bob-bob's Profile

I may be wrong, but I thought it was to promote Mac OS 9, as I remember there were a lot of tips showing you how to use iDisk with Mac OS 8.5 (which apple didn't support).

Why do apple and duracell price differently depending on market? Every buyer in the world has a different amount they would pay for a product - Bill Gates would pay $1m for a dell PC if there was no other choice and he wanted to code, an Indian CS student might never be able to pay more than $200 as that's all he's got. Similarly every seller in the world has a price he'd sell for - maybe a little bit more than what it costs them to get the stuff in the first place. Somewhere between these two prices the deal is made. The seller wants to maximise his profit - cut his price til he sells as much as possible, without cutting it so far he cuts his profits. The buyer wants to push down the price, but not so far enough that he puts the seller out of business. In India people are less able to pay, and it costs less to make, distribute and sell things. This is why prices are lower there (e.g. batteries) iTunes pricing is set by apple because there is no real competition - so the deal is made at the seller's price, rather than the buyer's price. Not sure why this means European prices are lower, but here's a hypothesis - Rich Britons are very rich, and they can afford to pay a lot for iTunes. Non-rich Britons don't buy music off iTunes, so dropping the price will just cut profits. Second theory - the prices need to be set by Apple to last for some time. The pound is volatile against the Euro, so Apple needs to protect itself against the fx rate by buying options. This costs money and adds to the price. The pound is a high interest rate currency, so in the future it is expected to fall. Hence the move is against apple - if it sets the price at 1 euro = 75p now, in two years time it will only be getting .95 Euro = 75p. It's difficult to raise the price of products, so it's better to set the price high now than have to hike it in a few months time. The other reason that prices seemed high when your posts were written is that the pound has rocketed up in value recently making 79p seem like a lot of money. Now the pound has fallen again the Euro rates (75p today) don't seem so expensive.

Here is one: Mac loyalists are just a little too smug and a little too into "the movement". To quote Maddox on the subject: "I feel like Apple is not just selling computers, they're selling a way of life, and I'm not ready to be that heavily invested in a product."

If your watch is bumping against your laptop try turning it around (rotate it 180 degrees about the long axis of your arm). This is what I do when typing on my 12" powerbook.