I only hope it happens soon. I think I will actually take the day off of work, plop my feet up on the ottoman, eat Popcorn and watch Steve Jobs give his dry jabs and pokes at a panel. My only question is will he have the balls to show up to a senate hearing in a turtle neck and tennis shoes.
Between the iPhone, the iPod Touch and soon the iPad, one could make the case that we have a platform. One of the silly things that happens when you have a platform, is that you start to have trouble defending your right to refuse your customers’ right to choice.
It all started simple enough. “Our iPhone does voice, we won’t let your pesky Google Voice app through because it might not jive with AT&T.”
There was also a little squabble about the type of internet content Apple would allow you to see. Of course this content is widely available in Safari, but you couldn’t write an app that would allow you to see any of it.
The most egregious offense was the omission of Adobe’s Flash. One might be tempted to think that this is a technical issue. People might make the argument that performance is suspect. Others might wonder if Apple is just having trouble licensing the technology.
The reality is none of those. Linux is able to not only run flash on much less capable hardware, it’s able to practically reverse engineer it in several projects, and Adobe is chomping at the bit to allow flash on iPhones and now iPads.
Apple doesn’t want it on there for a very simple reason. If you can watch television and stream music from flash apps, you won’t buy them from iTunes. Flash is missing because it’s an attack on their bottom line.
The reality is that nearly every browser based game and browser based video service runs on Flash. That’s chopping a significant amount of the “internet in your pocket” out. Maybe that’s why it’s so light to carry the internet in your pocket, a ton of it is missing!
On the same topic, Apple has long made it nearly impossible to get a variety of formats on it’s devices. The iPods are limited to a few video and audio formats. The new iPad will be limited in it’s book format. The reason is simple, there is no reason for Apple to want you to bring your own content to the party, because you should buy it from them.
It will be very interesting to see if Apple allows a large format version of the Kindle App that sells eBooks significantly cheaper than the prices they have suggested iBooks will cost, and you can use them on other devices.
To be fair it’s a smart business tactic. To be realistic, it’s not going to work much longer unless the Department of Justice is ready to display the largest and most incredible example of hypocrisy in business and technology history.
Microsoft has been forced to allow alternative web browsers, media players and other core technologies for years because it is “dangerous for a company to control a platform technology in a way that is anti-competitive.”
At least Microsoft just made it HARD, Apple makes it impossible, and laughs and points it’s finger at you in public.
So when you buy your iPad, and realize that you can only watch video that Apple allows you to buy, and you can only listen to music that Apple allows you to buy, and read books that Apple allows to buy, all at Apple’s prices that do not suffer from the inconvenience of competition, will you feel a little bit like someone has given Apple the keys to the kingdom, the crown and everything else they could fit in the wagon?
*Editor’s note: I have lots of Apple devices and have purchased my fair share of content for iPhone, AppleTV, iTunes, etc. I also subscribe to music via Zune and pay for Netflix’ streaming services.
First let me clarify a few things. I intend to buy a 32GB Wi-Fi+3G iPad. I am an undying gadget freak and it’s cool enough to warrant some plastic-rash. Let me also add that in the last decade I have owned:
- 12” Powerbook
- 15” Powerbook
- G4 PowerMac
- Dual G5 PowerMac
- 15” Macbook Pro
- 24” iMac
- Dual Quad Xeon Mac Pro
- 20” iMac
- 17” Macbook Pro Unibody
- Quad Xeon Mac Pro
- 40GB 3rd Gen iPod
- 160GB 5.5 Gen iPod
- 8GB 3rd Gen Nano
- 1GB Shuffle
- 2GB Shuffle
- Apple TV
- 8GB iPhone 3G
Not to mention tons of keyboards, mice, cables, Logic Studio, Aperture, iLife, every major OS update, Final Cut Express…
I would hope that spending 10s of Thousands of dollars at the altar of Steve Jobs gives me just a bit of credibility when I lodge a few complaints with any of their devices.
I might be ranting a bit because I was called out for my opinions being negative because I am Anti-Apple. The reality is that I am not Pro or Anti-Apple. I just like cool gadgets and software. I don’t see in brand, I see in functionality.
That being said, while I will buy an iPad, I do have some comments on the device.
- How can you say the entire internet in your pocket? It doesn’t support flash. Either a) it’s a technical or licensing limitation or b) it’s a way to keep content on your iPad coming from Apple via your credit card and not free on the web. I HOPE it’s a, but being that I work for the largest software company in the world, I know these things aren’t technically impossible, and Apple could license it if it wanted, Adobe has said as much.
- No multitasking? You say it’s better than a netbook, but even on a cramped netbook I can talk with my friends via IM and browse Apple.com to see what else I just can’t live without. Why not run iPhone apps in a movable window and remove the need for up scaling full screen mode or ridiculous letterbox if you can even call it that.
- Oh you adapter hocking bastards. Tell me you can’t put a USB port on it, or an SD slot in the side. I don’t to have to carry a bag full of dongles and adapters to connect it to projectors, TVs, computers, card readers and cameras. I get your design aesthetic, but give users a break on these $29 a pop “Accessories.” You might as well call yourself HP and start selling ink.
- While we are on the topic of not being just a big iPhone and up scaling iPhone apps, give me a widescreen HD screen. 1366×720 or similar in a widescreen ratio. HD is where it’s at. Your laptops have been kicking it for what, 8 years?
- Quit pretending it’s not just a big iPod Touch.
Your fan boys are covering the last one, consider the following tweets:
@philoking Different processor, iPhone 3.2 OS before available b4 touch and iPod, better Bluetooth unit, 3g without contract, gestures not
@philoking supported by touch and iph, iWork for iPad, doc with keyboard for pc fanboys that need physical keyboard, because they can’t…
@philoking … Realize that voice recognition and virtual keyboards will soon replace physical keyboards. Your anti Apple is showing.
Ok, I’ll bite.
- A new version of the same os? One I assume our phones will get shortly? wow.
- Better Bluetooth? Try more functional Bluetooth, or less disabled Bluetooth.
- 3G without contract isn’t a feature, it’s then realizing they can’t sucker the public into two contracts.
- I am not seeing any gesture support that is new, revolutionary, or not supported (or technically possible) on the iPhone.
- Keyboard support? The only reason the iPhone doesn’t have it is because they crippled the Bluetooth support, as far as I know allowing something to do something it’s supposed to do isn’t really a feature.
- I hope to God virtual keyboards don’t replace real keyboards, they suck.
The bottom line is that it is cool. The reality is that it’s not revolutionary, it’s not amazing, it’s not the most technologically advanced device on the market, and for God’s sake, quit saying it’s fucking magical. I have never been more personally offended than I was by this quote by Jonathan Ive
“when something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it’s magical, and that’s what the iPad is.”
We can’t understand how it works? It’s a little bitty computer, just like the others I have spent my money on. I get how it works.
Apple, you made a bigger iPod Touch with 3G. I always wanted a bigger iPod Touch. I am buying one, big deal.
Feel free to set my comments afire, I expect it.
