Domain: tuaw.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to tuaw.com.
Comments · 323
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Re:Can Apples Wifi chipset work in adhoc mode?
It's technically possibly to develop an app to do this, like MyFi (for jailbroken phones.) It is strictly Verboten though. I can see why too, imagine an iphone app that lets you send/receive mp3's to/from nearby iPhone users. The music industry's worst nightmare.
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Re:Answers (This old saw again?)
Not only can you not save arbitrary files (mp3s included),
Of course it can.
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/12/04/mobile-safari-plug-in-downloads-files-to-your-iphone-ipod-touch/
http://www.hackint0sh.org/f126/18060.htm -
Re:But what did Apple want?
How in the world did you get +5 Insightful? And while making a claim for rationality at that! Let's break apart your comment, most of which is patently incorrect.
USB stick: You're kinda correct. Apple offers an adapter that provides USB. Source.
Office software: iWork (source) was announced and demonstrated at the keynote speech where they introduced the iPad and will be out on day one. Microsoft has indicated that they are considering the Office Suite for it (source). As others said, Omni Group is developing their software as well (source). The fact that you missed all of this doesn't speak well for your personal knowledge on the subject, since it's been covered quite a bit.
IDE: You're probably correct. Apple doesn't like interpreted code running on the iPhone (and presumably the iPad), so it'd be pretty hard to have an IDE that did anything useful. Then again, it wasn't exactly made for that sort of purpose (it's essentially a media consumption device, not a full-fledged media creation device). Also, IDEs are extremely niche. Not important to about 99% of the people buying it.
Flash and Java: You're right. Java I'm personally iffy on, but good riddance to Flash, I say. With YouTube already serving up h.264 videos with HTML5 and Hulu rumored to be prepping the same (source), I don't see this is an issue. And if you're a Flash application developer who doesn't want to learn Objective-C, Adobe put out a Flash-to-iPhone compiler months ago which should work with the iPad.
Price: $499 for the base iPad model, vs. $489 for the Kindle DX, which was about half the price the analysts were predicting, yet it does much more than the DX. Besides the obvious and numerous software advantages, the hardware is better (3.3GB vs. ~15.5GB usable space, better CPU, 3G only vs. 802.11a/b/g/n and 3G), with the DX's only redeeming factor being its eInk display (which is only useful for B&W text display). I fail to see how the iPad compares unfavorably in terms of price. I'd say it lands somewhere between "great bargain" and "perfectly reasonable".
Battery Life: The iPad gets 10 hours of actual use when watching video, which is the worst-case. It also gets "140-something" hours when just listening to music (source), and it can be in standby for about a month. That compares very well against a laptop, and decently against the DX, given the DX's different needs.
Connectivity: Seriously? It's got better connectivity than the Kindle and better than most laptops out there. 802.11a/b/g/n, EDGE, and 3G for the iPad. You're talking out of your ass if you say it lacks connectivity.
Usability: I don't know what you mean by "test editor", but if you mean a simulator for use on a dev machine, there is one, and it's already out for developers. As for usability in general, you're kidding, right? Even though there are always some that disagree, general consensus is that the iPhone is extremely usable (You've actually held one at some point, right? As a geek, it's worth handling and studying simply because of what it accomplishes).
Multitasking: You're kinda correct. The iPhone and iPad do multitasking, but it isn't available to third-parties, just first-party software (e.g. my mail gets checked and text messages get received while I'm playing games). Regardless, it's basically a straw man since push notifications meet the needs for most third party apps, while improved speed on -
510 pirated apps per device?!?
Big problem with their numbers.
TUAW has a break down of the numbers and the problems with their assumptions.
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/01/13/pirates-make-away-with-450-million-in-app-store-booty/
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Re:The RDF strikes again
>>Last I checked, Symbian was the largest OS on smartphones. After that was Windows Mobile, and then BlackBerry OS.
You're about 3 years out of date.
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/10/28/apple-iphone-closing-in-on-blackberry-market-share/
>>The iPhone is still a smaller player in the smartphone market and even if it became the entire smartphone market, it'd still be a small player in the total market.
Again, about three years out of date.
