I suppose he could have added the UltraSparc or SPARC64 and noted the superior threads per processor the latest Sparc has over the Xeon and AMD but then it wouldn't be a comparison of Operating Systems. On the same hardware, he's stating the benefits of Solaris 10 and it's stack of Enterprise tools which makes his job a dream.
You still need a custom hacked Kernel to do it, this removes that need. Even hackintosh's need a custom DVD, this will install with an off the shelf Leopard DVD.
If you follow the latest work on the unification of the Intel and AMD chipsets for SSE,SSE2,SSE3 and SSE4 you'll discover that the community is soon to release a unified version that allows for a complete vanilla kernel installation and straight software updates.
First: The two devices are the starting point, not the end game. And secondly, the single carrier is absurd. Oh you meant to say the business model is designed for an exclusive carrier, per country? Correct. So far, T-Mobile is the only carrier targeted for Android in the United States. Ironically, there are how many National US Carriers left? AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and what else? We know that Alltel is being absorbed by Verizon. Please give me those other National Carriers. So the most Android can currently be on is 4 carriers. From a developer standpoint, those 2 current devices, working consistently with the iPhone SDK won't have to deal with the Phone Makers and their idiosyncratic crap that they work out, separately, with each Carrier who has one agreement for this phone make and model and a different agreement for that phone make and model, ad naseum.
Android isn't just being targeted at the United States and its limited stock of major phone carriers, although the iPhone *is*, since its only intended use is on the AT&T/Cingular network.
From a Development standpoint, which platform is the most consistent dealing in business?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean. The mobile phone developers I work with have been very excited about Android, since apparently the API is very "sane" compared to most other mobile phone platforms... it's not perfect, but then again, this is release 1.0.
Speaking strictly from a technical standpoint it's clear that Android is no where near the Apple platform in maturity and tools, but give it time. Just as it matures so will the iPhone SDK and it's tools.
True; that seems to be Google's game plan... Quite a few people didn't think they'd take down Altavista, or Hotmail, or any of the other services or software they've outdone, but it remains to be seen whether they're able to keep this one together. I hope so. RIM's interface is awful, and Windows Mobile is even worse. And I'm not about to switch carriers to get something with a nice interface.
Go country by country and make your long list, per country of the nationwide telcos. I'm betting you'll notice each country has a very short list.
This is a bullshit comparison that doesn't go deeper than "NDA bad, Linux good." What about the actual API? The tools available for profiling code and debugging? GUI designer? Simulator? I like Eclipse and Java, but Xcode and the tools in the iPhone SDK are pretty damn awesome, I doubt that Android is anywhere near that.
The iPhone "platform" is designed one or two devices, running on one or two series of hardware, for one carrier. Android is meant to be a platform for many carriers, many phones, many architectures. The OS I would assume that Android is actually competing with would be Windows Mobile, since it's far more analogous to that.
Except that Windows Mobile is kinda awful in the interface department. Styluses are awful ideas for phones and other small touchscreen devices...
As for the API, the Android crew has created an abstraction layer for different phone architectures and technologies (GSM, CDMA, etc), allowing a standard backwards-compatible platform for phones running Android, whereas iPhone's API targets... Apple iPhones. It's a bit of an apples/oranges comparison there.
First: The two devices are the starting point, not the end game. And secondly, the single carrier is absurd. Oh you meant to say the business model is designed for an exclusive carrier, per country? Correct. So far, T-Mobile is the only carrier targeted for Android in the United States. Ironically, there are how many National US Carriers left? AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and what else? We know that Alltel is being absorbed by Verizon. Please give me those other National Carriers. So the most Android can currently be on is 4 carriers. From a developer standpoint, those 2 current devices, working consistently with the iPhone SDK won't have to deal with the Phone Makers and their idiosyncratic crap that they work out, separately, with each Carrier who has one agreement for this phone make and model and a different agreement for that phone make and model, ad naseum.
From a Development standpoint, which platform is the most consistent dealing in business?
Speaking strictly from a technical standpoint it's clear that Android is no where near the Apple platform in maturity and tools, but give it time. Just as it matures so will the iPhone SDK and it's tools.
And to say ObjC is as easy as Ruby or Python is ludicrous.
It's easier than both of those.......
IF you're grounded in C.
What's making me laugh is this aversion to learn another language and it's syntax. Nevermind the dozens of Web languages and syntaxes one "swallows" to learn and be current in the web industry, but to learn a traditional object-oriented language that isn't C++ or Java? OMG I think I'm gonna blow up just thinking about !
