My wish is for Steve Jobs to shed more light on the role of the billion dollar North Carolina (?) facility in their long term plan. If I have to guess, it would have something to do with their cloud computing strategy -- one subscription to all your mobile computing devices, no need for synching with your desktop computer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanielSW
Comparing the iPhone to the Mac two decades ago and how the Mac faded under the onslaught of Windoze is asinine. Far more differences than similarities. Giving away Android phones to boost installed base stats is not sustainable. Apple will show us more reasons during WWDC why and how iPhone OS will prevail and continue to foster software development for phones, pods, and pads which will account for astounding sales statistics and result in widespread applications over a broad range of individual, corporate, and institutional activities.
First: As an Apple product user, I want Apple to continue to innovate and succeed.
Second: I welcome the competition from Android, RIM and other phone manufacturers that continue to offer alternatives to the iPhone. This will keep Apple on its toes, to innovate and perhaps keep competitive in price without affecting their margin of profit too much.
Third: I would not be too sure that Android phones will not eventually overtake iPhone (as a smartphone)***. It is unlikely however that it will be like the Mac-Wintel PC lopsided marketshare divide. Moreover, it would not be a Windows Mobile 7 but Android devices that would likely to be the competitor against the iPhone, here. There are reasons and signs that point to this:
Based from the much heralded ascendance of Apple as third (3rd) in the smartphone and sixth or seventh ranking (depending on which estimate you use) for all phones worldwide during the previous quarter, it is significant to note that the Year-over-Year" quarterly growth for Apple was 117% vs a spectacular 870% for Android. It is likely that in a year or two, the accelerated growth phase of Android would go down, just like Apple's accelerated growth rate when it distribution went worldwide. To my knowledge, not all the Android phones have reached all their potential markets worldwide.
The Android OS is "open source", so phone manufacturing companies would likely use Android OS rather than paying hefty royalties per phone to the likes of proprietary mobile OS, like Windows Mobile 7. This is a payback to the "Internet Explorer" strategy of Microsoft. It is unlikely that Microsoft is going to gain further licensing in the mobile computing devices, except for those it would "produce". Overall, it was losing marketshare.
The HTC, Motorola, Samsung, etc. of mobile computing would be the equivalent of the Compaq, Dell, HP, Gateway, etc. of the PC era. Microsoft is replaced by Google, as the Godfather.
Many telecom carriers worldwide, and more especially in the US, cannot have access to the iPhone. They have to find an answer to the iPhone. RIM and Android are the best bets right now. The carriers are gatekeepers in the marketplace of phones. This will avoid any one phone manufactuer to achieve a domination achieved by Microsoft in the PC era.
The Mac/Apple haters of the PC era metamorphosed into the iPhone haters of the mobile computing era. I can't even begin to understand people hating Apple so much and yet spend so much time in Apple-centric sites. Didn't they realize that they are as likely convince Apple "fanbois" to change their allegiance, as these Apple-haters become Apple fans? What a waste of time, butits their life to waste.
The passion to hate something requires someone to attach/gravitate to anything other than the one you hate. There are still hopeful souls for the eventual ascendance of the Windows mobile era. But, in the meantime, there was the short-lived affair with the Palm WebOS, and now Android.
It is a mistake for Apple users to bee deluded that those who do not like the iPhone are Apple haters. Some just want and need a simple phone. Others, just were more exposed to other systems.
There is no Coke or Pepsi genes. Nor Apple or Wintel genes.
We are prisoners of our cummulative experiences. Only those with courage and perseverance can transcend such "prison".
An open mind in a rarity.
CGC
N.B. Unlike the iPhone, which is dependent on a carrier, mobile devices like the iPod Touch, and more recently the iPad. are not so dependent on telecom carriers. These are the mobile devices that is part of the iPhone OS, where Apple could differentiate itself, as it has been able to do with the iPod. So far there is no answer to the iPod Touch. The potential competitors for the iPad seemed to have gone back to the drawing board. And, since the iPhone is part of the iPhone OS ecoystem -- the whole "walled garden" of Apple might just work for consumers.
It would be exciting to see in a few years, how the more open Android ecosystem compete with the iPhone OS ecosystem will play out.
