And Coleco was stupid enough to fold their hand which had the effect of killing the Colecovision and handing the home gaming rights to Donkey Kong over to Atari.
One of the more interesting ideas that I have seen is to allow people to buy an OLPC for say, double the price, thus also buying one for a child oversees.
The part of it that would be of interest to me would be a system that would allow a westerner to just buy one of these for a child oversees.
First of all, it isn't "no third party apps" - it is "developers, if you want to write for iPhone, contact Apple Developer Relations (and make sure your hat is in your hands)."
This is no different than the business model used for gaming systems.
You have to decide which paradigm applies - a development free for all or a controlled system. Guess wrong and there are consequences either way.
They may announce something at WWDC this year. I'm hoping that will happen.
My daughter really hit the nail on the head recently. She said, "Software is like magic. You can use it to create beautiful wonderful things that amaze and delight people. Apple does this really well. Alternatively, you can be like Microsoft and use it to summon demons from Hell to torture people with."
George Lucas was a brilliant filmmaker on two films: Star Wars IV and American Graffiti. He had the good sense *not to direct* Episode V and VI, which is why they turned out so well in spite of how hokey Ewoks are. Marsha Lucus (George's ex-wife) was the one with the talent - she edited his films so that they weren't shit. The two of them split up right after the third Star Wars movie in the 80s. She didn't work on Episode I, II, or III - that's why they are shit.
Ok.. but can we all agree that 30 is a ridiculously low sample size? No. You do a power analysis to find out if the sample size is too small, not just talk out of your ass.
Just re-read that and it could mean they chose it a number of times 60% bigger than the number of times they chose the other, which is better but still - 30's hardly a big sample...
What are you basing your statement about 30 being too small a sample? Did you do a statistical power analysis? Unless you did, you are talking out of your ass. 30 might be OK if the researcher is using non-parametric statistics. I don't know - I haven't read the article.
While it has a qwerty keyboard, the keyboard is a piece of shit. It does not support touch typing Works fine for me. I can touch type, and touch-dial with mine (speed dial) all the time. You don't know what touch typing is.
The biggest problem is prank messages? I think all the messages will be prank messages - I think that's pretty much the idea.
I assume someone at Mini gets to review the messages and decide which ones are allowed, otherwise there will be obscene messages, threats, etc. This will be like when Nike had the shoes you could order with writing stitched into them and some guy wanted his to say "Sweatshop" and Nike said no.
I am pretty sure he could take a dump in a paper bag, label it the "iTurd", and sell a thousand before the end of the day. He tried that - it was called the Apple///.
Treo doesn't play iTunes. Treo doesn't have video. Treo doesn't have cover flow. Treo doesn't have core animation. I had a Treo 600, I paid about the same for it than I will pay for an iPhone. The screen looks like a piece of shit. While it has a qwerty keyboard, the keyboard is a piece of shit. It does not support touch typing - it is better than pressing 7 four times to get an "S", but not by much.
Hopefully their $150 phone and $300 ipod will wear out or break at about the time that their current cell phone contract is expiring. Depending on some circumstances (current provider, urban/rural location, and nothing else that I can think of off the top of my head), the confluence of events necessary to justify that kind of purchase might be a bit hard to come by. Yeah, probably only 1% of the market will buy it at first.
I agree with that, but think they made a pretty big mistake while doing so.
That mistake being...calling it the iPhone.
I have to agree, they definitely should have called it the MacPhone Pro!!;-) No, the MacPhone Pro, slated for release at the summer MacWorld Expo, will be slightly larger, have a 100GB hard drive instead of flash memory, an ExpressCard/34 slot into which you can put an EDGE or EVDO card from your favoriate vendor, and then you make calls using a SIP client that is also introduced at the same time to run on laptop and desktop mac systems. It will also have a USB port, 802.11n, and a slightly larger display.
Not that you exactly said this, but I'm getting really tired of people who keep saying that Apple products sell because they are "cool". You all have it backwards. They products are good and then they sell and then they become "cool". And a good experience with one Apple product makes people more comfortable about taking the risk to buy the next Apple product (i.e. that the product will actually do what it is proported to do and work pratically in their lives.)
The fact that they look nice is icing on the cake. Icing is important, though. Look at most nice birthday cakes from the bakery. People spend good money on cakes that have nice looking icing.
Now, there are cakes that are just icing, but they really aren't for eating - they are for display. No one actually buys them for a birthday cake (maybe anorexics).
So, yes, Apple's products look nice. Get over it - they are also quite practical to use for many people. They might not match Linux for some obscure uber-geek special purpose case. And they aren't commodity Window boxes that you should buy for some secretary to type letters. Hey - finely decorated birthday cakes generaly aren't used by hog farmers to feed livestock either. Get over it.
