Correct, and Apple knows full well how important it is to cultivate image. That's really the only true way to maintain control over a product who's features/function are dictated by the market.
It does do "everything", but thats a user perception, not a buyer perception. That sounds far too ominous and a bit arrogant to someone who is considering spending their money on one.
Honestly, I think the product is doing just fine, and Apple should focus more on marketing their "Apple Ecosystem", rather than just the iPhone. The iPhone has potential to bring in more Mac users and MobileMe subscribers. It has already exponentially increased the number of iTunes accounts, but its time for it to start selling bigger hardware.
Many people with Windows and iPhones may be looking for a more cohesive experience, and just don't have the proper advice/information that they need to truly "switch to Mac". I know plenty of people with exactly that situation, and I just don't have the time, inclination, or the commission to push it.
I really don't buy the "perception" argument.
"Business", or at least competently run business, is all about pragmatism. A business isn't a middle school student, obsessed by what the other kids will think. They want the tool that works for the job at hand.
The iPhone is clearly a tool that works for the job at hand. If an employee really likes that tool, and is likely to use it all the time, all the better.
I don't recall "business" recoiling in disgust as PC based gaming took off, do you? That's probably because they could tell the difference between an app and a platform.
... It's instructive to remember that when the Macintosh first came out people called it a toy. Steve Jobs was so insulted that he spent the next 25 years trying to get people to take his products seriously. Games are too close to "toys" for him to truly open his heart to them. ...
Most of what you're saying here is complete BS. You are doing the same thing Carmack is doing in that you're just sitting back and "imagining" what might be going on in Steve Jobs' head based on really nothing at all.
Games are by definition a sort of time-wasting activity. Steve Jobs is a serious person and like most serious people, if he has time for games it's minimal.
I've worked in the business since the beginning and I can tell you without equivocation that the vast majority of the "serious" computer users, the techs, the developers, the scientists, the artists, and those that create all the stuff that you use, do not play a lot of games.
If you are a hard-core XBox or PSP gamer you are way more likely to be on the inconsequential fringes of the tech scene than you are to be a mover and shaker. Most of the really smart capable people I know in the computer field play a few games now and then, have one or two they may like (especially for nostalgia reasons), but basically haven't played much since they you know ... grew up.
In other words, games *are* toys, and mostly for "kids," or for brief relaxation.
The whole idea that the Mac platform should bend over backwards for games is a fantasy propagated by a lot of XBox boys that is essentially unreasonable. Most of the people actually using the Mac platform are using it for more serious things and couldn't give a damn about games except when they can't run one that they might want to.
Games are just not the big deal that all the teenagers and twenty-somethings think they are and so-called "casual" gaming is far more important and far more popular than all the copies of Halo put together because smart people have better things to do.
What an asinine observation. If Apple wanted to get into 'business,' they should start selling to 'business.' MS Office works perfectly with OSX, in case you were ignorant of the fact.
iWork is primarily positioned as a home (or small business, not GE) office suite-equivalent. Moreover, even if it were made more business-friendly and savvy, IT departments would be loathe to switch, since it would take too much time and trouble to retrain people to a new suite and to offer support (indeed, that is the basis MS Office's continued dominance). Obviously, you do not much about how businesses work either.
Apple in the past has tried to sell to business and were known for catering to education yet neither business or schools are dominated by Apple.
The only asinine comment is what you have posed above. The problem isnt a learning curve its the fact a business isnt going to pay twice as much for the same hardware. Clearly you don't know anything about business.
The problem isn?t the technology. The GPU in the PSP trumps the 3GS trumps the DS.
PSP:
33 million triangles per second (4.7x more than 3GS; 275.0x more than DS)
664 million pixels per second (2.6x more than 3GS; 22.1x more than DS)
3GS:
7 million triangles per second (58.3x more than DS)
250 million pixels per second (8.3x more than DS)
DS:
120,000 triangles per second
30 Million pixels per second
That doesn?t even count the 3GS? CPU with trounces those devices or the potential use of OpenCL in iPhoneOS.
So the PSP still wins, but it?s closer to the PSP than it is to the DS, yet the DS is a good devices for game play. THe problem is not the power, the problem is the lack of a truly killer game for the platform, but I wonder if that is even possible when the device is not dedicated to a single function but designed to work in many capacities very well.
The problem with the DS and PSP is that they didn?t see this coming. They now have the DSi and PSP GO, but these are stop gates. The game itself will have to be very strong for someone to say they want a DS or PSP over a Touch that has internet, iPod, and over 100k+ apps to choose from. Sony and Nintendo dropped the ball by not seeing that they needed to make their handheld device into a solid PMP and internet communicator.
Nintendo is a different animal because there popularity has to do with the vast library they have and the fact that all their hardware is backwards compatible.
Also when talking about gaming and hardware it goes beyond handheld devices. If Apple wanted to be taken more seriously by Valve, ID, EA and other software companies they would have to provide some kind of hardware that could handle current games.
Desktop gaming on a Mac has always been a failure. Even the intel iMacs came out there was a push for gaming and it never took off because the games were buggy and ran poorly.
