jimbo, I am in Germany right now. In Florida I am only during the winter. Who wants snow, LOL.
Hi there - in Brussels at the moment -- was over 33 deg for most of last week -- poor old me nearly baked like a Roast potato -- give me snow any time to being stuck for around 25 mins at over 33 deg on a hot stinky metro train with no air conditioning !!!!. At least in Iceland people dress appropriately and the buildings etc are designed for that type of weather and the snow is hard rather than the wet stuff seen around Xmas time in Europe when temp is around 0 - 1 deg.
Nothing more ridiculous than the people I saw people coming out of the EU commission in Brussels on Thursday afternoon wearing THICK dark grey suits and ties (surely the most ridiculous piece of clothing EVER invented) into the outside daytime temperature of 34 deg !!!.
Anyway back to Apple -- I do think that Apple's dominance over phone / music and tablet market will rapidly erode.
Macbooks are a different issue --people buy those often for just the sheer look of the product but some of the newer INTEL base really thin sleek Ultrabooks are visually stunning too and run Windows 8 -- even though these new laptops are almost the same price as the MacBook.
I'm getting one next week -- with a 250GB SSD and an Intel 7 processor and it's about as thick as a 50 eurocent coin.
It's an Acer aspire S5 - can't wait to start using it and it's EVERYWAY a MacBook killer - even in looks. - I've always had good experience with ACER laptops and the netbook I've been using recently is fantastic -- even with it's tiny processor -- the I7 is a MEGA leap in performance too from the old but trusty netbook which I'm donating to a local charity.
While these are expensive --these type of new ultra thin laptops really do give a new lease of life to the laptop market and I for one won't even THINK of a tablet once I've got my hands on this great machine. (11.2mm==>15mm thick, weighs just over 1.2 Kg, usb 3.0,thunderbolt and HDMI ports too and of course with the excellent Intel I7 processor).
I think this product has even "Out Appled Apple". Even managed to get it with an Icelandic keyboard too (which is why i'm waiting for it to be delivered next week -- I didn't want a French type AZERTY keyboard -- no way !!! but I get it Tax free here in Brussels so it's worth the wait).
Ms provided they can tap some more into this market and make W8 a bit more "Business friendly" as well as keeping the Mobile user in mind shouldn't find themselves too far adrift -- providing they keep their eye on the ball -- Android is rapidly catching up.
Apple's time has come - and they will gradually go back to what they always were -- a "niche" product with a core of devoted fans.
Only revenues from ITunes will keep them alive in the long term -- the whole portable music player market is now dead thanks to the use of smartphones obviating the need for any portable music player any more.
Cheers -- and can't wait to get my new PC.
jimbo