QIndia has never been an important market for Apple. During the early ’90s when I was fresh in the advertising business, Macs ruled the Creative & Studio Departments of advertising agencies. Even then, the onus of marketing and servicing Macs was on the local re-seller. There wasn’t much of a concerted effort from Apple. Later, PC’s became pretty much the norm for graphics, Office Suites and everything else. Today, it’s common to find seasoned Art Directors being comfortable only on a Windows PC. Yes, there are Macs in Studios and Art Departments but it’s more an exception than the norm – chief culprit being the high price of the Mac.Then came the iPod which introduced Apple and it’s ecosystem to a whole new generation. And with much friendlier pricing, Macbook’s have an appeal to a potentially large audience. Apple re-sellers have mushroomed in major cities. So in terms of a product portfolio, at the high end they have iMacs, Macbook Pros and iPhone. At the popular pricing level, they have a few iPods and the Macbook. Add to it, a fantastic OS in Snow Leopard and accessories like Magic Mouse, the Apple portfolio is extremely appealing. And there is a retail network of sorts in place. Yet we all know that Apple is virtually a non-player in India – be it in mobile phones, desktops or laptops. The reason is not hard to seek: Apple is simply not interested in India.It’s a litany of woes for the Apple fan in India:- iPhone: a right royal pricing mess. It was DOA as far as India was concerned with that kind of pricing- no signs of iPhone 3Gs: this despite the promise made by Phil Schiller in Jan ‘09 that the iPhone 3Gs will be launched in Aug 09 here. The Apple re-sellers haven’t a clue and they keep giving fresh dates of launch every time you ask them.- no music on the iTunes India store: it’s moronic, to say the least, that in one of the world’s most music-rich countries, iTunes doesn’t offer music- every major Apple product released in the US doesn’t find it’s way here: the Magic Mouse being a case in point. It is still available on a ‘pre-order basis’ at the re-sellers.- Apple India’s Customer Support sucksApple may not have huge market share or value ambitions from the Desktop/laptop market in India. They will never be able to compete with local manufacturers, assemblers on price. Plus, category dynamics are so stacked up against Apple. A market ruled by Microsoft, ubiquity of pirated software, ignorance of what Apple’s integrated approach really is, apathy towards Apple – there are enough reasons for Apple’s poor chances of success in India.With iPhone, I think they have a chance of generating huge volumes and value in India, if – and it’s a big if – Apple chooses to do so. India is far ahead of the US in many ways when it comes to the telecom market – we are a lot more demanding from our handset and service provider -the dynamics of the category are different here. Despite iPhone’s flaws – perceived or otherwise, I feel it was the best bet Apple had to broad-base their appeal. One of the big reasons for it’s success in the West – the App Store would have been a great advantage here. Even abroad, that advantage can dwindle any time. If Apple has 100,000 apps today, it’s a matter of time before the Android, Blackberry and Ovi stores populate their stores with large numbers. The fortress Apple built around the iPhone is not impregnable.Taking a cue from Apple’s App Store all the big boys have launched India-specific app stores. Nokia, Aircel (Pocketapps), Airtel (App Central), Blackerry – they all have their app stores. It’s a matter of time before India/city-specific apps come into the picture, with an ability to pay through local currency… maybe even through iTunes-like accounts. When that happens, any potential advantage the iPhone had would disappear.With a mobile population of 500mn and counting, India is a mouth watering prospect for telecom marketers. And the potential of VAS and ARPU is yet to be realized fully. But the bigger opportunity lies elsewhere. It is well documented that the classic pyramidal structure of Indian consumer markets will change to accommodate the bulging middle class (the Aspirers) in the near future.The estimated size of the Aspirer’s market is 124mn households. Agreed, not all of them may be potential customers for the iPhone. But with the right kind of pricing, a chunk of the Aspirers could be. This group, while being price sensitive is characterized by seeing premium experiences at popular prices. For them, the likeliest port of call when it comes to smartphones is unlikely to be an iPhone, given the marketing (or the lack of it) here in India.It is unlikely that Apple isn’t aware of the attraction of India, as a market. But they deliberately seem to be ignoring it. If and when they plan to make a fist of it here (with the iPhone perhaps, given the mobile population here), it may be too late. The competition