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The 15 Dumbest Apple Predictions Of All Time!

blog.wired.com — My fav: "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." — Michael Dell in October 1997 or "The iPhone is nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks." — Matthew Lynn, in Bloomberg after the January announcement.

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  • lisapham, on 11/06/2007, -55/+8They forgot to add the dumbest prediction of all time:
    Apple to implement the right-click on their mouse.
    • MikeSD34, on 11/06/2007, -3/+15http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A ...
      "...so you can both left-click and right-click."
    • theuniversal, on 11/06/2007, -5/+42The mouse that comes with a mac has had left and right click for years. Is it too confusing for you without the division in the plastic?
      • ArmandoM, on 11/06/2007, -5/+4Now if they could just figure out a way to add it to their trackpads. (and yes, I know you can do the stupid double finger tap thing, and no, that's not easier.)
        • krakelohm, on 11/06/2007, -0/+4Ya know I was with you on this till I got my MPB. I gave it some time and after a few hours it was second nature.
    • stalefries, on 11/06/2007, -3/+21Guys, you just committed the classic Internet blunder: feeding a troll.
      • tophu, on 11/06/2007, -2/+7You fell victim to one of the classic [Internet] blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never [feed the trolls!] Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha... *die*
        • Grivako, on 11/06/2007, -0/+2Digg up for the Princess Bride reference
  • wisedude, on 11/06/2007, -14/+66Your michael dell "prediction" isnt' even a prediction... It's just advice. There's a HUGE difference, no one actually said that's what'd happen
    • masterm1nd, on 11/03/2007, -11/+4"The 1 Dumbest Apple FUD Of All Time"
    • ignorantcow, on 11/04/2007, -12/+26That comment by Dell was accurate at the time it was made
      • cmirza, on 11/03/2007, -12/+11Accurate how? It wasn't even serious advice. It was just Dell being smug. I doubt Michael Dell would have been able to accomplish what Jobs has.
        • masterm1nd, on 11/04/2007, -14/+11I'm pretty sure dell has a much larger market share...
        • joshman5k, on 11/03/2007, -7/+4and bank account.
          • rspeed, on 11/03/2007, -1/+6Actually, no. Apple's market cap ( # of shares * share price ) is higher than Dell's.
        • threemagic, on 11/03/2007, -0/+3No, it wasn't accurate at the time. For it to be accurate Apple would have to continue losing money and stock price. However, it went on a tear and made a lot of people rich....

          so his statement probably caused quite a few people to sell.. they are all probably home with their Dells now wondering why they listened to his "accurate at the time" statement.
      • rolf, on 11/03/2007, -8/+10I wouldn't say it was accurate, just how a guy with limited imagination and grasp of Apple's potential at the time would approach the problem.

        Dell is a successfully managed company, but let's not pretend that Michael Dell spent more than 30 seconds thinking about this. Advice is worth whatever thought was put into it, and this was 30 second advice.

        It had more to do with Mr. Dell beating his chest over a rival's impending demise than any reality.
    • xike, on 11/02/2007, -2/+7You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
      • Grivako, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2Digg up for yet another Princess Bride refrence
    • WoollyMittens, on 11/03/2007, -2/+5mmm... semantics.
    • MadKennyP, on 11/03/2007, -3/+8And it turned out to be HORRIBLE advice.
    • milliamp, on 11/03/2007, -12/+0The comment by Dell was satire. People could use a sense of humor.
    • olsonjj, on 11/03/2007, -0/+10Actually Michael Dell was predicting Apple's doom and his advice was to shut it down. So it was both a prediction and advice.
    • flaminio, on 11/03/2007, -8/+2That and Apple isn't bigger than Dell. By market cap yeah, but in sales, not even close. It's still a remarkable turn of events, but lets be reasonable.
      • threemagic, on 11/03/2007, -0/+9If you sell 1000 machines and make 1000 dollars and I sell 100 machines and make the same...then YOU are doing something wrong because that 1000 dollars has to go to supporting the larger sales.

        You lose, good day sir.
  • trghpy, on 11/06/2007, -13/+29heh, gamers... mac... heh
    • Dustmuffins, on 11/06/2007, -0/+4I wish =(
      • itux1985, on 11/06/2007, -2/+0Crossover Mac, look it up.
        • CATSCEO, on 11/06/2007, -2/+1...why would you want to do that? Its a matter of graphics cards, not OS.
      • threemagic, on 11/06/2007, -2/+8I've played WoW, Vanguard, most recently even Pirates of the Burning Sea beta... guess what... on my Mac Pro... with great framerates.. and everything turned on...

        games..check
        • Abestar, on 11/06/2007, -7/+3Pompous ass reaching for the few games on Mac...check.
    • postalblowfish7, on 11/06/2007, -1/+5ok once again. bootcamp.

      i play FFXI, lotro, doom 3, orange box, etc. etc. all on my *gasp* macpro!


