"Originally, almost all software was Free, because the hardware cost so much."
Care to prove that assertion? Lots of computers came bundled with an OS and some software, much as my Mac came with OS X and iLife, but it was hardly "free". Even in the 360/PDP days, IBM and DEC would be more than happy to sell you an accounting system or Fortran compiler to go with your machine. How far back do we need to go "originally"?
Especially since it can be updated later through iTunes. Remember, Apple is spreading out the income over two years so it can provide updates and new features to existing phones.
"Just activate in-store like any other cell phone."
You think people are having problems now? A Piper Jay analyst said Apple has probably sold a half-million phones this weekend. I waited in line, then once inside the store, paid and had my phone in two minutes. Went to an WiFi-enabled restaurant nearby and was activated in three more, while I had some coffee.
So given that, the Apple store I went to processed an entire line of 200 people in an hour and a half, and I'd saw a quarter of those at least bought two phones.
Now. Picture a half-million people standing in line and having store employees REQUIRED to do all activations, transfers, credit checks, purchases, and all the other garbage usually associated with buying a phone, and now taking 10, 15, or even 20-minutes with each one. Now THAT would have been a disaster.
So you've never cared enough about a movie, play, or concert to be willing to stand in line for a few extra minutes in order to see it first? Never been passionate enough about something to want the first new kind of car or bike or computer or golf club or snowboard or whatever it is you're into? Never wanted to be the first to know something?
Sorry, but THAT doesn't seem normal to me. And it's not a putdown or anything, but I also think it's a bit sad...
And I wandered out of the Apple store, went across the street to a local WiFi-enabled restaurant, plugged the phone into my notebook, and was enabled in three minutes.
Now, I may have beat the rush, or the operation was simpler (already had an AT&T phone) vs. a phone number transfer from another service, but I suspect AT&T's systems were simply overwhelmed, much like TicketMaster going down when XYZ announces tickets now on sale in ABC-land.
Be interesting to hear the stats at some point, but from what I've gathered at sites across the web more people had my experience than yours. Sorry, and hope you're up by now.
By the time you add the cost of a "subsidized" smartphone into the required two-year voice-with-data-plan with any other carrier, the price is pretty much the same, and you're out $2K-beans no matter what.
Not to mention the fact that now you're probably going to need a Treo AND an iPod...
Gestures and direct manipulation are a revolution in interfaces. While you're keeping the graphic interface, the lack of the mouse and an onscreen pointer have a major impact as to how they're designed. Interesting discussion here: http://www.cfinternals.org/blog/2007/06/is-your-si te-de.html
And I, for one, would rather have an extra 3-4 hours of batter life as I'm probably going to use the thing for phone calls, music, and TV shows. If I want to do a major amount of web surfing I'll pull out the notebook. EDGE is fine for email and the occasional times when I need to check movie showtimes or whatnot.
It would be cruel for Apple to deny me the ability to use the device by adding so many features the battery life is thee hours.
Besides, TFA also says there are issues with 3G chips, including power consumption AND physical size. There's a limit to the numbr of discreet chips you can cram into a device before you also start having to increase the form factor. More power hungry chips means a bigger battery to get to the same life, which also translates into a larger form factor.
Yes, you could probably add in 3G and GPS and an 80B drive and tethering and all of the other "missing" features that people are complaining about... but do you really want a phone the size of a Newton?
Re:I'm buying.. Friday.
on
All Things iPhone
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Rumor also has it that they're going to pass out numbered armbands as the line builds. So the "friend" standing in line will only get one band, hence one number, hence cutting in won't be possible... nor, as you suggest, smart.
"I'm not surprised people like it, actually I'd be more surprised if people didn't like it."
Actually, to me that's the hallmark of successful design: Invoke passion. Make something that some people love and that some people hate and you'll have a market.
Too many companies design by committee and focus groups to the point where the end result is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. Others seemingly design by comparison chart, cramming in feature after feature, and often for no more reason than to fill in the blanks.
