Techno/Marketing/Creative Gun For Hire
Anyone with a family or a pesky significant other knows multi-user support is an absolute must for iOS devices like the iPad. We have one iPad in the family and it’s shared among at least three people. The real bummer is apps like Twitter or Facebook because you have to maintain a login which has to be changed every time someone different uses the iPad.
Finally Apple is looking at support for multiple users on iOS and it cannot come fast enough as far as I am concerned.
It’s been a rumor for years and years that Apple is building a televisi0n. Finally, with the new Walter Isacson biography on Steve Jobs, we have a hint that Apple has indeed been hard at work.
“I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”
The simplest user interface you could imagine. Some people are theorizing about a gester interface like the Kinnect on XBox, but this is wrong. The interface revelation is Siri. What could be easier than talking and simply telling your tv what you want. “Change channel to ESPN”, “Record this program”. “When is the next episode of The Walking Dead on?” Sounds like giving commands to an iPhone. Build your television with iOS and you have it all. iCloud/iTunes integration, Siri, apps, everything.
Trust me, Apple will have a television in 2012 and it will be built on iOS and you will talk to it via Siri, and you will die to have one.
So, very interesting news today from Apple, as they take a half step with the new iPhone 4S instead of a more complete redesign of the hardware. The only thing I wonder about is the screen size. I have gotten used to my Droid X and it’s 4.3 inch screen. I do like the extra room but I will admit it’s about as large a device as I would want to hold as a cell phone. The rumors were that the iPhone would move up to a 4 inch screen; not as large as the Droid X but larger than the current 3.5 inch iPhone screen. This would have been a nice compromise and I was looking forward to it. Now, however, if I want to go back to the iPhone as I have been planning, I will be stepping down a little on screen size.
Now comes word that next week Samsung will announce the next great Android phone for Verizon (my carrier) and it’s the Nexus Prime. It will have a screen that is supposedly 4.5 inches. Like I said, I can’t imagine wanting a screen larger than my Droid X at 4.3, so 4.5 is really pushing the limits I think. At a certain point, it’s just too large for a cell phone isn’t it? At a certain point, you just want to to straight to 7 inches and call it a tablet. but your phone you want to keep smaller and lighter. I don’t see how pushing the cell phone screen larger and larger is helping anything.
I am still disappointed to not get at least a slightly larger screen for the iPhone but I think I will hold to my plan of moving back anyway for many of the reasons I previously outlined. iPhone 4S isn’t everything I hoped for, but it’s still a very good phone.
In case you hadn’t noticed, Apple isn’t really a computer company anymore. Remember when they changed their name from Apple Computer to just Apple? Now a recent report says 70% of their revenue is non traditional computer related. We’re taking iPad, iPod, and iPhone.
A poplar buzzword lately is the post-pc era. As usual, Apple is the innovator and leads the way. Isn’t it appropriate for the company the originally launched the personal computer era in the first place to lead us into the next era? There is also an interesting concept of the “Internet of things” which I do believe we are moving toward. Apple geeks bemoan the deemphasis of the stalwart Apple operating system, OSX and the growing importance of iOS that powers the iPad and iPhone. For Apple, however, it will be iOS that will power the Internet of Apple things.
With Steve Jobs retiring, at least as CEO, many have wondered what is legacy will be. This is it, I believe; leading Apple into the post-pc era. With this transition, Apple should see a clear path to success for the next 10 to 20 years. The only question now is has Steve Jobs injected enough of his mojo throughout the company to keep them on track. Apple employees need to get themselves little WWSD bracelets. What Would Steve Do?
I primarily changed from an iPhone to an Android phone two years ago not because I disliked the iPhone but to get away from AT&T and their terrible network. Now, my contract with Verizon is up and I can choose a new phone. Since the iPhone is not on Verizon as well, I have a real choice. Stick with Android or go back to the iPhone. I have a Droid X Android phone, which is fine enough, but I’m going back to the iPhone for a couple of reasons.
Media Management
The Android platform is terrible at managing and playing media. It always has been and I am shocked to this day Google has not vastly improved this feature. Syncing songs and podcasts with iTunes is no trivial matter and the media player application itself leaves so much to be desired. Third party apps help but there is nothing I can find that comes close to the grace and elegance of the iPod features built into the iPhone. Google Music helps a little, but that service wants to stream all your music and with stricter data caps coming to all wireless carriers, I don’t know how that’s going to play.
Apps
It’s all about the apps these days and which Android has made vast strides in the apps that are available, I have found a few that I am interested in that are iPhone only. Also, it appears to be that iPhone development is still getting more love than Android development. A company may have support for both platforms but they will almost always update the iPhone app first. The big double edged sword as well is Apple’s approval process for apps. Since Apple goes through everything with a fine tooth comb, iPhone apps are generally of higher quality, both in their look and feel as well as stability.
