The Fuzzy Treatment: State of the Zoom Today.

DroidMastar2

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What concessions has Apple made? Also, what other products has Apple raised the price on when they released a new one?
Carrier-locked phones come to mind. The iPhone used to be totally unlocked, at least in every other country, and now (just to grab an example) in Canada every carrier that carries the iPhone now has a phone that's locked into that carrier.

Now let's look at the tech side of things. I'm going to take this from an article that explains it fairly well and is a lot faster than trying to type it out.
On the Q1 earnings call, acting CEO Tim Cook said the current structure of handset sales was "poorly constructed", and that Apple would try to "innovate" and provide "clever" solutions to the market. Several projects have pointed to a world where iPhones and iPads would be easily transferable between networks, and the customer relationship would be with Apple – not the cellco. A dual-mode phone or tablet that could span GSM and CDMA, using a chip such as Qualcomm's Gobi, for instance; the idea for an integrated SIM card which could be remotely activated by Apple, not the operator, as floated in Europe last year – even an Apple MVNO.

All these would break down the ties between the mobile consumer and the cellco – but none of them showed up in the iPad 2. Indeed, in some markets the new tablet made more nods to the operators' interests than the first one.

We're both familiar with the AT&T iPhone and that Verizon now has their own version of the iPhone, but the lack of a Gobi-type feature being included in, say, the VeriPhone or the iPad 2 means these remain locked into their respective carriers. That's not a concession?

Canada – where users could previously switch between the cellcos with a simple microSIM swap – there are now specific models tied to each of the three supporting operators. This is likely to be repeated in other markets, especially as cellcos, particularly in Europe, start to subsidise iPads and compete to offer special deals, cellphone-style.

These are carefully-crafted, consumer-transparent maneuvers to please the carriers who are moving more and more to Android phones to flush out their portfolios of phones, rather than continuing to slip into bed with Apple.

So, as more and more users get disillusioned with Apple and the slow growth of the hardware when they see Android phones and tablets rocketing into the stars with speed and features and, let's face it, models to fit individuals instead of Apples one-side-kinda-fits-all approach, something has to give. In this case, it's Apple not raising the price even though their prices are rising -- this says it's not looking quite as good for Apple as they had planned. Eventually the inertia that continues to carry Apple forward is going to run out; they realize this.

Apple has been pretty consistent with their pricing for the most part. Look at the IPod/IPod Touch. There is no major competition there and every year when a new gen has been released it has taken the price of the old gen device, despite rising costs of hardware (an the price of hardware has been on a steady rise for the past few years). And at the end of the day, despite how the few people that hate apple feel, there are going to be the same people upgrading to the IPad 2 (i know I am) and using IPods. I'm a fan of the user friendliness of the IPod. I greatly enjoy how customizable the android OS is... but I also find the iOS smoother. I have the Original Droid, an IPhone, and an Atrix. I'm not biased on either side. I just recognize the strengths and weaknesses of both.

Also, when you quote articles you should find articles from more than one perspective to rule out biased information. I mean I was just reading an article the other day about how/why the IPad/Ipad 2 will excel over other tablets.
 

DaWolf85

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Apple has been pretty consistent with their pricing for the most part. Look at the IPod/IPod Touch. There is no major competition there and every year when a new gen has been released it has taken the price of the old gen device, despite rising costs of hardware (an the price of hardware has been on a steady rise for the past few years). And at the end of the day, despite how the few people that hate apple feel, there are going to be the same people upgrading to the IPad 2 (i know I am) and using IPods. I'm a fan of the user friendliness of the IPod. I greatly enjoy how customizable the android OS is... but I also find the iOS smoother. I have the Original Droid, an IPhone, and an Atrix. I'm not biased on either side. I just recognize the strengths and weaknesses of both.

Also, when you quote articles you should find articles from more than one perspective to rule out biased information. I mean I was just reading an article the other day about how/why the IPad/Ipad 2 will excel over other tablets.
Slight correction there - the iPod Touch 3rd gen did not have an 8gb model (they sold one, but it was the 2nd gen), and then when they finally did upgrade the 8gb model, the price went up by $50 to $249. So the 8GB model iPod Touch has been showing some impact from the rising hardware costs - I assume, because it's their lowest-priced model, that it has significantly lower returns than the higher-priced models.
 