If Apple really wanted to get into gaming that would have to put alot of attention into this because they have shown up to the party really late. Honestly I don't think they are all that interested in gaming because they would never be able to build a decent gaming system with a 50% markup.
The problem with the DS and PSP is that they didn?t see this coming. They now have the DSi and PSP GO, but these are stop gates. The game itself will have to be very strong for someone to say they want a DS or PSP over a Touch that has internet, iPod, and over 100k+ apps to choose from. Sony and Nintendo dropped the ball by not seeing that they needed to make their handheld device into a solid PMP and internet communicator.
Can we stop with the 100k apps stuff, reports like the one from AppFire are a great example that the majority aren't downloaded, or even used.
That doesn't make it lightyears ahead of anything, let alone the iPhone. The iPhone IS LIGHTYEARS ahead of the PSP Go in terms of sales volume, adoption rate, total available games, and average price per game by large large large margin.
That's what matters. Not what assassins creed looks like. LMAO.
That is bull, it is a fact that the games on the iPhone are nothing compared to the games on the PSP, the gameplay, the length of gameplay, the quality of the games are much higher on the PSP.
Sure, I have a PSP now, but if it died, the iPod touch wouldn't be my first choice of a portable games replacement, I certainly wouldn't want to move to a region coded portable games console (hence I wouldn't get a PSP Go either)
Also, why do you mention PSP Go in your sales volumes, it only came out a month ago.
Apple often runs ads showing the iPhone and iPod Touch running games. Apple's top management frequently highlights games at their conferences and press releases.
There is substantial evidence against JC's statement, leaving me to believe that it isn't very accurate. Perhaps there are some people at Apple who aren't all that into games.
But Apple itself seems to strongly promote the iPhone platform as a strong portable gaming platform.
Most of what you're saying here is complete BS. You are doing the same thing Carmack is doing in that you're just sitting back and "imagining" what might be going on in Steve Jobs' head based on really nothing at all.
Games are by definition a sort of time-wasting activity. Steve Jobs is a serious person and like most serious people, if he has time for games it's minimal.
I've worked in the business since the beginning and I can tell you without equivocation that the vast majority of the "serious" computer users, the techs, the developers, the scientists, the artists, and those that create all the stuff that you use, do not play a lot of games.
If you are a hard-core XBox or PSP gamer you are way more likely to be on the inconsequential fringes of the tech scene than you are to be a mover and shaker. Most of the really smart capable people I know in the computer field play a few games now and then, have one or two they may like (especially for nostalgia reasons), but basically haven't played much since they you know ... grew up.
In other words, games *are* toys, and mostly for "kids," or for brief relaxation.
The whole idea that the Mac platform should bend over backwards for games is a fantasy propagated by a lot of XBox boys that is essentially unreasonable. Most of the people actually using the Mac platform are using it for more serious things and couldn't give a damn about games except when they can't run one that they might want to.
Games are just not the big deal that all the teenagers and twenty-somethings think they are and so-called "casual" gaming is far more important and far more popular than all the copies of Halo put together because smart people have better things to do.
Solitaire didn't slow the corporate adoption of Windows despite being one of the most played games ever among hordes of bored employees.
Even when companies I worked for deleted them, you could still go into the i386 folder to find the compressed versions. Back when file names had a maximum of 8 characters.
I wonder if it's still there in 7, I can't be bothered finding out, I think they changed the name to Freecell, I was never really into it, unlike millions of workers across the world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism
Even when companies I worked for deleted them, you could still go into the i386 folder to find the compressed versions. Back when file names had a maximum of 8 characters.
Can we stop with the 100k apps stuff, reports like the one from AppFire are a great example that the majority aren't downloaded, or even used.
And how many sales are there for each handheld or console compared to the number of games available? The point is that the ecosystem is very healhty and that there is plenty of room for growth, especially for the longterm development of a great game to hit the platform.
Then again . . . let's keep in mind that this is a device that does *everything.* People need to realize that, and allow for the fact that if gaming is one of the things it does well, it's going to be a bog selling point.
Flipping it over, however, we come back to your very correct assessment: Perception is Reality. And Apple understands this very well. Perhaps there might be some truth to their alleged feelings about gaming. Interesting.
Sure, it does do a lot, but then on the other hand, it does not.
It will not play flash and therefore, you cannot watch any free movies or TV shows that are offered from all the free networks, no, instead, Apple wants you to purchase them from iTunes, so instead of watching, The Forgotten, ABC Lost Seasons 1-4, Flash Forward, Rescue Me, and so on, Apple want you to buy them. This is why, in my humble opinion, we will never see flash or if we do, it will be crippled somehow. Now if you jailbreak it, then you can get a flash plug-in for Safari and watch just about anything, better yet, you can use torrents, directly from the iPhone and download complete seasons, also another reason we will not see DVR capabilities on the Apple TV.
