Verizon’s There’s A Map For That television commercials make AT&T’s 3G network look so bad that the latter sued the former. Verizon responded with three new television commercials disparaging AT&T and their hot selling iPhone. From Electronista:

Unlike the recent Droid ads, the new commercials take care to praise the phone but attack the network, suggesting Verizon is backing away from direct criticism of Apple.

If you like good television commercials that skewer the competition, these are well done. However, Verizon misses a golden opportunity to compare and contrast the iPhone on AT&T with the new Droid on Verizon’s 3G network.

Dan Ryan from PCWorld on how difficult it is to leave the Big Tent of Apple.

As soon as you start buying stuff from Apple, you’ll find it difficult to move to products made by someone else without losing everything you’ve already paid for.

Absolute bullcrap from a hit piece pseudo journalist, wholly representative of those who create headlines first, then build a story to match.

1. iPod and iTunes:

If you wanted to move the songs you bought at a buck apiece to a cheaper player from a competing manufacturer, you had two options: an onerous process in which you burned your songs to a CD and then reripped them as MP3s, or quasilegal software that essentially did the same thing using your hard drive instead of a disc.

Nearly everyone except unscrupulous journalists knows the real story. Apple’s DRM was a requirement from recording companies. Apple lobbied to remove DRM. Your music on your iTunes is easily moved anywhere. How does Apple’s DRM differ from Microsoft’s DRM?

2. iPhone and the App Store:

If you want a sexy iPhone in the United States, you also have to date its ugly stepsister, AT&T… Locked (though heavily subsidized) phones are an unfortunate fact of life in this country, a situation not unique to the iPhone.

So, why is that a problem? It’s a reality nearly everywhere.

The iPhone’s software shop, on the other hand, is a dictatorship. Apps for the iPhone are available only from the App Store in iTunes.

Yeah, so why can’t I run my Mac software on a Windows PC? Why can’t I get the leather seats from a Porsche into my Camry?

By comparison, things are slightly different for the open-source mobile OS Google Android, whose owners can buy apps from multiple online stores (including AppVee, Handango, and MobiHand).

The buying public seems to have already voted on this. Do all those Android apps work on all those Android phones? No. Dan probably forgot to include that little fact from his shallow reporting.

3. Mac computers and Mac OS:

Ever since the Second Coming (aka the return of Steve Jobs to Apple in 1997), the Mac has been a tightly controlled, closed system. The result? High prices and limits on the options you can get with Mac hardware.

A true journalist would point out the obvious. Windows is also a closed system. Macs run Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (an many flavors of Unix), all at the same time. High prices? Sure. High quality hardware costs more.

For example, you still can’t buy an Apple machine with support for Blu-ray drives.

And Blu-ray penetration into the Windows PC market place remains stagnant at about 3-percent; usually on more expensive machines. Blu-ray is a bag of hurt. Dan then goes on to quote Microsoft shill Rob Enderle, easily the most discredited technology pundit on the planet.

4. Installed software and extra, unwanted apps:

Apple has a history of taking advantage of its iTunes-iPod/iPhone headlock to promote its other products and services.

And this is a crime, how?

5. Shoes and spies:

...the company filed for a patent on technology that would prevent Apple devices from accepting a charge during certain circumstances. This tech would prevent a thief from recharging your iPhone or iPod, but it could also keep you from charging the device if you tried to sync it with an “unauthorized” PC. And last August the company filed for a patent on sensors that would record “customer abuse events” on Apple products; the data from these sensors would presumably be used to deny warranty repair claims by documenting damage that was the customer’s fault.

And this is a crime, how? How does it differ from Microsoft’s requirement to register Windows?

Dan sums up his silly hit piece with the following balance:

The question is, do Apple fans care? (customer Jake) Widman, for one, says, “Choice is overrated. As a consumer, I’m more interested in something that works.” It’s a reasonable argument — but also a costly one. Is it really worth it?

The problems with Dan’s perspective are many and varied, not the least of which is the initial objective to create an inflammatory hit piece which not only does not reflect reality or common sense, but is wholly designed to get readers to click on multiple pages, thereby, viewing multiple ads. Dan is probably paid by PCWorld by the word and page view.

Dan says the reasonable argument that it’s important to users that things work is also a costly one. Yet, he offers no proof that using a Mac or iPod or iPhone is more costly than comparable alternatives. I prefer a car that works well, is somewhat trouble-free, and comes with high resale value. I own a Camry. A Kia or Hyundai might be less expensive but Toyota’s high quality speaks for itself. When you buy a car you’re locked in to the engine provided by the manufacturer. It’s the way it is and it’s not a bad way.

