The ArchAngel
Mar 26, 08:22 AM
I'm shocked at how many people are so willing to just wave away all the nice under-the-hood changes and improvements that Lion offers just because there aren't any super-radical UI changes... really disappointing to be honest. Does it really have to be all flashy to be of interest to you? What, the functional side of things doesn't matter any more?
As an amateur OS X developer, I really hate this attitude because it will end up slowing Lion adoption. That really sucks, because there are a ton of awesome changes in 10.6 that I (and many, many other developers) would love to take advantage of to make their software even greater, but it's not going to be viable to go Lion-only for said features until Lion is installed on the majority of Macs out there.
I hear what you're saying, and agree in large part, but since when did most consumers select products on grounds other than primarily looks?
As an amateur OS X developer, I really hate this attitude because it will end up slowing Lion adoption. That really sucks, because there are a ton of awesome changes in 10.6 that I (and many, many other developers) would love to take advantage of to make their software even greater, but it's not going to be viable to go Lion-only for said features until Lion is installed on the majority of Macs out there.
I hear what you're saying, and agree in large part, but since when did most consumers select products on grounds other than primarily looks?
blahblah100
Mar 31, 07:31 PM
true, but the smugness and self righteousness of Google fanboys are so much worse.
HA HA. You have got to be kidding me.
HA HA. You have got to be kidding me.
DeVizardofOZ
Aug 30, 06:14 AM
I don't believe Apple would (or should) license out Mac OS X to run on non-Apple hardware. This is because Apple is a hardware company that uses Mac OS X to sell hardware. I wouldn't want it to be licensed out anyway, because then we would have to deal with registration key nightmares. Right now, there's nothing but your conscience and a license agreement you probably threw away keeping you from installing one copy of Mac OS X on every Mac you can get your hands on. Not that I do that, but I sure like just popping in my disk and reinstalling whenever it strikes my fancy.
On to the support issue, I think since the beginning of technical support there have always been those who complain that quality has really gone down and back in the good ol' days, you never had any problems, ever! And now, by golly, it's a coin toss whether you get a machine that even turns on!
Right, gramps, and back in your day, you walked to school uphill both ways in the snow with no boots and you liked it.
And 25% of new machines being lemons? Last quarter, Apple reported they shipped 1,327,000 computers. If we call a quarter 90 days, and assume that 25% of them are dead, that's more than 3,600 computers sold defective every single day. Are you kidding me? You really think a major hardware company would sell 3,600 defective computers every single day and get away with it?
This is what's really happening: Apple is selling more machines than ever. Apple's customers have greater access to the internet than ever. Even if the rate of failure stays the same, you have more customers with more internet savvy to come whine and moan on bulletin boards.
Yes, you deserve a perfectly functioning computer and you have the right to complain when your computer is broken. So call Apple or go down to your local service provider and get your machine serviced under warranty. That's what it's there for. It's also the number 1 best way to help Apple get clued in to potential issues with their products. They're not going to issue a recall because a bunch of bulletin board users complain to each other over and over again until they convince each other that there isn't a single MacBook Pro in the world that functions properly.
_________________________________________________________________________
because, no matter what I hear around the board, all of you forgot to consider, that there must be a large number of faulty products WHICH DID NOT SLIP THROUGH THE SLOPPY CQ AT THE FACTORY. Therefore 20-25% lemons is indeed possible and much too high a percentage in any manufacturing process.
Best
On to the support issue, I think since the beginning of technical support there have always been those who complain that quality has really gone down and back in the good ol' days, you never had any problems, ever! And now, by golly, it's a coin toss whether you get a machine that even turns on!
Right, gramps, and back in your day, you walked to school uphill both ways in the snow with no boots and you liked it.
And 25% of new machines being lemons? Last quarter, Apple reported they shipped 1,327,000 computers. If we call a quarter 90 days, and assume that 25% of them are dead, that's more than 3,600 computers sold defective every single day. Are you kidding me? You really think a major hardware company would sell 3,600 defective computers every single day and get away with it?
