When Apple says “late April” – as in their project delivery date for the new Apple iPad 3G + WiFi – they apparently mean much more of the late and much less of the April, with deliveries and availability expected on April 30, 2010. Appearing almost everywhere today are messages from people like me that the status on their order has been changed to Prepared for Shipment, leading me to believe that the promised Friday date will be met. What time Friday is yet to be seen, although I’m not holding my breath. At least people that haven’t pre-ordered already know that they may be able to buy one in the retail store after 5:00PM.

Sunday is going to be an interesting day for internet giant Amazon.com and retail giant Target. For Amazon it’s an admission that sometimes consumers really do want to touch and feel a product before making a decision and for Target it’s the chance to market a product that has until now only been available from a web retailer, the Amazon Kindle. Personally, this seems like a win-win to me, even if it goes against everything Amazon stands for.

When I originally ordered my 64GB WiFi + 3G iPad from Apple’s online store, I wasn’t too worried about the “late April” ship date, assuming incorrectly that the release of the WiFi only models meant that those with 3G couldn’t be all that far behind. My mistake was assuming that late april meant sometime after the 15 – not the last day of the month as Apple has just announced.

Apple’s iPad is on the tip of many tongues – good and bad – and the only remaining question is what market is this serving or is the iPad still looking for a market?

Like so many, I have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone. So much to love and one very important thing to hate. Read more to find out.

A new look, a new idea, and even a bit of new content to spice up the blog and give me something that might even be sustainable over the long-haul. That’s right, I’m starting over and this time I think that leaving myself room for posting my opinions on technology and what’s going on in the world will make is possible for me to regularly contribute and continually add value for my readers. Wouldn’t that be nice…?

So here we go, post one for a new era – welcome to thegeekchannel.com!

~geek

Everywhere you look retails are starting to prep for the make-it or break-it Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, that, for many, will be the deciding factor of their profitability this year.

Is AppleTV the worst product of 2007?  My opinion – yes and no.  Yes, I think that the implementation is very un-Apple, because it’s not unique enough to compel Apple devotees to purchase one.  After all, most of these users already have a TiVo (or equivalent) and aren’t going to buy something just to watch iTunes content.  MTV, for the most part, already covers much of that market.

On the other hand, I think that there is promise here if Apple can get past where they are today and add content for television with the same success that they’ve managed to get musical content.  Imagine, if you will, you could go to AppleTV and buy first-run movies electronically instead of on DVD.  Perhaps, because you’re purchasing digital content you can even burn that out to a DVD and have the best of both worlds?  I believe that people are going this way and that some company will win the battle.  Perhaps it’s not too late for Apple, but they need to get moving and promoting with the same passion that they do their other products.

~geek

Chalk another one up for the Apple legal team.  A press release was issued from Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret’s publisher today.  It read as follows:

December 20, 2007 – PRESS RELEASE: Apple and Think Secret have settled their lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for both sides. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published. Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret’s publisher, said “I’m pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.”

My thoughts are pretty simple – someone gave him some information that they shouldn’t have and pissed off Apple.  He lost.  Too bad, so sad.

 Geek

I will admit to being a fan of Palm.  Despite everything, I want them to succeed, because I think that they were ten years ahead of everyone else in their thinking.  Unfortunately, I also believe that they’re now years behind the competition and that sticking to their form-factor has limited their success in some senses because they haven’t gone away from the style that made them successful in the beginning.  Changing the color just wasn’t enough for most die-hard techies.

On the plus for them, though, Verizon is now carrying and marketing their 755P smartphone that will allow Verizon users to get their fix of this now aged phone.  Thanks, but no thanks.  Too little, too late in my mind.

~geek