I will admit that they have an uphill battle if they want to sell 10 million of these. Cingular only has 50 million subscribers and the US smart phone market is pretty small. Uh, there are other countries besides the US. From what was said at the keynote, I think they plan to ship this in europe in time for Winter Holiday Shopping Orgy. So, I don't think 10 million units is unrealistic.
And hopefully they'll have a removable battery by then... Keep dreaming. I think this is very unlikely. Apple and the rest of the industry have been moving away from swapable batteries for a while now.
That's not to say you won't be able to have Apple replace the battery or possibly get a DIY kit from a company like Newer Technology (they make some replacement batteries for iPod that come with the tools you need to replace it yourself. But, I don't see Apple making the iPhone have a swapable battery - ever.
Several points you make are valid. I don't think that these points will add up to enough to make the iPhone fail. I do think that they will be addressed in future versions of the iPhone.
It is like the original iPod: A good friend ran out and bought the 5GB 1st Gen iPod right when it was released. When the 10GB model was released he ran out and bought that one because he had a music collection much larger than the 5GB (and also much larger than 10GB...) Then, shortly after Apple shipped the 20GB model and he was kicking himself for not waiting - especially after I bought the 20GB model. Although, I am pretty happy with my timing because right after I bought mine they changed over to an iPod with the dock connector and I prefer the standard FireWire connector.
I'm just guessing, but I think there will probably be an improved iPhone that has 3G support and much larger strorage space sometime in 2008 if not sooner. I could see them adding GPS and coming out with an SDK for developers, etc. (I expect Apple to announce some kind of SDK for iPhone at WWDC - even if it just Dashcode 2.0.)
My advice is that unless you just have to have the iPhone as soon as possible, wait at least three months. Typically new Apple hardware has a few annoying glitches that show up in the field and are addressed in approximately that timespan. For example, the original iMac was revised a couple months after it shipped to have much more VRAM and as I recall the Rev B. iMac was much more stable than the Rev. A iMac. Another example is the MacBook Pro. I just bought a MacBook Pro a few days ago. So far, it is rock solid. And it doesn't run hot like the first ones did. Recently I found out that the ones like mine that have the Core 2 Duo also have 802.11n radios just waiting to be activated via software update. So, frankly I am thrilled with my timing on this purchase. Another friend (different guy) in my office bought one of the first MacBook Pro models and it had a lot of problems. He had to have the motherboard replaced and it runs really hot. Well, that's what you get with brand new hardware designs.
I think the same thing could be true with the iPhone. I may get one because I develop for the Mac and my company will probably buy me one to develop for - or maybe I'll get prototype hardware (one of our execs is at MacWorld trying to talk to Apple Developer Relations about letting us develop for iPhone). I have no idea what the policy will be for third party developers. From what I've heard, its a closed system, but third parties can contact Apple if they want to write for it. So, we'll see - I had prototype hardware for the Newton 2000 before it came out. But if for some reason this doen't happen and I have to shell out my own cash for an iPhone, I'll probably wait a couple of months and see what the reader reports on Macintouch say before I buy one.
Certainly, I think an interviewer has zero obligation to spend his time explaining to somebody what they did wrong. Certainly not for free. For only $250, we'll tell you why you didn't get the job.
Slashdot Mirror
As opposed to which countries that interoperate when it's against their own best interests?
Pretty much all of europe - that's why they have high unemployment.And Coleco was stupid enough to fold their hand which had the effect of killing the Colecovision and handing the home gaming rights to Donkey Kong over to Atari.
One of the more interesting ideas that I have seen is to allow people to buy an OLPC for say, double the price, thus also buying one for a child oversees.
The part of it that would be of interest to me would be a system that would allow a westerner to just buy one of these for a child oversees.
First of all, it isn't "no third party apps" - it is "developers, if you want to write for iPhone, contact Apple Developer Relations (and make sure your hat is in your hands)."
This is no different than the business model used for gaming systems.
You have to decide which paradigm applies - a development free for all or a controlled system. Guess wrong and there are consequences either way.
They may announce something at WWDC this year. I'm hoping that will happen.
My daughter really hit the nail on the head recently. She said, "Software is like magic. You can use it to create beautiful wonderful things that amaze and delight people. Apple does this really well. Alternatively, you can be like Microsoft and use it to summon demons from Hell to torture people with."
I think if Microsoft made a phone it would be called "Windows Media Active Direct-X Phone Explorer".
Before they were divorced, she edited all of his movies starting with American Graffiti. The last one they did together was Return of the Jedi.
