subscribers is enough? I mean, they might lose their iPhone exclusivity so why the fuck–what’s that? Oh, I guess they might not lose it now. Hmm.

Wait a sec…could it be AT&T and Apple managed to do a deal where exclusivity (read: bread and butter) continues but the price AT&T pays is no contracts and a low unlimited data price for 3G? Better yet, could it be that that extra $129 you pay for 3G versions of the iPad isn’t solely to cover the cost of a 3G transmitter/receiver? Could it include a small subsidy that gets passed on to AT&T?

Who knows but it’s the most interesting part of today’s announcement.

What now?

Well, despite all this crap, the question’s out there: will you (or I) get an iPad? I think the answer is: probably. After all, it’s not that expensive and it’s intriguing enough that it’ll be worth the pick up–in a few months.

The MacSlaves will buy it in two months and supply the rest of us with v2 of the iPad when Apple releases a new version six months later with something better.

For the saner of the crazies, we’ll likely pick it up as a birthday gift or other selfish excuse for a gift for ourselves and be done with it. We’ll read our books and flip through our photos and get frustrated at those games that rely on the accelerometer. And, hopefully, by then, someone will have finally invented the REAL iPad app and we can call it a day.

out

Tags: , ,
Posted in Apple, Tablet | No Comments »

Why Verizon Shouldn’t Get The Apple Tablet

January 24th, 2010

Outside of questionable claims of network coverage, there’s just how crappy their ability to offer quality Internet products.

I understand that large companies usually end up with piss poor customer service (I even get pissed at Amazon’s customer service once in a while) but don’t give me this bullshit of pairing a weak router with a high bandwidth Internet connection. After all, why would someone who’s just cruising the Web and checking their e-mail need 25Mbps of download bandwidth?! You’re going to use that for downloads (those bittorrent types) and gamers (like me) who want big assed pipes to get them whatever advantage they can get ping-wise. Besides, with online games (MMOs) and Steam/digital downloads, the more bandwidth the better.

out

Tags: ,
Posted in Verizon | No Comments »

Tablet Games?!

January 21st, 2010

As much as I’m looking forward to the potential of the Apple tablet, I’m also a bit pissed. I wanted a slate/tablet PC ages ago (early 2000s) and at the time they were all Windows-based (which I don’t necessarily mind…I’m not a Machead any more) and they didn’t offer a thing that was compelling over a regular laptop–plus they were more expensive than a more powerful laptop/desktop replacement.

Now, Apple comes along and Jobs swings his mighty wand. BLAM! The tablet market is reborn (though probably for the majority of people out there, it’ll be more like the big bang of the tablet industry).

You could argue that Amazon’s Kindle started this mess but it’s not like the Kindle’s anything but a book reader…or is it?

I don’t know about you but I forgot what it was like to use a monochrome monitor and black and white TV back in the 90s. Why would I want to play some EA game on a Kindle? Unless they unveil the “color” Kindle tomorrow, I’m not biting. It’s a friggin book people…

Meanwhile, the fervor over Jobs’ master creation that he’s so anxious to unveil continues to mount (I’m telling you, I would have to laugh if the Jan 27 announcement has nothing to do with the tablet…that would be typical Jobs dangling the carrot in front of all us asses).

A tablet renaissance is coming and it could eventually mean the end of the laptop. After all, the netbook craze came and sort of went (it’s still out there but the news isn’t covering it like it used to). But, that already created a sort of subniche off the main portable computer industry. With the tablets–which had been relegated to the fringes of PC land–you’re going to see (assuming Apple’s designers did the right thing) a huge rush to make tablets and carve out a piece of the “new” market.

The thing is, though, are we really getting anything worthwhile? So, what if we get some fancy Mac tablet (and eventually some updated PC tablets)? iPhones did a great job of opening up the smart phone market to people who probably wouldn’t have bought an HTC and didn’t care to hassle with Windows Mobile. iPods made MP3 players hip (and took them away from the geek alpha dogs). Will the iTablet/iSlate/iFlatiMac change the PC industry as a whole? Probably. But not by as much as the other devices. Most people already own a computer of some kind. Of course, they might decide to go Mac now and make Apple the 2% marketshare company (as opposed to 1%).

One thing it might do, though, is kick the PC industry in the pants again. And that’s always fun to watch…

out

Tags: ,
Posted in Apple | No Comments »

NY Times Relives the Past

January 20th, 2010

I love this (and how ironic that it’s the NYT reporting this). The NY Times is talking about giving people a taste of a few articles a month and then charging for more articles. I’m sorry but didn’t they try this back in 2003 or 2004 (this was before TimesSelect)? What happened then? Oh, yeah, it FAILED.