VitsDroid

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well i have had my xoom for all of 4 days nows and i like it. The drawbacks that are here today will dwindle with time as google releases updates. It is a google experience device like the nexus so we will get the updates quick. Just as a thought there are people here that are saying they will go to Ipad 2, why? I understand if youre just a consumer and just want something very easy to use and have decions made for you. But if you are reading this site you are more than just a consumer. Issue 1, no flash right now and its so noticeable especially if you already have a 2.2 phone with flash. The good news is, is that adobe will release 10.2 for us xoom owners shortly while I cant even consider the ipad because it will never have it. Issue 2, buggy honeycomb but google will take care of that. issue 3, apps. Since i have had the xoom the tablet apps have doubled! Over all, if i was buying a tab for mom or granny i would probably go with ipad, for my friends or relatives that grew up with a cell phone or techy i would say xoom all the way. If you dont want to grow with your xoom, wait till honeycomb matures. Af for price i cant complain cause i got mine for 25% off without contract.
 

czerdrill

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well i have had my xoom for all of 4 days nows and i like it. The drawbacks that are here today will dwindle with time as google releases updates. It is a google experience device like the nexus so we will get the updates quick. Just as a thought there are people here that are saying they will go to Ipad 2, why? I understand if youre just a consumer and just want something very easy to use and have decions made for you. But if you are reading this site you are more than just a consumer. Issue 1, no flash right now and its so noticeable especially if you already have a 2.2 phone with flash. The good news is, is that adobe will release 10.2 for us xoom owners shortly while I cant even consider the ipad because it will never have it. Issue 2, buggy honeycomb but google will take care of that. issue 3, apps. Since i have had the xoom the tablet apps have doubled! Over all, if i was buying a tab for mom or granny i would probably go with ipad, for my friends or relatives that grew up with a cell phone or techy i would say xoom all the way. If you dont want to grow with your xoom, wait till honeycomb matures. Af for price i cant complain cause i got mine for 25% off without contract.

Aren't the nexus phones co-manufactured by Google? I highly doubt you will get updates at the same speed as the nexus phones from motorola.

The flash thing, i guess it's important to some, but with flash i look at it as the same thing as a moonroof. sure it's cool to say you have one, but do people really use their moonroofs all the time? do they use it even half the time? Flash is just an "i have it na na na" argument in my eyes. But I guess there are people out there who play games in a web browser on their mobile phones...can't imagine why they'd do that, but ok.

issue 2 that you mentioned, the bugs, that's going to be there no matter what. android has improved leaps and bounds, but it's buggy.

issue 3, apps is another thing that i think is like "i have it and you dont" Whenever ios users scream about 300,000 or whatever apps, i just laugh because i know 299,000 of them are probably useless. However...it is a selling point regardless of whether they're useful or not. 300,000 apps!! sounds so much better then 16 apps and more coming!! So people will get the iPad for that reason alone.
 

accellpo

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I must be the only person totally happy with my xoom. I'm sick of the b!tching about price! If you can't afford it then wait for something more affordable or get the Nook. Who cares about the weak ipad! Its not in the same class as the Xoom! The Xoom is a tablet and the ipad is a big iPhone. The 2 shouldn't even be compared. Motorola and Verizon let it be known ahead of time that you'd have to wait for 4g and flash. They never tricked anyone. You either take it or leave it. The Xoom has been a great experience for me that will only get better.
 

jaycemiskel

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It's not that I can't afford it, I could walk into the store and buy a few of them right now. It's that it's not worth it. I'm all for being an early adopter when the price is right but to me the Xoom is priced too high and when they bring it down (which more than likely will happen in a little while) they'll be admitting that it's true. Just my .02.
 

HamDog

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The flash thing, i guess it's important to some, but with flash i look at it as the same thing as a moonroof. sure it's cool to say you have one, but do people really use their moonroofs all the time? do they use it even half the time? Flash is just an "i have it na na na" argument in my eyes. But I guess there are people out there who play games in a web browser on their mobile phones...can't imagine why they'd do that, but ok.

