Category: Gear

Apple by Joe WilcoxNov 4, 20099:30 am

iPhone’s Chinese Disconnection?

Yesterday, several Wall Street analysts swallowed their pride and iPhone sales projections after the first four days of official iPhone sales in China amounted to 5,000 units. Whoa, 5,000? I’m stunned China Unicom sold that many. At $730 to over $1,000 price range, iPhone goes oddly—seemingly quite badly—together with average Chinese incomes. Apple’s mobile costs way too much for the market—or does it?

Several blogs, including All Things Digital, described iPhone’s China debut as a failure, feeding off analysts’ glum reaction. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, one of Apple’s biggest cheerleaders on Wall Street, described sales as “soft.”

Gear by Joe WilcoxSep 25, 20093:04 pm

Now This Is Advertising!

Only Microsoft could be so bold. As I explained in my last post, TechFlash’s Todd Bishop and I have been bantering back and forth about what is advertising. Oh, these IM arguments can be brutal. Anyway, […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxSep 1, 200910:27 pm

Nokia and the iPhone Hype Problem

Nokia World convenes for two days in Stuttgart, Germany (local time there, 9 a.m.). It’s an event that many US analysts, bloggers or journalists will look at with disdain. If hype were the only measure of success, Apple would be the world’s largest handset manufacturer. But for all the iPhone bark—much of it coming from the United States—Nokia has got way more bite. Not that most Americans will hear about it.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 31, 20097:26 pm

Katydid Does

This morning, a Katydid temporarily took up residence on our screen door. I used it as opportunity to test the iPhone 3GS auto-macro mode. Pics were all crap. But this one (and others) taken with […]

Gear by Joe WilcoxAug 31, 20096:13 pm

Netbook Plague Kills 1 in 5 Notebooks

The netbook scourge continues unabated, and PC manufacturers are host on their on petard. Could anything be more putrid? DisplaySearch has ruined the last official day of summer holiday by releasing netbook shipment data. In May, I blogged that netbook US retail share approached 20 percent.

Society by Joe WilcoxAug 30, 20098:16 pm

Laptop Hunter Sheila's First Post-Hunt Big Project

Say, do you remember Sheila Dvorak? The filmmaker who bought an HP HDX 16t, in one of those Microsoft “Laptop Hunters” commercials? The stereotypical filmmaker uses a Mac, running Apple’s Final Cut Studio. But not Sheila. She’s completed her first project using the HDX 16t.

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 28, 200912:03 am

My Nokia N97 is Gone

I am mad at Apple and Nokia. Apple has the best mobile software and services platform anywhere. Nokia offers the best hardware platform—granted, HTC closes in. This difference has forced me to choose one company’s smartphone over the other, leaving behind dissatisfaction with the compromise.

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 18, 20098:46 pm

No Thanks: Full-Screen iPhone Ads

Look what popped up on my iPhone 3GS while reading a New York Times story. A full-screen advertisement. I would rather skip the ads and pay the Times, say, five bucks a month for content. […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 6, 20095:32 pm

Two Tales of Windows 7 Abandon

In the interests of transparency and fair disclosure, I must make two of three confessions. Several people have asked, via comment, e-mail or tweet, whether or not my wife and daughter stuck with Windows 7. There’s appropriateness to responding the day Microsoft released the operating system to MSDN and TechNet subscribers.

Aspiration by Joe WilcoxJul 26, 200912:16 am

My Comic-Con 2009 Gear

I spent the last two days at Comic-Con 2009 here in San Diego. I sacrificed Day 1, and not happily, to cover Microsoft’s fiscal fourth-quarter and year-end earnings. Several big Microsoft stories broke on Friday, but I refused to give up another day at Comic-Con; it’s the 40th show. Comic-Con is fun and chaotic. More importantly, for a journalist, people are willing to talk—and why not? They’re playing a role and ready to perform.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 19, 200910:40 pm

PEN E-P1: First Shots

Finally, I took some test shots with the PEN E-P1, the exciting new Olympus micro four-thirds camera; I got the camera on July 7, 2009. This camera can swap lenses. Oh, yeah. I have the […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 18, 20098:37 pm

American Apparel Displays What?

I am a sucker for good marketing, often stopping to gawk at store display windows. Marketing displays, especially store windows, are art forms. The best combine things that seemingly go oddly together.