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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6 |
Holiday shopping for hot items at a bargain price took on a new form this week as rumors flew on the Web about a 4GB iPhone to be available at Wal-Mart for $99. That phone was initially to be rolled out at a $399 price tag.
- Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday it will start selling Apple Inc's iPhone on Sunday, but the popular cell phones that can surf the web will not be priced as low as some anticipated.
Wal-Mart plans to sell the black 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G model, which also holds about 2,000 songs, for $197. The 16-gigabyte model, in black or white, will be priced at $297. All of the phones require a new two-year service agreement from AT&T Inc or a qualified upgrade, Wal-Mart said.
The move gives Apple the chance to reach millions of Wal-Mart shoppers who may not be as familiar with the company's products.
Wal-Mart typically appeals to a lower-income group of shoppers than those who buy Apple's Macintosh computers, iPods and iPhones, which are typically more expensive that other PCs and music players. But the world's largest retailer has also lured new customers seeking low prices in a recession.
Wal-Mart used discounts to draw in millions of cash-strapped shoppers during the holiday season. It was among the first to advertise its deals this fall, including hot electronics such as flat-screen televisions.
Numerous websites had previously speculated that Apple would offer a 4-gigabyte model of the iPhone for $99 at Wal-Mart stores. But the phones being sold at Wal-Mart are the same ones already on the market, for about $2 below the prices offered at other locations.
AT&T, the exclusive U.S. wireless service provider for iPhone, currently sells the cheapest version for $199 for a model with 8 gigabytes of storage, and $299 for the 16-gigabyte version. AT&T declined to comment.
Not quite as cheap as BSAMS predicted, but close.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 53,734 Likes: 2
Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you) 50000+ posts
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Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you) 50000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 53,734 Likes: 2 |
um i didn't predict that, it's a link to a story.
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 19,516 Likes: 12
brother from another mother 15000+ posts
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brother from another mother 15000+ posts
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 19,516 Likes: 12 |
Lothar knows from sexperience Hush,boy,or I'll call immigration on you!
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6 |
Apple's iPhone Flops in Japan, Now Sold for Free- Apple's iPhone is a hit everywhere in the world — except for Japan.
It turns out that Apple's video-playing, music-downloading, motion-sensing handset is just too, well, backward for the Japanese market.
In fact, the iPhone is such a flop in the Land of the Rising Sun that it's being given away free with a 2-year contract, Wired News reports.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that carrier charges are a lot cheaper in Japan than they are in the U.S., and Apple hasn't learned to compete.
Few Japanese want to pay $60 per month to use a phone that can't shoot video, receive TV signals or text-message photos.
"The pricing has been completely out of whack with market reality," one expert on the Japanese cell-phone market tells Wired News. "I think they [Apple and its partners overseas] are in the process of adjusting to local conditions."
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 47,826 Likes: 8
Hip To Be Square 15000+ posts
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Hip To Be Square 15000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 47,826 Likes: 8 |
Well as much as I despise anything from apple, the iPhone 3G can send picture message from what I understand, so apple are either trying to push the old unit in japan, or this reporter has not done their research.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6 |
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 24,593 |
Apple's exclusivity deal with AT&T is coming up for renewal. Apple wants some leverage. Why else would they offer Verizon their Kindle-esque device when they could sell it on their own a lot easier?
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet." Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 45,826
cobra kai 15000+ posts
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cobra kai 15000+ posts
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Posts: 45,826 |
really smart move. verizon is willing to shell out some huge cash, but i think at&t is gonna re-up and pay a boatload for it.
giant picture
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 24,593
Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
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Timelord. Drunkard. 15000+ posts
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 24,593 |
Verizon is also the one who passed on the iPhone before AT&T took it. So everyone knows that Verizone will be putting some cash out to keep from getting left behind again, giving Apple more power of negotiations with AT&T.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet." Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 45,826
cobra kai 15000+ posts
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cobra kai 15000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 45,826 |
i wonder how seriously apple would consider ditching at&t for verizon, despite a better offer. the number one complaint with the iphone is the terrible at&t service it carries (a close number two is how those who suffer with stumpy fingers can't text like they're people  ). they might wanna switch just because of the increased sales they'd get through verizon's superior network.
giant picture
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6 |
On the other hand, Apple might decide that it's to their advantage to dump the exclusivity aspect and let both carriers have the phone. After all, two companies could potentially double the number of people buying the iPhone...and the apps for it.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,952 Likes: 6 |
iPhone Push problem broadcasts your AIMs to random recipients, could affect jailbroken/unlocked phones- Till Schadde, founder of development house Equinux, has discovered an exploit - a broadcast error, really - that sends your AIM messages to random recipients without your knowledge or consent. The problem seems to happen in unlocked/jailbroken iPhones and results in a alert appearing on a recipients home screen bearing your message.
Till tested the service by sending an AIM from the OS X desktop using iChat to his iPhone. He then received a reply back from a random recipient. It is clear that this is a Push problem in the message addressing - each iPhone is assigned its own identifier and receives messages from a central server operated by Apple - although this may change.
No information is available on which iPhones this exploit effects.
This centralized system is clearly having trouble with unlocked and jailbroken iPhones. Perhaps something in activation causes the IDs to be crossed? We’ll be talking to Till shortly but until then avoid sending much personal identifying information over AIM, not that you’ve been doing that anyway, right?
As we all know you should not say anything on any networked application that you wouldn’t yell in a crowded room.
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