Now, when it comes to Apple being upset that it's seen as a gaming machine, this really comes down to Exchange,if you have ever used an HTC and it's GPS, it will give you INSTANT up to date traffic problems, I know, I had both a personal iPhone and an HTC given to me from my place of employment. Using this GPS was leaps and bounds beyond the present TOM TOM. It would tell you in :45 seconds you will run into traffic and slow down to 20 m.p.h. and would you like an alternative route, sure enough, :45 seconds later, you were going 20 m.p.h., plus the GPS is spot on where as Tom Tom you can be driving and go past a street before it tells you to turn right or left, as it's about 5 seconds behind in the directions so the only way around this is that you have to be looking in advance as to when you will be turning.
I think though that the biggest problem is that products like the NEWER HTC have Exchange done really well, and Windows mobile 6.5 looks more like OSX then Windows 7 does, and with Exchange, you can set up very secure systems that in a few simple clicks has the user with their contacts, personal info, maps, address, email address, et-cetera, very quickly and remember how poorly that went with Apple? They had so many problems they had to pull it, yet here we are slamming Windows and their OS and 3rd party hardware which they have to support (which is why you want certified for Windows 7, et-cetera, on the product, than not), yet Apple could not get just ONE program to work correctly, in that regard, Microsoft does a great job at working with 3rd party software/hardware which is why I think if the Courier turns out to be true, it would mean for the first time, if MSFT keeps it their own, they will have total control over the device unlike they do now with all the OEM's making computers and building windows machines.
This would mark the first time ever that MSFT has their own computer and this would for sure, eat into business probably replacing phones, or perhaps a side by side launch of a new MSFT phone that works perfect with the Courier.
Apple being upset is that it is NOT being accepted into the business market place as a machine that can do it all, first it can't (no flash, tethering, Exchange, GPS not as accurate), which means even though people now have two phones, a business phone and a personal iPhone, Apple would rather see just ONE phone being used.
Now factor in that Apple's top of the line iMac can't play one of the most modern games out there due to the GPU, not only does GAMING make more $$$$ than music and video combined, Apple does not have a product that appeals to this segment, nor do they have a machine that appeals to the Pro SUMER, someone who does MUSIC on a daily basis as musicians need at least three (3) Hard Drives, one for the OS, another for samples and one for Virtual Instruments and recording, something Avid/ProTools saw the writing on the wall about and therefore purchased M-Audio which makes PRO SUMER devices, hardware, recording solutions, in the past, you could purchase a Macbook Pro 15" with Express slots usings everything from eSata Hard Drive Ports to external OUTSIDE FX saving a lot of CPU power so the end user can use the CPU for virtual instruments.
Examples:
eSata express card:
For the record, external eSata can also be run in RAID, and if not used in a RAID configuation, it boots up and works just as fast as a MAC PRO internal HD, much faster than firewire 800
Look under Product>UAD.Laptops..., this is one of many makers that make express cards, these companies are quite upset with Apple dropping it on the 15"
Then of course you have Windows commercials which forced Apple hands at releasing lower priced machines, yet at the same time, Apple dumped the ALL IN ONE Pro Care and One to One as it was BOTh for $99 and the One to One trainers knew LOGIC, FCP, SHAKE, MOTION, now most of them are not only NON TRAINERS but what apple calls some type of Mac Specialist in training and 90% or more do not know (including full time one to one trainers) any Pro Software but just iLife.
Then you have the Mac Pro which just 4-5 years ago you could get for $1499, now to get anything semi pro, you need a Mac Pro or a MBP 17" and the real kicker is that the Mac Pro is made of SERVER PARTS when it could have been made with i7 parts and a mid range product, that is headless and attract the following:
Gamers
Enthusiasts
Video Users (remember when they released a better GPU macbook yet no FIREWIRE? That really had the new One to One trainee's very upset, as these where the mom and pop users trying to make home movies with their firewire video camcorders and ILife. That made no sense at all.
Audio ProSumers and even Pro's as they now record at home/project studios
The irnony, again, is that just in GAMER SALES, you know, where you load a CD/DVD, makes more sales than MUSIC and VIDEO SALES COMBINED, yet Apple fails to take this into consideration and with regard to Blue Ray, BR looks fantastic.
One last time, let me wrap it up by saying not only does Apple NOT see the writting on the wall with regard to ProSumers the way Avid/Digidesign did...
as they knew computers were getting faster, yet Apple refuses to release products for just this one type of user let alone the others and if you have ANY INCLINATION AT ALL to be a PROSUMER that wants to record (the imac would need three HD's or at least eSata Ports), but to many have huge displays, e.g. there is a HP that was $600 now for $250 with HDMI, HD, Blue Ray, Speakers, 1920x1200, they still don't have a midrange product line and do you know why?
Because they fear a midrange product would affect MAC PRO sales when in fact, MAC PRO sales are small, and almost non existent compared to laptops, plus ZERO PCIe card slots not to mention you can buy any GPU card you want that would run circles around some of the APPLE offerings and as I 10+ year AT&T user, I JAIL BROKE my iphone last month due to the lack of MMS, but it was the overpriced TOM TOM (again, far off from HTC GPS), but what pushed me over the edge was the GV Mobile. Now I have it along with FREE TETHERING and a dozen other useful apps (including running anything in the background), I'm starting to wonder if I should use this new hack that not only jail breaks but unlocks and then build a hackntosh 8 core machine as over at OSX86 they offer for FREE, something similar to what Pystar is offering in that you can install a RETAIL OS and UPDATES with ZERO problems - - in fact, even though I had macs at work, it was a HACK and TOSH and OSX that got me to buy several macs thereafter..