The later approach also seems to be favored by commentators here on Slashdot. But by walking a mental checklist of missing features, they also miss what it does do. And by all accounts, does to the point of elegance.
"it's not aimed at" and "is not going to be successful in the business environment" are two entirely different things. And again, this is just the first version.
As such, I wouldn't be making blanket assertions about its ultimate success or failure. In any market.
Re:Biased, iPhone not ready for enterprise use
on
The Perfect Phone Storm?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
"iPhone doesn't support the most basic requirements of an enterprise-grade Smartphone's purpose; over-the-air Groupware/PIM!"
Given relative market penetrations, I suspect that there will be plenty of "enterprise-grade" customers for whom this "basic requirement" can be safely ignored. And probably the vast majority of small and mid-sized businesses as well.
It seems to me that too many people are assuming that everyone else's situation and requirements exactly parallel their own.
The iPhone is 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46. The 30GB iPod is 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43. (80GB is 0.55.)
It's effectively four tenths of an inch taller and barely a millimeter thicker. So I say again. Huge? My iPod fits all of my pockets just fine (well, with the exception of the watch pocket on my jeans).
Slashdot Mirror
Get one of these guys:
3400mAh External Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery Pack
Worked great with my iPod and the iPhone uses the same cable. In a pinch you can also recharge off your notebook battery via USB.
It's not unlocked, it's activated. There is a difference.
"Originally, almost all software was Free, because the hardware cost so much."
Care to prove that assertion? Lots of computers came bundled with an OS and some software, much as my Mac came with OS X and iLife, but it was hardly "free". Even in the 360/PDP days, IBM and DEC would be more than happy to sell you an accounting system or Fortran compiler to go with your machine. How far back do we need to go "originally"?
Especially since it can be updated later through iTunes. Remember, Apple is spreading out the income over two years so it can provide updates and new features to existing phones.
"Just activate in-store like any other cell phone."
You think people are having problems now? A Piper Jay analyst said Apple has probably sold a half-million phones this weekend. I waited in line, then once inside the store, paid and had my phone in two minutes. Went to an WiFi-enabled restaurant nearby and was activated in three more, while I had some coffee.
So given that, the Apple store I went to processed an entire line of 200 people in an hour and a half, and I'd saw a quarter of those at least bought two phones.
Now. Picture a half-million people standing in line and having store employees REQUIRED to do all activations, transfers, credit checks, purchases, and all the other garbage usually associated with buying a phone, and now taking 10, 15, or even 20-minutes with each one. Now THAT would have been a disaster.
"Don't tell anyone, but... those Star Wars fans, Lord of the Rings fans, iPhone fans... they're all the same people."
Ah... that's probably truer than you think.
So you've never cared enough about a movie, play, or concert to be willing to stand in line for a few extra minutes in order to see it first? Never been passionate enough about something to want the first new kind of car or bike or computer or golf club or snowboard or whatever it is you're into? Never wanted to be the first to know something?
Sorry, but THAT doesn't seem normal to me. And it's not a putdown or anything, but I also think it's a bit sad...
And I wandered out of the Apple store, went across the street to a local WiFi-enabled restaurant, plugged the phone into my notebook, and was enabled in three minutes.
Now, I may have beat the rush, or the operation was simpler (already had an AT&T phone) vs. a phone number transfer from another service, but I suspect AT&T's systems were simply overwhelmed, much like TicketMaster going down when XYZ announces tickets now on sale in ABC-land.
Be interesting to hear the stats at some point, but from what I've gathered at sites across the web more people had my experience than yours. Sorry, and hope you're up by now.
The three day bit kind of sucks though...
By the time you add the cost of a "subsidized" smartphone into the required two-year voice-with-data-plan with any other carrier, the price is pretty much the same, and you're out $2K-beans no matter what.