    • Raptor007, on 11/06/2007, -0/+1This prediction was made in the Mac OS Classic days. It may surprise you to know that Mac OS 9 was the best gaming platform we will ever see. The reason, ironically, is their terrible multitasking system, in which the frontmost application could choose to deny CPU time to other tasks. This worked out great for games.

      The main reason this prediction failed is that games didn't make it to Mac in a timely fashion. And Mac OS X definitely won't take off as a gaming platform, since the OpenGL-encapulated GUI (while otherwise awesome) is a terrible burden on graphics-intensive games. Boot Camp to the rescue!
  • Samiyam, on 11/06/2007, -5/+17"Steve Wozniak will sleep with some loud-mouth, third-rate comedienne." Oh, wait...
    • xTRUMANx, on 11/06/2007, -25/+4Wow, did you really think the simplest way to spell comedian was to end it with 'enne'? Usually people who don't know how the spelling goes just spell words how they sound. U no wat i meen?
      • AriaStar, on 11/06/2007, -4/+19"Comedienne" is the proper form of the word "comedian" for a female.
        • lavchan, on 11/06/2007, -14/+4No. That would be 'comedian'.

          ----------
          -ian a suffix with the same meaning and properties as -an; -ian is now the more productive of the two suffixes in recent coinages, esp. when the base noun ends in a consonant: Orwellian; Washingtonian.

          [Origin: extracted from L loanwords in which -ānus -an is joined to stems ending in i]
          ----------

          People who wait tables are waiters. People who host things are hosts. People who act are actors. People who sing are singers.

          There are words that are sexist but these are not among them. Stop pushing them. They're archaic, inconsistent, and often just plain made-up. They serve absolutely no purpose because their supposed opposites are not gender-specific at all, and they end up being even more demeaning than the author (evidently) intends because it implies that the female 'versions' of these jobs are somehow lesser off-shoots of the 'real' ones.
          • danielwsmithee, on 11/06/2007, -2/+3The only one who thinks the female version of the word is demeaning is you.
          • lharrod, on 11/06/2007, -2/+2One could argue that not having a feminine equivalent of a word is sexist. The masculine version is often the default for nouns in many languages. Papa=father in Spanish, Mama=mother, but referring to both of them is to call them Papas or Padres, completely ignoring the feminine contribution. It all stems from Man and Woman. To speak of them both is to speak of Mankind. So, to eliminate feminine version of words, such as occupations, seems to be yet another way of cutting out women altogether.
        • chicagodj, on 11/06/2007, -1/+7Actually women who wait tables are waitresses. And women who host things are hostesses. And women who act are actresses.
      • joshman5k, on 11/06/2007, -1/+2http://www.google.com.au/search?q=define%3A+comedi ...
  • ncaauwe, on 11/03/2007, -2/+17Dugg for putting themselves on the list.
    • TheWorm, on 11/03/2007, -2/+4I have a large poster of the cover of Wired in which it has the Apple logo surrounded in barbed wire with the words pray. at the bottom. It was the issue predicting Apple's demise. I've stuck with the mac since the early 90s and I'm glad I did now.
      • BlueStarr, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2If you could scan that poster and upload it....would be amazing!

        I've also been with Apple since the early 90s and I've always luv the Apple, good or bad. It's good stuff to watch while eating popcorn. :)
      • lharrod, on 11/02/2007, -0/+3Me, too. I grew up using Apples in school, but I bought my first Mac in early 1998, when they were on the precipice, and all my PC friends were telling me that I was buying a $3000 paperweight, and that Apple would end up like Amiga or Betamax. Those friends remind me of fairweather fans of football teams. e.g. They love a team when they're on a winning streak, and claim to be diehard fans, but when that team is having a bad year, they become fans of whatever other team is hot now, and bash the former team.
  • cranium, on 11/03/2007, -3/+25I can't believe Dvorak didn't make the list with all of the stupid ***** he's been saying.
    • bobcatred, on 11/02/2007, -3/+3Well he did say he used an Apple and didn't hate it not too long ago... sort of.

