Angry iPhone user suing Apple for $1 million

[jaymzbo]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/10/02/a....ap/index.html

I can understand being angry about the price being slashed 1/3 after only a couple of months, but how does one arrive at the sum of one million in damages? Am I the only one who thinks there are frivolous lawsuits aplenty these days? Seems ridiculous to me. It would seem that price cuts and new competing technologies go hand-in-hand, but may be I'm wrong?

Thought I get some other opinions. Thanks in advance.

[GasCat]

It must be the emotional damages caused by their friends laughing. We all should have bought one, we'd be millionaires.

[WickyWoo]

Frankly I see it as the penalty the guy pays for paying Apple's huge markups in the first place. The phone, even after you count R&D, advertsiing and everything else (which is covered by the huge $$ AT&T paid) costs under $300, and Apple is getting $6/user/month to boot. With standard industry markup, it would retail at $349.99

They do this on every product (this is the worst yet though), and people don't learn that you can get products that are just as good without the fashion accessory factor for much less money.

So in summary, you buy Apple products, you already know they're jacking you, so you deserve what you get

[Footloose301]

Yeah that woman is crazy. I read that story about a week ago on the Apple forum, everybody is making fun of her. I hope she gets $100 out of it and then has to pay for Apple's court fees.

[jaymzbo]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

So in summary, you buy Apple products, you already know they're jacking you, so you deserve what you get

An interesting point. I guess I am in the dark about Apple in general as I have always had IBM and later Microsoft pcs. Recently I have become so disgusted with Microsoft I was considering Apple for my next pc. But if they're really overpriced, I won't go that route.

[jcdDigix]

No one can force money out of your pocket. So you like something you can afford, you buy it. Simple. That happens everyday when companies see things that we will take months to figure out.
Anyway that's America. By now we should get used to that.
By the way I'm using the 8GB iPhone and lovin' it!

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by jaymzbo

An interesting point. I guess I am in the dark about Apple in general as I have always had IBM and later Microsoft pcs. Recently I have become so disgusted with Microsoft I was considering Apple for my next pc. But if they're really overpriced, I won't go that route.

Thats his opinion. Many of us believe Apple is worth every penny. It is a completely different OS which is much more advanced. Its practically free of viruses, worms, etc... which is a huge problem with MS. Windows secretly downloads various things behind the scenes like viruses or spyware, etc and you would never know it. With Apple you don't have those problems. Whenever something wants to attach itself to your computer there is a box that pops up and asks you to type your password to confirm installation of whatever it may be, no more getting stabbed in the back when visting websites or opening emails.

Also you get better quality with Apple. Just the feel and look of everything is proof. I have the MacBook Pro and the keyboard lights up, built-in camera, HD locking feature that protects the HD in case you drop it, only 1" thin, DVI out, disc slot instead of tray, and sooooo much more.

The computer overall is much easier to use. When adding cameras or printers or whatever, the computer simply recognizes and sets up automatically without need of "Printer wizards" and other programs. Also, no need to restart your computer after installs like Windows.

Overall it is a much better computer, hence the pricing. Why else do you think they can sell so many of them with a large mark up? People will pay it because its worth it.

[jcdDigix]

I'm thinking about switching completely to Apple by early 2008. I am sick of M$ already!

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by jcdDigix

I'm thinking about switching completely to Apple by early 2008. I am sick of M$ already!

Your not the only one. Been considering a swith to apple for a little while now. Have to wait until I have money to test the waters.

Anyways, this lady is ****ing stupid. It's new technology. If all the companies refunded peoples money that bought items prior to a price cut, the world would be bankrupt. Granted within a certain time frame, 30 days is fine. Anything beyond that is fair game.

Shes being a ***** and I hope she looses. 1 Million. Pff. Suck my nads

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by jcdDigix

By the way I'm using the 8GB iPhone and lovin' it!

Thats how I do most of my posts around here. Can't beat how easy Safari is on the iPhone. Too bad theres no copy/paste feature yet..... so I know you cheated and posted that pic with your computer haha

[WickyWoo]

An interesting point. I guess I am in the dark about Apple in general as I have always had IBM and later Microsoft pcs. Recently I have become so disgusted with Microsoft I was considering Apple for my next pc. But if they're really overpriced, I won't go that route.

Their market share on PCs got too small, so they had to stop the ludicrous markups, especially after most schools realized the discount wasn't worth it because no business outside of art-related ones were using macs so it wasn't prepping the kids. Now they just ship you a PC with an identifier on the motherboard that says "I'm a Mac" that OSX is keyed to. All the gouging is strictly in the consumer electronics division now.