"...debugger integration is not really their strongest point."
You should really take a sideways look at the iPhone SDK. The debugger integration is solid and almost up there with Visual Studio for memory and thread debugging.
While xcode is technically just a wrapper on top of GCC, Apple has done an enormous amount of work to integrate all elements of the toolchain into the environment in a way that enhances developer productivity.
I used xcode when it first came out and was underwhelmed - it was really just a simple gcc wrapper back then. But, it's evolved significantly and makes the GNU tools it's built on actually efficient to use (think using the CLI version of gdb for debugging compiled, multi-threaded code on remote devices... sure, you can do it, but it's a time sink).
-Chris
Don't forget to add that XCode's evolutionary path will be focused around LLVM, Clang, and much more.
Clearly, from the 2008 August LLVM Meeting Minutes it's clear the Industry is working to get this option mature and ready.
For example T-Mobile will not restrict applications providing a work-around to the SIM lock feature or prohibit Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software, such as Skype applications, that come from the Android development community, according to Gartenberg.
"T-Mobile's CTO [Cole Brodman, who also serves as chief innovation officer for T-Mobile USA] told me that he while he can't say he'd like that to happen he isn't going to restrict it or stop it," said Gartenberg. "That's the spirit of how open they are to being an open platform and the fact they understand what it's all about."
It's called pre-market Public Relations 101. Watch what happens when they craft a "threat" to their backbone via Skype and that they have to kill off all VOIP solutions.
Any operating system can be locked down, regardless of it being "open" at the platform developement level. You are either being intentionally dense or can't help yourself.
NextSTEP created Objective-C for their OS and API (which became Cocoa later on). So, it's not uncommon per se, it's merely created for that purpose. Although you can code on Windows with Objective-C (since gcc supports it on all platforms), without Cocoa it wouldn't be a seamless adventure. TBH I'd be surprise if anyone does any serious works with it outside of anything apple-related.
I develop with iPhone and OSX everyday and I agree Objective-C is a beautiful and well-designed language, but most of the fantastic experience of using it comes from the API part, not the language by itself.
Correction: Brad J. Cox Founder of Productivity Products International created Objective-C.
The self-documenting approach to coding that Objective-C inherits from Smalltalk makes for understanding what the hell is going on, by design, more rapidly than traditional C++ jargon. Of course, for every single book on Objective-C/Cocoa there are one hundred C++ or Java tombs. Somehow, the sheer volume of repeated books has helped reinforce in the minds of those never programming in Objective-C that it's some quasi-exotic language that no one ever uses. That's changing in a large way. As the growth of OS X 10.6 and beyond becomes apparent, so will the growth of books published and developers exposure to both help learn and evolve the language where it makes sense.
Quite a bit of Java's design was grafted from ObjC, yet that C++ syntax of Java somehow gives people the notion it's a derivative of C++ alone.
Regarding the Frameworks of Cocoa and without them the language wouldn't be so elogant. The same is true for all programming languages. Without Trolltech Qt's Libraries C++ wouldnt' be so elogant. Without the overkill of solutions within Java the Java language wouldn't have become the Server-side standard. So on and so forth.
The higher end iMacs, the Mac Pros, and the MacBook Pros all have real graphic cards.
But do they have real SCREENS?
I mean a proper 8-bit color space, instead of 6-bit dithering? I mean the ability choose matt vs glossy.
Obviously the Mac Pro lets you attach whatever you want to it, but the imacs and macbook pros stick you with the choice of exactly the one LCD screen apple chooses. (although the mbp used to let you choose between matte and glossy; i don't know if it still does; but that's just the finish not the technology.)
As far as i know, all Apple laptops use 6-bit TN screens. And there is a fair bit of information out there that iMacs have switched to 6-bit TN screens too, at least for 20" models. The 24" model is apparently an 8-bit S-IPS... but its not like apple makes this info readily available and the specs are subject to change, so you've got to pay constant attention.
Wow! You state the current scene for the entire PC market space and act as if Apple is an anomally.
Take a look at the 22/24 inch screens from all vendors and you'll be hard-pressed to find an S-IPS display under $600.
HP just finally released their:
HP LP2275w Black 22" 6ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor with DisplayPort input 300 cd/m2 1000:1 - Retail
Personally, it's a great monitor and one I'd add as a secondary display on an iMac for a secondary display. Most video editing setups deal with dual displays.
this will be like PC vs Mac in the 90's
the open platform will attract more developers, more manufacturers and eventually more users.
the closed platform will be buried.
