With disappointments like these, who needs successes?

Will someone please page the lithesome yet strong-handed nymphs whose job it is to massage the furry one's scalp right between the antlers? The Macalope's got a headache again.

What's causing it this time? PC World's 15 Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007 (motto: "It's not another lame top-10 piece if we have 15 items!").

The Macalope doesn't have a problem with most of the items, even Leopard. You just knew an Apple product was going to be on there somewhere -- they simply can't resist -- and Leopard probably did disappoint some people. While this furry beast's admittedly low expectations about Leopard were exceeded and he's had nary a problem with it, others reportedly have.

But the iPhone? If that's a tech disappointment, the Macalope hopes 2008 brings Apple a slew of similar disappointments. It'll be a banner year.

PC World itself admits that "the phone itself is pretty terrific". Oookay, so you don't so much have a beef against the iPhone. Then what's your beef by-product?

But AT&T's broadband service? Definitely second-rate.

Really? This broadband service? Or maybe you mean this one. Are you at all familiar with the definition of "definitely"?

The $600 price tag -- which soon dropped by $200 and then was followed by a $100 quasi-rebate -- didn't help.

What about the fact that it makes every other cell phone look like ass? Did that help?

"I think the biggest debacle of 2007 is the iPhone pricing bait and switch," says Peggy Watt, a PC World contributing editor and professor of journalism at Western Washington University.

Wow! That's some statement! Which is to say, that's some absurd statement with little to no basis in fact!

First of all, Peggy, a bait and switch is when you get someone in the door by telling them the price will be lower than it is, not higher than it one day will be. Or you tell them they'll be getting a "professor of journalism" and then just give them an assistant professor of journalism instead. That's a bait and switch.

Second, how is dropping the iPhone's price and giving a rebate -- one that all but quenched the outrage -- possibly a bigger debacle than this one, which improbably didn't make PC World's list?

You're entitled to your opinion, assistant professor Peggy. It just happens to be wrong.

"People do expect tech prices to drop, but not as quickly as the iPhone did. Apple's response was pretty lame, too; a partial credit that couldn't be used for a lot of popular items (such as iTunes)."

Uh, yeah, that would be pretty much the only item it couldn't be used for.

Customers may not redeem their store credits: (1) at any iTunes Store in the United States or elsewhere, (2) Apple Store locations outside the United States; (3) at Apple resellers; (4) for cash; (5) to purchase Apple Gift Cards, or,iTunes Store Gift Certificates, to give iTunes Store content as gifts, or to create iTunes Store allowances; or (6) as payments on Apple accounts. Customers may not resell, transfer, or otherwise assign the credits.

Unless you count cash as a "popular item". Which, the Macalope supposes, it is seeing how popular it is with masked bandits. Other "popular items" you couldn't use an iPhone rebate for are liquor, anabolic steroids and hookers. Which probably explains why the Macalope has heard that Jose Canseco never cashed his in.

But, c'mon, PC World. If you really felt you had to put in two Apple products because you had three Microsoft products, you easily could have picked the Apple TV and no one would have thought twice about it. The horny one knows you're PC World, but listing the iPhone as one of the year's biggest tech disappointments just makes you look stupid.

Er.

[utgoff]

HAHAHAHA Awesome. I haven't seen the original article, but the excerpts, assuming they aren't completely out of context, are absurd. The iPhone, while I do not have it, is still much a product of envy and great worth. If by bait and switch you mean they started with a high price to make it seem super expensive, then dropped the price to make it seem like you are getting a "deal", then perhaps that is some trickery. But not only do consumers win, it is certainly not a classic "bait and switch" as the Macalope pointed out. Nothing like a good public Blogging to keep people in check. Score 1 for the Macalope.

[treestman]

You were way to kind to PC World. Leopard has zero business being on that list, either. Putting it on the list equates it with Vista, the same kind of trolling MS shills and astroturfers have been attempting to do the last few weeks. It's BS, and you should call them on it.

[monkyhead]

OH! BURN! Assistant Peggy! Ouch! And Canseco too!

s p l e n d i d.

[freewheel]

An "assistant professor" is, in fact, a professor. It's not like she's an "assistant to the professor". It's just one of the titles which may be held by faculty: full professor, associate professor, assistant professor. I'm sure her work schedule is basically the same as other faculty, and the students call her "professor Watt" like everybody else.

[p_dog]

Wrong. She's not a professor. She doesn't have a PhD. Nor does she appear bright enough to get one.

[ginckgo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but their #2 on format wars lists "CD-R vs. CD-RW". ***? Aren't they basically the same thing, one recordable, the other rewritable? Where's the conflicting formats? What a *******!

[Macalope]

The "assistant professor" thing is really just for fun anyway.