Can't wait to see how Steve will announce the iPhone. It is gonna be even more exciting then if we had not known what it looks like. Plus all the Steve-mails saying that Apple is gonna intro awesome stuff. Man I can't wait.
PS. I want Apple TV to challenge Google TV. It is time for the hobby to become an awesome, magical and revolutionary device.
I actually believe Apple will do a wait and see for Google TV and see what they can cherry pick for Apple TV or leapfrog.
Not only do I think there will in fact be a preview of Mac OSX 10.7, but I also believe there will be a major announcement about.. AppleTV! The new model will have an A4 chip, an HDMI out, and 1080p, 720p, and 1024x768 modes. Can you guess the rest? I'll have more on my blog soon.
Why use an A4 chip (which is optimized for being frugal on power) in a device that is continuously plugged into the wall? Aren't there more powerful chips in that scenario?
The current M doesn't have enough grunt even to do 720p - that's offloaded to a GPU. It's unfortunate because I love running Boxee on my ATV, but with its underpowered mobile Pentium chip, Boxee can't do more than 480p at the moment.
I really hope Apple kicks up the ATV with something similar to what's in the current nettop boxes (Atom processor with accelerated GPU) so that we can have some real performance in the thing. I had to supplement my Apple TV this year with a WD HD Live for playing non-iTunes purchased HD content. It does the job, but its interface is horrible. I'd love to drop it an reintegrate all my media into a single TV device again.
My wish is for Steve Jobs to shed more light on the role of the billion dollar North Carolina (?) facility in their long term plan. If I have to guess, it would have something to do with their cloud computing strategy -- one subscription to all your mobile computing devices, no need for synching with your desktop computer.
Don't hold your breath.
I don't think Apple has ever commented about any of its non-retail facilities. It's irrelevant to Joe Consumer where certain services are being hosted. It's not even relevant to developers. Performance, reliability and security are key.
From a security standpoint, it's in Apple's best interest not to blab about their facilities.
I don't think Apple has ever commented about any of its non-retail facilities. It's irrelevant to Joe Consumer where certain services are being hosted. It's not even relevant to developers. Performance, reliability and security are key.
From a security standpoint, it's in Apple's best interest not to blab about their facilities.
I was actually quite surprised when Jobs let Jonathon Ive present manufacturing details about the MacBook aluminum unibody. They seldom go into the nuts and bolts since consumers generally don't care about those things.
Can't wait to see how Steve will announce the iPhone. It is gonna be even more exciting then if we had not known what it looks like. Plus all the Steve-mails saying that Apple is gonna intro awesome stuff. Man I can't wait.
PS. I want Apple TV to challenge Google TV. It is time for the hobby to become an awesome, magical and revolutionary device.
The Apple TV needs apps. live streaming and much more.
In recent years, even when Steve has announced something spectacular, we've come to expect so much that everything seems anti-climactic. Even the iPad demo didn't seem very dramatic IMO, even though sales of the device are doing spectacularly well. "Isn't this cool?" or any other of Steve's usual adjectives, even if accurate, doesn't cut it anymore because we've heard them all so many times before. And even a "oh and there's one more thing" wouldn't create a lot of emotion unless it's something totally unexpected.
Steve will get up there and talk about how they sold a million iPads in the first month and that is a spectacular accomplishment, but since we already know it, my bet is that it doesn't get much of a reaction. And he'll also talk about iPhone share, but that won't get a reaction either.
Especially this year, I can't imagine anything he's going to announce for the new phone that is going to seem so special that it's going to get a big rise out of the audience. The only surprise would be if the phone we all saw was not the actual phone. Yes, it will probably be a little faster and include some multitasking and perhaps better video, but I don't think there's going to be anything that's going to knock anyone's socks off. It will just be a somewhat better phone for new purchasers and those upgrading from a 3G.
I also think that even though Steve is a better presenter than his executives, it's time he acts like more of a "host" and lets his people do the presentations. Everyone needs to start getting accustomed to the fact that Steve's not going to be around forever. He needs to get everyone comfortable enough with Apple's executives so that the stock doesn't crash when he stops leading the company on a day-to-day basis.