      Then again, he's kind of got a standing reservation at the "I Hate Apple" club. They probably figure that there's too many quotes to choose from in Dvorak's case.
      • Boondoggle, on 11/02/2007, -3/+2Dvorak actually recommends that people buy Macintoshes now, even for business.

        Listen to the latest twit podcast. He was feeling the Leopard love.
    • Matt88, on 11/03/2007, -9/+3Hey Dick Head - listen to the latest TWIT - Dvorak actually recommends that people buy Macs
      • ethon, on 11/02/2007, -0/+4Dick Head? Is that a proper noun? That'd be an awful name :(
        • kaplanfx, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2he just misspelled the last name, the guys name is actually Richard Heed... I think he was thinking head because the posters name is "cranium"
      • BlueStarr, on 11/02/2007, -3/+1^^^haha.

        It doesn't change the fact the old fart was a bashing Apple troll for decades. The fact he's a fellow Mac User now is ***** sweet! Having to eat your words is good for him...plenty of fiber....eat it bitch! ;)
    • chuckbo, on 11/03/2007, -0/+4I figure they're going to do a special column, just for him, and honor him with a lifetime achievement award of messed up predictions.
  • maxyRO, on 11/02/2007, -9/+3yeah, Apple prooved 'em wrong
  • adambadam, on 11/07/2007, -2/+9This is the scary list — Wired's June 1997 article "101 Ways To Save Apple" http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.06/apple.html ... pretty amazing how many of these they are implementing today.
    • IndigoMoss, on 11/02/2007, -2/+9I'm not a fan of Apple, but they did turn themselves around quite a bit from the time of that article. It really is amazing how many things Apple implemented from the article. I'd just wish they'd open their platform up more than it is, so I don't have to spend a bucket load on a new PC when I already have a bad ass rig.
      • Boondoggle, on 11/04/2007, -3/+4Your bad-ass rig will be crap in a few years, or at least not bad-ass. Think about it then.
        • IndigoMoss, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1It will still cost me more money to purchase a Mac than to build my own. I'd lose overclocking and a lot of the other things I love about building new rigs.
      • lilbitmoreslyk, on 11/04/2007, -3/+1The point is Apple would probably see more sales because they would buy Leopard NOW and run it on custom built PCs. And besides if you do make a decent PC you can probably hold out for "few years" which is a pretty damn long time. I also agree i'd rather not buy their proprietary hardware with their OSX.
        • dragon76, on 11/03/2007, -0/+2*sigh* As we ALL know from the iPod, Apple does not make much money from software, they make it all from hardware. Selling a piece of software that already has been pirated to run on PCs in a way that makes the pirated software EASIER to run on PCs does nothing for Apple's bottom line. The only reason MS can survive the piracy is because of business users. You should look into the ***** they are in with developing countries: NO ONE buys Windows, it's ALL pirated.
          • IndigoMoss, on 11/04/2007, -0/+1The thing is would any of the people who purchase Apple PCs build a rig and run OSX on it? I don't think that they would, most of the people that buy a Mac buy it because they like they way they are designed just as much or more than the OS that runs on it (at least from the people that I know). I agree that there would be more piracy of the OS, but like you said, as it is they don't make any money on the software except from the current fanbase, I think it would help extend that fan base and give them a better position in the market. The thing is, it would also have to accept a lot more hardware which would mean they'd have a lot more things to work out. It's a lot easier building software to be used on specific hardware than it is to build an OS to accept any hardware the manufacture of said hardware makes.
    • joshman5k, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1"We'd all feel better about shelling out the bucks for a Power Mac 9600 if we could get a tower with leopard spots."

      It did come very real!
    • ilgaz, on 11/07/2007, -0/+1I have read original Stuffit Author's (Raymond Lau) 1997 interview, it is more frightening.
      http://www.raylau.com/maclopedia.html
      "t the high performance end of the scale (Pentium Pros are pretty damn impressive in performance at a reasonable cost), maintain a competitive position in terms of software availability (this unfortunately seems to be a particularly vulnerable area), and aggressively roll out improvements in the MacOS, especially in terms of reliability and performance in multitasking environments (I reboot my Mac several times a day due to crashes. I reboot my Sun UNIX based workstation once every few weeks)."

  • FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 11/02/2007, -6/+2"A Range of Click-Wheel iPhones"

    i dunno that this was a dumb prediction, just wrong. nobody (or very few) initially speculated that the interface would be touch-sensitive until apple filed for patents. then all sorts of speculation started about a small 'mobile pc' which the iphone essentially is.
  • ImTheChaz, on 11/03/2007, -5/+26Digg me down but I think the most ridiculous Apple prediction I have ever read was on a Digg story the other day. "look for Leopard to outsell Vista by a staggering margin." , seriously... http://digg.com/apple/Leopard_will_open_the_Mac_OS ...
    • InitialDMP5, on 11/02/2007, -13/+3why would you think that? People are actually asking to get XP installed on their new computers, and businesses are asking to have XP installed and have Vista taken off. Vist has a seriously negative stigma around it. Its had it ever since it was known that many features would not be in the final version. Stability and high spec requirements haven't made that any better.

      Leopard has the potential to sell a lot of copies. Apple users tend to upgrade every time a new release comes out. Tiger was installed on a huge percentage of apple systems with the rest of panther. Meanwhile there are lot of Windows systems out there still running 98, Windows ME, 2000, and XP. Windows users don't generally upgrade. And with Vista being in so many flavors, I think it would be only fair to count OS X versions 10.0 all the way up to 10.5 as one OS version.
      • Boondoggle, on 11/03/2007, -1/+10I love Leopard. It is awesome. It will not outsell Vista.
      • lordtyros, on 11/03/2007, -1/+3If you really believe the idiocy you just spewed, then I feel sorry for you.
      • lsweet, on 11/03/2007, -2/+4Even if every single mac user went out today and bought 1 copy of Leopard for their system, it still won't outsell Vista. Not because Vista is superior -- but because the market share of PC's to Macs is greater. Also; I'm still waiting for someone to post that defining article that indicates all the technical issues Vista has as opposed to the typical word of mouth or opinion based blog.
      • antitab, on 11/03/2007, -0/+4You're making the mistake of thinking that the Vista stigma extends past the population of general technologically-inclined people. It doesn't. The average Joe and Jane don't really know or care about the OS – they just want a computer. Maybe if Vista wasn't sold with nearly all PCs by default, you'd have a case. Further, I have two cousins who know nothing about computers other than Myspace and Facebook, and they both upgraded to Vista on their own.
      • ArmandoM, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1XP had a huge negative stigma around it when it was new too. Many times I heard or read people spewing on about how they would stick with windows 2000 forever, because XP is crappy, etc.

        I just finished installing Leopard and Vista on my macbook pro, and they both run just fine.
  • wewa, on 11/03/2007, -4/+9Beschizza is Enderle spelled backwards. Bizarro world, Kool-Aid style.
    Dude, he forget to put the most important quote for the list:
    "If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it's worth -- and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago."
    -- Steve Jobs, Fortune, Feb. 19, 1996
    http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultof ...

    Technically, its not a 'dumb' quote, as Jobs is doing exactly that, to the dismay of Mac professionals the world over (Leopard delay for the iPhone, etc.).
    • Boondoggle, on 11/03/2007, -1/+3It is also not a dumb quote because it is politically motivated. It is a message to Microsoft, "we can play nice now". I"m not sure Steve Jobs is still attached to this particular vision.
    • WiseWeasel, on 11/02/2007, -4/+2Even better, he got to kill the Mac himself (there was a casket and everything), and replace it with NeXT OS machines.
      • iigloo, on 11/03/2007, -0/+6Yeah, he killed the "Classic" Mac OS. Not the same thing as 'the Mac'. At all.
        • dragon76, on 11/03/2007, -0/+2Mac OS X only bears a passing resemblance to Mac OS classic and as Steve Jobs said when he introduced the switch to Intel, the heart of Macintosh is the OS.
          • iigloo, on 11/03/2007, -0/+1Still, he didn't kill 'the Mac'. If i had then the Apple computers of today wouldn't be called Macs? But.... I'm nitpicking :) hehe
  • brstilson, on 11/03/2007, -1/+20Personally, I'd give the doomsayers in 1996 and 1997 a pass on this. It really didn't look good for Apple back then, so a lot of people were expecting them to fall. Apple couldn't figure out which market they wanted to sell to, which led to lackluster hardware in both the business and consumer ends. Jobs had the foresight to realize that trying to beat Microsoft and Unix/Linux in the business world was like an ant trying to push a boulder. He gave Apple focus on the one market they could do well in, the consumer market.
    If Jobs wouldn't have come back to Apple, they very likely would have shut their doors.
    • Boondoggle, on 11/03/2007, -4/+4Apple had over 1 billion in cash at the time.
      • lsweet, on 11/03/2007, -1/+71 billion dollars in that market equates to nothing when you consider costs to do R&D + overhead.
      • regexp, on 11/03/2007, -1/+3But they were also losing money hand over fist. One billion doesn't last long.
    • pirloui, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2They where just hyping up doom, as the sheep they where.

