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We Few, We Happy Few (5/19/03)
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You bought an iBook or PowerBook this year, right? You haven't? Well, why the fuzzy heck not? Completely aside from the fact that Apple's latest portables are a great value and the coolest kicks in the cave, you're surely aware that Steve Jobs proclaimed 2003 to be the Year of the Notebook-- and we're pretty certain that means you're required by law to buy one, so don't come crying to us if you get tossed in the slammer. (Don't blame Steve or Apple; we're pretty sure this whole "Year of the Notebook" thing is a Chinese zodiac deal.)
The good news is that it's apparently the Year of the Notebook over in the UK, too. According to an article in Macworld UK, Apple's notebook sales in the first quarter of the year were up a chubby 18.8% over there. Good news, right? But wait, there's more: UK notebook sales industry-wide grew only 14.7% in the same time period, which means that Apple's growth is outstripping that of the rest of the industry-- at least in the UK, when it comes to laptops. We're unsure of the protocol in a situation like this, but we suspect we're supposed to say "blimey" or something.
Let's blithely skip over the bit about how desktop sales fell 31.3% (cough) and consider the implications of UK's Year of the Notebook on Apple's relationship with the UK in general. It's long been suspected that Steve Jobs has been perpetuating some sort of ill-conceived vendetta against the English over the years. But will the UK's market acceptance of his company's portables pave the way for a reconciliation? And what about the Scotland on Sunday article pointed out by faithful viewer Porsupah which doesn't say anything about Apple, but does claim that Microsoft is "in danger of falling off the pace" and likely to "have difficulty sustaining its current share price"?
Here's hoping that all this direct and indirect support from the UK leads Steve to a newfound love of the United Kingdom. Okay, mostly we just want to see Steve in a deerstalker cap. Or maybe a kilt.
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SceneLink (3959)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 5/19/03 episode: May 19, 2003: Rumors surface that the Cube may reappear as a special edition to celebrate the Mac's 20th birthday. Meanwhile, Apple's notebook sales in the UK grow faster than the industry overall, and we finally get to see what Phil Schiller meant when he called the graphics in Microsoft's next version of Windows a ripoff of Mac OS X's Quartz...
Other scenes from that episode: 3958: Cube 2: Fanless Vengeance (5/19/03) So, uh, what have you got planned for January 24th? You do have something planned, don't you? After all, it's going to be the Mac's twentieth birthday, and any celebration with appropriate levels of hoopla and debauchery is going to take at least six months to orchestrate... 3960: Flappin' Windows (& Gums) (5/19/03) Oh, for cryin' out... Okay, could Microsoft's look-and-feel thievery get any more blatant? Is the company finally going to take that final step and just start reselling Mac OS X boxes with "Mac OS X" crossed out and "Windows" scribbled on the box with a Sharpie? Here's what's got us all riled up...
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