Hannity & Co Are Upset Because President Obama Isn’t American-Arrogant Enough
March 22, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Sean Hannity deserves today’s Sarah Palin Snark Award for his show. It was just jam-packed from beginning to end. He began by serving up some Ollie North on a platter, continued with Dick Morris, and wrapped the whole show in a bow with Monica Crowley and “Republican operative” Elise Jordan. This show actually gave me a migraine, which I understand may be the first symptom of one’s head exploding. We begin with Oliver North. You remember old Ollie from the Iran-Contra days? The guy who carried out the illegal and unconstitutional mission of selling arms to Iran in exchange for hostages? That guy? Yeah, well here’s his gem o’ the day: HANNITY: I’m amazed by this President’s inability, Colonel, to make a decision. Now, it took six months to give the troops that were requested by our leaders in Afghanistan He was dithering , that was the phrase we used and then he still didn’t give them the troops they wanted. He didn’t support the freedom fighters in Iran in 2009. He vacillated and took varying positions in Egypt and seems to be doing the same here today, more concerned about brackets, trips to Rio, and playing golf! NORTH: Look, he’s on his spring break. Give him — the poor boy — a break. Here’s the bottom line of this President. This is a man who tries to please everyone. He’s got factions in his own party, he’s got various factions around the world, he’s done nothing but apologize for America, literally since he’s been in office. And now he’s in a position where he has to be the Commander-in-Chief and it’s just beyond him. The bitterness in North’s voice is palpable. I suppose he’s still frustrated that he broke the law, went on trial, got away with it, and can’t get some of us to forget. That’s some real leadership there, Ollie. He should go worship Saint Reagan on a mountaintop and get off my TV screen. Now, if you haven’t figured it out yet, the Word Of The Day is “DITHERED”. Please memorize it, Hannity will test you on it at the end, if you haven’t been tested enough by his nonsensical rants to follow. Click here to view this media Next up, Dick Morris, who is pimping his new book “Revolt” while being revolting and full of unwarranted certitude. I take comfort in knowing he’s wrong about just about everything, as he is here when he asserts that the President has failed on all three prongs of the Powell doctrine. Perhaps Dick should go find some nice toes to suck. Finally, Hannity brings it all together with his girl panel — Elise Jordan and Monica Crowley. I’ll let the words speak for themselves, but it’s not hard to understand why so many people believe such nonsense about Barack Obama when they watch a full hour of this kind of crap. Click here to view this media HANNITY: Where is this coming from? And I think this is a really important question, getting into the mind of Barack Obama. Remember, when he was asked about American exceptionalism his answer was well, I’m sure the Germans believe in German exceptionalism and so-and-so believes in so-and-so exceptionalism and the Brits… and I’m thinking is it a belief system rooted in ya know, maybe what he learned from Jeremiah Wright, maybe his radicalism and his background. In other words, he doesn’t seem to think that it’s America’s responsibility to lead. And in that sense, he accepts America’s passive role. But Monica Crowley, now, she’s got to ratchet it up a notch: CROWLEY: But Sean, I think it’s even worse than what you describe. I think this is a man who comes out of the far left progressive tradition in America that buys totally into the doctrine of American guilt. That not only is he uncomfortable with projecting American power and influence in the world, but that he actually believes the United States is a force for bad, for evil in the world and that he intends to take the United States down a notch or two, to diminish American power and influence. HANNITY: I think you’re onto something. I wouldn’t say it quite the way you did, but when he went on the apology tour it was very revealing. When he said America’s arrogant, when he said at the United Nations “we don’t have the right to impose our values”, wait a minute. I thought our founding document believes that every human soul is endowed by their Creator, so..you agree with that? Finally, after Elise Jordan snarks her way through some banal criticism, we get Crowley’s really odious form of dog whistle: CROWLEY: There does seem to be a real disconnect between this President and the United States’ traditional role in the world. We are the lone superpower, and when the United States — and this is the lesson of history — when the United States is perceived as weak or the Commander-in-chief is perceived as weak and indecisive, the wheels come off the world. And that’s what we’re seeing now. How on earth does Crowley get this notion that Obama, or progressives for that matter, believe the United States is a force for evil? Is it wrong to object to playing cowboy games in Iraq, destroying entire nations, sacrificing thousands of our youth to a cause which is undefined and not for the common good? What is the matter with these people? (It’s rhetorical, you don’t have to answer) Tonight’s show was particularly disgusting. It was full of dog whistles, judgments, sanctimony, and gave credence to old and young idiots who are great at spewing nonsense but wouldn’t know what the term “analyst” actually meant, much less play one on TV. I know I should probably add some sort of valuable counter-commentary, but it’s really hard to counter irrational idiocy with logic. How does anyone answer someone who learned his style of commentary in elementary school when he was hanging with bullies? How many blondes and criminals will Fox News trot out to drive home their racist, agenda-driven, anti-American rants about this President?