      As for cash, I might be wron, but think I can remember Apple had closer to 4 billion.
    • joshman5k, on 11/02/2007, -1/+1Didn't some deals with Microsoft also help them out?
    • sudowrestler, on 11/03/2007, -0/+5It's interesting, but not surprising, that on Digg you see a lot of people wishing Apple to repeat some of the mistakes that got them into that situation. Open up the OS, try to compete in the low-end tower market, sell a broad range of computers rather than a small number of targeted models. Fortunately they're a more mature company now and have a clear sense of what they want to do and what they don't, and their focus is paying off.
    • mrraven200, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1Consumer and media pro and semi-pro as well, don't forget. That includes photographers, video editors and audio people that work exclusively on high end Macs. If Apple starts neglecting us I'll cry because there is no Final Cut equivalent for P.C.s.
    • aywwts4, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1Billions of possible capital aside, their stock prices dropped to 1986 levels, shareholders don't appreciate that much, particularly if apple is (allegedly) flush with cash. They were in massive trouble for quite a while, they managed to pull out of it, (with help from the dot com boom and a new line of revitalized products) but its not like this wasn't a completely realistic prediction at the time.

      That would be like us laughing at 1950s predictions that we would have a nuclear war, it was a truly real possibility at the time.

      On another note: I agree with the thing about no floppy drive on the imac so much. Yes floppies are dead now, and they should be, but at the time apple shipped the imac with no alternative save media, (CD-Roms were read only) My school bought hundreds of these, and 5 external zip disk and floppy disk readers, when working on projects in class, odds were good you wouldn't be able to save, (all webmail was locked down as well) so you had to try and save a few copies of your folder to a hidden spot in some system files in hopes it would not get deleted by another student, (people would delete work on the desktop) so you could come back the next day and not lose all your report. At the time, floppies were a legitimate storage media, and USB drives were not in existence; It was a mistake, it really was.
  • Aeror, on 11/03/2007, -3/+7Of course you can always find a person somewhere who will say the direct opposite of what is going to happen. Otherwise everyone would be able to look into the future. Quit calling people dumb just because they were wrong.
    • B1663r, on 11/03/2007, -4/+3Thats part of being a member of the apple cult, and its biggest failing... smug...
  • awesty, on 11/05/2007, -5/+8Lol. "Apple good for gaming..."
    • ilgaz, on 11/07/2007, -0/+1Game Sprockets is some DirectX 5 comparable technology but Apple and the inventor had a huge fight over use of OpenGL and it died.
      We still don't have a joystick calibration central control panel on Leopard. Shame really.
  • thoughtbeans, on 11/03/2007, -0/+9Apple has done one of the best turn around for any company today.
    • lilbitmoreslyk, on 11/03/2007, -2/+4Nintendo's comeback is similar
  • Tivor, on 11/03/2007, -0/+2I'm digging this article because the list has wild overestimation of Apple as well as wild underestimation. Well, underestimation outweighs overestimation by roughly 2:1 on that list, but still, it's good that it's not a usual bunch of "haha, Apple sure showed them" bits.
  • marsbar, on 11/05/2007, -9/+0I'm currently converting my iTunes DRM'd library to a more useful format which needless to say is a major pain in the ass. Right now I kinda wish that some of those "Apple will die" predictions did come true. I hate DRM, I hate proprietary formats, I hate proprietary OSes. Maybe not today but Apple and MS will hopefully just be a bad memory for future computer users.
    • Macskeeball, on 11/02/2007, -0/+3I wholeheartedly agree about hating DRM, but in case you didn't know, iTunes has sold DRM-free songs and music videos for a few months now. They call it iTunes Plus, and it's also double the bitrate. The selection is relatively small (EMI + indies), but it is there.
    • regexp, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2If you "hate" it so much why did you spend so much money buying it?
      • Macskeeball, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1People's opinions on things can change over time.
    • platypibri, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1I'm wondering what you use then? Probably a Mac or Windows, unless someone got the ITMS running on Linux. And Linux is incompatible with Linux pretty often. Like all the guys on digg bitching about ubuntu only tutorials and such. I haven't found iTunes to be limiting at all.
      • Macskeeball, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1I seem to remember that people have gotten the Windows version of iTunes (at least an older version) on Linux via WINE. Also, Marsbar could have switched to Linux from Mac or Windows a few months ago or something.
        • marsbar, on 11/08/2007, -0/+0That's exactly what happened. I just got rid of my last Windows box. I'm now strictly on Linux and Solaris. As for my rant, don't get me wrong I love the Apple look and feel and their apps are great. I just hate the proprietary formats. I've lost tons of documents because the files were in some stupid format - Ami Pro, Lotus, Wordperfect, Corel draw, etc. Its so bad that I just save everything as text and then format it just before printing. Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury with a lot of the music I own.
  • Shorties, on 11/03/2007, -0/+9While no more of a prediction then the dell quote I kinda wish I had seen this on the list
    “No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.”—CmdrTaco
  • aCrow08, on 11/03/2007, -11/+0I think they forgot to mention that Apple is now just as reliable than any PC, aka, 'they' didn't predict that Apple Quality has dropped. Now, that's dumb ;-).
  • OssianHanning, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1A Range of Click-Wheel iPhones