This is what's really happening: Apple is selling more machines than ever. Apple's customers have greater access to the internet than ever. Even if the rate of failure stays the same, you have more customers with more internet savvy to come whine and moan on bulletin boards.
Yes, you deserve a perfectly functioning computer and you have the right to complain when your computer is broken. So call Apple or go down to your local service provider and get your machine serviced under warranty. That's what it's there for. It's also the number 1 best way to help Apple get clued in to potential issues with their products. They're not going to issue a recall because a bunch of bulletin board users complain to each other over and over again until they convince each other that there isn't a single MacBook Pro in the world that functions properly.
_________________________________________________________________________
because, no matter what I hear around the board, all of you forgot to consider, that there must be a large number of faulty products WHICH DID NOT SLIP THROUGH THE SLOPPY CQ AT THE FACTORY. Therefore 20-25% lemons is indeed possible and much too high a percentage in any manufacturing process.
Best
e-coli
Nov 29, 08:12 AM
Ha! I can't WAIT until they sit down to Apple's board and put that proposition on the table.
I haven't bought a piece of major-label music in years (because it's mostly crap), but my guess is Steve is going to absolutely go nuts, then tell them to bugger off and create their own media device.
I haven't bought a piece of major-label music in years (because it's mostly crap), but my guess is Steve is going to absolutely go nuts, then tell them to bugger off and create their own media device.
shk718
Apr 27, 08:52 AM
Your type of apathy in the long term will do more harm than good.
There is a big difference between voluntarily and involuntarily giving out personal information and that's what was at stake here.
Apple admitted error - it's ok - you can admit it might not have been in the best interest of consumers too. Apple won't come and take your iPhone away.
every time you turn on your cell phone you are "involuntarily" giving out information. My comment has noting to do with being indifferent - but rather - about being practical. we live in an age of hard drives and memory chips - any device with these things in it logs what has been done with it. We leave bread crumbs everywhere - it could be a photo taken on a traffic cam or a hair follicle left in a hotel room. We do not live in an age of privacy. we are extremely public and it will get even worse as time goes by. Being upset about a file with data listing cell towers and wifi routers on a cell phone is unrealistic. just my humble opinion.
There is a big difference between voluntarily and involuntarily giving out personal information and that's what was at stake here.
Apple admitted error - it's ok - you can admit it might not have been in the best interest of consumers too. Apple won't come and take your iPhone away.
every time you turn on your cell phone you are "involuntarily" giving out information. My comment has noting to do with being indifferent - but rather - about being practical. we live in an age of hard drives and memory chips - any device with these things in it logs what has been done with it. We leave bread crumbs everywhere - it could be a photo taken on a traffic cam or a hair follicle left in a hotel room. We do not live in an age of privacy. we are extremely public and it will get even worse as time goes by. Being upset about a file with data listing cell towers and wifi routers on a cell phone is unrealistic. just my humble opinion.
Multimedia
Sep 13, 01:21 PM
A bit pointless given that no software utilises the extra cores yet. But nice to know, I guess.No software such as, Cinema 4D, Motion, Aperture, Final Cut Pro etcNo software such as Toast 7.1, Handbrake UB. More to the point is not how many cores an application can use but rather how many things you can get done at once. :rolleyes:From my usage of FCP, Compressor, Aperture and DVDSP, they work very well with the MacPro but I haven't seen them approach usage of even 3 full cores.
Ability to multistask is great but I would not say that any one of the above is using all cores the way we want them to. I would contend that this is coming and pointed out in another thread that some of the FCP benchmarks on Apple's MacPro performance page are footnoted that the figures given were using Beta version of FCP.I think in the next few months the full FCS and Logic will get an update to address this.
Ability to multistask is great but I would not say that any one of the above is using all cores the way we want them to. I would contend that this is coming and pointed out in another thread that some of the FCP benchmarks on Apple's MacPro performance page are footnoted that the figures given were using Beta version of FCP.I think in the next few months the full FCS and Logic will get an update to address this.
kentkomine
Apr 11, 03:42 PM
Aww, I was really hoping/expecting for a summer release :( But with all the other rumors suggesting that WWDC 2011 will be software-oriented, it makes sense. The iPhone 5 better be AWESOME, or else!!