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Re:I read this as
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Re:Yes
Mac OS X has exceptions for specific apps. They generally tend to try to make default behavior for the button make the most sense on a per-application basis. http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/18/tuaw-tip-option-clicking-the-green-button/
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Apple spent 1.1 billion on R&D in 2008
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/07/apple-adds-staff-boosts-randd-spending-in-fy2008/
Doesn't sound below average to me, at all. Where do you think the new products they produce in a steady stream come from, a nearby magic forest?
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Re:Large scale Apple managed LAN?
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/04/axel-springer-ag-moves-to-mac/ The second largest would be 12,000.
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Re:Imagine
take a look at the updated info:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/17/heres-your-chance-to-own-the-first-mac-plus-off-the-production/
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I'll see your bullshit and raise you one...
Bullshit, he licenses his stuff legally, if Amazon doesn't want to license it he doesn't use it.
I'll see your bullshit and raise you one.
He posted the iPhone app sometime around the beginning of April in spite of Amazon clearly stating, "You will not, without our express prior written approval...use any Product Advertising Content on or in connection with any site or application designed or intended for use with a mobile phone or other handheld device." He didn't pull his app until July 7.
From TFA:
Amazon gave D-M an ultimatum: pull the iPhone app, or lose the API access for the desktop version of Library.
(Emphasis mine)
In other words, he broke the terms of his agreement with Amazon, one that he probably figured was kind of insignificant and not worth getting worked up over, and they grossly overreacted by threatening him.
Kind of like how, you know, the developer who used his frickin' woodgrain texture was in minor violation of his copyright, something they probably figured was kind of insignificant (and that it's quite possible they weren't even aware of) and not worth getting worked up over, and he grossly overreacted by pulling out this "I'll Sue Ya!" bullshit and resorting to kindergarten name-calling instead.
If you've ever known an artist, you'd already know that even excellent artists don't make shit for their work.
...And then the bullshit got really thick.
I might agree with you on this point if the woodgrain texture--and I mean that specific woodgrain texture--were an integral part of his application. If it were somehow unique in some way that made that specific woodgrain texture scream, "This is Delicious Library!" As it is, it's just a plain ol' generic-looking woodgrain texure. If he spent more than ten minutes on creating the texture or paid more than $0.50 or so for it off a stock art site, he's an idiot. As it is, it's more like Ruby Tuesday suing a customer who posts a picture they took in one of their restaurants because the picture happened to capture the wood grain on one of their tables in the background. "Waaah! Copyright infringement! Furniture makers don't make shit, and it's because he--gasp!--took a picture!!!
By the way, look closely at this screenshot of Delicious Library posted on his site. Specifically, the black-and-white photo in the upper right corner. See that Dolby logo? That's trademarked, you know, and I'd bet that he didn't pay Dolby to use it. Look at his home page and notice all of the references to iPhone, iTunes, OS X, etc. Notice how he doesn't put any trademark symbol or registration mark after them? I also don't see any kind of "iPhone/iTunes/iWhatever is a registered trademark of Apple Inc." disclaimer. Technically, that's a violation, and Apple could sue him. Or better yet, let's just publicly shame him and call him a thief, the stealing bastard!
Bullshit indeed. Let's just crucify them all, shall we? Because that's obviously what these laws are for!
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Re:The Image
Someone beat him to it on the iPhone and he's mad..
It's useful to look into the situation sometimes before you talk. The truth of the matter is that his app was pulled from the AppStore because Amazon changed the terms of their API over the summer. Delicious Library was on the AppStore before these knock-offs, but isn't any longer, so he did beat them to market. Also, who's to say that he didn't e-mail them? Twitter isn't a press conference (though it may reach a larger audience on occasion), so it's not like he's making a big deal of it in public.
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Re:He's complaining about...
Delicious Library is one of the most popular Mac shareware apps, and is exceptionally well-designed. Those wood bookcases are central to its UI look and feel. And he's already written an iPhone app - except Amazon decided to yank all mobile licenses to their data. Yes, that's right, he pays Amazon for access to their data, so it is legal use and paid for.
So your entire post is written like a true asshat who has no idea what's going on, and has contributed nothing. But that never stops Slashdot.
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Re:The Image
Not really, he already had an application for the iPhone, but Amazon asked him to remove it:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/07/07/delicious-library-for-iphone-runs-afoul-of-amazons-api-terms-p/ -
Some body please, think of the rich people
Bit dramatic isn't it, would have though that all the free stuff they get for being walking billboards and the like would be more than enough compensation; as for the extreme expenses, http://www.tuaw.com/2009/07/02/the-88-song-recorded-on-iphone-and-released-in-itunes-store/; looks like they should do some cutting back then.
