i've been an apple customer for over 20 yrs. No other company, period, comes close to them, I have always had windows and work and it totally sucks. apple's move to lower the price of the iphone is brilliant (I own most of my shares at about $9 - it's been a long wait). while you complain about apple, what has microsoft ever done for you? what company offers a $100 credit when they cut prices? Jobs' original comment was, technically, absolutely correct - early adopters buy based on being the 1st, not on price. He made the correct PR and business decision immediately. Apple products are infinitely superior to anything else out there.
enjoy your dell, but when you're working in windows and have to deal with microsoft, think of me and all other happy apple folks who focus more on what's wonderful than what isn't exactly what we may desire at a particular time, sorry, man, but you're really missing the forest for the trees. speaking of trees, hope central park is looking beautiful. I'm an "ex"- NY'er who will always remain one.
maybe you can sell the dell now and cut your losses! you'll thank me for it later!
Greg
miser
· 2 years ago
Who needs a phone when you can have iZimbra? With the iPodTouch by itself, and a nearby wi-fi signal, you'll have yourself a killer combo, enterprise groupware on the Mac, finally! And what a different "Mac" it is...
Ah, Mr. Wilson... we've apparently been loving on the same girl! All of us knew what we were getting when the affair began. Sorry you don't like the girl so much anymore. Plenty of us think otherwise... So, it seems, if Apple put out just a little bit more or what you're after... she's good again?
As for RIMM... enjoy your hottie!
As for Dell/Windows... ewwww! I can only imagine the STDs you'll get from that chick! Email's just not worth it. ;)
fewquid
· 2 years ago
Fred,
Have to agree with you. The newly announced "Touch" seems very likely to cannibalize iPhone sales, and then they go burn bridges with all the early adopters. Last but not least, this supposedly anti-DRM company wants to charge you an extra buck to make a ringtone. I don't get it.
The bogus rebate seems like a further insult to me -- only good on more Apple stuff and if you're trying to spend $100 in an Apple store you KNOW you're buying things that are very high margin (cables, software etc). So this $100 apology is really only costing Apple $25-50, not to mention that lots of folks won't take it (rebate rates are always low).
Like you, I've been attempting to get off Microsoft for the past few months. But there are aspects of Apple's action and thinking that really turn me off. It's part of what I call The Apple Tax (see http://disruptormonkey.typepad.com/monkey/2007/...).
And I did really want to be a fan...
Robert Seidman
· 2 years ago
I don't agree. The reasons for the pricing changes probably had a lot to do with this.
While iPhone for $599 vs. 8GB iPod Touch @$299 (or 16GB for $399) would surely result in such cannabilization at $399 for the iPhone I believe Apple thinks many people will still opt for the phone.
I think they're right.
Fred, in principle I agree with you on DRM, though I don't really run into any issues with the need for DRM free music via iTunes, there are some issues for me w/the need for DRM free video.
If this were a movie, the DRM on video movie would look almost identical to the way the music business.
The studio geeks don't get it yet. It appears that just as with music, they will not get it until it's too late. I hope I am wrong.
Brett
· 2 years ago
Sorry, I have to post again - just saw that you are currently "having a secret meeting in the basement of your brain." Love it. Just saw them 2 weeks ago at the seaport.
Alex Iskold
· 2 years ago
I bet that Windows machine will make you run right back to Apple ;)
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
yeah, the national is great. and really good live too.
Mark
· 2 years ago
I'm confused.
On the one hand you want the labels to go DRM free (which I'm all for) and on the other you want a subscription streaming service.
Given the customer is our enemy mindset of the record labels this is a long way off. The labels will only currently allow a streaming service with heavy DRM including "exploding" song files that stop working when your subscription ends. They are going to have to be coaxed into the new world gradually. First DRM free track sales, then perhaps a transitional hybrid sale/subscription model ($15/month + $0.75 per 'keeper') and then perhaps finally your goal.
