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Apple announces a bushel of new, improved iPhones and laptops that only increase the company's lead in the marketplace.

By Daniel Lyons | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jun 8, 2009

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  • Posted By: pontiuspete @ 06/10/2009 4:21:40 PM

    New, entry-level MBPs are also 13 inches and only $1,099 now, too.

  • Posted By: dino1818 @ 06/08/2009 11:11:11 PM

    I just tried out the Palm Pre today and it blows away anything that Apple can put on the table. I've tried the iPhone and it just doesn't cut it, especially on AT&T's 3G network. I'm buying the Palm Pre next month when my current contract expires.

    • Posted By: kkrimmer @ 06/09/2009 2:35:29 AM

      What's the big deal with the Pre?

      I've had a phone for years (Cingular 8525, before that 8125) that has:
      - MS PocketPC (very stable)
      - Keyboard (better one than Pre)
      - Touch screen
      - Internet access - email, web, chat, test msg
      - Digital camera that also does video
      - SD Card (currently own 4Gb)
      - Tens of thousands of applications, for 3rd party apps I mostly use, Avantgo, HanDbase, MS voice dial, Chess, Texas Hold'em, Backgammon AND Excel, Word, Powerpoint
      - Plays WMV, MP3
      - and it's AT&T not Sprint. and I paid $99 for it...

      • Posted By: ghannon @ 06/10/2009 7:02:13 AM

        Yeah, I have just as much convenience with my rotary phone. I can call a friend to have them read me my email. I can ring 0 to get voice dial. I can play multiplayer backgammon by calling my friend who has a backgammon board. I can listen to music by calling customer service. I can call my secretary to type up a Word document.

        That is how dumb your comparison sounds.

        I have an iPhone, and think Palm is a crappy company. But at least I know what the Pre is capable of, and your cingular phone is pathetic by comparison.

  • Posted By: SeattleGuy @ 06/09/2009 1:13:18 AM

    Dave in NM- you will easily pay for the delta in cost with savings on antivirus and spyware software over the life of the box. When I switched to a Mac 4 years ago, I asked the Apple Instructor at the orientation class, how often I needed to update my antivirus definitions. He said every week or two. I knew then that attacks were almost non-existent. I dare you to try a Mac. You won't go back.

    • Posted By: cwinebarger @ 06/09/2009 1:46:37 AM

      SeattleGuy,
      I run free antivirus on my PC as a cautionary process, but I've never contracted a virus. I contracted some spyware once. I ran Spysweeper which cleaned it up. Total cost of antivirus and anti-spyware over 15 years: about $50. For an uneducated user who doesn't know what they're doing, yes a Mac is probably better. For those of us who know what we're doing, a Mac's cost is not worth it. I've used Macs. I've had applications crash on both Macs and PCs. I'll stick with a PC for the price. When I have money to burn, however, I'll certainly buy a Mac to impress friends when they come over to my house.

      • Posted By: kkrimmer @ 06/09/2009 2:41:23 AM

        "For those of us who know what we're doing, a Mac's cost is not worth it." -- 3 years ago I bought a Mac Mini for $500 for my home office (attoney). Last week I sold it for $320 on eBay. Try that resale value with any PC. Mac's resale are like BMWs compared to Chevys. An intelligent buyer figures resale into the price/cost. Plus I don't have to run $$ anti-virus, anti-spyware all the time like PC users must do.

        • Posted By: cwinebarger @ 06/09/2009 8:00:43 PM

          The resale angle is definitely one to consider, but doesn't the fact that someone paid $320 for a 3-year old $500 Mac refute your comment that Mac buys are intelligent? ;-)

        • Posted By: Dave in NM @ 06/09/2009 10:16:26 AM

          While I appreciate the snide little swipe at the intelligence of non-Mac buyers, some of us can't afford a BMW even if it DOES have higher resale value. So far, no one's addressed my point, which is that, when I buy a new PC, I just buy the parts, which benefit from the price pressures of competition, and I save ALL the labor costs. Maybe that's because there's no counterargument?

