Does that mean that Apple can now sue itself for patent infringement, as Apple's products are similar enough to Apple's products to confuse the average customer, thus making Apple lose revenue or however the usual lawyer bait goes?
Aw grandad, I asked for an iPad and you got me an iPod
You'd think Brits receiving Apple products for Christmas would be happy to find the pricey kit in their stockings, but not all of them were. Searches for returns policies on Christmas Day in the UK were 250 per cent higher than last year, says Experian Hitwise, the web analytics company, and searches for the Apple returns …
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 10:00 GMT Anonymous Coward
"No, it's just that [other people's] children in this day and age are over indulged and spoiled, that [other] parents try to over compensate for the lack of 'quality time' they have with their children [, instead of going on benefits to spend more time with them].
So much for our fragmented society [, which wouldn't exist if everybody just did what I thought]".
There fixed that for you.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 12:52 GMT Mr_Blister
Money to burn and no sense of what really matters
Last week a news story local to where I live, ran an article of an unfortunate couple who were burgled twice in days and had their entire haul of presents stolen, The most shocking part of this story is not that they were sadly burgled, but the sheer disgusting amount of money they wasted on what looked like three four or five year old children; the value came to something approaching THREE THOUSAND POUNDS!!! When I was that age in the mid 1970s, I got things like a teddy bear and a few simple low value presents. I appreciate that the world was much less technology driven then, but I have an uncle who is a genuine scientific electronics and computing boffin, and was always at the cutting edge of technology and brought many interesting things for himself and later for me, but even then I still never had hundreds or thousands lavished on me. This has never bothered me though, because what I did get was interesting and taught me a lot, plus I had many years of pleasure from them. During my teens I saved up and paid for just about everything I ever owned, including computers and HiFi etc.
People these days are too busy leading self indulgent lives, chasing ever larger houses, cars, holidays and so on. To pay for all of this they have to work every hour of the day, often with miles of commuting and meanwhile their poor neglected children suffer lives lacking real love and devotion. I'm glad my mother was of the previous generations, where staying home to properly raise the family mattered the most. Good on ya mum!
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 10:17 GMT Anonymous Coward
Ha ha! In a bout of pre-christmas genorosity I suggested to my son's that as the older one (16) has had great value out of an iPod that he got with a combination of Christmas presents and money he'd earned in a school "make money from a tenner" scheme then offered an iPod to younger son (12) and an iPad mini to older son. Result was older son declined iPad mini ("what's the point of tablets - they're just stupid") while younger son turned out to be set on a Samsung smartphone (looks like he has a Galaxy Ace 2 is pencilled in for his birthday in March!)
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 11:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Your two sons ought to research more. My 14 year old came to the conclusion anything other than a basic phone was near useless for him, at home and school he has wifi and the 7" form factor hits the portability sweet spot. 'iPad Mini is a waste of money, Nexus 7 is better value and I'd like to try writing apps for android not get stuck with a device where I need to use a MacBook to write my own software'.
Incidentally, why on earth does your 16 year old think a tablet is stupid?
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:31 GMT Anonymous Coward
"Result was older son declined iPad mini ("what's the point of tablets - they're just stupid") while younger son turned out to be set on a Samsung smartphone (looks like he has a Galaxy Ace 2 is pencilled in for his birthday in March!)"
At least you have them grounded or have taught them to aim low. Guess that way it avoids disappointment.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 12:41 GMT My Alter Ego
Completely agreee
My niece and nephew are impossible to buy Christmas and birthday presents for because my sister just buys them things when ever she wants. I've just gotten into the habit of basically buying a present from her stock pile (no really) and give that to them. Basically, they've been trained that they can get stuff when they want, and not have to wait.
To sound like and old-fogey (I'm only 31), be glad of what you're given you bunch of ingrates. The only items I've ever received a receipt with were clothes, in case they didn't fit.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:41 GMT Kevin 6
Re: Completely agreee
Know how you feel my brother is the same way with his kids.
But my brother will go one up if he finds out we bought something for them he didn't yet, he will go out and buy it and give it to them before us so he looks like the hero instead... My brother has some REAL issues.