And by the way, Moscone can hold a lot more than 5000 people. I've attended such shows as the American Library Association and the American Bookseller's Convention (now called Book Expo) there that had much larger attendance. I think the limitation is an Apple limitation imposed by how practical it is to have more than X people attending the same tech session.
Giving away Android phones to boost installed base stats is not sustainable..
I'm sure people said similar things about giving away razors and printers. Google's in it for the ad money. Period. They'll make money off Android hand-over-fist. I agree that iPhone's markedly better, and I won't be leaving it in the foreseeable future. But Android phones are selling, and they'll continue to do so.
Google is the next Microsoft, and they've learned from half of Microsoft's mistakes. The other half won't take them down anytime soon.
Consumer behavior is much more complex than many people here seem to recognize. Inferior products are very capable of superior sales. If Apple was in it just for the money, there'd be a big hole in the tech universe. We love them for innovation (which they're now turning a healthy profit on), but innovation's a steep climb - not a quick, easy buck.
Why use an A4 chip (which is optimized for being frugal on power) in a device that is continuously plugged into the wall? Aren't there more powerful chips in that scenario?
Thompson
Sure, but if (as many here have hoped) ATV is migrated to iPhone OS, A4 could be a great solution anyway in many ways. I'd like to see it coupled with a discrete graphics card.
6. Many telecom carriers worldwide, and more especially in the US, cannot have access to the iPhone. They have to find an answer to the iPhone. RIM and Android are the best bets right now. The carriers are gatekeepers in the marketplace of phones. This will avoid any one phone manufactuer to achieve a domination achieved by Microsoft in the PC era.
Excellent post overall. On the above point though, I would say that, *outside the US*, Apple is moving to a multi-carrier model for iPhone. In many countries you would see at least two of the major carriers (each country usually having only 3 to 4 major carriers) carrying the iPhone.
I really have no idea what is going on in the US with AT&T, except AT&T is probably licking Apple's *** pretty nicely to keep exclusivity. Internationally though, as long as the deals are signed fairly smoothly, we'll see multiple carriers. Overall as well, some countries don't allow phone locking, so you could purchase the iPhone outright, use it on another carrier, etc.
I think the carriers are the gatekeepers in some way, because they offer the subsidised plans. It is likely there will not be a domination of phone manufacturers because carriers will want to offer choices. Internationally smartphones will be down to RIM, Android and iPhone.
I have a fear that Android could become the Microsoft of the mobile space, but I think the market is smart and mature enough to prevent that from happening. It could still happen though, says my gut instinct. It could happen...
BTW I looked at one of my clients site statistics and finally Internet Explorer 6 is dropping sharply off. Chrome is really picking up. Years of Firefox out there, people are like, okay, and then Chrome is out, and they're like, ooooooh Googleee, Googlify my life pleaseee...
I was actually quite surprised when Jobs let Jonathon Ive present manufacturing details about the MacBook aluminum unibody. They seldom go into the nuts and bolts since consumers generally don't care about those things.
Slightly strange, but the unibody was a major revolution and a fundamental physical difference of Mac laptops... They had to differentiate the product that way especially since Intel-Nvidia chipsets and CPUs are found everywhere else. 9400M and Unibody. Major selling points, they had not much else besides design, LED screen (which competitors would roll out en mass soon enough).
Comments
Comparing the iPhone to the Mac two decades ago and how the Mac faded under the onslaught of Windoze is asinine. Far more differences than similarities. Giving away Android phones to boost installed base stats is not sustainable. Apple will show us more reasons during WWDC why and how iPhone OS will prevail and continue to foster software development for phones, pods, and pads which will account for astounding sales statistics and result in widespread applications over a broad range of individual, corporate, and institutional activities.
First: As an Apple product user, I want Apple to continue to innovate and succeed.
Second: I welcome the competition from Android, RIM and other phone manufacturers that continue to offer alternatives to the iPhone. This will keep Apple on its toes, to innovate and perhaps keep competitive in price without affecting their margin of profit too much.
