Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall(engadget.com)
engadget.com
Apple's iOS 5 coming this Fall
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/apples-ios-5-all-the-details/
62 comments
The subtle (and not so subtle to others) difference is that iOS will have these features polished. Android just has them.
I generally prefer to have unpolished features available to me to use or not use. If they are polished enough to be useable for me, then I use them. If not, then I don't. I like being able to decide. Which is why I generally prefer android to iOS, I guess. Many others obviously prefer otherwise.
Which of those features aren't polished on Android? Or are you just another iOS customer that's never used any of these features talking out of their ass.
I am a recent convert from iphone 3g to nexus one, and I am pleasantly surprised. One feature I like the most is the back button which makes Android feels like the web, you get in and out of apps just like you get in and out of websites. Android may not have the eye candy of iOS and tons of very well developed apps but it sure is very convenient.
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Android is nice if you're OK with 2 hour battery life. Android is OK if you like trusting Samsung with your phone's UI design. Android is fine if you want to choose from 1% of the number of apps available for iPhone.
A friend of mine designs phones for Motorola. He's angry as hell about the Android ecosystem b/c he knows there is some great hardware being built, but it's compromised by greedy companies that ship the phone with a 2 hour battery, etc. Android is full of this sort of short-term thinking.
These are all more salient features than the few areas where Android is actually better (google apps integration, turn by turn navigation).
The notification feature isn't all that necessary. I turned off all notifications on my iPhone and haven't missed anything. Most of the notifications generated by Android apps are equally useless. It's as if we're arguing about the color of Microsoft Bob's glasses.
In terms of the overall customer experience, usability, and app ecosystem, IOS is several years ahead of Android. I say this as someone who got two Android phones free at Google IO last year and still switched to an iPhone 4. It's not about checking off a box on a feature checklist, it's about the quality of the experience of using the features.
A friend of mine designs phones for Motorola. He's angry as hell about the Android ecosystem b/c he knows there is some great hardware being built, but it's compromised by greedy companies that ship the phone with a 2 hour battery, etc. Android is full of this sort of short-term thinking.
These are all more salient features than the few areas where Android is actually better (google apps integration, turn by turn navigation).
The notification feature isn't all that necessary. I turned off all notifications on my iPhone and haven't missed anything. Most of the notifications generated by Android apps are equally useless. It's as if we're arguing about the color of Microsoft Bob's glasses.
In terms of the overall customer experience, usability, and app ecosystem, IOS is several years ahead of Android. I say this as someone who got two Android phones free at Google IO last year and still switched to an iPhone 4. It's not about checking off a box on a feature checklist, it's about the quality of the experience of using the features.
> Android is nice if you're OK with 2 hour battery life.
I get an entire day's battery life out of my Nexus S, and I listen to Pandora and podcasts my entire 8 hour shift every single day, as well as play games, surf the net, and use it heavily for on-the-go text communications.
> Android is OK if you like trusting Samsung with your phone's UI design.
I have a Samsung phone and don't have any of their customized phone UI. My wife has an HTC phone (Nexus One) that also doesn't have any customized UI. Buying a phone with a customized UI is yet another choice that the consumer can make, but it's not even close to being the only way.
> Android is fine if you want to choose from 1% of the number of apps available for iPhone.
It looks a bit closer to 50%, and growing fast...
http://samsungdigital.co.cc/android-market-surpassed-the-app...
Please stop spreading obvious FUD.
I get an entire day's battery life out of my Nexus S, and I listen to Pandora and podcasts my entire 8 hour shift every single day, as well as play games, surf the net, and use it heavily for on-the-go text communications.
> Android is OK if you like trusting Samsung with your phone's UI design.
I have a Samsung phone and don't have any of their customized phone UI. My wife has an HTC phone (Nexus One) that also doesn't have any customized UI. Buying a phone with a customized UI is yet another choice that the consumer can make, but it's not even close to being the only way.
> Android is fine if you want to choose from 1% of the number of apps available for iPhone.
It looks a bit closer to 50%, and growing fast...
http://samsungdigital.co.cc/android-market-surpassed-the-app...
Please stop spreading obvious FUD.
I got an Evo 4G and got 4-6 hours with virtually no talking. My iPhone 4 usage pattern is similar and I get 2 days between charges. A friend who has one bought extended life batteries for his Evo and still only gets 4 hours from each if he's lucky. The Moto engineer I mentioned said that the phone is known for getting 2 hours of battery life.