Funny thing is this year my brother spent way over $1500 on presents for his kids this year (Wii U, pile of other things), and my little nephew is playing with 2 $20 batman toys I got him the most(which my brother said not to buy as he would never play with it) :D
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 16:37 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Completely agreee
I know far too many parents like this, do they not understand what they are doing to their kids?
I can afford to buy my kids anything they would ever want, but I don't. They have learned that you don't get something just because you want it and certainly not because "everyone else has one".
This has worked out quite well as my eldest daughter is now quite good with her money, doesn't fall for hype and doesn't waste money on worthless crap.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 17:19 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Completely agreee
"They have learned that you don't get something just because you want it "
Absolutely agree. I wanted a car when I was 18 and even though my father could afford to get me one he insisted I earn the money myself. I had to work part-time for his hedge fund for a couple of months before I got the Porsche I wanted. Made me value work.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 09:00 GMT Anonymous Coward
Worse than...
Those parents who force kids into pageants ... pushing your xenophobic views because you irrationally ^hate^ a company that does well ??? hmmm someone call child line... get a life. if your happy with a Samsung Tab 10.1 with that awfully plastic behind that feels too cheap for a £400 tablet along with the stutterry ui then go ahead.
It amazes me how much people just dying to force their views on others... you don't like Apple ... we get it!!
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 09:56 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Worse than...
if you paid £400 for one then you were ripped off!
The Tab 10.1 is much cheaper than that...
I brought the Note 10.1. which is more expensive and I only paid £318 PLUS I got £50 cashback!
I agree on the plastic not being great, but since 99% of people I see stick cases on tablets, it matters little..
And in my testing before buying the Note 10.1 was more practical for our purpose than another Apple iPad, the storage is the killer for me, when I travel I have to entertain 2 children for weeks, and that means carrying multiple micro SD cards full of entertainment, I also like to carry my photos & home movies with me to show the in-laws, and that is around 38gig alone, can't stick that on an iPad...
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 09:47 GMT MrXavia
I may not be a fan of iPads, but a relative willing to shell out that much for something they think you'll like is a good relative, you need to be on santa's naughty list this year for that comment!
I would love an android tablet, plenty of choice, and if I am honest unless I gave the model number I doubt I would get the right device if someone brought me one, and that is why google have gone down the easy route of nexus 4/7/10
Now go crawl back into your hole...
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 22:03 GMT JEDIDIAH
Confusing money with love...
The point here is that your relatives should have a clue. They should know you and consider that when shopping for you. What they come up with should not show a complete lack of regard for who you are or what you like.
Wasting a lot of money on something that the recipient really doesn't want is just a big demonstration of your own stupidity and shallowness.
Better a trivial bauble that shows a bit of thought.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 13:03 GMT Anonymous Coward
"Hi Obviously!, why you using AC?"
Actually, I've not commented until now. Just to how retarded are you? As if we needed proof that your comments are ill-considered and just plain wrong (don't be teaching your mistakes to your mistakes).
PLUS, and most importantly, I'd never use a COWARDS tag. My set grew at the age of 13.
I'm happy with what I know to be true and have no reason to hide like the rest of the COWARDS allowed to spout their bile. WELL DONE TOM38!
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:06 GMT Steve Todd
Obviously not a big enough set
That you're prepared to post under your real name. Tom had a point though, it was absolutely typical of the BS that you like to post. Unless the relative in question knew about your hatred of all things Apple in advance of their purchase then there is no call for snubbing them in future for what is a fairly generous gift.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:23 GMT Keep Refrigerated
Now, I count myself amongst thousands of other phandroids, but if a relative bought me an iPad, I would be rather pleased.
Oh, and to the AC 09:00 response, I was nodding my head in agreement until... if your happy with a Samsung Tab 10.1 with that awfully plastic behind that feels too cheap for a £400 tablet along with the stutterry ui then go ahead.
From there it was just facepalm, I'm afraid.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 08:29 GMT The Alpha Klutz
a simple explanation
bought my kid an ipad for christmas. returned on new year.
reason being is i wanted to prove to him that we didnt become trendy when it arrived or stop being trendy when it left and we are both quite satisfied now that its not a trendy product. other families aren't as intelligent.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 10:50 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: a simple explanation
You sound like a n unpleasant and thoughtless person. Quite apart from the meanness and taunting towards your hapless child, people like you drive the prices up for the rest of us by abusing such commercial policies as "fair return and reimbursement".