What are you basing your statement about 30 being too small a sample? Did you do a statistical power analysis? Unless you did, you are talking out of your ass. 30 might be OK if the researcher is using non-parametric statistics. I don't know - I haven't read the article.
The biggest problem is prank messages? I think all the messages will be prank messages - I think that's pretty much the idea.
I assume someone at Mini gets to review the messages and decide which ones are allowed, otherwise there will be obscene messages, threats, etc. This will be like when Nike had the shoes you could order with writing stitched into them and some guy wanted his to say "Sweatshop" and Nike said no.
Treo doesn't play iTunes. Treo doesn't have video. Treo doesn't have cover flow. Treo doesn't have core animation. I had a Treo 600, I paid about the same for it than I will pay for an iPhone. The screen looks like a piece of shit. While it has a qwerty keyboard, the keyboard is a piece of shit. It does not support touch typing - it is better than pressing 7 four times to get an "S", but not by much.
That mistake being...calling it the iPhone.
I have to agree, they definitely should have called it the MacPhone Pro!!
It will cost US $1,200.
Not that you exactly said this, but I'm getting really tired of people who keep saying that Apple products sell because they are "cool". You all have it backwards. They products are good and then they sell and then they become "cool". And a good experience with one Apple product makes people more comfortable about taking the risk to buy the next Apple product (i.e. that the product will actually do what it is proported to do and work pratically in their lives.)
The fact that they look nice is icing on the cake. Icing is important, though. Look at most nice birthday cakes from the bakery. People spend good money on cakes that have nice looking icing.
Now, there are cakes that are just icing, but they really aren't for eating - they are for display. No one actually buys them for a birthday cake (maybe anorexics).
So, yes, Apple's products look nice. Get over it - they are also quite practical to use for many people. They might not match Linux for some obscure uber-geek special purpose case. And they aren't commodity Window boxes that you should buy for some secretary to type letters. Hey - finely decorated birthday cakes generaly aren't used by hog farmers to feed livestock either. Get over it.
That's not to say you won't be able to have Apple replace the battery or possibly get a DIY kit from a company like Newer Technology (they make some replacement batteries for iPod that come with the tools you need to replace it yourself. But, I don't see Apple making the iPhone have a swapable battery - ever.
Several points you make are valid. I don't think that these points will add up to enough to make the iPhone fail. I do think that they will be addressed in future versions of the iPhone.
It is like the original iPod: A good friend ran out and bought the 5GB 1st Gen iPod right when it was released. When the 10GB model was released he ran out and bought that one because he had a music collection much larger than the 5GB (and also much larger than 10GB...) Then, shortly after Apple shipped the 20GB model and he was kicking himself for not waiting - especially after I bought the 20GB model. Although, I am pretty happy with my timing because right after I bought mine they changed over to an iPod with the dock connector and I prefer the standard FireWire connector.
I'm just guessing, but I think there will probably be an improved iPhone that has 3G support and much larger strorage space sometime in 2008 if not sooner. I could see them adding GPS and coming out with an SDK for developers, etc. (I expect Apple to announce some kind of SDK for iPhone at WWDC - even if it just Dashcode 2.0.)
My advice is that unless you just have to have the iPhone as soon as possible, wait at least three months. Typically new Apple hardware has a few annoying glitches that show up in the field and are addressed in approximately that timespan. For example, the original iMac was revised a couple months after it shipped to have much more VRAM and as I recall the Rev B. iMac was much more stable than the Rev. A iMac. Another example is the MacBook Pro. I just bought a MacBook Pro a few days ago. So far, it is rock solid. And it doesn't run hot like the first ones did. Recently I found out that the ones like mine that have the Core 2 Duo also have 802.11n radios just waiting to be activated via software update. So, frankly I am thrilled with my timing on this purchase. Another friend (different guy) in my office bought one of the first MacBook Pro models and it had a lot of problems. He had to have the motherboard replaced and it runs really hot. Well, that's what you get with brand new hardware designs.
I think the same thing could be true with the iPhone. I may get one because I develop for the Mac and my company will probably buy me one to develop for - or maybe I'll get prototype hardware (one of our execs is at MacWorld trying to talk to Apple Developer Relations about letting us develop for iPhone). I have no idea what the policy will be for third party developers. From what I've heard, its a closed system, but third parties can contact Apple if they want to write for it. So, we'll see - I had prototype hardware for the Newton 2000 before it came out. But if for some reason this doen't happen and I have to shell out my own cash for an iPhone, I'll probably wait a couple of months and see what the reader reports on Macintouch say before I buy one.
Couldn't we just close NA$A?
There are too many people in tech as it is, that's why I shoot to death anyone I choose not to hire.