    • Posted By: Dave in NM @ 06/09/2009 1:41:03 AM

      I've been using free spyware and AV software for 5+ years (and none for much of the time before that), and I've never had a virus problem (knock vigorously on wood). Again, I agree that the product is (in many or most ways) better, I just can't justify the up-front costs for the performance I get. (Same goes for phones, but then my employer pays for my BlackBerry.)

  • Posted By: skyway45@comcast.net @ 06/09/2009 7:07:03 PM

    Appartently the author has never had an Iphone or a late model Mac. For many years I was a dedicated Apple fan but the Iphone and my last Mac cured me. Finally I gave up and for less money I got a better phone and a (I will get hate mail) a PC with Vista (which has been trouble free unlike the Mac). For a long time Apple had superior products that were worth a premium price. Those days are long gone. Save money and buy a good PC and one of a number of Smart phones for a lot less.

  • Posted By: jjackman @ 06/09/2009 12:14:40 PM

    AT&T really needs to get on the ball. After the new OS for the iPhone comes out and it doesn't really impress me, I'll kill my contract with AT&T even if I have to pay to cancel it and get a Blackberry or Pre. AT&T's service is awful and really pulling down the Apple shine for sure!

  • Posted By: jjackman @ 06/09/2009 12:14:25 PM

    AT&T really needs to get on the ball. After the new OS for the iPhone comes out and it doesn't really impress me, I'll kill my contract with AT&T even if I have to pay to cancel it and get a Blackberry or Pre. AT&T's service is awful and really pulling down the Apple shine for sure!

  • Posted By: sanityprevail @ 06/08/2009 11:43:26 PM

    I can't live without my iPod, but I've never been able to upgrade to a touch model or iPhone due to prohibitive cost. It's great that they're dropping the current iPhone model down to just $99, but you still are being raped every month by AT&T forcing you to pay a mandatory $30 fee for Internet access. The cost for unlimited data on other phones is half that per month, but AT&T does it because they still have exclusive rights to the iPhone. They know people haven't got any other options. Hopefully Apple will realize that when this ridiculous exclusive agreement expires that they will sell a TON more phones by letting other carriers offer it. Further, I've not been able to rationalize $400 for the highest capacity model, 32 Gb, which won't even hold my entire library. I love Apple products, don't get me wrong, but they're not doing their customers any services, or selling the number of units that they could be selling because of silly things that could be changed in a heartbeat.

    Second, despite it being technically superior in many (but not all) ways, Mac OS is still outside looking in when it comes to some very basic things that many of us need it to do. Windows is an inferior product, but until Mac OS can run all the software that Windows can (not the least of which are games), they have a concrete ceiling in market share that they'll never break through.

    Apple had better never forget that the most technically superior product doesn't always win the game, or even get to keep playing forever. Marketing can doom the most advanced and superior product of the day. It won't happen anytime soon, but their products could easily one day find themselves sitting next to the Amiga and OS/2 in the "shoulda been" section of a museum.

    • Posted By: Dave in NM @ 06/09/2009 12:25:07 AM

      I've never been able to own *anything* with that silhouette of an apple on it due to "prohibitive cost." As long as I can build a PC that's faster, has higher capacities across the board, and runs more software, for a lot less money, I just plain can't justify paying Apple for its monopoly on all parts AND labor. And I'm a musician who likes to dabble in graphic arts, two of Apple's greatest strengths. Yet still, nope - just can't make the numbers come out.

      Pity. I totally dig the company and all it stands for. Just please let me build my own!!

      • Posted By: kkrimmer @ 06/09/2009 2:47:24 AM

        See other post... do you ever consider resale value when you buy something or just think you're going to keep it forever? Most people replace their computers every 3-5 years. For years people have complained about the price of Apple products, and some of those people have had viruses, spyware, and hackers break into their computer. It may never happen to you, but it's less likely to happen to a Mac user.

  • Posted By: APRasmussen @ 06/08/2009 9:15:20 PM

    When is Microsoft going to get a clue? I use the HTC Touch Pro and it is one clunky piece of technology.

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