Tag Archives: iPhone

So the ATT caps don’t affect you huh?

Posted on June 4, 2010 | 1 Comment

I was watching all the tweets about “looks like I only use 400mb so AT&T’s new caps won’t affect me.” earlier this week, and got to thinking.

I’m wondering how much all these folks are considering the future. Not 2044 when we have iPhones in our heads, but a 2 months from now, maybe 3. Clearly AT&T had a plan beyond “Making data plans more affordable and available for all. 98% of our users don’t even use close to 2g” and all. I mean we’ve met AT&T right? When have they done something for their customers, beyond send cease and desist letters when we email them.

So here’s what I’m wondering..

Skype on 3G… how much are we gonna use that? How much will that impact data use? I can see 2gb going fast with a couple business calls a week.

Front facing camera and some sort of iChat for iPhone… Will we get it? Who knows, rumors (again) say yes. How much will video chatting use up your data use?

Backgrounding of Pandora? How much data do you think you’ll use streaming pandora at work every day? On your jog? at the gym? at your desk?

There’s a lot (possibly) coming soon that will hugely impact data usage. Surprised AT&T pre-empted all that with a change in rates?

A change that by next week we’ll have mostly forgotten in the euphoria of a steve-note, new devices, and mac pros, and robot unicorns. AT&T for their cluelessness in dealing with customers, isn’t stupid, and they just roped a ton of schmoes into very restrictive plans.

Take a long the view… it’s a different picture. I’ll be keeping my unlimited plan thank you.

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Posted in 360|iDev, Business, I am a Consumer, iPhone, Mac, Random, Technology

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Dropbox as Anecdotal evidence of Mobile platform strength?

Posted on May 28, 2010 | 1 Comment

I was cruising around the dropbox blog and saw that they have a public voting site for feature requests. As I scrolled through the list, I noticed the mobile device requests.

It pretty much supports my assumptions on the mobile platform space right now.

iPhone, iPad, and Android are all already supported, WinMo (unclear, but I assume phone 7, but it was 6 months ago) is the next highest demanded platform, by a large margin. Pre and Crackberry bring up the final two spots.

Sure it’s anecdotal, but I can’t help but wonder if dropbox doesn’t serve as a microcosm of the mobile space? Clearly with their business on the line dropbox is pursuing the most demanded platforms first, sorry Pre folks, I know you love your phones, but you bet a lame horse.

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Posted in Business, I am a Consumer, iPhone, Mac, Technology

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Open Letter to Apple? Come on

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 4 Comments

So I just finished reading the “Open Letter to Apple” penned by John Battelle and Tim O’Reilly. The self serving nature is a bit over the top for my tastes. “Please come to our exclusive, invite only, outrageously expensive summit, that has been seeing lower and lower (I assume) attendance. You’d be a really big draw.”

Here’s my thoughts on the whole thing (the open letter, Flash, Apple Culture)

1. It’s Apple’s phone. I don’t want Flash on the iPhone because it often has trouble enough running native apps. I haven’t missed flash once on my iPhone. i DO want Flash on the iPad. I think it makes way more sense. The CPU is faster, the screen is bigger. I’d watch hulu, CBS, NBC, etc on my iPad. I love Adobe, I love Flex and Flash (like any programming language, the shitty apps, are written by shitty developers. To say there aren’t stinkers in the app store would be an outright lie), but it’s Apple’s toy.

I’m glad Adobe finally decided to move on!

Rather than see Apple go to an exclusive event for executives who don’t want to touch the unwashed masses, I’d love to see Apple support the developer community. Hey Steve, Phil, et. al. Come to the next 360|iDev. Meet the people writing the apps, meet the developers who bought 4 iPads. After all, they (IMHO) more than any one in attendance at Web 2.0 Summit, are the people important to Apple. The Developer community is buying iPads like their going out of style, buying each other’s apps/games, etc. They’re the early adopters, the strongest pro-Apple voices, etc.

