New York Times“On Wednesday morning I stopped by the SoHo Apple store in New York City to purchase an iPad for a family member. As I had anticipated, a store clerk said they were out of stock and recommended that I check back the following morning. When I asked what time I should arrive, the clerk hesitated, looked around as if about to tell me a secret and said: “Well, do you see that group of people outside? They’re already here waiting for tomorrow’s shipment of iPads.—
Category: Apple
Rob Rhyne: “I feel like we’ve all been here before. Another App Store rejection and another post on my (barely can be called a) blog. Since this is likely my final tome on the subject, I’m opting for a simpler approach. Instead of a rambling post about my continued woes of app review and more logical pleas for guidance from Apple, I’m posting a FAQ. A place to direct people as more of them discover Briefs and wonder what could have been.”
This is one of those sad times for Indie Developers. Briefs is a great application that could give designers and developers the freedom to play with design concepts before actually committing to them. It’s just darned sad to see something that could be so useful not make it to the store.
Rob, I know it wouldn’t be the same, but you should grab Chameleon and make it run on the Mac. Then you could at least distribute it from your company website. You could even wrap your work in an emulator-like window so people could get the effect.
Categories
Steve Jobs Killed Music
PCWorld: “Bon Jovi doesn’t explain why the coming of digital music was the fault of the Apple CEO beyond the view that his company’s iTunes service has profited from it. As many commentators have pointed out, Apple didn’t invent digital music because Apple rarely invents anything, preferring instead to perfect breakthroughs made by others such as Napster.”
Categories
In-App purchase?
TechCrunch: “Remember when everyone was freaking out over the Apple in-app subscription changes? You should. It was just a month ago. And while some of the fears that arose do appear to be very real, the two things most people focused on were Amazon’s Kindle app and the Netflix app. Well guess what? Both received updates today, and neither includes the supposedly mandatory changes.”
That’s a relief. Let’s hope this doesn’t change.
The Unofficial Apple Weblog: “Now that the MacBook Pro refresh has happened and the iPad 2 is out, what’s left for the rumor mill? The iPhone 5 of course. Citing a Chinese source, Japanese site Macotakara claims that Apple is abandoning the current iPhone 4’s exposed antenna/glass backside construction for the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 will supposedly have an all-aluminum rear case similar to the iPad 2. Wireless signals will penetrate the case via the Apple logo, which will be made from a plastic resin, presumably similar to the black bar on top of the 3G iPad 2.”
It looks like the new iPod Touch, which isn’t so bad, but this just doesn’t pass the smell test. I’m not buying it.
Categories
MacBook Air or iPad?
The Unofficial Apple Weblog: [hat tip @JFahrni]“What the iPad does not do well is work. Yes, you can get work done when the need arises, but the iPad was not designed for day-to-day business. It is, at its heart, a netbook with the core demands of light computing and connectivity guiding its use. If you want multitasking, multiple windows, professional software suites and so forth, then you want a proper computer running a full-featured OS. You want a laptop or desktop, not a pocket or tablet device, even if you still need mobility.”
I like this article because they point out exactly what the iPad was designed for, consumption. It’s not about cranking out documents and spreadsheets, it’s about watching movies, playing games, tweeting, and answering the occasional e-mail. Just what Steve Jobs said it was for.
As for the Air. I know a lot of folks that drool over them. I’m not one of them. I’d much prefer a fully loaded 15-inch MacBook Pro. I’m man enough to carry around this 5.6 pound beast!
Categories
Ryan Carson on App Store Subscriptions
Think Vitamin: “This is nothing more than extortion by the second most valuable company in the world (only Exxon Mobil is worth more). They’re leveraging their power to dramatically increase their own profit.”
Folks are up in arms, once again, over Apple’s choice to take 30% off the top for in app subscriptions. I don’t know how to feel about this one. If this means Amazon’s Kindle software and Pandora are killed off that would be darned sad. If it’s about new subscription based services, like magazines, I don’t know what it means, that’s up to the publishers to and Apple to bang out.
Something Carson goes on to say is “Forget iOS and bring on the HTML5 mobile apps.” That’s one way to go, but Carson is a web guy, they do HTML and CSS for a living. I love the web, I really do, but HTML and CSS are lowest common denominator development. It’s like writing a cross platform application in C/C++. You get a similar experience on each platform but the apps tend to feel like there’s something missing, they feel off. The web browser is great for some things, but everything? I don’t think so. Web apps aren’t the answer for every app.
The only way this will change is to hit Apple in the pocket book. If users abandoned the platform, or publishers banded together and agreed to not create apps for iOS, and stuck to it, that could force Apple to change their stance. I think users will continue to purchase iOS devices because they’re built for everyday people and the user experience is just too good. The publishers need to come together, but they won’t, they have dollar signs in their eyes and will embrace the platform for fear of being left behind.
In the end they, the publishers, can’t complain too much if they ship a product on the platform.
Fast Company: “Meanwhile, the WSJ is also reporting Apple’s planning a revamp of MobileMe–its cloud-based ecosystem behind the iPhone and iPad–that will make it free, and more powerful. By pulling off this trick, the WSJ suggests the iDevices won’t need so much on-board memory, as they’ll simply be able to save, share and view content from the cloud (over 3G or Wi-Fi).”
If Apple gets this right I know a lot of people that will be very happy.
BBC: “Apple is being warned against trying to squeeze cash out of the newspaper industry by controlling subscriptions for iPads and iPhones.”
I don’t get this at all. The newspaper publishers clearly have a choice in the matter. If you don’t like the pricing structure don’t create a native app for iOS, you still have the web. Oh, you can also give it away on Android, right? It’s pretty clear the only successful platform that supports paid applications is Apple and iOS. Android users all expect their applications to be free. Now don’t get your knickers in a twist. I didn’t say the only place to make money was iOS. Clearly some people are making money giving away their applications, but that model doesn’t work for everyone.
The choice is yours.
CNN: “While the new iPhone will only work on Verizon’s network, the Qualcomm chip Apple is using in these new models is capable of connecting to Verizon’s network, as well as to carriers using the GSM standard, which is what AT&T and T-Mobile USA have.”
Yesterday I was goofing around and tweeted the iPhone V was going to be available on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Could it be?