I think the Camera interface will be the next big thing after the touch interface, and Apple missed an opportunity to put a user-facing camera on the new Apple TV.
Or maybe Apple are in fact on top of this, and the "big thing" in Mac OS X 10.7 will be to use the iMac's camera to support Minority Report style gestures?
Edit: how cool would Coverflow be if you could just sit back on the couch and flick through the albums with a flick of your hand?
don't forget about the micro usb port on the back "for service and support". there's a lot of possibilities there.. a camera.. a hard drive.. um, other stuff.. not to mention a portable wifi iSight would be a very cool accessory.
the kinect thing does seem cool though, not sure if its practical yet, but the fact that microsoft is actually doing something intriguing is big news in and of itself. the windows phone 7 doesn't look half bad either, and it really looks like they're making an effort to be original for once. still won't compare to the iphone, but at least it's better then their usual crap.
and if we're really lucky, maybe microsoft having a couple semi-decent products out there will cause them and/or their trolls to get some self respect and quit their pathetic whining
And what about all the grown ups who won't buy a Kinect but will buy an iPad.
You are taking about a small part of the iPad demographic against a large part of the Kinect demographic. Yes they have a similar function (games), but that is only a small part of what an iPad can do. If the kid wants a portable gaming devices the Kinect is out for sure, and MS have NO competition in that area, or in book reading, or most importantly in hot tablet devices.
good point. and also, for the kids an ipad is a much easier sell to the parents then the kinect, you know so they can do homework and read books on it and such..
i remember having a nice graphing calculator in high school that i ended up using predominantly to play some jumping penguin game in the back of the classroom
I think the Camera interface will be the next big thing after the touch interface, and Apple missed an opportunity to put a user-facing camera on the new Apple TV.
Or maybe Apple are in fact on top of this, and the "big thing" in Mac OS X 10.7 will be to use the iMac's camera to support Minority Report style gestures?
Edit: how cool would Coverflow be if you could just sit back on the couch and flick through the albums with a flick of your hand?
How did Apple miss the opportunity for a camera in the ATV?
Think about it! A built-in camera would dictate where the ATV could be placed, and how it is positioned, so it could capture what? The tops of your heads? Your midsections?
Better a separate camera that can be repositioned and focused for the task at hand.
Autumn 2010 : Apple announces quarterly results which show a 50 Billion $
revenue / 20 Billion $ profits trajectory. The analysts revise their expectations ..
Spring 2011 : after the iPad, the iPhone (now 5) is introduced in China, and generates hysteria, as well as a specific Verizon CDMA model for the US. The competitors announce models "soon to come", but fail to materialize ... Analysts revise their expectations again..
Spring 2011 : Apple reinvents the watch (human skin surface currents being used to transmit information to earphones)
Summer 2011 : Steve Jobs announces that a few billion $ out of Apple's cash will be used to launch Apple's largest private satellite constellation (this representing a tiny proportion of Apple's total cash). TV broadscasters feel uncomfortable ..
Spring 2012 : Apple reinvents the TV
Autumn 2012 : Steve announces that the iPhone now fully possesses credit card capabilities (with of course sophisticated authentication capabilities, and added value services for budget management, etc ...), and announces the creation of the Apple iBank. Banking companies start getting worried ..
The analysts start to realize that instead of the iPad (now sold at more than three million per month) cannibalizing the Macs, each product or service of the Apple ecosystem strengthens each other, and that Apple is eating up every year a percentage of the huge PC market share. They revise their expectations accordingly ..
Apple competitors feel increasingly worried, and find no way to navigate safely through the mine fields of Apple patents (the Lawyers department of Apple has grown up to ten thousand of people, becoming the first department of the company). Sadly for them, they have no hope to expect from the antitrust authorities, since Apple is not the dominant player in any of its markets.
Spring 2013 : Apple chief financial Officer manages to convince Steve that the only way to reduce Apple's enormous cash would be to distribute a dividend to the shareholders. The Apple share skyrockets again ..
