Because somebody could not be bothered to read the interface definitions, or they were unavailable, or too hard/cumbersome to work with at the time, etc. Do you always write your throwaway scripts to an official, certified specification, never taking a shortcut? Have you never been in a situation where a throwaway script becomes a perpetual part of a system?
Besides, what is the guarantee that if you code to the exact specs, things will work any better, or that the other free service will be any more reliable or long-lived?
I've A3 and iPhone 4. This is why I can say with certain confidence that outside of the significant hardware upgrade, which made a better OS and apps possible, the devices are not that far apart. RSS, ebooks, excellent offline maps with reasonably good performance and navigation, email and even web browsing was doable on the A3. And sending SMS was comfortable for grandma long, long before the smartphones. Maybe you need to improve your explanation skills. But this is all irrelevant to the discussion above, so excuse me for stopping here.
Apple may not have faced bankruptsy in 2000, but it was certainly not the tech jewel it is perceived to be at the moment. Their stock performance was not very impressive until about 06, when they started selling the iTunes. But since the topic is their performance in the mobile phones/tablets market, what is interesting is the development since the release of the iPhone.
In this particular market, Apple outran the competition in the US between 08 and 10, and this is why their stock went up. They are now fighting to stay level.
As for what smartphones would be like - they would be more or less the same. The iPhone isn't all that much different from an Axim or HP PDA from 2004, except for the better hardware, which was not invented at apple.
The same way it was trouble in the early 90s. One company can't outrun the whole market for long.
Why do you think they only release one phone per year?
Partly because of the strong brand value in the US, and partly because they can't do much more and keep the margins high. This isn't new thinking. Ford was thinking along the same lines long time ago-- any color as long as it is black. It also works well... Until your competitors blow you out of the water. Wait until the margins slip because of something, and the short selling sets in... It will be a fun ride.
Ask GP for the details, but last I heard they appear to be losing market share to various upstarts in various mobile markets, despite their enormous marketing advantage.
If it's soooo easy, then why is Apple finding it so hard now?
Because not one company can be a leader for many years, especially in a dynamic field with high margins. This is economics 101, people catch up in the long run. Would Apple's problems be any different today if Jobs were still alive?
Can't we for a while at least stop ascribing a success, which is due to the hard work of a very large group of people over a long period to one man, and further look for some magical parallels where there are none?
Don't forget the"retina displays" of Sharp and Toshiba in 06, as well as the app markets of the Japanese carriers. There is a lot of copying in every "revolutionary" design out there.
You can dig a big hole in the sand, park in there, then cover the car. I think you can keep the temperatures down a lot. With a bit of trial, error and luck, you can even learn to hide the whole setup from terrarists and unsolicited aerial vehicles.
Tablecloth reincarnations have sold out, but we are glad to announce the unique Loincloth of Jobs the Warrior Philosopher Reincarnation. Applications are accepted to the left with a certified proof of purchase of any Apple product in the past 6 months. To get your certification for the insignificant $25 fee, bring your receipt to any Genius Bar today.
Don't worry. Just like in the movie, the verdict will stand. The engineer will follow his kid, kidnapped by the spirit of Jobs, into the Latin American jungle, where a tribe of nice natives will use voodoo to help put the said spirit in hell and return the kid to his father.
Weight? Holding a tablet has never been a big deal
Sure. Using it, on the other hand, requires some getting used to it. A lot less when the tablet is lighter. Which is why Apple is now following the competition with a smaller option.
As many as there are necessary to make us forget the long soliloquies I had to listen to each time I mentioned that the large screen and weight of the iPad make it rather poor choice for proper mobile use, and basically useless at home where you have a notebook anyway.
I'm used to 7-7.5 inches and under 300 grams of weight from the ebooks I've been using for about a decade now, so it was good to see Android-based tablets in a similar form factor. I have just upgraded an ageing galaxy tab to a Google Nexus 7 and I am glad to see that Apple is joining the crowd.
