Best Buy Cuts $50-$150 Off Playbooks; Another Fire Sale Coming?

Looks like we could be in for another fire sale.  This time around, it'll be RIM's Playbook.  Best Buy will be lobbing off $50 on the 16 GB model and up to $150 on the 64 GB model.

I've said this a few times already.  These 7" tablets priced around $500 are going to have to contend with 7" Honeycomb or Android 4 devices that will cost about $300.  

I know the Playbook is a very solidly build device and is probably worth the premium but so is the 16 GB iPad coming in at $500.  And RIM did itself a disservice by releasing the Playbook when it was half-baked as far as the software was concerned.  

I've also postulated that the new $999 is now the $499 for tablets.  If a device maker wants to compete with the iPad at the $499 and up, they would need to offer "premium" features and services that Apple cannot match.  

 

Source:  Electronista.

Sprint Study Shows AT&T Will Kill Jobs, AT&T Responded; Looking At AT&T History, I'm With Sprint

Sprint released an economic study by an University of California at Irvine, David Neumark, said flatly that AT&T's merger history showed that is has eliminated over 100K jobs since 2002.

There are a bunch of other figures that used numbers based on assumptions.  That happened on both sides in this particular matter.  What is given is that mergers ultimately mean job losses due to duplication, especially in this case where both companies are in the same market.  After all, mergers between two companies in the same market is to create value and eliminate waste.

Now, if AT&T had bought a supermarket chain, I would be more prone to agree that it is not not as likely to cut jobs.  After all, it's unlike that its wireless customer service reps are going to be expected to be working at checkout counters or stocking shelves.

And while AT&T did promise to bring back 5K jobs, it did not promise it would not cut jobs elsewhere.

This merger between AT&T and T-Mobile is about killing off a competitor.  AT&T is looking to knock off the only other GSM operator in the US.  No more, no less.

Source:  Techcrunch.

Apple Brings All Cloud Services And Stores Under One Control

Eddie Cue is now a senior vice president, in change of all things Apple that is online.  Though this may not look like much but mark this date.  Apple is going all in with this could business.  

We might not see it today or next year.  However, iCloud will looked markedly different 5 years from what it'll be like in the fall.  In fact it may not take that long.  

When I read this first thing today, I thought the man would be overburdened.  Not so if Apple has a clear head about what they want.  They're past cloud efforts haven't been all that great but it seems with iCloud, they've turned the corner.

Good Post On Why DOJ's Suit Against AT&T And T-Mobile Merger Is A Good Call

I'm pro-biz.  Rather I'm pro-competition.  Merger are good if they create value for the market, meaning us the consumer.  However, AT&T and T-Mobile merger never made sense for me from the start.  It's why I support DOJ's lawsuit against the merger.  And This Mercury News article is one of the better articles on this matter.

Bottom line:  

• Eliminate choices.
• Proposed economic benefits is uncertainty. Using jobs as reason for merger but vague on how much it'll lay off due to duplications.
• T-Mobile prides itself on offering value.  Without a competitior with 33-million users, AT&T and others have no reason to compete on value.
• There are cheaper ways for AT&T to build out its network without buying T-Mobile. AT&T has already said it'll spend less than $4 billion to expand coverage from 80% to 97% of US population, much less than the $39 billion cost of the merger.

Take all that together, you come to one conclusion:  the merger is about killing competition and imposing more crummy customer service and shady billing practices.  Plain and simple.  

Honestly, we've all seen AT&T's practices over the year.  And suddenly, it wants to convince the American public that it's got our best interests at heart. Whatev...

Source: Mercury News.

Apple Will Be Able to Fix iOS Devices Remote Via iTunes or the Web

Apple is no doubt an innovator.  And this next example shows just how far ahead it is thinking about the whole mobile system beyond what its competitors are doing.

Just after a patent application by Apple was published last week regarding diagnostic tools that could remotely fix a device, we’ve read today that such tools already exist and is probably in use in limited capacity if not wide-spread.

Mobile: Apple Lost Another iPhone Prototype - Two Years In A Row

No.  Your eyes have no deceived you.  Apple has indeed lost another iPhone, an unreleased prototype. And what makes this that much more bizarre is that it also happened in a bar.

I've gotta say.  I don't know why people need to drink to unwind or have fun but I get whoever lost it probably was drunk and I hope he or she loses the job over this.  

According to CNet, this happened in late July in SF.  It doesn't sound like Apple has recovered the device.  More to the story if you click over...

Sigh...

Apple Inadvertently Confirmed New iPhone 5 Design

Via Cult of Mac, they pointed out that Apple might have a new iPhone 5 design for us.

Through the upcoming Photostream app, an icon showed an iPhone with a bigger screen and a home button with a different shape.

Okay, I'm pretty excited by this...