Boycotting Apple's DRM free music is counter productive if this is the future you want. Buy all the music you like from the iTunes Plus catalog and greed will eventually get Universal and the other lunkheads to wake up and get with the program.
Robert Dewey
· 2 years ago
You know a company is doing good when you "fail to get off their products."
On the other hand, I too want to cut the Microsoft addiction. Feel free to send me your MacBook if you're throwing in the towel and taking up Microsofting again ;-)~
JT
· 2 years ago
I'll take that Macbook off your hands. :)
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
i didn't say i was giving up my macbook, i just said i have to get a windows machine for my office so i can get some email done
JT
· 2 years ago
Saying "I am so over Apple, Steve Jobs, and my MacBook" kinda makes it look like you are.
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
i meant that the "i love apple" phase of my life is over.
RK Bentley
· 2 years ago
Apple is offering a $100 rebate for early adopters of the iPhone.
As much as I would love a wifi ipod that synch wirelessly, I wouldn't go so far as to go crying back to Dell.
But, then, maybe I've been drinking the Kool Aide too much...
Brandon
· 2 years ago
They actually cut the price by $200, from $599 to $399, a 33% slash.
mattmaroon
· 2 years ago
I love how everyone quotes prices without the obligatory 2 year contract. They cut it from $799 to $599.
graysky
· 2 years ago
And you lose any business plan rate decrease if you had one like I did with AT&T before getting an iPhone.
I firmly believe the price cut and $100 credit was planned all along. I would bet that Steve's letter was drafted in March. They get the suckers who have to have it first to overpay, get a lot of other people to say "oh, I was unsure before, but now it's $200 less", AND they get all the "goodwill" of being generous to the early adopters by giving the Apple Store credit (NOT a rebate), which of course will be spent on more Apple products, and sometimes used towards the purchase of a bigger ticket item.
Personally I think it's brilliant.
Now, if they hadn't made perhaps the most idiotic decision in personal electronics history (coolest mp3 player ever with no memory)....oh wait, that's just another to rape the consumer (take the phone out of the iPhone and sell it for the same price - no problem!)
John
· 2 years ago
So you got exactly what you paid for, and now you don't like it.
So the Dell will give you a music player that syncs wirelessly, and no DRM? Cool!
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
that's not exactly what i said.
i said i have to get a windows machine for my office.
i will certainly keep using my macbook for most things
mattmaroon
· 2 years ago
The fact that you tried to fall in love with Apple shows their marketing brilliance. The fact that you couldn't shows their lack of other forms.
Shripriya
· 2 years ago
Well, Apple is definitely not set up to work in the corporate environment. Especially corporate environments that are MS driven. If you run an Exchange Server, yes, email is harder. But then again, you should blame MS b/c Entourage is their product and it sucks. By the same token, Apple doesn't have a solution for that either.
I found that once I was away from Exchange Server, my MBP did great with email. So, basically, I quit so that I can use my MBP ;)
Hans
· 2 years ago
Feel free to donate the MacBook to me so I can attempt failing at getting off Microsoft as well. :-)
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
sorry hans, i don't plan on stopping using it.
just adding a windows machine to the mix
Orian Marx
· 2 years ago
To me the iPhone was incredibly overpriced at release and as far as I can tell everyone else was saying the same thing. Yet plenty of people made the decision to spend the money anyway. If it was worth it to them at the time, then they shouldn't be bitching about it now. I would imagine plenty of people who are upset about this are upset not because they overpaid but because their status symbol just became a lot more accessible.
Bruce Barber
· 2 years ago
Fred,
It occurs to me that, as a VC, it must be interesing to watch the steps (and missteps) of a company that inspires this kind of passion.
Rick
· 2 years ago
I am speechless.
Mo
· 2 years ago
Fred you have to agree that it won't be too hard to roll out a subscription service if some enterprising folks wanted to do so now that iPod is Wi-Fi enabled. I think the hard obstacle to jump is hardware, now that you have a hardware platform, you can build the services(software) around it.