When you buy a PC that runs Microsoft Windows, and buy a Zune media player, and a Windows Mobile cell phone, and Windows software, are you not locked in to Microsoft’s ecosystem? Will my purchase of an Android smart phone that only runs on Verizon’s network, and subsequent purchase of Android software lock me in to the Android and Verizon? Yes. It’s the way it is and it’s not a bad way, assuming I’m comfortable with the end result of the purchase.

If not, I’m free to move anywhere else to determine if the grass is really greener on the other side. Sometimes it is, sometimes it is not. The choice is always mine and every choice comes with some degree of consequence. The votes are still coming in. Apple’s Mac sales are at record numbers while Windows is losing market share. The iPod is a dominant choice, as is music from the iTunes Store. Apple’s iPhone OS platform now has about 80-million customers in two years. Customers vote with a purchase.

Accusing Apple of creating 5 marketing tactics to lock in a customer and prevent choice (only to have it become obvious that the accusation is McCarthyesque and riddled with holes) is completely disingenuous, and smacks of an attempt to gain page views at the expense of factual reporting and accurate perspective.

The first serious competitor to Apple’s iPhone hit the streets of New York today. At most a few dozen people queued up in line to be the first to buy Motorola’s Droid on Verizon. Marguerite Reardon on CNET:

From New York to San Francisco, most stores around the country had few if any lines when doors opened Friday morning. There was a handful of people waiting outside at the Verizon Wireless store on West 34th Street here in Manhattan. And about 20 people waited in line outside a store here on Sixth Avenue, as well as at one in Clifton, N.J., Verizon officials said.

David Pogue on CNBC when asked which he would choose, the iPhone or the Droid:

It’s tough.

Agreed. From what I’ve seen of the Droid it’s a worthy competitor running on a better network than AT&T. Will the Droid have the success of the iPhone? It’s unlikely, given the iPhone App Store and a two year head start. However, I predict that Android will demolish Windows Mobile, seriously hurt RIM’s BlackBerry dominance, slow iPhone’s growth, damage Nokia and Symbian, and further fragment the so-called smart phone or app phone market. Apple’s share will be substantial but no one will dominate in the future.

Gruberized controversy (The Incompetence of American Airlines) over an American Airlines’ employee losing his job after responding to a critic of the company’s web site. Joshua Blankenship’s retort:

But the web will still be full of arrogant, uninformed, polarizing, self-promoting, controversy-creating content that has ramifications no one wants to own up to. And consequently, the web will still be lacking in common courtesy, humility, and the admittance that most of us don’t know best. Which is sad, mostly because it’s true.

The web is an amplified reflection of human nature. Sometimes it’s great. Sometimes, not so much. We live in an era where everyone has an opinion and a soap box from which to voice the opinion throughout the world.

Apple:

Apple® today announced that developers have created over 100,000 apps for the revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. iPhone® and iPod touch® customers in 77 countries can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. App Store users have downloaded well over two billion apps, continuing to make it the world’s most popular applications store.

With about 80-million users, 100,000 apps, and over 2-billion downloads, is it safe to say that the iPhone is now a full-fledged platform?

It had to happen. First, Apple launches Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Then, a few weeks later, Microsoft launches the long-awaited Windows 7. ComputerWorld’s Smackdown declares a clear winner.

Clear? Not at first, at least until you traverse all 10 pages of detail to get to the summary conclusion, which is more perspective than analysis or feature comparison.

My final verdict in this smackdown? It’s not even close: Snow Leopard is the better OS.

Sadly, this is another example of technology journalism in the 21st century. At least Michael DeAgonia came to the correct conclusion.

Screed journalism is alive and well in the technology industry. Witness Rob Enderle’s latest digital version of yellow journalism in Why Apple should license Windows 7. The logic (or lack of) is stunning.

Let’s start out by saying that hell would likely freeze over before this happened but then I can recall just a few years ago…

You can see it coming, right? Apple moved the Mac to Intel and licensed Exchange from Microsoft. Add to that Apple’s official blessing of running Windows on a Mac via Boot Camp, VMWare Fusion, or Parallels and anything can happen.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that impossible things can happen between these two companies.

The catch here is that impossible things do not happen. Why? Because they’re impossible. Improbable things happen, even more so when they make perfect sense.

How does it make any sense that Apple should license Windows 7?

...last week VMware servers were brought to their knees as a result of downloads for Fusion 3.0 a product that is used to run Windows on Mac hardware. This would suggest that an incredibly large number of recent Apple customers are putting Windows 7 on their Macs anyway and not waiting for Apple to license the product from Microsoft.

There’s that inescapable Enderle thinking process wreaking havoc with logic and reason. Because VWware’s servers were slow to deliver downloads for a new version of Fusion must mean that a large number of Mac users are tired of waiting for Apple to license Windows.