seems to have the ‘will to win’ and is backing it up with action. They are smarter, agile and getting ahead of Apple. Does Apple care?The initial argument was that, the lack of availability of the 3G spectrum in India is "stopping Apple" to consider it a serious market!!! How outlandish! These guys don't consider the second largest telecom market in the world as "serious"??? I smell American superiority complex! Oh by the way we DO have 3G now! So what is "stopping" Apple now? Smart phones that cost more than India have been sold more than the iPhone SEVERAL HUNDRED TIMES!With a solid presence in China, it is quite obvious that Apple Inc. is simply ignoring India, A HUGE HUGE MARKET! No wonder Apple is beginning to lose its charm! They could have easily bought a few more years of dominance if they had a good presence in India! There is a SUPER MONSTROUS FAN FOLLOWING HERE! If they take our market seriously people WILL BUY THEIR PRODUCTS!Also about iTunes. I think everybody outside th US knows what a big joke iTunes is! The Indian music and movie is way larger than Hollywood! If they have reasonable prices for music and movies iTunes can be a major hit here! For movies Apple can conceive ties with moserbaer (India), which sell latest movies on DVDs for not over $4!!! For original music there is much prospect for Both American and Indian music that can be sold on iTunes! Apple can make hefty profits here! The market is virtually BLANK! So what's the deal with them?

QAl Gore is a good upstanding man has experience with the Presidential branch of the govt, as well as the military. He is outspoken as a conservationalist and environmentalist, he is a business man Gore currently is president of the American television channel Current TV, chairman of Generation Investment Management, a director on the board of Apple Inc., and an unofficial adviser to Google's senior management.it s also due to him that the internet has expanded as huge as it is He crafted the High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 (commonly referred to as The Gore Bill )"Rather than holding back, the U.S. should lead by building the information infrastructure, essential if all Americans are to gain access to this transforming technology" (150) [...] "high speed networks must be built that tie together millions of computers, providing capabilities that we cannot even imagine" Although opposed to the Vietnam War, on August 7, 1969, Gore enlisted in the United StatesArmy in order to participate in the war. After basic training at Fort Dix, Gore was assigned as a military journalist writing for The Army Flier, the base newspaper at Fort Rucker. With seven months remaining in his enlistment, he was shipped to Vietnam, arriving January 2, 1971. He served for four months with the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa and for another month at the Army Engineer Command in Long Binh.Gore opposed the Vietnam War, but chose to volunteer anyway though he could have avoided serving in Vietnam in a number of ways. A friend of the Gore family reserved a spot for him in the National Guard, which he turned down. Gore has stated that his sense of civic duty compelled him to serve.there is so much more and Obama could learn his chops and run in 2016http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore#Gore_bill_and_information_superhighway

QDisney buys PixarBy John Borlandhttp://news.cnet.com/Disney-buys-Pixar/2100-1026_3-6030607.html Story last modified Tue Jan 24 18:03:09 PST 2006 Walt Disney announced Tuesday that it's paying $7.4 billion in stock to acquire Pixar Animation Studios--a deal that puts Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Disney's board of directors. For the venerable animation giant, the move is a significant bet on Pixar's digital approach as the successor to the pen-and-ink industry popularized by Walt Disney. The purchase is also the latest indication of a tectonic collision between technology and Hollywood. Listen upCNET News.com reporters talk about the implications of the Disney-Pixar deal. Listen now... (10MB mp3) As part of the deal, expected to be completed this summer, two Pixar veterans will head Disney's animation efforts. Ed Catmull, who had served as Pixar's president, was named president of the combined Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. John Lasseter, the Pixar executive vice president who is widely regarded as the studio's creative leader, was named chief creative officer. Pixar will remain in its San Francisco Bay Area headquarters. Jobs said Pixar's main choices came down to selling out to Disney or working with another studio under a deal like Lucasfilm has with Twentieth Century Fox, in which the larger studio gets only a distribution fee. The latter option was somewhat attractive, Jobs said, but would still result in an arrangement with "two companies with two separate sets of shareholders