What are you even talking about? How is the iPhone not a good general purpose computer? Isn't that what iPhone fans have been saying since the beginning, that it's 1% phone, 99% computer, and has inspired a mobile revolution? Can you please just give me a single example of a use case that you have in mind for iOSR that an iPhone cannot currently accomplish satisfactorily? Just one?
A $50: baby monitor; home server; home security cam; store/supermarket aisle traffic monitor/security cam; an intelligent boom-box; a weather station. An inexpensive ApplePay POS terminal. Part of a less expensive solution for the vocally challenged* or handicapped.
Those are just a few uses for a repurposed iPhone.
What makes this so attractive is that hundreds of millions of high-quality, similar-capability iPhones are available at a low price. Developers could target these existing iPhones and deliver solutions to [non-tech] customers at a price-point that is not currently possible. Likely, most consumers wouldn't think of dedicating a $500-$600 iPhone to any of the above -- but would have no problem with a $50 iPhone.
It would take a minor change in attitude/perspective/approach by Apple and a few changes to iOS to make repurposing practical. It would be a win-win for: the consumer, Apple, and the planet in general.
Dug out that old iPad HiFi and a 30 pin to Lightning adapter -- it works just fine! I also have a Bose connected via an Airport Express.
With a little digging I was able to find an iOS app called AirFloat (source code).
If you run AirFloat on an iDevice it will allow the device to be an AirPlay target ...
So I can even AirPlay to the iDevice/iPod Hifi -- from iTunes on the Mac or even from another iDevice ... Sweet.
Apple could easily provide this capability for older after-life iOS devices.
... everything old is new again ...
Edit: Same setup as above works with an iP4 as the target Airplay device.
Edit 2: OK, I just got iP 3G and iP first generation (8 GB storage) working on the iPod WiFi ... I doubt that these older models will support being an AirPlay target. though.
It's interesting that an iP4, over 6 years old, valued at roughly $50 -- obviates the need for an Airport Express costing $100 new and $50 refurbished (for the above setup).
I didn't make it past the ridiculous idea that people are going to make
dumb devices that are enhanced by plugging in random iPhones, but if
infinite iPhones were available, sticking them to walls throughout your
house could get interesting, especially if they're equipped with always
listening Siri, and Siri actually were actually made to be useful.
I didn't make it past the ridiculous idea that people are going to make
dumb devices that are enhanced by plugging in random iPhones, but if
infinite iPhones were available, sticking them to walls throughout your
house could get interesting, especially if they're equipped with always
listening Siri, and Siri actually were actually made to be useful.
Or, in your car for something like this (the 6-year-old iP4 runs iOS 7.1.2):
...if
infinite iPhones were available, sticking them to walls throughout your
house could get interesting...
An Intelligent Home (“smart home”, but “smart” is so wasted on garbage these days that we ought to have something else) would really only need the power of a single iPhone to manage its services. Replace your thermostat block with an iPhone and you have a touchscreen interface that could handle room by room lights, HVAC, appliances, and functionality (locks and doors). I’d love that future. We were promised it by the ‘80s in the ‘50s, after all.
Couple that with in-wall (or entertainment system) AirPlay speakers in every room and you have music that follows you around the house, alarms that tell you when the laundry or oven are done, ringing for when someone calls you (and have it speak the name of the contact), and Siri for the home.
“Hey Siri, play Toy Story.” And the room you’re in automatically dims its lights, turns on the Apple TV and television, and loads up Toy Story from your AirPort-connected iTunes Library.
...if
infinite iPhones were available, sticking them to walls throughout your
house could get interesting...
An Intelligent Home (“smart home”, but “smart” is so wasted on garbage these days that we ought to have something else) would really only need the power of a single iPhone to manage its services. Replace your thermostat block with an iPhone and you have a touchscreen interface that could handle room by room lights, HVAC, appliances, and functionality (locks and doors). I’d love that future. We were promised it by the ‘80s in the ‘50s, after all.
Couple that with in-wall (or entertainment system) AirPlay speakers in every room and you have music that follows you around the house, alarms that tell you when the laundry or oven are done, ringing for when someone calls you (and have it speak the name of the contact), and Siri for the home.
“Hey Siri, play Toy Story.” And the room you’re in automatically dims its lights, turns on the Apple TV and television, and loads up Toy Story from your AirPort-connected iTunes Library.
Yeah, TS ... The disappointing thing is that everything you describe is well within today's tech -- Hopefully, Apple will make some of this happen on Monday!
The elephant in the room is that Apple just doesn't want to sell them as cheap regular iPhones because that would further saturate the market for newer higher margin iPhones. If anything, they want to force owners of previous iPhones to have to upgrade to newer models.