Regardless of which number is correct, the phone never should have shipped.
Also, due to the various HTC provided customizations, users of the phone get locked into outdated versions of Android long after newer features have been added. This is the worst form of lock-in b/c it's so clearly designed to get people to buy a new phone even though their current phone is upgradeable. The Nexus One is a pure Google phone so it's upgradeable, but most are not. This means app developers have to target lots of old OS versions if they want a large install base.
Not sure if you've compared the quality of apps on either platform lately. But most of the apps on Android are gimmick apps such as "Free Nelly Ringtones" and other garbageware. The creator of that app released several hundred nearly identical apps, each with a different song.
Look at the top 100 free and paid iPhone apps. At best 10 in each category have an app of similar quality available on Android. Most that do are from major firms, not from indie developers or small studios.
Edit: I'm actually rooting for Android but let's not pretend that the race is close at this point. This is mostly due to Google letting the phone companies' perverse incentives get in the way of a top quality product.
Regardless of which number is correct, the phone never should have shipped.
Also, due to the various HTC provided customizations, users of the phone get locked into outdated versions of Android long after newer features have been added. This is the worst form of lock-in b/c it's so clearly designed to get people to buy a new phone even though their current phone is upgradeable. The Nexus One is a pure Google phone so it's upgradeable, but most are not. This means app developers have to target lots of old OS versions if they want a large install base.
Not sure if you've compared the quality of apps on either platform lately. But most of the apps on Android are gimmick apps such as "Free Nelly Ringtones" and other garbageware. The creator of that app released several hundred nearly identical apps, each with a different song.
Look at the top 100 free and paid iPhone apps. At best 10 in each category have an app of similar quality available on Android. Most that do are from major firms, not from indie developers or small studios.
Edit: I'm actually rooting for Android but let's not pretend that the race is close at this point. This is mostly due to Google letting the phone companies' perverse incentives get in the way of a top quality product.
Apple is trying to build a massive moat around their iOS/OSX ecosystem. If they can execute, it will be difficult for competitors to convert iOS users to other platforms.
-Applications synced across multiple devices
-music, photos, calendars, apps in iCloud (including your ripped content)
-Integration with iTouch/iPad/iPhone docks and accessories
-iMessage/Facetime lock in for user accounts
-Gamecenter achievements
-OSX integration and "feel"
-Reduce the need for a PC with wireless updates and sync (probably 75% of iOS users are on Windows)
I see it more as adding value I want instead of a moat/lock in. If integration in Apple's ecosystem gets me Applications synced across multiple devices, music, photos, calendars, apps in iCloud (including your ripped content), etc., count me in.
Not that I game enough on either platform for it to matter, but a unified gaming profile including Xbox Live and GameCenter (among others like Yahoo Fantasy Sports) would be fantastic. Never going to happen though.
I am going to make this comment and it might be unpopular but it is definitely not meant to be a slag against iOS. I am noticing that a lot of the new iOS features are "missing features" from other mobile OSs... and since I'm really only familiar with iOS and Android so I can only compare those but a short list:
- centralized notification tray - OTA activation - OTA synching - OTA updates - optimized updates - reminders that sync with your calendar - hardware camera buttons - data sych to the cloud (though iCloud is much more complete than Google account sync) - iMessage is being compared to BBM
This is a great for iOS and quite overdue. But at the risk of offending the Apple fans, am I the only one who feels that this update to iOS contains a lot of things that are just to maintain feature parity with other systems vs. outright innovation? Just seemed that much of the features list for iOS this year had a different feel from years past. Maybe it's just me.
- centralized notification tray - OTA activation - OTA synching - OTA updates - optimized updates - reminders that sync with your calendar - hardware camera buttons - data sych to the cloud (though iCloud is much more complete than Google account sync) - iMessage is being compared to BBM
This is a great for iOS and quite overdue. But at the risk of offending the Apple fans, am I the only one who feels that this update to iOS contains a lot of things that are just to maintain feature parity with other systems vs. outright innovation? Just seemed that much of the features list for iOS this year had a different feel from years past. Maybe it's just me.
You are right, but this is exactly how Apple works. Start with very few features and polish to a pristine sheen. Then add new features and proclaim the world is changing.
It certainly has been working for them, and generally, isn't that the type of product development advice anyone in HN would give you? Start simple, polish and iterate.