Anyway, with GV Mobile I have another free PHONE NUMBER, as an ATT user, I add this line to my A list, then during the week, if I know I am going to make a long call, I use the V Mobile number and it doesn't cost me a dime, plus I am using it for my business numbers....
There are a of of things Apple needs to do right and soon, especially if some of the rumors like Courier are true to building/offering mid range and express slots on all machines and eSata ports would not hurt, let alone the very reason for this post, get Exchange working the right way and getting their GPS to work really well and not be off by 4-5 seconds, no instant traffic updates, et-cetera.
Peace all.
And come on * let's get back to the CREATIVES and get it going again - stop dumping us for your consumer iPhones that are not penetrating business due to lack of Exchange working correctly.
It will not play flash and therefore, you cannot watch any free movies or TV shows that are offered from all the free networks.
That was a very long post so I?m only going to reply to the first part and read the rest later.
No phone has Flash right now that I?m aware of. Adobe has announced mobile Flash 10 to appear on every major platform sometime around mid-2010. That is a tentative date and looking at Adoe?s history it?s likely to not go live until later than that.
Flash Lite doesn?t count as it can?t play these videos from the networks. It?s only real use if for ads at this point. The fact that Adobe won?t have Flash 10 on any phone until around the time the 4th iPhone is out is proof that Apple not only made the right choice but is also responsible for getting the lackadaisical Adobe off their arse to finally make Flash viable for a handheld. And yet it?s still going to take them to the 4th version of the iPhone before they even have anything.
Even once it comes, we don?t even know if it will work for sites like Hulu. My 2.4GHz ?Penryn? C2Ds spike to near full when I run Hulu video. My netbooks, both with 1.8GHz Atoms?one with Mac OS X and the other with WinXP?cannot run Hulu video in 480p without it being choppy. Phones with ARM processors will be worse off than Atom, and use a lot of power to give you choppy video
I had hoped that Flash 10?s HW acceleration would resolve this. It does not. For this to work Adobe may have to apply something that accelerates the GPU, like OpenGL or WebGL, though I?m not even sure that is possible.
The best solution for users is to have these sites streaming video to use HTTP Secure Streaming on an HTML/CSS/JS page or from a dedicated app that your install from the respective app stores. Similar to the way the YouTube apps works on the iPhone and how when you click on a YouTube page in mobile Safari it calls the app. This is ideal from a performance, maximum quality and power consumption standpoint.
Windows likes to brag about the number of apps its has, are the majority of them downloaded or used?
He has a point, but I don?t think he stated it well. Of course most apps are worthless to most people, the point is that it shows that developers are there and that people are relatively secure in knowing an app they want likely exists.
Although Android has only 1/10 of the App Store?s total it has achieved the same social position in that developers see as being successful and consumers can be assured that it will continue to grow that there is chance the app they want is likely there.
Andorid?s NDK will make this even more a reality with better apps that can harness the power of HW more effectively. I think Jfanning is failing to see that the number of apps shows that the ecosystem is healthy, regardless of only needing to use 1 or 100,000.
That was a very long post so I’m only going to reply to the first part and read the rest later.
I have a friend who has a Verizon HTC Pro Touch, tried to play Hulu videos on it, it didn't work.
To play Flash video Hulu says you need Flash 9, which no phone currently has. Hulu recommends you need 1Mbps downstream for smooth playback, which is on the high end for streaming video to a phone.
Video services like Hulu on the iPhone have little to do with Flash itself. The owners of Hulu want to charge for the service. They know Hulu on the iPhone would be a big hit. They want to figure out a successful way to charge for it before they release an iPhone app.
Netflix may not have permission to distribute its videos to phones. It may take them some time to get permission and encode thousands of video files small enough to play on phones.
I don't think there is any need to respond the rest of hiiamac's post. Most of it was FUD, most of it is untrue, and parts of it made no sense.
Quote:
Now, when it comes to Apple being upset that it's seen as a gaming machine, this really comes down to Exchange,if you have ever used an HTC and it's GPS
What does gaming, Exchange, and GPS have to do with each other?
Comments
Correct, and Apple knows full well how important it is to cultivate image. That's really the only true way to maintain control over a product who's features/function are dictated by the market.
It does do "everything", but thats a user perception, not a buyer perception. That sounds far too ominous and a bit arrogant to someone who is considering spending their money on one.
Honestly, I think the product is doing just fine, and Apple should focus more on marketing their "Apple Ecosystem", rather than just the iPhone. The iPhone has potential to bring in more Mac users and MobileMe subscribers. It has already exponentially increased the number of iTunes accounts, but its time for it to start selling bigger hardware.
Many people with Windows and iPhones may be looking for a more cohesive experience, and just don't have the proper advice/information that they need to truly "switch to Mac". I know plenty of people with exactly that situation, and I just don't have the time, inclination, or the commission to push it.
I really don't buy the "perception" argument.
