Mac OS X key to Apple's consumer electronics strategy

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 67
    plusplus Posts: 54member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mark2005


    Not just calendars and address books, but Dashboard widgets are coming to a future Apple pocketable product.



    Aha! Since we've all just discovered that "iPhone" is taken, you may inadvertantly uncovered the new magic name. Let's see ... an "Apple pocketable product" ... sounds like the insanely great "Pocket Mac"
  • Reply 42 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by plus


    Aha! Since we've all just discovered that "iPhone" is taken, you may inadvertantly uncovered the new magic name. Let's see ... an "Apple pocketable product" ... sounds like the insanely great "Pocket Mac"







    Like the all-in-one swiss army knife it sounds like Apple is trying to create the ultimate electronic

    gadget. Which seems like a logical step except it's not Steve J's philosophy of "do ONE thing really well" which I typically agree with.



    You could call this all in one gizmo the iTool. for it's physical and functional characteristics.

    Besides you'd probably carry it in your pocket.
  • Reply 43 of 67
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    I think there's a marital aid by that name already...
  • Reply 44 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kickaha


    I think there's a marital aid by that name already...



    Your probably right...I'll check with my wife.
  • Reply 45 of 67
    eaieai Posts: 417member
    You know, if they did make a PDA style device, it could be the beginning of Apple focusing on making some inroads into the enterprise market. Seems unlikely now, but perhaps thats a long term goal?



    iPod provides a "halo" for consumers, 'iSomething' provides the "halo" of business...



    That said, businesses are incredibly slow at migrating to even new versions of Windows, a complete architecture change would be impossible in most businesses, though they could try to aim at the small business market.
  • Reply 46 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by eAi


    You know, if they did make a PDA style device, it could be the beginning of Apple focusing on making some inroads into the enterprise market. Seems unlikely now, but perhaps thats a long term goal?



    iPod provides a "halo" for consumers, 'iSomething' provides the "halo" of business...



    That said, businesses are incredibly slow at migrating to even new versions of Windows, a complete architecture change would be impossible in most businesses, though they could try to aim at the small business market.



    okayy
  • Reply 47 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aegisdesign


    Overtaking the OS used in pretty much every Nokia and Sony Ericsson phone that has over 75% of the market? Not likely.



    Kill off Embedded Linux in Asia where they don't like using proprietary OSs? Not likely.



    Kill of Embedded Windows/WinCE/Windows Mobile in ODM phones rebadged by carriers around the world as their own? Not likely.



    Kill of Palm. OK, That one's likely.



    If Apple were to strike a coup and bring OS X embedded into non-Apple devices, it would seriously shake the foundations of the embedded device industry. When it comes down to it, there are two players at the high end: Linux and WinCE. There's too much diverse infrastructure in place for anything to happen to Linux, but WinCE is a tree ready to fall. If Apple really wanted to expedite this, they'd develop OS X toolsets that also could run on top of embedded linux. That's what you call "instant market."



    The smart phone market, as you noted, has Linux and WinCE as well as some other proprietary players. As far as the US market is concerned, you're either using a Blackberry, a WinCE ODM, or a Treo. Linux is just starting to enter the market, but even though it's open source, Linux-based phones tend to require plenty of proprietary toolsets. The development environments are less polished, the interfaces less polished, and developer/manufacturer still has to shell-out.



    I would expect embedded OS X, like regular OS X, to be open source with proprietary toolsets. This would make it very similar to all "open source" embedded environments of note.



    Symbian and the Nokia/Ericsson products have the writing on the wall, as Asian (generic Linux, WinCE) and American (notably RIM) seem to be gaining ground fastest in global smart phone market. Nokia and Ericsson seem to be continuing their aristocratic intent on pigeon-holing themselves into the already saturated european market. Stick a fork in: they will be the cause of their own demise, and in fact are decent candidates to move to embedded OS X.
  • Reply 48 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jwyatt


    The e-mate was a nice little device.

    Combine a modern ultra portable + emate / Newton concepts + OSX = coool !



    The modern ultra portable idea makes me think of the laptops several manufacturers have. Cool, very thin/small, but expensive.



    I'd rather see apple combining "iPod + emate/Newton + OSX lite"...
  • Reply 49 of 67
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    When it comes down to it, there are two players at the high end: Linux and WinCE.



    Ummmm.



    Symbian?!
  • Reply 50 of 67
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    If Apple were to strike a coup and bring OS X embedded into non-Apple devices, it would seriously shake the foundations of the embedded device industry. When it comes down to it, there are two players at the high end: Linux and WinCE.



    VXWorks has a much higher market share than Windows in the embedded market. If you are designing a real-time embedded system, Linux and Windows are not even in the running (VXWorks has issues as well, but it is what we chose a few years back when I worked in embedded software development).



    And the smart phone market is a very small part of the embedded OS market. Most embedded systems don't have GUIs or user accessable interfaces at all.
  • Reply 51 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    If Apple were to strike a coup and bring OS X embedded into non-Apple devices, it would seriously shake the foundations of the embedded device industry. When it comes down to it, there are two players at the high end: Linux and WinCE.



    They're merely a spit in the ocean by comparison to Symbian, at least on phones and let's not forget Symbian has it's roots in a full PDA OS, and even a damn fine ultraportable laptop too.