Listen, NYT, I love you and all but you’ve got to really spend some time out in the real world. You’ve got two problems:

1) Everyone expects news to be free or cheap

2) You’re already giving it to peeps for free

I know advertising isn’t working, why would it in the Web 2.5 world?

What should you do, you ask? Well, I think it’s time for you to figure out what you’re business is. Are you out to make sure the world knows what’s going on…in…uh…the world? Or are you out to make money?

If the former, then you go girl. You’re there.

If the latter, well, I’ve got some news for you (no pun intended…okay, maybe it was): it’s going to hurt.

Why? Because if you really want to make some money in a world where banner advertising is as hip and modern as polyester pants and long lapels and information is king, then you’ve got to start charging for admission. Yes, you’re going to lose a lot of traffic and a lot of people but thems is the breaks.

After all, you wouldn’t print up a million copies of your print newspaper and just give it away for free…wait…you do? Promotional copies to sucker people into getting subscriptions? Okay, how’s that going for you? Subscriptions drooping?

Listen, you’ve got to decide what the benefits are to signing up for a sub and what that subscription should be. The old model you tried (and failed with) was dumb because you could just keep up to date on the news and never need to go back to the “archive” to view an article. Even so, people aren’t going to be happy about paying to view some older article.

You’ve got a community thing going, which is good, so, why not just tier it up so that you’ve got a freebie bottom tier that requires signup to get access to pretty much anything and gives them limited access (say only the main news thread). It allows people to sign up and get the news. Be sure to include access to community tools and forums. Give them a reason to keep coming back.

Next, create a couple of tiers above based on frequency. Let me sign up for a monthly fee ($3-5/mo) to get access to the bulk of the news items (various sections, articles, etc.). Give me something special like the ability to create my own news channel based on keywords or sections. Give me fewer ads to clutter up my life so I feel like the money was worth it. Give me special partner offers that give you some income but also aren’t stupid like magazine subscriptions and other bullshit. Oh and yes, for this and the freebie tiers, you can archive articles after a couple weeks or so and require me to pay some sort of premium to get “digital reprints” of articles. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Finally, offer a premium package. Charge something like $10/mo and give me full, unhindered access to recent and archived articles. Give me some other perks like a digital book of the month club that ties in with Kindle or Nook.  Give me access to exclusive content (Sunday magazine-style articles and video!!).

And, through all this, give all of them tools to share the articles and get the word out there on Facebook and Twitter.

Oh, and about that article archive, roll a couple of one-off packages. $1.00 for 5 articles, $3.00 for 10, etc. If all I want is to grab a couple of articles, then I pay my $1.00 and have that credit until I use it up. I can grab that digital reprint which you can offer as a standard Web page when I’m viewing it in my account (logged in) and that can be shared amongst other NYT users. And, you can offer me a PDF version I can download and send around as well.

Remember, your ultimate user…the guy who’s going to really pay your bills, will be the one who sticks around, not the ones stumbling upon your doorstep because they searched for Michael Jackson or Haiti. Treat them right and they’ll pay. Keep the prices low (but frequently collected) and you can actually eek out a living. You can still have your advertising and the like but I’d suggest doing a more targeted sponsorship thing rather than dropping ads left and right from whoever will pay.

Now get out there kiddo and find yourself a business model…

Tags:
Posted in Newspapers | No Comments »

Apple Tablet = Verizon Exclusive? Ugh…

January 20th, 2010

Not sure if this is a complete lock-in but if TheStreet.com is right, then the Apple tablet’s wireless traffic is going to head for Verizon.

Like the article says, the good news is that means you’ve got a chance to grab a tablet subsidized down from whatever high list price Apple will likely slap on it.

The bad news is you’ve got to use Verizon. Granted, they’re 100x better than T-Mobile. But, my experience with them a few years ago was enough to drive me to Cingular (pre-AT&T “our-name-is-better” Wireless). They’ve got the best coverage? The best network, you say? Wonderful…except when your calls keep dropping out mid conversation because you passed some stupid “bubble” in their network. You’d think that driving through the middle of Los Angeles would leave you largely immune to that when you’re with a company that touts its network coverage.

Not to say that AT&T is some sort of white knight in all this. Five bars is great but if nothing’s passing through those five bars, who gives a fuck?

In the end though, you all will win to some extent. You’re going to be locked in to two-year contract but you might save a lot. After all, the new iPhones (each time they come out) list around $599 to $699 without the subsidy. But, then go down to $199 to $299 with it.

If the tablet comes out at around $999 or $1299 list, then the question is how much is Verizon willing to subsidize that sucker? We’re talking 100% more expensive than the iPhones that AT&T subsidized but despite that subsidy, AT&T profited.

