Posts by Simon Grigg
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Before the iPod there were many competing portable MP3 players.......It was these features that helped the iPod grab enormous market share, and grow the market incredibly, very quickly.
It does my head in to see this repeated yet again. I'm not going to pay the US$500 for the exact figure from IDC but other online information gives their figures as (outside the US)
Australia (58%), Japan (54%), Canada (45%) and UK (40%). The NEXT BEST COUNTRIES were Germany and France at 21% and 11%. Places like Italy, Spain, China, Eastern Europe and Korea LESS THAN THAT.
Sitting here in Indonesia, with regular trips to the likes of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, even the visual evidence is that I am on a minority with my trusty pod. Zens, Muvos, no-name Mp3 players and, mostly Nokia and SE phones absolutely dominate.
The sales counters of electronics stores and malls would indicate that to be the case too. The iPod is often not that easy to find.
The best information I can find is that the iPod, whilst it may be the single biggest pure music player, only has about 25% of the global market.
Its too easy to see it from a techy / US centric position
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Tom,
And secondly, how come everyone is so sure Apple is going to storm the ramparts of mobile phone fashion as easily as they did in the PC/Digital player space? Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Motorola and co. are not going to just roll over and play dead.
I agree with every word. iPhone will be a pretty niche player. It may be a large niche but that's it.
The people that read columns like this and a moneyed few will be interested but most of the rest of the planet won't even know it exists.
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Ben,
firstly such a rational was never offered by the invading nations...it was about WMDs...remember Powell's speach to the UN in Fen 03...all those trailers, despite the fact that they knew they were lying in making a case for warSecondly....the sanction regime was largely vindictive in its nature. Large swathes of it were applied with the clear knowledge that they would hurt the people of Iraq least able to help themselves. Things like medical supplies and texts, food basics and feeding bottles were restricted..things without any conceivable military application.
And after 1991 the Iraqi Military was a largely spent force. The "coalition' knew that and the sanctions had already achieved their purpose. As long as they limited access to military parts and the like, it was never necessary to maintain the sanction regime so punitively. The only thing Saddam did militarily after GW1 were the Shi'ite massacres of 1991 and he did that with the compliance of the Western Powers.
I agree, how many died in that exercise without need, and Madeline Albright's comment that it was "worth it" are a low point of the Clinton administration. We will never know the true numbers of innocents who died as a result of the sanctions, but all seem tp agree it was in the hundreds of thousands, effectively the first casualties in the GW2. The nation was also effectively bombed non-stop over those years. The only logical intention of the sanctions of the bombing was to somehow destroy the nation as a whole, not simply Saddam. Its no wonder no-one waved flowers at the invading forces in 2003.
I agree that Saddam had to lanced somehow but when the opportunity perhaps presented itself in 1991 the USA decided to back Saddam, and then proceeded with to undertake a war of attrition against his victims culminating in an invasion that diplomats, academics, Middle Eastern politicians and observers amongst others warned repeatedly had the potential, and likely outcome we are seeing now. The overwhelming odds were that it was always going to end up like this.
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I liked this CNET post
There's a Mac subculture akin to Star Trek aficionados or Burning Man attendees. Its devotees can be testy, defensive and intensely devoted to their Apple products. And Jobs, they say, is their hero, despite a reputation for ruling his company with an iron fist and operating a very profitable business that, just like any other corporation, is mainly concerned with finding ways to extract more money from its customers.
which is exactly why they will sell so many phones straight off....
Cueing for Jobs and The iPhone
I made the mistake once, tongue planted firmly in cheek, of calling Jonathan Ives "twee" in a forum....all hell broke loose. I was cornered at parties months later.....
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Hi Mark,
I'm in Bali, which is not quite the "mullah" on the street, being mostly Hindu, but I've both spent a fair amount of time in Java, and quite immersed myself in learning the political and social history of this fascinating and largely unknown (to most of us from the antipodes) nation, which absolutely intrigues me.The relationship with Australia is a strange one. The Australian role in East Timor is not a pretty one historically and is fairly well documented, as you imply. And the rush to guarantee ET's freedom is less than benign...as you say it was driven more by the fact that RI was no longer in a position to agree. To maintain control of those reserves....
There is a clear arrogance, almost (well actually there is no almost about it) racial arrogance, an implied belief by successive Australian governments that they are dealing with a lesser people, a less sophisticated, primitive and ultimately dangerous swathe of untamed brown humanity who want nothing more than to swarm south to gods own land. Australia's post WW2 defense stance has been largely based upon the assumption that one day Indonesia will invade. That there are 200 million of "them" looking south with envy. Check out the military bases the ADF has spent billions on in the northern desert with that in mind.
Ten minutes here teaches one the absurdity of that assumption. And that we are in a country with a social structure and a history that dwarfs both Australia and NZ.
With that in mind, the informed attitude is still largely ambivalence , tempered by the way they the Aussies talk down to and offer a military posture against RI. The Indonesian government, like most Asian governments, are well aware that Australia is far less important than it believes itself to be. When Australia roars, they largely nod, smile and ignore...
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In the meantime, I can stick with my new (next week) W950I which does most of what this does right now but doesn't look quite as pretty.
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Michael,
this is worth a read: -
Wow James, that was some rant and either I'm utterly evil as are most folks I know or your post was rather half baked, blinkered (as Michael says) twaddle (and, sorry Russell but I'm trying to be non-trollish here) with holes big enough in it to maneuvre the starship enterprise in at warp speed (for example Pol Pot got the heave ho from the Vietnamese after have been virtually created by the US and with the US moving mountains at the UN and elsewhere to keep him in).
But what it does illustrate, and I thank you for this, is that we seemingly have no middle ground to carry on our discussion. We share no assumptions and I find the post somewhat, although not unpredictably, scary, being so divorced from the world I've read about, lived in and travelled through for nigh on 50 years.
I'm off to the beach for a day or two..
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so was that before or after he and his 'posse' beat up phil from bfm outside the bowling club then? Phil's a relatively nice bloke in passing.
right you are too...utterly inexcusable but excused it was by the industry. I guess my post kinda adds to that.......
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James,
for once you and I agree...she kinda misses the point.... :)