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Apple vs. Microsoft: a Tale of Two Mobile Updates
snydeq writes "The latest mobile updates from Apple and Microsoft provide a stark contrast, one emblematic of the differences between the two companies, InfoWorld's Ted Samson writes. Militantly on time, Apple's iOS 4.3 update offers significant new functionality, total disregard for what Apple considers outdated systems, and mandated silencing of user complaints. Microsoft, meanwhile, has finally managed to push out an alleged February update to a subset of users, along with a lamentation about having to deal with handset and carrier fragmentation."
My completely redesigned do you mean copied the original iPhone down to the finer detail, including lack of clipboard?
On the one hand, you have Apple, which quietly rolled out iOS 4.3 with the precision of a Swiss watch. The update came a day earlier than expected, in fact. ;)
For a watch, that's pretty crappy precision
Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.
Thank you for marketing WP7 in a post that seems like astroturfing. How does this relate to MS v Apple's updating mechanisms, again?
-Ryan
AUWYHSTOT (Acronyms are Useless When You Have to Spell Them Out Too)
Which essentially is updates "if the carriers & manufactures feel like it (but secretly they don't because they don't want to devalue their newer offerings)". Barring that, the end user either follows some obscure steps to upgrade their phone from some Android hacking website, or is told to go pound sand. Not very good options for common non-techie end users like my aunt.
Historically, most Apple devices you buy new today is good for about 2 years of firmware updates.
well let's see it from my point of perspective. i bought a WP7 phone, fully knowing the lack of certain key features, and erred on the promise that said features will be added in a prompt and timely manner. i also counted on the promise that carriers will not be able to mess with the OS thru version fragmentation, bloatware and update blocks.
so far the only solid return i got was the bloatware exclusion (they uninstall without leaving discernible traces). everything else is, for all practical purposes, down the crapper. aside from that, can you imagine having an app store that you seriously DREAD to use but have no choice? yeah, the WP7 marketplace is really that bad.
i don't give a cow's rear end about how great it is for developers to write WP7 apps. i didn't pay for a phone to appreciate that. and i'm pretty sure i'm not alone in my rant above.
Whenever people refer to it as WP7, I momentarily get excited and wonder if Word Perfect has finally returned.
It doesn't really resemble the iPhone much at all, other than that it's a phone. And apparently the clipboard is coming this month too, so then both the iPhone and the Windows Phone 7 will have copy/paste, so I guess that will be a similarity too.
(I am an iPhone user).
The article is considers Apple releasing this update on time and Microsoft releasing theirs late and in a piecemeal fashion as an indication of what the companies are like, but the author forgets two things. First, the iOS 4.2 was delayed (actually cancelled and later released as 4.2.1) when a WiFi bug was found. Granted it wasn't as long a Microsoft's delay, but still...
Second, the iPad was stuck at iOS 3.x for a long time after 4.x was available for the iPhone and iPod. It skipped 4.0 and 4.1 until it finally hit OS parity at 4.2.1. This was despite Apple controlling both the hardware and software as the article suggests.
As to Microsoft's offering, I have never considered WP7 to be a released product until they fixed the basic things like copy/paste. The old adage of always waiting for a ".1" release of a Microsoft product was true again. It was disappointing after they got it so right with Windows 7.
Microsoft issues an update: it's supposed to update the updating system for future updates. It bricks phones.
Apple issues an update: Adds a few minor features, fixes bugs, improves web browser performance. It Just Works.
I find the trolling with "mandatory silencing of complaints" ironic since one of the features in iOS 4.3 - a user preference for the switch on the iPad to function as orientation lock or mute - is specifically in response to user feedback.
Meanwhile, Google issues an update. You can't use it until your carrier/handset manufacturer says you can (it took a month for Gingerbread to show up even on Google's own Nexus).
I don't know what kind of crack I was on, but I suspect it was decaf.
Which phones out there get vendor supplied updates after 3 years? Certainly not any that I've ever owned.