I’m thinking they’re going to go for 30-50%. It’s costly but they’re also probably anticipating this to be the next “iProfit” device from Apple, whether it ultimately delivers or not. Apple’s track record so far would tend to back that up but then again, tablets have been around for years and no one’s really cared. Apple and it’s whole design aesthetic might be what pushes the tablet market into the mainstream but it’ll all depend on how they deliver the apps on it.

Unfortunately, all we can do is wait…seven days before we find out more (unless Apple pulls a fast one and just “shows” the press iTunes with books on it…I’d love that.

out

Tags: ,
Posted in Apple | No Comments »

Microsoft’s Secret Crush on Apple

January 6th, 2010

So, the NY Times is saying Ballmer is going to announce Microsoft’s own slate tablet that it brewed up with HP at CES. Gizmodo’s got a demo of a prototype (which looks like it’s virtual until you see the photos further down…okay, it still looks virtual).

Let’s start with the device first. I’m torn here. On the one hand it looks like what you’d expect a business-centric slate device should look like: an organizer. The ability to mix handwritten notes with photos and the like are a given (I mean, otherwise, you’d have an early 2000s slate PC which didn’t take off for a reason…who wants a boring barely functional PC?). The multi-touch support is also a given now that the iPhone is so ingrained into society as a whole now.

But on the other hand, just like my Palm which is sitting in some box somewhere with CAT3 cables and some dohickey for some device I no longer have, if all it does is act as a glorified personal organizer, why in the hell would I pay $1000 for that? Why not just pay $50 and get a paper organizer and be done with it?

If that’s the extent of what the tablet’s going to be able to do (I’m assuming Microsoft’s hoping there’ll be more apps but I’m also assuming they’re going to make sure Word, Excel, and Powerpoint all work on it…right? Hello?), it’s useless beyond being something to show off in a few years as a “this is what it used to look like before they made it better”…kinda like those brick cell phones from the 80′s.

Granted, I have no idea if Apple’s going to be smart enough not to make their tablet a larger version of an iPhone (iPhone 3GSH…the H is for HUGE). But, they’ve also got to be thinking the device HAS to to somehow leverage their App Store. I mean, you’ve got to be stupid (or Apple) to scrap a huge industry you created yourself just so you can shine a spotlight on some new creation from the darkest regions of your R&D labs.

Now back to our show. Or rather, Microsoft’s. Pretty funny that we only just got wind of the tablet announcement the day of Ballmer’s keynote. I mean, after all, doesn’t someone who’s keynoting one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) electronics conventions in the world plan their speach ahead of time. It couldn’t be because Jobs blew a sweet kiss of rumor talk into the ear of the WSJ just a couple days ago and because Macworld Expo is around the corner, could it? Couldn’t Microsoft just announced it at Macworld–oh, yeah, they only sorta like the Mac.

Maybe Microsoft should stop playing the frenemy card and just ask Apple out. Tell Apple how beautiful their designs are…for people who like designs. And show off your every-day-practical design and engineering…you know, the same design engineering that made Vista such a success.

Or maybe, you could talk about how great it would be, now that Macs run on the same hardware as PCs, if you could just figure out a better way to let Macheads and Windozers just-just get along.

On the plus side (for me; Microsoft, we’re done here, move along), at least this means Apple will have some potential competition (in some demographics). But, Apple’s track record means, all that will happen is Apple will keep it’s price at $1000 and Microsoft/HP will down it to $750 somehow ($850 with Microsoft Office bundled with it! A savings of over $199!!!!).

Stay tuned…

out

Tags: , ,
Posted in Apple, Microsoft, Tablet | No Comments »

Apple Tablet Coming…Duh…

January 4th, 2010

It seems mainstream (read: non-technical) media is catching up on the whole Apple Tablet thing and the fact that Macworld is coming in just a month. The Wall Street Journal posted a little tidbit on the fact that an announcement is imminent for February and a tablet might ship in March though that estimate “could change”. Surprise, surprise.

I guess all we can do is wait…until some guy at Apple who craves attention leaks out more details prior to Macworld. Of course, we won’t know if that’s Jobs and his disinformation used to root out the treasonous unfaithful from his sect.

out

UPDATE: I guess WSJ adjusted the wording of their article but TechCrunch seems to be more concerned with pricing. $1000 doesn’t seem to be enough for a tablet device.  Really? You think so? What about this line:

“…such a price could include a subscription to a nationwide Wi-Fi wireless service such as those run by AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, which provide Internet access at thousands of hot-spots such as airports, hotels and restaurants.”

Have you considered the possibility that $1000 is the subsidized price? They could throw it out there for $1500-2000 retail and give it to you for $1000 with a two-year contract with AT&T or whoever. In fact, doing that and making that carrier the exclusive seller of the tablet for a couple years could make it easier for them (relationship-wise) to start offering the iPhone on other carriers in the US. Stay tuned…

Tags: ,
Posted in Apple | No Comments »

« Older Entries