Therefore, Apple needs to license Windows. Yes, Rob, but why? Enderle doesn’t say, of course, because there are no good reasons why, and relative to the one million new Macs being sold each month, those running Windows on a Mac constitute a tiny, tiny minority.

If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then what are Microsoft and Google to Apple? Enderle thinks Apple and Microsoft need to defend themselves from Google.

Google’s strategy is to render both operating systems irrelevant and perhaps the best way to avoid that is for both Apple and Microsoft to work together to make sure that, by working better together, they never can be.

That’s an interesting thought. Is Google the enemy of both Apple and Microsoft? Or, is Microsoft the enemy of both Apple and Google? Or, is it that Apple is the enemy of both Google and Microsoft?  See the problem there?

Google represents a real threat to both companies because it is working to change the fundamental model that underlies the margins both Microsoft and Apple live under. Google believes in commodity hardware, advertising funded free software, and the web as a platform and once 4G becomes wide spread, Google’s model should reach a point that they could largely displace both firms.

I do not disagree that Google represents a threat to both Apple and Microsoft. There are questions to ask and Rob Enderle is the wrong person to ask them, let alone answer them. For example, how much of a threat is Android to the iPhone or Windows Mobile (I submit that it’s more to the latter than the former). From such analysis and questions can arise a premise:

“Apple and Microsoft should band together to thwart Google’s attacks.”

That’s a much more appropriate consideration than the long-winded, ill-advised, nonsensical, Apple should license Windows 7 smokescreen-designed-to-get-page-hits from Enderle.

What should Apple do instead of licensing Windows? Continue to build better products. I have no doubt that Google is no longer a friend of Apple, but a true-blue enemy of the state. Google gives away free that which Apple needs to sell to survive and prosper. There are reasons why the iPhone has no Flash support. There are reasons why the iPhone has no Google Phone support.

It’s called competition.

Fake Steve on the problems Disney faces with consumer groups over Baby Einstein.

I’m on record opposing this refund to idiots who bought Baby Einstein and now are claiming that they thought plopping their kids in front of videos would make them smart. Frankly, if you’re stupid enough to believe that, then you’ve already done your kids irreparable harm by passing your DNA on to them. Whatever harm that video might do is nothing compared to the harm of inheriting your hillbilly genes…

Maybe these same consumer groups could apply similar pressure to politicians when their claims don’t pan out.

Robert Scoble on why he might switch from an iPhone to an Android phone, and why it probably won’t happen.

I met the guy who runs the iPhone app team (he asked to remain anonymous) and he told me his team approves hundreds of new apps every day. So, that’s HUNDREDS of new reasons every day that I will remain unreasonable. Sorry to Nokia, Palm, Microsoft, RIM, and all the other players.

Apple is the master of the gilded cage, the velvet rope, golden chains, also known as the lock in. We’re lock in. We love it.

Arizona is not the UK. Besides a bridge, this week they share in common a grand opening. Arizona is home to the first Microsoft Store. Brighton, UK is home to yet another Apple Store. The stunning difference is captured in video.

Microsoft’s store opening in Arizona, and Apple’s store opening in the UK.

The Daring Fireball take on Rob Enderle:

I’m coming around to the idea that Enderle’s really a genius and his doofus routine is a Stephen Colbert-esque schtick.

How embarrassing for Colbert.

In a technological age where anyone can say anything to anyone in the world at any time, there are bound to be abuses. So it is with Rob Enderle, the principal analyst of the one-person technology pundit company known as the Enderle Group.

Just in case you thought that Apple’s Steve Jobs had cornered the Reality Distortion Field field, remember that copy cat crimes abound in the tech industry.

The Enderle Group provides an unparalleled look inside breaking technology events to identify the core reasons that buyers and builders of technology should care.

Technology events? Sure. During a worldwide recession cum depression, Apple sells more products than ever, has higher revenue than ever, and higher profits than ever. Microsoft? Not so much, since the Windows maker’s revenue and profits are down. Again. How does the Microsoft-infested-and-invested media explain things?

Microsoft Corp. benefited from increased consumer demand for personal computers and videogames, helping offset weak business spending that pulled its quarterly profit down 18%.

Profits were down and investors benefited. Explain that, in light of Microsoft’s virtually flatlined stock price over the past five years.

The software giant’s results provided some additional optimism that a recovery is beginning to help the technology sector and that Microsoft has strengthened its mix of products after stumbling with the Windows Vista operating system.

Uh huh. And how is that such good news that MSFT goes up instead of down, yet is eerily the same over the past five years?

