I like the idea of an optional stylus as an accessory. iOS is still just as finger friendly as ever but adding a stylus will give some new options and flexibility. Is it safe to assume this would work across the entire iOS line and include iPhones as well?
"I'm telling you, the level of control this offers is unbelieveable. You really have to try this to believe it. We'll have these for you to try after the keynote today."
"We did it because our professional customers demanded it, and we wanted to meet that demand. Other companies just slap a pen on the side, we did it right."
"We can't wait to see what people create with these new tools, both the apps and the finished products."
I knew it! I called it! And damn it, I'm buying one! (That's the most convincing sales pitch I've heard all day)
Figures. Every time Apple introduces something (if they actually do make a stylus) there's always people bringing up old Jobs quotes from another era (technology wise) and taking them out of context to try and find a way to bash Apple or Jobs.
Wow. Such stupid controversy over a trivial accessory. For god's sake, it's an optional stylus. All I can figure is that the rabid anti-stylus, "but Steve said blah blah.." types are really trying hard to imply that Apple is being hypocritical, but they don't have the guts to come right out and say it.
Well... I guess people will probably quote Jobs' opinion about the merits of a stylus (he was against it).
But a few thoughts:
1. adding a stylus at this stage of the game as an optional accessory is quite a different thing from having the UI built around the assumption that a stylus is necessary from day one
2. I can imagine that enterprise/pro customers want something more than fingers as the basis for interaction with an iPad. A stylus might be a more attractive option (in terms of mobility) than going the keyboard route.
3. Jobs changed his mind all the time. People shouldn't assume he would be against something now just because he was against it in 2010.
Well... I guess people will probably quote Jobs' opinion about the merits of a stylus (he was against it).
But a few thoughts:
1. adding a stylus at this stage of the game as an optional accessory is quite a different thing from having the UI built around the assumption that a stylus is necessary from day one
2. I can imagine that enterprise/pro customers want something more than fingers as the basis for interaction with an iPad. A stylus might be a more attractive option (in terms of mobility) than going the keyboard route.
3. Jobs changed his mind all the time. People shouldn't assume he would be against something now just because he was against it in 2010.
Well said.
When jobs said that, he had recently introduced a revolutionary multitouch ui.
Kicking the stylus trend.
And he was right about "doing it wrong" if you REQUIRED a stylus for interaction.
But there are some cases where an OPTIONAL stylus would be great such as notes, sketches, Adobe apps, etc.
I do a lot of digital design and I'd love to be able to do that with my iPad out of the box.
If Apple bundled an APPLE MADE stylus with he iPad, I'd upgrade from my gen 4 in a heartbeat.
And Jobs was correct. It's absolutely should be unnecessary for a typical UI, but a built-in digitizer with the option for a variety of 3rd-party styluses for very specific workflows (on top of your standard finger use) is not what he was saying was unnecessary.
It's as ridiculous as taking his comment about the current lot of 7" 16:9 tablets as being DOA and whittling down your fingers when they had the iPhone on the market for 3 years with a much smaller display. So why aren't you claiming that Jobs stated the iPhone was impossible to use without whittling down your fingers. It's certainly in the same realm of taking a specific comment from years past about a specific usage and then trying to shoehorn it into some other conversation years later that would merely add additional functionality to the main input method.
Again, why aren't you explaining this obsession with believing that Steve Jobs believed that a paintbrush is unnecessary when you have fingerprinting as an option, literally at your fingertips?
Wow. Such stupid controversy over a trivial accessory. For god's sake, it's an optional stylus. All I can figure is that the rabid anti-stylus, "but Steve said blah blah.." types are really trying hard to imply that Apple is being hypocritical, but they don't have the guts to come right out and say it.
And if Apple is, so frickin' what!?
If it comes with the iPad, it's NOT optional, but rather a necessary input device for what this newfangled model is supposed to do. As for optional accessories, there are already plenty of them in the market; Apple could obviously introduce its own, but that's beside the point - so let's not distort what the rumor is about.
Instead of quoting Steve Jobs imagine instead how he'd sell the concept of a stylus after having dissed it previously.
Personally I'd love the ability to use a stylus or a mouse in IOS. I just don't see the problem with that irrespective of what anybody said when first selling the idea of an iPad. It's just a matter of additional and more importantly- optional - functionality.
You already can; there's dozens of options out there.
You mean a smaller variant of the original product? So the iPod Mini was a flop then since it was only around two years.