Third: I would not be too sure that Android phones will not eventually overtake iPhone (as a smartphone)***. It is unlikely however that it will be like the Mac-Wintel PC lopsided marketshare divide. Moreover, it would not be a Windows Mobile 7 but Android devices that would likely to be the competitor against the iPhone, here. There are reasons and signs that point to this:
- Based from the much heralded ascendance of Apple as third (3rd) in the smartphone and sixth or seventh ranking (depending on which estimate you use) for all phones worldwide during the previous quarter, it is significant to note that the Year-over-Year" quarterly growth for Apple was 117% vs a spectacular 870% for Android. It is likely that in a year or two, the accelerated growth phase of Android would go down, just like Apple's accelerated growth rate when it distribution went worldwide. To my knowledge, not all the Android phones have reached all their potential markets worldwide.
- The Android OS is "open source", so phone manufacturing companies would likely use Android OS rather than paying hefty royalties per phone to the likes of proprietary mobile OS, like Windows Mobile 7. This is a payback to the "Internet Explorer" strategy of Microsoft. It is unlikely that Microsoft is going to gain further licensing in the mobile computing devices, except for those it would "produce". Overall, it was losing marketshare.
- The HTC, Motorola, Samsung, etc. of mobile computing would be the equivalent of the Compaq, Dell, HP, Gateway, etc. of the PC era. Microsoft is replaced by Google, as the Godfather.
- Many telecom carriers worldwide, and more especially in the US, cannot have access to the iPhone. They have to find an answer to the iPhone. RIM and Android are the best bets right now. The carriers are gatekeepers in the marketplace of phones. This will avoid any one phone manufactuer to achieve a domination achieved by Microsoft in the PC era.
- The Mac/Apple haters of the PC era metamorphosed into the iPhone haters of the mobile computing era. I can't even begin to understand people hating Apple so much and yet spend so much time in Apple-centric sites. Didn't they realize that they are as likely convince Apple "fanbois" to change their allegiance, as these Apple-haters become Apple fans? What a waste of time, butits their life to waste.
- The passion to hate something requires someone to attach/gravitate to anything other than the one you hate. There are still hopeful souls for the eventual ascendance of the Windows mobile era. But, in the meantime, there was the short-lived affair with the Palm WebOS, and now Android.
- It is a mistake for Apple users to bee deluded that those who do not like the iPhone are Apple haters. Some just want and need a simple phone. Others, just were more exposed to other systems.
There is no Coke or Pepsi genes. Nor Apple or Wintel genes.We are prisoners of our cummulative experiences. Only those with courage and perseverance can transcend such "prison".
An open mind in a rarity.
CGC
N.B. Unlike the iPhone, which is dependent on a carrier, mobile devices like the iPod Touch, and more recently the iPad. are not so dependent on telecom carriers. These are the mobile devices that is part of the iPhone OS, where Apple could differentiate itself, as it has been able to do with the iPod. So far there is no answer to the iPod Touch. The potential competitors for the iPad seemed to have gone back to the drawing board. And, since the iPhone is part of the iPhone OS ecoystem -- the whole "walled garden" of Apple might just work for consumers.
It would be exciting to see in a few years, how the more open Android ecosystem compete with the iPhone OS ecosystem will play out.
Can't wait to see how Steve will announce the iPhone. It is gonna be even more exciting then if we had not known what it looks like. Plus all the Steve-mails saying that Apple is gonna intro awesome stuff. Man I can't wait.
PS. I want Apple TV to challenge Google TV. It is time for the hobby to become an awesome, magical and revolutionary device.
I actually believe Apple will do a wait and see for Google TV and see what they can cherry pick for Apple TV or leapfrog.
I'm looking fwd to Steve doing his usual quick synopsis of sales numbers for the iPad....
Between 2-3 million is my estimate. Could have been more were it not for manufacturing bottleneck that delayed worldwide introduction,
CGC
Not only do I think there will in fact be a preview of Mac OSX 10.7, but I also believe there will be a major announcement about.. AppleTV! The new model will have an A4 chip, an HDMI out, and 1080p, 720p, and 1024x768 modes. Can you guess the rest?
Why use an A4 chip (which is optimized for being frugal on power) in a device that is continuously plugged into the wall? Aren't there more powerful chips in that scenario?
Thompson
Does the A4 have enough grunt to do 1080p?
The current M doesn't have enough grunt even to do 720p - that's offloaded to a GPU. It's unfortunate because I love running Boxee on my ATV, but with its underpowered mobile Pentium chip, Boxee can't do more than 480p at the moment.