"Intellectual property" is a fiction. It's a mass-delusion. It's a choice....
IP is none of these. IP is a variation of a business model known as rent-seeking in economics. Basically, a natural or legal (such as IP) monopoly creates excess profits, which allow those making them to engage in various tactics that extend the monopoly. Since the profits and the harm from such tactics are distributed very unevenly (few get very rich, while the huge majority loses a little), the incentives and resource availability may prevent political corrective of the rent-seeking even in a democratic society.
When I hear "antenna" and "NFC" I can't help but think that QR has one important "shortcomming" -- it can only get into my phone if I want it to. Now, imagine the marketing potential for something that can be read without user interaction by a helpful app and you'll see the appeal...
Yes, but both "system" and non-system apps run in the same virtual machine, whereas in a feature phone, the dialer app, the camera app and a couple of pre-selected other apps will be written in the native language for the platform, typically some C, and be totally distinct from the junk you can dump into your java or bree or whatever environment.
As for JavaME, it allowed some pretty decent apps when enforced across all phone models in a market and provided with a single repository to buy/download apps. One example of such a service was the Docomo i-appli marketplace.
So, technically there are some differences (which were in place back then because hardware wasn't powerful enough for general purpose computing), but from the user perspective it is mostly marketing and management.
With feature phones, you run end-user apps in a manner that is different from the "system" end-user applications, typically in some sandbox. For smartphones, you are using the same environment for both. This usually implies a different development environment and language.
"Only because" is a pretty hairy problem. The people who get ahead will have both an incentive and resources to cheat even more, and engage in all sorts of political and other activities to block a "fix". I'm sure you can provide some examples yourself.
Slashdot Mirror
Because somebody could not be bothered to read the interface definitions, or they were unavailable, or too hard/cumbersome to work with at the time, etc. Do you always write your throwaway scripts to an official, certified specification, never taking a shortcut? Have you never been in a situation where a throwaway script becomes a perpetual part of a system?
Besides, what is the guarantee that if you code to the exact specs, things will work any better, or that the other free service will be any more reliable or long-lived?
As a fellow xfce user let me retort that the language you chose to reiterate your preferences make them sound kind of lightweight. :)
I've A3 and iPhone 4. This is why I can say with certain confidence that outside of the significant hardware upgrade, which made a better OS and apps possible, the devices are not that far apart. RSS, ebooks, excellent offline maps with reasonably good performance and navigation, email and even web browsing was doable on the A3. And sending SMS was comfortable for grandma long, long before the smartphones. Maybe you need to improve your explanation skills. But this is all irrelevant to the discussion above, so excuse me for stopping here.
Apple may not have faced bankruptsy in 2000, but it was certainly not the tech jewel it is perceived to be at the moment. Their stock performance was not very impressive until about 06, when they started selling the iTunes. But since the topic is their performance in the mobile phones/tablets market, what is interesting is the development since the release of the iPhone.
In this particular market, Apple outran the competition in the US between 08 and 10, and this is why their stock went up. They are now fighting to stay level.
As for what smartphones would be like - they would be more or less the same. The iPhone isn't all that much different from an Axim or HP PDA from 2004, except for the better hardware, which was not invented at apple.
How is that trouble?
The same way it was trouble in the early 90s. One company can't outrun the whole market for long.
Why do you think they only release one phone per year?
Partly because of the strong brand value in the US, and partly because they can't do much more and keep the margins high. This isn't new thinking. Ford was thinking along the same lines long time ago-- any color as long as it is black. It also works well ... Until your competitors blow you out of the water. Wait until the margins slip because of something, and the short selling sets in ... It will be a fun ride.
Ask GP for the details, but last I heard they appear to be losing market share to various upstarts in various mobile markets, despite their enormous marketing advantage.
Not unless it is ballet music and en pointe. Maybe Apple will bring Portman to give everyone a full nerdgasm, too. I can't wait.
If it's soooo easy, then why is Apple finding it so hard now?
