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John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

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Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#71

Post by cakesy »

eavc wrote: post #38
jackowayed wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interface just isn't as nice overall. It gets the job done, but it's not as intuitive or pretty as the iPhone's player. Also, the vast majority of people have their music in iTunes. The fact that they can't just plug in the device and tell iTunes to sync might be a turnoff

The vast majority?

I would say yes, the vast majority. Of legal music buyers anyway.

Apple is has been the biggest music seller in the US for the last 2 years, it is now bigger than the next 2, Walmart and best Buy. It has over 27% of the market. Amazon is at something like 7% for digital+cds.

Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#72

Post by sasidharm »

armandososa wrote: post #34
kenshi wrote: post #20

It's not just Microsoft who seem to be out of the game so to speak. What's going on with Nokia? It's taking them forever to come up with a device and/or platform that seems like a credible competitor to Android and iPhone OS.

And that makes me somewhat sad. I've been a user of Nokia for 10 years and I allways loved those devices. When I purchased my last phone, 1.5 years ago, I gave them a vote of confidence and got an E71 instead of an iPhone. I regret it every day. Stupid E71.

Actually i blame nokia for the sad state of mobile user interfaces until the iPhone came along

Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#73

Post by sasidharm »

adbge wrote: post #42

Gruber's thoughts can be summed up as: Google vs Apple, bring it on, but where's Microsoft? While he isn't wrong, it's not exactly much more than some common sense. I also think he _seriously_ underestimates Microsoft.

Microsoft will be 3.5 years late to the smartphone party when windows phone 7 series will eventually be released. People would have already made their choice between iPhone and Android.

Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#74

Post by darrenkopp »

timr wrote: post #63
ssp wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gruber is right about Microsoft failing at phones and that there is not much they can do about it. However, I don't think Ballmer is in denial about that. It was and is obvious that at some point all phones will be what we call smartphones now. I think Ballmer's point is that even when that happens, the iPhone will not be able to sustain its 16%. It will still have insignificant market share. Android will not, though…

"I think Ballmer asked the right question and got the right answer. He just doesn't have any way to respond to Android." Of course he does: he can give away the new smartphone OS. It's not as if Microsoft has never given away software to win market share.

exactly. and he can give away windows os on mobile because they are getting paid for android os on mobile.

Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#76

Post by portman »

jackowayed wrote: post #16
symesc wrote: post #11

His footnote is interesting: "Although there’s still no decent Android-based equivalent to the iPod Touch." He's right. Based on price, there is no equivalent. On features, the equivalent is a Google Nexus One without a SIM card. Trouble is, that's about to not be available from Google directly. I'm wondering whether we'll be able to buy an N1 without a contract ever again. Disclosure: I bought an N1 directly from Go…

But the N1 isn't even a very good substitute. Although people who buy iTouches love all the apps and the ability to browse the web whenever they have WiFi, in the end, they're buying an mp3 player. They're buying it so that they can listen to music. Not only is the N1 much more expensive, but it also has a much worse music-playing interface. Until someone fixes the Android music player or writes their own (luckily, a…

>> Although people who buy iTouches love all the apps and the ability to browse the web whenever they have WiFi, in the end, they're buying an mp3 player. They're buying it so that they can listen to music.

Our family has three iPod touches with no music on ANY of them. If you speak to families with young children, you'll find there are millions of iPod Touches out there being used as game/app/video platforms.

Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#77

Post by portman »

holman wrote: post #22
anr wrote: post #17

I'm not sure Apple is ahead on backup & restore with the iPhone / iPad. You shouldn't need a desktop (with an OS that runs iTunes) in the first place. I read that the first thing you need to do with iPad is to connect it to iTunes.

What Gruber was getting at is that Apple has a far better syncing strategy since Android wipes everything between updates and Apple neatly brings all your data with you. That said, the cloud-based syncing that Android will eventually ship looks like the "right" solution. I doubt anyone at Apple considers USB syncing to be the end game, though; I'd be shocked if they didn't have some sort of over-the-air syncing in th…

>>since Android wipes everything between updates

My G1 upgraded from 1.0 > 1.1 > 1.5 > 1.6 without wiping.

My Droid upgraded from 2.0 > 2.1 (and will > 2.2 soon) without wiping.

Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#78

Post by fh »

Tichy wrote: post #61
Maktab wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple have already stated that iPhone OS 4 will be available for the iPod touch, though only the third-generation touch will get multitasking. I'm not sure why you would have doubted it. How would it have made sense for Apple to exclude it from the new software release?

I have heard that they exclude the oldest iPhone from OS 4, and I thought iPod Touch would be on the same technical level as the oldest iPhones. Why does Apple exclude the old iPhones?

AFAIK it's a combination of the hardware not being good enough, and Apple not really trying to optimize for those devices (they'd be happy if you bought a new one). The iPod Touch went through several iterations, just like the iPhone; the latest iPod Touch is actually a bit higher specced than the latest iPhone.

Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#79

Post by holman »

portman wrote: post #77
holman wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Gruber was getting at is that Apple has a far better syncing strategy since Android wipes everything between updates and Apple neatly brings all your data with you. That said, the cloud-based syncing that Android will eventually ship looks like the "right" solution. I doubt anyone at Apple considers USB syncing to be the end game, though; I'd be shocked if they didn't have some sort of over-the-air syncing in th…

>>since Android wipes everything between updates My G1 upgraded from 1.0 > 1.1 > 1.5 > 1.6 without wiping. My Droid upgraded from 2.0 > 2.1 (and will > 2.2 soon) without wiping.

Ah; I stand corrected... I misread what Gruber wrote. Looks like Android handles updates fine, but there's no way to cross-load data between devices. So buying the latest and greatest hardware leaves you in the cold, at least until Froyo.

Re: John Gruber's Post-I/O Thoughts

#80

Post by gthank »

apphacker wrote: post #65
endtime wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm less anti-Microsoft than most (disclaimer: I worked there for a summer), but since WPS7 will be out before my current iPhone/AT&T contract ends, my plan is to switch to a Windows phone. I think the UI looks great (though practical usability is still in question), and I've always preferred Outlook to Gmail. My main gripe would be using an IE7-based browser, but as long as I can install Opera Mobile that shou…

Opera Mini is a great app for reading news and such, but as your main browser? It doesn't execute 99% of JavaScript. You can't load any smartphone targeted websites with your smartphone. Not very smart.

@endtime wrote Opera Mobile, not Opera Mini; they're different products.
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