63dot
Aug 17, 11:46 AM
so if apple gets a 3 socket logic board, or a 4 socket one, we could have 12 or 16 cores.
now we are talking...processors get me so horny :)
i used to go bug my friend who worked in the field, in his past life, soldering very small widgets and thingies on motherboards and processors in the 80s and early 90s...he burned out and became a private investigator for way less money than an electrical engineer in the valley...but way more exciting since he gets to carry a gun (can anybody say midlife crisis?)
actually, my love of processors was not that great...i dropped out of a phd program in computer engineering specializing in mass networking equipment processors and chipsets...but those are in a totally different price range...and there are some exciting ideas in the world of processing using water molecules and string theory, but that's way out there right now
anyway, for my normal daily uses here at home, i am eyeing the 17" inch imac and that would actually be the best machine for me, dollar for dollar, and a truly fine machine to replace my five year old power mac
now we are talking...processors get me so horny :)
i used to go bug my friend who worked in the field, in his past life, soldering very small widgets and thingies on motherboards and processors in the 80s and early 90s...he burned out and became a private investigator for way less money than an electrical engineer in the valley...but way more exciting since he gets to carry a gun (can anybody say midlife crisis?)
actually, my love of processors was not that great...i dropped out of a phd program in computer engineering specializing in mass networking equipment processors and chipsets...but those are in a totally different price range...and there are some exciting ideas in the world of processing using water molecules and string theory, but that's way out there right now
anyway, for my normal daily uses here at home, i am eyeing the 17" inch imac and that would actually be the best machine for me, dollar for dollar, and a truly fine machine to replace my five year old power mac
Micjose
Apr 25, 01:45 PM
lol, i think the people are just cashing in ;)
ECUpirate44
Apr 11, 11:27 AM
Makes my recent iPhone 4 purchase look like a good decision. Sorry for those who are waiting for the 5 :o
Macky-Mac
Apr 27, 02:39 PM
Hopefully you're not insinuating that I am pointing to a conspiracy, I'm pretty sure I was quite clear on that account.
As for the 'auto-text' thing... interesting, why though would the several dates, etc. be on separate layers? And why would the signatures be separate from the typed text? Just slightly different colorations? My only thought was that the thing was retouched in order to improve the appearance of a poor quality scan... but why would they be so sloppy in reassembling? Why not make it a single layer image before releasing? I don't buy that it was simply overlooked... It's the White House for crying out loud. It's as if they WANT they want the controversy to continue???
do you even know who generated the PDF? Perhaps the state of Hawaii set up an editable blank form for their use?
As for the 'auto-text' thing... interesting, why though would the several dates, etc. be on separate layers? And why would the signatures be separate from the typed text? Just slightly different colorations? My only thought was that the thing was retouched in order to improve the appearance of a poor quality scan... but why would they be so sloppy in reassembling? Why not make it a single layer image before releasing? I don't buy that it was simply overlooked... It's the White House for crying out loud. It's as if they WANT they want the controversy to continue???
do you even know who generated the PDF? Perhaps the state of Hawaii set up an editable blank form for their use?
asiayeah
Aug 25, 06:36 PM
Apple support for me has been nothing but great. This year my household has bought an intel iMac and a macbook. Being revision A I was expecting some sort of problems with them at some point and the problems did come. First I had some serious video problems on the iMac. So, I made an appt using Concierge and it was right on time. So, the genius looked at the problem and in ten mintues told me I needed to have the logic board replaced. So, I left it at the store and picked it up 2 days later. I wasn't glad that I had problems with the mac but their support was great.
Now the macbook was having the dreaded problem of turning off at random times. This one was a bit more tricky. I made my appt just as I did for the iMac and saw the genius. She had to replicate the problem of it turning off at random before she could put it into their system in order to be fixed. Thankfully it turned off within a couple of minutes so she put in the request to have the logic board replaced. However, it took 4 days this time to get it fixed. While I would have loved to have had it fixed in the same time it took to fix the iMac I realized that just wasn't in the cards. It has been fine ever since. Although, a few weeks later the battery started to buldge but they replaced it right away and we were only at the genius bar for around 15 minutes to get a new battery.