    I dug up the figures in one of the prior iPhone OS threads we've had, with a very illuminating graph.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    There's too much diverse infrastructure in place for anything to happen to Linux, but WinCE is a tree ready to fall. If Apple really wanted to expedite this, they'd develop OS X toolsets that also could run on top of embedded linux. That's what you call "instant market."



    But they've already got Darwin at the core of OSX just as embedded Linux has the Linux kernel. What embedded Linux has problems with is the software stack above the kernel. You have to licence QT/Qtopia or cook up your own UI library. Then you need all the apps too. There's of course nothing stopping phone manufacturers using Darwin but it'd be pretty pointless without someone porting a UI layer to Darwin such as QT already.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    The smart phone market, as you noted, has Linux and WinCE as well as some other proprietary players.



    Over 75% of the smartphone market WORLDWIDE is running Symbian OS. 100 million handsets. Your view of the market may be swayed by the US market which is small so far and at odds with the rest of the world.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    As far as the US market is concerned, you're either using a Blackberry, a WinCE ODM, or a Treo. Linux is just starting to enter the market, but even though it's open source, Linux-based phones tend to require plenty of proprietary toolsets. The development environments are less polished, the interfaces less polished, and developer/manufacturer still has to shell-out.



    The US market is a strange anomaly. Outside the US, WinCE, Linux, Palm, RIM barely register double digit market shares. RIM, if anyone after Palm, would be my candidate for becoming irrelevant as it's one marketable feature is push email. Both Windows and Symbian do push email now. Blackberrys are even more basic than Symbian phones. My sister has a Pearl and hates it but her office gave her it - she works for Vodafone.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    I would expect embedded OS X, like regular OS X, to be open source with proprietary toolsets. This would make it very similar to all "open source" embedded environments of note.



    Except you'd be reliant on Apple licencing the tools and libraries needed. I can't imagine any company trusting Apple like that after the clone saga or even the Motorola iTunes phone. Certainly not when they can just use Linux already.



    Apart from that, sticking OSX's UI on a phone is about as horrible a thing as what Microsoft have done with Windows on phones.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    Symbian and the Nokia/Ericsson products have the writing on the wall, as Asian (generic Linux, WinCE) and American (notably RIM) seem to be gaining ground fastest in global smart phone market.



    Symbian and Linux are the only two phones OSs to grow their market this year worldwide. They own over 75% of the market. They aren't going anywhere. It's like betting against Windows on the desktop. Linux is popular in Asia mostly because it allows easy tailoring to Asian languages, outside of Asia it's as popular as brown Zunes.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel


    Nokia and Ericsson seem to be continuing their aristocratic intent on pigeon-holing themselves into the already saturated european market. Stick a fork in: they will be the cause of their own demise, and in fact are decent candidates to move to embedded OS X.



    It would seem unlikely given their position and current growth particularly in music phones and smart phones, the very things they're using Symbian on. And LG and Samsung now starting to use Symbian in their phones too.



    Hey, I'd love to see what Apple would do with a phone OS but Apple becoming numero uno in the embedded/phone OS space would seem very unlikely anytime soon if ever.



    Apart from that, most of the calls for a phone that syncs perfectly with OSX can be answered by just using a Symbian (well, SymbianOS7 anyway) phone already. It's the only smartphone OS that does work without buying 3rd party software.
  • Reply 52 of 67
    Everyone needs to take it down a notch on the iPhone. If Apple has a long-term strategy (and I guarantee you, they do) for branching Apple into communications devices, and deeper into the home/entertainment devices market, AND a future post-Steve, then it will roll out very slowly. Very slowly relative to the media and investor whipped frenzy of late.
  • Reply 53 of 67
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Darth_Apple


    You know your really starting to get annoying.................................bla...... .........................................bla bla....................................have you any wool.................



    Cheers Daisy. I know Apple has never said anything about the iPhone, but whatever I'm sick of waiting!!
  • Reply 54 of 67
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    crap, do i get the iFone or wait and hold out for the iJawDropper. I can't make up my mind!
  • Reply 55 of 67
    vinney57vinney57 Posts: 1,162member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wills


    On my reading, parts of this article look and read as if they were taken from an Apple press release, the 3rd and 4th paras especially. I had no idea your sources were quite that good.



    Ding Ding Ding! You Sir win a prize.



    That's exactly what I was thinking. Its as if one of the Apple PR pixies forgot she was writing a 'viral' not a press release.
  • Reply 56 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jwyatt View Post


    I use mine as a clock on our mantle. Who remembers Moof the dogcow ??



    I believe she's called Clarus the Dogcow. Looked it up on Wikipedia too, see here for yourself.
  • Reply 57 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bengt77 View Post


    I believe she's called Clarus the Dogcow. Looked it up on Wikipedia too, see here for yourself.



    Interesting site for the history of the dogcow and other early Mac icons is



    http://www.storybytes.com/view-moof/articles/mim.html
  • Reply 58 of 67
    Wasn't
  • Reply 59 of 67
    Wasn't there a rumor floated a while back about the apple "devices" running a quicktime os as opposed to a slimmed down OS X. Seems like it would make more sense for anything short of a full fledged tablet.
  • Reply 60 of 67
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pepsi View Post


    Wasn't there a rumor floated a while back about the apple "devices" running a quicktime os as opposed to a slimmed down OS X. Seems like it would make more sense for anything short of a full fledged tablet.



    that's an interesting observation. QT has a lot of powerful features. I always wondered why more of it wasn't exploited on its huge installed base (millions on millions) across windows and os x. It actually could be its own styled "OS" if featured right.
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