End of 2013 : Apple acquires Intel
Summer 2014 : following IBM's example, PC suppliers quit one by one the PC market, into which they have no hope to make any decent profit (especially since the competition on prices has become even tougher, as the Windows market share shrinks ..).
Microsoft is in trouble.. (Especially since Steve's pitbull buddy Larry Ellison has successfully sued several companies about Java, and has aggressively and successfully promoted Open Office against Microsoft Office). Steve Ballmer is fired. Apple uses the old Microsoft video of the "iPhone4 funerals" to celebrate the news. Dells runs out of business (and distributes the money to its shareholders (who buy Apple shares with it).
Autumn 2014 : the Apple profits have now jumped to the incredible amount of 40 Billion $ a year, turning *Apple shares into the largest stock among any companies in the world (beyond Exxon Mobil or Petrochina). Analysts again revise their expectations ..
Autumn 2016 : Apple reinvents the car (yes, it is a mobile device, too ...)
2020 : Steve Jobs is elected president of the United States (but insists
for its salary to be one dollar / year only (first iPresident of the United States)
I would hate to live in that world. That bald turtle necked prick as president........ 'You're gonna really love our new tax policy, its' just magical'
and in related news, McDonalds sold more Big Macs this week than all the iPads combined! Clearly everyone wants a Big Mac and not an iPad. Epic fail Apple!
The kinect has some issues that need to be resolved...like shooter games... I guess you can prance around and flap your fingers like a butterfly and shoot people, but nothing compares to a trigger. pew pew pew!
The NPD numbers indicate that they have sold around 42 million Xbox 360s total, that they have over 20 million Xbox Live members.
So the iPad will probably outsell the xbox within 36 months then given speculation about sales levels... Seeing as we're drawing pointless comparisons today.
Oops I've forgot that Kinect is a tablet computer.
Let's wait and see for how many useful applications you can use it? But keep in mind if you are using the kinekt as a iPad replacement you might still have to carry the Xbox along. Maybe a monitor would do some good too.
Kudo was on the Engadget show and clearly quite pissed off about how much attention they give to Apple's devices so I think they are just desperate to claim any new success over Apple no matter how obscure.
Some vague link could be the way people interact with games and media - gestures vs touch. Kinect controls video playback too.
I actually really like Kinect, far more than the Playstation Move or the WiiMote. It just looks way more fun to use for a kid and more likely to get them to exercise. The full body mapping looks great even though it needs to filter the spasms out.
The price is a bit steep at $150 but that does come with Kinect Adventures. I can see this being Microsoft's equivalent of WiiSports:
Sony and Nintendo keep dismissing it as not having accurate tracking so a controller is better but it's a camera so you could add something like a PS Move if you wanted to.
I don't think Kinect will necessarily shift more XBoxes as they need a lot of supported titles but it has an audience of over 40 million. That said, the iPad is at 3-4 million and if that trend increases or continues, Microsoft will have to convince over 20% of their current owners to buy the accessory. It's certainly possible but as mentioned already it doesn't really mean anything because it's hard to imagine someone choosing between buying either a Kinect or an iPad.
Interesting video!
Just out of curiosity, I Yahooed for tech specs to see what you get for $150 -- basically, it's a 2-in-one USB videoCam.
It has a fairly decent h/v field of view and a motor to adjust tilt... Standing, sitting, stooping, squatting, (sounds like some of those church hymns) or lying d own.
AFAICT, there are no other remote adjustments, e.g. focus, zoom, pan...
So, you have a specialized, limited-function, programmable webCam for $150... With, say, an initial target of 20 million (one half of install base) and, say, 1 million per month new sales (including the X-Box).
If you made a similar videoCam that emphasized remote pan/zoom/focus you would have something that you could connect to an ATV or a Mac and use for FaceTime...
Further, it could be used for security monitoring... And even games like the Kinect.