It certainly has been working for them, and generally, isn't that the type of product development advice anyone in HN would give you? Start simple, polish and iterate.
I would not say that this is "how apple works."
Apple innovates very well. The iPhone won not because it had an abstract "pristine sheen", it was just a better phone that innovated in the right ways:
Maps worked great, Safari was a full browser in the phone, and other features. It's software keyboard worked well and enabled a large screen for capacitive touch and multimedia. iPhone 1 had a plentitude of new features.
iOS 5 isn't innovating. iOS 5 is copying. I wouldn't be surprised if iPhone 6 has a hardware back button like android.
The iPad still innovates, and hopefully Apple has a cool new product around the corner.
Apple innovates very well. The iPhone won not because it had an abstract "pristine sheen", it was just a better phone that innovated in the right ways:
Maps worked great, Safari was a full browser in the phone, and other features. It's software keyboard worked well and enabled a large screen for capacitive touch and multimedia. iPhone 1 had a plentitude of new features.
iOS 5 isn't innovating. iOS 5 is copying. I wouldn't be surprised if iPhone 6 has a hardware back button like android.
The iPad still innovates, and hopefully Apple has a cool new product around the corner.
I really doubt we'll see a hardware back button on iOS. That is a misfeature of Android because of its inconsistent behavior -- if you came to one activity from an activity in another app, how do you go to the parent view in the current app? The back button takes you to the activity from which you came, not to the parent view. I think most iOS users are fine with how back works in iOS; personally I would be very much against Apple adding another hardware button of any kind except maybe a camera button.
I agree that a lot of Apple's advantage came from innovating. But a lot of the advantage also comes from taking features that other devices have done and doing them better. For example, Android does not show collated notifications on the home screen by default, and you can't interact with notifications without unlocking the screen and pulling down. iPhone's proposed implementation looks a lot better than what Android has. This happened with copy and paste too, and Android still has not caught up (no universal method for copy-and-paste).
I don't care if Apple copies or innovates. What I care about is that iPhone is still (and after this next release, will to an even greater extent be) the best phone money can buy. How it got that way is immaterial to most of their potential customers.
I agree that a lot of Apple's advantage came from innovating. But a lot of the advantage also comes from taking features that other devices have done and doing them better. For example, Android does not show collated notifications on the home screen by default, and you can't interact with notifications without unlocking the screen and pulling down. iPhone's proposed implementation looks a lot better than what Android has. This happened with copy and paste too, and Android still has not caught up (no universal method for copy-and-paste).
I don't care if Apple copies or innovates. What I care about is that iPhone is still (and after this next release, will to an even greater extent be) the best phone money can buy. How it got that way is immaterial to most of their potential customers.
You're almost certainly right that iOS devices probably aren't going to get a hardware back button, but I disagree with you on the usefulness of hw back buttons.
Generally, if I come to an activity from another app, it's to do one specific thing and then I want to go back to the original app. There are certainly cases when I want to stay in the app I got sent to and then hit back and find myself in the original app. The path then to the app I want is the same as always: home button, app shortcut.
Conversely, on iOS, what happens when I get sent to a different app and then want to go back to the original app? Home button, app shortcut. In my experience, the android way addresses the more common scenario.
Also, there are builds of android (HTC's Sense UI, I believe) that do have notifications on the lock screen. Not only that, but the lock screen is configurable, so you can add shortcuts that, when you drag them to the unlock field, take you directly to the app. This is a neat feature that I hope eventually makes it into android proper.
EDIT: Hm, this is factual and fairly uncontroversial. I suppose getting downvoted sometimes is just an inevitable consequence of participating in any dicussion involving iOS and Android? Oh well.
Generally, if I come to an activity from another app, it's to do one specific thing and then I want to go back to the original app. There are certainly cases when I want to stay in the app I got sent to and then hit back and find myself in the original app. The path then to the app I want is the same as always: home button, app shortcut.
Conversely, on iOS, what happens when I get sent to a different app and then want to go back to the original app? Home button, app shortcut. In my experience, the android way addresses the more common scenario.
Also, there are builds of android (HTC's Sense UI, I believe) that do have notifications on the lock screen. Not only that, but the lock screen is configurable, so you can add shortcuts that, when you drag them to the unlock field, take you directly to the app. This is a neat feature that I hope eventually makes it into android proper.
EDIT: Hm, this is factual and fairly uncontroversial. I suppose getting downvoted sometimes is just an inevitable consequence of participating in any dicussion involving iOS and Android? Oh well.
