It seems all too common. Rather than compete with Apple by building a better product, Microsoft continues to use focus groups and PowerPoint presentations to devise the features that its rival products do not possess. Worse, this is done without regard to whether those features are even desired or useful. Take this fall’s contribution to […]

Apple has a long history of spinning on a dime. A couple of years back, for example, they tossed out a best-selling design for the iPod nano and introduced an all-new version. Almost any other company on the planet would have pushed the existing configuration until well past its prime and even beyond. Upgrades over […]

As you know, I’ve been a long-time holdout on acquiring an iPhone, largely because I have never seen the need for a wireless phone that has anything but the basic features, plus Bluetooth for handsfree connections to the car or a wireless headset. So when Apple came out with the iPhone, I was skeptical. On […]

Sure, the company formerly known as Cingular Wireless widely advertises itself as having fewer dropped calls. Maybe they’re telling the truth, although they’ve had their share of quality and customer service problems in the past. For the sake of argument, I’ll assume they are right, or at least that the incidence of dropped calls on […]