What you get for at least $500 – so £500 in the UK, then – will be a glorified ebook reader with the ability to look at photos or browse the web and send e-mail … provided you’re at a WiFi hotspot because it doesn’t ship to start with with any 3G connectivity (and won’t at that price either).

What’s worse is that, like an ebook reader, it’s not exactly pocket sized either.

Now if you’re in the market for an ebook reader that’s twice the price and that brings the option of web browsing where there’s a WiFi hotspot – and with no USB ports a 3G dongle is not an option – then you might want to consider it. For me, I’ll make do with a 3G phone for portability and the ability to look at photos, play music or films, and send e-mail and browse the Internet, or I’ll use a cheap netbook like the one I already have that does a similar job for half the price.

Thanks, but no thanks, Apple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4

“Your account is set up and enables you to purchase and download immediately.”

And that’s precisely what she then did: buying a load of music files from Apple’s iTunes Store.

Now if there were to be any comeback about the purchases (for example, if the payment method was with a stolen credit card or similar), I don’t really want the shit hitting the fan here. So I changed the password on the Apple account just in case and have now gone looking to find a way to close the Apple ID but to no avail.

Changing the password required me to click a confirmation link sent by e-mail to the spurious e-mail address, so that made me wonder why, when setting up the Apple ID, did they not require a confirmation link to be clicked to confirm the e-mail was indeed theirs?

That’s a pretty basic concept: for example when users sign up to the vBulletin message boards I operate, they have to confirm their e-mail addresses before they can operate their account.

Why doesn’t Apple do this?

And why can’t you close an Apple ID/account?

I have e-mailed them via their web form to ask…