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Around 400 volunteers have been helping police as they comb Savernake Forest looking for 22-year-old Sian O’Callaghan Hundreds of volunteers have worked alongside police officers and rescue teams to search thick woodland in Wiltshire for missing woman Sian O’Callaghan. Around 400 people helped comb Savernake Forest for traces of the 22-year-old office administrator, including scores who turned up in two coaches, and at one point the police had to ask the public to stay away because they could not cope with more help. A reward of £20,000 was offered by an anonymous donor for anyone who can help find O’Callaghan. Police in Swindon warned people not to walk alone if they could help it. O’Callaghan disappeared after leaving Suju nightclub in Swindon at about 2.50am on Saturday to walk the half mile home to the flat she shared with her boyfriend, Kevin Reape. Analysis of O’Callaghan’s mobile phone records suggests that 32 minutes after she left the club her phone was somewhere in the 4,500-acre Savernake Forest, near Marlborough. Police say the journey there could only have been made in a vehicle and they have been searching the forest since the weekend. After it became clear that scores of people wanted to help comb the forest, police began organising members of the public to look for O’Callaghan herself, her phone, handbag or any other item that could be connected to her or her disappearance. Among those joining the search was labourer James McMurray, 20, from Swindon. “I just wanted to do my bit,” he said. “Nobody deserves to go through that and I’m doing my bit for the community.” Mikey Jack, 19, who plays football with Kevin Reape, said: “Kevin’s a great lad and he doesn’t deserve this and my thoughts are with him and his family. He’s a strong lad and I think he’s hurting a lot.” Police officers also scoured the side of the A346 road between Swindon and Marlborough. They are particularly keen to find O’Callaghan’s missing phone. Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, who is leading the inquiry, said: “We know that Sian had an LG E900 Optimus mobile phone with her on the night of her disappearance and I’d like to hear from anyone who finds a phone of this description.” Police released CCTV footage of O’Callaghan leaving the club – the last known sighting. Fulcher said he wanted to hear from people who were close to Suju at the time she left the club and anyone who saw vehicles at beauty spots between Swindon and Savernake between 3am and 4am on Saturday. He added: “I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind people to think about their personal safety and take basic measures such as always making sure someone knows where you are going and what time you will be home, stay with friends and try not to walk alone.” One 28-year-old woman came forward to report that two men tried to coax her into a car in Swindon at 10.15pm on Saturday night. “It was pretty scary and shook me up a bit but I didn’t think much of it until Sian disappeared,” she said. Police are also examining social network sites, including Facebook, used by O’Callaghan and her friends. A spokesman said: “The investigation is very wide reaching and the comments and information on all sites, including social networking, are being considered.”Among the other people joining the search, college student Tizanne Gregory, 17, from Market Lavington, Wiltshire, said: “My cousin was at school with her and my mum knows the family. It is horrible not knowing where she is. My sister lives near Suju in Old Town and you don’t think something would happen there and I am a bit worried.” Maz Wakefield, 27, a friend of Sian’s best friend, Holly Jackson, came to give her support despite being on crutches. She said: “I’d just be sat at home if I wasn’t here and you want to do everything you possibly can. I’m really surprised about how many have turned out to help, I just hope it can make the difference.” Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Baltimore Sun Double Standard on Noting Party Affiliation of Maryland Politicians
March 22, 2011 No Comment
The Baltimore Sun has no trouble noting for readers the political affiliation of politicians who face an ethical scandal and/or official investigation. That is, of course, if the pol in question is a Republican. Last Wednesday, I noted how the Sun's Julie Scharper failed to note Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's Democratic party affiliation in a story about her voting on city contracts where her husband's company had a competing bid. The very next day, however, Scharper's colleague Nicole Fuller promptly noted the Republican affiliation of two-term Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold. Here's how Fuller opened her story : State prosecutors have served Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold with a subpoena as part of an investigation into whether he misused government resources by directing his county-funded security detail to do work for his 2010 reelection campaign, a spokesman for Leopold confirmed Thursday.