After hearing the horror story of my best friend trying to get his Dell fixed I was certainly happy about my experience with Apple. (as far as the dell story goes he still doesn't have it replaced because Dell lost his notebook after he sent it back to them and they are trying to tell him that it was somehow his fault) The people at the genius bar were excellent with good customer service skills. While I realize that some have had experiences that weren't quite as good I thought I would point out that some of our experiences with Apple support have been excellent.
I think you are in the States, aren't you?
Now the macbook was having the dreaded problem of turning off at random times. This one was a bit more tricky. I made my appt just as I did for the iMac and saw the genius. She had to replicate the problem of it turning off at random before she could put it into their system in order to be fixed. Thankfully it turned off within a couple of minutes so she put in the request to have the logic board replaced. However, it took 4 days this time to get it fixed. While I would have loved to have had it fixed in the same time it took to fix the iMac I realized that just wasn't in the cards. It has been fine ever since. Although, a few weeks later the battery started to buldge but they replaced it right away and we were only at the genius bar for around 15 minutes to get a new battery.
After hearing the horror story of my best friend trying to get his Dell fixed I was certainly happy about my experience with Apple. (as far as the dell story goes he still doesn't have it replaced because Dell lost his notebook after he sent it back to them and they are trying to tell him that it was somehow his fault) The people at the genius bar were excellent with good customer service skills. While I realize that some have had experiences that weren't quite as good I thought I would point out that some of our experiences with Apple support have been excellent.
I think you are in the States, aren't you?
samcraig
Apr 27, 10:28 AM
Don't you just love it? Apple identifies an potential issue, and does something to remedy it, and they get yelled at for doing so. If they do nothing, they get yelled at for doing nothing.
Catch 22.
Apple identified it? No. Check your history. It was brought TO Apple's attention over a year ago.
It was again brought TO Apple's attention via various reports and articles.
THEN Apple looked into the matter.
I commend Apple for taking action (now).
But let's not rewrite history, shall we?
Catch 22.
Apple identified it? No. Check your history. It was brought TO Apple's attention over a year ago.
It was again brought TO Apple's attention via various reports and articles.
THEN Apple looked into the matter.
I commend Apple for taking action (now).
But let's not rewrite history, shall we?
cmaier
Apr 20, 11:58 AM
According to the analysis, it is in the suit, as part of the trade dress claims.
Not as a separate thing. It's the grid IN COMBINATION with the other things that constitutes the trade dress.
Not as a separate thing. It's the grid IN COMBINATION with the other things that constitutes the trade dress.
ChickenSwartz
Aug 7, 11:22 AM
Assuming they're released, they'd probably bring the Apple Store back online around 2:00pm.
(They traditionally take it down during a keynote...)
The store is down.
(They traditionally take it down during a keynote...)
The store is down.
NJRonbo
Jun 14, 06:27 PM
I hate Radio Shack.
Salesman have their heads up their butts
or corporate does not know what to tell them.
The 4th store I called said if you have a PIN
you are guaranteed a phone.
Salesman have their heads up their butts
or corporate does not know what to tell them.
The 4th store I called said if you have a PIN
you are guaranteed a phone.
gnasher729
Aug 26, 04:12 PM
That doesn't make sense, marketing wise. If they do anything to the MacBooks and iMacs they would at least bump their speeds. It doesn't matter f the 2GHz Merom chip is faster than the 2GHz Yonah chip, the consumers don't give a crap about the chip... they want to see "them GHz numbers" go up.
We are talking here about Macintosh buyers, not about idiots.
Just sell Merom as "64 bit", that's twice as much as "32 bit".
We are talking here about Macintosh buyers, not about idiots.
Just sell Merom as "64 bit", that's twice as much as "32 bit".