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Apple is not allowing e-books on iphone/touch
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/08/05/app-store-rejections-tied-to-third-party-rights-infringements/
Apple recently invited a great deal of criticism after it rejected Google's Google Voice application from App Store. At the same time, it pulled third party GV apps leaving their developers without recourse and forced to swallow refund costs that exceeded their initial per-sale earnings. Today Engadget notes Daring Fireball's story of a simple dictionary being censored. Now it looks as if Apple may be targeting the e-book section of App Store.
I only cut part of the article, feel free to read the rest, but Apple is up to something or maybe not. Considering you can "Kindle" on it through Amazon I am trying to work out why their stance has changed even for people with unquestionable rights to the material they publish
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Slashdot Editors Now Trolling?
The headline on this article is blatantly misleading. A gag order is issued by a court after legal proceedings, and if Apple had tried to get a gag order against this girl and her family, that would indeed have been newsworthy. What Apple did do was to offer the girl a refund for her dead iPod (which they had no obligation to do, as it was out of warranty and there was no clear evidence that Apple was at fault), and as part of the standard paperwork that goes with such an offer it specifies that the girl and her family would in turn not try to use the refund as evidence of wrong-doing on the part of Apple. For a more complete analysis, see:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/08/03/apple-most-assuredly-not-slapping-family-with-gagging-order-ov/
The Times seriously misreported this story (apparently for the sake of sensationalism to sell papers), and now Slashdot is feeding the fire. :P -
A little lost in translation?
From TUAW
---[quote]---
1) This is no gagging order. As nice and evil and meaty as such an accusation sounds, a gagging order comes from a court and no court is involved here. It implies that Apple has gone after this family legally, and that there's been a hearing and a decision and a court order. Quite the opposite. This is just a regular, ho-hum contract between two parties, describing the things they want out of each other.While the family may be shocked they got a letter, from a legal perspective they should be shocked if they didn't get one. Apple doesn't feel like they've done anything wrong and isn't going to start admitting its products are combustion risks by returning money out of warranty, which is exactly what it would do it if gave money to these people without some sort of settlement agreement.
2) A confidentiality agreement is standard operating procedure. Sure, a letter filled with legalese is a little heavy-handed, but hey, the iPod was out of warranty and when a company agrees to give you money it doesn't feel it owes you, especially in a situation such as this one, it can very well request confidentiality you keep your trap shut about it going forward. It's standard practice even when the company thinks it probably does owe you money. No courts are involved, and litigation is spared where the parties would fight over whether or not the money is owed. And when a confidentiality agreement is sought, it's also pretty standard to remind the parties the possible consequences of breaching the agreement.
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Re:Imagine.
I would upgrade to a Macintosh and abandon the Microsoft/ActiveX/Exploder trojanware completely
Yeah, like if mac was better at security fixes...
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Re:Smartphones aren't wearable computers?
Exactly. A video interface just isn't (in general) a sensible UI when you are walking around and interacting with the world. I think an audio user interface is what is needed -- but there's little consumer interest at the moment.
There seems to be a lot of interest in this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH6r2tIaRXU
Now if they could make it so you could wear bluetooth glasses that you can see through that don't make you look like a dork plenty of people would buy it.
You can read more about augmented reality on the iphone here:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/07/25/augmented-reality-apps-on-hold-until-3-1/
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Re:Premium price, not premium PC
If $1.3 billion profit on $8.34 billion sales is failing, sign me up!
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/07/22/apple-q309-results-breaking-records-not-taking-names/
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Re:It's actually kind of scary
Seriously. The people who say that it's Apple's property or that consoles are similarly locked down are missing the point. Consoles etc. were never projected to be a computing platform. We already have people hailing the iPhone as the mobile computing platform and the iTouch as Apple's version of the netbook. It is just Apple trying to get greedy by triple dipping into the jar by charging first for the phone, then taking a nice chunk of the users' monthly phone/data plan fee through AT&T, and then skimming 30% off the cost of a application in the App Store from the user/developer.