I wonder what a camera like that would cost, and what the sales targets would be.
Quote:
KINECT TECH SPECS (UNCONFIRMED)
Sensor
Color and depth-sensing lenses
Voice microphone array
Tilt motor for sensor adjustment
Fully compatible with existing Xbox 360 consoles
Field of View
Horizontal field of view: 57 degrees
Vertical field of view: 43 degrees
Physical tilt range: ± 27 degrees
Depth sensor range: 1.2m - 3.5m
Data Streams
320x240 16-bit depth @ 30 frames/sec
640x480 32-bit colour @ 30 frames/sec
16-bit audio @ 16 kHz
Skeletal Tracking System
Tracks up to 6 people, including 2 active players
Tracks 20 joints per active player
Ability to map active players to Live Avatars
Audio System
Live party chat and in-game voice chat (requires Xbox Live Gold Membership)
It's remarkable how often people in charge of vast resources sound like miserable, insecure teenagers. It'd be a lot more fun if Tsunoda would drop the corporatese and just shriek, "Ohmigod I am like so prettier than her and I mean like anyone who would go out with her is a total douchebag because like she's not even popular?"
So if I want to sell a lot of, let's say, cheese, then my best marking strategy begins with, "this cheese is promising to be a hit this season, with pre-orders already coming in. It'll really blow away the iPad, this cheese. Anyone considering the iPad should check out our cheese first. You won't be disappointed."
I do not see a problem with the comparison either. The guy is merely saying the initial demand is strong and sales will likely be stronger then the iPad sales we have seen to date (not necessarily for the holiday). It is merely a reference to sales volume.
Comments
I think the Camera interface will be the next big thing after the touch interface, and Apple missed an opportunity to put a user-facing camera on the new Apple TV.
Or maybe Apple are in fact on top of this, and the "big thing" in Mac OS X 10.7 will be to use the iMac's camera to support Minority Report style gestures?
Edit: how cool would Coverflow be if you could just sit back on the couch and flick through the albums with a flick of your hand?
don't forget about the micro usb port on the back "for service and support". there's a lot of possibilities there.. a camera.. a hard drive.. um, other stuff.. not to mention a portable wifi iSight would be a very cool accessory.
the kinect thing does seem cool though, not sure if its practical yet, but the fact that microsoft is actually doing something intriguing is big news in and of itself. the windows phone 7 doesn't look half bad either, and it really looks like they're making an effort to be original for once. still won't compare to the iphone, but at least it's better then their usual crap.
and if we're really lucky, maybe microsoft having a couple semi-decent products out there will cause them and/or their trolls to get some self respect and quit their pathetic whining
And what about all the grown ups who won't buy a Kinect but will buy an iPad.
You are taking about a small part of the iPad demographic against a large part of the Kinect demographic. Yes they have a similar function (games), but that is only a small part of what an iPad can do. If the kid wants a portable gaming devices the Kinect is out for sure, and MS have NO competition in that area, or in book reading, or most importantly in hot tablet devices.
good point. and also, for the kids an ipad is a much easier sell to the parents then the kinect, you know so they can do homework and read books on it and such..
i remember having a nice graphing calculator in high school that i ended up using predominantly to play some jumping penguin game in the back of the classroom
"Hello, I am an iPad - and I am a Kinect."
looking forward to the new ad campaign:
"Hello, I am an iPad - and I am a Kinect."
And after that they just stare at each other in puzzled silence for 30 seconds.
The more we see of Apple, the more true this is.
apple make technology for techno-phobes. End of
I think the Camera interface will be the next big thing after the touch interface, and Apple missed an opportunity to put a user-facing camera on the new Apple TV.
Or maybe Apple are in fact on top of this, and the "big thing" in Mac OS X 10.7 will be to use the iMac's camera to support Minority Report style gestures?
Edit: how cool would Coverflow be if you could just sit back on the couch and flick through the albums with a flick of your hand?
