Apple | RLB Enterprises LLC

“I said at the start that if the Nexus S were my first-ever smartphone I’d probably love it. But since it wasn’t my first, I come to it (and maybe more importantly to the operating system) with expectations of performance, stability, battery life, and general attention to detail that it just can’t meet. Sure, it comes with a whole host of freedoms that I can exercise, like installing a third-party keyboard component to replace the system keyboard, but I didn’t exercise those freedoms because I don’t care, I’m just not that guy. I never themed my Windows installations, never jailbroke my iPhone, never turbocharged my car. I want a phoneputer that just works and lets me pursue my own goals; goals that don’t include being a sysadmin. The Nexus S does everything one could reasonably expect of a smartphone, and it does them competently, but if you’ve experienced a smartphone that does those things exceptionally, mere competence is a big step backward.”

(Via Daring Fireball .)

Features vs. usability really is not a contest.

June 2, 2011June 2, 2011

They Still Don’t Get It

★ Why Windows 8 Is Fundamentally Flawed as a Response to the iPad:

But I think it’s a fundamentally flawed idea for Microsoft to build their next-generation OS and interface on top of the existing Windows. The idea is that you get the new stuff right alongside Windows as we know it. Microsoft is obviously trying to learn from Apple, but they clearly don’t understand why the iPad runs iOS, and not Mac OS X…

The ability to run Mac OS X apps on the iPad, with full access to the file system, peripherals, etc., would make the iPad worse, not better. The iPad succeeds because it has eliminatedcomplexity, not because it has covered up the complexity of the Mac with a touch-based “shell”. iOS’s lack of backward compatibility with any existing software means that all apps for iOS are written specifically for iOS.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Microsoft has not unlearned the core lessons of Windows to do What’s Next.

March 7, 2011March 7, 2011

Windows Phone 7 Fails To Halt Microsoft’s Mobile Slide

Windows Phone 7 Fails To Halt Microsoft’s Mobile Slide:

Microsoft’s share of U.S. smartphone platforms slipped 1.7%, to 8%, during the three months ended Jan. 31, according to market watcher comScore. Over the same period, Google Android’s share increased 7.7%, to 31.2%, while Apple’s iPhone held steady—increasing .1% to 24.7%.

(Via InformationWeek – All Stories And Blogs.)

Ouch. No hardware carrier needs two monkeys on their back. Microsoft’s traditional model has been to charge for their OS and appropriate some value from the OEM. Google’s turns all that on its head. In fact, Google is willing to pay through revenue sharing on search. Microsoft’s rumored “billions” paid to Nokia to implement on Windows Phone is too little, too late. Microsoft can’t pay everybody to implement on their OS.

March 6, 2011March 6, 2011

So Far, Rivals Can’t Beat iPad’s Price

So Far, Rivals Can’t Beat iPad’s Price:

Analysts and industry experts point to a number of reasons. Primarily, they say, Apple’s deep pockets — a staggering $60 billion in cash reserves — have allowed it to form strategic partnerships with other companies to buy large supplies of components, for example, in expensive flash memory. By doing this, the company probably secures a lower price from suppliers, ensuring a lower manufacturing cost.

At the same time, they say, Apple has sidestepped high licensing fees for other items it needs, like the A4 and A5 processors within the iPads. Those parts, designed in-house at Apple by a company that Apple bought, are among the costlier components needed to make a tablet computer.

Mr. Sacconaghi said Apple also could subsidize some of the cost of building iPads with the money it makes through its App Store, which generates more than a billion dollars each year. This means that Apple can take a lower profit margin on the iPad, 25 percent, than it does on, for example, the iPhone, which can yield as much as 50 percent profit.

Yet another advantage is Apple’s wide net of its own global retail shops and online stores; for customers, this means they can avoid a markup from a third party like Best Buy.

Although other companies have some of these factors in their favor, no one but Apple has all of them.

(Via Business and Financial News – The New York Times.)

Add the fact that the hardware and iOS is implemented well, delivering the Apple “experience,” and you have a tough competitor. It’s not that HP and Samsung can’t compete. It’s just that they have to make different design decisions than they’ve been making to date. And given the constraints they are under, they have their work cut out for them.

March 4, 2011March 4, 2011

In a Galaxy Tab Far, Far Away

Samsung panics over iPad 2, may cut Galaxy Tab 10.1’s price:

Samsung was caught off-guard by the iPad 2 and may have to rethink its strategy for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the company’s executive VP of mobile Lee Don-joo said on Friday. The Korean company had planned to charge a premium over the original Galaxy Tab, which already cost nearly as much as a larger, first-generation 3G iPad, but wasn’t certain it could do so now that the iPad 2 was roughly matching it in features for the same $499 price. Lee didn’t tell Yonhap what pricing was to have been, but a 16GB, 3G Galaxy Tab costs $600 in the US.