Also, let's keep one more thing in mind, their is no true alternative to iPod in the market, until one emerges we will have to build our services around the most popular model that is out there to gain the most bang for the development buck. Unless your investors aren't looking for that sort of thing and want to break new ground on a brand new hardware platform with a minuscule user base.
With all this said, the killer service for me is something better than the Verizon data network, something even faster and ubiquitous. I want to stream my own music channel* when I am in the car, you know a lot of people still drive cars.
*Well, not quite my own music channel, I want to stream something like my neighborhood radio in last.fm, I want to know what Fred is listening to nowadays without having to go and look for the music, download it and transfer it to my iPod.
Sean McDonald
· 2 years ago
yeah... but microsoft is still putting out cumbersome, less enjoyable products... so.....
AndyBeard
· 2 years ago
From what I have read, you can just claim the $200 difference back from many credit card companies. I am not sure how that affects the agreements with the credit card companies, but could quite possibly hit both AT&T and Apple financially unless it is some kind of insurance that the credit card companies are willing to foot the bill for completely.
brian
· 2 years ago
boo hoo. early adopters always pay a higher price. ESPECIALLY with cell phones. you wanted the neato toy before everyone else, and then got bummed when johnny comelately gets it better than you. perhaps you should think your impulse purchases through next time
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
i didn't buy an iPhone, i was given one as a gift and i haven't even opened it yet. no desire to use it whatsoever.
Me
· 2 years ago
Glad to hear it! Apple does not need your business or attitude. Enjoy your dell! And for future reference, everything goes down in price and there is always something cheaper and better on the horizon, you wanna be an early adopter, then suck it up.
loupaglia
· 2 years ago
Fred, why not use Parallels? Does your Exchange not even work with that? Right now, at Dow Jones which has a pretty locked down network allows me to use email in Outlook in XP in Parallels. I agree, that using Mac Mail with Exchange isn't viable. As long as you don't mind using XP virtually, you can happily use email effectively while sitting nicely on your Mac Book.
jeremy
· 2 years ago
apple refused to sell me a notebook today with a student discount. they ran out of nano's and would not let me purchase a notebook by itself with the discount. i have to wait until they get more. thats bad business practice... i dont even want the nano.
Dorkus
· 2 years ago
This argument is one of the most juvenile of all time. You guys are arguing about who makes the best email / browser / music platform. How dated is that? I really don't care what platform I'm using. All I need to do is get to the Internet.
Have fun all you Apple fanatics. Spend your money like crazy at the Mac store so you can pretend you're cool just like the guy in the Mac ads. You're not cool. You're rubes. You've overpaid for an Internet appliance.
Great job.
By the way, my wheezing old XP machine costs next to nothing and I use it to make great videos and music and images. That's because the key ingredient is between my ears, not in the box next to me.
Adam Posey
· 2 years ago
Well, concerning the DRM thing, the DRM will only end when the record labels stop demanding it. And concerning the iPhone... what about those people who buy an expensive new game console a few months before the holiday price slash? Apple was being very courteous giving back $100 to people who complained.
You seem to be a very jaded individual when it comes to apple and I can't really understand why. Your tone the beginning of this post is that you want to like apple, and then you proceed to bash them. I think you should try reading your posts before making them.
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
i write what i feel. that means writing and hitting the publish button. that's the only way i know how to blog. i won't and cant' edit myself.
Mo
· 2 years ago
Keep doing what you are doing, it's original and addictive for me the reader.
Alex Iskold
· 2 years ago
Its interesting, I actually used to write poetry this way. You just write it and never come back to it. I think a lot of short-term creative activities are best done this way - carry through the feeling into the artifact.
mattmaroon
· 2 years ago
Nobody ever bought a game console the day it came out only to see it slashed $200 2 months later.
Jeff
· 2 years ago
More accurately, Apple is so over you.
I'm sick of hearing the nook-and-cranny whining of guys like you. You know a company is doing something right when people start making everyday crises out of tiny details.