[jaymzbo]

Yeah, one million seems entirely laughable. If for some reason she did win though, I'd be concerned about the legal precedent set.

On an another note, I've still got lots of life in my current pc and will have time to research getting an Apple. If the quality is really good, I won't mind paying a premium. I'm a long time Sony consumer and am used to paying a little more for quality.

[GasCat]

The OS reminds me of Linux. Try either Red Hat or SuSe if you do not want to get a new PC but want to dump M$.

My first new MacBook Pro I purchased had an issue with the screen. The second one has a slight bleeding problem along the bottom but after calibrating it, I am satisfied.

I paid 1800 dollars with my education discount. It included a free iPod Nano and a free printer(after rebates). Not a bad deal IMO. The freebies pretty much equalized the deal and the resale value for it right now is 1400 dollars. I don't think a used Dell would fetch anywhere near that much.

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Frankly I see it as the penalty the guy pays for paying Apple's huge markups in the first place. The phone, even after you count R&D, advertsiing and everything else (which is covered by the huge $$ AT&T paid) costs under $300, and Apple is getting $6/user/month to boot. With standard industry markup, it would retail at $349.99

They do this on every product (this is the worst yet though), and people don't learn that you can get products that are just as good without the fashion accessory factor for much less money.

So in summary, you buy Apple products, you already know they're jacking you, so you deserve what you get

Wicky, are you a Microsoft supporter? You really seem to critisize Apple. What do you have against Apple?

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by Footloose301

Thats how I do most of my posts around here. Can't beat how easy Safari is on the iPhone. Too bad theres no copy/paste feature yet..... so I know you cheated and posted that pic with your computer haha

I think I know why there isn't copy & paste on iPhone.

When the first Mac came out that used a mouse, Apple removed the directional keyboard keys so the user would use the mouse more.

The iPhone way is different. For anything you might want to use in another app, Apple has tried to anticipate the common cases and make them directly available. You don’t copy a picture you took in the Camera app, switch to MobileMail, and paste it into a message; you tap the photo to bring up the toolbar, tap the “do something with this picture” button, and then tap the Email Photo button. You don’t copy a URL from MobileSafari, switch to Mail, and paste it into a message; you tap the URL, then click the Share button that appears. (Which button really should be labeled “Email”, unless and until it offers sharing options other than sending an email.)

Get it now?

[Shadowself]

Originally Posted by Aaron

When the first Mac came out that used a mouse, Apple removed the directional keyboard keys so the user would use the mouse more.

Actually when the design decisions were first formalized about the thin man (what the original 128k Mac was called after the 512 and Plus were announced) it was by direction from Steve that it not have function keys, direction keys, numerical keypad or anything of the like. Steve has even been quoted (misquoted?) as stating in the early days that there will never be a numerical keypad on a Macintosh keyboard. Obviously that did not hold up.

All key stroke functions were done with the command key and other such modifiers rather than with function keys and such. In fact the original human interface guidelines were designed stating that software developers were to minimize the number of functions that required the use of a mouse. (Clearly some operations required the use of a mouse, e.g., drawing in MacPaint.) The goal was to be able to do as much with the keyboard as possible. This is why Apple strongly pushed that developers put "command keys", as they were commonly referred to back then, for all menu items as well as many functions that were not in menus.

The basic concept was to simplify the human interface: as much as is realistic with the basic keyboard and the rest with the mouse. The user was supposed to use which ever (keyboard or mouse) was best for them. This turned out to be a restrictive system, and Apple started shipping keyboards with numerical keypads, direction keys, function keys and such.

However, unfortunately, there is still the occasional throwback to those old concepts -- case in point: the new wireless keyboard for the newest iMac. IMO, just plain dumb

[WickyWoo]

Wicky, are you a Microsoft supporter? You really seem to critisize Apple. What do you have against Apple?