My company got me a Droid Eris (I had no choice). 6 months later, no update to Android 2.2. (Maybe 8. Whatever)
I'm not sure why Apple is getting dinged for not supporting a 3 year old phone. No one that I know of supports 3 year old phones.
What other phone has seen active updates for 28 months?
I mean besides the original iPhone.
Every android phone running Cyanogen mod.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
The UI model is literally completely different from that of the iPhone. Whereas the iPhone is function-centric (you have to run an app to see data relating to that app), Windows Phone 7 is data-centric (apps pool data under categories which the user can access. For instance, Contacts would have twitter, facebook, and standard contact info along with info plugged into it by other applications.
It's a completely different approach to user interfaces, so calling Windows Phone 7 a copy of the iPhone is quite literally false in every possible sense.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
They didn't discontinue the iPhone 3G until June 7, 2010. Inventories don't often magically evaporate either so who knows when the iPhone 3G was no longer for sale by Apple's partners. They should do the right thing and do a point release of whatever iOS will run on the 3G containing just the security fixes.
Which phones out there get vendor supplied updates after 3 years? Certainly not any that I've ever owned.
Nor I, I'll admit.
That said, here's the problem--especially as it relates to the iPhone: This update includes various bug fixes for the Safari browser which improve security. Yet I can't get those if I have an iPhone 3G. And it's not like I can say, "Well, I'll just use another browser" because Apple won't allow Chrome or Firefox browser in their store. So my choice is...buy another iPhone.
Don't get me wrong--I have no problem with Apple saying "Hey, you don't get any of the cool new features of iOS 4.3 on your iPhone 3G." I think it's a little tacky, but I can understand that the hardware may not be able to deal with it. Where I have the problem is that Apple isn't even sending me bug fixes for applications.
Again, I suppose it's the way of the world for software. But your car doesn't work that way--hell, I had a recall notice for my Audi a year or two ago when the car was 7 years old. And we're not talking something like brakes failing where I could have been killed. So maybe it's time for software companies to support these things for a bit longer than 2 years...
You mean more like the Newton interface ;-)
I have a WinMo 6.5 phone that I think is fantastic, but I would not consider WP 7 because it will not do as much as my current phone, and it is unlikely to improve precisely because it is completely different. Microsoft abandoned all of its developers so they are late to the party with an OS with no track record and new developer tools and a multitude of incompatible devices. Nokia may be the best phone manufacturer,but they are well down the scale when it comes to smart phones. WP 7 phones will have as much influence on the smart phone market as the Zune has had on the MP3 player market.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
Not that I think WP7 doesn't deserve some praise... but /. really needs a filter to prevent ACs and UIDs > 1,600,000 from getting 1st-2nd-3rd post on articles.
Why? Are you saying us old folk aren't as fast at the keyboard as we used to be? That are minds are dulled by decades of Cheetos, Mountain Dew and Aricept? You think we need a handicapping system?
Remove yourself from my landscaping, please.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Which phones out there get vendor supplied updates after 3 years?
Does it matter? Do we judge fairness by the lowest common denominator? The fact is that Apple was still happily signing people up for two year contacts with AT&T on brand freaking new iPhone 3Gs until last June. Now, it's ok that people who are contractually obligated to pay for service for the next 14+ months be left vulnerable to attack? This, just because Apple first started selling the device in '08 and other manufacturers have track records of treating their customers like crap? It may be a three year old phone to the guys currently playing with iPhone 5 or 6 prototypes under black curtains, but to some, it's well under a year old. Maybe these people shouldn't expect multitasking, (no way on that hardware) wallpapers, or the other various cool new iOS 4 features, but they sure as hell ought to be able to surf the web without their devices being compromised.
