* Posts by David H Dennis

5 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Dec 2007

Apple cancels Christmas... if you want a 27 inch iMac

David H Dennis
Jobs Halo

I bought a 27" iMac 16 days ago.

I got the 27" quad-core i5 model that is the highest-end model available at Apple's retail stores. Purchased it on Black Friday to take advantage of the sale.

It's behaved absolutely flawlessly so far - superbly fast and the screen's a gem.

Best computer I've ever owned.

I like buying retail so that if there is something wrong I can simply exchange it for a new one. Pity that prevented me from buying the i7 model, but it's less than 10% faster than the one I have.

For some reason Apple is very efficient making the all in one machines. It cost US$1,899 and costs far, far less than the equivalent Mac Pro without a monitor. Even the combination of a similarly-specced Dell with a comparable resolution monitor is a few hundred dollars more expensive.

I'm sorry Apple's having trouble building them, but the machine itself is first-rate and I'm extremely happy with it.

D

Android and WebOS join iPhone on AT&T

David H Dennis
Black Helicopters

Palm/AT&T

The Palm product looks like the old-style Palm phone, not the Pre, and the $350 retail price seems almost double what it should be to compete. If that's how Palm's doing, the iPhone can pretty much laugh this one off.

D

Financial meltdown hits Hilton where it hurts

David H Dennis

Seems to me ...

that people are just discovering that she's grudging in giving any value in return for her appearance fees, and that's pulling them down.

I'm not even convinced that has anything to do with the recession, just her apparent obnoxiousness.

D

The iPhone App Store - a classic protection racket

David H Dennis
Thumb Down

An iPhone developer's point of view

There are plenty of negative things you can say about Apple if you want, but the App store is a brilliant idea that was superbly executed.

Apple's 30% is a great deal. I don't have to devote even one second to maintaining the software and systems that run my storefront. It's like if I wanted to lease a high street store, and the people I'm leasing to offered to provide all the employees and advertising as well, so I could just sit at home, provide the products and take the profits.

Now there are some practices I wish they would change. For instance, they don't pay you on sales from any territory until they exceed US$250. On the other hand, on my own I would be completely unable to handle the complexities of foreign sales.

I don't think Apple's going to increase the cut. Why? Because their deals with record companies and others have remained stable over time. They seem to start a financial arrangement and stick to it. I think they are more interested in creating a stable marketplace where everyone makes money than sucking up every dollar that's on the table.

D

iPhone tops mobile browsing charts

David H Dennis

iPod Touch brings in an additional 0.01%

So the total for iPhone + iPod Touch is 0.1%, or one in 1000.

The iPhone is a great Internet device. I use mine to browse the Internet all the time, often while I'm in bed or on the move. Sometimes I even prefer iPhone to the desktop when I'm in the mood to hold the device instead of moving myself over to it as you need to do with a PC or laptop. Of course thanks to tabs and new windows, the desktop is way superior once you need to browse more than one page at a time.

Unlimited data plans are not that uncommon; people with Blackberries generally have them. I checked out a Blackberry that had an unlimited data plan, but the web browsing worked so badly it was embarassing. I can't help but notice that Blackberry didn't show up in those figures at all.

Also, last time I looked, all T-Mobile Sidekicks (Danger Hiptops) are on an unlimited data plan.

I think it's reasonable to conclude that you have to have both a great device AND an unlimited data plan before you get any substantial amount of web browsing done on a phone. Clearly iPhone qualifies, and the figures back me up.

D