ALL phone businesses have a definition of the word "free" that is not recognised in any dictionary that I have come across, or even heard of.
These people are - by any system of measurement - overcharging to a level only known to mafia moneylenders (and government taxation people - of course!, they set the standard for all lenders).
"Competition" is also a strangely defined expression in my experience.
Still, So long as they keep donating to the various political parties the overcharging will continue.
Just how long they will also continue the "new technology" angle for any new phone is anyone's guess. Looking forward to the time that events will force the actual manufacturers of personal phones to offer them directly at an accessible price, rather than the "heavily discounted" rates of contracted service providers.
All these people certainly have tapped into the "must have the latest" rich seam of mugs haven't they? Thus continuing the gravy train.

Whatever spin you put on this, it's old technology being upgraded to increase its capacity.
Before some nerd tells me I'm wrong (and they will), there is an economic dimension which cannot be ignored. i.e. just how much will the drive and the spare discs cost? If it's too much, then, whatever spin you put on it, the thing simply won't sell.
Currently a 1TB hard drive is about $100 (and falling).
Buy a 'stage rack' and you can plug these things in at will, meaning that you could have a shelf full of reliable storage with no compatibility problems whatsoever (hard discs are still the main storage of all computers and all the evidence is that this is likely to be the case for as far as can be seen into the future). Also, very little - if any - risk of deterioration of contents. Unlike all cd, dvd, blu-ray and the like. Also ask your self this one How long are Sony et al going to continue to make this thing? Only as long as it sells, then, they'll introduce some totally incompatible storage method as a replacement in order to stimulate sales. Seagate can't do this, doesn't need to to do it and certainly won't do it - unless of course they suddenly develop a need for Japanese style business suicide.
Blu-Ray is a blind alley technology, it still isn't selling in anything like the quantity its predecessors sold (dvd and cd) despite journalistic hype. It might be 'better' - whatever that is! But then, so is a Ferrari and a Bentley - but I can't afford those either.

What price war?
Apple ties these distributors to a tight contract that ensures a high income for Apple therefore end users will never see anything like an acceptable monthly fee.
Blackberrys are the same. Excessive charges designed to make fortunes with competition limited by those who control the phone networks.
Competition is a myth in cell phones. All this talk of 'new technologies' and 'features' is tripe. Compare what you pay compared with land lines - and I don't mean just one element of making calls. No one can tell me that radio transmission is dearer to maintain than copper wires buried underground. Its just another rip-off like the one enjoyed by the 'premium charges' villains.
So where are the 'regulators'? Why, enjoying the benefits of working with such people.
Where do you think Apple's high profits come from?
Probably old 'technology' overcharged for, like Microsoft's operating systems and applications. Old stuff, well milked.

Why oh Why is it so bloody complicated to get what is on a hand-held video camera on to a disc without going through so many complicated steps.
Surely it is possible to write a programme which allows the plugging in to a computer USB of a camera and with only two steps start to write to the disc.
OK. There is often a lot of bits you don't want, but many, indeed most, non-geek users couldn't care less about those bits. How many holiday shots simply don't make it because of the lazy programmers continuing ability to make the transfer really difficult?
The biggest enemy of tech-gear sales is complication.
Something that absolutely NO firm has every taken seriously.
If the techie can do it in the laboratory - then the end user/purchaser/customer can also do it!
Where did that one come from?

So. We are not that far f rom the mini flying robot which sits in the corner of the room, videos your secret password and bank account details, doesn't actually radio them to some distant source (detectable you see) but instead waits until you've left, flies out of the room, then transmits or, returns to base with all the details.
Of course, government agencies will use these first, then the villains will get hold of them.
How the hell do you notice something somewhere in a room with just a millimetre-or-two of size, that is not transmitting (therefore not conventionally detectable) and which can access your most private secrets?
Also. Unlike the real bugs, it is not susceptible to the usual killer asshole spray (is that how its spelt?)