I really hope Apple kicks up the ATV with something similar to what's in the current nettop boxes (Atom processor with accelerated GPU) so that we can have some real performance in the thing. I had to supplement my Apple TV this year with a WD HD Live for playing non-iTunes purchased HD content. It does the job, but its interface is horrible. I'd love to drop it an reintegrate all my media into a single TV device again.
My wish is for Steve Jobs to shed more light on the role of the billion dollar North Carolina (?) facility in their long term plan. If I have to guess, it would have something to do with their cloud computing strategy -- one subscription to all your mobile computing devices, no need for synching with your desktop computer.
Don't hold your breath.
I don't think Apple has ever commented about any of its non-retail facilities. It's irrelevant to Joe Consumer where certain services are being hosted. It's not even relevant to developers. Performance, reliability and security are key.
From a security standpoint, it's in Apple's best interest not to blab about their facilities.
"This year, a leaked prototype of the fourth-generation iPhone has shown ... "
.
Naw, sorry AppleInsider, not quite
.
"This year, an ALLEGED leaked prototype of the fourth-generation iPhone has shown ... "
.
That's much better
.
As far as any of us know - was some kind of "planted diversion" to confuse the Unwashed Masses
Find it hard, VERY hard, to imagine Steve/Apple would allow some pinhead kid tech type to leave the building with a prototype
And DAMN SURE not let the doofus take it into some Bar
And THEN, to leave it behind ?
C'mon ... if the kid was THAT stupid, he'd not been on The Team in first place
.
Or, try this on for size ...
The kid was working for Nokia/Microsoft, or who knows who
And Apple was trying to catch him in a "sting" of sorts, dig ?
.
That entire "situation" is so very UN-Apple, something really smells in it all
IF it is as "advertised"
And that, imho, is a BIG "IF"
.
.
Oh, p.s.
.
That "thing" in North Carolina ?
When it gets going ?
Change the World™
.
I hope Jobs introduces a new Mac Pro desktop. I've been waiting too long for the revised, 6 and 12-core model.
Damn straight!
Don't hold your breath.
I don't think Apple has ever commented about any of its non-retail facilities. It's irrelevant to Joe Consumer where certain services are being hosted. It's not even relevant to developers. Performance, reliability and security are key.
From a security standpoint, it's in Apple's best interest not to blab about their facilities.
I was actually quite surprised when Jobs let Jonathon Ive present manufacturing details about the MacBook aluminum unibody. They seldom go into the nuts and bolts since consumers generally don't care about those things.
Can't wait to see how Steve will announce the iPhone. It is gonna be even more exciting then if we had not known what it looks like. Plus all the Steve-mails saying that Apple is gonna intro awesome stuff. Man I can't wait.
PS. I want Apple TV to challenge Google TV. It is time for the hobby to become an awesome, magical and revolutionary device.
The Apple TV needs apps. live streaming and much more.
Hope Apple pulls off something magical.
Steve will get up there and talk about how they sold a million iPads in the first month and that is a spectacular accomplishment, but since we already know it, my bet is that it doesn't get much of a reaction. And he'll also talk about iPhone share, but that won't get a reaction either.
Especially this year, I can't imagine anything he's going to announce for the new phone that is going to seem so special that it's going to get a big rise out of the audience. The only surprise would be if the phone we all saw was not the actual phone. Yes, it will probably be a little faster and include some multitasking and perhaps better video, but I don't think there's going to be anything that's going to knock anyone's socks off. It will just be a somewhat better phone for new purchasers and those upgrading from a 3G.
I also think that even though Steve is a better presenter than his executives, it's time he acts like more of a "host" and lets his people do the presentations. Everyone needs to start getting accustomed to the fact that Steve's not going to be around forever. He needs to get everyone comfortable enough with Apple's executives so that the stock doesn't crash when he stops leading the company on a day-to-day basis.
And by the way, Moscone can hold a lot more than 5000 people. I've attended such shows as the American Library Association and the American Bookseller's Convention (now called Book Expo) there that had much larger attendance. I think the limitation is an Apple limitation imposed by how practical it is to have more than X people attending the same tech session.
Giving away Android phones to boost installed base stats is not sustainable..