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Mayor and local officials among thousands dead or missing after earthquake, tsunami and fires devastate town in Iwata prefecture Koki Kato’s last official act as mayor was to set up a command centre for Otsuchi’s disaster response team, outdoors, in front of the town hall and facing the sea. The mayor in his usual hands-on style was helping workers haul out tables and chairs for the outdoor HQ when Japan’s tsunami struck. “All of us scattered to escape,” said Kansei Sawadate, a local government official who was at the meeting. They all made it back into the town hall building – including the mayor. But then, to Sawadate’s horror and disbelief, the waters surged as high as the clock face on the second floor. “The people who went up on the roof were saved, and the people who stayed on the second floor were washed away,” he said. Sawadate and the 21 other local government officials who made it to the roof were rescued the next morning by a military helicopter. Kato’s body turned up nine days later, nearly a kilometre away. At least eight other officials are known to have died and about 20 are still missing. Now the question facing survivors is: can the town rebuild without its leaders? “I have to say that without the mayor it might be difficult to rebuild. We might lag behind unless someone from the outside comes to lead us,” said Yamazaki Seigo, who is connected to Kato by marriage. There’s some suggestion of a time lag already. Further up the coast from Otsuchi, at Miyako, the clean-up is underway, with piles of neatly tied rubbish sacks stacked up along the beached ferry boats, houses and cars washed up by the tsunami. There, officials at one shelter say they have been overwhelmed by donations of winter coats and instant noodles, which the evacuees cannot cook without boiling water. In Miyako, the homeless have been invited to apply for housing in government flats. Moving day for the first 180 apartments is 2 April, according to the neatly typed notices that went up in government shelters. That degree of organisation is beyond Otsuchi for now. At the town’s acting headquarters – high up on a hill above the government building – the bulletin boards are still given over to people searching for the missing. By Tuesday afternoon, it still was not clear to Sawadate whether bodies identified in the town hall on 13 March had been removed. Otsuchi was all but wiped out by the tsunami, which tore through a 10-metre high reinforced concrete sea wall, washing away one bridge entirely, and damaging another. The shell of the town hall is still standing, but its contents – including the town’s records – are gone. To compound matters, the pitifully few buildings still standing after the earthquake and the tsunami burned down after cooking gas tanks exploded. The fires burned for days, because there was no functioning fire department. About 460 people were killed and 970 remain missing out of a town of 16,000. About a third of the population of Otsuchi is now homeless and people say they could use a leader. “I don’t know where we would start,” said Sachiko Mocomochi, a physiotherapist. “The town is completely gone. It really hurts to look at it.” Kato was a popular figure in Otsuchi. He did a long stint on the city council before deciding to run for mayor four years ago. He was elected by a wide margin, casting himself as a leader for the everyman. Locals said he would have easily won re-election at next month’s polls. On the day of the earthquake, he had responded in typical fashion. When the tremors subsided, he ordered staff out of the building until engineers could survey for structural damage. Then he started hauling furniture outside for an emergency command centre which he planned to run from a tent in front of the building. Road signs at the entrance of Otsuchi warn travellers that the town is a known tsunami flood zone. But the last major tsunami warning, after last year’s earthquake in Chile, produced a storm surge of barely a metre. “Even with the warnings about a huge tsunami, nobody ever imagined this could hit us,” said Akihiro Goto, who works in the town’s transport department. Now that the unimaginable has happened, the people of Otsuchi are struggling to envisage a future in the town. Rebuilding after devastation on such a grand scale was always going to be difficult. Like much of this part of Japan, Otsuchi was an ageing town, with a shrinking job market. Sawadate, who worked to attract new industry to the town, said he was worried that young people, and poorer families whose homes were closer to the coast, would migrate. He said the authorities would need to help people to buy land further inland. “Then they might stay,” he said, but he sounded a little doubtful. For other government workers sorting through the wreckage at the toll hall on Tuesday, that thought is unthinkable. “The death of the mayor will have a big effect on the reconstruction effort,” said Goto. “Everyone is responding. I am sure we will make it somehow.” Japan disaster Japan Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk
