Entries from January 2007 ↓

I just saw an article stating that AT&T as of Monday will be rebranding Cingular back to AT&T. I have been a Cingular customer for a long time, and frankly am fucking sick of them changing their brand every few months/years/whateverthefuck.

When I first got a cell phone, I was with Pacific Bell Mobile Services. PBMS turned into Cingular. Then I switched to AT&T Wireless a few years later, who then became Cingular. Now Cingular is turning back into AT&T.

What marketing genius thought this would be a good idea? How long will customers tolerate shit like this? If this change is anything like the AT&T to Cingular switchover, logging into your online account is going to be a pain in the ass, your wireless plan is going to become obsolete, replaced by a more expenive plan with less minutes.

We’ll see how it goes. Unfortunately I need to stick with AT&T/Cingular since they will be carrying the iPhone when it comes out around June. Hopefully by then they’ll have their shit figured out and the transition will be complete. Speaking of that, I wonder if the iPhone announcement helped pave the way for AT&T to change the name? It seems that people like me who are pissed about their wireless provider changing names again are much less likely to switch just beacuse they want the iPhone. Things to ponder…

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Alright fine, I give up. The rumor sites are going crazy with Mac fanatics’ mad ramblings of Apple’s pending releases tomorrow at MacWorld, so I might as well weigh in too.

Everyone is talking about how excited they are for the iPhone. Honestly, I could still give a shit for the iPhone. I hope it never materializes. I have been saying it since November, and continue to say it today, that the iPhone would be a huge waste of Apple’s R&D time and money. Why get into a market that’s already saturated, not to mention BORING. Unless you’re 15, in which case your cell phone is the coolest thing you’ve ever seen…so cool, in fact, that you have to text message your friends at all hours of the day including when you’re at the fucking movies. Anyway, the idea of the iPhone bores me.

But here’s what I want. And to make it even better, the iPhone freaks can get what they want, and so can the tablet heads too:

What I would love to see tomorrow would be an OQO style pocket Mac computer. It wouldn’t be anything amazingly fast, maybe it could even use the same 1.5 GHz VIA C7M ULV processor as the OQO. I would assume that Mac OS X would run just fine on that little beast, or could at least be recompiled for it. But it would be perfect for true on the go computing and productivity.

It would run full Mac OS X, not some emasculated version of it (like Windows Mobile or whatever the fuck they’re calling it these days), much the same as the OQO runs Vista or XP. Better yet, this pocket Mac would have fully integrated wi-fi, as well as fully integrated EVDO hardware.

What does this mean? This means that for $60 a month you can get full service wireless DSL on a computer that you can take anywhere. This also means that with $25 per month VoIP service from Vonage, SunRocket, or a competitor, you can essentially have a cell phone and portable computer for $85 a month. Oh, and since you’ll be using your unlimited VoIP service you won’t have to pay for going over your minutes, or for calling Mexico or Canada. You’ll also have the same number at home and on your cell.

Obviously the perfect pocket Mac would also incorporate the iSight camera for snapping pics or video, or videoconferencing on the go.

If this is what Steve has up his sleeve, I will be very very happy. As lame as the tablet Mac and iPhone are as stand-alone products, the pocket Mac would bring the two together and create something amazing. I hope this is Steve’s “One more thing…”

As of January 4th, eBay has increased their listing prices for sellers. I received an email from them regarding this, and have reposted my reply below for your enjoyment:

Good morning eBay,

I can understand the increased Insertion Fee, but why in the world would you increase the Final Value Fee? The Insertion Fee, since it is a flat rate fee, must obviously keep up with inflation. The Final Value Fee however, since it is a percentage of the final sale price, automatically keeps up with inflation since the final sale price of items will continue to increase.

I am a business owner too (not an eBay business), and I understand that as a business owner you have the luxury to increase prices as the market allows. But isn’t the beauty of a percentage based fee (or a commission, if you will) that it automatically follows market trends? I don’t see real estate agents sending out emails at the beginning of the year saying “Hey everyone, I’m increasing my commission from 6% to 6.25%.” That’s because the standard real estate commission of 6% (yeah yeah, I know it’s usually less these days and it’s negotiable and whatever, but that’s the traditional listing commission historically) keep up with the market. Again, the beauty of a percentage based fee structure.

Maybe I’m missing the point, or maybe it’s too early on Monday morning and I’m a little short on coffee. I completely support your right to do whatever it is you must do to keep the business profitable, but your Final Value Fee increase sounds like your ego’s getting a little big for my tastes. But what am I going to do? I’m essentially stuck at Disneyland buying four dollar Cokes. It’s not like there’s another viable online auction site that I can switch to unfortunately.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on your price increase for what it’s worth. Take it, or more likely leave it, and have a nice and profitable new year.

Sincerely,
Liam Ferris
eBay buyer and seller since 1999