There are a few things that give you mobility: form factor, battery life, simplicity.
The iPad has all these.
If that's what's important in a tablet, the PlayBook is going to really thump the iPad2. The 7" form factor is much more portable, it has >10 hour battery life, and is incredibly simple to use.
The hardware is high-end, and the OS... well, nothing can touch the speed and reliability of QNX. It runs nuclear reactors, for goodness sake!
I keep hearing things like "it's not available yet" and "you can't compare the iPad2 to an unavailable product" yet before the release of the iPad2, there were uncountable comparisons made between in at current and future tablets (even though no one knew anything about it!)
I recall a discussion involving the PlayBook prior to March 11 when the iPad2 wasn't yet available where the iFans insisted that the PB was vaporware... because you couldn't buy it -- even though you also couldn't buy the iPad2! Still, even though you can preorder it now, claims of it being 'vapor' still abound. (The same is true of other tablets.)
So... if it's Apple and we can't buy it or even know anything about it, it's okay to compare it to other products (and inexplicably claim it's a magic and revolutionary game-changer). If it's anything else, you can't even mention it.
He asked for a 10" tablet with equal thinness and lightness with a 10 hour battery life -- I gave him one, an arguably much better one, which you can have in two months. There are other *better* tablets which you can buy now, some with 10" displays, some at other sizes, that meet all of his criteria except "as thin as iPad2".
He offered up what he thought was an impossible task and it was met. Move the goalposts all you want.
Can you name me one tablet with a 10 inch screen, 10 hour battery life, and the weight and thinness of an iPad, at ANY price, let alone the same price or less?
Samsung Galaxy Tab. 10.1 inch screen, 10 hour battery life, thinner and lighter than the iPad2, same price.
As a bonus, it has more RAM, a better display (PLS not the older IPS and at a higher resolution), and vastly better cameras.
Apple may not be perfect, but their products are never complete crap.
I don't know, the complaints you listed for the early HTC smartphones apply equally to the first and second generation iPhone. They were expensive, had notoriously wretched battery life, sync issues, and would often freeze (requiring a reset). I honestly don't know how they managed to succeed with such a poor initial product.
No manufacturer is perfect -- and they all have products that were complete crap. RIM's Storm 1, Apples first iPhone, HTC Touch, etc.
Three of your four criteria can be met with a BlackBerry. Check out the Bold Touch in a few months. If you use your phone for email and messaging, it's really hard to beat RIM's best-in-class software and physical keyboard.
It doesn't run Android, of course, but I don't know how important that is to you.
I assume that "an extremely high, unrealistic number" applies to your 1700% figure as well.
We do have some real data, which you can check out here. It turns out, that writing your app for BlackBerry can easily be more lucrative than for iOS or Android.
Developers seem to forget that RIM isn't a distant third -- it's a close second. Add to that the higher visibility you get in AppWorld over other App stores and BlackBerry becomes a VERY difficult platform to ignore.
I had a lengthy reply written which Slashdot's incompetent message system destroyed. SLASHDOT: FIX YOUR CRAP WEBSITE.
Anyhow, I refuse to go through that again so I'll make this one short.
You're going to need to post your sources as I can't verify any of your numbers. The data I have doesn't match your figures in any way. It's not that they're just a little bit off -- they're completely different -- not even superficially similar.
was Android outselling Apple in the beginning of last year?
Not until November. RIM was outselling both Apple and Android at the beginning of last year. Last November, Android overtook Apple. This year, Android overtook RIM. Apple still hasn't passed RIM, even though RIM has lost about 5% market share, probably due to it's flat market share growth last year (something like 0.1%)
A lot of people used to have Blackberries because they were the cheapest smartphone you could get.
Not really. Until recently, Blackberry was a status symbol, not the low-end option. (BB was cool, Treo was not.) It was also virtually the only player in the smartphone market. (Much like the iPad was late last year in the tablet market.)
After Apple made it "okay" for the rest of the world to carry smartphones, the whole market changed. While it's true that RIM offers lower-end smartphones for the masses now (Curve, Style), that wasn't really the case just a few years ago as your post seems to imply.
Android owners seem less keen on paying for apps and I think you end up with the iphone or even blackberry being more attractive to a developer despite android's growth.
You insurance rate is going up because the Evil Liberal Democrats couldn't be bothered to provide provisions for competition in their Evil Liberal Bill.
IMO, they should repeal "Obamacare", repeal the exemption to anti-trust law, and establish a public option; that would cure far more problems than "Obamacare" ever will.
IIRC, it was the Republicans that insisted the Public Option and Exchange system be stripped from the once-good bill.
They called it a "government take-over" that would ultimately lead to "socialism".
After those provisions were gone the rhetoric didn't change, so I can see how you might have missed it.
I know! the iPad 2 is the most important technological development since man first learned to create Fire. (It's 33% *thinner* for goodness sake!)
Without a steady supply of iPad 2's, civilization would collapse overnight. It's miraculous that we managed to survive as long as we have without this vital technology.
