smackfoo.com

iPod Touch (Non) Shipment

Wednesday, 19 September 2007.

Glenn Wolsey notes that he is frustrated over iPod Touch (Non) Shipment:

I believe Apple should have started shipping the iPod touch to those who pre-ordered online either before, or alongside those who can now walk into an Apple store and pick one up on impulse.

Apple’s delays in delivering new-launch product via the online stores is not really something that new. It’s clear Apple, particularly in the US, have moved to a more retail centric model with Apple Stores being a priority for product launches — this results in pre-orders often¹ dispatching well after the product has hit the shelves.

That works great in the US where there are often well-stocked Apple stores to waltz into, but not-so-great in other locations² where resellers are the only option. Yes, Glenn could potentially visit a reseller that happens to have stock, but that’s not the point. If he orders online, it should be released within a short period from when the product hits the store shelves — that’s the right thing to do for those who splash-the-cash to pre-order.

The pre-orders are a sign-of-faith in a particular product where a consumer says “I trust you to do the right thing, here is my early tender for your product.” — the vendor should respond promptly to such good faith.

It hasn’t happened. And it should have.

there are exceptions, I’ll grant you that dear reader (↩)
.. some of the commenters seem to have fired from-the-hip and have not bothered to note that Glenn is actually in New Zealand. (↩)

DailyTech - Apple Locks New iPods to iTunes ∞

"The enhanced code locks the iTunes database to one specific iPod and also prevents any modifications to it." — the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away; whilst vendor lock-in is hardly new, it does give Apple’s message on DRM free music a hollow ring.

DF - MobileSafari-Optimized UI for MT 4 ∞

"Great work from Brad Choate and Walt Dickinson at Six Apart. I’m upgrading to MT 4 just for this." — although a little iphone fixated, Gruber does have a point - managing content on the go is a massively cool thing.

Translation From PR-Speak to English - Steve Jobs Letter ∞

"I got, like, billions of emails from iPhone customers who are pissed off. After reading every one of these emails - well, most of them, anyway - I’ve got some things to say." — a light-hearted response to Job’s recent open-letter.

Apple - To all iPhone customers ∞

"We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple." — an open letter from Mr Jobs, with a rare offer in the current market.

somefoolwitha.com - font rendering Apple vs MS ∞

"The ‘Apple way’ still makes far more sense to me, especially when you see the two side-by-side showing the odd relative scaling caused by the Microsoft philosophy." — this is a real no-brainer, OS X has always had a smarter font rendering engine.

Braunless

Monday, 20 August 2007.

Is
this calculator, an Apple branded BrAun (model ET33/ ET88, circa 1986/87) the ultimate cause of all the supposed
design theft claims surrounding the iPhone calculator app?
Take a
closer look — the iphone calc is at most, a stylised representation of the BrAun.
This finely designed Braun calculator has an eight-digit display and four-key memory […]

Daring Fireball ∞

"Five years ago yesterday, I started Daring Fireball." — John Gruber’s DF passes the 5 year mark and is still rocking out the joint - congrats.

Vienna ∞

"Vienna is a freeware, open source RSS/Atom newsreader for the Mac OS X operating system." — look past the un-inspiring web design and you’ll find a capable, stylish and open-source RSS reader.

‘Fake Steve’ - outed by an idiot ∞

"Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine who lives near Boston, has been quietly enjoying the attention." — way to go, knucklehead - ruin a perfectly good concept by publically anonuncing the blogger.

BitRocket - Mac OS X BitTorrent Client ∞

"BitRocket is a Native(Open Source) BitTorrent client for Mac OS X." — the next best thing to uTorrent, for the mac.

smackfoo.com | I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Archive Page 2