And applications cannot use 'undocumented APIs'(determined inconsistently by arbitrary lackeys), contain political undertones, or any hint of non PG 13 content or compete in anyway with Apple's builtin programs. http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/09/04/apple-rejecting-applications-based-on-limited-utility/ This would be okay if there was alternate means to get applications, but the only way to get widespread distribution is through the App Store. http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/21/122225 MS bundled a browser with it's OS, but Apple gets away with banning any browser from being developed at all, not allowing any VM(like Java) and gets a free pass because it's not a monopoly(yet)?
For example, there was a app for a countdown clock for second term of Bush in Nov 2008. When it was rejected, the author emailed Apple, and Jobs himself replied: http://www.juggleware.com/blog/2008/09/steve-jobs-writes-back/
Mr. Jobs replied : Even though my personal political leanings are democratic, I think this app will be offensive to roughly half our customers. Whatâ(TM)s the point? Steve
So, before you develop the application, you might want to brush up on what Jobs MIGHT think about any political overtones in your application. There are no clear guidelines or rules. Some Apps are allowed, and other Apps with similar type of content or using similar development tools rejected.
There's another case of Apple rejecting an application for duplicate functionality and then filing a patent for a similar app. Details are here http://www.ikaraokeapp.com/node/18 and here http://www.tuaw.com/2009/07/02/app-store-rejections-apple-rejects-ikaraoke-app-then-files-a-p/
They say that when restrictions come, they come wrapped in a sweet looking package. That may well be the iPhone to condition people to the world of restrictive applications on machines billed as general computing devices.
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Re:Apple had once 50% share
PCs were around long before macs,
But PC's weren't an established market, they were for hobbyists only. Besides it took Microsoft and the IBM clones to put a PC on every desk in the world. Not a fan of Microsoft mind you but its true, back in those days MS was the white knight coming to save us from the corporate UNIX overlords in their ivory towers (charging ridiculous amounts for UNIX licenses, Linux didnt exist back in the 80's). That may be an exaggeration but MS did do a lot to make the PC both affordable and accessible, far more then Apple did.
and now Apple is outprofiting Dell (in Apple's PC business arms alone, exclusing iPhone, iPod, iTunes).
Amazing, when you sell the same hardware but charge A$1000, you make more profit, Dell, HP, Acer, Asus and Lenovo still out revenue Apple.
they have 12% marketshare,
No they don't, they topped out at 10% in Q1 only after including mobile phone sales as computers. and have been in slow decline since then. Given the high sales of Iphones the Mac computing market must be dropping fast. The same thing will happen to the iphone once the enamour wears off and the hype is no longer effective.
Personal music players were in every kids hands before there was an iPod, they have 80% of the market today.
Rapsody as well as several other music stores pre-dated iTunes. Multiple sites offered video and movie downloads pre-iTunes. iTunes is the worlds largest provider by leaps and bounds, even though they STILL use DRM on everything but music, and were one of the last to switch.Online distribution and HDD MP3 players were not established markets. Rhapsody refused to play ball with the media companies and Creative completely ignored MP3 players until Apple showed up. Compared to the crap Creative had back then the Ipod seemed truly revolutionary (even I bought one, until I realised how limited Itunes made MP3 players) but compared to the latest Cowon and Iriver products the ipod is overpriced and lacking in critical features like MSC.
iPhone may be targeted at fans today, but it's gaining POWERFUL GPS features
I work with GPS devices, from the basic TomTom to A$2500 a piece GPS receivers, the Iphone is the crappiest GPS I've ever seen, this is true for most phone GPS's though so no iphone specific bashing here as every phone I've seen has had a cheap GPS. Trust me when I say that mobile phones will not perform "powerful" GPS functions, phone receivers often fail at turn by turn navigation and sometimes don't project or are entirely based on US projections (adjust data based on the curvature of the earth, this is called "projection")
will soon be providing better Exchange integration than Windows Mobile itself does,
This is not an accomplishment, Touchdown for Android is better then WinMo, Mail For Exchange for Nokia Symbian is better then WinMo.
They're one of the leaders in all of these and have already passed Opera in browser share.
Browser share is obscure and hard to prove but I'll bite. This is easy when you do not allow third party browsers on your devices and sneakily install your browser with other software.
26% of freshmen this year have a Mac. Use amoung professors is nearly 60%. I work for a LARGE health insurance provider. We have 2300 people in the IT department.... MORE THAN HALF use an iPhone to access exchange. We're hiring devs to write iPhone apps now...
