Posts Tagged ‘Apple’

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Apple iPad: That’s it?

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

So, the long-awaited Apple Tablet announcement has come and gone. It’s got everyone talking and a subset of them are currently having multiple orgasms over the next “must-have’ tech from Apple.

Am I the only one who’s underwhelmed by this? It’s just an iPhone on steroids. Not even that…that might be more interesting. No, it’s an iPhone with a learning disability. It grew up to be linebacker huge but with no corresponding increase in features and the more “fun” stuff of a novel product. Okay, novel-ish since tablets/slates have been around for a while.

Where’s My Flash?!

The specs are here (or here for those who like it official) and aren’t bad or anything but there are some things missing:

  1. Flash support for the browser (I mean, c’mon)
  2. A web-cam capable camera for iChat (Macbooks have this)
  3. Support for a stylus (think pinpoint touch resolution)
  4. USB ports for peripherals

Note: I swear that article didn’t have its own “what’s missing” list when I started writing this.

In the end, this is just the marriage of the iPhone with an eBook reader. Or, just a glorified eBook reader…taking it away from the computer class and putting it in the gadget class.

Features, Features

It’s all about the features offered (and missing)…who cares that it’s a slate? Been done. Aluminum body some Mac heads will be making love to? You DO have an Air right?

No, outside of the larger multitouch screen (oops, been done), there wasn’t anything new hardware-wise here. It’s about how the damned thing will operate. But, with an iPhone OS…well, there ain’t as much to do in this particular neighborhood.

What you’re going to do with it:

  1. Watch movies and videos
  2. Read books, news, magazines
  3. Listen to music while doing #2
  4. Look at your photos…joy
  5. Fuck around with apps
  6. Play games (1 out of 6 ain’t bad)

What you’re NOT going to do with it:

  1. Replace your notebook in college or when you’re working on that MBA.
  2. Travel with it a lot (laptop vs eBook reader with apps…hmmm)
  3. Connect to the Internet (at least not if you do #2)
  4. Quickly share documents with someone standing next to you
  5. Use this to be productive

Yes, I mentioned the “P” word. My garage is littered with fancy devices that were cool when they came out but ended up in some box. Why? Because once everything wore off and you’re in that gadget afterglow, you realize you have no other use for it. Look at all those iPhone games you’ve loaded onto your phone. How many of them are you really playing actively today? Right.

Potential Productivity

My biggest disappointment is the lack of an app on launch that will do the whole notebook thing. I mean, Christ, it’s called iPAD for crying out loud. And, here’s the funny part: you don’t need to do anything with the hardware really. Check out engadget’s coverage of the iPad…namely the video near the bottom of the article. Now, advance to 0:50 in the video. Watch the part where they’re playing with the presenter’s tools for the presentation. Look at that fucking potential (the yellow lines).

Picture this:

You’re going to a meeting that someone already sent you a PowerPoint for (so organized…must not be a start-up). You’ve loaded that bitch (the PowerPoint, not the meeting organizer) up and are toting all you need: your hot new iPad.

As you follow along with the presenter, you’re drawing lines and funny faces and all sorts of other shit on the presentation itself! Just like you used to with the printed copy you printed/got. Now, you double tap a spot on the presentation and an annotator’s note box shows up and the virtual keyboard activates. BAM, you note how stupid the idea on the slide is and that you need to call Bob ASAP).

Meeting’s over, you head back to your desk and plug that iPad in (will the Thai version be called iPadThai? Yum…). Sync and BOOM all those annotations are on your PC/Mac along with the original (or a copy of) the presentation. Now, you’ve got everything in there and don’t have to manually copy anything in. If it was your sorry assed presentation, you could even update it with the changes you made! Fuck yeah!

Then you wake up and it’s all a dream because Apple things looks beat out features. Surprise, surprise.

Price = Innovation?

Some areas of the media ecosystem, perhaps lacking anything better to say, are talking about the price “revolution”.  Is it a revolution? Sure if you consider paying more for an iPhone a revolution. Of course, Apple is going to try to avoid cannibalizing their Macbook sales. Wouldn’t you want to avoid having people buy an iTouch iPad when they can buy a Macbook for more. Oh wait, this is supposed to be the crowning achievement for Mr. Jobs.

How is this a revolution? It isn’t. It’s an annoyance. If I wanted an iPhone…wait, I HAVE an iPhone. It cost me $299. I’m good. If I wanted a tablet…oh, well, I’ve got a Macbook. Okay, sure, that cost me upwards of $1999. I guess nowadays, it’ll set me back $999 (at the low end).