and two different agendas." related coveragePixar goes to Hollywood "Disney is the only company with animation in their DNA, and the only company that we think has this incredible collection of unique assets like the theme parks, that are very attractive to us as well," Jobs said on a conference call with investors. "They're the only company who has Bob Iger, who we like a lot and have grown to trust." Though Disney is issuing $7.4 billion worth of stock, it's paying closer to $6.3 billion after factoring in Pixar's cash holdings of slightly more than $1 billion. Pixar shareholders will receive 2.3 Disney shares for every Pixar share they own, a move that will make Jobs the largest individual shareholder of Disney. Pixar and Disney have had a long history together, though the recent past has been rocky. Pixar has had an uninterrupted string of hit features with "Toy Story," "Toy Story 2," "A Bug's Life," "Monsters Inc.," "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles." Disney has distributed all of them. Listen upApple and Pixar CEO--and now Disney partner--Steve Jobs talks about why he thinks Disney is a good fit for Pixar. Listen now... (2.9MB mp3) However, talks to extend the deal turned sour, with allegations flying back and forth between Jobs, who is also Pixar's CEO, and Disney's then-CEO Michael Eisner. In January 2004, Pixar announced it was breaking off talks with Disney and would look elsewhere for a studio partner to release its films. Things seem to have improved of late, though, as Disney has emerged as a major iTunes partner for Apple, with Jobs and newly installed Disney CEO Robert Iger appearing onstage at last year's launch of the video iPod. In addition to his role at the animation studio, Lasseter will serve as principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, reporting to Iger, and will help design Disney theme parks. The deal is subject to regulatory approval as well as the nod from Pixar shareholders, though Jobs owns 50.6 percent of Pixar. He has agreed to vote shares representing at least 40 percent of Pixar in favor of the deal--enough to push the deal through even if significant opposition arises, though none is expected. Pixar's stock rose $1.43, or 2.48 percent, in after-hours trading, to $59. Disney's fell 5 cents, or 0.19 percent, to $25.94. "New Yorker" media writer Ken Auletta, who has followed Disney for many years, compared the deal to Time Warner's merger with America Online. Both Disney and Time Warner represent venerable media companies that stumbled as their businesses went high tech, and looked to a native of the new media environment for help, he said. News.com PollCan Steve Jobs restore Disney's lost luster? No Not without more control Without a doubt View resultsThe Time Warner-AOL merger has been rocky, aptly illustrating the potential pitfalls of Old World-New World links. But Disney's decision to ally itself with Jobs could be a savvy choice, Auletta added. "This is a guy who has an amazing track record over a long period of time," Auletta said. "He's not a one-shot wonder. If you can get Jobs on your team, and then make sure he has a stake in the company succeeding, that's a desirable thing." The deal merges two opposites in the animation world: the historic leader in the art form, now grown into one of the biggest corporate entities in the world, and the high-tech trailblazer that former employees say has kept an intensely "family" feeling while creating a string of hugely popular hits. "The great thing about working (at Pixar) is the directors are in-house," said Bobby Beck, a seven-year Pixar veteran who left in 2004 to start online animation school Animationmentor.com. "You really develop a relationship with the directors. They get to know you on a first-name basis." That disparity could set the stage for a distinct culture clash between the large and the small. Indeed, the prospect of the purchase has dismayed some fans of Pixar, who are wary of seeing the independent studio lose its spark of originality. "Pixar is a remarkable place," said Doug Ward, the manager of the animation program at the University of California at Los Angeles. "The concern that we would have...is who's going to run it? Is it going to become another big corporate arm of Disney?" Both Jobs and Iger said they would do everything they could to preserve the organic nature of Pixar's culture, however. "Most of the time that Bob and I have spent talking about this hasn't been about economics," Jobs said. "It's been about preserving the Pixar culture--because we all know that's the thing that's going to determine the success here in the long run." "We spent a lot of time talking about that when we negotiated the deal," Iger agreed. "I am really deeply committed to seeing that Pixar is allowed to exist in the form it has existed." Copyright ©1995-2008 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.