Gee. Steve was at NeXT while Apple pissed away their vision in the 90s. That's not the case today. The people in charge are also very well founded to move forward when Steve decides it's not for him anymore.
Let me guess. Your idea of a limitation for a Music Player is that it doesn't allow Wifi Skype to make phone calls?
No. My idea of 'limitation' is that I had to pay $0.99 for a metric-to-english calculator, whereas it would have been free on my Treo. I like the iPod, I'm sure I'd like an iPhone of my own, but I'm not looking forward to the blatant attempts to milk money out of me.
Write it. Submit it and add some other functionality. You might even get paid.
I can assure you, ISO is alive and well, and will be around for a many good years.
What are standards needed for anyway anymore? The record companies already regularly break the "Red Book Standard" for audio CD's and sell those fake data CD's as real audio CD's.
You don't work in the Materials, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Geothermal, et.al fields I see.
Well, it doesn't bloody work for me under iTunes 8 and iPhone 2.01. I wrote and recorded the MP3 I'm trying to add as a ring tone and the only thing that's done it is iToner, which is 15 dollars for the licence. Grr.
You aren't a fanboi. A fanboi is someone who follows someone or something without question and without financial compensation. You sound like someone who likes Apple's products. There is a difference.
This forum would be a lot less noisy if more people made that distinction. I, personally, would like to have an iPhone. I have an iPod Touch. It's great, its useful, its limitations suck but I can still get my value out of it. But... because I don't plan on leaving the country so I don't give a flying fuck about it being unlocked, I'm a 'fanboy'. Whatever.
Let me guess. Your idea of a limitation for a Music Player is that it doesn't allow Wifi Skype to make phone calls?
Can anyone say DRM? Consumers do not like DRM and thus are not buying Blu-Ray. The poor economy is also a factor.
Nope. Move the price point for the Reader Only to $149 for a home theater player and ($99) for a Desktop PC reader w/ DVD-RL writer and the market will skyrocket.
Say hi to Stallman. I'm sure Richard can solve all of your ideals and make life with it's many colored hair and techno music seem like paradise. TheVelvetFlaimebait for a handle suits your perceptions quite nicely.
You mock Objective-C and then cite Python as being a better solution for Apple? How braindead can you be? The entire Cocoa stack from bottom to top is designed to mix C within itself. If I need to crunch large jacobian matrix transforms I'll use C. I can also abstract it out and leverage Cocoa/ObjC when it makes more sense.
This is what I love about Google as a company: they get it. Look at 3 of the 4 main points that are right smack in your face on that webpage:
Open
All applications are equal
Fast & easy development
This is what a developer wants. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that Android is going to be a success.
Really? Developers have this and more with Linux. It must take an Einstein to figure out that it isn't taking over a market segment, whereas Apple mixing FOSS and proprietary with compelling end-to-end solutions most certainly is growing consistently, quarter to quarter, year over year.
Remind yourself of Android's success when you start complaining to Google that they aren't doing enough to market your application on their platform so you can become well-off.
Have you ever needed to dial a phone without looking at the keypad? There's a reason why most keypads are buttons and why they generally have tactile patterns on them.
As it is presently using an iPhone if you're blind is going to be somewhere between challenging and impossible. Yeah, that's really usable.
Touch screens are better than they used to be, but do you really want to have to worry about them flaking out or outright refusing to register a press? I've had that happen pretty frequently in the past, and I'd be skeptical about it being completely solved in the present.
Stop driving and dialing. It's pissing us all off, so just pull over, get off the freeway, use speech to text and other technologies to make that damn call. Don't forget your hands free device because here in WA State we're tired of the chaos with dialing via traditional buttons or not. Most people suck at doing either. If you're buying the iPhone and haven't programmed it to dial your major contacts then you really shouldn't be driving and dialing, with or without buttons.
Blind people would never be considering the option of buying an iPhone without pre-programming the numbers they want to call.
Being that the iPhone is a luxury item I don't see them targeting a special needs minority, nor should they in order to satisfy these special case.
I sure don't want to see any blind drivers attempting to dial an iPhone.
Slashdot Mirror
OSXAXModel
Sure thing, Larry. (j/k)
I suppose he could have added the UltraSparc or SPARC64 and noted the superior threads per processor the latest Sparc has over the Xeon and AMD but then it wouldn't be a comparison of Operating Systems. On the same hardware, he's stating the benefits of Solaris 10 and it's stack of Enterprise tools which makes his job a dream.
