both of them? as far as i understand those two never had those old iPods, but only newer ones.

where i live it is a non-issue. there is no public opinion about it, much less "the court of public Opinion."

it might be huge news in Australia or the US though. that would actually fit some of the stereotypes i have about those countries and their media (not that our media would be better, just a different kind of bad).

I don't really give a shit about Apple's business practices. I'm sure if you look at any large corporation you will find a ton of unsavory conduct. My reason for not buying any iProducts is simple: Why would I pay double price for an inferior product?

It's simple: Apple wants you to think it the shit.....when it's just.....shit in a shiny package! Anyone who says different is classified by me as a mindless iHole.

Enjoy your overpriced iCrap.

well my sources might be better than your's.

remember that mysterious high-ranking Microsoft official from America that was doing first-level customer support in Australia (aka the little birdie) who was telling you that support for Windows 7 would end in November 2014?

seriously, doom prophecies about the only profitable smartphone company are not exactly smart. there are plenty of others in line to go out of business first. as did Nokia (i predicted that) and Motorola in recent time.

maybe Nokia can make a comeback though. they can sell phones under their name again in 2016. right now they can only produce tablets ( http://n1.nokia.com/ ). a high-end Nokia phone running Android would be something i would buy.

Ah, the old switcheroo!  I am aware of Windows Mobile, however that was minimally a "smart" phone.  However, I will concede part of your point.  As I was thinking Windows Phone.  Which when combined with Windows Mobile, gives them 5% of the market.  NOt 3%.

So we both lose points, you for current, me for past.

3.  Regardless of your country, numbers do not change.  3 is not both.

And Apple did win - again through attrition.  You are welcome to buy and love them all you want - that is called free trade.  But they are losing market share because of the iTunes restrictions.  And that is the court of Public Opinion.

Moshi, you can paint it however you like, Apple is losing market share daily and soon will encounter various difficulties as stock piles up and major investors [aka shareholders] get nervous and pull the plug.

As for your sources being better?  Pfffft!

Exactly, the consumer stranglehold we all refer to as the walled garden is slowly but surely strangling Apple.  I know quite a few people who once raved about their iPods and iTunes, who now just carry a regular MP3 player and upload music from their PCs at no extra cost.  And others ditched their iPads because they had no USB ports and had no inputs/outputs. 

Then there were those who ditched their iPhones because IOS became stagnant and was getting left behind by Android.  Several switched to Windows Phone because they liked the interface better and found it easier to use.  And yes, Apple fanbois were coming out of the woodwork to boast how the AppleStore has more apps, but so what, that is so irrelevant when users find the WindowsPhone Store has the more frequently used and most important ones.

Simply put, Apple's days are numbered and its reign at the top will end as the tide turns on that war of attrition.  Much like the Roman Empire [and others] Apple will collapse under its own greed and love of power... and without Steve jobs at the helm, Apple's race to the bottom is somewhat accelerated.  True, the iPhone 6 is currently selling well, but Apple has little else to fall back on when sales go into decline and stock starts piling up.  And the fanbois can say "what about the iPad?", but it too is suffering declining sales, and maybe Microsoft's Surface hasn't made that big a dent as yet, when you combine the sales of Surface with those of Samsung, HP, Acer, ASUS and others, it is a significant chunk of the market not going Apple's way... and with sales of these alternatives to iPad consistently increasing, it appears that Apple is on a hiding to nothing and will capitulate.

Hehe, I won't even send Apple a sympathy card saying "it wasn't nice knowing you."

What is your alternative to this thing you call 'GREED'?  I mean that has actually worked.

Yes, greed has worked... for some.  In the process, however, it has helped cause/create unnecssary poverty, where the haves have it all and there's eff all else to go around.

Then there's two types of greed: one is where a person/company wants more than the others; and then there's insatiable greed, where a person/company wants it ALL.... and gets it  Apple falls into the latter group, and essentially having the absolute most [of any company/individual] isn't enough.  No, Apple wants to have it all; wipe out its competition; become the largest monopoly of all time, and become a law unto itself.

In fact, Apple has already become a law unto itself, in that it decides whose intellectual property it wishes to acquire [read steal] and manipulates the legal system and buys the judiciary to enable it to do it. Then there's the walled garden, which legally binds users to do as Apple says, when it says, and how it says... all in the name of insatiable greed.

As for an alternative to greed?  Pay workers a fairer wage to enable them to purchase more freely... profits will rise in due course.  Lower prices to make goods and services more afforable to low income earners and pensioners, etc.  In doing so the customer base grows and profit still grows.  In other words, it's easier to get a dollar from a million people than it is to get from one person.  However, this is a concept Apple chooses to ignore... at its own peril.  Catering to and ripping off its base of fanbois, while essentially excluding the rest, just won't cut it anymore.  While there's still some wankers around, consumers these days are becoming more savvy and selective, meaning that companies like Apple need to reconsider their business models/strategies or go under.

We have a retailer here in Australia called Harvey Norman - probably the greediest in the country - and recently its owner/director Gerry Harvey, tried lobbying/forcing government into taxing all online purchases from overseas as well as from within Australia.  His hope was to push internet sales prices up and to drive more and more customers into his stores.  Well it backfired in a real big way, as people, who hated his whiny ass on TV advocating that they pay more, stayed away from his stores in droves. 

I have always refused to shop in Harvey Norman stores and always will, and during 1000s of conversations with 1000s of people over the last couple of years or so, I have discovered there are 1000s of like-minded people.  Hehe, many ordinary Aussies have a name for Harvey Norman and/or Gerry Harvey... it's Hardly Normal, and that's because the majority have such a strong dislike for both the man and his business.  And no, I haven't gotten off the case of Apple.  It too has created for itself a very poor image and has garnered alot of dislike, even hate towards it through very public bombshells... like suicide prevention nets rather than improve Chinese workers wages and conditions, etc.