    "Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora said the first and slimmer of Apple's initial two cell phone models will look like an iPod with a small screen and a click wheel interface." — Jesse Tortoya, paraphrased by MacRumors.

    http://guides.macrumors.com/Jesse_Tortora_(Analyst ...

    That guy seems to have failed in predicting Apple rather badly over the years - time for a career change, maybe? >___o
    • OssianHanning, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1you have to add a closing parenthesis to the link yourself, digg sucks in some ways
      does anyone know how to do a "less-than"-sign on digg? o_O
  • Avian00, on 11/03/2007, -0/+4I like how this list of predictions is balanced, not just telling us the ones that make Apple look good. It was a very interesting read.
  • ItsMyWii, on 11/03/2007, -2/+1HP made an iPod??
    • lee4hmz, on 11/03/2007, -0/+3Sort of. It was a regular 4th-generation iPod with an HP logo added on the back, in an HP box.
    • sudowrestler, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1The case I found at Radio Shack for my 4G iPod was in HP packaging, they still had them on the rack long after the "HP iPods" were history.
    • nevetando, on 11/02/2007, -0/+0HP made a deal to sell iPods... but as is par for the course with apple, the terms were pretty crappy for HP, they hardly cleared any money, and dissolved the partnership a year or so later. They now sell creatives and other mp3 players on line.
  • mwanaume, on 11/03/2007, -4/+0Apple uk store is down
  • Matt88, on 11/06/2007, -10/+1This site should be called "Digg Apple" not "Digg". For 8-10% of the market they get hell of a lot coverage here on Digg which really pisses me off.
    • JonnyTrombone, on 11/06/2007, -1/+5Don't like the Apple section, don't look at it. There are also Microsoft and Linux/Unix sections.
      • Matt88, on 11/03/2007, -3/+1I found it in the Technology section - which just happens to include Apple (as one out of twelve categories).
        Is there a way that I can set up Digg to exclude Apple items?
        • MAnt, on 11/03/2007, -0/+5Yes. Maybe that big customize button has something to do with it.
          RTFM instead of complaining.
    • demonstro, on 11/06/2007, -1/+2Chill baby!
    • platypibri, on 11/06/2007, -1/+2go play in the freeway...
  • readme, on 11/03/2007, -0/+8Worst iPod prediction:

    "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

    http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/ ...
  • pileofstraw, on 11/06/2007, -15/+6i don't care about apple. i had to say it. bury me now.
    • 808kick, on 11/06/2007, -2/+14I don't care about an election taking place in a country I don't live in (2008 US election) so you know what I do? I stay the ***** out of the topics.
      • pileofstraw, on 11/06/2007, -4/+1hey bro, stop ruining yet another Apple thread with politic. k thanks.
        • CATSCEO, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1hey bro, stop ruining yet another Apple thread with stupid comments. k thanks.
    • postalblowfish7, on 11/06/2007, -1/+3speak your voice by burying the article instead of whining for attention.