Apple lost me when it wanted me to fork over another 20$ to get a mpg to mov converter for the iMac. I paid premium price for it, and I do not want to be nickel and dimed. Yeah, I know enough to download and install ffmpg, and handbrake etc. But still it feels like buying a Lexus and then the sales man wants 20$ more for some floor mats.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
While I agree to some extent, the choice shouldn't have to be between incompetence and a walled garden.
There's a lot of things that "shouldn't have to be"; but are.
It would drive the carriers insane, but Apple could open up iOS a bit more without causing compatibility problems between apps and OS versions.
In your (not-so) humble opinion, of course. And your credentials to be making that bold and sweeping statement?
Since the Curated Collection seems to be working just-a fine for all but a fairly small minority of the smartphone-buying (and using) public, and the number of iOS exploits in the wild even without the security patches has been in the (low) single-digits, I think Apple has really got a handle on this "post-PC" paradigm (and no, that DOESN'T mean only CONSUMPTION) so far ahead of everyone else, that it really isn't even in the same orbit.
The iPhone 3G seems to be the last of the "first generation" of iPhone hardware. I would bet that the versions have diverged to the point that it is getting impractical to support the older architecture, without patching larger and larger swaths of OS code. However, I am sure that if a actual new exploit targeting the earlier devices appears in the wild, gets past Apple's Approval process, that a "Security Update" will happen to at least iOS 4.2.
I am sure someone will comment at this point about my username; but with only a couple of exploits in the wild, (which got quickly patched, and one of which involved a Jailbreak process from an app downloaded outside of the iOS App Store) obviously even the previous iOS versions aren't particularly low-hanging fruit.
And considering the "marketshare" that iOS (and its various devices) enjoy, the naysayers (see? I didn't call them "Haters") hardly have that old horse to haul out and beat this time.
Say what you will, but with 250k+ apps for the iPhone, the "Walls" of the "Garden" are, for most users, pretty far away. And since those "Walls" seem to be doing a damn good job of keeping bad guys out, I am willing to cautiously allow Apple to man the gates to the "Walled Garden".
And it's not like you're making a choice about a life-partner; it's a fucking phone, fercrissakes!
Try it, don't like it, choose again.
At some point, the user has to exercise his ultimate freedom to choose. And no amount of RDF can allow the user to inform himself BEFORE choosing.
Once your car is out-of-warranty, is the manufacturer obliged to keep parts in stock to restore it to showroom condition?
What about Building Materials for your house, or Matching Furniture (if you break a chair for your dining room table) once the product has been taken off the market?
The Brand new iPhone 3G purchased 11 months ago was like a car that had been sitting on the lot for 3 years. It was in a runout sale.
Apple have certainly learnt their PR lesson here, the iPad 1 is available for $100 less than an iPad 2, but purchasers definitely realise they are buying a product with a shortened obsolescence cycle.
If they purchased it from an unscrupulous Carrier outlet (and which Carrier outlets are scrupulous), they may have not known that they were buying a soon-to-be obsolete phone.
If they had have purchased it from an Apple Store, or spent 30 seconds on Wikipedia however, they would have definitely known. Apple Store upsells to encourage customer satisfaction with the product, Carrier outlets downsell to clear obsolete inventory. Wikipedia Empowers consumers with knowledge, which is why it's not allowed in Carrier outlets.
Caveat Emptor.
huh? i'm still getting updates for my PowerPC Mac Mini which has to be over 6 years old, and XP is going to be patched until 2014.
So what happens if you bought a 3G last May (before they were discontinued) and your phone gets hacked? What will they do if you take it to the Apple store? It's still under warranty until at least this May. It's one thing not to support new features on older phones but leaving a phone still under warranty vulnerable is inexcusable!
Just because an iphone can make calls doesn't mean that's all it's good for. Ever since phones got internet connectivity they have come a lot closer to being PCs and need to be thought of in the same way. The same need for security fixes, updates and applications.