Realistically, why not just add the needed features  (see above) and price it near $999 or even AT $999 and make it an option. Do you like laptops, grab the Macbook. You want something interesting/cool that actually does what you need? Grab the iPad.

Sure, it might cannibalize some parts of your laptop sales…I mean, it’s natural. It’s a slate, dammit. But, if you can offer it for less than $999, wouldn’t the higher margins that $999 offers you can more than compensate! Besides, the slate isn’t for everyone.

Where’s the Apple Magic?

You want to know where the REAL revolution is? Check that one slide about the AT&T deal. Check out the different bullet points. No, not the one about the $29.99 unlimited data package. This one:

No contract – cancel anytime

Sweet fancy Moses! AT&T isn’t going to milk you with a two-year fucking contract and an early termination fee of $150 or more?!? Isn’t that their bread and butter? How the fuck?

I guess the potential of millions of unlimited data subscribers is enough? I mean, they might lose their iPhone exclusivity so why the fuck–what’s that? Oh, I guess they might not lose it now. Hmm.

Wait a sec…could it be AT&T and Apple managed to do a deal where exclusivity (read: bread and butter) continues but the price AT&T pays is no contracts and a low unlimited data price for 3G? Better yet, could it be that that extra $129 you pay for 3G versions of the iPad isn’t solely to cover the cost of a 3G transmitter/receiver? Could it include a small subsidy that gets passed on to AT&T?

Who knows but it’s the most interesting part of today’s announcement.

What now?

Well, despite all this crap, the question’s out there: will you (or I) get an iPad? I think the answer is: probably. After all, it’s not that expensive and it’s intriguing enough that it’ll be worth the pick up–in a few months.

The MacSlaves will buy it in two months and supply the rest of us with v2 of the iPad when Apple releases a new version six months later with something better.

For the saner of the crazies, we’ll likely pick it up as a birthday gift or other selfish excuse for a gift for ourselves and be done with it. We’ll read our books and flip through our photos and get frustrated at those games that rely on the accelerometer. And, hopefully, by then, someone will have finally invented the REAL iPad app and we can call it a day.

out

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Apple Tablet = Verizon Exclusive? Ugh…

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Not sure if this is a complete lock-in but if TheStreet.com is right, then the Apple tablet’s wireless traffic is going to head for Verizon.

Like the article says, the good news is that means you’ve got a chance to grab a tablet subsidized down from whatever high list price Apple will likely slap on it.

The bad news is you’ve got to use Verizon. Granted, they’re 100x better than T-Mobile. But, my experience with them a few years ago was enough to drive me to Cingular (pre-AT&T “our-name-is-better” Wireless). They’ve got the best coverage? The best network, you say? Wonderful…except when your calls keep dropping out mid conversation because you passed some stupid “bubble” in their network. You’d think that driving through the middle of Los Angeles would leave you largely immune to that when you’re with a company that touts its network coverage.

Not to say that AT&T is some sort of white knight in all this. Five bars is great but if nothing’s passing through those five bars, who gives a fuck?

In the end though, you all will win to some extent. You’re going to be locked in to two-year contract but you might save a lot. After all, the new iPhones (each time they come out) list around $599 to $699 without the subsidy. But, then go down to $199 to $299 with it.

If the tablet comes out at around $999 or $1299 list, then the question is how much is Verizon willing to subsidize that sucker? We’re talking 100% more expensive than the iPhones that AT&T subsidized but despite that subsidy, AT&T profited.

I’m thinking they’re going to go for 30-50%. It’s costly but they’re also probably anticipating this to be the next “iProfit” device from Apple, whether it ultimately delivers or not. Apple’s track record so far would tend to back that up but then again, tablets have been around for years and no one’s really cared. Apple and it’s whole design aesthetic might be what pushes the tablet market into the mainstream but it’ll all depend on how they deliver the apps on it.

Unfortunately, all we can do is wait…seven days before we find out more (unless Apple pulls a fast one and just “shows” the press iTunes with books on it…I’d love that.

out

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Apple Tablet Coming…Duh…

Monday, January 4th, 2010

It seems mainstream (read: non-technical) media is catching up on the whole Apple Tablet thing and the fact that Macworld is coming in just a month. The Wall Street Journal posted a little tidbit on the fact that an announcement is imminent for February and a tablet might ship in March though that estimate “could change”. Surprise, surprise.

I guess all we can do is wait…until some guy at Apple who craves attention leaks out more details prior to Macworld. Of course, we won’t know if that’s Jobs and his disinformation used to root out the treasonous unfaithful from his sect.

out

UPDATE: I guess WSJ adjusted the wording of their article but TechCrunch seems to be more concerned with pricing. $1000 doesn’t seem to be enough for a tablet device.  Really? You think so? What about this line:

“…such a price could include a subscription to a nationwide Wi-Fi wireless service such as those run by AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, which provide Internet access at thousands of hot-spots such as airports, hotels and restaurants.”

