Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
Great example: I bought a brand new HP computer for work. I also bought a brand new HP printer to go with it. Excited, I set up my shiny new toys (small business, we're our own techs). Everything worked great...for two weeks. Suddenly, my HP printer stopped working. I called tech support every day for about a week...I spend countless man hours on the phone. Several different people from tech support auto connected to my computer to try to get it working. Uninstall, reinstall. Uninstall, reinstall. Rinse, lather, repeat. They never could get it to work. They finally decided to tell me it was the computer's fault. ???!?! By this time I'm angry and my computer's OS/security had holes in it the size of Texas. And now everything was seizing up. WTF. So, I gave everyone the business and prepared to send back both the computer and the printer for a refund. Before I did that, I decided to contact HP computer support. Someone there backed my computer up a few weeks (lost some data) to the time before the printer was hooked up. I sent back the printer and bought a new one. Shuddering the entire time.
All my Mac friends laughed at me. Their Apple products work well together and had none of these issues.
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I suspect your PC friends were laughing at you too. Some people are better off with a package that just works. You pay a premium for that and lose some flexibility. To be honest, I don't know anyone having problems like you describe. Last summer, I got my kid a laptop for school. The touchpad was funky, so I called an 800 number. A couple days later a box arrived. I loaded the laptop, sealed the box, and dropped at the carrier. A couple weeks later, I had a repaired PC. That was a $600 HP laptop. Even with a $400 Acer, a failed disk only required a call to an 800 number. A new disk was shipped to me (my request) and I was up in a week.
As for the disrespect being paid to the Apple cult, that might just be payback for all the "it's not an iPad" pans of the other e-readers. The tsunami of negative Fire reviews that preceeded anyone actually touching one was unprecedented -- and condescending
Regardless, no one knows if Apple has another product in the pipeline. Siri was a purchase, so there has been nothing new since the iTouch (if you consider the iPad a bigger iTouch). I keep hearing about Apple TV...er...iTV, I guess (though they'll have to purchase or litigate the name from a UK company that has used it since 1955). Not sure if the brand will bring the returns required to keep shareholders in the fold.
What happens with the iPad 3 and the iPad Mini will tell us all we need to know. If the iPad's share of the tablet market continues to fall, things are going get uncomfortable in Cupertino. If Apple can retain even 50% market share (without reducing profit margins), they be fine.
Personally, I think Apple was buried last year.
So, is Apple betting the farm on the iPad 3? I think Apple is betting the farm on the iPad 3 and the iPad mini staving off competition long enough to find the next insane product. If the iPad 3 receives a tepid reception, the iPad mini will follow. The loss of market leader status will impact spin off opportunities (education) and profit margin which will erode share price.
Should be fun to watch...