"Business", or at least competently run business, is all about pragmatism. A business isn't a middle school student, obsessed by what the other kids will think. They want the tool that works for the job at hand.
The iPhone is clearly a tool that works for the job at hand. If an employee really likes that tool, and is likely to use it all the time, all the better.
I don't recall "business" recoiling in disgust as PC based gaming took off, do you? That's probably because they could tell the difference between an app and a platform.
... It's instructive to remember that when the Macintosh first came out people called it a toy. Steve Jobs was so insulted that he spent the next 25 years trying to get people to take his products seriously. Games are too close to "toys" for him to truly open his heart to them. ...
Most of what you're saying here is complete BS. You are doing the same thing Carmack is doing in that you're just sitting back and "imagining" what might be going on in Steve Jobs' head based on really nothing at all.
Games are by definition a sort of time-wasting activity. Steve Jobs is a serious person and like most serious people, if he has time for games it's minimal.
I've worked in the business since the beginning and I can tell you without equivocation that the vast majority of the "serious" computer users, the techs, the developers, the scientists, the artists, and those that create all the stuff that you use, do not play a lot of games.
If you are a hard-core XBox or PSP gamer you are way more likely to be on the inconsequential fringes of the tech scene than you are to be a mover and shaker. Most of the really smart capable people I know in the computer field play a few games now and then, have one or two they may like (especially for nostalgia reasons), but basically haven't played much since they you know ... grew up.
In other words, games *are* toys, and mostly for "kids," or for brief relaxation.
The whole idea that the Mac platform should bend over backwards for games is a fantasy propagated by a lot of XBox boys that is essentially unreasonable. Most of the people actually using the Mac platform are using it for more serious things and couldn't give a damn about games except when they can't run one that they might want to.
Games are just not the big deal that all the teenagers and twenty-somethings think they are and so-called "casual" gaming is far more important and far more popular than all the copies of Halo put together because smart people have better things to do.
What an asinine observation. If Apple wanted to get into 'business,' they should start selling to 'business.' MS Office works perfectly with OSX, in case you were ignorant of the fact.
iWork is primarily positioned as a home (or small business, not GE) office suite-equivalent. Moreover, even if it were made more business-friendly and savvy, IT departments would be loathe to switch, since it would take too much time and trouble to retrain people to a new suite and to offer support (indeed, that is the basis MS Office's continued dominance). Obviously, you do not much about how businesses work either.
Apple in the past has tried to sell to business and were known for catering to education yet neither business or schools are dominated by Apple.
The only asinine comment is what you have posed above. The problem isnt a learning curve its the fact a business isnt going to pay twice as much for the same hardware. Clearly you don't know anything about business.
Not bad for "less performance value."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10019711-37.html
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...g-industry.ars
http://digg.com/apple/Apple_leads_20...faction_survey
http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/08/....no..1.on.csi/
http://theappleblog.com/2009/05/06/a...he-experience/
http://blackfriarsinc.com/blog/2007/...s-customerbase
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...stomer_sa.html
http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-posts...ion-index/2553
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/we...omments/22467/
http://bindapple.com/apple-satisfaction-2009-report/
http://www.macnn.com/news/25971
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/14/...action-survey/
http://www.ipodobserver.com/ipo/arti...ff_The_Charts/
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/08...-satisfaction/
http://www.mactivist.com/2009/06/iph...kings-in-japan
http://www.9to5mac.com/jobs-satisfation-rate-high
http://www.jdpower.com/Business/rati...tphone-ratings
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2248040/...ps-top-billing
http://www.eweek.com/prestitial.php?...453807%2F&ref=
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2352796,00.asp
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2006/08/5002.ars
http://www.osnews.com/story/15553
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1689554/posts
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/.../t-224872.html
2009 = the year of the Mac
http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/30/t...lion-mac-year/
Apple is selling *more* Macs. In a recession. Record numbers of Macs. Mac growth has outpaced the rest of the industry, several years running.
Can we at least get some new links out of you. I have seen these at least 100 times now.
The problem isn?t the technology. The GPU in the PSP trumps the 3GS trumps the DS.That doesn?t even count the 3GS? CPU with trounces those devices or the potential use of OpenCL in iPhoneOS.
So the PSP still wins, but it?s closer to the PSP than it is to the DS, yet the DS is a good devices for game play. THe problem is not the power, the problem is the lack of a truly killer game for the platform, but I wonder if that is even possible when the device is not dedicated to a single function but designed to work in many capacities very well.
The problem with the DS and PSP is that they didn?t see this coming. They now have the DSi and PSP GO, but these are stop gates. The game itself will have to be very strong for someone to say they want a DS or PSP over a Touch that has internet, iPod, and over 100k+ apps to choose from. Sony and Nintendo dropped the ball by not seeing that they needed to make their handheld device into a solid PMP and internet communicator.
Nintendo is a different animal because there popularity has to do with the vast library they have and the fact that all their hardware is backwards compatible.
Also when talking about gaming and hardware it goes beyond handheld devices. If Apple wanted to be taken more seriously by Valve, ID, EA and other software companies they would have to provide some kind of hardware that could handle current games.