“The 10-inch [tablet] was to be priced higher than the 7-inch [tablet] but we will have to think that over,” he said.

(Via MacNN | The Macintosh News Network.)

I bet they do. I never understood the Galaxy Tab, esp. in a world obsessed with tech specs. After all, why would I pay more for a smaller tablet? Now Samsung in in the weird place of charging much more for the same sized tablet minus the Apple experience to justify it.

March 2, 2011March 2, 2011

iPad 2

I was not that impressed with Apple’s release of the iPad 2. It was truly anti-climactic what with all the hype and hyperbolic speculation bandied about ad nauseum. I’ve said the original iPad is a game-changer and was saw a bright future for it at the outset. I was not wrong.

But the iPad 2 is not a game changer. It is an evolution of an already strong product, a refinement in point of fact. It’s lighter, faster, stronger and includes features long predicted to make it into this revision. FaceTime cameras, for example, have ben expected almost as long as the original iPad has been out. It’s product positioning relative to the MacBook, esp. the 11-inch Air, has been refined. No doubt it will be a big seller as its predecessor. Ironically, the coolest innovation is not strictly within the iPad 2 itself but in it’s cover that doubles as a stand. Can’t wait to see what the iPad economy comes up with for that magnetic connect.

I was disappointed that Apple stuck with 3G for a couple of reasons. One, on the macro side their analysis of how 4G is playing out is like mine: Betamax vs. VHS or Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD. We don’t know whether WiMax or LTE will be the Blu-ray of mobile broadband. Two, if Apple isn’t charging ahead into 4G it probably means a industry standard that would allow for cheap (and this is important) carrier agnostic components to manufactured is not around the corner. So 3G it is.

All-in-all ho-hum precisely because this is what we’ve come to expect from Apple.

November 24, 2010November 24, 2010

Microsoft, Apple and Market Share

This time the story is hardly the one you would expect.

Mac sales growth continues to surge ahead of PCs 3 to 1:

“The single biggest jump in sales has come from the business market, which is up by 66.3%. Among large and very large businesses, sales spiked 146% and 202% respectively, which is an excellent sign for Apple. Those large businesses tend to be controlled by large IT departments, which are typically very conservative when it comes to computer system upgrades and replacements. The popularity of iOS devices among executives and the more tech savvy is probably playing a big part in convincing these companies to take another look at Apple on the desktop.”

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Wow! Of course, Apple has had a lot of room to grow in terms of the business market, but at this economic time? That is pretty remarkable.

Apple is right to stay out of the high-end server market if the results keep coming in like this. They want to sell metal not software so this strategy of strong user centricity is clearly working. As long as the Mac can play nice in “corporate environments,” i.e. Windows environments, it can compete well. Microsoft has recognized this by finally, after nearly a decade, opting to bring full Outlook back the Mac version of Office. With the recent rehabilitation of Excel, Microsoft is still in a position to print money from it’s cash cow (to mix metaphors): Microsoft Office and it’s attendant servers. Yes, Windows on the client end suffers a bit of market share loss, but Microsoft keep the servers and basic corporate technology on their platform. And while Microsoft is doing its level best to answer the iOS, the trend right now suggests we should expect to see “Pocket” versions of the Office apps in the not too distant future.

November 17, 2010November 17, 2010

Because We Don’t Have an App for That

RIM CEO: Apple Is Wrong for Having an App for That:

”‘So you reject the appification of the Web?’ asked Summit host John Battelle. ‘Correct,’ Balsillie said, challenging Apple’s ‘there’s an app for that’ slogan for its iPhone App Store, which has more than 300,000 applications.

Balsillie’s comments were tinged with a note of bitterness in the wake of unprovoked attacks on RIM’s business by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. One month ago, Jobs appeared on Apple’s fourth-quarter earnings call to tout how Apple had passed RIM in smartphone sales for the quarter.”

(Via eWeek – RSS Feeds.)

November 17, 2010June 25, 2019

Apple and Oracle Partner for OpenJDK for Mac OS X

Apple and Oracle Partner for OpenJDK for Mac OS X:

“Apple and Oracle are working together to bring the OpenJDK project to Mac OS X. This will ensure the continued presence of Java on the Mac platform. The news comes on the heels of a revelation last month that Apple will no longer be providing its own line of custom Java packages, which many, us included, took to indicate the end of Java support in OS X altogether.”

(Via TheAppleBlog.)

Huge sigh of relief for Java developers deploying on Macs.

August 21, 2010August 21, 2010

Mobile Flash #Fail: Weak Android Player Proves Jobs Right

Mobile Flash Fail: Weak Android Player Proves Jobs Right:

“I was pleasantly surprised at how well Flash episodes of South Park streamed over 3G, until I realized that the site had detected that I was on my phone and was serving me a specially optimized non-Flash video player (like the YouTube app) instead.”