Category Archives: Apple

Apple Refreshes Mac Mini – Goes Insane on Price Differences

First things first: Apple refreshed their Mac Mini computer. Nice upgrade I have to admit. But there is also a downside. And as so often it lies in the price…

Update: as journalist and Apple user Thomas Benkö just noted, are the new prices CHF 300.- higher than for the old system.

Country US-Dollar ($) Swiss Franc (CHF) Euro (€) Difference
USA $699 CHF 798 € 572  
Switzerland $876 CHF 999 € 717 + 25%
Germany $988 CHF 1’128 € 809 + 41%
France $976 CHF 1’113 €799 + 39%
Spain $952 CHF 1’085 €779 + 36%
Canada $725 CHF 828 €595 + 4%

Of course the US and Canada prices do not include taxes (usually around 10-15%). But even with that added, the Swiss Mac Mini is 10% more expensive.
I am particularly sorry for my German friends… :-)

Apple and iOS #fail

Steve Jobs is currently speaking at the WWDC in San Francisco. And he just announced renaming of iPhone OS to iOS. Makes sense. The mobile operating system runs on iPhone, iPad, iPod. But there is one problem.

iOS, or better IOS is an operating system owned and used by Cisco. True, go check out the Wikipedia article. I’ll wait.

So, how will Apple fix this?

Update: Thanks to Ed for the solution

“Cisco has agreed to license the iOS trademark to Apple for use as the name of Apple’s operating system for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad,” said Cisco spokeswoman Kristin Carvell

So Apple simply pays a boatload of cash to Cisco for the rights to use it. Surprised?

Apple Announces iPad Prices for Switzerland

Fresh of the ticker, these are the prices for the iPad in Switzerland. Pre-order starts on May 10th, delivering by end of May 2010.

iPad with Wifi iPad with 3G
16 GB 649.- 799.-
32 GB 779.- 929.-
64 GB 899.- 1049.-

(Table 1: iPad prices in Switzerland, in Swiss Francs)

Prices are roughly 30% over the US price. Not that bad in my humble opinion. Still won’t buy one ;-)

Thanks to Patrick for the list.

Apple iPad on 24?

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When the iPad was publicly announced in January 2010, a producer of Fox’ tv action series “24″ reported on Twitter that they are working hard to get the iPad on the show. And now that the US launch of the iPad is less then a week away, I start to wonder, I we will see the device in action this Monday, as the fourteenth episode of season 8 is airing. Wouldn’t that be some great treat for the Apple and 24 fanboys? Watching Jack defuse a bomb with his iPad and Chloe hacking some firewall with the tablet?

Let us do some math. The last episode (ever) of 24 will be aired on May 24h. Production date of that episode will be around April 9th, several days after the availability of the iPad. That’s 45 days in between. Now lets calculate from the iPad event in January to next Monday’s episode: 62 days. Minus a few days/weeks of negotiation with Apple, it could very well be, that Apple’s iPad will have an appearance on 24 this coming Monday.

iPhone not a Trademark in Switzerland

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That was surprising. According to an article in a newspaper here in Switzerland (available online in German), the iPhone, or its name, can not be registered as a trademark in Switzerland. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property has ruled, that the word “phone” is used in the English and French languages as a word for “telephone” or “phone calls”. And the Apple typical “i” in front a product is to unclear or not defined. So could the “i” stand for “I” or for “Internet”. This means, that “iPhone” stands either for “my phone”, “I am make phone calls” or for “phone with Internet capabilities”.

Apple argued that other words led by an “i” have been approved for a trademark. The institute acknowledged that some of these names are purely descriptive.
Apple now has the right to fight against this decision at the Federal Court.

Photo (CC) by Jeffery Simpson, via @hediger

It Happened – I Turned Into An Apple Fanboy [Update]

Update: Amazon.com now says In stock on November 8, 2009 and the delivery date has shifted to November 23, 2009 – December 5, 2009. Nice :)

I can not explain it. It just somehow happened. After being a Mac user for over 1.5 years, I turned into a fan boy. How I can tell? Because I ordered the Magic Mouse and I can’t wait to have it my hands. But I have to wait. According to an email, arrival date is between December 1st and 10th. That is one month from now. Hell! I want my super magic mouse now!

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