Desktop gaming on a Mac has always been a failure. Even the intel iMacs came out there was a push for gaming and it never took off because the games were buggy and ran poorly.
If Apple really wanted to get into gaming that would have to put alot of attention into this because they have shown up to the party really late. Honestly I don't think they are all that interested in gaming because they would never be able to build a decent gaming system with a 50% markup.
The problem with the DS and PSP is that they didn?t see this coming. They now have the DSi and PSP GO, but these are stop gates. The game itself will have to be very strong for someone to say they want a DS or PSP over a Touch that has internet, iPod, and over 100k+ apps to choose from. Sony and Nintendo dropped the ball by not seeing that they needed to make their handheld device into a solid PMP and internet communicator.
Can we stop with the 100k apps stuff, reports like the one from AppFire are a great example that the majority aren't downloaded, or even used.
Right. So can the previous gen PSP, and the PS3.
That doesn't make it lightyears ahead of anything, let alone the iPhone. The iPhone IS LIGHTYEARS ahead of the PSP Go in terms of sales volume, adoption rate, total available games, and average price per game by large large large margin.
That's what matters. Not what assassins creed looks like. LMAO.
That is bull, it is a fact that the games on the iPhone are nothing compared to the games on the PSP, the gameplay, the length of gameplay, the quality of the games are much higher on the PSP.
Sure, I have a PSP now, but if it died, the iPod touch wouldn't be my first choice of a portable games replacement, I certainly wouldn't want to move to a region coded portable games console (hence I wouldn't get a PSP Go either)
Also, why do you mention PSP Go in your sales volumes, it only came out a month ago.
IT departments aren't stupid. You think business owners don't realize how many of the apps are GAMES and Widgets?
There is substantial evidence against JC's statement, leaving me to believe that it isn't very accurate. Perhaps there are some people at Apple who aren't all that into games.
But Apple itself seems to strongly promote the iPhone platform as a strong portable gaming platform.
Thanks for projecting your embarrassment, Car-mack!
Most of what you're saying here is complete BS. You are doing the same thing Carmack is doing in that you're just sitting back and "imagining" what might be going on in Steve Jobs' head based on really nothing at all.
Games are by definition a sort of time-wasting activity. Steve Jobs is a serious person and like most serious people, if he has time for games it's minimal.
I've worked in the business since the beginning and I can tell you without equivocation that the vast majority of the "serious" computer users, the techs, the developers, the scientists, the artists, and those that create all the stuff that you use, do not play a lot of games.
If you are a hard-core XBox or PSP gamer you are way more likely to be on the inconsequential fringes of the tech scene than you are to be a mover and shaker. Most of the really smart capable people I know in the computer field play a few games now and then, have one or two they may like (especially for nostalgia reasons), but basically haven't played much since they you know ... grew up.
In other words, games *are* toys, and mostly for "kids," or for brief relaxation.
The whole idea that the Mac platform should bend over backwards for games is a fantasy propagated by a lot of XBox boys that is essentially unreasonable. Most of the people actually using the Mac platform are using it for more serious things and couldn't give a damn about games except when they can't run one that they might want to.
Games are just not the big deal that all the teenagers and twenty-somethings think they are and so-called "casual" gaming is far more important and far more popular than all the copies of Halo put together because smart people have better things to do.
Well-stated.
Solitaire didn't slow the corporate adoption of Windows despite being one of the most played games ever among hordes of bored employees.
Even when companies I worked for deleted them, you could still go into the i386 folder to find the compressed versions. Back when file names had a maximum of 8 characters.
Even when companies I worked for deleted them, you could still go into the i386 folder to find the compressed versions. Back when file names had a maximum of 8 characters.
Can we stop with the 100k apps stuff, reports like the one from AppFire are a great example that the majority aren't downloaded, or even used.
And how many sales are there for each handheld or console compared to the number of games available? The point is that the ecosystem is very healhty and that there is plenty of room for growth, especially for the longterm development of a great game to hit the platform.
Then again . . . let's keep in mind that this is a device that does *everything.* People need to realize that, and allow for the fact that if gaming is one of the things it does well, it's going to be a bog selling point.
Flipping it over, however, we come back to your very correct assessment: Perception is Reality. And Apple understands this very well. Perhaps there might be some truth to their alleged feelings about gaming. Interesting.
Sure, it does do a lot, but then on the other hand, it does not.
It will not play flash and therefore, you cannot watch any free movies or TV shows that are offered from all the free networks, no, instead, Apple wants you to purchase them from iTunes, so instead of watching, The Forgotten, ABC Lost Seasons 1-4, Flash Forward, Rescue Me, and so on, Apple want you to buy them. This is why, in my humble opinion, we will never see flash or if we do, it will be crippled somehow. Now if you jailbreak it, then you can get a flash plug-in for Safari and watch just about anything, better yet, you can use torrents, directly from the iPhone and download complete seasons, also another reason we will not see DVR capabilities on the Apple TV.
