I’ve honestly not been interested much in Steve Jobs, or Apple to date. I watched the Apple/Microsoft/IBM ‘wars’ when I was a teen back in the 80’s and had always been interested in what a ‘real computer’ could do.
I didn’t really ‘get’ the idea of computer clubs and the passion hobbyists had for Apple at the time. I understand it today, but still don’t connect with Apple fans.
In reality, the world did loose a visionary when Steve Jobs died. I respect him for the work he did, and the passion that drove him to greatness. I miss the contribution and the competition that he brought to the technology world, and hope we can achieve as much as new people and new ideas continue to stream into the industry.
You know, I think I’ve had enough of the silliness of Apple’s naming if the iPad. Being unpredictable sounds great, but not giving a product a differentiating name is simply stupid.
“The new iPad”. Great, next year we can refer to it as “last year’s new iPad”. Really Apple? That’s as brilliant as Microsoft’s year-naming of software. It was dumb in 1995, and it’s not any better now.
What the hell was wrong with “iPad 3” or “iPad HD”, even though its screen is a light year beyond HD. What about a name that really differentiates it from the iPad 2? Where was the originality that we expect from you? Guess it died with Steve. Why should we get excited about a product that can’t describe itself in its name?
Guess we’ll find out next year when you deliver “the new iPad 2013”.
< warning >I’m not an Apple Fanboy, but I play one in this post< /warning >
Hardly, but I do have a point to make so hang with me.
In Windows Vista in 2007, Microsoft had rebuilt several portions of it’s operating system, installed a new device driver model & API, updated the UI for a more modern feel, and polished many areas in need of attention. Of course, there were ineveitable issues, especially for poorly written, decade-old, legacy applications that many companies run their business. Also at issue at the time were a lack of device drivers for anything other than the most generic hardware & peripherals. Because of these issues , and a few others, the press and bloggers couldn’t help but tear the new OS to shreads and created a huge discussion that Microsoft never saw coming.
Of course being in IT myself, I couldn’t figure out the fuss – after all, I’d heard it 6 years earlier. The same criticisms were thrown about from the same sources about Windows XP in 2001. So what was the difference?
Social Media.
In 2001, the blogosphere was much smaller, not taken for serious journalism or news, and didn’t cause any more product or public relations for Microsoft than an Op-Ed piece in your hometown newspaper at the time. In 2007 that was totally different and was the driving factor of creating the impression that Microsoft release a completely inept piece of software that they expected people to pay a premium for. In short, Microsoft never got out front of the issue to listen and participate.
So here we are in 2010 and a large chunk of initial reviews and feedback for the new Apple iPad is fairly negative. “They under-delivered”, “Didn’t they market-test that name?”, “doesn’t look too sturdy”, “it’s an over-sized iPhone”, “where’s the camera?”, “doesn’t run OS/X”, “we expected more from Apple…”.
I highly doubt that Apple will have an issue with negative press in the long run and I fully expect the iPad to succeed where other efforts in this ‘tween area of mobile technology have failed. The key is to look not at the hardware, but what Jobs and Co. had set out to do.
This space between smartphone and laptop is rare territory. We tend to expect computing power approaching a real computer, but we want that half-pound sized, last-all-day battery, instant on, always connected device to cost us about $300 (less is better). We’ve experienced some of this in Netbooks, and while totally disagree with Jobs’ position on them, they deliver the content in a different way, and really fit for a different crowd (budget conscious & tech geeks).
The iPad is one device that was truly built for the specific market it’s targeted at. It’s a content consumption device, plain and simple. Having a slate/tablet style device that allows you to consume blogs, news, books, video, streaming content, music, podcasts, email, social networking, and also create content as well in a hand-held format that we’re all comfortable with is just too great. They even got the pricing in the right area, which is something Apple only get’s right for itself. 😛
Simply from my perspective, the iPad is the first Apple product that speaks to me, that answers a need that I have. I find that kind of surprising after all the wildly successful products they have, the one that peeks my interest is the one that isn’t quite as well received. That hasn’t happened since the Newton – and yes I owned one of those. It was way ahead of it’s time, but unlike 1995, the market is looking for this kind of product.
I really hate to pick on my favorite online service, but… I have to. Twitter started having issues today with all the traffic from “Mac (obsession) World” today. Supposedly over all the mcInterest in what mcRevelations of mystical mcGadgetry Steve mcJobs would reveal for the mcFollowers of the mcCult.
What get’s me curious is how Twitter handled the traffic from CES last week without nary a blip, and out of the blue, McWrld trips it up big time.
Perhaps I’m out of touch and there is more interest from McWrld and that drives higher volumes of traffic. I dunno.
At any rate, Twitter has proven it’s worth to hundreds of thousands of users, but they still have reliability issues when traffic ramps up. I’m on Twitter for the long haul, it’s a core component in my social networking toolkit, so I’m apt to be disappointed when traffic from a marginally relevant tech show drives it’s usability into the ground.
I’m not a software developer, even though that’s what I’ve always wanted to be when I grow up. 🙂 But I see that VirtualHosting.com has an exhaustive list of tools, guides, and applications to assist in writing that killer app for the iPhone.
Whether you’re developing for the iPhone or just want to find more ways to play with your shiny new toy, there are loads of resources out there designed to help you out. From cool apps, to helpful tools, and easy to use guides, we’ve found 100 of the best. Read on to discover some of the most fun and useful developments for the iPhone.
“We are not enemies but friends.” Live your life. Completely. Without fear. Live it with Love, compassion, empathy, tolerance and joy. Treat every person with the kindness, respect and dignity they deserve by the very virtue of being a human being.
You must be logged in to post a comment.