We've been able to make all sorts of materials from plant fibers for years, including plastic.
As an added bonus, many of those materials are both incredibly strong and bio-degradable. Take a look at hemp plastic -- one of the many reasons to support industrial hemp.
Like it or not, Apple is the most wanted brand lof tablets and phones. You can add flash, hdmi, double rainbows to your tablet but if Steve Jobs didn't produce it then it is regarded as pig shit by the masses.
You know what's funny? The #1 best selling smartphone brand in 2010 in Canada, US, UK, and Latin America was Blackberry.
The big news in early March wasn't that Android overtook Apple in share of US smartphone subscribers -- it was that Android overtook RIM. Apple doesn't and hasn't even come close. See for yourself:
October 2010: Apple 24.6%, Android 23.5%, RIM 35.8% January 2011: Apple 24.7%, Android 31.2%, RIM 30.4%
Given the data, it doesn't appear that Apple is even close to the "most wanted" brand of smartphone, let alone phones in general.
Where did he imply that the iPad owes any of its success to the relative quality of a nook color? I know it's Sunday and everybody's hungover but, really?
Wait. You're actually comparing a rooted and hacked e-reader hobbyist project to the ipad? Wow. Just wow.
Sorry, I don't understand why you're so 'shocked' by the comparison. Both products are tablets. That one is a hobbyist project is what makes the article interesting.
Spec wise, it's not far off from the iPad and even matches some iPad 2 specs. 512mb ram, 800 MHz A8 processor (OC to 1.1GHz), muti-touch display, expandable 8GB flash.
The iPad and iPad2 seem to be popular right now with tablet enthusiasts, so why not make the comparison?
Slashdot Mirror
Er, no. That figure isn't sales, it's revenue.
On revenue, arguably the most interesting number, you'll find that apps net 41% MORE on App World than iTunes.
And it still shows that Android is a less desirable platform...
Who said anything about Android? My point was that it's likely more lucrative to develop for BlackBerry, given the data.
There are a few things that give you mobility: form factor, battery life, simplicity.
The iPad has all these.
If that's what's important in a tablet, the PlayBook is going to really thump the iPad2. The 7" form factor is much more portable, it has >10 hour battery life, and is incredibly simple to use.
The hardware is high-end, and the OS ... well, nothing can touch the speed and reliability of QNX. It runs nuclear reactors, for goodness sake!
and reportedly 5 million or more got the 2 on the first day
Boy, this number keeps growing and growing! First it was 500 thousand. Then a few Apple blogs posted 1 million. Now it's up to 5 million.
You'd think that the number of first day sales would stay constant after the first day.
That's why the iPad2 is so magical -- it can actually sell itself *backward* in time. Amazing.
I keep hearing things like "it's not available yet" and "you can't compare the iPad2 to an unavailable product" yet before the release of the iPad2, there were uncountable comparisons made between in at current and future tablets (even though no one knew anything about it!)
I recall a discussion involving the PlayBook prior to March 11 when the iPad2 wasn't yet available where the iFans insisted that the PB was vaporware ... because you couldn't buy it -- even though you also couldn't buy the iPad2! Still, even though you can preorder it now, claims of it being 'vapor' still abound. (The same is true of other tablets.)
So ... if it's Apple and we can't buy it or even know anything about it, it's okay to compare it to other products (and inexplicably claim it's a magic and revolutionary game-changer). If it's anything else, you can't even mention it.
He asked for a 10" tablet with equal thinness and lightness with a 10 hour battery life -- I gave him one, an arguably much better one, which you can have in two months. There are other *better* tablets which you can buy now, some with 10" displays, some at other sizes, that meet all of his criteria except "as thin as iPad2".
He offered up what he thought was an impossible task and it was met. Move the goalposts all you want.
They [Microsoft] did own the smartphone market - then the IPhone came
Except it was RIM that owned the smartphone market - then Android came along. (Yes, Apple is #3. Who cares?)
Can you name me one tablet with a 10 inch screen, 10 hour battery life, and the weight and thinness of an iPad, at ANY price, let alone the same price or less?
Samsung Galaxy Tab. 10.1 inch screen, 10 hour battery life, thinner and lighter than the iPad2, same price.
As a bonus, it has more RAM, a better display (PLS not the older IPS and at a higher resolution), and vastly better cameras.
Get in line for yours on June 8th.
The Kindle DX reportedly handles PDF very well.
Apple may not be perfect, but their products are never complete crap.
I don't know, the complaints you listed for the early HTC smartphones apply equally to the first and second generation iPhone. They were expensive, had notoriously wretched battery life, sync issues, and would often freeze (requiring a reset). I honestly don't know how they managed to succeed with such a poor initial product.
No manufacturer is perfect -- and they all have products that were complete crap. RIM's Storm 1, Apples first iPhone, HTC Touch, etc.
Three of your four criteria can be met with a BlackBerry. Check out the Bold Touch in a few months. If you use your phone for email and messaging, it's really hard to beat RIM's best-in-class software and physical keyboard.