You still need a custom hacked Kernel to do it, this removes that need. Even hackintosh's need a custom DVD, this will install with an off the shelf Leopard DVD.
If you follow the latest work on the unification of the Intel and AMD chipsets for SSE,SSE2,SSE3 and SSE4 you'll discover that the community is soon to release a unified version that allows for a complete vanilla kernel installation and straight software updates.
First: The two devices are the starting point, not the end game. And secondly, the single carrier is absurd. Oh you meant to say the business model is designed for an exclusive carrier, per country? Correct. So far, T-Mobile is the only carrier targeted for Android in the United States. Ironically, there are how many National US Carriers left? AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and what else? We know that Alltel is being absorbed by Verizon. Please give me those other National Carriers. So the most Android can currently be on is 4 carriers. From a developer standpoint, those 2 current devices, working consistently with the iPhone SDK won't have to deal with the Phone Makers and their idiosyncratic crap that they work out, separately, with each Carrier who has one agreement for this phone make and model and a different agreement for that phone make and model, ad naseum.
Android isn't just being targeted at the United States and its limited stock of major phone carriers, although the iPhone *is*, since its only intended use is on the AT&T/Cingular network.
From a Development standpoint, which platform is the most consistent dealing in business?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean. The mobile phone developers I work with have been very excited about Android, since apparently the API is very "sane" compared to most other mobile phone platforms... it's not perfect, but then again, this is release 1.0.
Speaking strictly from a technical standpoint it's clear that Android is no where near the Apple platform in maturity and tools, but give it time. Just as it matures so will the iPhone SDK and it's tools.
True; that seems to be Google's game plan... Quite a few people didn't think they'd take down Altavista, or Hotmail, or any of the other services or software they've outdone, but it remains to be seen whether they're able to keep this one together. I hope so. RIM's interface is awful, and Windows Mobile is even worse. And I'm not about to switch carriers to get something with a nice interface.
Go country by country and make your long list, per country of the nationwide telcos. I'm betting you'll notice each country has a very short list.
This is a bullshit comparison that doesn't go deeper than "NDA bad, Linux good." What about the actual API? The tools available for profiling code and debugging? GUI designer? Simulator? I like Eclipse and Java, but Xcode and the tools in the iPhone SDK are pretty damn awesome, I doubt that Android is anywhere near that.
The iPhone "platform" is designed one or two devices, running on one or two series of hardware, for one carrier. Android is meant to be a platform for many carriers, many phones, many architectures. The OS I would assume that Android is actually competing with would be Windows Mobile, since it's far more analogous to that.
Except that Windows Mobile is kinda awful in the interface department. Styluses are awful ideas for phones and other small touchscreen devices...
As for the API, the Android crew has created an abstraction layer for different phone architectures and technologies (GSM, CDMA, etc), allowing a standard backwards-compatible platform for phones running Android, whereas iPhone's API targets ... Apple iPhones. It's a bit of an apples/oranges comparison there.
First: The two devices are the starting point, not the end game. And secondly, the single carrier is absurd. Oh you meant to say the business model is designed for an exclusive carrier, per country? Correct. So far, T-Mobile is the only carrier targeted for Android in the United States. Ironically, there are how many National US Carriers left? AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and what else? We know that Alltel is being absorbed by Verizon. Please give me those other National Carriers. So the most Android can currently be on is 4 carriers. From a developer standpoint, those 2 current devices, working consistently with the iPhone SDK won't have to deal with the Phone Makers and their idiosyncratic crap that they work out, separately, with each Carrier who has one agreement for this phone make and model and a different agreement for that phone make and model, ad naseum.
From a Development standpoint, which platform is the most consistent dealing in business?
Speaking strictly from a technical standpoint it's clear that Android is no where near the Apple platform in maturity and tools, but give it time. Just as it matures so will the iPhone SDK and it's tools.
And to say ObjC is as easy as Ruby or Python is ludicrous.
It's easier than both of those....... IF you're grounded in C.
What's making me laugh is this aversion to learn another language and it's syntax. Nevermind the dozens of Web languages and syntaxes one "swallows" to learn and be current in the web industry, but to learn a traditional object-oriented language that isn't C++ or Java? OMG I think I'm gonna blow up just thinking about !
"...debugger integration is not really their strongest point."
You should really take a sideways look at the iPhone SDK. The debugger integration is solid and almost up there with Visual Studio for memory and thread debugging.
While xcode is technically just a wrapper on top of GCC, Apple has done an enormous amount of work to integrate all elements of the toolchain into the environment in a way that enhances developer productivity.