How did Apple miss the opportunity for a camera in the ATV?
Think about it! A built-in camera would dictate where the ATV could be placed, and how it is positioned, so it could capture what? The tops of your heads? Your midsections?
Better a separate camera that can be repositioned and focused for the task at hand.
This can be added at any time.
.
Autumn 2010 : Apple announces quarterly results which show a 50 Billion $
revenue / 20 Billion $ profits trajectory. The analysts revise their expectations ..
Spring 2011 : after the iPad, the iPhone (now 5) is introduced in China, and generates hysteria, as well as a specific Verizon CDMA model for the US. The competitors announce models "soon to come", but fail to materialize ... Analysts revise their expectations again..
Spring 2011 : Apple reinvents the watch (human skin surface currents being used to transmit information to earphones)
Summer 2011 : Steve Jobs announces that a few billion $ out of Apple's cash will be used to launch Apple's largest private satellite constellation (this representing a tiny proportion of Apple's total cash). TV broadscasters feel uncomfortable ..
Spring 2012 : Apple reinvents the TV
Autumn 2012 : Steve announces that the iPhone now fully possesses credit card capabilities (with of course sophisticated authentication capabilities, and added value services for budget management, etc ...), and announces the creation of the Apple iBank. Banking companies start getting worried ..
The analysts start to realize that instead of the iPad (now sold at more than three million per month) cannibalizing the Macs, each product or service of the Apple ecosystem strengthens each other, and that Apple is eating up every year a percentage of the huge PC market share. They revise their expectations accordingly ..
Apple competitors feel increasingly worried, and find no way to navigate safely through the mine fields of Apple patents (the Lawyers department of Apple has grown up to ten thousand of people, becoming the first department of the company). Sadly for them, they have no hope to expect from the antitrust authorities, since Apple is not the dominant player in any of its markets.
Spring 2013 : Apple chief financial Officer manages to convince Steve that the only way to reduce Apple's enormous cash would be to distribute a dividend to the shareholders. The Apple share skyrockets again ..
End of 2013 : Apple acquires Intel
Summer 2014 : following IBM's example, PC suppliers quit one by one the PC market, into which they have no hope to make any decent profit (especially since the competition on prices has become even tougher, as the Windows market share shrinks ..).
Microsoft is in trouble.. (Especially since Steve's pitbull buddy Larry Ellison has successfully sued several companies about Java, and has aggressively and successfully promoted Open Office against Microsoft Office). Steve Ballmer is fired. Apple uses the old Microsoft video of the "iPhone4 funerals" to celebrate the news. Dells runs out of business (and distributes the money to its shareholders (who buy Apple shares with it).
Autumn 2014 : the Apple profits have now jumped to the incredible amount of 40 Billion $ a year, turning *Apple shares into the largest stock among any companies in the world (beyond Exxon Mobil or Petrochina). Analysts again revise their expectations ..
Autumn 2016 : Apple reinvents the car (yes, it is a mobile device, too ...)
2020 : Steve Jobs is elected president of the United States (but insists
for its salary to be one dollar / year only (first iPresident of the United States)
I would hate to live in that world. That bald turtle necked prick as president........ 'You're gonna really love our new tax policy, its' just magical'
If it's not Apple then it's garbage - Big surprise on the comments.
Not one comment above your comment says anything of the sort. Why the comment?
The poin that everyone -quite rightly - is making is that comparing iPad sales to XBox sales is like comparing television sales to sales of pet frogs.
The kinect has some issues that need to be resolved...like shooter games... I guess you can prance around and flap your fingers like a butterfly and shoot people, but nothing compares to a trigger. pew pew pew!
The NPD numbers indicate that they have sold around 42 million Xbox 360s total, that they have over 20 million Xbox Live members.
So the iPad will probably outsell the xbox within 36 months then given speculation about sales levels... Seeing as we're drawing pointless comparisons today.