Accountability
Here is another double edged sword. Apple controls everything in their ecosystem from the hardware to the software, so they can provide a more seamless experience. Android, by definition, is fragmented. Different hardware all with different specs. Even the operating system is different as hardware vendors put their different skins and extras features on top of Android. No two Android phones work exactly the same. My Droid X, after upgrading to the latest Android OS had a nasty bug where it would randomly reboot itself in the middle of playing music or a podcast. Now who is responsible for this bug and who do I complain to? Google, Motorola, Verizon? With the iPhone, the buck always stops with Apple and they are very agressive about fixing bugs, especially one as serious as mine. I waited months for the bug to be fixed on my phone. With an iPhone, a bug that serious would have been fixed in days.
Carrier Control
With iPhones, the wireless carriers have very little if anything to say about what goes on the phone and how things operate. On Android phones, carriers put all kinds of bloatware and apps that you never asked for on the phone. Carriers also decide which operating system updates you will get and when. I am sick of carriers telling me what I can and cannot do with my phone. All iPhones come clean, with only the software Apple wants and virtually all iPhones get software upgrades at the same time and when Apple releases them. Part of this goes back to Apple’s control over the ecosystem as they can better ensure updates will work on all iphones. Every time Google updates Android, carriers have to update their special interfaces and that takes time.
Things I will Miss
Is there anything I will miss about my Android phone? Probably the biggest thing is the Google integration. Especially Gmail on the phone, which is great. Also, Android has the best sharing features I have seen anywhere. If you are sitting on a webpage or in Google Reader, the universal sharing interface that lets you use just about any installed app to share that content is second to none.
The timing couldn’t be better. My contract is up and the iPhone 5 is just around the corner. I’m coming home.
Today The Beatles finally became available to purchase on iTunes. I’m a big Beatles fan and I’m going to grouse about it because so much money was left on the table for both The Beatles and Apple.
It’s been seven years since the iTunes store opened. Seven years to get The Beatles on what is now the number one digital outlet for music. I won’t pretend to understand the why’s and wherefore’s of the situation which I’m sure are complex, but it’s still ridiculous. I will take back the too little part of my title simply because it’s The Beatles. No matter what the situation, The Beatles will always be one of the greatest bands of all time and unequalled in their influence over music. But too late, absolutely.
Here is the crux of the problem. The majority of Beatles fans already have their music and likely already have it ripped digitally to iTunes. These fans have bought the CD’s. There is no reason whatsoever for them to buy any of the music now coming out on iTunes. Young people I really wonder about. I just don’t see it. My daughter (11) certainly isn’t going to buy any Beatles. It’s not at all what she or most of her friends are into. Not even close. It’s a different world. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Kesha rule these days. I’m not saying The Beatles won’t sell at all on iTunes, they’ll probably sell fine, but nothing close to what they could have sold if they were on a few years ago. The equation is simple. If you do not give people the music they want on their platform of choice, which is digitally now, they will get it from the Internet. It’s all out there and pretty easy to get these days.
The Beatles are on iTunes, hooray I guess. It all seams very anticlimactic. The real opportunity has been lost, gobs of money already left on the table.
I’ve just gone hands on with a new 11″ MacBook Air and I can report to you that it is a fantastic computer. As you may remember, I changed over my computing life completely, abandoning my MacBook Pro for an iMac desktop machine. The plan was to use a very small and cheap netbook as my primary mobile solution. For this I got a Asus EeePC and it seemed to fit the bill. What I have learned over time, however, is that the keyboard on this machine is nearly unusable. It’s too small and the key placement is too close. It’s been a flurry of mistyped characters. This netbook is also fairly slow. It’s not a top of the line netbook so I’m sure that explains it, but I didn’t want to trade price for performance at the time. Long story short, I’m very unhappy with this netbook.
When the new MacBook Air was announced, the smaller one looked just like a netbook but with a full size keyboard and a faster processor than I have now. It looked like a dream machine. It is. Downside is the price at $999. Still the least expensive laptop from Apple but more than twice as much as I spent on this EeePC. Damn the old saying, you truly get what you pay for.
The keyboard on the MacBook is the standard full size MacBook keyboard which is one of the best keyboards I have ever used. It’s superb. The trackpad, again Apple standard and wonderful. The precision of the trackpad on the netbook I’m using, pretty bad. The MacBook Air screen is great. High res and clear as a bell. At 11″ it’s just a bit bigger than this 10″ netbook but that one inch makes a big difference.