Citation needed.
Assuming what you say is true, this is in one location amongst very specific groups of people, your evidence is statist -
Re:Apple had once 50% share
PCs were around long before macs,
But PC's weren't an established market, they were for hobbyists only. Besides it took Microsoft and the IBM clones to put a PC on every desk in the world. Not a fan of Microsoft mind you but its true, back in those days MS was the white knight coming to save us from the corporate UNIX overlords in their ivory towers (charging ridiculous amounts for UNIX licenses, Linux didnt exist back in the 80's). That may be an exaggeration but MS did do a lot to make the PC both affordable and accessible, far more then Apple did.
and now Apple is outprofiting Dell (in Apple's PC business arms alone, exclusing iPhone, iPod, iTunes).
Amazing, when you sell the same hardware but charge A$1000, you make more profit, Dell, HP, Acer, Asus and Lenovo still out revenue Apple.
they have 12% marketshare,
No they don't, they topped out at 10% in Q1 only after including mobile phone sales as computers. and have been in slow decline since then. Given the high sales of Iphones the Mac computing market must be dropping fast. The same thing will happen to the iphone once the enamour wears off and the hype is no longer effective.
Personal music players were in every kids hands before there was an iPod, they have 80% of the market today.
Rapsody as well as several other music stores pre-dated iTunes. Multiple sites offered video and movie downloads pre-iTunes. iTunes is the worlds largest provider by leaps and bounds, even though they STILL use DRM on everything but music, and were one of the last to switch.Online distribution and HDD MP3 players were not established markets. Rhapsody refused to play ball with the media companies and Creative completely ignored MP3 players until Apple showed up. Compared to the crap Creative had back then the Ipod seemed truly revolutionary (even I bought one, until I realised how limited Itunes made MP3 players) but compared to the latest Cowon and Iriver products the ipod is overpriced and lacking in critical features like MSC.
iPhone may be targeted at fans today, but it's gaining POWERFUL GPS features
I work with GPS devices, from the basic TomTom to A$2500 a piece GPS receivers, the Iphone is the crappiest GPS I've ever seen, this is true for most phone GPS's though so no iphone specific bashing here as every phone I've seen has had a cheap GPS. Trust me when I say that mobile phones will not perform "powerful" GPS functions, phone receivers often fail at turn by turn navigation and sometimes don't project or are entirely based on US projections (adjust data based on the curvature of the earth, this is called "projection")
will soon be providing better Exchange integration than Windows Mobile itself does,
This is not an accomplishment, Touchdown for Android is better then WinMo, Mail For Exchange for Nokia Symbian is better then WinMo.
They're one of the leaders in all of these and have already passed Opera in browser share.
Browser share is obscure and hard to prove but I'll bite. This is easy when you do not allow third party browsers on your devices and sneakily install your browser with other software.
26% of freshmen this year have a Mac. Use amoung professors is nearly 60%. I work for a LARGE health insurance provider. We have 2300 people in the IT department.... MORE THAN HALF use an iPhone to access exchange. We're hiring devs to write iPhone apps now...
Citation needed.
Assuming what you say is true, this is in one location amongst very specific groups of people, your evidence is statist -
Re:Apple is not a tech company
"Apple is first and foremost a marketing company, they spend more time and energy on creating images around their products then actually creating them."
Really?
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/07/apple-adds-staff-boosts-randd-spending-in-fy2008/
"The filing also said that Apple spent 40 percent more on research and development this year, compared to 2007: $1.1 billion."
http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10001556/examining-microsofts-and-apples-marketing-spend/
"Appleâ(TM)s filings for the quarter that ended on March 28, 2009 indicate that for the three month period, SG&A increased by 11 percent, or $99 million,"
So the marketing company spends about $400 million a year on marketing and $1,100 million a year on R&D. Yea, they are a tech company still.
As for not buying HP, not my choice, its the fiancee's and she loves them.
As for Apple not having a business range, those would be the MacBook Pro and Air lines.
I supported alot of Dell/Lenovo and IBM laptops in enterprise and education, from a support standpoint, the Dells were the worst, then MacBooks, Lenovo/IBM and finally MacBook Pros. So yea, from that standpoint the MacBook Pros were the "business" stable computers.