Because not one company can be a leader for many years, especially in a dynamic field with high margins. This is economics 101, people catch up in the long run. Would Apple's problems be any different today if Jobs were still alive?
Can't we for a while at least stop ascribing a success, which is due to the hard work of a very large group of people over a long period to one man, and further look for some magical parallels where there are none?
Are you also a Warrior-Philosopher hovering in a glass castle over California by any chance?
Don't forget the"retina displays" of Sharp and Toshiba in 06, as well as the app markets of the Japanese carriers. There is a lot of copying in every "revolutionary" design out there.
The glass palace? Most certainly, and all the flats are all touch surfaces.
You can dig a big hole in the sand, park in there, then cover the car. I think you can keep the temperatures down a lot. With a bit of trial, error and luck, you can even learn to hide the whole setup from terrarists and unsolicited aerial vehicles.
Tablecloth reincarnations have sold out, but we are glad to announce the unique Loincloth of Jobs the Warrior Philosopher Reincarnation. Applications are accepted to the left with a certified proof of purchase of any Apple product in the past 6 months. To get your certification for the insignificant $25 fee, bring your receipt to any Genius Bar today.
Don't worry. Just like in the movie, the verdict will stand. The engineer will follow his kid, kidnapped by the spirit of Jobs, into the Latin American jungle, where a tribe of nice natives will use voodoo to help put the said spirit in hell and return the kid to his father.
Weight? Holding a tablet has never been a big deal
Sure. Using it, on the other hand, requires some getting used to it. A lot less when the tablet is lighter. Which is why Apple is now following the competition with a smaller option.
Just because you can't find one doesn't mean it isn't there
Since we're discussing Apple following the competition with a smaller tablets, it is obvious it isn't "just me".
As many as there are necessary to make us forget the long soliloquies I had to listen to each time I mentioned that the large screen and weight of the iPad make it rather poor choice for proper mobile use, and basically useless at home where you have a notebook anyway.
I'm used to 7-7.5 inches and under 300 grams of weight from the ebooks I've been using for about a decade now, so it was good to see Android-based tablets in a similar form factor. I have just upgraded an ageing galaxy tab to a Google Nexus 7 and I am glad to see that Apple is joining the crowd.
"Intellectual property" is a fiction. It's a mass-delusion. It's a choice....
IP is none of these. IP is a variation of a business model known as rent-seeking in economics. Basically, a natural or legal (such as IP) monopoly creates excess profits, which allow those making them to engage in various tactics that extend the monopoly. Since the profits and the harm from such tactics are distributed very unevenly (few get very rich, while the huge majority loses a little), the incentives and resource availability may prevent political corrective of the rent-seeking even in a democratic society.
When my phone is in my pocket, my camera is effectively covered.
When I hear "antenna" and "NFC" I can't help but think that QR has one important "shortcomming" -- it can only get into my phone if I want it to. Now, imagine the marketing potential for something that can be read without user interaction by a helpful app and you'll see the appeal ...
Yes, but both "system" and non-system apps run in the same virtual machine, whereas in a feature phone, the dialer app, the camera app and a couple of pre-selected other apps will be written in the native language for the platform, typically some C, and be totally distinct from the junk you can dump into your java or bree or whatever environment.
As for JavaME, it allowed some pretty decent apps when enforced across all phone models in a market and provided with a single repository to buy/download apps. One example of such a service was the Docomo i-appli marketplace.
So, technically there are some differences (which were in place back then because hardware wasn't powerful enough for general purpose computing), but from the user perspective it is mostly marketing and management.
With feature phones, you run end-user apps in a manner that is different from the "system" end-user applications, typically in some sandbox. For smartphones, you are using the same environment for both. This usually implies a different development environment and language.
As long as the features the phones provide to the users are comparable, who cares what virtual machine runs the software?
"Only because" is a pretty hairy problem. The people who get ahead will have both an incentive and resources to cheat even more, and engage in all sorts of political and other activities to block a "fix". I'm sure you can provide some examples yourself.