A less shiny Apple

It seems that the folks over at Apple have gotten then stupids this year. I don't think its infected the creative class yet, but the business types have certainly lost their mind.

Exhibit A: Even though a very large company (Cisco) has already registered the trademark & announced a product using the name, they are are going to call their new phone the iPhone. Guess the lawyers were bored and they didn't think that consumers would be confused by 2 major products carrying the same name (not to mention that there's another company in Canada using the name). There's also the strange decision to attempt to sell a hifalutin $500 device that doesn't support their chosen carrier's highest speed network.

Exhibit B: We're just Apple. Not Apple Computer. Just Apple. Whatever. Wonder if that means the music company gets to try to sue them again.

Exhibit C: Now there is word that the accountants are requiring Apple notebook PC customers to pay to download updated WiFi drivers which enable higher speed operation, because the accountants say they have to. That's the most bizarre thing I've ever heard. At $1.99, I don't know what they are trying to do, but keep the accountants (like they aren't busy enough working on the stock options fiasco) happy seems unlikely.