As always, Lourd isn’t afraid to say what should be said. Kind felt bad too when just days apart, Dennis Ritche, the inventor of C and UNIX passed away. In terms of contribution, that guy did more for computing in this generation than Steve. Not that mourning for Steve is bad.
So, over ba?
MacBooks are getting cheaper and cheaper. This is the most affordable MacBook in recent history. Although I’m a big fan of the aluminum finish, I figure that Apple really needed to distinguish the MacBook line with the Pro series as they were both starting to look alike. So the 13 inch MacBook is back to its white roots with more rounded corners. From the product photos, the new portables look “fatty” but as seen in this size comparison with my aluminum portable, it’s really just the same thing with a polycarbonate finish.
The new MacBooks retail for PHP 54,990. I wonder how much they go for at dealer’s price!?
Gotta hand it to him — he may not be the most elegant on the dance floor, but he sure can kick up a storm. Go Woz!
What? You mean you still haven’t checked out MacHeist’s latest list of freebies?! This holiday season, MacHeist is making app giveaway time more thematic by revealing free gifts underneath the Mac Giving Tree.
If you’re a Mac user, MacHeist’s giveaway for Christmas 2008 is a must have. I especially recommend 1password, Headline RSS reader and Enigmo 2 from Pangea.
Don’t forget to download the apps from the MacHeist Giving Tree to get them for free (check the serial numbers on the gift boxes)!
Phones come cheap because the price of the unit is subsidized by the telco (they make up with the monthly plans). In the same light, digital music will now come free (hopefully!) because the cost will be subsidized by the price of the phone.
Reuters has an interestingly new article on the Nokia’s new Comes with Music offering (apart from their new touch screen phone):
I heard about Nokia’s Comes with Music plans during a dinner meet up with some of the online tech media a few months ago. Not a lot of details were released but the plan to go for a subscription-based model isn’t new. It just hasn’t been implemented on a wide scale yet (the only guys I know doing this is the Microsoft Zune online community for a price of a CD a month – unlimited song downloads!).
Nokia’s package will differ from others on the market as users can keep all the music they have downloaded during the 12 month subscription period. There are no charges for tracks downloaded, since the cost is bundled to the phone price.
“‘Comes with Music’ could potentially bring free music to millions of consumers, radically changing the music industry, and offering a significant threat to Apple’s dominance,” Strategy Analytics’ David MacQueen said in a research report.
“In a market where price and selection are so much more important than brand to consumers, Apple cannot count on retaining users when competing with an offering which seems free to the end user,” MacQueen said.
I think it’s come to that point where everyone in the market already has a phone, and changing mobiles every 3 months is turning to be a logistical nightmare. So even if Nokia has still been steady with the phones, entering these new avenues (games, music, maps, photo sharing) via Ovi will definitely peak interest.
What I really want to say is filled with irony: The key to keeping your customers is to not make anything exclusive. This isn’t the 1970’s anymore. Great job to Nokia for going pro-consumer!