> [on iOS] what happens when I get sent to a different app and then want to go back to the original app?
The answer is that this (switching apps) happens far less frequently on iOS compared with Android. In Android, the intent system (and back button) make it very easy to switch between apps. On iOS, apps use APIs instead. Integrated Web views rather than opening a browser. Mail API rather than switching to the mail client. This keynote we just saw that Apple has done this again, adding a Twitter API to iOS 5.
It's quite an interesting and significant difference between the two mobile operating systems. Android's approach encourages openness, Apple's approach gives them complete control over the UX. Neither is inherently bad.
The answer is that this (switching apps) happens far less frequently on iOS compared with Android. In Android, the intent system (and back button) make it very easy to switch between apps. On iOS, apps use APIs instead. Integrated Web views rather than opening a browser. Mail API rather than switching to the mail client. This keynote we just saw that Apple has done this again, adding a Twitter API to iOS 5.
It's quite an interesting and significant difference between the two mobile operating systems. Android's approach encourages openness, Apple's approach gives them complete control over the UX. Neither is inherently bad.
That's a good observation, but I would submit that the reason iOS apps use web views instead of opening the browser is exactly because of a lack of a good way to get back to the originating app. App developers naturally don't want to sent people away from their app with no easy/clear way to get back. The addition of the Tweet API is another way to address a symptom of the underlying problem of not having a way back.
It is an interesting and significant difference, and I think the flexibility of Android's system is one of its great strengths. It's always been able to do what the Tweet API does, more flexibly, because app developers can just send focus to the user's preferred twitter client instead of having to write in the twitter functions they want, and don't need new functionality built in to the OS.
Certainly it requires a bit more sophisticated user (not that iOS users are dumb, just that you have to understand what's happening, and it could very easily be confusing to a naive (non-pejorative sense) user), but it's really a joy to use.
EDIT: I know I shouldn't care, but the systematic downvoting is really starting to get to me.
It is an interesting and significant difference, and I think the flexibility of Android's system is one of its great strengths. It's always been able to do what the Tweet API does, more flexibly, because app developers can just send focus to the user's preferred twitter client instead of having to write in the twitter functions they want, and don't need new functionality built in to the OS.
Certainly it requires a bit more sophisticated user (not that iOS users are dumb, just that you have to understand what's happening, and it could very easily be confusing to a naive (non-pejorative sense) user), but it's really a joy to use.
EDIT: I know I shouldn't care, but the systematic downvoting is really starting to get to me.
Give it time. Most knee-jerk early down-voting on HN tends to get corrected over the next hour or two. It's annoying when one or two people unfairly down-vote a comment, but at least the system usually self-corrects.Once a thread is a few hours old I seldom see comments down-voted into grey oblivion that didn't obviously deserve to be there.
The Android back button works exactly the way it should. For example, if you go to Gmail from Twitter and press back, I DO want to go back to Twitter, not to my inbox.
But you're right, there isn't a good way to go to an app's home screen if you enter from a specific activity. That's something that needs to be looked at, but not at the expense of changing the excellent back button functionality.
But you're right, there isn't a good way to go to an app's home screen if you enter from a specific activity. That's something that needs to be looked at, but not at the expense of changing the excellent back button functionality.
I have to comment that I completely agree with not being able to interact with notifications without unlocking the phone. The idea of a screen lock (aside from phone security for some) is to prevent accidental interactions in your pocket. I want to know that when I pull my phone out I haven't lost important notifications because it was jostling around in my pocket and clearing them.
You may want to look at Apple's design, which uses a lock-like mechanism for interacting with the notifications as well (e.g. slide-to-play voicemail, slide-to-view text message). There doesn't seem to be an option for clearing the notification while the screen is locked, so your concern is in this case moot.
The same thought crossed my mind. Not that I mind, as an iPhone user.
Coincidentally, a friend was showing me his jailbroken iPhone this weekend with an Android-like notification bar and other Android-like features (he's never owned an Android phone before; he just happens to like features like that). It was nearly enough to convince me to jailbreak my phone too.
I don't feel like these are outright innovations either, but that's okay. I'll still take 'em.
Coincidentally, a friend was showing me his jailbroken iPhone this weekend with an Android-like notification bar and other Android-like features (he's never owned an Android phone before; he just happens to like features like that). It was nearly enough to convince me to jailbreak my phone too.