I'm sure people said similar things about giving away razors and printers. Google's in it for the ad money. Period. They'll make money off Android hand-over-fist. I agree that iPhone's markedly better, and I won't be leaving it in the foreseeable future. But Android phones are selling, and they'll continue to do so.
Google is the next Microsoft, and they've learned from half of Microsoft's mistakes. The other half won't take them down anytime soon.
Consumer behavior is much more complex than many people here seem to recognize. Inferior products are very capable of superior sales. If Apple was in it just for the money, there'd be a big hole in the tech universe. We love them for innovation (which they're now turning a healthy profit on), but innovation's a steep climb - not a quick, easy buck.
Why use an A4 chip (which is optimized for being frugal on power) in a device that is continuously plugged into the wall? Aren't there more powerful chips in that scenario?
Thompson
Sure, but if (as many here have hoped) ATV is migrated to iPhone OS, A4 could be a great solution anyway in many ways. I'd like to see it coupled with a discrete graphics card.
.
"This year, a leaked prototype of the fourth-generation iPhone has shown ... "
.
Naw, sorry AppleInsider, not quite
.
"This year, an ALLEGED leaked prototype of the fourth-generation iPhone has shown ... "
.
That's much better
.
As far as any of us know - was some kind of "planted diversion" to confuse the Unwashed Masses
Find it hard, VERY hard, to imagine Steve/Apple would allow some pinhead kid tech type to leave the building with a prototype
And DAMN SURE not let the doofus take it into some Bar
And THEN, to leave it behind ?
C'mon ... if the kid was THAT stupid, he'd not been on The Team in first place
.
Or, try this on for size ...
The kid was working for Nokia/Microsoft, or who knows who
And Apple was trying to catch him in a "sting" of sorts, dig ?
.
That entire "situation" is so very UN-Apple, something really smells in it all
IF it is as "advertised"
And that, imho, is a BIG "IF"
.
.
Oh, p.s.
.
That "thing" in North Carolina ?
When it gets going ?
Change the World?
.
Woah! That must be some kick-ass weed you got there, man dude.
6. Many telecom carriers worldwide, and more especially in the US, cannot have access to the iPhone. They have to find an answer to the iPhone. RIM and Android are the best bets right now. The carriers are gatekeepers in the marketplace of phones. This will avoid any one phone manufactuer to achieve a domination achieved by Microsoft in the PC era.
Excellent post overall. On the above point though, I would say that, *outside the US*, Apple is moving to a multi-carrier model for iPhone. In many countries you would see at least two of the major carriers (each country usually having only 3 to 4 major carriers) carrying the iPhone.
I really have no idea what is going on in the US with AT&T, except AT&T is probably licking Apple's *** pretty nicely to keep exclusivity. Internationally though, as long as the deals are signed fairly smoothly, we'll see multiple carriers. Overall as well, some countries don't allow phone locking, so you could purchase the iPhone outright, use it on another carrier, etc.
I think the carriers are the gatekeepers in some way, because they offer the subsidised plans. It is likely there will not be a domination of phone manufacturers because carriers will want to offer choices. Internationally smartphones will be down to RIM, Android and iPhone.
I have a fear that Android could become the Microsoft of the mobile space, but I think the market is smart and mature enough to prevent that from happening. It could still happen though, says my gut instinct. It could happen...
BTW I looked at one of my clients site statistics and finally Internet Explorer 6 is dropping sharply off. Chrome is really picking up. Years of Firefox out there, people are like, okay, and then Chrome is out, and they're like, ooooooh Googleee, Googlify my life pleaseee...
I was actually quite surprised when Jobs let Jonathon Ive present manufacturing details about the MacBook aluminum unibody. They seldom go into the nuts and bolts since consumers generally don't care about those things.
Slightly strange, but the unibody was a major revolution and a fundamental physical difference of Mac laptops... They had to differentiate the product that way especially since Intel-Nvidia chipsets and CPUs are found everywhere else. 9400M and Unibody. Major selling points, they had not much else besides design, LED screen (which competitors would roll out en mass soon enough).
I really have no idea what is going on in the US with AT&T, except AT&T is probably licking Apple's *** pretty nicely to keep exclusivity.
Maybe the US is the place where Apple likes to try new innovations first, and that's easier with just one carrier.