Nuck81
Dec 7, 11:42 PM
would those that have played this game reccomend getting it? or are there too many cons (standard cars, multiple versions of one car, bad AI in racing, bad physics in damage esp with standard, etc) that would lead to buyers remorse?
Keep in mind, I have played quite abit of Forza, but now have a PS3 and want agood racing sim but just keep hearing bad things about this game (largely being an incomplete game)
Standard cars- You can't tell the difference on the track, you can't tell the difference on the way they drive, you can't tell the difference on replays, You can only tell a difference in that there is no cockpit mode (most people drive hood or bumper cam) or in photo mode which you use a few times and then never look do it again.
Multiple versions of one car- Yes there are a lot of Skylines, but with 1,000 cars are you going to run out of different rides? Plus there are a lot of rare Gems. The Chaparral 2J, Tommy Karai ZZII, Tank Car, I can keep going.
Bad AI- Yes sir, the AI does suck pretty bad.
Bad Physics in damage- Forza's canned animation damage is better? I'm a level 26 and my cars bend, dent, deform, get tire donuts from rubbing other cars, and lose hoods and doors. The standard cars don't lose parts, but they dent, deform, and get dirty.
The game is a blast and very addicting. No buyers remorse will be had, unless you have a preconceived negative opinion about the game to begin with.
Keep in mind, I have played quite abit of Forza, but now have a PS3 and want agood racing sim but just keep hearing bad things about this game (largely being an incomplete game)
Standard cars- You can't tell the difference on the track, you can't tell the difference on the way they drive, you can't tell the difference on replays, You can only tell a difference in that there is no cockpit mode (most people drive hood or bumper cam) or in photo mode which you use a few times and then never look do it again.
Multiple versions of one car- Yes there are a lot of Skylines, but with 1,000 cars are you going to run out of different rides? Plus there are a lot of rare Gems. The Chaparral 2J, Tommy Karai ZZII, Tank Car, I can keep going.
Bad AI- Yes sir, the AI does suck pretty bad.
Bad Physics in damage- Forza's canned animation damage is better? I'm a level 26 and my cars bend, dent, deform, get tire donuts from rubbing other cars, and lose hoods and doors. The standard cars don't lose parts, but they dent, deform, and get dirty.
The game is a blast and very addicting. No buyers remorse will be had, unless you have a preconceived negative opinion about the game to begin with.
epitaphic
Aug 18, 06:22 AM
Apps already capable of saturating 4 cores need more cores to run simultaneously without compromising speed.That is what has already happened. You were unaware of that fact. So yes, it is a whole different ballgame already. :eek:
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/mac%20pro_081406100848/12798.png
I think this speaks for itself.
When I'm working on one project, that's all my attention to it. When I'd like to encode it, I'd like my however many cores to be at full blast. Sadly, that's not happening at the moment and will remain so until they rewrite h264 encoding.
Like I said, unless people are doing what you do (sending multiple files to be encoded at the same time all the time) they won't benefit from 4, 8, 100 cores.
Now if anyone can show benchmarks that show FCP being 40-50% faster on a quad than on a dual when working on a project, I'll shut up :)
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/mac%20pro_081406100848/12798.png
I think this speaks for itself.
When I'm working on one project, that's all my attention to it. When I'd like to encode it, I'd like my however many cores to be at full blast. Sadly, that's not happening at the moment and will remain so until they rewrite h264 encoding.
Like I said, unless people are doing what you do (sending multiple files to be encoded at the same time all the time) they won't benefit from 4, 8, 100 cores.
Now if anyone can show benchmarks that show FCP being 40-50% faster on a quad than on a dual when working on a project, I'll shut up :)
GooMan
Apr 13, 02:26 PM
Please explain this. You'd buy an iPhone 5 with HSPA+, but not one with LTE ? Why ? Makes no sense at all.
Because if Apple release an iPhone 5 with LTE, it will cost more and won't be backwards compatible... right... :rolleyes:
Obviously not a factor.
1) I'm perfectly happy with the data speeds I get on AT&T 3G. I would guess the new 4G phones will suffer in battery life. I don't want to give up battery life for network speed I don't really need. If I had to choose I would choose battery life every time.
