Slashdot Mirror
Kindle Versus The iPhone
Bernie Campbell writes "Forbes takes a look at the recently announced Kindle ebook from Amazon, and considers the possibility that Apple may have beaten them to the punch. 'Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has a not-so-secret weapon when it comes time to load up the iPhone with content: Google ... Google's Book Search project has already pumped much of the world's printed matter into Google's servers. Downloads of classic titles, such as Bleak House, can already be had for free. Mix Apple's iTunes content distribution smarts with Google's vast storehouse of content, and you'll have an instant competitor to Kindle -- one with a touch interface and the ability to play movies and music, too.'
well I hope you're using a marker on your palm and not a Palm Treo, because the Treo sucks:
iPhone vs. Palm Treo
-- If I want to "juggle"
No, the problem is that you have no choice but to juggle because there is no RAM installed in the phones Windows Enthusiasts claim cost so much less than the iPhone. Add in a couple hundred bucks for SD cards (hopefully your phone supports greater than 2GB cards) and you end up with expensive hardware with segmented memory. How ironic! It's like the 80s playing over again, with people defending DOS and the 8086 and a 640K memory map and deriding the Mac because it was a "graphical toy." Who needs a 16 bit processor, 640k should be enough for anybody, etc.
--I can and do wirelessly stream mp3s
Well the iPhone can and does access the intarweb, and can stream anything you can play or watch on an iPod.
-- slide-out keyboard (which, bulk aside, is significantly faster and more accurate...
How is a keyboard "accurate"? Do you really think the iPhone keyboard introduces errors just because you've read the latest talking points? You should pick one up and actually play with it, not just hate it from a distance like Rob Enderle. It smartly figures out what keys you're most likely to hit next and enlarges their virtual targets. And when you spell something wrong, it automatically corrects in a way that isn't in the way. It's pretty smart. It's not a full sized laptop keyboard (which is why I'd like a Bluetooth keyboard for touch typing), but to suggest a thumb keyboard is better is just plain bologna.
I'm not saying you can't like WM, I'm just pained by people announcing that POS HTC-like phones "do everything the iPhone does, plus use an amazing software library!!" when no, they don't do the important things the iPhone does (if they did, we wouldn't be so impressed with the iPhone) and Windows Mobile software is all crap#. Sure its a platform with potential, but it's a crap platform with crap potential. The iPhone is trying to be something great, not just trying to monopolize a new market and make lots of money. WinCE has never aspired to do anything but kill Palm.
# I went over the top most popular Windows Mobile downloads from major sites, and quickly added up $115 of Windows Mobile software that solves problems that shouldn't exist, and another $334 worth of third party software that is bundled for free in the iPhone. That's $449 of popular crapware you don't need to buy on the iPhone: Mobile Disruption: Apple's iPhone and Third Party Software
And really, Microsoft has never really aspired to do anything but kill competitors. What truly great products has it ever delivered that weren't merely imitative? The company has a lock on the majority of the tech world, and what has it contributed? It hates the idea of contributing back, it has no respect for users or their rights (PlaysForSure DRM), it has been horrific to nearly every partner the company has worked with*, and... shoot, how much evidence does it take to point out this company shouldn't have fans?
I'm just blown away that people--who aren't getting paid to prattle about the company--have anything good to say about it. That's an irrational religion. People liking Apple's products because they're easy to use, functional, and fashionable is one thing, and people liking the freedom of GNU is another, but what's the attraction to serving as perpetual beta testers for Microsoft, a company that takes so much and gives so little?
*How Microsoft Got Its Office Monopoly