iPhone or Notebook? What about Netbook?

12 08 2008

Answer:

An iPhone is no match for a notebook of course. It’s not so easy call it if you are comparing the iPhone to a netbook though. But I am basing this on the 700 series ASUS Eee - a device whose novelty outweighs its utility.

An Eee’s 7″ screen is not very useful. It’s storage is lower. A tiny little keyboard is not really any better than a virtual one - especially one as good as the iPhone’s (keep in mind that the Eee does not auto correct). Although powered by a basic smartphone CPU, the iPhone does not really feel any slower than the Eee. App store is more accessible and cloud computing applications work great on it because of its full browser.

But the real point of this post - allow me to be the millionth blogger to mention the iPhone WordPress app. Very cool. But landcape mode would be appreciated.


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iPhone: WWDC Predictions

6 06 2008

Apple’s WWDC is next week and I have been thinking about what we could see.

I don’t think this is the venue for hardware upgrades. Faster processors for Pro Macs and LED backlights for MacBooks are not keynote-worthy announcements. They will be rolled into small events on Apple premises, or might not warrant any fanfare at all.

A 3G iPhone and updated .Mac service (probably rebranded) are very likely. With 3G data connecting you to an expanded .Mac service, and the power of the iPhone could we finally see the true potential of cloud computing realised? My dusty forgotten and neglected .Mac account expires on Tuesday. If my prediction is wrong, I probably won’t renew.

About that iPhone; I think there will be two variants (both 3G):

iPhone Pro

  • Similar look - metal, glass
  • Slightly smaller
  • 16 and 32 GB
  • GPS
  • Exchange and Blackberry support
  • Lots of coporate apps and certifications: Salesforce, CRM, ERP
  • Full price

iPhone

  • White or black plastic
  • slightly fatter
  • 8 or 16 GB
  • GPS - more lifestyle centric
  • Mobile Me
  • Lots of fun features - games from EA, Ubi and Sega
  • Available on subsidy from all carriers - from $199 on a 3 year contract

I’ll also guess that we will see a milestone number of applications at the launch of App Store. 1000 is a good round number. It’s a developer conference so expect some big names on stage to discuss how easy it is to port apps to iPhone from Mac and other platforms.

Will we see other devices? I don’t think so. The tablet form factor computer I predicted is more of a MacWorld type announcement - if it ever passed Steve’s QA process.


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Android - A Face Only An Engineer Could Love

31 05 2008

Ars has a great article up on the state of Google’s Android cell phone platform… and while the hype for it continues to build unabated, I think it looks like ass.

Clearly designed by the same folks that worked tirelessly to make Linux look and act like a Red Green duct tape abomination, looking at this video gave me a headache.

Just because to you can put every button, widget and effect on a single screen does not make it a good idea to do so. It’s going to take some creative hacking of this OS by the HTCs of the world to make this platform anything more than a geek diversion. I hope that happens in less time than it took Windows Mobile.

For now, anyone waiting for Android to steal iPhone’s thunder probably bought one of these instead of an iPod.

Yeah, I thought so.


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Apple iPhone to Eat Earth

6 03 2008

Today’s announcements from Apple regarding the upcoming SDK, official native iPhone applications and firmware 2.0 were a million times better than anything I had hoped for. Low standards? Maybe. But I know what I like and I will vote with my wallet as soon as App Store is on my iPhone.


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Gray market knows iPhone market better than Apple?

31 01 2008

A recent report cited by Bloomberg claims that 25-33% of all iPhones sold have been unlocked and supplied to folks that prefer to roll contract-free.

The report also states that as a result Apple is losing millions in revenue from the monthly tariff sharing scheme they rammed down their telco partner’s throats. The irony of this last bit surely isn’t lost on any of the recipients of said ramming. That pain probably has not subsided. Read the rest of this entry »


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