Do you cheat insurance companies with false or inflated claims too? Hope you are not involved with software that the rest of us may have to suffer.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 10:56 GMT SuccessCase
Re: a simple explanation
I asked my child to read that comment when she wouldn't tidy her room and I insisted she should. I told her, "you might think I'm being mean and controlling, however I could be really mean and controlling like this parent."
She still replied I was equally as mean and controlling though...
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 12:13 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: a simple explanation
You could at least have bought a BB Playbook as well, and shown him that Flash works in the browser and that the iPlayer app works perfectly to a TV, using an ordinary HDMI cable. Neither of these things works properly on either an iPad or the Nexus 7.(In fact, you can charge the PB through the magnetic port while running iPlayer to the TV and being connected to a computer through USB)
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:26 GMT Steve Todd
Re: a simple explanation
iPlayer has worked with Airplay for over a year now, or you can mirror screen contents.
Adobe have admitted that Flash on a mobile device is a bad idea and discontinued it on Android. There are few sites these days that don't offer an app or HTML5 compatibility to work around this.
Your "Ordinary" HDMI cable is nothing of the sort, it's got a Micro-HDMI plug on one end so you've had to buy a custom cable for the job (one that you're not going to be able to find at a local store). That might be a little cheaper than Apple's solution, but its less flexible and more prone to breakage.
Both the iPad and Nexus are able to charge while playing video so I have no idea what you are on about here.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 09:05 GMT Piro
Need some more scrooges out there
To understand that buying a ton of potentially unwanted crap is just pointless.
Clearly not very satisfying, either, because of all this extra hassle caused, and high rates of return.
Also, think of the extra pollution and man hours - delivery or collection, then returns again.
Or maybe people could just use the money instead - NOT a gift voucher - which is just a cutely packaged scam to make you an investor with no returns.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 13:10 GMT Loyal Commenter
Maybe...
Present-buyers made the assumption that the recipient of their gift would like an Apple product, due to the vast amounts of money pumped into marketing them, but when said recipient received the aforementioned product, they realised it was overpriced and shit* and decided that they would rather have the money and spend it on something better?
*Fanboi bait
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:42 GMT VinceH
Re: Maybe...
Fanboi bait it may very well be, but it is also an entirely valid possibility for an unknown number of the people that form the statistics. From the article:
"We are not saying that Apple was the most unwanted product, since Apple products were actually the most searched for pre Xmas," said spokeswoman Alexandra Banks. "We think this has to with people not getting the right model, colour or product."
The assumption at the end of that quote is too much. Sure, that will be the case for some proportion of those searching for the returns policy, but it's not valid to simply dismiss the searches that way - the percentage of those searches being by people who received Apple gear and just didn't want it could be anything from 1% (low enough to dismiss) to 99% (high enough to justify a Nelson Muntz quote).
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Friday 4th January 2013 09:34 GMT A n o n y m o u s
Re: Maybe...
A more interesting statistic would be to compare how many people received an 'other' tablet and wanted an iPad and how many received an iPad and really wanted 'another' tablet. Pretty sure more would have wanted the iPad.
Most of the 'returns' to the Apple Store will be to exchange for a different model - don't imagine many people spending £270-400+ on a device would get completely the wrong MAKE but can think they bought a black one and changed their mind for a white one etc.
The only relevant statistic would be the number returned for REFUND as a percentage of those sold - if Apple have 2x as many returned (in raw numbers) but sold 10x as many that suddenly tells a different story.
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Friday 4th January 2013 12:25 GMT Loyal Commenter
Re: Maybe...
There's a pretty big assumption there that people actually want Apple products more than something better. If someone bought me an iPad, an I could exchange it for an equivalent or better tablet + cash, I'd take the other tablet + cash.
Actually, that isn't true, I'd take the third option of a more capable laptop + more cash. I can't see anything a tablet form computer can do that my phone can't, with the exception of issues arising from screen size. YMMV.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 14:17 GMT LPF
I have to say..
The amount of balls on this thread of people saying they got an iPad and wanted a nexus or that classic my child said no I dont want an IPad as I would need a Mac to program it...they are so obviously LYING! LMAO
Yeah like any 14 yeard old would turn down an iPad GTFO
as for phones , they get S3's becuase you can get em free on contract, but if its a straight up choice, going from my massivly family of nieces and nepthes , 16 and counting plus all their friends Apple all the way if you can afford it!