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Application for state department funding to combat censorship in countries such as China and Iran is greeted with derision • BBC World Service to sign funding deal with US An application by the BBC World Service Trust for US government funding to help combat censorship in countries such as China and Iran has met with a furious response in America. Some figures within rival US international broadcasters such as Voice of America are said to be “deeply angry” that, at a time when the Congress is embroiled in a delicate budgetary standoff with the Obama administration, the World Service Trust is hoping to receive US tax dollars. One Washington source said that the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the US government agency which distributes about $760m of public money annually to five US international broadcasters, should receive the funding and not the BBC World Service Trust. “We are deeply angry here in the States. The Voice of America is the US government’s international broadcaster and needs support,” the source added. “This is coming at a time when the US government is cutting funding for the BBG as well as National Public Radio and people are angry that money is going to the BBC World Service Trust. “The sums which the trust is now seeking are puny but it’s the symbolism that’s important. Americans are trying to conserve resources and our money is going to something which supports the work of a foreign broadcaster – it’s infuriating.” The US state department said no decision had yet been taken on the BBC World Service Trust’s proposal for funding – believed to be a low six figure sum – for anti-jamming technology. Courtney Austrian, office director, policy planning and public diplomacy at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said: “To clarify the situation, earlier this month the BBC World Service Trust, along with many other organisations, was invited to submit a proposal for funding in the area of internet freedom to the state department. “This invitation was extended based upon a statement of interest the World Service Trust had previously submitted. We have not yet received a full proposal from any organisation and no funding decisions have yet been made.” A spokeswoman for the BBG, which funds America’s five international broadcasters – Voice of America, Radio & TV Marti, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and Middle East Broadcasting Networks – declined to be drawn on the row. “Competition for funds from the state department is ongoing,” she said. News of the BBC’s application for the grant from the US state department to develop anti–jamming technology in repressive countries such as Iran and China, revealed by the Guardian , has also met with a critical response in America. Under the heading “Your tax dollars funding a second left wing radio network: the BBC”, Thomas Lifson wrote on the American Thinker blog : “The BBC has a problem with political bias at least as bad as that of NPR. But that is no obstacle to shipping money, borrowed from China, to yet another left wing network. Don’t worry: we’ll just let our children pay for it when the Chinese come to collect.” A diary item on the New York Magazine’s website added : “Just wait til the anti-NPR brigade gets wind that U.S. funds are going to foreigners.” However, BBC World Service sources insisted that American money will be going to the World Service Trust – which is the corporation’s international charity – and not to the World Service, the international broadcaster. “It is quite reasonable that project by project work by the trust could apply for state department and US funding,” said a BBC World Service Trust source. The BBC World Service Trust has previously received $4.5m in US international development funding for an ongoing media and development project in Nigeria and is bidding for another $293,000 for similar work in Burma. •
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Sana’a protests agitate for Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign as he accuses defecting generals of trying to stage a coup Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has accused defecting generals of trying to stage a coup against him, saying the country would descend into a bloody civil war if he were forced to step down. “Those trying to wrest power through coups should know that this is impossible,” Saleh said in a defiant speech on television on Tuesday. “The fatherland will be made unstable, there will be war, a bloody civil war. They should carefully reflect on this.” Saleh, who has been president of Yemen for 32 years, is under mounting pressure to step down following seven weeks of anti-government protests and defections among the ruling elite. He announced on Tuesday that he would accept a proposal for an early departure from office, in January 2012, though it remained unclear when or how a transfer of power would take place. Previously he had offered to leave only by 2013. The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), Yemen’s opposition coalition, said they would accept nothing short of immediate resignation. “The opposition rejects the offer, as the coming hours will be decisive,” said opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabri. Scenes of jubilation among protesters at Sana’a University quickly dissolved into anger and frustration as news of Saleh’s speech spread. Demonstrators have been living