Linked by David Adams on Tue 7th Jun 2011 17:54 UTC
Bob Cringeley makes a bold statement in a blog post responding to Apple's iCloud announcement: "Jobs is going to sacrifice the Macintosh in order to kill Windows." He says, "The incumbent platform today is Windows because it is in Windows machines that nearly all of our data and our ability to use that data have been trapped. But the Apple announcement changes all that. Suddenly the competition isn't about platforms at all, but about data, with that data being crunched on a variety of platforms through the use of cheap downloaded apps."
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Member since:2007-01-13
Australia has 22 million people. New Zealand has only four million people. These markets are totally insignificant on a global scale.
Australia is as big as the USA but there are only 10 Apple stores in four capital cities. The "local" Apple store may be located more than 2000km away.
Every shopping centre in Australia has at least one specialist mobile phone shop (often three or four). Virtually none of these sell Apple products. Every supermarket and department store also sells phones.
The only reason Apple has a large share of the Australian phone and tablet market is that no real choices existed until very recently. You can now get Android phones for less than $100 without a contract.
Edited 2011-06-08 11:58 UTC
Member since:2005-08-12
Australia has 22 million people. New Zealand has only four million people. These markets are totally insignificant on a global scale.
Australia is as big as the USA but there are only 10 Apple stores in four capital cities. The "local" Apple store may be located more than 2000km away.
Australia is as big as the USA but there are only 10 Apple stores in four capital cities. The "local" Apple store may be located more than 2000km away.
There are 10 stores based on population density/location in Australia. The size of the land mass is irrelevant. In comparison, a single state in the US, Ohio, has around 12 million people and 6 Apple stores. So, Au is doing comparably well.
However, this is irrelevant to your original claim that no one outside the US cares about Apple. Australians care enough that they are second only to the US in Apple usage, percentage wise.
Every shopping centre in Australia has at least one specialist mobile phone shop (often three or four). Virtually none of these sell Apple products. Every supermarket and department store also sells phones.
You pretend that iPhones are sold in every mom and pop store in the US. This is not the case. However, in Australia you can walk into numerous provider locations and buy an iPhone including: Optus, Telstra, Three Virgin and Vodafone among others. It's probably more readily available there than here given it was confined to a single network in the US until a very short time ago.
I imagine, just as in the US, a lot of Australians buy online.
Even if you were to still persist in the notion that it's hard to find/buy an iPhone in Australia, the reality is that Australians are finding them and buying them in decent numbers.
The only reason Apple has a large share of the Australian phone and tablet market is that no real choices existed until very recently. You can now get Android phones for less than $100 without a contract.
What is "recently" to you? Android phones have been available in Australia for a while now. In any case, maybe one day in the future the stats might change. Until then, however, the fact remains that the original assertion was a lie.
Edited 2011-06-08 15:08 UTC
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
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Member since:
2005-08-12
Go to any Australian phone retailer and you will see a large range of Samsung, HTC and Nokia products. However you won't see a single Apple product for sale in most shops.
oh sure... no one cares in Australia. Oh wait...
Apple has numerous retail stores there.
On top of that, according to Quantcast, the oceania area of the world (including Australia and New Zealand) is second only to North America in market share owned by Apple and nearly double that of Europe.
Btw, I wasn't aware HTC and Nokia were selling huge quantities of tablets, music players, etc... anywhere in the world, let alone Australia... or maybe your post was both incorrect and irrelevant.