What Apple have done here is to say "Buy something from us and you can expect us to drop you in the smelly stuff after 2 years". That's all you should expect from it, a shorter life expectancy than your kids goldfish.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
As soon as Nokia's Windows Phone 7 devices are released, I will probably get one. Both iPhone and Android have many issues caused mostly because they're fundamentally so far from each, like left and right. Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 is in the middle ground and takes the best from both worlds.
As someone who has used nokias for a long time, I can tell you that you'll likely be very disappointed. Essentially all the best design people are leaving, or already have left nokia at this stage (exodus started some time before the announcement in february). You'll likely get a massive turd, with both hardware issues caused by the OS as well as software issues caused by the fact that hardware guys have to learn how to make a phone for a completely different OS in record time and release it even faster.
The Newton Soup concept is actually very similar in data structure to what you describe for Microsoft's OS.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
I couldn't agree more.
I love my Tilt 2 (AT&T branded Touch Pro 2, with WM 6.5), and I enjoy two things most about it:
1) Over a decade of legacy applications that I can find and run for it.
2) It's an "open" (using the term VERY loosely) platform that anyone can develop and publish for. There's no centralized app store.
The things I don't like about it are that WP7 essentially sounds the alarm to developers to stop developing for Windows Mobile 6.5 and below, and the fact that it's a bit slow compared to newer hardware.
Unless Windows Phone 7 makes major, major improvements I'll likely be looking to Android for my next phone.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
Actually, I don't mean like the Newton interface. The Newton UI is just like the iPhone UI: it's a presentation layer for applications which accomplish different tasks, nothing more.
Metro UI in Windows Phone 7 is data-centric because of the fact that data is prioritized, meaning that applications supply data to central access points where the user can see what he/she wants to see.
Actually, What you describe is so very much like the Newton UI, if you hadn't said you were talking about Windows Phone, many people would have guessed Newton instead.
From Wikipedia:
"Data in Newton is stored in object-oriented databases known as soups. One of the innovative aspects of Newton is that soups are available to all programs; and programs can operate cross-soup; meaning that the calendar can refer to names in the address book; a note in the notepad can be converted to an appointment, and so forth; and the soups can be programmer-extendedâ"a new address book enhancement can be built on the data from the existing address book.
Another consequence of the data-object soup is that objects can extend built-in applications such as the address book so seamlessly that Newton users can sometimes not distinguish which program or add-on object is responsible for the various features on their own system, because the advanced nature of Newton devices makes it easy to accept such add-ons."
You're certainly right that WP is in no way a copy of iPhone though.
Well I'm not the GP but I'd say it is a classic example of the two companies. On the one hand you have Apple where if you are not pretty close to current you are SOL, as Apple dumps tech pretty fast and if you ain't onboard their hardware upgrade schedule you just aren't doing things "The Apple Way",
The Apple iOS 4.3 update doesn't work on iPhones pre June 2009. (iPhone 3G and earlier out of luck).
The Microsoft Windows Phone "February update" update doesn't work with Windows Phones pre October 2010. (Windows Phone 6.5 and earlier out of luck)
From this evidence it's hard to conclude that Apple are dumping faster than Microsoft.
(Then of course there's the Kin users who found their Microsoft device abandoned within weeks of release.)
What? A device manufacturer isn't releasing a software update for a device that's 2,5 years old (3G launch date: 11.08.2008)? Someone call the press! Seriously, with other manufacturers you are lucky if you get updates for a single year. Bitching that your 2,5 year old phone isn't getting an update is completely ridiculous.
its not about when the original launch date was, its about when the last sale date was.
the point is that there are iPhone 3G users who are still in their 2 year contract period.
The issue is much worse with Android phones, but we've been moaning about that for ages now already. Apple has been praised for its backwards compatibility until now, so its deserving of the criticism on this point I think.
If the iPhone 3G had been discontinued over 2 years ago from retail stores then I'd agree with you.
and even then, I'm not suggesting any phone needs feature updates, just security updates. Google (and partners) - that means you too!
This seemed like a reasonable sig at the time.