Please don't continue with fallacious arguments - the iPod Mini was the iPod family's biggest success at the time, and was deliberately replaced by the Nano just as Apple continued to dictate what the market wanted, a market which Apple itself dominated completely. On the other hand, the iPad mini was just released as a "me too" device in response to the relative success of other brands - once more: Apple did it NOT because it wanted, but just because it thought the market wished such a device...see the difference in setting trends instead of following them?
Well... I guess people will probably quote Jobs' opinion about the merits of a stylus (he was against it).
Jobs wasn't for or against anything, he was a marketing specialist and sold the product he had. It is a fundamental piece of his personality which apparently many people can't grasp but Steve was a natural when it came to marketing.
But a few thoughts:
1. adding a stylus at this stage of the game as an optional accessory is quite a different thing from having the UI built around the assumption that a stylus is necessary from day one
Yep!
2. I can imagine that enterprise/pro customers want something more than fingers as the basis for interaction with an iPad. A stylus might be a more attractive option (in terms of mobility) than going the keyboard route.
Only if they can get very good handwriting recognition. It is interesting that Apple kept all of the technology Newton offered. In any event for the corporate types hand writing recognition would have to be very good indeed. For others though a good stylus has other uses where handwriting recognition doesn't matter. It will be interesting to see which user Apple targets here.
3. Jobs changed his mind all the time. People shouldn't assume he would be against something now just because he was against it in 2010.
No the problem is people confuse marketing and selling a product with an executives personal opinions on a subject. Jobs comments about styluses are directly related to delivering a product that didn't have one and didn't need one to be functional.
Please don't continue with fallacious arguments - the iPod Mini was the iPod family's biggest success at the time, and was deliberately replaced by the Nano just as Apple continued to dictate what the market wanted, a market which Apple itself dominated completely. On the other hand, the iPad mini was just released as a "me too" device in response to the relative success of other brands - once more: Apple did it NOT because it wanted, but just because it thought the market wished such a device...see the difference in setting trends instead of following them?
Oh, so what you're saying now is that no one asked for a smaller, cheaper iPod, and no one was buying smaller cheaper MP3 players back in the day. Okay.
I don't think I've ever seen you make a logical point. Another for the block list.
Jobs wasn't for or against anything, he was a marketing specialist and sold the product he had. It is a fundamental piece of his personality which apparently many people can't grasp but Steve was a natural when it came to marketing.
Jobs wasn't for or against anything, he was a marketing specialist and sold the product he had. It is a fundamental piece of his personality which apparently many people can't grasp but Steve was a natural when it came to marketing.
..... the problem is people confuse marketing and selling a product with an executives personal opinions on a subject. Jobs comments about styluses are directly related to delivering a product that didn't have one and didn't need one to be functional.
The truth. And to add to that - a successful and persuasive marketing pitch does not include caveats.
I think another truth is that people like 'absolutes', and people like to be led.
Oh, so what you're saying now is that no one asked for a smaller, cheaper iPod, and no one was buying smaller cheaper MP3 players back in the day. Okay.
I don't think I've ever seen you make a logical point. Another for the block list.
If you can't see the difference between Apple's reinvention of the Mini as the Nano as opposed to the launch of the iPad mini as a me-too product, it's useless to continue with this discussion...
As for "logic", it's always funny to see such ad hominem nonsense being blabbed here - when I said similar things about the iPad mini and the 5C a while ago (unoriginal devices that would soon go the way of the Dodo), most of you laughed - who's laughing now?
And Jobs was correct. It's absolutely should be unnecessary for a typical UI, but a built-in digitizer with the option for a variety of 3rd-party styluses for very specific workflows (on top of your standard finger use) is not what he was saying was unnecessary.
Since he's no longer here to explain what he meant, and didn't mean everything is just a guess. When there's multiple different "what he meant" then one is left with no choice but to take the quote at face value, and let it speak for itself.
Piling on. The 5c and mini can be seen as aggressive counters to the competition "getting under the [pricing] umbrella". Tactical (in the short term market share) but strategic in the opening of new markets and marketing methods.
And the years of changing forms and factors of the iPod line is evidence that Apple will explore options to expand/hold market share.
Piling on too. My assistant bought a 5c. She had been wanting an iPhone for a few years. It wasn't until the 5c that she finally thought she could afford it.
Comments
I like the idea of an optional stylus as an accessory. iOS is still just as finger friendly as ever but adding a stylus will give some new options and flexibility. Is it safe to assume this would work across the entire iOS line and include iPhones as well?
And if Apple is, so frickin' what!?
Well said.
When jobs said that, he had recently introduced a revolutionary multitouch ui.
Kicking the stylus trend.
And he was right about "doing it wrong" if you REQUIRED a stylus for interaction.
But there are some cases where an OPTIONAL stylus would be great such as notes, sketches, Adobe apps, etc.