in tents on the campus for the past five weeks demanding the president’s resignation. Tribesmen from Yemen’s eastern desert province of Marib set fire to a towering pile of placards bearing pictures of the president on hearing that he would not be stepping down. “Like our brothers in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, we have one simple request – that the president steps down now. If he doesn’t I think there will bloodshed,” said Mahmud Saeed, 21, who was dousing the smouldering heap of wood with petrol. Saleh’s defiance was unexpected. The fate of the embattled president now looks to be sealed as high-level officials, including senior army commander Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, abandon him and throw their support behind the protesters. Seventeen foreign diplomats, including the Yemeni ambassador to the UK, also resigned on Monday. Saleh suffered a further setback when Abdel-Malik Mansour, Yemen’s representative to the Arab League, told Al Arabiya television he was backing the protesters. Abdul-Rahman al-Iryani, the minister of water and environment, who was dismissed with the remainder of the cabinet on Sunday, also said he was joining “the revolutionaries”. In his letter of resignation on Tuesday, Iryani said: “It is becoming ridiculous that every member of the regime is now joining the revolution, when in fact they should surrender themselves to the revolution for trial for crimes that they committed against the people or looked the other way while these crimes were perpetrated on the people. Also, they should pledge not to occupy any public office in the future.” Military units appeared to have taken sides in the capital, with the Republican Guard protecting the palace of the president and soldiers from the 1st Armored Division under Ali Mohsen protecting the throngs of protesters in Sana’a. Late on Monday Yemen’s defence minister, Mohammad Nasser Ali, set the scene for possible military confrontation between the two, saying the army would back Saleh against any coup attempt. Analysts are worried that if a political agreement is not reached soon a violent military showdown will ensue. “The situation we face at the moment is untenable,” said Abdulghani Iryani, a political analyst. “With two army factions facing off in the capital the risk of a spark is huge. “Saleh has started waving the threat of a civil war in the hope that it will buy him enough time to make an honourable exit. In reality, he has days left before things turn very violent here.” Clashes broke out on Tuesday between the Republican Guard, an elite force led by the president’s son, Ahmed, and Yemen’s regular army, in the southern city of Mukalla. Two soldiers died. Yemen is under a 30-day state of emergency called by Saleh following a sniper attack by plain-clothed government loyalists last Friday, which left 52 protesters dead in the capital and caused even the president’s own tribe to demand his resignation. The United States has long viewed Yemen as a key partner in the fight against al-Qaida, yet Barack Obama has called for a “peaceful transition” in the country; it is not exactly clear what that would entail given that there is no obvious successor to Saleh. Analysts warn that the important issues in Yemen go far beyond that of Saleh’s departure from the presidency. “What’s at stake in Yemen is not just the risk that the country’s unity could disintegrate, but the very real danger that Islamist extremists, like al-Qaida, will take advantage of Yemen’s divisions to turn it into a veritable sanctuary for international terrorists,” said Harry Sterling, a former Canadian diplomat, who worked in Yemen. Yemen Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Tom Finn guardian.co.uk
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The new tablet will go on sale from 5pm on Friday in the UK and 24 other countries – at lower prices helped by the favourable exchange rate. Meanwhile, Samsung is back in the fray with 9-inch and 10-inch tablets. It’s a day for tablets. First RIM announced US prices and dates , though not UK ones, for its Playbook tablet. Now Apple has announced the price for the UK version of the iPad 2, which will work out cheaper – even after the VAT rise introduced in January – than the first version. Prices are, including VAT: Wi-Fi only: 16GB: £399.00 (£332.50 ex 20% VAT) 32GB: £479.00 (£399.17 ex 20% VAT) 64GB: £559.00 (£465.83 ex 20% VAT) Wi-Fi and 3G: 16GB: £499.00 (£415.83 ex 20% VAT) 32GB: £579.00 (£482.50 ex 20% VAT) 64GB: £659.00 (£549.17 ex 20% VAT) Those compare to prices last year respectively of £429, £499, £599, £529, £599 and £699. Calculating the differences, the retail (with VAT) price has fallen by between 4% and 7%, with the average being 5%; the ex-VAT price (the one you would normally compare against the US price) has fallen by between 5% and 9%, averaging 7.4%. That is Apple unveiling its next weapon – price – in this battle, where everyone is using every trick that they know to get an edge. Or is it? It turns out that what’s happening is that Apple is indeed cutting prices, but doing it with the help of the exchange rate. At the moment $1 = £0.6191 ; back in May 2010 (when the iPad launched in the UK and other countries) it was $1 = £0.682452 (20-day average) , so the dollar