Oops I've forgot that Kinect is a tablet computer.
I will buy a Kinect so I can take it out with me to read my books on the train, watch movies and surf the net. Can't wait.
And it appears to be working. That line got the product mentioned on every Mac related site.
Didn't cost them a penny! Beats spending 10 million bucks on Seinfeld.
... And, conversely, the iPad gets mentioned by the media covering MS and gaming...
First Sony and Nintendo are talking about it [iDevice gaming], now MS.... Maybe I should see what everyone is talking (worried) about..
.
Edit: how cool would Coverflow be if you could just sit back on the couch and flick through the albums with a flick of your hand?
You can do that with the "magic trackpad". Pretty cool, actually
Kudo was on the Engadget show and clearly quite pissed off about how much attention they give to Apple's devices so I think they are just desperate to claim any new success over Apple no matter how obscure.
Some vague link could be the way people interact with games and media - gestures vs touch. Kinect controls video playback too.
I actually really like Kinect, far more than the Playstation Move or the WiiMote. It just looks way more fun to use for a kid and more likely to get them to exercise. The full body mapping looks great even though it needs to filter the spasms out.
The price is a bit steep at $150 but that does come with Kinect Adventures. I can see this being Microsoft's equivalent of WiiSports:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwgu7n_8RY4
Auto split screen for multi-player.
Sony and Nintendo keep dismissing it as not having accurate tracking so a controller is better but it's a camera so you could add something like a PS Move if you wanted to.
I don't think Kinect will necessarily shift more XBoxes as they need a lot of supported titles but it has an audience of over 40 million. That said, the iPad is at 3-4 million and if that trend increases or continues, Microsoft will have to convince over 20% of their current owners to buy the accessory. It's certainly possible but as mentioned already it doesn't really mean anything because it's hard to imagine someone choosing between buying either a Kinect or an iPad.
Interesting video!
Just out of curiosity, I Yahooed for tech specs to see what you get for $150 -- basically, it's a 2-in-one USB videoCam.
It has a fairly decent h/v field of view and a motor to adjust tilt... Standing, sitting, stooping, squatting, (sounds like some of those church hymns) or lying d own.
AFAICT, there are no other remote adjustments, e.g. focus, zoom, pan...
So, you have a specialized, limited-function, programmable webCam for $150... With, say, an initial target of 20 million (one half of install base) and, say, 1 million per month new sales (including the X-Box).
If you made a similar videoCam that emphasized remote pan/zoom/focus you would have something that you could connect to an ATV or a Mac and use for FaceTime...
Further, it could be used for security monitoring... And even games like the Kinect.
I wonder what a camera like that would cost, and what the sales targets would be.
KINECT TECH SPECS (UNCONFIRMED)
Sensor
Color and depth-sensing lenses
Voice microphone array
Tilt motor for sensor adjustment
Fully compatible with existing Xbox 360 consoles
Field of View
Horizontal field of view: 57 degrees
Vertical field of view: 43 degrees
Physical tilt range: ± 27 degrees
Depth sensor range: 1.2m - 3.5m
Data Streams
320x240 16-bit depth @ 30 frames/sec
640x480 32-bit colour @ 30 frames/sec
16-bit audio @ 16 kHz
Skeletal Tracking System
Tracks up to 6 people, including 2 active players
Tracks 20 joints per active player
Ability to map active players to Live Avatars
Audio System
Live party chat and in-game voice chat (requires Xbox Live Gold Membership)
Echo cancellation system enhances voice input
Speech recognition in multiple
http://http://www.gamespot.com/news/6267556.html
It's remarkable how often people in charge of vast resources sound like miserable, insecure teenagers. It'd be a lot more fun if Tsunoda would drop the corporatese and just shriek, "Ohmigod I am like so prettier than her and I mean like anyone who would go out with her is a total douchebag because like she's not even popular?"
Shana, Shana, Shana... You're a slut...
.
Cheers !