I understand. My point was that the large particular target makes the lack of a userbase of the development toolchain largely irrelevant.
The large target makes it sufficiently lucrative that some developers will choose to learn in order to take advantage of the target irrespective of the developer's preferences.
In other words, the 8m iPhones+iPod touches sold means someone, somewhere, will buy a Mac, learn XCode and Objective-C, code apps, and make money.
Does it help that the patent is older than the application? The application was in beat in May of 2008 while the patent is from before last December...
The patent is for displaying that information after the lock screen is removed.
When my Windows XP box is unlocked, there is no "information center" telling me how many emails, voicemails, texts, processes, applications, etc are up, with links to all of them.
What does your WinMo device do when you UNLOCKED it? Was there a central message board which continued to display your emails, texts, missed calls, and voicemails?
Is there a separate USB Mass Storage spec for music? Because as far as I know the iPod treats itself like a HDD, reads from an XML index, and loads files from a directory tree sorted according to a hash algorithm.
So... what is the problem? I thought this was solved years ago?
This is where it gets interesting and why it probably deserves a chance at being patented.
No one else is doing it. Everyone with a screen (XP, Vista, Linux, etc) doesn't do it. You lock your screen and does it tell you how many emails you have? How many voice-mails? Anything?
And then when you unlock your screen... does it display that information on screen? You have to manually open your mail or voicemail or whatever to see it.
If you read the patents you would see that Apple is doing something innovative in comparison to what Intellisync is doing. It's obvious, but also different.
Intellisync's idea is to provide you a message center while the lock screen is up.
Apple's patent is to provide you a message board before and after you dismiss the lock screen.
Right now no one does it. I haven't seen it anywhere in any OS or operating environment, and in that case it is innovation. Obvious, but innovative.
No, this is actually more like a corkboard or message center.
And I've not actually seen it in any other location (not in Vista, not in XP, not in OS X, or Linux), so in that sense it is kind of innovative, and at the same time obvious.
But you know what? Expose is also obvious, and no one did it until Apple...
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$155 makes the Apple Premium seem reasonable.
In case you didn't know how much a Mac mini costs... $599 to run the dev apps on it.
I understand. My point was that the large particular target makes the lack of a userbase of the development toolchain largely irrelevant.
The large target makes it sufficiently lucrative that some developers will choose to learn in order to take advantage of the target irrespective of the developer's preferences.
In other words, the 8m iPhones+iPod touches sold means someone, somewhere, will buy a Mac, learn XCode and Objective-C, code apps, and make money.
The App marketplace exists because of the number of iPhones sold, not because of the existence of Apps.
If all the developers pulled out as a matter of principle, you would still have more developers coming on board to fill the need.
Evidently there is a million dollar market, and it seems unlikely that enough "big" developers will pull out to make an impact.
Which is why the larger user-base of the iPhone is essential.
Ah, collusion to manipulate the marketplace.
You forget usability in your rush to promote marketing!
McDonalds has indoor playgrounds for kids. In many urban settings, that is a godsend.
So Apple's value proposition is that the products can be used by computer illiterates. And they are.
Maybe because their product is more usable, and therefore useful to that fanbase?
Apple's customers are essentially computer illiterate. With that thought in mind, who else provides products for the computer illiterate?
You forgot "usable" in describing Apple products. A feature essentially doesn't exist if it isn't usable. Ergo the iPhone's popularity.
The network already can't support existing iPhones?
The network can't support the bandwidth?
How is it different than a sign saying no commercial vehicles over two tons allowed on a road? Or a height restriction in a parking garage?
Besides marketing, you forget UI.
A better web browser, a better app store, a better MP3 player, a better video player, etc all trump your Treo.
Does it help that the patent is older than the application? The application was in beat in May of 2008 while the patent is from before last December...
My XP box doesn't.
The patent is for displaying that information after the lock screen is removed.
When my Windows XP box is unlocked, there is no "information center" telling me how many emails, voicemails, texts, processes, applications, etc are up, with links to all of them.
Did you finish reading my post?
What does your WinMo device do when you UNLOCKED it? Was there a central message board which continued to display your emails, texts, missed calls, and voicemails?
Because that is the Apple patent...
It's only obvious after Apple filed the patent.
It wasn't obvious BEFORE, as no one has done it before!
Is there a separate USB Mass Storage spec for music?
Because as far as I know the iPod treats itself like a HDD, reads from an XML index, and loads files from a directory tree sorted according to a hash algorithm.
So... what is the problem? I thought this was solved years ago?
No there isn't :P
This is where it gets interesting and why it probably deserves a chance at being patented.
No one else is doing it. Everyone with a screen (XP, Vista, Linux, etc) doesn't do it. You lock your screen and does it tell you how many emails you have? How many voice-mails? Anything?
And then when you unlock your screen... does it display that information on screen? You have to manually open your mail or voicemail or whatever to see it.
Because that is what this patent does.
Read, please. I keep repeating myself in this board.
Intellisync's app displays additional information on the lock-screen.
Apple's patent is to keep the information they display on the lock-screen on screen after the lock is dismissed.
You summarize incorrectly.
Apple is extending their existing lock-screen notifications to stay visible after the lock screen is dismissed.
Intellisync extends the lock-screen notification to display information Apple does not.
See the difference?
If you read the patents you would see that Apple is doing something innovative in comparison to what Intellisync is doing. It's obvious, but also different.
Intellisync's idea is to provide you a message center while the lock screen is up.
Apple's patent is to provide you a message board before and after you dismiss the lock screen.
Right now no one does it. I haven't seen it anywhere in any OS or operating environment, and in that case it is innovation. Obvious, but innovative.
No, this is actually more like a corkboard or message center.
And I've not actually seen it in any other location (not in Vista, not in XP, not in OS X, or Linux), so in that sense it is kind of innovative, and at the same time obvious.
But you know what? Expose is also obvious, and no one did it until Apple...
I didn't say it wasn't a stupid patent...
I mean, displaying all that info is kind of obvious, and I'm surprised it didn't ship with the iPhone in the first place.