has weakened against the pound (you need fewer pounds to buy a dollar now than you did). The dollar, in fact, is about 10% lower now than it was against the pound last May. In turn, that means that $499, the iPad price in 2010 and 2011, equated in 2010 to £340.54, but is now £304.69. (In other words: it takes fewer pounds to get the $499 that Apple wants to get for each iPad sold.) So it might seem like Apple is doing everyone an enormous favour by cutting the price (and it certainly won’t hurt sales), but it is actually benefiting from the movement in exchange rates – in fact, it’s going to make more profit from iPad sales this year than last year, even with a lower price. A couple more interesting wrinkles to the iPad 2 launch internationally: sales won’t start until 5pm in the evening of Friday, or 1am that day if you’re ordering online. Why has it chosen such a time of day to do it? No word on that (we have called Apple but got no response), but there’s the faintest possibility that it’s to discourage the people who made the lives of would-be iPad buyers in the US hell – buying up loads of them in order to ship them off to the Far East. And another clue that that is the motive comes from the fact that sales in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea won’t start for another two weeks, even while the other 25 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) get theirs. (Though that won’t really dissuade them – they’ll just come back at the weekend, surely.) And just to add to the tablet fun, at CTIA Samsung has announced (or possible re-announced) its tablets and pricing. There will be the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (guess the screen size), to be released on 8 June – running Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”). Prices: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB). The Galaxy 8.9 will be priced at $469 (16GB), $499 (32GB), and be released in “early summer”. So is this iPad competition? Well, Honeycomb is certainly nice, and that’s price-competitive with the iPad, at least in the US. UK prices haven’t been set (or suggested) and the release date is only “later this year”. Samsung didn’t want to share sales figures either: “those are only for internal use,” we were told. (The press release and details haven’t made it to Samsung’s online press releases .) The list of tablets that have been announced is thus growing ever longer, but the list of those actually seen in the wild in the UK remains extremely short – the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (and now @Dirkbruere’s Advent Vega) being the principal ones. Anyone else got a tablet not in that list that they’ve bought in the UK this year? And what do you think of it? iPad Apple Tablet computers Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
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The new tablet will go on sale from 5pm on Friday in the UK and 24 other countries – at lower prices helped by the favourable exchange rate. Meanwhile, Samsung is back in the fray with 9-inch and 10-inch tablets. It’s a day for tablets. First RIM announced US prices and dates , though not UK ones, for its Playbook tablet. Now Apple has announced the price for the UK version of the iPad 2, which will work out cheaper – even after the VAT rise introduced in January – than the first version. Prices are, including VAT: Wi-Fi only: 16GB: £399.00 (£332.50 ex 20% VAT) 32GB: £479.00 (£399.17 ex 20% VAT) 64GB: £559.00 (£465.83 ex 20% VAT) Wi-Fi and 3G: 16GB: £499.00 (£415.83 ex 20% VAT) 32GB: £579.00 (£482.50 ex 20% VAT) 64GB: £659.00 (£549.17 ex 20% VAT) Those compare to prices last year respectively of £429, £499, £599, £529, £599 and £699. Calculating the differences, the retail (with VAT) price has fallen by between 4% and 7%, with the average being 5%; the ex-VAT price (the one you would normally compare against the US price) has fallen by between 5% and 9%, averaging 7.4%. That is Apple unveiling its next weapon – price – in this battle, where everyone is using every trick that they know to get an edge. Or is it? It turns out that what’s happening is that Apple is indeed cutting prices, but doing it with the help of the exchange rate. At the moment $1 = £0.6191 ; back in May 2010 (when the iPad launched in the UK and other countries) it was $1 = £0.682452 (20-day average) , so the dollar has weakened against the pound (you need fewer pounds to buy a dollar now than you did). The dollar, in fact, is about 10% lower now than it was against the pound last May. In turn, that means that $499, the iPad price in 2010 and 2011, equated in 2010 to £340.54, but is now £304.69. (In other words: it takes fewer pounds to get the $499 that Apple wants to get for each iPad sold.) So it might seem like Apple is doing everyone an enormous favour by cutting the price (and it certainly won’t hurt sales), but it is actually benefiting from the movement in exchange rates – in fact, it’s going to make more profit from iPad sales this year than last year, even with a lower price. A couple more interesting wrinkles to the iPad 2 launch internationally: sales won’t start until 5pm in the evening of Friday, or 1am that day if you’re ordering online. Why has it chosen such a time of day to do it? No word on that (we have called