In every way possible the new MacBook Air is so much more usable than the netbook I currently have. I wish it was just a hundred or two dollars less expensive, but we’ve gone over that already. As soon as I can figure out a way to buy one without getting killed by the wife, look for me to be sporting a new MacBook Air, a true work of art.
I have just finished a complete overhaul of my computing life. I made some major decisions that go along with my new philosophy of what is happening in the technology world and changed things accordingly.
For a long time now, the desktop computer has been playing second fiddle to the laptop. Laptop machines have become more powerful and innexpensive. You can get very near the power of a desktop and the mobility too. But things are changing, primarily due to the smart phone and portable tablets.
Smart phones like the iPhone and Droid phone are packing a great deal of power and functionality into our palms. Smart phones are so good now, they can take on many of the rudimentary tasks of a notebook. Add to that the new iPad and things get even more interesting. I’ve tried using an iPad as a notebook replacement and I will tell you it’s not there yet, but I do believe the platform will get there soon.
The other big realization I made is that I rarely use the power that my notebook has when I am mobile. When mobile, I mostly like to consume content and blog. I don’t generally produce a lot of audio or video. I would prefer to do that on a larger screen at home. The power of a big laptop, than, is wasted. What I really wanted was something at home that was big and powerful and that could be hooked up to large screens; a desktop machine. For mobile, I wanted something very light and with tons of battery life.
What I did was get a 21″ iMac for home, connected to a second 21″ monitor. For mobile, I went for an Asus Eee PC. Now you may asking me why I
went for a netbook instead of an iPad. It’s a good question and I’ll tell you why. The iPad is an elegant, beautiful piece of technology, but it has several drawbacks. I do think it’s a little heavy, especially after you have been holding it for awhile. Also, the sides don’t provide enough space to grip it and my fingers always slip into the touch area, resulting in unwanted actions. They keyboard is surprisingly good for a touch device, but still not quite as good as a physical keyboard. In addition, I have not found a good way to lay it in your lap while typing. The angle never seems to work. With a netbook, you have a hinged screen, so I can adjust the angle at will. Like many Apple products, the second and third generations of the iPad are the ones to wait for. There is also the fact That I was able to get my netbook for around $250 whereas an iPad would have cost me at least twice as much.
Is the netbook perfect? Hardly. The keyboard is good but small and so harder to get used to. The screen does seem tiny, smaller than the iPad even though both are 10 inches. But for now the netbook works for me. I assume that I will indeed transition to a tablet, but not until some good Android tablets come out or possibly a second generation iPad. My new computing architecture now lines up as follows: Droid Incredible – small, Asus netbook – medium, iMac – big. At every level, I’ve got it covered, and notice that it also happens that I end up with three different operating systems, Mac, Android and Windows. The best tool for each need and I overcome the OS by living as much as I can in the cloud. I don’t think much about OS anymore, I think more about apps and function.
I’d love to Hear what you all are thinking and doing with your environments. Let me know in the comments.
I’ve been saying this for awhile now, comic books on the Apple iPad are a massive opportunity. The large color screen is perfect for this kind of content. I would even argue that it’s a big strategic advantage the iPad has over the Amazon Kindle. The Kindle is the perfect device for black and white books with it’s superior e-ink display but when it comes to content like comics or color magazines, the iPad can do things the Kindle can only dream of. As a comic book lover, I’m pretty excited about the possibility of comics on the iPad and I would seriously consider getting one if for no other reason than to read comics.
There are indications now that Amazon may try to make a new Kindle with color and multi-touch technology, bringing it much closer to an iPad. I think it’s very dangerous for Amazon to rush headlong into a competition with Apple on their own turf. Maybe the smart play is to remain the dominant player in black and white e-ink technology and let Apple have the rest. Amazon’s strength has always been traditional black and white books, not magazines or comics. Here’s an even smarter play, make a full iPad version of the Kindle reader. Amazon needs to remember their focus, they are a bookstore not a hardware manufacturer. By making a great Kindle reader for the iPad, they stand to sell more books from their online bookstore, even possibly cutting into Apple’s store.
2010 will be THE year of the tablet computer as Sony has also said they want to enter this market. No doubt there will be others. 2010 could also be THE year traditional publishing makes the turn to digital distribution. People have been predicting the death of traditional publishing for years now. These new tablet machines go a long way to bringing that prediction to pass.
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Either that or they don’t care. As everyone is today, I am left wondering if anybody had the discussion about the iPad name. Did they completely miss this or did they so love the name they did it anyway and figured they would suffer the slings and arrows for awhile but ultimately overtake the connotations? Either way, this Mad TV routine is now even more funny and is making the rounds on the net. Great promo for Fox.
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