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Fertile Ground

marco.org

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61–70 of 219 posts

Re: Fertile Ground

#61

Post by bane »

chasing wrote: post #22
btipling wrote: post #10

It seems hypocritical to laud fragmentation when it happens in iOS and decry it in Android. These changes seem similar to the Android differences in gingerbread and post-honeycomb. The resulting effect on developers will be the same. iOS 7 has made it apparent which bloggers are unable or unwilling to be fair in their criticism when it comes to Apple. The mismatched gradients on the new icons are beautiful to them, t…

It's not fragmentation. Within a year, the vast majority of iOS users will be on iOS 7. It's evolution.

and up pops a perfect examplar

Re: Fertile Ground

#62

Post by MichaelGG »

SwellJoe wrote: post #18

I don't think this is going to play out this way. Look to other operating systems that evolved their UI in similar fashion and a few of their dominant software players over the years: Windows-Office, Quickbooks, Quicken, IE/Chrome/Firefox/Netscape (which have shifted favor over years, but not because of UI changes in the OS) Mac OS (X and classic)-Adobe PS, Illustrator, ProTools, Office UI changes, even major ones, h…

The chrome around something like Photoshop is a small part of the entire experience, and unlikely to change a purchase decision. This is not true for many smartphone apps, where the look and feel is one of the key features and selection criteria. Apps that don't update will feel crappy and old and that'll put them at a major disadvantage.

This will be a chance to catch any "lazy" dominant apps if they don't upgrade soon enough. I'm not sure if there are any dominant players that are lazy - seems like you'd need to keep on your toes if you're gonna stay dominant. So not a whole lot might change, anyways.

Re: Fertile Ground

#63

Post by untog »

ghshephard wrote: post #46
thisisdallas wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very a good point. As a major Apple fan I completely agree with you. After looking over the iOS changes I see absolutely nothing that is more "revolutionary" than what we have now in iOS6, or even what Android and Windows Phone offers. At best, it looks like iOS7 is nothing more than a mix of Android and Windows Phone plus a few extra UI elements. I am not a big fan of Marco's obsession with drama but I do…

Combine Marco and Gruber's [1] insight - This is a major house cleaning/forest fire. Someone (Jony, et al.) has stepped back, looked at the confusion that has developed over the last 3-5 years on the iPhone, and has decided to recreate the iPhone as a conceptual platform. The introduction (and hopefully consistency) of multiple dimensions onto the phone, and a cross-system approach towards geometry, means that iOS7 w…

iOS7 will be a complete re-think of how applications work and behave on the iPhone.

Of course it won't. That just reads like hyperbole. Apps on iOS7 will work almost entirely the same as they do on iOS6 and below.

Re: Fertile Ground

#64

Post by fpgeek »

melling wrote: post #31
btipling wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for all those not so old iPhones that are stuck on iOS 6 forever.

That would be the 3Gs. I had mine for 3 years before I upgraded to the 5. It felt like a pretty old phone. What are the odds that people who have a 3-4 year old smart phone, really want to use a lot of apps?

The 3GS was on sale as recently as last September (maybe a bit later in some emerging markets).

Re: Fertile Ground

#65

Post by ghshephard »

cheald wrote: post #43

So when Android is fragmented, it is awful and is the reason the platform sucks. When iOS is fragmented, it's innovative and fresh, masterfully executed to bring new opportunities to developers. Got it.

Android Fragmentation is a problem because what version do you write your application for? 2.3? 4.0? Ideally 4.1/4.2, but that will miss 70% of your market who CAN'T upgrade because their Telco is not offering 4.1/4.2. Not because their hardware can't support it.

Anybody on an iPhone 4, 4S, or 5 who wants an iOS 7 app, can have it within a day of the iOS 7 release.

The downside of offering only one major phone a year, is that you don't occupy much shelf space in a best buy/AT&T - and someone casually looking for a phone, instead of a particular phone, is 90% unlikely to chose you.

The upside, is that when you offer a new OS - everyone gets to upgrade.

That's the Android fragmentation issue.

Re: Fertile Ground

#66

Post by kstop »

foobarbazqux wrote: post #32

> Fertile Ground I'm getting pretty tired of blog post titles that give no real hint at all as to the topic. My mind labels them as "pretentious" because they're pretending to be deep when they're not; by that I mean that rarely do the posts offer up any kind of non-trivial insight. (Compare with PG's similarly titled essays.) Earlier today we had "Two i's" from DHH's crew (where you had to infer from reading the pos…

Considering the source, I assumed it was about coffee.

Re: Fertile Ground

#67

Post by kenjackson »

Fertile ground is Google Glass, the new Kinect sensor, 3d printing, etc...

There are so many more interesting targets, I hope we don't focus our best on new skins for flashlight apps.

Re: Fertile Ground

#68

Post by foobarbazqux »

ghshephard wrote: post #53
foobarbazqux wrote: post #32

> Fertile Ground I'm getting pretty tired of blog post titles that give no real hint at all as to the topic. My mind labels them as "pretentious" because they're pretending to be deep when they're not; by that I mean that rarely do the posts offer up any kind of non-trivial insight. (Compare with PG's similarly titled essays.) Earlier today we had "Two i's" from DHH's crew (where you had to infer from reading the pos…

You would, of course, prefer something like, "iOS 7 reset creates new opportunities for Developers" or "iOS reboot creates conditions ripe for disruption" or, .... Honestly - "Fertile Ground" is a pretty damn good title. I can already imagine people casually discussing it at WWDC "Did you catch Marco's "Fertile Ground" post?"

I would be happy with "Apple's iOS 7 is Fertile Ground", "Hands-On with Google Glass", and "Two I's for Productivity: Interesting and Important Tasks".

Of course, these have all lost their Zen master cachet, but for me that's a distinct advantage. Good writing doesn't need to be cool.

Re: Fertile Ground

#70

Post by sosuke »

jmduke wrote: post #58
forrestthewoods wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the four year old non-retina iphone 3gs? I think it's safe to take that device behind the barn to retire forever. Few tears will be shed.

I don't like the idea that four years is a prohibitively long time for a device that I spend hundreds of dollars on.

Is there another company that is updating 4 year old phones? Is there an Android phone released with 2.2 that can run 4.2? I think Apple's backwards compatibility track record is the best there is, but here's to hoping for better!
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