"they are moving the world along with them" You tried iOS 7, didn't you? I sure hope they are not using "Apple Maps" to move themselves and the world.
Apple Maps has come a long way since the iOS 6 launch. Google Maps is still undoubtedly better, but Apple have been working hard on it. iOS 7 is not bad. People are still afraid of change (look at what they said about the original iPhone, now look where we are) but ultimately it was in need of a refresh.
But they are not "moving the world" in any way except for hardware. iOS 7 is derivative.
Article is fine but misses a few salient points. Appstores did exist, Docomo created the first appstore and any phones that were released by the carrier had to comply to Docomo's requirements. Nokia created an appstore with N-Gage, it didn't work and created a carrier backlash. What Apple did was to stealth in their app store. It was all due to a strategic mistake by AT&T. Sure the Apple was a great device, but remem…
I always considered App stores the same as Linux repositories with a payment option.
Every european country has own laws, culture and language. They are individual markets, and each market is too small to break even after all the R&D and hardware costs.
Is that not similar to how the individual states in the US work? (Laws, culture to a degree, but obviously not language).
I don't want a "smartphone". I want a handheld computer, the size of a "smartphone", with a cool form factor like a "smartphone". But, it needs to have Ethernet ports, USB ports, SD card slots, CF card slot, etc. An RS232 serial port would be nice too. I want versatility: inputs and outputs. I do not need to connect to any cellular networks. I do not want a closed source baseband operating system, SIM cards, etc. I w…
Rasberry Pi sounds pretty like what you are describing. Just doesn't come with a display as far as I can tell.
> Small to medium businesses will use apps on standard devices like iPads
I used to get lunch at a Specialty's sandwich place in SF. You could place your order at the counter (to a human, who would mess it up) or use their iPad app at the self-service counter (this got the order right every time). The iPad app worked well, but it was a source of bemusement to me that the self-service counter was just a counter with a row of iPads mounted on it. I once hit the home button on one, to see what would happen, and was taken to the home screen. I feel like for business use you might want more of an ability to lock the device down.
I believe that smartphones are actually a slice of the embedded systems development market, the same as desktop computers. They are probably the most profitable slice, but that is exactly why the biggest players in the market pay top budget to compete about the shares. Because of that understanding of mine, I think you don't really get into the "smartphone market" as a start-up, but you get into the embedded systems market. And that is quite possible. You just need to find a slice of the market that is not so highly competed in and you can enter there, e.g., producing small Linux computers for public transportation companies with different, very specific tasks, or building remote controls for model airplanes/quadrocopters. There you get all the know-how of building your own computers, working on your own operating system, finding suppliers and when you are really, really good, you might even come up with a platform of some sort that you can get other developers on to make Apps for, just in the business-to-business area instead of the tough endcustomer market.
I'm the original author. You can probably guess this from the blog, but smartphones don't interest me anymore. I loved my time at Palm, but I'm working on new things now. Stuff that needs good innovation right now: * Internet of Things, esp. on the usability side. * 3D printing. making it more useful and accessible. * Changing how we teach math and science. I can't stress this enough. * Improving programming. We stil…
Did they not do it on punch cards in the 70's?
I think things have improved in the ten years or so I have been in the industry. Java was the hot language in those days, because you could write it once and run it anywhere.
I think many of the author's points are valid, but I do still believe that companies like Blackberry and Nokia can build Android or Windows Mobile phones successfully, as they won't have to deal with a) user inertia from changing to a new OS or b) developing entirely new UI and operating systems. As far as I can tell, there won't really be any new carriers or any new operating systems, but that doesn't preclude compe…
I hope Blackberry and Nokia can produce some decent phones in the future. Android has come a long way, but Windows Phone is still pretty awful (more importantly, Nokia are never going to produce an Android with Microsoft as an owner). I used a HTC G1 and Motorola Milestone (1.6 and 2.something) as well as a Galaxy S3 (on 4.something) - back at 1.6 it was nothing special, the S3 on 4.x was hugely improved and a joy to use. If I wasn't so heavily vested in iOS it would be a worthy contender. Windows Phone on the other hand I can't say so much for. Most of the people I've spoken to that are non tech-literate don't have favourable experiences. A family member (electrician by trade) had a high-end Nokia Lumia for a year and didn't have a whole lot to say about it, until he took it in for repair and they gave him an iPhone 4S. He couldn't stop talking about how much better he found it to use, and thus as soon as they demanded it back he switched to an iPhone. Until these manufactures delight the user in the same way that the iPhone does, or differentiate themselves enough, there's little hope.
Apple Maps has come a long way since the iOS 6 launch. Google Maps is still undoubtedly better, but Apple have been working hard on it. iOS 7 is not bad. People are still afraid of change (look at what they said about the original iPhone, now look where we are) but ultimately it was in need of a refresh.
But they are not "moving the world" in any way except for hardware. iOS 7 is derivative.
True, even the hardware iterations aren't exciting. Rebranding the 5 as the 5C is disappointing.
Where Apple do lead is in software, Android is getting better for the regular user but it's still not even close. Vertical integration works.
This guy is missing the fact that in a lot of European countries, and elsewhere in the world, carriers mean squat . The carrier is often simply the provider of the SIM card you put in the phone, so carrier support is in no way needed for a phone to succeed. You don't need to be successful in the US to be successful.
Carriers don't mean squat. They are the king makers. They control a section of the market that every smartphone mnnufacturer relied on. The Radio frequencies. This gives them power via their marketing subsidies, and it was this power they leveraged before they screwed up and ceded control to the platform. It used to be the case that the carriers controlled your wallet. Every single thing you did on the phone, the mon…
The fact is that in a lot of European countries, they don't even have AT&T.