Regardless of whether you feel Gruber is a fan boy or not, you gotta admit he's a great writer. Always look forward to his pieces.
The Chair
71–80 of 186 posts
Re: The Chair
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fear the world got lucky in that the Internet inherited its openness from academia, and the PC inherited its openness from the early hobbyist microcomputer scene. As in many other industries, openness - except when necessary for a bare minimum of interoperability - has never really been the norm in consumer electronics. As computing moves beyond the PC, I think that (sadly) we are going to have to get used to propr…
Unfortunately for companies moving beyond the PC, the genie is out of the bottle already. Phones have been historically locked down by carriers. Taking a look at the alternatives from just 5 years ago, the iPhone looks pretty damn open. And there is a reason for that, and why consumers didn't care. Consumers are used to phones being locked, but consumers are also used to doing whatever they want with the computers th…
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Re: The Chair
#73Regardless of whether you feel Gruber is a fan boy or not, you gotta admit he's a great writer. Always look forward to his pieces.
Don't forget that Apple has officially taken a liking to him, and that he is getting unusual access for a "regular guy". Pre-release hardware to review, invitations to private Apple media events, etc.
It would be in his best interest to not anger Apple or they instantly cut off his access. See: Walt Mossberg.
Re: The Chair
#74My favorite thing about Jobs: Seeing a man who actually DESERVES every ounce of his celebrity, clearly enjoying it so much. Nice piece by Gruber capturing the event, and my favorite flavor of Apple worship.
Did you actually say "worship"? I suppose you are right. It is more religious than evidence based.
Re: The Chair
#75Regardless of whether you feel Gruber is a fan boy or not, you gotta admit he's a great writer. Always look forward to his pieces.
I agree. I've been following him for a long time (before he quit his day job!), and he is absolutely a great writer. Daringfireball, along with HN, are truly my only daily reads.
However, while I think he's generally spot on with his Apple analysis, I can see how his detractors are turned off by the smidgeon of smugness in some of his articles.
Re: The Chair
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes but for most non geeks, the Xoom doesn't do much beyond the built in apps, whereas the iPad has 65,000 apps they can use today. That might be different in a year's time but the average user would be crazy to choose a Xoom over an iPad 2 now for that reason alone.
Replace "Xoom" with "G1"/"Android" and "IPad"/"IPad 2" with "IPhone". Pretty much exactly what people said more than 2 years ago.
True, but with the phones there were lots of people who couldn't buy an iPhone to use on their carrier or wanted something cheap.
Android phones had a captive market.
iPads are more useful, cheaper and not limited by carrier. Why would a non-enthusiast buy an Android tablet based on the idea they they might get better over time, when iPads are good now?
Re: The Chair
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
What UI? The UI of the 65,000 full screen iPad specific apps, or the UI of the 16 Android Tablet apps? Have you actually tried a Xoom?
Yes, I've tried a Xoom today, I also have bought an iPad a while back. Have you tried a Xoom yourself? I don't really see the relevance of the number of applications to the the UI experience.
>> I don't really see the relevance of the number of applications to the the UI experience.
This is silly, without apps what value does it offer?
Re: The Chair
#78The tech press needs to play up the competition to the iPad as much as possible, because drama drives clicks. But the reality is that Apple's iPad is so far ahead of everything else that it's almost out of sight. Have you used one of the 'iPad killers'? That is not competition. It's a joke. You can't even buy any of them, except for Samsung's Galaxy Tab. [And the Motorola Xoom, but only at retail Best Buy in America,…
Ah, I still remember when the 1st Android phone came out (G1). A lot of people were dismissing it because the IPhone had a 2-year head start. Interface was ugly, phone is thick like a brick, only on 1 carrier, the smallest of the Big 4 at that. Well, how did that turn out? Android is selling more than the IPhone. A proper tablet OS didn't arrive until last month and people are already saying it's almost too late for…
You're right, it isn't the same. This analogy would make sense if Apple was exclusively selling the iPad through their retail stores alone (and maybe a partner, say Target) whereas all other stores (BestBuy, Staples, etc.) were selling Android tablets exclusively.
Google (and manufacturers) need to move with their tablets and get them at prices people feel comfortable purchasing them fast. Otherwise, iPads will become the next "iPod" where your average consumer associates tablet/slate pcs with an iPad.
Re: The Chair
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can grok that, though for me I found myself going back to my MacBook Pro because the iPad needs propping up and is too slow (browsing). Ignoring slowness, admittedly a problem for any tablet in my opinion.
Kind of funny that iPad 2 directly addresses both of your complaints: performance, and the new case which seems to make a pretty good stand.
I don't think it's funny, I think it's a case of Apple identifying genuine weaknesses with the product and addressing them - it's what they should be doing.
Re: The Chair
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fear the world got lucky in that the Internet inherited its openness from academia, and the PC inherited its openness from the early hobbyist microcomputer scene. As in many other industries, openness - except when necessary for a bare minimum of interoperability - has never really been the norm in consumer electronics. As computing moves beyond the PC, I think that (sadly) we are going to have to get used to propr…
Indeed, there was always a big contrast between the telecom world (closed) and the PC world (open). As these are merging now, I hope the openness won't be sacrificed. I really hope we can prevent that from happening. It's one of the things that makes the internet a really great place for innovation.
It's not just telecom either. Game consoles have always been closed. And we are starting to see apps running on TVs, in cars, and other places that definitely do not have the history of openness that the PC does.