Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 23rd Mar 2012 15:09 UTC
I'm currently reading Jerry Kaplan's excellent book "Startup: a Silicon Valley adventure". In this book, Kaplan, founder and CEO of GO Corp., details the founding, financing and eventual demise of his highly innovative company, including the development and workings of their product. What's so surprising about this book is just how timeless it really is - the names and products may have changed, but the business practices and company attitudes surely haven't.
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RE[3]: What is the interesting question?
by David on Fri 23rd Mar 2012 20:36
in reply to "RE[2]: What is the interesting question?"
Member since:1997-10-01
So true. Compared to the amount of money spent by a company like Procter and Gamble or Unilever in order to convince people to use their toothpaste, the amount of money Apple spends on advertising is a rounding error.
You can say that Apple products or the semi-mandatory Apple ecosystem don't appeal to you for whatever reason (and there are myriad valid reasons), but people aren't drawn to Apple products for irrational reasons, or because of "advertising."
People buy Apple products because of their inherent qualities, and people become loyal to Apple products because of their consistent quality. And Apple fans get very angry when Apple produces something that doesn't make the grade.
RE[4]: What is the interesting question?
by kwan_e on Sat 24th Mar 2012 01:40
in reply to "RE[3]: What is the interesting question?"
Member since:2007-02-18
So true. Compared to the amount of money spent by a company like Procter and Gamble or Unilever in order to convince people to use their toothpaste, the amount of money Apple spends on advertising is a rounding error.
You can say that Apple products or the semi-mandatory Apple ecosystem don't appeal to you for whatever reason (and there are myriad valid reasons), but people aren't drawn to Apple products for irrational reasons, or because of "advertising."
People buy Apple products because of their inherent qualities, and people become loyal to Apple products because of their consistent quality. And Apple fans get very angry when Apple produces something that doesn't make the grade.
You can say that Apple products or the semi-mandatory Apple ecosystem don't appeal to you for whatever reason (and there are myriad valid reasons), but people aren't drawn to Apple products for irrational reasons, or because of "advertising."
People buy Apple products because of their inherent qualities, and people become loyal to Apple products because of their consistent quality. And Apple fans get very angry when Apple produces something that doesn't make the grade.
Apple fans get SO ANGRY in fact that they'll willing buy the next one, while shaking their fist in a threatening manner, saying "you better get it right this time!"
I never said anything about irrational reasons at all. You simply can't deny there is psychological conditioning going on with Apple products. Marketing is more than just advertising dollars. It's about image.
Have people never wondered why Apple tries so hard to defend its Community Designs? What did their Community Design actually do for "inherent quality" that warrants all the effort they're making to protect it? It's about image. The image of a featureless rectangular slab is part of the psychological game that Apple is playing.
You don't have to spend advertising dollars on psychology. Especially not when you're spending that money on defending a meritless Community Design.
Edited 2012-03-24 01:43 UTC
RE[3]: What is the interesting question?
by kwan_e on Sat 24th Mar 2012 01:21
in reply to "RE[2]: What is the interesting question?"
Member since:2007-02-18
Dude. Are you serious? Do you REALLY think the largest (by market cap) and most profitable tech company on earth can be created based on some advertising?
What about all that #1 in customer satisfaction and #1 in customer service stuff? You think that's also marketing?
Apple does not even do that much advertising and very few people ever bother watching an Apple keynote so unless you think there is a huge conspiracy your argument is pretty weak.
What about all that #1 in customer satisfaction and #1 in customer service stuff? You think that's also marketing?
Apple does not even do that much advertising and very few people ever bother watching an Apple keynote so unless you think there is a huge conspiracy your argument is pretty weak.
Having read comments on this site and other sites and heard the opinions of many Apple buyers, it's easy to see that a lot of the "customer satisfaction" stuff is partly due to people being a lot more willing to forgive Apple products - hence the reality distortion field.
Your apologetics is exactly the kind of thing the distortion field does. That's why Apple, as you say, don't do that much advertising. Furthermore they know that people buying overpriced trendy gadgets will defend their choices more vehemently than those who are more careful with their money. It's a well known psychological phenomena.
Apple do more than marketing. They do psychology. Do people really think Apple would create the the iPad, for example, if they didn't know that people would buy it out of a reflex reaction?
RE[4]: What is the interesting question?
by kristoph on Sun 25th Mar 2012 02:16
in reply to "RE[3]: What is the interesting question?"
Member since:2006-01-01
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."More News »
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2006-01-01
Dude. Are you serious? Do you REALLY think the largest (by market cap) and most profitable tech company on earth can be created based on some advertising?
What about all that #1 in customer satisfaction and #1 in customer service stuff? You think that's also marketing?
Apple does not even do that much advertising and very few people ever bother watching an Apple keynote so unless you think there is a huge conspiracy your argument is pretty weak.