<rant>
1- You can't build your own
2- The OS is made by Fisher Price, I can't stand it.
3- Crippled hardware, good luck finding a PCIe slot on most Macs for a graphics card upgrade. Same parts far more expensive than a PC counterpart
4- Impossible to fix hardware on your own outside of a hard drive or something.
5- Steve Jobs is far worse of a control freak/megalomaniac than Bill Gates ever was, if their roles were reversed you would be buying nothing but Microsoft computers. In addition his charity donations from his bajillions(contrary to Woz) are pithy. Even just watching the Apple-stroking film "Pirates of Silicon Valley" (why didn't they have Bill Gates stroking a white cat, and how often did he tent his fingers evilly?) Isn't it amazing how much they got to shoot at Apple headquarters?)
6- Mice have more than one button, even with the recent introduction of OS based support it's still weak, and you can tell they were forced into it kicking and screaming
7- The repeated gouging of customers. Until a few years ago I could build 3 PCs of equal processing power for the price I'd pay Apple for one of their prebuilds. Jobs has spent 20 years building his Church, and there's a huge number of people out there who will buy anything with an Apple logo, no matter how crappy or overpriced it is and he knows it. I bet he wishes he thought up Microsoft Bob, they probably would have sold a million copies.
8- Games. Paying EA to release a few year-old titles, big whoop. While there's a few token companies like iD or blizzard out there. 95% of games never hit Mac, and 98% don't hit within a year of release.

And probably a hundred more

I don't support Windows, I have Windows because it's what the stuff I need to use runs on. I don't use Linux, because my stuff doesn't run on it and I don't care to boot multiple OSes.

You're not paying a premium for quality, you're paying a premium for a logo. MacOS has the same advantages HD DVD does. There's very few in comparison hardware combinations out there, since they make all their own hardware. Making a "universal" OS is not an easy one, and Windows has huge problems with bloatware and the like, but virtually everything works like it should nowadays, an impressive achievement while maintaining a system that anyone can design for, and anyone can program for through publically available documents

You know why "DVD-ROM features will notwork on a Macintosh"? Because Apple wouldn't give out the hooks for anyone else to write a DVD player software. The only reason why the EU isn't chasing after them is their tiny market share and the profits to be gained from a company suing them wouldn't equal the cost of the lawsuit.

In conclusion. Apple is everything and more that people claim they hate Microsoft for, but because Jobs wasn't as smart on the business end, and never quite got up there because of it. Their hardware is mediocre, their products overpriced, and their "innovations" generally derivative, gimmicky or inconsequential (ooh it's a touch wheel instead of moving something around, too bad it's got such low DPI). It's all gimmick, hype, and marketing.

</rant>

You're free to disagree with me, but I don't think any of my points are invalid in a rational context (OS by Fisher price worded as a subjective opinion)

Either way, you cannot deny the gouging that Apple is doing on iPhone and iPod with their 200% markups, easily 3x industry standard of 35% over cost. Add on top of that $6 for every user every month of their contract and the fact that the little R&D they did before shoving a bunch of existing parts together was more than paid for by selling exclusive rights, there is no excuse for it.

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by Aaron

I think I know why there isn't copy & paste on iPhone.

When the first Mac came out that used a mouse, Apple removed the directional keyboard keys so the user would use the mouse more.

The iPhone way is different. For anything you might want to use in another app, Apple has tried to anticipate the common cases and make them directly available. You don’t copy a picture you took in the Camera app, switch to MobileMail, and paste it into a message; you tap the photo to bring up the toolbar, tap the “do something with this picture” button, and then tap the Email Photo button. You don’t copy a URL from MobileSafari, switch to Mail, and paste it into a message; you tap the URL, then click the Share button that appears. (Which button really should be labeled “Email”, unless and until it offers sharing options other than sending an email.)

Get it now?

ehhh, nope. Read your post probably 20 times and have been trying with the iPhone for about an hour now and can't figure it out.

I see the "Share" button and you click it and it goes into "Mail" but you're just emailing somebody, not posting.....

Would be so much easier if Apple would give us copy/paste feature.

[GasCat]

But what do you REALLY think Wicly?

They have some nice little features actually. I am just getting used to how things work. Me thinks that you may have the problem of not being able to convert. Have you ever tried Linux or another OS other than Windows? It's equally tough after so many years of M$. Like I said earlier, their OS reminds me a lot of either RedHat or Suse. Alot.

The thing that really bugs me is I am fairly good in Windows. I know things less than 5 percent of users know. Leaving all that knowledge behind and entering the world of Apple is hard.

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by GasCat

But what do you REALLY think Wicly?

They have some nice little features actually. I am just getting used to how things work. Me thinks that you may have the problem of not being able to convert. Have you ever tried Linux or another OS other than Windows? It's equally tough after so many years of M$. Like I said earlier, their OS reminds me a lot of either RedHat or Suse. Alot.

The thing that really bugs me is I am fairly good in Windows. I know things less than 5 percent of users know. Leaving all that knowledge behind and entering the world of Apple is hard.

It was easy for me to switch over because of the "Fischer Price" idea haha.

I took computer programming for a few years including C++ and Visual Basic and some CAD and a few other things. I don't miss Windows a single bit, I'll never go back.