Sprint confirms that webOS 1.4 will hit today with Flash 10 on board

@ rhill,

This is what happens when you allow carriers to be in charge of your product. My product, my rules. I remember several years ago no one could figure out why Wal-Mart didn’t sell iPods. Then one January I saw an interview with Wal-Mart’s CEO and he was asked point blank “why did it take so long for Wal-Mart to start selling the iPod?” His response, “Apple came to us two years ago and our concern then was the price. We felt like Apple could come down quite a bit on their price to save our customers some money. Apple didn’t see it that way of course. So this last year we decided to do something we don’t do, allow Apple to decide on the price.” Fact is Wal-Mart was losing a lot of business and decided to just allow Apple to manage their own product. That is why you haven’t seen iPhone with another carrier in the US. Apple has never and will never allow another company to control any part of their business.
I wish other companies would takea que and take a stand against these carriers.

Hell, this last year or so Verizon has stated several times that sooner or later all phones on their network will have to be on one platform and one marketplace. It may end up being some form of Android, but it will be Verizon’s Android and not yours.

Thank you Apple for managing your business. May more companies decide this is a good plan.

Such a silly argument. That takes competition and throws it out the window. Really?! Let only the product producer dictate the price of any given item? Not a fan of WalMart but c’mon.

@ Patrick,

There is an easy way to find out who is correct. All you need to do is build a product. You decide it is a great product and then set a price. People pay that price by the truck load and then some reseller tells you they will carry it if you change your idea of what your product is worth.
An items worth is exactly what someone will pay for it. So, get started on creating something and then let us know how you feel when someone tells you what you are going to sell it for.

Jarrett,

Not a student of economics, I presume?

What you suggest, although I follow your thinking, is borderline anti-trust, and counter to free markets.

I sympathize with your argument that a product maker should be able to decide how they price their product, but what you are talking about is the WHOLESALE price. That price should be fair, and the same for any retailer, who then can freely decide how to run THEIR business, and sets the RETAIL price.

I understand that in this case Walmart was negotiating hardball for a drop in the wholesale price, so Apple was within their rights to stand firm. But under no circumstances should the product maker be able to dictate retail price. It does happen, and it’s anti-competitive.

Walmart, if they choose, should be allowed (but not advised) to give away iPods as a “loss leader” to get people in their stores. It’s contradictory that you support Apple’s right to run their business as they see fit, but negate the retailer’s rights to run their business as they see fit.

Well, if your phone already operated with Flash installed and has whatever battery life, you actually have no idea what Flash’s affects are on your phones battery. Wouldn’t that be a correct statement?

Thanks for the link!

Now, it remains to be seen what SPCS and VZW *don’t* let us have in the update. (VZW – *please* let us edit the voicemail button to add our passwords…)

I believe that number is now 25, I believe another poster on here said he or she was going to move to Android this week. To set the record straight though, the commenter in question doesn’t use an N900. I believe he or she is known to use an N97. That also could be incorrect. People can say just about whatever they want I suppose.

@ Steve, You really think the Palm Pre or Pixi is a mass market phone?
@ Jarrett, You really think that Palm has a stronger brand then Nokia?

They really are making drugs stronger these days…

@ N900,

You are questioning Brand strength between these two companies? When the N900 came out three people were excited. When the Pre was announced those three people got unexcited about the N900.
So, comparing the brand strength of these two companies is like polishing a big turd. No matter how hard you work it, it is still a big turd.

Look, if a company has a strong brand then when they “invent” something it should sell like gangbusters right? Just because your idea is great doesn’t mean it will sell in huge numbers.
You can sell 100 million cell phones a year but if every year you are selling fewer phones something is wrong with either your brand or you company.
There is a company that has a majority of the OS and Browser market for the Desktop but in each of the last 12 years those numbers have shrunk.
Just because you are the biggest doesn’t mean you will remain the biggest.

AAA

Acknowledge
Accept
Adapt

Funny, the only older tech company really figuring this out is Dell. The Dell has is that they are horribly tied to MSFT. Same goes for HP. When you company’s life depend on another company, your company is screwed.

Ok I’m curious so what do you think Dell and HP should do?

HP won’t do anything.

Dell is and has been taking the Linux approach. With Android they are applying the Linux approach to mobile.
Large corporations are so heavily invested in WinTel technology that unless they want to spend hundreds of millions or billions to retool they continue to license MSFT software and spend money fixing whatever comes about because of the software.
Dell knows that for their growth they have to get off the Microsoft teet. The new tablets they are creating will be a good start, unless they screw it up. They have to have a very strong product(s) because their brand isn’t a very strong brand.

All PC manufacturers have the same problem. They have been battling each other for so long on price that they make very little in profits. NetBooks are selling well, so well in fact that companies are making less money. So Dell is atleast attempting to something different. They have too though. Their profit for all of 2009 was $1.4 billion. Apple’s profit for Q1 2010 alone was $3.3+ billion.

Highly educated people operate these businesses and they all know the same thing. If you control all aspects of your company you can grow vertically. The problem is these companies figured it out 20 years too late. Now we have a race to the bottom of the barrel. When that race is over we will either have fifteen companies worth nothing, or four companies selling products that are priced higher than they are today which will allow them to make money.

Apple has always enjoyed the samething, they own 100% marketshare in their market. When they succeed they are smart, when they fail they are stupid. Apple’s success depends on Apple and not too many companies in too many industries can say that.