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Re:Anyone have words about the browsing
Gee, somebody has been reading Wikipedia again. Apple officially announced their intention to deliver the iPhone SDK for native applications in October (see the link) 2007. They announced that they expected it to be available in February 2008. It was delayed so the formal announcement of it's release was March 2008.
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/17/apple-we-plan-to-have-an-iphone-sdk-in-developers-hands-in-fe/
Accurate information about the SDK was available by June 2007. See Gruber's stuff and Roughly Drafted from that time period. Considering that the device and OS weren't even functional in June 2006, it's not surprising that delivering an SDK and its' security and distribution models took a bit longer. As any early iPhone adopter knows, Apple was still working on getting the core features working as expected on AT&T's Edge network for months after they started shipping it.
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Re:Uh-oh, they're catching up! Someone tell Apple!
From my MBA economics teacher, in today's information economy, a firm now has approximately two years to have market power, then the sheer number of other players in the market will destroy the first-runner's ability to lead. There are too many competators that can hire their own programmers and make their own hardware, competing products are bound to arrive.
So, Apple has two choices: innovate or cut costs. What will the iPhone+ be able to do that the current one can't do... err, it already does music, camera, QUERTY, video... what more can it integrate with? Apple introduces email integration, which puts them in competition with RIM, but is that enough? They're kind of up against a wall unless they can think out of the box (again), but MS's Zune HD appears to be leading there with console controller integration, an untapped area.
So, the other option to remain a leader is to reduce the costs; and that's what's Apple is rumored to do next Monday, and what AT&T is doing on the O&M side to drive up demand. From the article, "According to Gartner, a research group, Apple sells 11% of the world's smartphones, compared to Nokia's 41% and Research in Motion's 20%." --> Apple has a ways to go and their market position is beginning to slip.
But as more competition comes into the arena, they will be able to beat Apply on the cost-side too. Apple needs to find something on the hardware side to expand its capabilities (bigger better faster) or to charge off into uncharted competative waters and make the iPhone compete with someone else's product (completely different: TV receiver? broadcast radio? )...
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Re:They should use macs
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Re:They should use macs
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Outsourcing is most likely...
You can see my comments at:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/05/21/rejection-apple-hates-certain-books-and-whistling/
Comment #9...
Suffice to say, I'm retired from the software industry for a few years now -- but what I'm seeing (email only, lack of comprehension, boiler plate non sequitor responses, unexplainable delays, bad system still in place after x months) reeks of using outsourcing.
Obviously one of their little Indians got his Cheerios / Nan & Curry pissed in by even the sheer mention of lingham and yoni.
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Re:Games
OSX has about 10% market share and yet no viruses.
There are OSX malware.
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojan_osx_dnschanger.shtml
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/21/new-mac-os-x-malware-osx_lamzev-a/
http://www.spyware-techie.com/mac-malware-warning-mac-malware-osxtrojaniserviceb-showing-up-in-pirated-software/ -
There's also more than one iPhone store
What's weird to me is that people like to get all high and mighty about how other phones can download any app they want - when the iPhone can too.
The reality is that all phones will end up with a primary centralized store, and then a much greyer area where you can easily make the phone do whatever you like - for any phone.
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The Desktop War is OverMicrosoft won. Didn't anybody send Ballmer the memo? Regarding Linux... the Linux "desktop" is it's own worst enemy. Ballmer doesn't even register as a threat on the scale of "make it print" to "configure X-Windows for my graphics card".
Joking aside, Microsoft seems finally to have noticed the most important thing about Apple's market share growth in the past few years. People no longer believe the myth that they need to use the same type of computer at home as they do at work. The Macintosh is dramatically "over represented" in certain market segments, too, notably college students, working professionals, and corporate executives.
Most fascinating is that this growth has happened even though Apple has had zero market share growth in the enterprise, which accounts for about half the market. Apple's market share growth, in the "home, school, and small business" segments (where their share is above zero percent) is basically double the official numbers, so it's probably much closer to 20% in those markets. That's what has Ballmer's attention.
Apple Market Share Continues to Climb to nearly 10%, Windows Share Falling.
Note: The actual numbers also reveal that Ballmer is cleverly lying, in an attempt to minimize the gestalt impression of what's really going on. Apple's market share is about 3 times what it was five or six years ago. Sure, Apple's market share grew by "a point", but that was just in the last quarter or two.