[lunamoth]

Yes, an assistant professor, an associate professor and a (full) professor are all professors, but that's the same as saying a major, a colonel and a general are all officers. The difference is in rank. And while assistant professor peggy may (or may not) have the same work schedule as a full professor, she most likely doesn't have what the associate or full professors have, and that is tenure. An assistant professor is in a probationary period (usually six years) and the associate and full professors aren't. That's quite a difference--even greater than majors and generals.

[J.G.]

It sounds like Ms. Peggy is an adjunct prof, ie., part-timer with low pay and no rights.

Of more importance is that she has really poor analytical skills.

[lunamoth]

I've just looked over the Western Washington University, Dept. of Journalism web site and note that she's listed with the rest of the faculty, and thus, doesn't appear to be an adjunct. It says in her bio that she's written for PC World for 20 years--that's two decades of following party line. I'm thinking that she's simply lost her journalistic objectivity. Pity. However, my experience (about 35 years) with journalism professors, of any rank, is that most of them have no idea of bait-and-switch laws or even the difference between copyrights and trademarks, but they can go on and on about the First Amendment.

[withinthewalls]

PC World, huh... Aren't they the ones who decared the PBP the fastest Vista machine on the planet?

"The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year (through 10/25/07) is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware." http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136649-page,3-c,notebooks/article.html

Funny how they turn tail and try to poke holes in the iPhone in the same breath.

[fuzzygerdes]

You've got an extra "not" in your quote of the credit terms. Unless that's a joke.

"Customers may not redeem their store credits: ..."

[Macalope]

No, that's correct. Essentially, you're restricted to redeeming them directly for items other than cash, other credit items and iTunes items from the U.S. Apple Store.

There is no other Apple product other than iTunes items you can't buy with it.

[KiltBear]

Actually, I bought iTunes(RED) music cards with my $100, which means I bought music with my $100 back, and Apple paid an extra $10 to the Product(RED) campaign.

[someToast]

"The $600 price tag -- which soon dropped by $200 and then was followed by a $100 quasi-rebate -- didn't help"

Sloppy (or manipulative) writing by PC World there.

It makes it sound like Apple dropped the price on the iPhone by $200, and when that failed to get phones off the shelves, offered a $100 rebate on top of the newly-reduced $400 price.

[jscott418]

Im sure Mac fans will have a field day. I own a MacBook but am not a fanboy. Apple is a company and not a god. They make mistakes just like Microsoft. Apple's Steve jobs just touts Apple as making no mistakes! Not true! People are right to say that all the code in a OS it's not surprising that even after months of testing thing go wrong. Yes, I would have voted Apple T/V the flop of the year! The iPhone was a marvel but for many it was not as practical as it was pretty. Many wet back to Blackberry's more for function and flexability of carriers then anything else. Apple made the mistake of sleeping with AT&T.
I dont think Apple or Microsoft made really bad products this year! They just stumbled on a couple of steps. Lets face it Microsoft needed Apple to sell countless Mac's that can run Windows and Apple sold more Mac's because it could run Windows!

[Macalope]

"Apple is a company and not a god."

No. Way.

Please take your Artie MacStrawmanisms (the make-believe guy who thinks Steve Jobs is god) somewhere else. The Macalope already noted he had no real problem with Leopard and the Apple TV being listed as "disappointments". The fact of the matter is the iPhone has been a success by every sane measure.

"Many wet back to Blackberry's more for function and flexability of carriers then anything else."

Please back this statement up. The iPhone continues to outsell other platforms. Customer satisfaction ratings are *very* strong - stronger than other phones. "Some" and "many" do not mean the same thing.

"Lets face it Microsoft needed Apple to sell countless Mac's that can run Windows and Apple sold more Mac's because it could run Windows!"

Microsoft doesn't need Apple to sell Windows. The number of people using Windows on the Mac is a drop in the bucket compared to the massive Windows market. And while Apple sold more Macs because they can run Windows, that's a crutch. People, at least to date, have been buying Macs to run OS X.

[ripragged]

I read the original article. The Macalope's analysis is spot on about their mention of the iPhone in the lame list.

The inclusion of Leopard was a lazy rehash of problems that roughly eight people experienced. To put Leopard on the same list with Vista is incredible. Leopard isn't perfect, but NOBODY is "upgrading" to Tiger just to make their machines work.

I'm all about freedom of opinions, but questionable facts and lazy writing is what I do on my blog. I call it fun. I detest others doing it and calling it news. Especially when they are trying to call themselves industry analysts.

[monkyhead]

"Assistant Professor" was not a genuine disparagement. And yo mama isn't really so fat she's got more rolls than a pastry truck.

[fmou]

I?m just wondering about you ?Macalope? people. Are you actually being paid by Apple or you are just plain dumb? In any case, this blind fanaticism is not healthy?check it out.

[someToast]

I'm just wondering about you "fmou" people. Are you actually a cheese sandwich or are you just in the market for a new pair of shoes? In any case, hammers can be used to drive in nails -- check it out.

Hey! Stringing together words to form statements that make no sense *is* fun!