I don't feel like these are outright innovations either, but that's okay. I'll still take 'em.
I wonder what the fallout from folks like Instapaper and Tap Tap Tap will be.
It seems kind of shady for Apple to say Tap Tap Tap's Camera+ couldn't have volume button as a shutter (because it was a UX rule violation), then six months later implement that feature right into iOS.
It seems kind of shady for Apple to say Tap Tap Tap's Camera+ couldn't have volume button as a shutter (because it was a UX rule violation), then six months later implement that feature right into iOS.
So what's the solution here? To me the outcry over this seems pretty contradictory given the general antipathy around here towards software patents.
Either ideas are something that an individual can own and control and others are forbidden to use without permission, or everybody is free to implement them and innovate around them.
Is Marco going to have to do some work now to differentiate himself from Reading List? Totally. But is that a bad thing? He was no more entitled to a competition-free perpetual business model than the Record Labels or Movie Studios or Banking Industry or any other perennial target around here.
Marco is a smart and skilled guy and there's no way this is going to kill him off unless he willingly lets it.
Either ideas are something that an individual can own and control and others are forbidden to use without permission, or everybody is free to implement them and innovate around them.
Is Marco going to have to do some work now to differentiate himself from Reading List? Totally. But is that a bad thing? He was no more entitled to a competition-free perpetual business model than the Record Labels or Movie Studios or Banking Industry or any other perennial target around here.
Marco is a smart and skilled guy and there's no way this is going to kill him off unless he willingly lets it.
I agree completely; you can't have it both ways.
However, the point in the OP about Camera+ seems a bit more legit. Rejecting an app for doing X and then doing X yourself in the next release seems like a huge double-standard, and where there are double standards there is foothold for allegations of anti-competitive behavior.
That said, however, the difference between me (sitting in a cubicle typing this) and the creative forces behind Instapaper and Camera+ is (hopefully) that where I see small developers being turned into digital sharecroppers by a dictatorial corporation, they see an opportunity to differentiate themselves from the stock offering by excelling in the very specific area they're focusing on.
However, the point in the OP about Camera+ seems a bit more legit. Rejecting an app for doing X and then doing X yourself in the next release seems like a huge double-standard, and where there are double standards there is foothold for allegations of anti-competitive behavior.
That said, however, the difference between me (sitting in a cubicle typing this) and the creative forces behind Instapaper and Camera+ is (hopefully) that where I see small developers being turned into digital sharecroppers by a dictatorial corporation, they see an opportunity to differentiate themselves from the stock offering by excelling in the very specific area they're focusing on.
Actually, the Camera+ developers filed a feature request and asked Apple to add the volume-button-as-shutter feature. See: http://taptaptap.com/blog/cameraplus-volumesnap-rejected/
So I imagine they're pretty happy with this development.
So I imagine they're pretty happy with this development.
Remember Ballmer chanting "Developers! Developers! ..."?
Well, here Apple is saying "Screw the developers".
Sure, they have a right to do this, and perhaps an obligations, but the developers put out business without warning probably won't keep developing for Apple. Over time that will work to reduce developer uptake, and thus app selection on iOS, which is why they perhaps should have chosen to somehow lessen the blow to unlucky developers.
Well, here Apple is saying "Screw the developers".
Sure, they have a right to do this, and perhaps an obligations, but the developers put out business without warning probably won't keep developing for Apple. Over time that will work to reduce developer uptake, and thus app selection on iOS, which is why they perhaps should have chosen to somehow lessen the blow to unlucky developers.
Marco (Instapaper) has said a number of times on his 5 by 5 podcast that he thinks Reading List either wont affect him much, or it will be a net positive (in terms of sales for him). I think he's correct in believing that Reading List will be a good gateway drug for the people who have never heard of Instapaper but will soon get hooked on the idea and potentially look for a more powerful version of the same tool.
What's "shady" about Apple listening to criticism and allowing the hardware shutter button? Would you rather that they stuck to their original position?
What's "shady" about Apple listening to criticism and allowing the hardware shutter button? Would you rather that they stuck to their original position?
I don't think he realized that Reading List was going to be on iOS too. Here's his exact response during the keynote: https://twitter.com/#!/marcoarment/status/77796293510037504
https://twitter.com/#!/marcoarment/status/77799506602762241
Glad I've invested in social and editorial features. Not dead yet!
