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The iPhone is White Label Hardware

dbreunig.tumblr.com

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Re: The iPhone is White Label Hardware

#21

Post by mcantor »

orangecat wrote: post #18
menloparkbum wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't. You have to sign up for the dev program to get the app on your device. You can program to the simulator, but that doesn't help you with the unique features of the phone (camera, accelerometer, etc).

Or you can jailbreak, which lets you run unsigned apps including ones that you build in Xcode. But yeah, developing exclusively for the iPhone is just handing Apple a kill switch to your company.

Your point is clear and practical, but a thought just occurred to me:

Imagine if you had to jailbreak your Windows machine to use applications that Microsoft hadn't approved...

Re: The iPhone is White Label Hardware

#22

Post by GHFigs »

mcantor wrote: post #6

Full disclosure: I recently purchased a T-Mobile Android-powered G-1, with which I am more than a little enamored. Feel free to discard the following post as fanboy tripe. Couldn't this article have just as easily been written about the G-1, or certain models of Blackberry? (Especially since Android is open-source. Isn't it?) It disturbs me when Apple products are treated like the exclusive apotheosis of their niche.…

Couldn't this article have just as easily been written about the G-1, or certain models of Blackberry?

Android is not a large enough market for anyone to target exclusively. The Blackberry has inconsistent hardware capabilities, which fragments the large market it has.

The advantages that each of those platforms has just don't matter in achieving the kind of success that Apple has had with the iPhone platform in the way that the author describes.

Re: The iPhone is White Label Hardware

#23

Post by GHFigs »

mcantor wrote: post #11
menloparkbum wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't. You have to sign up for the dev program to get the app on your device. You can program to the simulator, but that doesn't help you with the unique features of the phone (camera, accelerometer, etc).

WOW. I didn't realize that was the case. Now I understand the App store fiasco much more... it seems like Apple is paying the price for its closed architecture culture. That makes me feel even more strongly about my original post: With an open architecture and less stringent gatekeeping, the G-1 is poised to take advantage of the PR disaster that Apple has been cultivating. It's too bad Apple has a monopoly on brandi…

Apple has a monopoly on branding expertise

Could you explain this?

Re: The iPhone is White Label Hardware

#24

Post by w1ntermute »

mcantor wrote: post #21
orangecat wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you can jailbreak, which lets you run unsigned apps including ones that you build in Xcode. But yeah, developing exclusively for the iPhone is just handing Apple a kill switch to your company.

Your point is clear and practical, but a thought just occurred to me: Imagine if you had to jailbreak your Windows machine to use applications that Microsoft hadn't approved...

The issue here is that the average person doesn't see the iPhone as a computer. That's why Apple is able to screw its users over like this and not catch any flak for it.

Re: The iPhone is White Label Hardware

#25

Post by DenisM »

mcantor wrote: post #11
menloparkbum wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't. You have to sign up for the dev program to get the app on your device. You can program to the simulator, but that doesn't help you with the unique features of the phone (camera, accelerometer, etc).

WOW. I didn't realize that was the case. Now I understand the App store fiasco much more... it seems like Apple is paying the price for its closed architecture culture. That makes me feel even more strongly about my original post: With an open architecture and less stringent gatekeeping, the G-1 is poised to take advantage of the PR disaster that Apple has been cultivating. It's too bad Apple has a monopoly on brandi…

Fiasco? You think App Store is not a success but a fiasco?

Re: The iPhone is White Label Hardware

#26

Post by godDLL »

yhnbgty wrote: post #16
dbreunig wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very true. It's a huge hinderance. However, the international audience of the device cannot be ignored. Neither can the huge base of iPod Touches.

The international audience is the problem with iPhone. You can finally now get it in Canada (a year late) and the UK.

You still can't get it in Israel.

You can import an unlocked device from France or something, but you'll have no visual voicemail, no 3G (EDGE/GPS works with Orange/Partner with some tweaking).

The Maps app doesn't have any info beyond the general border outline. You can get street names and all that from maps.google.com/ but that works awful in Mobile Safari.

Re: The iPhone is White Label Hardware

#28

Post by dbreunig »

akirk wrote: post #27

I just don't get why Apple doesn't just sell a higher-priced, unlocked iPhone, so that you don't have to get yourself screwed by your local carrier.

As always: business. AT&T is effectively paying Apple to prevent that very scenario.

AT&T is weathering the downturn relatively nicely thanks to their exclusive deal with Apple. The ~$200 check they cut Apple per 2-year contract is paying for that exclusivity plus like-advertising.

Re: The iPhone is White Label Hardware

#29

Post by GHFigs »

mcantor wrote: post #14
dbreunig wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. I agree with you: the G1 (and G2!) is a very capable device. As Android is adopted by more and more device manufacturers, Android could very well become a ubiquitous, ambient computing environment. The reason I focus on the iPhone is for two reasons. First off: it's hardware. No matter how good the G1 is, the crux of the phone is it's OS. That's the standard being pushed in that case. With the iPhone, th…

I think I see what you were getting at now, about the market penetration. I still don't really understand your point about hardware vs. software. The G-1 and iPhone are both pieces of hardware with pre-packaged software on them. Is there really anything the iPhone's hardware is capable of that the G-1 isn't, in some profound way? They both have wi-fi, GPS, accelerometer, calculator, touch screen, etc. The iPhone real…

in the end, the market suffers because consumers are complacent

I believe you're projecting your own preferences here. Unless you have evidence to suggest that the average iPhone owner is not happy with his purchase, saying "the market suffers" is a bit much.

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