It doesn't run Android, of course, but I don't know how important that is to you.
I assume that "an extremely high, unrealistic number" applies to your 1700% figure as well.
We do have some real data, which you can check out here. It turns out, that writing your app for BlackBerry can easily be more lucrative than for iOS or Android.
Developers seem to forget that RIM isn't a distant third -- it's a close second. Add to that the higher visibility you get in AppWorld over other App stores and BlackBerry becomes a VERY difficult platform to ignore.
I had a lengthy reply written which Slashdot's incompetent message system destroyed. SLASHDOT: FIX YOUR CRAP WEBSITE.
Anyhow, I refuse to go through that again so I'll make this one short.
You're going to need to post your sources as I can't verify any of your numbers. The data I have doesn't match your figures in any way. It's not that they're just a little bit off -- they're completely different -- not even superficially similar.
was Android outselling Apple in the beginning of last year?
Not until November. RIM was outselling both Apple and Android at the beginning of last year. Last November, Android overtook Apple. This year, Android overtook RIM. Apple still hasn't passed RIM, even though RIM has lost about 5% market share, probably due to it's flat market share growth last year (something like 0.1%)
A lot of people used to have Blackberries because they were the cheapest smartphone you could get.
Not really. Until recently, Blackberry was a status symbol, not the low-end option. (BB was cool, Treo was not.) It was also virtually the only player in the smartphone market. (Much like the iPad was late last year in the tablet market.)
After Apple made it "okay" for the rest of the world to carry smartphones, the whole market changed. While it's true that RIM offers lower-end smartphones for the masses now (Curve, Style), that wasn't really the case just a few years ago as your post seems to imply.
Android owners seem less keen on paying for apps and I think you end up with the iphone or even blackberry being more attractive to a developer despite android's growth.
It appears that BlackBerry developers earn more per app than iPhone and Android developers according to IHS Screen Digest, Feb 2011
You're completely correct. Right now, BlackBerry is a difficult platform for developers to ignore.
You insurance rate is going up because the Evil Liberal Democrats couldn't be bothered to provide provisions for competition in their Evil Liberal Bill.
IMO, they should repeal "Obamacare", repeal the exemption to anti-trust law, and establish a public option; that would cure far more problems than "Obamacare" ever will.
IIRC, it was the Republicans that insisted the Public Option and Exchange system be stripped from the once-good bill.
They called it a "government take-over" that would ultimately lead to "socialism".
After those provisions were gone the rhetoric didn't change, so I can see how you might have missed it.
What would we do without iPad 2s!?!?
I know! the iPad 2 is the most important technological development since man first learned to create Fire. (It's 33% *thinner* for goodness sake!)
Without a steady supply of iPad 2's, civilization would collapse overnight. It's miraculous that we managed to survive as long as we have without this vital technology.
Neat. I haven't heard about eucalyptus being used this way before. Thanks for that.
We've been able to make all sorts of materials from plant fibers for years, including plastic.
As an added bonus, many of those materials are both incredibly strong and bio-degradable. Take a look at hemp plastic -- one of the many reasons to support industrial hemp.
Gross
Like it or not, Apple is the most wanted brand lof tablets and phones. You can add flash, hdmi, double rainbows to your tablet but if Steve Jobs didn't produce it then it is regarded as pig shit by the masses.
You know what's funny? The #1 best selling smartphone brand in 2010 in Canada, US, UK, and Latin America was Blackberry.
The big news in early March wasn't that Android overtook Apple in share of US smartphone subscribers -- it was that Android overtook RIM. Apple doesn't and hasn't even come close. See for yourself:
October 2010: Apple 24.6%, Android 23.5%, RIM 35.8%
January 2011: Apple 24.7%, Android 31.2%, RIM 30.4%
Given the data, it doesn't appear that Apple is even close to the "most wanted" brand of smartphone, let alone phones in general.
Apples status = Told.
Where did he imply that the iPad owes any of its success to the relative quality of a nook color? I know it's Sunday and everybody's hungover but, really?
Wait. You're actually comparing a rooted and hacked e-reader hobbyist project to the ipad? Wow. Just wow.
Sorry, I don't understand why you're so 'shocked' by the comparison. Both products are tablets. That one is a hobbyist project is what makes the article interesting.
Spec wise, it's not far off from the iPad and even matches some iPad 2 specs. 512mb ram, 800 MHz A8 processor (OC to 1.1GHz), muti-touch display, expandable 8GB flash.
The iPad and iPad2 seem to be popular right now with tablet enthusiasts, so why not make the comparison?
"Instead, we look for a very different sort of person. The sort of person who grew up cooking squirrels over a campfire with sharpened sticks"
I knew having that essential skill on my resume would pay off some day!
I hate C++. I have so many objections to it that I can't even list them here reasonably.
However, there is nothing that can replace it.
Nothing ... except for C
I couldn't agree more ... strange ...
Why do I have this feeling that it's somewhere between 15 and 20 years ago, and that you're about to get flamed by the sysop?