Sorry, but I think the "moon-roof" and "Flash" analogy is extremely flawed. You use a moon-roof at your leisure. Flash is required for certain websites. And it's not just for games. It's used for videos as well. Personally, I trade stocks and all good sites with complex charts use flash. Wall Street Journal uses Flash. It's a very important business tool for many. And it costs them a ton of money to change everything to HTML 5 anytime soon.

Personally, I've been extremely disappointed with Flash on my Droid. To me, it's almost unusable. It's just too slow and difficult to navigate. But my Droid is first generation and am hoping things will improve as processors become faster.

Personally, I have no need for a tablet. To me, it's just a toy to mess around. I understand how it can serve a purpose for others though. If I were to buy a tablet (for a toy to play with), I wouldn't even consider one without Flash. And I certainly hope Flash on the Xoom will run much better than it does on my Droid.
 
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Quality control...

Let's say that maybe it was MORE cost effective to ship without the lte cards that could have been defective, have them proven and made more reliable, and then installed and shipped back to you. Also to prevent angry consumers from trying to sue. Id rather have ppl angry for waiting than lawsuits pile up for selling a defective product.

FedEx 2-day can cost, depending on zone, $51 before tax and fuel surcharges for a 2-pound package. Now, that's retail, but still. Assuming an average of $40 in shipping (FedEx only) costs per unit, round-trip total, you're still looking at a 5% tariff per unit before the costs of the card plus installation and handling to get it shipped back. How much those are actually going to cost is anyone's guess unless we see some numbers, but the fact is I seriously doubt the functional yield on the 4G cards was that bad for the first run. I have nothing to back that up, true, nor any articles that back up my "biased" viewpoint (read, opinion), but I can say with certainty that in my opinion it would have been cheaper to put them in at the factory than it is to pay $40/unit plus the cost of a human being tearing the unit apart, putting in a new card, reassembling it, and then repacking and reshipping the item. :)

Oh, and since I'm required to show my work, here's the FedEx 2-Day Retail Shipping prices.

ftp://ftp.fedex.com/pub/us/rates/downloads/documents2/2DayNoSvcCounter.pdf

I'm assuming they're insuring each package for $800, just on the off chance someone at FedEx drops one.
 

czerdrill

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The flash thing, i guess it's important to some, but with flash i look at it as the same thing as a moonroof. sure it's cool to say you have one, but do people really use their moonroofs all the time? do they use it even half the time? Flash is just an "i have it na na na" argument in my eyes. But I guess there are people out there who play games in a web browser on their mobile phones...can't imagine why they'd do that, but ok.

Sorry, but I think the "moon-roof" and "Flash" analogy is extremely flawed. You use a moon-roof at your leisure. Flash is required for certain websites. And it's not just for games. It's used for videos as well. Personally, I trade stocks and all good sites with complex charts use flash. Wall Street Journal uses Flash. It's a very important business tool for many. And it costs them a ton of money to change everything to HTML 5 anytime soon.

Personally, I've been extremely disappointed with Flash on my Droid. To me, it's almost unusable. It's just too slow and difficult to navigate. But my Droid is first generation and am hoping things will improve as processors become faster.

Personally, I have no need for a tablet. To me, it's just a toy to mess around. I understand how it can serve a purpose for others though. If I were to buy a tablet (for a toy to play with), I wouldn't even consider one without Flash. And I certainly hope Flash on the Xoom will run much better than it does on my Droid.

Ah ok, I don't use it for stocks or anything. And I guess videos, but I just use the youtube app. What other popular video sites use flash? I guess my statement was just saying I don't see it as important, but I can see where you're coming from. But even still, there are ways to get flash on your iphone/ipad. It's not ideal, but neither is rooting to apply a custom theme haha. It's just something you have to do if you want to do something else.

However, like you said, it's pointless, at least on the D1. But that's cuz it's the D1. Don't know how flash renders on the DX, or Incredible or any other phone as I've never tried to check but i'm sure it works great. I still believe Flash is just a way for people to win pointless arguments, and not really anything worthwhile on a mobile device though.
 
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furbearingmammal

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Thanks! :) Keep your eyes peeled for more. I have two more in the bag (to be posted here soon) and as soon as I find suitable subjects I'll be writing more.
 
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