The results, which followed two of the worst quarters in the Redmond, Wash., company’s history, were a welcome change for investors, who bid Microsoft shares up 5.8% in afternoon trading Friday to $28.12 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Now we have three worst quarters in Microsoft’s history compared to the three best quarters in Apple’s history. How do the technology pundits, many seemingly on Microsoft’s payroll, respond?

How Microsoft blindsided vulnerable Apple with Windows 7 from none other than the nemesis of logic and reason, Rob Enderle. Wait for it. Here it comes. Hear it? It’s called sour grapes.

Their big news this week was a couple of PCs, a new keyboard and a multi-touch mouse. This last will likely go down in history as one of the lamest devices yet as they should know, given the iPhone, that touch is connected to the screen and not anything else.

Except, of course, that over half of all PCs sold are notebooks, many of which now use touch trackpads. Users love ‘em. Rob does not. Instead of competent and insightful analysis, all Rob can do is hurl insults.

They likely would have done better putting fir on the damn thing and building it to fart the star spangled banner at least that would have been patriotic.

And people pay this guy for his knowledge and experience. Wait. There’s more.

Windows 7 is coming out of the gate with only one known issue… In edition (sic) Microsoft didn’t blow their entire budget before the product actually hit the stores and has a substantial sustaining marketing budget. This means, this time, both the product and the marketing program is in relatively good shape and instead of being tired and vulnerable, Microsoft is ready for war.

That’s good to hear since, well, you know, revenue is down (again) and profits are down (again) and Apple has as much money and nearly as much market cap as Microsoft. It’s not as though Microsoft didn’t have any money to spend to compete against Apple the past 10 years. Alright, it’s war. Is Apple ready for war?

Steve Jobs and Apple clearly planned for the same traditional behavior and were completely unprepared for both the quality of Windows 7 and the fact Microsoft has a war chest this time.

This time? Microsoft has had even more money than now, and probably has more than most countries of the world (including the U.S.). But now Microsoft is somehow ready for war? That means Apple must be the poster child of beleaguered companies, right?

Verizon, Google and Motorola have opened a second front with the Droid iCan’t campaign (this is actually rather funny) that targets the iPhones weaknesses. None of these companies has any love for Apple.

Duh. How can poor Apple compete on so many different fronts? Oh. Wait. They’ve been doing that for years already. Mac vs. PC. iPod vs. Zune and some other media players. iTunes Store vs. what? Amazon? iPhone vs. BlackBerry, Nokia, Motorola, Microsoft, et al. How has Apple performed to date against all that competition and all those fronts, Rob?

This combination of the Microsoft budget and the Droid attack splits Apple’s resources and focus and makes it vastly more difficult for the firm to respond timely or well. The end result is an unprecedented exposure.

Unprecedented? 1997 was unprecedented in Apple history. So is 2009. Apple seems to have rebounded nicely while every one of those competing companies has faltered. Is there a lesson to be learned from how Microsoft supposedly blindsided Apple with Windows 7?

Even when you are on top it is very foolish to under estimate a competitor with Microsoft’s resources because they can actually get it right, and picking too many fights at once can take out the most powerful of entities just as it took out a nearly unbeatable Germany in the second world war.

They can get it right? When will they start? Windows Mobile? The money-losing XBox? The money-losing Zune? Or, the desperation of Windows 7?

I love the juxtapositioning here. Apple is on top. Like the Nazi regime of WWII. Beleaguered Microsoft has become the underdog who must have allies to defeat the enemy. Google, Verizon, Motorola et al, are the allies aligned against poor, defenseless Apple. Is there no way that Cupertino’s darling gadget maker can, you know, make it against such odds?

With Steve Jobs in Apple the firm can respond to threats like this one very quickly but only if they see it coming in time. I think they are likely to repeat the 1995 mistake and that means they probably won’t be either quick enough or effective enough to dodge this bullet. However, this is Apple after all and this fight is still young, it would also be very foolish to count them out early.

Weasel.

Let me look to the future, say, the end of 2010, not quite 18 months away. The world will be climbing out of a recession and prosperity will be visible. Microsoft’s revenue and profits return. Meanwhile, what of Apple, Inc.? May I suggest, Rob, that record revenue and profits during a recession might bode well for continuing record revenue and profits out of the recession.

Looking back, Rob’s record for identifying trends and performance is abysmal. Looking back from the future I suspect it will be the same.

Google’s Chrome browser for Mac reaches developer pre-release status. From Ars:

The developer preview is based on the upcoming version 4 of Google’s upstart browser, and it’s important to note that although it’s publicly accessible, it’s still not quite a beta. Several versions have already been released for Windows, but none have been released for Linux or Mac OS X. This is the first time an official release—build 4.0.223.8—has been available for Mac OS X outside of nightly development builds.

This version works better than any previous Chrome browser.