      p.s. - saying "bury me" does not make you right.
  • utcursch, on 11/02/2007, -0/+2Also of interest: the "Apple Death Knell Counter":
    http://www.macobserver.com/appledeathknell/index.s ...
  • ibeetle, on 11/03/2007, -0/+4They forgot:
    Apple to buy Sony
    Apple to buy Disney
    Disney to buy Apple
    Steve Jobs will be named head of Disney
    • regexp, on 11/03/2007, -0/+2IBM will buy Apple
      Sun and Apple will merge
      Sun will buy Apple
      • danielwsmithee, on 11/03/2007, -0/+2And recently Apple will buy Sun.
    • CATSCEO, on 11/03/2007, -0/+2Apple will buy Google
      Apple will buy Microsoft
      Microsoft will buy Apple
      Google and Apple will merge.
      The list goes on...
  • ubergeek09, on 11/06/2007, -3/+3The best one is "gamers will flock to the mac" that's hilarious, it really is.
    • platypibri, on 11/06/2007, -1/+1if halo3 be the judge, it appears they flocked to the xbox 360
  • missingnoh4x, on 11/06/2007, -6/+1Allow me to predict what will happen with whatever Apple's next iProduct will be: "It's stupid, ridiculous, and overpriced. It'll sell like hotcakes."
  • regexp, on 11/06/2007, -2/+2""I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."
    It all comes down to context doesn't it? At the time this advice was perfectly reasonable. Not many people realize Apple was within just a few months of declaring bankruptcy.
    • jwdav, on 11/06/2007, -0/+3Apple had a lot of problems, but with 4 Billion in cash on hand, was not close to declaring bankruptcy in 1997. What was noticeable was that the cash on hand exceeded the value of the market capitalisation. At the time AAPL was a split adjusted $7/Share.

      The quote I remember from 1997 is: "How long before the dead wake up and start buying AAPL?"
  • bonds, on 11/06/2007, -12/+3Sweet, more smug Apple tripe. Digg seems to be full of this worthless nonsense; noticed that the very first time I visited. Too many fanbois and not enough common sense and independent thought. "Omg, look at this GORGEOUS desktop!" "Bluescreens, loll0r! Sup @ Vista!"

    It's time to exercise just a smidgen of restraint.
    • sudowrestler, on 11/06/2007, -2/+3I see you've already assimilated the idiotic "fanbois" expression. Congratulations on not following the herd. You might exercise the option of blocking Apple content. Common sense, no?
      • bonds, on 11/06/2007, -3/+1I've no reason to block Apple content, as I do enjoy reading news of their products. It's their users I despise.
        • CATSCEO, on 11/06/2007, -1/+3Then don't talk to us.
          • bonds, on 11/03/2007, -2/+0I've as much right to voice my opinion as you do pal, thanks though. Any other pro-tips?
        • pileofstraw, on 11/06/2007, -2/+1bonds, we i admire your courage!! totally right
        • pileofstraw, on 11/06/2007, -2/+1bonds, we i admire your courage!! totally right
  • Keitosha, on 11/06/2007, -5/+1So what they thought was: "Blow Jobs", but they were wrong. :P
    • FredFredrickson, on 11/02/2007, -1/+2Apple will flounder when Jobs eventually retires.
  • FredFredrickson, on 11/06/2007, -6/+2Apple is on the rise right now, but I still see a general decline ahead, as far as their computer systems go. I think Linux has a better chance of becoming a dominant PC platform than Mac OS, and still think that there is a good possibility that one of the next Mac products / OS's will have a Vista effect (it won't meet expectations, there will be some major, uncorrectable flub, it won't be better than previous versions or will be just an update for update's sake, etc.). It happens to everyone.
    • sudowrestler, on 11/06/2007, -2/+0Thanks, Rob, we were waiting to hear from you.
    • danielwsmithee, on 11/06/2007, -0/+2If Linux is successful it will mean that there is no longer a dominate OS. Apple will continue to survive as will Microsoft. Imagine the harmony of companies using open standards to be successful.
    • platypibri, on 11/06/2007, -0/+21. you are a dreamer. When my mom can manage linux, come see me, we'll talk.
      2. Mac users have don't wanted it to be the dominate OS. I think 15% market share max, or it might not be the Mac we love. We don't want a business machine. We want a lifestyle machine.
      • CATSCEO, on 11/06/2007, -0/+2I'd say 40-50% is the optimum market share.
  • BlueStarr, on 11/03/2007, -2/+3luv reading stuff like this.....it's my version of junk food in tech world.


    Go Apple Go....
  • RoddyBrookes, on 11/06/2007, -9/+0There's a difference between dumb and wrong.

    These guys were wrong because they failed to realize people will buy apple's overpriced garbage no matter how not worth it it is.
  • georgemandis, on 11/02/2007, -0/+3Some of these predictions are dumb, like the HP iPods outselling Apple's iPods, but as to most of the other ones... Just because your prediction was wrong, does that really make it dumb?
  • LuCiFer6, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1I shocked that the "Apple will go out of business" didn't make the list.
  • jicon, on 11/07/2007, -1/+22005 - "The year of HD"
    2007 - "iMovie doesn't export to HD quality, but close. The internet is the new medium"

    Still waiting for a Blue Ray/HD-DVD burner in a Mac.
    • ilgaz, on 11/07/2007, -0/+1There is already Blu Ray recorders (yes, many of them) and they work with Toast from Roxio. HD-DVD is a MS joke, it will soon die. We need a developer to write BluRay DVD player for Mac, that is all. I bet there are some in house developments but they are waiting for sane prices for BD Players.