Why-oh-why do we NEVER get the name of the SatNav manufacturer (e.g. TomTom, Garmin, Navtech) when idiots like this are reported?
If we did, then I feel that it would make the map and satnav manufacturers get their finger out on real map updates.
I do have an axe to grin re satnavs. My VERY expensive new satnav, with all the bells and whistles, has a torturous problem which has been giving me a headache since purchase (AND further paying for a service which only half works). The conversations - via email - to their 'support help' are a nightmare of them failing to understand English (they are an English outfit owned by a manufacturer who has a fully English website), and a torturous method of contact. Their website is a lesson on how not to design a website for easy access and obvious support contact - aren't they all? Website 'designers' in my book are the curse of the twentyfirst century, All equipped with monster screens (so much being off the usual screen size, but who cares? Strange attitudes/opinions on just what an unaccustomed user needs to do to get information - and worst of all the BIG curse, the 'Answers to Frequently Asked Questions' which never contain the answer you want. Well, they wouldn't would they? How the hell do you know what is in someone else's head? Or. How do they phrase the question? The oldest fact in teaching is that teach a topic to 30 people in a room and they will view it 30 different ways. Put a problem on a computer and that will be viewed in many thousands of different ways by however many see it.
I'm not saying these people are dim - but unthinking? don't know how to think?
Undoubtedly!

Oh! Do wake up!
Whatever the merits or demerits of electri/hydrogen/cooking oil or whatever fuel, two matters seem to always forgotten.
The tax revenue ALL governments levy on vehicular fuels.
Just what the ACTUAL environmental long-term costs are (whether you are 'green' or couldn't give a sod!).
Look. If the government is used to (i.e. has already spent) tax revenue from vehicular fuels doesn't it seem blindingly clear that whatever you use to propel your whatever engine they are just going to tax it at a level which maintains THEIR income from this source.
Nuclear fuel has an uncosted long-term storage problem, whatever else you burn has other long-term problems.
In other words, you become more efficient, the government(s) maintain their inefficiencies by not allowing you to see any real long-term advantages from technologies. The problem is the government(s). Now. Forger this crap that 'democracy' (whatever that is) is not there to be treated critically (like fascism, or communism or anyother ism) and start to look at that which is the problem. Also stop gassing about it and accepting that it is NOT whichever party, or 'gift-from-God' politician from whatever ethnic group or pursuasion he/she/it comes from that will solve these two problems, but instead, just look at the long period of uninterrupted failure they've all had. Our system (which actually isn't a 'system' at all - a system is designed from the beginning as a 'whole' not added to and modified [updates a la Microsoft?] as wished by some - not all). is crap, and it definitely isn't the 'best' that could be under the circumstances either. It's the 'best' for some, not most, just remember that when 'increased taxes' is the next (like the last) proposed solution.
As Winston Churchill said in the east end of London during the war.
"Your effort, Your sacrifice, will ensure our victory." Now you know why he was nearly lynched and he was hissed and bood at by working class east enders. I was there dear reader, so don't you try to correct me. And there are posters (government printed) which prove it.

What kills me about this is the shareholder proposed action to sue the Board because the shareholder gamble of buy-in-the-hope-it-will-rise didn't come off at the level they hoped for.
Seems to me that this makes buying shares in any business moves from being a guess-and-gamble your money, or, back your judgment, into a legal certainty of profit. In other words the lawyers are now in on the act of business support and, guess who will make the most out of it?
In my day you backed your judgment of a business and its management, if you mis-guessed you lost. If your judgment was correct you won.
Decent managers, in a crisis would just change their underpants and charge on. Rubbish managers would cry and run to mommy.
Which one is Jerry? Yet to be revealed I feel.

Re car theft.
In all western countries we hand responsibility for crime prevention/detection to the police. If you have your car stolen in the UK the police have absolutely no interest whatsoever. You have to go the police station and they just give you a crime number to hand to your insurer - thats all, nothing else. Now, your car could be worth as much as Becks (£60,000 or so) but thats all you'll get. Try to rob a bank and it will be surrounded by armed police, even if the sum involved is £1,000 or less. Police will now do absolutely nothing at all about an accepted range of criminal activity AND that list of 'do nothing about it' crimes is growing monthly. We have reached the stage where the police service is just a career in which you can retire early, receive a good salary and benefits whilst employed and screw the general public with totally bogus crime figures.
Wonder why confidence in the police is falling?

and:
A ONE YEAR GUARANTEE - ONLY!
You try to get one replaced when it goes faulty!
I've thrown out more WD drives under two years old than I care to remember. Only one worse, that was IBM drives (now Hitachi owned)
Now. You start offering a 5 year guarantee and a postal return, no arguments, and I'll start thinking.
Service is what counts - especially with the inflated purchase price of these drive setups.