Peter’s Blog

What awaits the iPhone in Europe? - International Herald Tribune

Wow. What a stupid article. Don’t get it me wrong, it’s well written and I think the central point, that iPhone sales in Europe have disappointed, is correct. However, I think they completely missed the reason why. It’s simple: many Europeans are buying iPhones in the US. Cracked iPhones are much cheaper (would you rather pay €400 or $400?) and they’re really easy to get. I know lots of people that buy several iPhones when visiting the US, and there are even companies that give them away in contests here in the Netherlands. Consider this:

Fueling speculation about an imminent strategic change by Apple are early sales of the device in Europe. Strategy Analytics, a research firm in Milton Keynes, England, estimates that Apple sold 350,000 iPhones in Europe in the fourth quarter of last year, below what it claims is Apple’s internal forecast of 500,000 devices.

The research firm also estimates that iPhone sales slowed to 300,000 in the first three months of this year.

But we’ve also heard that 1 million US iPhones were never registered with AT&T. Assuming that 2/5 of those unlocked phons went to Europe (which seems to be a reasonable guess to me), that’s 100,000 extra phones ‘purchased’ each quarter in Europe, which means Apple is actually close to its targeted sales.

I just got off the phone with Charles Schwab and I’m got some stuff to say.

First, I was shocked when the person helping me didn’t know how to answer my questions immediately. I had gotten so used to solving my problems within a minute of calling Schwab that I was honestly surprised to hear the woman say, “I don’t know. Let me check with someone here.” It didn’t help that she and her colleagues ended up having to wrestle with the system for almost 30 minutes to delete an automatic transfer, disconnecting me twice while I was on hold. That being said, they solved the problem, were very friendly and helpful, and offered me $100 for my ‘troubles’. Now that’s how to ensure customer satisfaction! (more…)

Tell me that doesn’t look a burning book. Little did you know that the Dutch police are actually firemen. Speaking of weird things, the Amsterdam police offer a 360 degree tour of a police HQ.

While Ford, GM and Chrysler used to dominate American industry, you can’t really talk about The Big Three anymore. But there’s still one set of big three transportation companies: the main Dutch bicycle companies!

First, because I have one:

Gazelle

Batavus

photo credit: Eerko

Sparta

photo credit: Ibán

I can’t say that there are any sort real difference between the companies, though I do really like Sparta’s logo:

photo credit: Ibán

A test from www.mobypicture.com

While perhaps not as funny as my first, here’s another thing I’ve noticed about the Dutch: everyone says, when speaking English, ‘beamer’ when talking about a projector.

Last night I attended the opening Wallen Salon, an exhibition by the Kattenbak collective. It is a pretty unique setting, as the group had taken on a grand old house in a pretty serious state of disrepair in the heart of the red light district and set up their artwork in all the bare rooms. Most of it wasn’t that interesting, to be honest, but there was one exception. On the top floor, right next to the DJ, was a series of posters for The Raven. The designer (should I say artist?) had the whole poem across the bottom third of the three posters and then three different striking woodblock prints of ravens perching on barbed wire on the rest of the posters. What I really liked about the posters is that they preserve the darkness of the poem, yet, thanks to the design, make the poem feel contemporary and not dated at all. Because of that, I think the designer was making a sly statement when he or she put the date of the poem’s original publication in the top left corner.

I just looked at the Leidseplein in Google Maps. Interestingly, the entry shows all the trams and buses that stop there and links to 9292ov.nl, the main Dutch mass transit information website. Google Transit doesn’t include the Netherlands yet, but if Maps is linking to 9292ov, my guess is that they’re going to deal for the whole country, like they did with Japan.