Bye. Sell your Apple kit on eBay, or even here, on your blog. Have fun with Windows Vista or some halfass version Linux, which isn't -- and never will be -- a truly viable desktop solution for the masses.
Lates.
fredwilson
· 2 years ago
it is usually mutual when things don't work out, isn' it?
but i don't plan to get off of my Macbook
i just have to get some email done at work and the macbook (and the iphone) won't work with exchange as hard as i try to make them do that
fred
Mike
· 2 years ago
Shouldn't you be mad at microsoft for making exchange not work well with Apple?
If you were really going to be serious about your quest to dump microsoft you would have dumped that outrageously expensive email solution Exchange for either something web based like Google's offerings or if you don't want your email on other people's servers you could use lots of free linux email server solutions.
It's funny that your blaming Apple for microsoft's infamous tactic of making competitors software not work well with them (cough netscape, cough java back in the day).
Nathan Bowers
· 2 years ago
Seriously, you'd buy a separate computer for email because Exchange stinks? Why not just run Parallels?
How much Outlook storage are you allowed? In most places it's like 50Mb. That's the worst thing about Exchange. Instead of scaling, it creates untold man hours of wasted labor and cognitive overhead in every company that uses it, since everyone from copy clerks to venture capitalists has to think about and manage their email storage.
Also, Exchange is only surpassed in suckitude by Lotus Notes. I can always tell when someone comes from a backward company when they say they'll send a "note" instead of an "email".
All Comments
enjoy your dell, but when you're working in windows and have to deal with microsoft, think of me and all other happy apple folks who focus more on what's wonderful than what isn't exactly what we may desire at a particular time, sorry, man, but you're really missing the forest for the trees. speaking of trees, hope central park is looking beautiful. I'm an "ex"- NY'er who will always remain one.
maybe you can sell the dell now and cut your losses! you'll thank me for it later!
Greg
http://blog.01.com/?p=314
As for RIMM... enjoy your hottie!
As for Dell/Windows... ewwww! I can only imagine the STDs you'll get from that chick! Email's just not worth it. ;)
Have to agree with you. The newly announced "Touch" seems very likely to cannibalize iPhone sales, and then they go burn bridges with all the early adopters. Last but not least, this supposedly anti-DRM company wants to charge you an extra buck to make a ringtone. I don't get it.
The bogus rebate seems like a further insult to me -- only good on more Apple stuff and if you're trying to spend $100 in an Apple store you KNOW you're buying things that are very high margin (cables, software etc). So this $100 apology is really only costing Apple $25-50, not to mention that lots of folks won't take it (rebate rates are always low).
Like you, I've been attempting to get off Microsoft for the past few months. But there are aspects of Apple's action and thinking that really turn me off. It's part of what I call The Apple Tax (see http://disruptormonkey.typepad.com/monkey/2007/...).
And I did really want to be a fan...
While iPhone for $599 vs. 8GB iPod Touch @$299 (or 16GB for $399) would surely result in such cannabilization at $399 for the iPhone I believe Apple thinks many people will still opt for the phone.
I think they're right.
Fred, in principle I agree with you on DRM, though I don't really run into any issues with the need for DRM free music via iTunes, there are some issues for me w/the need for DRM free video.
If this were a movie, the DRM on video movie would look almost identical to the way the music business.
The studio geeks don't get it yet. It appears that just as with music, they will not get it until it's too late. I hope I am wrong.
On the one hand you want the labels to go DRM free (which I'm all for) and on the other you want a subscription streaming service.
Given the customer is our enemy mindset of the record labels this is a long way off. The labels will only currently allow a streaming service with heavy DRM including "exploding" song files that stop working when your subscription ends. They are going to have to be coaxed into the new world gradually. First DRM free track sales, then perhaps a transitional hybrid sale/subscription model ($15/month + $0.75 per 'keeper') and then perhaps finally your goal.