I used xcode when it first came out and was underwhelmed - it was really just a simple gcc wrapper back then. But, it's evolved significantly and makes the GNU tools it's built on actually efficient to use (think using the CLI version of gdb for debugging compiled, multi-threaded code on remote devices... sure, you can do it, but it's a time sink).
-Chris
Don't forget to add that XCode's evolutionary path will be focused around LLVM, Clang, and much more.
Clearly, from the 2008 August LLVM Meeting Minutes it's clear the Industry is working to get this option mature and ready.
2008 LLVM Developers' Meeting
Wrong.
Quoted:
For example T-Mobile will not restrict applications providing a work-around to the SIM lock feature or prohibit Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software, such as Skype applications, that come from the Android development community, according to Gartenberg.
"T-Mobile's CTO [Cole Brodman, who also serves as chief innovation officer for T-Mobile USA] told me that he while he can't say he'd like that to happen he isn't going to restrict it or stop it," said Gartenberg. "That's the spirit of how open they are to being an open platform and the fact they understand what it's all about."
It's called pre-market Public Relations 101. Watch what happens when they craft a "threat" to their backbone via Skype and that they have to kill off all VOIP solutions.
And how long will THAT last? =]
Any operating system can be locked down, regardless of it being "open" at the platform developement level. You are either being intentionally dense or can't help yourself.
NextSTEP created Objective-C for their OS and API (which became Cocoa later on). So, it's not uncommon per se, it's merely created for that purpose. Although you can code on Windows with Objective-C (since gcc supports it on all platforms), without Cocoa it wouldn't be a seamless adventure. TBH I'd be surprise if anyone does any serious works with it outside of anything apple-related.
I develop with iPhone and OSX everyday and I agree Objective-C is a beautiful and well-designed language, but most of the fantastic experience of using it comes from the API part, not the language by itself.
Correction: Brad J. Cox Founder of Productivity Products International created Objective-C.
Object-oriented Programming: An Evolutionary Approach, by Brad J. Cox.
Brad later co-founded Stepstone and NeXT eventually bought all rights to Objective-C as they developed their own version, based on Brad's works.
Brad J. Cox's current info: http://www.virtualschool.edu/cox/
The self-documenting approach to coding that Objective-C inherits from Smalltalk makes for understanding what the hell is going on, by design, more rapidly than traditional C++ jargon. Of course, for every single book on Objective-C/Cocoa there are one hundred C++ or Java tombs. Somehow, the sheer volume of repeated books has helped reinforce in the minds of those never programming in Objective-C that it's some quasi-exotic language that no one ever uses. That's changing in a large way. As the growth of OS X 10.6 and beyond becomes apparent, so will the growth of books published and developers exposure to both help learn and evolve the language where it makes sense.
Quite a bit of Java's design was grafted from ObjC, yet that C++ syntax of Java somehow gives people the notion it's a derivative of C++ alone.
Regarding the Frameworks of Cocoa and without them the language wouldn't be so elogant. The same is true for all programming languages. Without Trolltech Qt's Libraries C++ wouldnt' be so elogant. Without the overkill of solutions within Java the Java language wouldn't have become the Server-side standard. So on and so forth.
The higher end iMacs, the Mac Pros, and the MacBook Pros all have real graphic cards.
But do they have real SCREENS?
I mean a proper 8-bit color space, instead of 6-bit dithering? I mean the ability choose matt vs glossy.
Obviously the Mac Pro lets you attach whatever you want to it, but the imacs and macbook pros stick you with the choice of exactly the one LCD screen apple chooses. (although the mbp used to let you choose between matte and glossy; i don't know if it still does; but that's just the finish not the technology.)
As far as i know, all Apple laptops use 6-bit TN screens. And there is a fair bit of information out there that iMacs have switched to 6-bit TN screens too, at least for 20" models. The 24" model is apparently an 8-bit S-IPS... but its not like apple makes this info readily available and the specs are subject to change, so you've got to pay constant attention.
Wow! You state the current scene for the entire PC market space and act as if Apple is an anomally.
Take a look at the 22/24 inch screens from all vendors and you'll be hard-pressed to find an S-IPS display under $600.
HP just finally released their:
HP LP2275w Black 22" 6ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor with DisplayPort input 300 cd/m2 1000:1 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176098
$379.99
for a S-PVA panel.
Personally, it's a great monitor and one I'd add as a secondary display on an iMac for a secondary display. Most video editing setups deal with dual displays.
they use glossy screens and apple does not let you pick if you want one or not like they do with the mac pro.