What Ballmer fears most is a similar breakout in the enterprise desktop market. Unlikely? Perhaps not. I think it becomes more and more likely every day, almost inevitable, as a result of several factors.- Safari, FireFox, and the Acid Test have wrested control of the internet back from the intentionally broken standards stranglehold that Microsoft had on it.
- Executives of much of the Fortune 500 using Macs now.
- An apparently huge portion of the college graduate market are kids that used Macs all the way through school, and
- a non-trivial percentage of CS/MIS graduates have been using Linux since they were in their mid teens.
- iPhone and iPod Touch have the attention of the Enterprise, largely due to the decade long failure of Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, to deliver the goods. The iPhone Halo Effect will be selling Mac OS X Server into the enterprise, soon enough, and the enterprise desktop will find itself under siege as the last bastion of Windows mediocrity.
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Re:Any idea what it is?
Probably the first OS X virus in the wild is from 2006:
* http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Virus-fuer-Mac-OS-X-aufgetaucht--/meldung/69677 (german, sorry)
* http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/02/macosxleap.htmThen there was some malware released in 2007 and 2008:
* http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2007/10/mac_os_x_malware_targets_porn_surfers.html
* http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/21/new-mac-os-x-malware-osx_lamzev-a/And then there was something early this year where I can't find the link right now.
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Re:I think that category is fading
Google it dummy. That took a whole whopping two seconds... and I don't even care.
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/11/tuaw-review-logitech-harmony-remote-and-the-mac/
There you go... sheesh.
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Re:Makes sense...
That is a PowerPC, right? Or, PPC? You might start a search here: http://www.tuaw.com/2007/04/22/ubuntu-yellow-dog-linux-for-ppc/ Actually, this looks even better: http://penguinppc.org/about/distributions.php I've never owned a PPC, so I can't give you any more guidance than that.
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Re:In the pocket
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Re:In the pocket
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Re:Did I miss the news?
Well said. One other comment that I'll make is that in the last ten years or so, it's obvious that Apple has invested some money into Research & Development. One reason I think Apple has such a cult following is that there is something to follow. When was the last time you got excited about a new Dell product offering? I know the last time I was, it was when they released their 2005 FPW widescreen monitors (I bought one). But then, it wasn't excitement for a new product so much as, oh good, Dell now has similar monitor offerings as others (*cough* apple cinema *cough*) for much cheaper. Granted, I haven't been following Dell a lot lately, but Apple actually does have new and innovative ideas they put into their products, and that's been incredibly refreshing when some other formerly innovative companies (e.g., HP) have spun-off or canceled their R&D programs all together and prefer to sell rebranded LG televisions.
Often on slashdot we read comments about how Apple is just selling commodity hardware. Nobody who actually owns an macbook pro would say that, or an ipod touch or an iphone. The reason is that they can look beyond just the processor speed and ram and actually see the magsafe connector, or the firewire 800, or the accelerometer that shuts down the hard drive when the laptop falls or whatever $FEATURE that the competition left out of their $500 notebook. The best way I can put it, is that watching those keynote addresses in the 2000s has been like the early days of computers, when they were fun, rather than a mundane commodity. (E.g., here's one of Phil Schiller jumping from ~20 feet up up with a macbook to demonstrate the accelerometer.)
The question is, how much did Steve jobs have to do with that? Obviously, the same hardware engineers and programmers are still working at Apple. How much did Jobs need to persuade the board of Apple to put the time into being innovative rather than pursue more short-term gains that would be good for the quarterly results? I don't know. I do know that at least one board member, Al Gore, does have the vision and the patience for long-term gains. (Al Gore trolls, you can go straight to hell.) -
MacBook/MacBok Pro dock
How about a DOCK so that people who don't want to work all the time hunched over a laptop screen but DO want the convenience and reliability of a Mac laptop can work without having to place their laptop on a stack of paper reams to get it to eye level?
To just raise a MacBook Apple sells stands. The Griffin Elevator Notebook Stand has room underneath for a keyboard and mouse. For something more, a dock with ports, there's Bookendz.
I too wish Apple would make a dock but other companies offer them.
Falcon
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Re:Spreadsheet
To this day, there is still no better platform for DTP and graphic design than the Mac
Except Windows. -
Re:Hey - Apple didn't promise anything.
If I had mod points, you'd have +1 right now.