Apple but got no response), but there’s the faintest possibility that it’s to discourage the people who made the lives of would-be iPad buyers in the US hell – buying up loads of them in order to ship them off to the Far East. And another clue that that is the motive comes from the fact that sales in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea won’t start for another two weeks, even while the other 25 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) get theirs. (Though that won’t really dissuade them – they’ll just come back at the weekend, surely.) And just to add to the tablet fun, at CTIA Samsung has announced (or possible re-announced) its tablets and pricing. There will be the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (guess the screen size), to be released on 8 June – running Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”). Prices: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB). The Galaxy 8.9 will be priced at $469 (16GB), $499 (32GB), and be released in “early summer”. So is this iPad competition? Well, Honeycomb is certainly nice, and that’s price-competitive with the iPad, at least in the US. UK prices haven’t been set (or suggested) and the release date is only “later this year”. Samsung didn’t want to share sales figures either: “those are only for internal use,” we were told. (The press release and details haven’t made it to Samsung’s online press releases .) The list of tablets that have been announced is thus growing ever longer, but the list of those actually seen in the wild in the UK remains extremely short – the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (and now @Dirkbruere’s Advent Vega) being the principal ones. Anyone else got a tablet not in that list that they’ve bought in the UK this year? And what do you think of it? iPad Apple Tablet computers Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The new tablet will go on sale from 5pm on Friday in the UK and 24 other countries – at lower prices helped by the favourable exchange rate. Meanwhile, Samsung is back in the fray with 9-inch and 10-inch tablets. It’s a day for tablets. First RIM announced US prices and dates , though not UK ones, for its Playbook tablet. Now Apple has announced the price for the UK version of the iPad 2, which will work out cheaper – even after the VAT rise introduced in January – than the first version. Prices are, including VAT: Wi-Fi only: 16GB: £399.00 (£332.50 ex 20% VAT) 32GB: £479.00 (£399.17 ex 20% VAT) 64GB: £559.00 (£465.83 ex 20% VAT) Wi-Fi and 3G: 16GB: £499.00 (£415.83 ex 20% VAT) 32GB: £579.00 (£482.50 ex 20% VAT) 64GB: £659.00 (£549.17 ex 20% VAT) Those compare to prices last year respectively of £429, £499, £599, £529, £599 and £699. Calculating the differences, the retail (with VAT) price has fallen by between 4% and 7%, with the average being 5%; the ex-VAT price (the one you would normally compare against the US price) has fallen by between 5% and 9%, averaging 7.4%. That is Apple unveiling its next weapon – price – in this battle, where everyone is using every trick that they know to get an edge. Or is it? It turns out that what’s happening is that Apple is indeed cutting prices, but doing it with the help of the exchange rate. At the moment $1 = £0.6191 ; back in May 2010 (when the iPad launched in the UK and other countries) it was $1 = £0.682452 (20-day average) , so the dollar has weakened against the pound (you need fewer pounds to buy a dollar now than you did). The dollar, in fact, is about 10% lower now than it was against the pound last May. In turn, that means that $499, the iPad price in 2010 and 2011, equated in 2010 to £340.54, but is now £304.69. (In other words: it takes fewer pounds to get the $499 that Apple wants to get for each iPad sold.) So it might seem like Apple is doing everyone an enormous favour by cutting the price (and it certainly won’t hurt sales), but it is actually benefiting from the movement in exchange rates – in fact, it’s going to make more profit from iPad sales this year than last year, even with a lower price. A couple more interesting wrinkles to the iPad 2 launch internationally: sales won’t start until 5pm in the evening of Friday, or 1am that day if you’re ordering online. Why has it chosen such a time of day to do it? No word on that (we have called Apple but got no response), but there’s the faintest possibility that it’s to discourage the people who made the lives of would-be iPad buyers in the US hell – buying up loads of them in order to ship them off to the Far East. And another clue that that is the motive comes from the fact that sales in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea won’t start for another two weeks, even while the other 25 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) get theirs. (Though that won’t really dissuade them – they’ll just come back at the weekend, surely.) And just to add to the tablet fun, at CTIA Samsung has announced (or possible re-announced) its tablets and pricing. There will be the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (guess the screen size), to be released on 8 June – running Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”). Prices: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB). The Galaxy 8.9 will be priced at $469 (16GB), $499 (32GB), and be released in “early summer”. So is this iPad competition? Well, Honeycomb is certainly nice, and that’s price-competitive with the iPad, at least in the US. UK prices haven’t been set (or suggested) and the release date is only “later this year”. Samsung didn’t want to share sales figures either: “those are only for internal use,” we were told. (The press release and details haven’t made it to Samsung’s online press releases .) The list of tablets that have been announced is thus growing ever longer, but the list of those actually seen in the wild in the UK remains extremely short – the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (and now @Dirkbruere’s Advent Vega) being the principal ones. Anyone else got a tablet not in that list that they’ve bought in the UK this year? And what do you think of it? iPad Apple Tablet computers Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The new tablet will go on sale from 5pm on Friday in the UK and 24 other countries – at lower prices helped by the favourable exchange rate. Meanwhile, Samsung is back in the fray with 9-inch and 10-inch tablets. It’s a day for tablets. First RIM announced US prices and dates , though not UK ones, for its Playbook tablet. Now Apple has announced the price for the UK version of the iPad 2, which will work out cheaper – even after the VAT rise introduced in January – than the first version. Prices are, including VAT: Wi-Fi only: 16GB: £399.00 (£332.50 ex 20% VAT) 32GB: £479.00 (£399.17 ex 20% VAT) 64GB: £559.00 (£465.83 ex 20% VAT) Wi-Fi and 3G: 16GB: £499.00 (£415.83 ex 20% VAT) 32GB: £579.00 (£482.50 ex 20% VAT) 64GB: £659.00 (£549.17 ex 20% VAT) Those compare to prices last year respectively of £429, £499, £599, £529, £599 and £699. Calculating the differences, the retail (with VAT) price has fallen by between 4% and 7%, with the average being 5%; the ex-VAT price (the one you would normally compare against the US price) has fallen by between 5% and 9%, averaging 7.4%. That is Apple unveiling its next weapon – price – in this battle, where everyone is using every trick that they know to get an edge. Or is it? It turns out that what’s happening is that Apple is indeed cutting prices, but doing it with the help of the exchange rate. At the moment $1 = £0.6191 ; back in May 2010 (when the iPad launched in the UK and other countries) it was $1 = £0.682452 (20-day average) , so the dollar has weakened against the pound (you need fewer pounds to buy a dollar now than you did). The dollar, in fact, is about 10% lower now than it was against the pound last May. In turn, that means that $499, the iPad price in 2010 and 2011, equated in 2010 to £340.54, but is now £304.69. (In other words: it takes fewer pounds to get the $499 that Apple wants to get for each iPad sold.) So it might seem like Apple is doing everyone an enormous favour by cutting the price (and it certainly won’t hurt sales), but it is actually benefiting from the movement in exchange rates – in fact, it’s going to make more profit from iPad sales this year than last year, even with a lower price. A couple more interesting wrinkles to the iPad 2 launch internationally: sales won’t start until 5pm in the evening of Friday, or 1am that day if you’re ordering online. Why has it chosen such a time of day to do it? No word on that (we have called Apple but got no response), but there’s the faintest possibility that it’s to discourage the people who made the lives of would-be iPad buyers in the US hell – buying up loads of them in order to ship them off to the Far East. And another clue that that is the motive comes from the fact that sales in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea won’t start for another two weeks, even while the other 25 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) get theirs. (Though that won’t really dissuade them – they’ll just come back at the weekend, surely.) And just to add to the tablet fun, at CTIA Samsung has announced (or possible re-announced) its tablets and pricing. There will be the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (guess the screen size), to be released on 8 June – running Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”). Prices: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB). The Galaxy 8.9 will be priced at $469 (16GB), $499 (32GB), and be released in “early summer”. So is this iPad competition? Well, Honeycomb is certainly nice, and that’s price-competitive with the iPad, at least in the US. UK prices haven’t been set (or suggested) and the release date is only “later this year”. Samsung didn’t want to share sales figures either: “those are only for internal use,” we were told. (The press release and details haven’t made it to Samsung’s online press releases .) The list of tablets that have been announced is thus growing ever longer, but the list of those actually seen in the wild in the UK remains extremely short – the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab (and now @Dirkbruere’s Advent Vega) being the principal ones. Anyone else got a tablet not in that list that they’ve bought in the UK this year? And what do you think of it? iPad Apple Tablet computers Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
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