Glad I've invested in social and editorial features. Not dead yet!
It seems Marco's views have shifted somewhat after seeing the demo:
https://twitter.com/#!/marcoarment/status/77796293510037504
I think Instapaper will still be very successful. He may need to raise the price & focus on a smaller "Pro" user-base, though.
I think Instapaper will still be very successful. He may need to raise the price & focus on a smaller "Pro" user-base, though.
You can never make everyone happy. Don't include enough new features, and get complaints that your doing nothing new; add new stuff, then complaints about stepping over toes of developers with similar apps.
Integrating features from apps is a bit of an asshole move, but at least everyone does it. They pulled that app and threatened the devs because it hacked the buttons. You don't see the difference?
Not really. I think everyone knows, whether they want to admit it or not, that Apple gets to say what all the hardware buttons do. To what other end would Apple do anything with that authority other than to benefit Apple?
This wasn't some random feature that Apple capriciously decided wasn't allowed. It's not like they told Marco, "you're not allowed to make, save, and sync readable versions of web articles". The application you're talking about changed the behavior of the hardware buttons on the phone. Nobody was really surprised that Apple objected to that.
This wasn't some random feature that Apple capriciously decided wasn't allowed. It's not like they told Marco, "you're not allowed to make, save, and sync readable versions of web articles". The application you're talking about changed the behavior of the hardware buttons on the phone. Nobody was really surprised that Apple objected to that.
Users who liked the feature might have been a bit surprised. It's not like the app randomly mucked with the UI, it did precisely what the user requested - nobody needed to be saved.
"Shady" is a much nicer word than I would have used..
I really feel for the folks at Red Pop today: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/786496402/red-pop
that was my first thought too - i was going to buy one of these today, now I think I'll wait until ios5 and see if i still want it.
Oh, please. I am not buying it. The selling point of iOS is the user experience, and part of that experience was that hardware buttons act predictably, in every context. Was. Realizing how important the camera has become, they are reprioritizing the photo experience above the universally-consistent-hardware experience. If you don’t think this topic was internally debated over and over at Apple, long before TapTapTap submitted their app, you don’t get Apple.
Welcome to development on a closed system and platform (iOS). Sure, it has its fair share of advantages, but then you also have to deal with shenanigans like this.
Being closed isn't relevant here. If Ubuntu built this feature into the OS the same thing would happen to 3rd parties.
The lesson is about hitching your wagon to one platform. Marco has been an outspoken "iOS only" developer and part of me wants to see him eat crow for taking that position. But that's not fair, at the end of the day he's a smart guy and he'll either adjust or come up with another killer idea. He made the smart play at the right time, but all good things come to an end.
The lesson is about hitching your wagon to one platform. Marco has been an outspoken "iOS only" developer and part of me wants to see him eat crow for taking that position. But that's not fair, at the end of the day he's a smart guy and he'll either adjust or come up with another killer idea. He made the smart play at the right time, but all good things come to an end.
What does this have to do with him being iOS-only? If he build iP for Android, wouldn't the overwhelming majority of his revenue would still come from iOS, and be just as threatened?
They would still be threatened, but less so, because being multi-platform is a feature that differentiates from Apple's. I'm pretty sure Read it Later isn't sweating as much about this, because they have the single best Android app and the single best Web app of this category.
They also have a very good iPhone and iPad app that some iOS-only users will have a less of an interest in. But for others they can sell on larger availability than what Apple offers.
They also have a very good iPhone and iPad app that some iOS-only users will have a less of an interest in. But for others they can sell on larger availability than what Apple offers.
I don't think that's how it works. At the end of the day, what matters is his revenue graph. If almost all his revenue comres from iOS, and Reading List muddies the water enough to cut into that, the "cross platform" checkbox isn't going to save him, because it's not relevant to the majority of people who pay him.
I don't think iP is doomed, for what it's worth; I just don't think this is the answer.
I don't think iP is doomed, for what it's worth; I just don't think this is the answer.
Almost all of his revenue comes from iOS because he almost exclusively develops for iOS. How much this stings is directly proportionate to how much he's invested into this one platform; in his case it's near 100%. In Evernote's case, they could (if they were in this position) take the blow, pivot a little if necessary, and continue moving forward.
The subtext here is that people with cross-platform apps tend to report that the majority of their revenue comes from iOS, so that comment isn't really responsive.
How much wait till some open platform pays $2.5 billion to developers?