In addition to what you said, reading "complaints" like this in the "light of Microsoft's shadow" will also tend to put things into perspective.
I'm glad to know about this new feature as it's the first I've heard of it. Also, as usual this seems to be a lot of hand waving around Apple for mostly no reason. I do hope that unchecking the "Warn when visiting fraudulent websites" checkbox actually turns off the whole feature.
-Matt
P.S. I think it could have been useful in the article summary to see some indication (!!) why Apple implemented this feature. If you're "pro" anti-phishing they were too late, if you're "anti" anti-phishing they've gone too far. Personally I'd call that coercion or even extortion on PayPal's behalf.
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Re:If Litigation is required.
Erm? Really? You cannot be serious?
You don't recall Apple suing one of its fanbase (a student & lifelong fan), a web design school (who mostly used Apple's products), New York (for daring to use an apple in a environmental awareness campaign) and of course Psystar (attempting to resell OS X).
I could go on & on. Sure. Plenty of people sue Apple (just like any other big tech corp), but Apple's penchant for pulling out the legal guns against small operators (and its fanbase) makes it stand alone in the tech crowd.
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try this for an answer -- rental movies
Apple does allow third-party programs to build the indexes. XPlay http://www.mediafour.com/products/xplay/ is one such third-party program. Interestingly, while it supports moving music, photos and playlists on and off the iPod using Windows Explorer's folders interface movies seem glaringly missing.
Perhaps Apple wants only licensed third-party programs to be able to update the iPod's indexes so that they can contractually prevent the third-party products from moving rented movies off the iPods in contravention of Apple's own license with the movie companies for the same reason that Apple changed the iPod's video out to require a licensed authentication chip in all video out cables http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/08/tv-out-locked-in-new-ipod-classic-and-nano/
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Re:bullshit
2) Apple's ONLY strategy is to innovate and have the better product
Say that with a straight face. Apple repeatedly leverages what control it has to improve it's marketshare without necessarily innovating at all.
Let's see... refusing to license FairPlay to other MP3 players to push iPod/iTunes lock-in, banning applications from their distribution store that 'replicate features' in Apple-owned products, banning any other form of distribution other than their own under the pretense of 'security', engaging in lawsuits against anybody who dares to install their OS on hardware they don't control, forcing their own developers into NDAs to prevent them complainign about any of the above, using Software update to push Safari as a 'security update'... All the while, a good portion of their 'innovations' have been bought or stolen from various places. Xerox, anybody?
Would you like me to go on? I'm pretty sure I could find more. The majority of Apple's innovation nowadays is innovating new ways to keep people tied to their hardware. Anybody who thinks that Apple are better than Microsoft in any regard is suffering from delusions brought on by excessively shiny equipment.
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Re:check out that portrait
Hey, Apples can set your house on fire.
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/10/goodness-gracious-great-balls-of-powerbook-fire/ -
Re:the droning *gong* of microsoft cracks
Nope, never forced to ignore serious security vulnerabilities
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Re:And the web site was already slow this morning.
Hell, I'm just happy Slashdot managed to post this before the damn promo ended. I read about this yesterday on TUAW.
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Re:2 words - World of Warcraft
Actually there *are* unique features to the Mac WoW client, to quote TUAW: "Most gaming companies tend to shy away from the Mac, but Blizzard has always been the exception. And with World of Warcraft, there are actually huge benefits to playing the game on a Mac. A while ago they added builtin iTunes controls (right into the official client), and as of the upcoming patch (now available for players to play around with on a public test), they've actually created an ingame movie recorder-- only for the WoW Mac client. It's a pretty well done feature, too. WoW Insider's Paul Sherrard took the recorder for a test drive, and created what you see above (after a little bit of iMovie fiddling). The options are pretty impressive for an ingame vid capture as well-- you can control whether the UI or cursor is seen or not, and you even get a choice of codecs (including H.264, Pixlet, or Motion JPEG). Very nice. Whoever's working on the Mac team at Blizzard really knows what they're doing, and is definitely giving Mac users the hookup on cool exclusive features." Re: http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/13/world-of-warcraft-mac-client-adds-builtin-movie-capture/
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Re:Incorrect. Macs can boot from USBThis may be offtopic, but you do know that PowerPC macs can do so as well, right?
So most macs can boot from USBI know, I did this to copy system data for my sister's iBook G4.