2) It's not the cost of the phone, its the cost of the data plan. I would guess it will be like the iPhone 3G launch where AT&T forced you into a 3G plan even if you didn't have 3G coverage in your area. Remember the original $20 iPhone unlimited data plan and how it went away when the new hardware was released?
3) I currently have unlimited data with AT&T which I would like to keep although I've never used > 1.5GB in a month. I doubt very seriously this will be an option with the new "4G" network plans.
4) I can wait for a "4G" phone until there is decent "4G" coverage.
Because if Apple release an iPhone 5 with LTE, it will cost more and won't be backwards compatible... right... :rolleyes:
Obviously not a factor.
1) I'm perfectly happy with the data speeds I get on AT&T 3G. I would guess the new 4G phones will suffer in battery life. I don't want to give up battery life for network speed I don't really need. If I had to choose I would choose battery life every time.
2) It's not the cost of the phone, its the cost of the data plan. I would guess it will be like the iPhone 3G launch where AT&T forced you into a 3G plan even if you didn't have 3G coverage in your area. Remember the original $20 iPhone unlimited data plan and how it went away when the new hardware was released?
3) I currently have unlimited data with AT&T which I would like to keep although I've never used > 1.5GB in a month. I doubt very seriously this will be an option with the new "4G" network plans.
4) I can wait for a "4G" phone until there is decent "4G" coverage.
NY Guitarist
Apr 5, 08:14 PM
Interestingly this contradicts the information my friend on the design team hinted towards. I know the release is imminent so time will tell.
So are you saying that the apps will be broken up and sold individually?
So are you saying that the apps will be broken up and sold individually?
PhantomPumpkin
Apr 25, 04:39 PM
You are skating around the issue of user permission. If you use this app to track your location - its YOUR CHOICE. However, the issue here is that Apple is collecting the data without the option of user choice. Even turning off location services does not stop the collection and submittal to Apple of this information.
That is what is the hearty of the matter - do we, as users, have the right to opt to to the collection and submittal of location data to Apple ? With your example, you do, as you can turn off the app at will.
Please, link me any evidence this is submitted to Apple.
That is what is the hearty of the matter - do we, as users, have the right to opt to to the collection and submittal of location data to Apple ? With your example, you do, as you can turn off the app at will.
Please, link me any evidence this is submitted to Apple.
Vulpinemac
Apr 25, 03:36 PM
I agree, Apple is pretty ridiculous at times.
That must be who you meant, since you clearly haven't had time to read the lawsuit yet.
Or do you think all lawsuits are 'money grubbers'?
Personally, I think all lawsuits are 'Money Grubbers' and should be barred from filing unless there is evidence of criminal intent against the user. Right now the reports are so vague that I expect by the time this lawsuit hits the court, the judge will simply throw it out as frivolous.
That must be who you meant, since you clearly haven't had time to read the lawsuit yet.
Or do you think all lawsuits are 'money grubbers'?
Personally, I think all lawsuits are 'Money Grubbers' and should be barred from filing unless there is evidence of criminal intent against the user. Right now the reports are so vague that I expect by the time this lawsuit hits the court, the judge will simply throw it out as frivolous.
theBB
Aug 11, 07:28 PM
Confused.
Can somebody explain me the differences between the cellphone market between the US and Europe.
Will a 'iPhone' just be marketed to the US or worldwide (as the iPod does)?
Well, let's see, about 20 years ago, a lot of countries in Europe, Asia and elsewhere decided on a standard digital cell phone system and called it GSM. About 15 years ago GSM networks became quite widespread across these countries. In the meantime US kept on using analog cell phones. Motorola did not even believe that digital cell phone had much of a future, so it decided to stay away from this market, a decision which almost bankrupted the company.