Now, when it comes to Apple being upset that it's seen as a gaming machine, this really comes down to Exchange,if you have ever used an HTC and it's GPS, it will give you INSTANT up to date traffic problems, I know, I had both a personal iPhone and an HTC given to me from my place of employment. Using this GPS was leaps and bounds beyond the present TOM TOM. It would tell you in :45 seconds you will run into traffic and slow down to 20 m.p.h. and would you like an alternative route, sure enough, :45 seconds later, you were going 20 m.p.h., plus the GPS is spot on where as Tom Tom you can be driving and go past a street before it tells you to turn right or left, as it's about 5 seconds behind in the directions so the only way around this is that you have to be looking in advance as to when you will be turning.
I think though that the biggest problem is that products like the NEWER HTC have Exchange done really well, and Windows mobile 6.5 looks more like OSX then Windows 7 does, and with Exchange, you can set up very secure systems that in a few simple clicks has the user with their contacts, personal info, maps, address, email address, et-cetera, very quickly and remember how poorly that went with Apple? They had so many problems they had to pull it, yet here we are slamming Windows and their OS and 3rd party hardware which they have to support (which is why you want certified for Windows 7, et-cetera, on the product, than not), yet Apple could not get just ONE program to work correctly, in that regard, Microsoft does a great job at working with 3rd party software/hardware which is why I think if the Courier turns out to be true, it would mean for the first time, if MSFT keeps it their own, they will have total control over the device unlike they do now with all the OEM's making computers and building windows machines.
This would mark the first time ever that MSFT has their own computer and this would for sure, eat into business probably replacing phones, or perhaps a side by side launch of a new MSFT phone that works perfect with the Courier.
Apple being upset is that it is NOT being accepted into the business market place as a machine that can do it all, first it can't (no flash, tethering, Exchange, GPS not as accurate), which means even though people now have two phones, a business phone and a personal iPhone, Apple would rather see just ONE phone being used.
Now factor in that Apple's top of the line iMac can't play one of the most modern games out there due to the GPU, not only does GAMING make more $$$$ than music and video combined, Apple does not have a product that appeals to this segment, nor do they have a machine that appeals to the Pro SUMER, someone who does MUSIC on a daily basis as musicians need at least three (3) Hard Drives, one for the OS, another for samples and one for Virtual Instruments and recording, something Avid/ProTools saw the writing on the wall about and therefore purchased M-Audio which makes PRO SUMER devices, hardware, recording solutions, in the past, you could purchase a Macbook Pro 15" with Express slots usings everything from eSata Hard Drive Ports to external OUTSIDE FX saving a lot of CPU power so the end user can use the CPU for virtual instruments.
Examples:
eSata express card:
For the record, external eSata can also be run in RAID, and if not used in a RAID configuation, it boots up and works just as fast as a MAC PRO internal HD, much faster than firewire 800
http://www.google.com/products?clien...ed=0CCcQrQQwAw
One example of express card for FX used in audio.
Look under Product>UAD.Laptops..., this is one of many makers that make express cards, these companies are quite upset with Apple dropping it on the 15"
http://www.uaudio.com/
ProSUmers VERY upset (just one small group, there are many)
1) http://discussions.apple.com/thread....30657&tstart=0
2) http://studionu.com/uadforums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11983
Then of course you have Windows commercials which forced Apple hands at releasing lower priced machines, yet at the same time, Apple dumped the ALL IN ONE Pro Care and One to One as it was BOTh for $99 and the One to One trainers knew LOGIC, FCP, SHAKE, MOTION, now most of them are not only NON TRAINERS but what apple calls some type of Mac Specialist in training and 90% or more do not know (including full time one to one trainers) any Pro Software but just iLife.
Then you have the Mac Pro which just 4-5 years ago you could get for $1499, now to get anything semi pro, you need a Mac Pro or a MBP 17" and the real kicker is that the Mac Pro is made of SERVER PARTS when it could have been made with i7 parts and a mid range product, that is headless and attract the following:
Gamers
Enthusiasts
Video Users (remember when they released a better GPU macbook yet no FIREWIRE? That really had the new One to One trainee's very upset, as these where the mom and pop users trying to make home movies with their firewire video camcorders and ILife. That made no sense at all.
Audio ProSumers and even Pro's as they now record at home/project studios
The irnony, again, is that just in GAMER SALES, you know, where you load a CD/DVD, makes more sales than MUSIC and VIDEO SALES COMBINED, yet Apple fails to take this into consideration and with regard to Blue Ray, BR looks fantastic.
One last time, let me wrap it up by saying not only does Apple NOT see the writting on the wall with regard to ProSumers the way Avid/Digidesign did...
AVID: http://www.avid.com/
Digidesign http://www.digidesign.com/
Keeping in mind that Pro Tools is the industry standard..... they went ahead and bought
M-Audio
http://www.m-audio.com/
as they knew computers were getting faster, yet Apple refuses to release products for just this one type of user let alone the others and if you have ANY INCLINATION AT ALL to be a PROSUMER that wants to record (the imac would need three HD's or at least eSata Ports), but to many have huge displays, e.g. there is a HP that was $600 now for $250 with HDMI, HD, Blue Ray, Speakers, 1920x1200, they still don't have a midrange product line and do you know why?
