Macs on the Mobile Model?

Steve may hate music subscriptions, but he sure is pushing OS X users to sign up for the obnoxious .Mac service. On general principle, I refuse to subscribe to tie-ins like .Mac.

As for the poster commenting on DSL in the US, well, they can buy 18Mbps for 35 euros per month, you'll never get that speed (let alone that price) anywhere in the US unless you are in one of the handful of Verizon FiOS test areas. They also actually have competition from several DSL providers, unlike the cosy US cable-DSL duopolies that pay off Congress with campaign contributions. That's why DSL providers in the rest of the world have to work extra hard to get people to switch to them. Competition good.

Six years ago when I lived in France, France Telecom was a government-owned company that has a near monopoly and low penetration. Then the local equivalent of the FCC actually did the right things to foster competition, even though that would decrease the value of the government's stake in FT. The US is lagging severely behind France and most of the OECD, not to mention a number of third-world countries in broadband because neither the FCC nor Congress is willing to take on SBC, Verizon or Comcast. If anything, laws that forced them to open their networks to competition have been gutted to make the market even more tightly locked up by the incumbents.

getting a free apple laptop when you sign up with a telco??? It's so common in singapore...
Haha...guess you guys need some getting used to over at your side..

In Singapore, one of the ISP did the same thing recently, giving away a white macbook with every subscription to their broadband service.

I didnt go through the whole article, but it seems it's only a rental!

This is not the first time something like this has been done. Singtel in Singapore (telco DSL company) has been giving away Apple laptops with 2 year subscriptions for at least the past 2 years that I know of personally. Right now if you sign up on one of the middle speeds for 2 years... free Macbook. It really is quite a deal! The competing company gives you an XBox 360.

Pour disposer d'une connexion plus rapide (8 Mbits/s), le tarif est majoré de 5 euros. So if this is true it would be 65 euros per month for the 8 mbps service. And not 5 euros per day.

how about prep-pay your dot mac for 10 years and get a free mac LOL i'd do it for twenty. :) ahh... glorious dot mac services! could be fast tho! hint hint steve if you're reading this.

I note too that the article indicates a 150 Euro deposit is required.

There is also an 8 mbps services available for 5 Euro/day or roughly 150 Euro/month.

Interesting idea.

What does Steves opinion on subscriptions have to do with this service? Orange will buy Macs in bluk and then 'rent' them.

This would never fly in the states. EVERYONE HAS DSL. You dont need to give away macbooks to have people subscribe to it. DSL is needed as much as running water.