knowing Steve Jobs, Thursday, June 30th, one copy of Tiger Server will be shipped. Just so he can keep his word. Technical problems will hold up mass shipping of Tiger personal until August. Customers with maintenance agreements with Apple can expect their full version copies on July 1st. Of 2007.
The product is the same, what you are buying from the small dealer is the service. If you have a problem, you can talk to the same person on the phone over and over again. And that person will both remember you AND the problem. You can’t get lost in the system. For that alone, the worth of the small retailer is immeasurable.
I tried using my local Mac guy when my G3 iMac died, but “Homer Simpson” is the best way I can describe the guy. I had to call him every day like a kindergardener to remind him to look at my machine, and he almost sent me to DriveSavers (which quoted me several thousand dollars to recover my drive), and called me (which was amazing enough) a few days later saying he was using the wrong controller for the drive. All this after I specifically thought, “I think I’ll support the little guy and bring it to the nice lil’ shop down the street.”
That’s Total Mac on Geary in San Francisco- fuck 'im.
Now, I’m sure there are plenty of good local Mac folk, but I do not want to run the risk of dealing with such a numbnut again.
iTunes was released in January 2001, two months after the domain was registered. Looks like the guy saw it coming and squatted.
I buy all my stuff from Small Dog. We love Apple’s products, but some of us never drank the Cool Aid, and know Apple is pretty much Cupertino’s little DRNK without the nukes. The more they shit on their fan base (and slavish loyalty is about all they’ve had going for them during huge chunks of their history), the more the fan base will shit back. The way they’ve gone after the bloggers is unconscionable, in my oppinion, and has really made me question my support for the name. Keep up the good fight.
Sure it’s squatting. If your definition of “squatting” is laying claim to something that no-one else owns, and that no-one else has previously laid claim to.
I wouldn’t mind having the domain name “www.[my name].net” but someone else already has it. I guess they’re squatting in my spot, and i need to sue their ass.
Apple launched iTunes, as you say, in 2001. It was, presumably, in planning and development for a considerable amount of time before that. You’d think that a large company—a computer company, no less, that should know how domain names and such work—would have had the intelligence and business sense to know that they might, one day, start a similar service in the UK, and registered the appropriate domain name.
Not only that but, by your own admission, the guy registered the iTunes domain name before Apple even launched its own service. I guess the system, and you, are in the mind-reading business, given your apparant knowledge that he “saw it coming and squatted.”
I think it’s squatting. The guy got wind of a not to well kept corporate secret and nabbed the name up in the hopes of garnering mistaken traffic or a buyout. That’s how I would define squatting. The guy deserves to be screwed.
Nitpick: The itunes.co.uk cybersquatter registered the domain name several months after Apple first unveiled its iTunes jukebox application. I haven’t seen anything on this case that doesn’t look like plain ol’ exploitative “let’s grab this domain for cheap and maybe it’ll make me some money in the future.”
As for the OP, there are two issues being confabulated here: (1) whether Apple is deliberately giving third-party retailers lower shipping priority to put the screws to them, and (2) whether said third-party retailers are angels, saints, or somewhere in-between.
I have no idea if (1) is true; I’ve heard enough anecdotal stories both ways that I can’t see if there is or isn’t a systematic pattern of “screw the retailers” in place.
As for (2), the word I’ve gotten from customers is that the retailers doing the most complaining about Apple tend to fall on the “Homer Simpson” side of the fence. The competent third-party Mac retailers I know of (both mail-order and local) are still doing well, which leads me to suspect that “blaming Apple” is seen by some as a cheaper alternative than “improving your own business.”
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Why do i get the feeling that, if this were any company but Apple, you’d be crying “corporate bully”?
I think, as a general principle, if a company releases a product, and especially if a company releases a product that is specifically designed to make use of the internet, then that company should think about the domain name possibilities beforehand and register the ones it needs.
I just don’t like the principle that certain domain names should be off-limits, in perpetuity, just because some corporation hasn’t decided to snap them up yet.
The rumormongers are saying it could be as soon as April 15, but I don’t really believe it.
If I know what I want, and I see it on the shelf at my local Mac dealer, I’ll get it there. But I’ve gotten bad advice from the people there a couple times before. One told me I shouldn’t get an aftermarket internal SuperDrive DVD burner, that it would be nothing but trouble. Same guy later told me that a PCI 802.11g card didn’t exist for the Mac. In both cases, I went back home, ordered the items online, and haven’t had a single problem.
A) itunes.co.uk is clear cybersquatting, as it came after Apple already had a product by that name. Trademark clearly established. So would the whiners shut up already if they can’t educate themselves about matters before shooting off an opinion?
B) The times I’ve tried dealing with local dealers I’ve had nothing but trouble. They don’t know what the hell they are talking about, they are arrogant, they claim stupid things like “you need to by an extra firewire cable or else nothing will work” (which is not only false but one of the things I bought came with one anyway), they delivered a broken upside-down to my brother when it was supposed to be brand new and gave him the freaking run around on getting a new replacement, etc. etc.
C) Hi, Opal
(OK, I could have put a Real C in there, but I like continuing traditions.)
Well, you’re entitled to your opinion, but then the people registering domain names have to follow ICANN rules and applicable laws, which contradict your opinion on the matter.
Sorry, mhendo, but trademarks can and usually do start before they are published. Publishing and registering them are just formalities that make enforcement easier. Claiming that “iTunes” didn’t cover music until a long time after it started is just nonsensical as an argument, as the trademark itself is for music, and was used as such. You need to focus on the usage, not the paperwork. If you approach the topic as someone who doesn’t understand trademark laws or the rules governing domain names, it’s no wonder you are confused.
Actually, given that this case will probably either be appealed to Nominet (the UK internet registry), or even to the British High Court, it may well be that Mr. Cohen will end up being vindicated by the “applicable laws.” Especially given that the recent Phone4u.co.uk decision by the High Court set precedent that makes Cohen’s case look pretty strong.
[quote]
that Caudwell had not acquired the requisite goodwill or reputation in the expression “Phones 4u” at the time Mr Heykali registered the phone4u.co.uk domain name and therefore the use of the name did not amount to passing off.Genuine question for you, since you’re apparently an expert:
Do you think that Apple had “acquired the requisite goodwill or reputation in the expression” itunes at the time Mr Cohen registered the itunes.co.uk?