  • postalblowfish7, on 11/02/2007, -0/+1ahhh i love all the apple death-watching from the mid-90's. in those days the 'cult' atmosphere was at its peak. blind faith never pays off as well as it did for us 90's mac kids.
  • Popbot, on 11/06/2007, -0/+3If you look at the 101 Ways to Save Apple article that wired has, it's amazingly prescient. Seriously, some advice is stupid, but with other bits it looks like list of what Jobs did with the brand. Examples:

    18. Stop being buttoned-down corporate and appeal to the fanatic feeling that still exists for the Mac. Power Computing's "I'll give up my Mac when they pry it from my stiff, dying fingers" campaign hits the right note. In the tech world, it's still a crusade. Support the Mac community, and the Mac community will support you.

    19. Get rid of the cables. Go wireless.

    23. Create a new logo. The corporate graphic of the multicolored apple was tired in the 1980s, now it's positively obsolete. Plaster the new logo on hats and T shirts to be worn conspicuously by Andre Agassi, Nicolas Cage, and Ashley Judd.

    40. Cash in on millennium fever with an ad campaign that portrays Apple as a return to basics, a rediscovery of simplicity and purity, a rejection of complexity.

    There are a couple more really good ones (Wired has some on its "15 Dumbest" page)
    I like the last one:
    101. Don't worry. You'll survive. It's Netscape we should really worry about.
  • jabberwolf, on 11/06/2007, -5/+1Um iphone is failing compared to other phone sales.And sorry other companies have oodles of models for people to pick from, thus togehter they blow any Apple sales away.
    • uknowwhoibe, on 11/06/2007, -0/+3No, you're wrong. It's doing quite well, actually.
    • inkswamp, on 11/06/2007, -0/+2Do you have a source with sales figures to support those claims?
  • littlemedguy, on 11/07/2007, -2/+3Gamers Will Flock To Macs

    Really? How about developers flock to Macs?

    I for one would buy a mac if the same games that run on Windows would run on the Mac. This is the same problem facing Linux. I've said it for years..... If you can play games on Linux the same way you can on Windows it will really take off.
    • inkswamp, on 11/07/2007, -0/+3So if games are the only issue, why is something like Boot Camp or Parallels (which is making serious progress on running games) not of interest to you? BTW, I'm not trying to challenge you. I'm just interested in why games would be such a stumbling block if there's an official way to get around it.

      For me, the idea of running OS X as a primary OS and booting into Windows for games is the best of both worlds.
      • ilgaz, on 11/07/2007, -0/+1Still, it is sad, we got OpenGL, OpenAL and developers all ship Wine/Windows exe packages masking as Apps.

  • eternal, on 11/06/2007, -1/+4As for good for gaming, I don't play a lot of pc games, but those that I do play run great on my Mac.
    • daftman, on 11/07/2007, -2/+1minesweepers and solitaires run great on any platform.
    • ilgaz, on 11/07/2007, -0/+1Funny thing is- Mac has huge selection for "serious" and mature games. The click and shoot stuff is already on $500 PS3 output in pure 1080p HD resolution with 7.1 sound for a price of a high end graphics card.

  • Raptor007, on 11/07/2007, -0/+2In defense of the gaming one, that was written back in the days of Mac OS Classic. Mock me if you will, but OS 9 was the best gaming OS you will ever find. Ironically, this is due to its terrible multitasking system; the frontmost application could deny CPU time to other applications, which most games for Mac took advantage of. Additionally, most Mac games added TCP/IP support if the original PC version only offered IPX -- Warcraft 2 was probably the most notable example. The big problem was that games rarely made it to Mac in a timely fashion.

    Mac OS X, conversely, hampers games by running the entire GUI through OpenGL. Thankfully, Boot Camp has come to the rescue.
    • ilgaz, on 11/07/2007, -0/+1Any application can claim exclusive rights to OpenGL subsystem. I know what you mean but it would be already impossible to play anything if OS X windowmanager kept bugging graphics subsystem.
      Games when in fullscreen get exclusive rights to OpenGL and other stuff such as windows etc. go to sleep. That is why there is special Apple-TAB or Apple-H code in games.
  •  

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