The real answer to all of this nonsense is to innovate. Make the next iPhone so alluring that people simply WANT to upgrade. There's no such things as peak iPhone or market saturation. People will buy something new if they deem it worthy of purchasing, whether they already own an older model phone or not.
Uh, you don't need a special version of iOS for this. If you keep an old iPhone, the only thing it lacks is cellular. It is still a fully capable WiFi device, that can be used in all of the ways you describe.
I don't know. I don't see the need for any sort of initiatives here. Old/Used iPhones are already being 1) Resold, 2) Recycled, or 3) Reused by the original owner.
The article makes it pretty clear that you can already reuse an iPhone to a limited extent, and it even includes a PHOTO of one example.
But if you look at the architecture of iOS on the iPhone, it incorporates a wide variety of restrictions and optimizations designed to make a good mobile phone. Loading a new OS on to old iPhone hardware that lacks these restrictions, works without a functional battery, and is oriented around running a primary app at generally full performance (as fast as it can without overheating) would result in a very different experience that simply finding another use for an iPhone. Also, you in some cases shut down the display but keep the rest of the system working at full speed, with the assumption that the user interface is going to be driven by another device (such as a new iPhone, Watch, etc).
The more you know about how iOS optimizes iPhones to work as an all day phone, the more you can see the value in a purpose built OS that turns an old iPhone into a capable modular computer with a completely different optimization profile.
This is smoke and mirrors. What Apple is really doing here is sabotaging older model iPhones to quickly take them off the used iPhone market. Constrain the supply of used iPhone by making it so that they can't be used as phones anymore, then used iPhone prices rise (supply and demand), which makes new phone prices seem more reasonable.
This has Tim Cook's fingerprints all over it. It's another way to funnel people into making a higher margin purchase.
Comments
A $50: baby monitor; home server; home security cam; store/supermarket aisle traffic monitor/security cam; an intelligent boom-box; a weather station. An inexpensive ApplePay POS terminal. Part of a less expensive solution for the vocally challenged* or handicapped.
* http://www.assistiveware.com/products
Those are just a few uses for a repurposed iPhone.
What makes this so attractive is that hundreds of millions of high-quality, similar-capability iPhones are available at a low price. Developers could target these existing iPhones and deliver solutions to [non-tech] customers at a price-point that is not currently possible. Likely, most consumers wouldn't think of dedicating a $500-$600 iPhone to any of the above -- but would have no problem with a $50 iPhone.
It would take a minor change in attitude/perspective/approach by Apple and a few changes to iOS to make repurposing practical. It would be a win-win for: the consumer, Apple, and the planet in general.
... Now, where's that old iP4 and the iPod HiFi
Ha!
Dug out that old iPad HiFi and a 30 pin to Lightning adapter -- it works just fine! I also have a Bose connected via an Airport Express.
With a little digging I was able to find an iOS app called AirFloat (source code).
If you run AirFloat on an iDevice it will allow the device to be an AirPlay target ...
So I can even AirPlay to the iDevice/iPod Hifi -- from iTunes on the Mac or even from another iDevice ... Sweet.
Apple could easily provide this capability for older after-life iOS devices.
... everything old is new again ...
Edit: Same setup as above works with an iP4 as the target Airplay device.
Edit 2: OK, I just got iP 3G and iP first generation (8 GB storage) working on the iPod WiFi ... I doubt that these older models will support being an AirPlay target. though.
It's interesting that an iP4, over 6 years old, valued at roughly $50 -- obviates the need for an Airport Express costing $100 new and $50 refurbished (for the above setup).
Or, in your car for something like this (the 6-year-old iP4 runs iOS 7.1.2):
Couple that with in-wall (or entertainment system) AirPlay speakers in every room and you have music that follows you around the house, alarms that tell you when the laundry or oven are done, ringing for when someone calls you (and have it speak the name of the contact), and Siri for the home.
“Hey Siri, play Toy Story.” And the room you’re in automatically dims its lights, turns on the Apple TV and television, and loads up Toy Story from your AirPort-connected iTunes Library.
Yeah, TS ... The disappointing thing is that everything you describe is well within today's tech -- Hopefully, Apple will make some of this happen on Monday!
The real answer to all of this nonsense is to innovate. Make the next iPhone so alluring that people simply WANT to upgrade. There's no such things as peak iPhone or market saturation. People will buy something new if they deem it worthy of purchasing, whether they already own an older model phone or not.
This has Tim Cook's fingerprints all over it. It's another way to funnel people into making a higher margin purchase.