Screen finish has nothing to do with the screen panel.
...either that or something is taking a deep inhale?
this will be like PC vs Mac in the 90's the open platform will attract more developers, more manufacturers and eventually more users. the closed platform will be buried.
Gee. Steve was at NeXT while Apple pissed away their vision in the 90s. That's not the case today. The people in charge are also very well founded to move forward when Steve decides it's not for him anymore.
Let me guess. Your idea of a limitation for a Music Player is that it doesn't allow Wifi Skype to make phone calls?
No. My idea of 'limitation' is that I had to pay $0.99 for a metric-to-english calculator, whereas it would have been free on my Treo. I like the iPod, I'm sure I'd like an iPhone of my own, but I'm not looking forward to the blatant attempts to milk money out of me.
Write it. Submit it and add some other functionality. You might even get paid.
I can assure you, ISO is alive and well, and will be around for a many good years.
What are standards needed for anyway anymore? The record companies already regularly break the "Red Book Standard" for audio CD's and sell those fake data CD's as real audio CD's.
You don't work in the Materials, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Geothermal, et.al fields I see.
Well, it doesn't bloody work for me under iTunes 8 and iPhone 2.01. I wrote and recorded the MP3 I'm trying to add as a ring tone and the only thing that's done it is iToner, which is 15 dollars for the licence. Grr.
What's stopping you from updating to 2.1?
You aren't a fanboi. A fanboi is someone who follows someone or something without question and without financial compensation. You sound like someone who likes Apple's products. There is a difference.
This forum would be a lot less noisy if more people made that distinction. I, personally, would like to have an iPhone. I have an iPod Touch. It's great, its useful, its limitations suck but I can still get my value out of it. But... because I don't plan on leaving the country so I don't give a flying fuck about it being unlocked, I'm a 'fanboy'. Whatever.
Let me guess. Your idea of a limitation for a Music Player is that it doesn't allow Wifi Skype to make phone calls?
Can anyone say DRM? Consumers do not like DRM and thus are not buying Blu-Ray. The poor economy is also a factor.
Nope. Move the price point for the Reader Only to $149 for a home theater player and ($99) for a Desktop PC reader w/ DVD-RL writer and the market will skyrocket.
Say hi to Stallman. I'm sure Richard can solve all of your ideals and make life with it's many colored hair and techno music seem like paradise. TheVelvetFlaimebait for a handle suits your perceptions quite nicely.
You mock Objective-C and then cite Python as being a better solution for Apple? How braindead can you be? The entire Cocoa stack from bottom to top is designed to mix C within itself. If I need to crunch large jacobian matrix transforms I'll use C. I can also abstract it out and leverage Cocoa/ObjC when it makes more sense.
This is what I love about Google as a company: they get it. Look at 3 of the 4 main points that are right smack in your face on that webpage:
Open All applications are equal Fast & easy development
This is what a developer wants. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that Android is going to be a success.
Really? Developers have this and more with Linux. It must take an Einstein to figure out that it isn't taking over a market segment, whereas Apple mixing FOSS and proprietary with compelling end-to-end solutions most certainly is growing consistently, quarter to quarter, year over year.
Remind yourself of Android's success when you start complaining to Google that they aren't doing enough to market your application on their platform so you can become well-off.
Apple are a bunch of Nazis!
Spare me with this Nazi crap. Have a brat. You might enjoy it.
Have you ever needed to dial a phone without looking at the keypad? There's a reason why most keypads are buttons and why they generally have tactile patterns on them.
As it is presently using an iPhone if you're blind is going to be somewhere between challenging and impossible. Yeah, that's really usable.
Touch screens are better than they used to be, but do you really want to have to worry about them flaking out or outright refusing to register a press? I've had that happen pretty frequently in the past, and I'd be skeptical about it being completely solved in the present.
Stop driving and dialing. It's pissing us all off, so just pull over, get off the freeway, use speech to text and other technologies to make that damn call. Don't forget your hands free device because here in WA State we're tired of the chaos with dialing via traditional buttons or not. Most people suck at doing either. If you're buying the iPhone and haven't programmed it to dial your major contacts then you really shouldn't be driving and dialing, with or without buttons.
Blind people would never be considering the option of buying an iPhone without pre-programming the numbers they want to call.
Being that the iPhone is a luxury item I don't see them targeting a special needs minority, nor should they in order to satisfy these special case.
I sure don't want to see any blind drivers attempting to dial an iPhone.