Lab126 layoffs

[haydnfan]

I guess the thing that is funny about saying a moderator likes it is that what does being a moderator have to do with liking the fire phone? You might as well say I know someone with blonde hair that likes the fire phone. It would make about as much sense.

No the real problem with Harry's post is equating personally knowing a single person that likes the phone with contradicting the assertion that the Fire Phone is a failure. Products that are commercial failures still usually have millions of owners many of which are content with their purchase. For instance I was a happy owner of a Toshiba hd-dvd player several years ago.

I think what Harry committed is what is called an anecdotal fallacy.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

I guess the thing that is funny about saying a moderator likes it is that what does being a moderator have to do with liking the fire phone? You might as well say I know someone with blonde hair that likes the fire phone. It would make about as much sense.

No the real problem with Harry's post is equating personally knowing a single person that likes the phone with contradicting the assertion that the Fire Phone is a failure. Products that are commercial failures still usually have millions of owners many of which are content with their purchase. For instance I was a happy owner of a Toshiba hd-dvd player several years ago.

I think what Harry committed is what is called an anecdotal fallacy.

Come on, he didn't say it wasn't a commercial failure, he said that it clearly appeals to some people.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

No the real problem with Harry's post is equating personally knowing a single person that likes the phone with contradicting the assertion that the Fire Phone is a failure.

Would you be kind enough to point out where I said that, please? If you're unable to do so, I can only conclude that you are deliberately misrepresenting my views, which would be a direct violation of our Posting Guidelines.

[tubemonkey]

How to market a successful Fire Phone

• make versions for all major carriers -- CDMA, GSM
• sell unlocked versions at roughly cost
• market the phone to low and mid-range customers
• use the same version of Fire OS that the Fire Tabs use
• don't use expensive gimmicky features like Dynamic Perspective

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Would you be kind enough to point out where I said that, please? If you're unable to do so, I can only conclude that you are deliberately misrepresenting my views, which would be a direct violation of our Posting Guidelines.

There that. Exactly the reason why it was mentioned that you are a moderator.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Would you be kind enough to point out where I said that, please? If you're unable to do so, I can only conclude that you are deliberately misrepresenting my views, which would be a direct violation of our Posting Guidelines.

SleepyBob said:
"The difference is that the phone never sold from the get-go."

To which HarryT responded:
"There's a least one member of the MR moderating team (no, not me) who has one and likes it a lot. Clearly, therefore, it appeals to some people."

The clear implicature is that Harry's utterance gainsaid SleepyBob's utterance. So whilst Harry's assertion does not formally contradict SleepyBobs assertion, it could easily be pragmatically understood, and was possibly intended to be so understood, as doing so.

Words don't mean things, people do. So if your utterance was not intended to contradict SleepyBob's utterance, what did it mean Harry?

[HarryT]

It meant precisely what it said: that some people did (and still are) buying it.

If someone says to you "it rained this morning, however it's sunny now", do you interpret that as a denial of the fact that it rained this morning?

You're reading WAY too much into an off-the-cuff remark that I know someone who has a Fire Phone and likes it.

[theducks]

I think this is being interpreted as "Product Endorsement"

A MR Mod likes it

Just like all the Raves in books, NYT. Some folk buy solely because the Experts Rave (really puff a lot ).

Some of us in disgust and make our own stupid decisions
Or worse, recommend things to friends and family, that time proves you dead wrong.

To my Dad: Get the Epson QX10 (Z80 CP/M), this IBM PC thing won't last

[fjtorres]

Hey, the QX 10 was the pinnacle of CP/M computing, especially with the bank-switching memory boards!

Sometimes products tank, not because they're bad, but becsuse they're aimed at the wrong market or priced wrong. Happens to the best of companies.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Hey, the QX 10 was the pinnacle of CP/M computing, especially with the bank-switching memory boards!

Sometimes products tank, not because they're bad, but becsuse they're aimed at the wrong market or priced wrong. Happens to the best of companies.

Betamax vs. VHS is the classic example. Betamax was by far the better video recording system, technically speaking, but VHS is won the war (in urban legend, because there was more pornography available on VHS; I don't know how true that is, though).

[Apache]

A more likely reason was that VHS players were quite a bit cheaper than the Sony Betamax.
Apache

[AnemicOak]

There are a lot of reasons. Originally Beta tapes could only hold an hours worth of content (a big deal for home video). A big one was that from the get go JVC licensed VHS to anyone and thus there was a lot of competition on price where Sony kept Beta to themselves for years (they were the only manufacturer of tapes for a decade). These were luxury items for many people when they first came out and price became a factor rather quickly. Basically Beta was better in all respects (video quality, sound quality, stability) except the ones that were most important to mass consumers (price, availability of movies).

Beta as a format though was more successful in professional environments and is still in use for certain things where as VHS is all but dead.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

There are a lot of reasons. Originally Beta tapes could only hold an hours worth of content (a big deal for home video). A big one was that from the get go JVC licensed VHS to anyone and thus there was a lot of competition on price where Sony kept Beta to themselves for years (they were the only manufacturer of tapes for a decade). These were luxury items for many people when they first came out and price became a factor rather quickly. Basically Beta was better in all respects (video quality, sound quality, stability) except the ones that were most important to mass consumers (price, availability of movies).

Beta as a format though was more successful in professional environments and is still in use for certain things where as VHS is all but dead.

The recording time issue is the one that made the most difference.
Beta video quality was nominally better but a bit of a moot point when it turned out most people used their VCRs for time shifting of TV shows. At that point the VHS story of 2-4-6-8 hours recording time took over. Back in those days, being able to record a week's worth of a daytime soap on a single cartridge was justification enough for many. (For others, recording an evening or two of Prime Time or late night for Ad-less viewing did the trick.)

Those were all applications where capacity trumped "quality".

As to the Fire Phone itself, this explains a lot about both its failure and Amazon walking away from the Android smartphone business:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/premium...tag=TRE17cfd61

[TGS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It meant precisely what it said: that some people did (and still are) buying it.

If someone says to you "it rained this morning, however it's sunny now", do you interpret that as a denial of the fact that it rained this morning?

You're reading WAY too much into an off-the-cuff remark that I know someone who has a Fire Phone and likes it.

I was responding to your request that it be pointed out that you said what haydnfan said you said in his/her comment,
"No the real problem with Harry's post is equating personally knowing a single person that likes the phone with contradicting the assertion that the Fire Phone is a failure."

I don't think I am reading too much into your comment in the context in which it was made, that is, as a direct response to someone saying the phone never sold. And it is entirely possible, and reasonable, to understand you to be contradicting the assertion that the Fire Phone is a failure, by citing your knowledge that a mod has one and likes it.

[haydnfan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Would you be kind enough to point out where I said that, please? If you're unable to do so, I can only conclude that you are deliberately misrepresenting my views, which would be a direct violation of our Posting Guidelines.

There is no need to be hostile, let's keep it civil. I genuinely did not intend to insult you.