Because they fear a midrange product would affect MAC PRO sales when in fact, MAC PRO sales are small, and almost non existent compared to laptops, plus ZERO PCIe card slots not to mention you can buy any GPU card you want that would run circles around some of the APPLE offerings and as I 10+ year AT&T user, I JAIL BROKE my iphone last month due to the lack of MMS, but it was the overpriced TOM TOM (again, far off from HTC GPS), but what pushed me over the edge was the GV Mobile. Now I have it along with FREE TETHERING and a dozen other useful apps (including running anything in the background), I'm starting to wonder if I should use this new hack that not only jail breaks but unlocks and then build a hackntosh 8 core machine as over at OSX86 they offer for FREE, something similar to what Pystar is offering in that you can install a RETAIL OS and UPDATES with ZERO problems - - in fact, even though I had macs at work, it was a HACK and TOSH and OSX that got me to buy several macs thereafter..
Anyway, with GV Mobile I have another free PHONE NUMBER, as an ATT user, I add this line to my A list, then during the week, if I know I am going to make a long call, I use the V Mobile number and it doesn't cost me a dime, plus I am using it for my business numbers....
There are a of of things Apple needs to do right and soon, especially if some of the rumors like Courier are true to building/offering mid range and express slots on all machines and eSata ports would not hurt, let alone the very reason for this post, get Exchange working the right way and getting their GPS to work really well and not be off by 4-5 seconds, no instant traffic updates, et-cetera.
Peace all.
And come on * let's get back to the CREATIVES and get it going again - stop dumping us for your consumer iPhones that are not penetrating business due to lack of Exchange working correctly.
Can we stop with the 100k apps stuff, reports like the one from AppFire are a great example that the majority aren't downloaded, or even used.
Embrace the gaming side, who cares?
"You know when you're on the can, and you can tell it's going to be a while? There's a game for that."
It will not play flash and therefore, you cannot watch any free movies or TV shows that are offered from all the free networks.
That was a very long post so I?m only going to reply to the first part and read the rest later.
No phone has Flash right now that I?m aware of. Adobe has announced mobile Flash 10 to appear on every major platform sometime around mid-2010. That is a tentative date and looking at Adoe?s history it?s likely to not go live until later than that.
Flash Lite doesn?t count as it can?t play these videos from the networks. It?s only real use if for ads at this point. The fact that Adobe won?t have Flash 10 on any phone until around the time the 4th iPhone is out is proof that Apple not only made the right choice but is also responsible for getting the lackadaisical Adobe off their arse to finally make Flash viable for a handheld. And yet it?s still going to take them to the 4th version of the iPhone before they even have anything.
Even once it comes, we don?t even know if it will work for sites like Hulu. My 2.4GHz ?Penryn? C2Ds spike to near full when I run Hulu video. My netbooks, both with 1.8GHz Atoms?one with Mac OS X and the other with WinXP?cannot run Hulu video in 480p without it being choppy. Phones with ARM processors will be worse off than Atom, and use a lot of power to give you choppy video
I had hoped that Flash 10?s HW acceleration would resolve this. It does not. For this to work Adobe may have to apply something that accelerates the GPU, like OpenGL or WebGL, though I?m not even sure that is possible.
The best solution for users is to have these sites streaming video to use HTTP Secure Streaming on an HTML/CSS/JS page or from a dedicated app that your install from the respective app stores. Similar to the way the YouTube apps works on the iPhone and how when you click on a YouTube page in mobile Safari it calls the app. This is ideal from a performance, maximum quality and power consumption standpoint.
Windows likes to brag about the number of apps its has, are the majority of them downloaded or used?
He has a point, but I don?t think he stated it well. Of course most apps are worthless to most people, the point is that it shows that developers are there and that people are relatively secure in knowing an app they want likely exists.
Although Android has only 1/10 of the App Store?s total it has achieved the same social position in that developers see as being successful and consumers can be assured that it will continue to grow that there is chance the app they want is likely there.
Andorid?s NDK will make this even more a reality with better apps that can harness the power of HW more effectively. I think Jfanning is failing to see that the number of apps shows that the ecosystem is healthy, regardless of only needing to use 1 or 100,000.
That was a very long post so I’m only going to reply to the first part and read the rest later.
I have a friend who has a Verizon HTC Pro Touch, tried to play Hulu videos on it, it didn't work.
To play Flash video Hulu says you need Flash 9, which no phone currently has. Hulu recommends you need 1Mbps downstream for smooth playback, which is on the high end for streaming video to a phone.
Video services like Hulu on the iPhone have little to do with Flash itself. The owners of Hulu want to charge for the service. They know Hulu on the iPhone would be a big hit. They want to figure out a successful way to charge for it before they release an iPhone app.
Netflix may not have permission to distribute its videos to phones. It may take them some time to get permission and encode thousands of video files small enough to play on phones.
I don't think there is any need to respond the rest of hiiamac's post. Most of it was FUD, most of it is untrue, and parts of it made no sense.
Now, when it comes to Apple being upset that it's seen as a gaming machine, this really comes down to Exchange,if you have ever used an HTC and it's GPS
What does gaming, Exchange, and GPS have to do with each other?