I do a lot of digital design and I'd love to be able to do that with my iPad out of the box.
If Apple bundled an APPLE MADE stylus with he iPad, I'd upgrade from my gen 4 in a heartbeat.
And Jobs was correct. It's absolutely should be unnecessary for a typical UI, but a built-in digitizer with the option for a variety of 3rd-party styluses for very specific workflows (on top of your standard finger use) is not what he was saying was unnecessary.
It's as ridiculous as taking his comment about the current lot of 7" 16:9 tablets as being DOA and whittling down your fingers when they had the iPhone on the market for 3 years with a much smaller display. So why aren't you claiming that Jobs stated the iPhone was impossible to use without whittling down your fingers. It's certainly in the same realm of taking a specific comment from years past about a specific usage and then trying to shoehorn it into some other conversation years later that would merely add additional functionality to the main input method.
Again, why aren't you explaining this obsession with believing that Steve Jobs believed that a paintbrush is unnecessary when you have fingerprinting as an option, literally at your fingertips?
Wow. Such stupid controversy over a trivial accessory. For god's sake, it's an optional stylus. All I can figure is that the rabid anti-stylus, "but Steve said blah blah.." types are really trying hard to imply that Apple is being hypocritical, but they don't have the guts to come right out and say it.
And if Apple is, so frickin' what!?
If it comes with the iPad, it's NOT optional, but rather a necessary input device for what this newfangled model is supposed to do. As for optional accessories, there are already plenty of them in the market; Apple could obviously introduce its own, but that's beside the point - so let's not distort what the rumor is about.
Instead of quoting Steve Jobs imagine instead how he'd sell the concept of a stylus after having dissed it previously.
Personally I'd love the ability to use a stylus or a mouse in IOS. I just don't see the problem with that irrespective of what anybody said when first selling the idea of an iPad. It's just a matter of additional and more importantly- optional - functionality.
You already can; there's dozens of options out there.
Except the iPad mini isn't an 'old' product.
Thank you. Nice fallacy when people compare the long-running and market creator iPod with a product released just a couple of years ago.
Thank you. Nice fallacy when people compare the long-running and market creator iPod with a product released just a couple of years ago.
You mean a smaller variant of the original product? So the iPod Mini was a flop then since it was only around two years.
You mean a smaller variant of the original product? So the iPod Mini was a flop then since it was only around two years.
Please don't continue with fallacious arguments - the iPod Mini was the iPod family's biggest success at the time, and was deliberately replaced by the Nano just as Apple continued to dictate what the market wanted, a market which Apple itself dominated completely. On the other hand, the iPad mini was just released as a "me too" device in response to the relative success of other brands - once more: Apple did it NOT because it wanted, but just because it thought the market wished such a device...see the difference in setting trends instead of following them?
No the problem is people confuse marketing and selling a product with an executives personal opinions on a subject. Jobs comments about styluses are directly related to delivering a product that didn't have one and didn't need one to be functional.
Oh, so what you're saying now is that no one asked for a smaller, cheaper iPod, and no one was buying smaller cheaper MP3 players back in the day. Okay.
I don't think I've ever seen you make a logical point. Another for the block list.
Jobs wasn't for or against anything, he was a marketing specialist and sold the product he had. It is a fundamental piece of his personality which apparently many people can't grasp but Steve was a natural when it came to marketing.
Well said!
I think another truth is that people like 'absolutes', and people like to be led.
Oh, so what you're saying now is that no one asked for a smaller, cheaper iPod, and no one was buying smaller cheaper MP3 players back in the day. Okay.
I don't think I've ever seen you make a logical point. Another for the block list.
If you can't see the difference between Apple's reinvention of the Mini as the Nano as opposed to the launch of the iPad mini as a me-too product, it's useless to continue with this discussion...
As for "logic", it's always funny to see such ad hominem nonsense being blabbed here - when I said similar things about the iPad mini and the 5C a while ago (unoriginal devices that would soon go the way of the Dodo), most of you laughed - who's laughing now?
Since he's no longer here to explain what he meant, and didn't mean everything is just a guess. When there's multiple different "what he meant" then one is left with no choice but to take the quote at face value, and let it speak for itself.
++1
Piling on. The 5c and mini can be seen as aggressive counters to the competition "getting under the [pricing] umbrella". Tactical (in the short term market share) but strategic in the opening of new markets and marketing methods.
And the years of changing forms and factors of the iPod line is evidence that Apple will explore options to expand/hold market share.
Piling on too. My assistant bought a 5c. She had been wanting an iPhone for a few years. It wasn't until the 5c that she finally thought she could afford it.