Not to mention the fact that now you're probably going to need a Treo AND an iPod...
And how many commercial applications of that technology are available today for the mass market?
"... you simply do not have the option of using it beyond that short lifetime without resorting to drastic measures."
You mean, other than taking it to an Apple store and asking them to replace the battery for you?
Gestures and direct manipulation are a revolution in interfaces. While you're keeping the graphic interface, the lack of the mouse and an onscreen pointer have a major impact as to how they're designed. Interesting discussion here: http://www.cfinternals.org/blog/2007/06/is-your-si te-de.html
And I, for one, would rather have an extra 3-4 hours of batter life as I'm probably going to use the thing for phone calls, music, and TV shows. If I want to do a major amount of web surfing I'll pull out the notebook. EDGE is fine for email and the occasional times when I need to check movie showtimes or whatnot.
It would be cruel for Apple to deny me the ability to use the device by adding so many features the battery life is thee hours.
Horses for courses.
Make up enough numbers in those examples?
Besides, TFA also says there are issues with 3G chips, including power consumption AND physical size. There's a limit to the numbr of discreet chips you can cram into a device before you also start having to increase the form factor. More power hungry chips means a bigger battery to get to the same life, which also translates into a larger form factor.
Yes, you could probably add in 3G and GPS and an 80B drive and tethering and all of the other "missing" features that people are complaining about... but do you really want a phone the size of a Newton?
Rumor also has it that they're going to pass out numbered armbands as the line builds. So the "friend" standing in line will only get one band, hence one number, hence cutting in won't be possible... nor, as you suggest, smart.
"... for what 90% of people do 90% of the time."
Umm... make phone calls? List to their tunes?
I think you're making the error of extrapolating that what YOU do and want is what 90% of everyone else does and wants.
"I'm not surprised people like it, actually I'd be more surprised if people didn't like it."
Actually, to me that's the hallmark of successful design: Invoke passion. Make something that some people love and that some people hate and you'll have a market.
Too many companies design by committee and focus groups to the point where the end result is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. Others seemingly design by comparison chart, cramming in feature after feature, and often for no more reason than to fill in the blanks.
The later approach also seems to be favored by commentators here on Slashdot. But by walking a mental checklist of missing features, they also miss what it does do. And by all accounts, does to the point of elegance.
"Other than Video and 3D games, the performance of a Mac or PC is secondary now to the experience."
Yeah, tell that to my 20-layer 300MB Photoshop files.
"Oh, and the iPhone isn't going to let you read/edit/email Word docs."
h one-guided-tour-part-2-word-excel-files-viewable-a nd-more/
Edit? Not yet. Read? Different story.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/ip
"it's not aimed at" and "is not going to be successful in the business environment" are two entirely different things. And again, this is just the first version.
As such, I wouldn't be making blanket assertions about its ultimate success or failure. In any market.
"iPhone doesn't support the most basic requirements of an enterprise-grade Smartphone's purpose; over-the-air Groupware/PIM!"
Given relative market penetrations, I suspect that there will be plenty of "enterprise-grade" customers for whom this "basic requirement" can be safely ignored. And probably the vast majority of small and mid-sized businesses as well.
It seems to me that too many people are assuming that everyone else's situation and requirements exactly parallel their own.
"... and partially to ensure that the ink cartridge doesn't sputter while its on low ink."
You would think that any company that advertises it's ability to control ink droplet delivery to the pico-liter would not have that problem.
Yeah, too bad that's it's impossible to make an effective electric car now. Or even, say, eight years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1
I will buy that car from the first manufacturer to make one. Toyota? Volkswagen?
BTW, you may find this interesting:
http://www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/
The iPhone is 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46. The 30GB iPod is 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43. (80GB is 0.55.)
It's effectively four tenths of an inch taller and barely a millimeter thicker. So I say again. Huge? My iPod fits all of my pockets just fine (well, with the exception of the watch pocket on my jeans).