They are a bunch of assholes. I wonder what all the people defending Apple at the time ("it's not right to hijack the buttons! How dare they presume to ship such hacks to uesrs!") have to say now? Probably something about how brilliant Apple is...
You don't need to watch the keynote, their video is pretty well done to show all the new iOS 5 features:
http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/gallery.html#video-ios
http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/gallery.html#video-ios
They said there is 200 new features. That certainly isn't all of them.
Are we going to finally have the ability to upload photos out of safari?
How apple gets away with this is beyond me. There is no technical reason that I can imagine why allowing photo uploads from mobile safari should be disabled.
How apple gets away with this is beyond me. There is no technical reason that I can imagine why allowing photo uploads from mobile safari should be disabled.
This is all pretty exciting, but I want more exterior button shortcuts. Also, why can't I search text fields on my meager 3Gs?
I would say less than 3% of local business owners can understand the items that he is saying.
If your customers don't get it, getting them to signup is very costly.
If your customers don't get it, getting them to signup is very costly.
iOS5 was surprisingly underwhelming, given how long its been since they shipped iOS4. This certainly won't stop the train known as Android. I really don't see this changing the iOS sales trajectory upward at all.
Do you imply that current trajectory is downward?
And Apple does not sell iOS, it sells iPhone, iPod touch and iPads with that OS. I am sure iPad sales are not going to go down any time soon.
No, I don't mean to imply that. I was trying to say that they have a current relative trajectory (flat on iPhone/iPod, solidly up, but slower than anticipated after Q1 launch on iPad) -- and this trajectory doesn't seem to change any more upward after this. In particular relative to Android.
To put it another way, if they didn't do this release at all and just continued to sell iPhones with iOS 4.x on it for the next 12 months, I don't think we'd see a difference in their sales numbers.
I think this is a testament to the current quality of their devices and OS. But it does feel like we've entered Mac circa 1991. It's getting long in the tooth and the improvements are really small, while a competitor with a late start is showing signs of accelerating.
To put it another way, if they didn't do this release at all and just continued to sell iPhones with iOS 4.x on it for the next 12 months, I don't think we'd see a difference in their sales numbers.
I think this is a testament to the current quality of their devices and OS. But it does feel like we've entered Mac circa 1991. It's getting long in the tooth and the improvements are really small, while a competitor with a late start is showing signs of accelerating.
I am not so sure about flat sale of iPhone and iPod but have no data on that, so won't argue.
Comparison of Android vs. iOS devices bothers me a bit every time, because it is just one manufacturer with handful of products vs. dozens manufacturers with gazillion devices.
Here's one datapoint:
http://gigaom.com/apple/iphone-flat-in-u-s-as-android-takes-...
Apple has great margins, so they'll do fine, even if they stay at 25% marketshare forever. But it seems to be clearer that Android is going to run away with this.
The only real question is, who takes the #3 spot. RIM, MS, or HP? I think there will be 3 players in this space. Two are locked in. The last has yet to be decided.
http://gigaom.com/apple/iphone-flat-in-u-s-as-android-takes-...
Apple has great margins, so they'll do fine, even if they stay at 25% marketshare forever. But it seems to be clearer that Android is going to run away with this.
The only real question is, who takes the #3 spot. RIM, MS, or HP? I think there will be 3 players in this space. Two are locked in. The last has yet to be decided.
I have an iPhone 4, I've had iPhones for 4 years. I love the iPhone.
I tried a Nexus S with the newest Android recently. Using it, I learned that Android is, frankly, today, ahead of iOS on the phone side.
Android's notification system is better. It's so much better, that Apple directly copied it. Android's hardware back button works, it works well, and it frees up more screen real estate for useful content. Android's home button is more consistent. Its apps are more powerful, google talk video works great. Its wireless seamless binary-only updates are revolutionary.
Apple has fallen behind, and will only catch up with iOS 5 in the Fall. Of course, I fully expect Google to innovate further and be even farther ahead in 2012.
The coolest thing by far, and this is something that Apple won't have in the foreseeable near future, is voice recognition. Google's voice commands work suspiciously well. I find it far easier to press a button and say "text John Appleseed: Hey, let's go to the movies tomorrow at 3" than to navigate menus and type it in. Google's tech recognizes words and phrases I wouldn't expect it to.
Apple still has more apps, but that won't last for too much longer.
I have an iPad 2, and I love it, but my next phone will be a Droid.