US started rolling out digital service only about 10 years ago. As US government does not like to dictate private companies how to conduct their business, they sold the spectrum and put down some basic ground rules, but for the most part they let the service providers use any network they wished. For one reason or another, these providers decided go with about 4 different standards at first. Quite a few companies went with GSM, AT&T picked a similar, but incompatible TDMA (IS=136?) standard, Nextel went with a proprietary standard they called iDEN and Sprint and Verizon went with CDMA, a radically different standard (IS-95) designed by Qualcomm. At the time, other big companies were very skeptical, so Qualcomm had to not only develop the underlying communication standards, but manufacture cell phones and the electronics for the cell towers. However, once the system proved itself, everybody started moving in that direction. Even the upcoming 3G system for these GSM networks, called UMTS, use a variant of CDMA technology.
CDMA is a more complicated standard compared to GSM, but it allows the providers to cram more users into each cell, it is supposedly cheaper to maintain and more flexible in some respects. However, anybody in that boat has to pay hefty royalties to Qualcomm, dampening its popularity. While creating UMTS, GSM standards bodies did everything they could to avoid using Qualcomm patents to avoid these payments. However, I don't know how successful they got in these efforts.
Even though Europeans here on these forums like to gloat that US did not join the worldwide standard, that we did not play along, that ours is a hodge podge of incompatible systems; without the freedom to try out different standards, CDMA would not have the opportunity to prove its feasibility and performance. In the end, the rest of the world is also reaping the benefits through UMTS/WCDMA.
Of course, not using the same standards as everybody else has its own price. The components of CDMA cell phones cost more and the system itself is more complicated, so CDMA versions of cell phones hit the market six months to a year after their GSM counterparts, if at all. The infrastructure cost of a rare system is higher as well, so AT&T had to rip apart its network to replace it with GSM version about five years after rolling it out. Sprint is probably going to convert Nextel's system in the near future as well.
I hope this answers your question.
Can somebody explain me the differences between the cellphone market between the US and Europe.
Will a 'iPhone' just be marketed to the US or worldwide (as the iPod does)?
Well, let's see, about 20 years ago, a lot of countries in Europe, Asia and elsewhere decided on a standard digital cell phone system and called it GSM. About 15 years ago GSM networks became quite widespread across these countries. In the meantime US kept on using analog cell phones. Motorola did not even believe that digital cell phone had much of a future, so it decided to stay away from this market, a decision which almost bankrupted the company.
US started rolling out digital service only about 10 years ago. As US government does not like to dictate private companies how to conduct their business, they sold the spectrum and put down some basic ground rules, but for the most part they let the service providers use any network they wished. For one reason or another, these providers decided go with about 4 different standards at first. Quite a few companies went with GSM, AT&T picked a similar, but incompatible TDMA (IS=136?) standard, Nextel went with a proprietary standard they called iDEN and Sprint and Verizon went with CDMA, a radically different standard (IS-95) designed by Qualcomm. At the time, other big companies were very skeptical, so Qualcomm had to not only develop the underlying communication standards, but manufacture cell phones and the electronics for the cell towers. However, once the system proved itself, everybody started moving in that direction. Even the upcoming 3G system for these GSM networks, called UMTS, use a variant of CDMA technology.
CDMA is a more complicated standard compared to GSM, but it allows the providers to cram more users into each cell, it is supposedly cheaper to maintain and more flexible in some respects. However, anybody in that boat has to pay hefty royalties to Qualcomm, dampening its popularity. While creating UMTS, GSM standards bodies did everything they could to avoid using Qualcomm patents to avoid these payments. However, I don't know how successful they got in these efforts.
Even though Europeans here on these forums like to gloat that US did not join the worldwide standard, that we did not play along, that ours is a hodge podge of incompatible systems; without the freedom to try out different standards, CDMA would not have the opportunity to prove its feasibility and performance. In the end, the rest of the world is also reaping the benefits through UMTS/WCDMA.
Of course, not using the same standards as everybody else has its own price. The components of CDMA cell phones cost more and the system itself is more complicated, so CDMA versions of cell phones hit the market six months to a year after their GSM counterparts, if at all. The infrastructure cost of a rare system is higher as well, so AT&T had to rip apart its network to replace it with GSM version about five years after rolling it out. Sprint is probably going to convert Nextel's system in the near future as well.
I hope this answers your question.