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 14:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
You pays yer money, you takes yer choice
However, for around £150 the Kindle Fire HD is a cracking tablet - great eBook reader, nice screen size, good build quality, decent storage space, plays videos well, streams on-line content OK, plenty of free apps, nice stereo sound (for a tiny pair of speakers), loads of games, nice interface... Both kids (aged 11 and 14) very happy. No charger included, but any microUSB one will do.
No Apples were harmed during the making of this presentation.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:54 GMT A n o n y m o u s
Re: You pays yer money, you takes yer choice
Hmm. Great eBook reader that you can also get on an Android or iOS device. Can't really imagine any compelling reason to save a few quid and get a device (Amazon Fire) that is more heavily locked down when there are so many Android or iPad devices available. Seems they can do everything the 'Fire' can do - and more.
If you are strapped for cash the Nexus 7 is probably the better bet or if you like Apple products the iPad is bit more expensive but may be supported for longer etc. - so over it's lifetime it's not a massive extra.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:36 GMT David_H
ipod
A few years ago my (then 9yo) daughter wanted an ipod for Christmas. Image the video of Christmas morning when she opened the correctly sized box to find a pea-pod inside and then the relief when the other present was an ipod.
Fast forward to this year when she wanted an ipad and got a neatly wrapped box with a Tenna Max inside it (pee-pad). Her other present was a Galaxy tab.
Am I the worst father out there?
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:58 GMT A n o n y m o u s
Re: ipod
Not sure that purposely buying something they did not ask for at Christmas is really teaching them a valuable lesson - what - sometimes you don't get what you want - get used to it. If someone had asked for 10 things I would rather get them 7 they wanted than 10 they didn't.
A different tablet may suit your needs but they may have already had an extensive iTunes collection - what you are suggesting is more of 'I know better' - is that a good lesson to teach?
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Monday 7th January 2013 17:34 GMT David_H
Re: ipod
Pea-pod - IPod
Pee-pad - IPad
Hmm... I thought that it was a good joke on each occassion. Obviously my sense of humour is not as common as I thought!
The Galaxy I bought her is the envy of her firends at school who were bought other alternatives (including Ipads) as they found it to be the easiest to use (they've spent all afternoon with their teachers comparing their tablets). The only thing that she and her friends report not being able to do that their Ipad endowed friends can do is access some free OU books. Listening to music, watching videos, downloading homework and uploading the answers (in Microsoft and other formats), etc. she and her friends have been able to do on all the devices. (Although some devices needed paid for apps to achieve the required functionality.)
Of course the fanbois will claim that even though the tabs have similar capabilities, I've failed my daughter because I have not bought into the 'cult of Jobs'.
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 15:36 GMT Patchy
Not all kids are grabbers
My 12yo asked for a mobile. We looked at what was available for £15 a month and she didn't like any of them enough to agree to a 2 year contract although the Galaxy Ace came close. So she proposed that her mother got a new phone and she took over the old Wildfire if I pay the £7.50 for the next 12 months. She then said "by next Christmas there should be something I like for sale". I thought that was rather smart of her (and mum loves her new Xperia P)
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Thursday 3rd January 2013 22:13 GMT JEDIDIAH
Re: Thank goodness I don't have kids
I take the other side of the argument. Apple fans like to crow about how Apple products are somehow a sign of wealth and affluence and that competing products are a demonstration of the reverse.
....well if that's really so then these kids should be able to just BUY their own Apple devices.
Then there are hand-me-downs to consider. There are generations of iThings out there now.
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Friday 4th January 2013 09:46 GMT messele
Huh?
That's weird I just checked (with Google) and the most searched for term in the UK on December 2012 relating to returns policies...was for... wait for it.
Amazon!
So Experian (known for perving on and making money from consumer credit records) knows more about search engine searches than Google?
Even more they surmise from that it must be because elderly relatives are clueless? I call that prejudice. Twitter lights up like a faulty Christmas Tree to say it's because of "Unwanted Apple products".
The Register suggests everybody wants Samsung instead.
Fucking "Journalists" I did a better job with my amateur means in 30 seconds.
Something wrong with all the above...