I do agree with the letter in so far as the Apple of Today isn’t the Apple I fell in love with. It’s not the Apple of the Powerbook, the Newton, the Performa. Times change, and (as many do) if you argue bank accounts as an indicator, Apple is doing something right. I’m tickled pink (I’d be more tickled if I owned Apple stock) that Apple isn’t $8/share. I remember when it was. As a kid in school, I checked the price daily in the paper before I left the house. I saved and saved and bought a Newton, I bought a powerbook 510 for College (ok well my folks did). But I’d love to see that Apple (tempered by age, fine) come back. The Apple of “Think Different”, the Apple of Ellen Feiss.

Embrace the community that loves and supports you. Embrace the community that was there before the iPhone, before Unibody macs, etc. Embrace the community writing the apps that make the devices awesome.

What’s the future hold for Apple, who knows. I’d love to see them take a more active, supportive role in the community that exists around them though.

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Posted in 360|iDev, Business, community, Conferences, I am a Consumer, iPhone, Technology

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Adobe needs to buy Palm.

Posted on April 20, 2010 | 10 Comments

And here’s why.

To screw Apple. It’s clear that no matter how much, begging, suing (this is a bad idea anyways), cajoling, “I’m with Adobe”ing, etc, takes place, Apple has given the one finger salute to Adobe. That’s that. It’s their phone, there’s lots of other handsets for Adobe to play with.

Frankly, as much as I’d love to have Flash on my iPad (not my iPhone though) it’s Apple’s call. I don’t agree, but since they don’t call me to ask my opinion, I assume they don’t care.

Palm is for sale. The Pre is a nice phone, it’s actually frakkin sexy, I dig it. WebOS, isn’t that bad either. If Palm had 1. not gone with Verizon, and 2. listenned to their developer community, and 3. not been retards about brand/marketing/and reach, the Pre would be a huge hit. Instead, Palm is for sale.

Picture this.

Adobe buys Palm. Retools WebOS (or goes android, but I think that’s a bad idea) to be more Flash focused. Basically create a “Flash Phone” Build out a marketplace, somewhere between Draconian Apple, and Hippy-free-for-all Google, for Flash devs to build and sell their apps. SELL. Adobe, you build the market, and back out. Don’t start building your own things and giving them away for free. That screws your community over, cut it out!

Flash Devs have been denied a reliable, useful marketplace… well pretty much forever. Companies like Litl are working on devices to show how awesome Flash apps (Channels) can be, and hopefully help developers make money too. Adobe could easily kill some of their soon-to-be-dead-but-no-one-knows-it-yet projects, and focus on a mobile SDK for Devs to build stand alone “apps” that the “Flash Phone” could run.

Apps that exist as good citizens, outside a browser, as a standalone executable/process. They kill when closed, and don’t burn through the CPU. This is totally possible!

I know I’d buy a Flash Phone (assuming it’s the Pre aka nice hardware) in a heartbeat. I’d want to support the community, but I also think it’s a huge untapped market. Look at the flash content out there on the web! So much could easily become apps.

Flash Devs need to stop giving everything away in the hope of attracting consulting business! Build things people will pay for, and sell them! You guys are your own worst enemy! You’re not helping the community!

So Adobe, if you’re reading this, I know hardware isn’t your thing, but hey, consumer electronics wasn’t Apple’s when they launched the iPod (hardware still was, I know, it’s an imperfect comparison), and they’ve pretty much crushed that market now. You need to give up on the iPhone, yeah I know it’s the pits, but rather than waste time suing, being snarky on stage at MAX, and building hacky work arounds in Flash Pro, move on. You’re bigger than this “Let me in! Let me in!” nonsense. I want Adobe to shine, and rock the house! I want Adobe to do what it does best! Innovate! Build tools that let developers do mind blowing things! Now… Provide hardware for those mind blowing things to live on!

Ok that’s it! What do you think?

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Posted in Adobe Flex, Business, community, I am a Consumer, iPhone, Mac, Random, Technology

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