Boycotting Apple's DRM free music is counter productive if this is the future you want. Buy all the music you like from the iTunes Plus catalog and greed will eventually get Universal and the other lunkheads to wake up and get with the program.
On the other hand, I too want to cut the Microsoft addiction. Feel free to send me your MacBook if you're throwing in the towel and taking up Microsofting again ;-)~
As much as I would love a wifi ipod that synch wirelessly, I wouldn't go so far as to go crying back to Dell.
But, then, maybe I've been drinking the Kool Aide too much...
Personally I think it's brilliant.
Now, if they hadn't made perhaps the most idiotic decision in personal electronics history (coolest mp3 player ever with no memory)....oh wait, that's just another to rape the consumer (take the phone out of the iPhone and sell it for the same price - no problem!)
So the Dell will give you a music player that syncs wirelessly, and no DRM? Cool!
i said i have to get a windows machine for my office.
i will certainly keep using my macbook for most things
I found that once I was away from Exchange Server, my MBP did great with email. So, basically, I quit so that I can use my MBP ;)
just adding a windows machine to the mix
It occurs to me that, as a VC, it must be interesing to watch the steps (and missteps) of a company that inspires this kind of passion.
Also, let's keep one more thing in mind, their is no true alternative to iPod in the market, until one emerges we will have to build our services around the most popular model that is out there to gain the most bang for the development buck. Unless your investors aren't looking for that sort of thing and want to break new ground on a brand new hardware platform with a minuscule user base.
With all this said, the killer service for me is something better than the Verizon data network, something even faster and ubiquitous. I want to stream my own music channel* when I am in the car, you know a lot of people still drive cars.
*Well, not quite my own music channel, I want to stream something like my neighborhood radio in last.fm, I want to know what Fred is listening to nowadays without having to go and look for the music, download it and transfer it to my iPod.
I am not sure how that affects the agreements with the credit card companies, but could quite possibly hit both AT&T and Apple financially unless it is some kind of insurance that the credit card companies are willing to foot the bill for completely.
And for future reference, everything goes down in price and there is always something cheaper and better on the horizon, you wanna be an early adopter, then suck it up.
Have fun all you Apple fanatics. Spend your money like crazy at the Mac store so you can pretend you're cool just like the guy in the Mac ads. You're not cool. You're rubes. You've overpaid for an Internet appliance.
Great job.
By the way, my wheezing old XP machine costs next to nothing and I use it to make great videos and music and images. That's because the key ingredient is between my ears, not in the box next to me.
You seem to be a very jaded individual when it comes to apple and I can't really understand why. Your tone the beginning of this post is that you want to like apple, and then you proceed to bash them. I think you should try reading your posts before making them.
I'm sick of hearing the nook-and-cranny whining of guys like you. You know a company is doing something right when people start making everyday crises out of tiny details.
Bye. Sell your Apple kit on eBay, or even here, on your blog. Have fun with Windows Vista or some halfass version Linux, which isn't -- and never will be -- a truly viable desktop solution for the masses.
Lates.
but i don't plan to get off of my Macbook
i just have to get some email done at work and the macbook (and the iphone) won't work with exchange as hard as i try to make them do that
fred
If you were really going to be serious about your quest to dump microsoft you would have dumped that outrageously expensive email solution Exchange for either something web based like Google's offerings or if you don't want your email on other people's servers you could use lots of free linux email server solutions.
It's funny that your blaming Apple for microsoft's infamous tactic of making competitors software not work well with them (cough netscape, cough java back in the day).
How much Outlook storage are you allowed? In most places it's like 50Mb. That's the worst thing about Exchange. Instead of scaling, it creates untold man hours of wasted labor and cognitive overhead in every company that uses it, since everyone from copy clerks to venture capitalists has to think about and manage their email storage.
Also, Exchange is only surpassed in suckitude by Lotus Notes. I can always tell when someone comes from a backward company when they say they'll send a "note" instead of an "email".