The New Apple iPhone

January 10, 2007 by · Leave a Comment 

If you haven't seen the new Apple iPhone yet (or whatever they call it), go check it out before you read the rest of this post.

Now that you're familiar with this "breakthrough device", tell me, how, exactly, does Apple expect this thing to be a hit? I've read that their goal is to have 1% of the market within 12 months of first availability. That means that within the next year 1 out of every 100 cell phone users is going to lay out a week's pay (plus or minus) to get a new iPhone. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm still using the same Motorola V600 I got when I first signed with Cingular. The only thing that would make me spend the money to get a new one is if this phone stopped working.

Back to the iPhone, sure, it's cool looking and the widescreen display is definitely a plus if you want to watch a movie on the go. Yes, it would be great to get high-quality audio and make/receive phone calls from a single device (although a decent smartphone and an iPod nano would cost quite a bit less). But really though, $600? Wait, what's that, I need a two-year contact with Cingular as well? I'd be willing to bet that they're at least $1000 if you don't want the contract (or are one of those people who keeps renewing to get new phones and aren't currently eligible). Oh, and yeah, I know that it's only $500 if you want the 4GB model instead of the 8GB, but do you honestly think that anyone who is kicking out this much cash is going to skimp out and get the cheap model? It's like buying a luxury car and not paying the extra $800 for the upgraded stereo or the heated seats...

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Rebate Rip-offs

December 7, 2006 by · 3 Comments 

One of the people I work with, Dave (yes, the same Dave who got the tattoo in Las Vegas), recently made a post on his site about all of the cheap stuff he's bought recently with mail-in rebates. He wrote that out of the 5 rebates he's been waiting for, he's received one. Well, Dave, you're not alone.

In general, I try to avoid buying items that come with mail-in rebates. They really only comprise a small portion of my purchases, maybe 10% at most. The reason is that the odds of someone actually receiving a mail-in rebate on a tech product are pretty low these days. For example, in the past year, I have ordered 2GB of OCZ DDR memory ($40 MIR), a PNY GeForce 6600GT PCI-E video card ($20 MIR), two 1GB SanDisk USB Sticks ($10 MIR each), and a Cuisinart Coffee Maker w/ Built-In Grinder ($20 MIR). Out of those rebates, the most recent of which was filed about 8 weeks ago, I have received exactly $0.00. That's $100 that I'm owed that I will, in all likelihood, never receive.

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