So yeah, while greed may have its upside - the amassing of great wealth and power - it also has its down side, and sooner or later people will give Apple and similar companies the flick.  Hopefully in the case of Apple, it's much, much sooner, not later.

"old switcheroo"? nonsense. i said Miscrosoft had more than 40% marketshare seven years ago. and it had.

"minimally a smart phone"? not really, it could do plenty of things. Symbian could do even more. surely more than the first iPhone (with no third-party apps) could do. but those operating systems didn't do it right and were a pain to use.

if it's about points, you lose again as the last numbers in that table are from 2011.

stock piles up? in a market that is growing by literally billions of people in the next decade? 

you Windows Phone fanbois (uncertain if the use of plural is correct here, as i am not sure there is more than one) sound exactly like desktop Linux evangelists. no, GIMP is not Photoshop and Bing is not Google. might be good enough for some, but they are not equivalents.

we'll see when the "benevolent empire" (Robert Kagan) falls. depending on your age this will be in your lifetime.

So it's a growing market by "lierally billions" in the next decade?  Hmmm, overpopulation, food shortages, famine and starvation come to mind, not electronics and consumables.  And even if it was a viable market with such an influx of people, what makes you think Apple would be competitive, much less be around?  Apple may have been lucky with this year's iPhone 6, but seriously, it is on the decline and will capitulate prior to your billions of so-called 'customers' creating problems of biblical proportions.

A dislike of Android and IOS does not make me a fanboi of anything.  I simply happen to like Windows Phone because it syncs with my tablet, laptop and PC better than the others.  So WP is not a good enough or an equivelant for me... it IS better  And not because I'm a fanboi... it's just more functional to my needs.

Oh, and Androis ISN'T an operating system, really!  No, it is just a glorified widget engine that manages half assed apps.  They're not even [fully fledged] programs for fech sake.  And IOS isn't much better.  It too just behaves like a glorified widget engine and is a much watered down version of Unix. 

At least OS-X is a proper OS, not that I'd ever use it... which I guess will now make me a Windows fanboi.  The fact is, Windows is universal, fully functional and works with more programs and games, etc, so naturally it's my 1st choice.  And yes, I do like Windows 8.1 better than previous incarnations, and Win 10 will be even better when released.  However, a fanboi I am not.

Oh, and Moshi, you may enjoy being provacative and antagonistic, "you Windows Phone fanbois"... etc, etc, but it doesn't upset me and I really don't give a fech. I'm in too good a mood.  So you have yourself a pleasant day and great holiday season.

That is false.  You said "smart phone market share".  YOu redefined smartphone.  So you were wrong.  Period.

Apple 'borrowed' that, too...;p

Yes, but it's a full OS and would be partly useful if one could bear to use a Mac long enough... at all!

After seeing that clip you put up the other day, I'm wondering if there's anything in its inventory that Apple didn't 'borrow'... er, relieve other parties of ownership?

Frankly, I think Steve Jobs watched the Borrowers and The People Under the Stairs, thought to himself "that's a bloody good idea" and began sneaking about with intent to permanently 'borrow' ... and thus Apple was born, under false pretences and dubious dealings conducted under the stairs. If only he had watched The Fly instead... Hehe, maybe somebody who watched Perry Mason enough can commence proceedings and take Apple to the cleaners.

It's said that Jobs was real savvy and knew what he was doing, but he made a major cockup when he had Steve Wozniak boosted.  Without Wozniak, Apple was never going to be anything more than a purloining utiliser of other peoples hard work, innovation and inventions.  Sadly, his passing changed nothing... it's still business as usual: "So who are we going to sue today?".... "Who has tech we can confiscate and use to our own ends?".... "And are those suicide nets working or do we need to put bars on the windows?"

Maybe I oughta edit the title: "Lots and Lots of Reasons Why Apple IS Despicable."

Screw Apple and any company or corporation like them.  My daughter currently works for a subcontractor for Apple providing technical assistance for customers.  She is paid so little that she lives in subsidized housing and gets subsidized health care.  This is government subsidized corporate welfare for greedy whores, welfare that taxpayers shell out for so these bastards can increase profits and pay workers as little as possible. 

Then there is the 1.7 trillion dollars spent on warfare by the U.S. since 911.  Where do you think most of this money has gone?

There ya go, yet another reason Apple why IS despicable.... swallowing up tax dollars while not paying its fair share.

Hehe, I must be doing Daffy Duck out of a job, using his favourite word this often.

Again, it comes down to greed, to which Apple knows no bounds.  I am sorry that your daughter is treated as no more than an employee number and is struggling as a result.  All too often corporations see just an employee number and forget there is a real person with real needs and feelings attached to it... but then I believe that is deliberate.  Upper management distances itself from the rank and file so it doesn't have to be confronted with workers who too often are desperate for better pay and conditions.

Anyway, here's hoping her lot improves and better opportunities come along.

Get starkers wound up, he keeps going, and going, and going, and...

that's you redefining smartphone.

there's a communication problem. i use the dictionary definition of smartphone, while you use the Dr. Guy definition of smartphone.

so i'll rest my case.

to quote Warren Buffet: "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."

the man is correct.

with your two parties, you'll only have a choice whether those subsidies are a little higher or lower. as long as the economy doesn't crash those subsidies will always be just high enough to keep you from revolting. 

No you do not,  YOu even conceded that you were using a loose definition.

And you are still wrong about the present.  As I said.  

YOu are not a very honest person.