Have you considered the possibility that $1000 is the subsidized price? They could throw it out there for $1500-2000 retail and give it to you for $1000 with a two-year contract with AT&T or whoever. In fact, doing that and making that carrier the exclusive seller of the tablet for a couple years could make it easier for them (relationship-wise) to start offering the iPhone on other carriers in the US. Stay tuned…

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Jobs happy about tablet? We in the right universe?

Monday, December 28th, 2009

So, the Apple Blog posted something about some sort of tablet that Apple is working on. Go figure.

It seems someone at Apple whose first name is Steve likes where they’re at with the tablet project. That plus the fact that there’s that little gathering up in SF…what’s it called? Something about a Mac and maybe a town? Mactown 2010?

Besides, when was the last time Steve Jobs was happy about anything? Maybe he’s going senile and finds that completing any major project at Apple within a decade is worth smiling about.

Seriously, though, the big thing they talk about is the keyboard interface and honestly I think they’re giving Apple engineers designers too much credit. It sounds less like some sort of Sci Fi self-electrocuting keyboard and more like there’s some sort of cover or overlay that you’ll flip on top of the screen to switch to keyboard mode. In other words, it’ll look great but be sort of stupid at the same time.

All I can say is I just hope they finally unleash it in February so we can stop with the rumor mongering about what it’s going to be like and start with the–uh–speculating about how soon a second generation will come out that will do it better and for less. Or to put it another way, when we dorks let out a resounding “ahhh” when we find out six months later a better version came out and put our “bleeding edge” version to shame. Remember, school starts in September!

out

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Apple Tablet: Oh, yes, there is going to be a pen!

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

According to the Apple Blog–which in turn got it from Apple Insider–notes that a recent patent filing from Apple indicates a possible pen for the still rumored Apple Tablet. Of course, patent filings tend to be more preemptive it seems than proactive these days. Who knows? I wouldn’t put it past Apple to throw out a misinfo patent just to fuck around with all of you (and me, I guess).

Anyhow, if it IS true then great, Apple’s making my tablet. Now, just throw in some buggy software with a nice UI and it will be a true Apple with Apple DNA through and through.

How’s about you (Apple) devote some extra time to making improvements I really need (you fix that stupid stopwatch thing yet?) or want (you stop discontinuing my podcast updates at random intervals yet?) or maybe even require (fix bluetooth so it works like it did in the original iPhone–which is to say, it actually worked and didn’t crap out for no apparent reason)?

out

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Apple’s 2009 Looks Good…

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

AppleLogo_ShinyOr so it seems. The Apple Blog posted a note about Apple’s 10-K for 2009 along with a summary of key items from the filing.

Obviously, the big stand out figure is the marked increase in iPhone sales in 2009 over previous years.

But what stood out to me was the fact that:

Net sales were $36.5 billion for the fiscal year, $5.7 billion in net income, bringing Apple’s cash on hand to $34 billion.

For as long as I can remember, Apple’s largely been (not always but most of the time) good at keeping a nice chunk of cash on hand during the latest upswing (since Steve Jobs returned to Apple). No news there. But $34 billion?

But, after digging into the 10-K, something I haven’t done in a couple years, I’m not sure that’s such a realistic number. Actually, if you look carefully enough, you might find a reason to be worried a bit.

The $34 billion is actually the “Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities” part of the financial show of which cash is only $1.139 billion. The rest are various securities in various quantities. And, while SOME of the securities are indeed short term and could be used if needed within a fiscal year, the interesting thing to note is that there’s actually been a rather noticeable shift between 2009 and 2008′s numbers.

Where 2008 showed $368 million in cash on the books (yikes!), 2009 had the $1.139 billion I mentioned. Great, more cash is good in a way. It means if something goes wrong you’ve got something you could use to cover your ass. Granted, Apple is a big enough company that I’m sure it can always defer something until it liquidates other assets.

What’s more interesting is the shift from a heavier cash equivalent and short-term securities slant to a long-term securities bias. It’s not ridiculously dramatic but it’s noticeable. Cash equivalents went from $11 billion to $4, short-term securities went from $10 billion to $18, and long-term securities went from $2 billion to $10. Of the “$34 billion” in cash, only about 12% of that is true short term securities they could off-load (most likely) today. The rest is up closer to a year or more.

You can also see this shift on the cash flow statement where the purchase of marketable securities was more than double 2008′s at about $47 billion. Meanwhile, they received (through maturity of certain securities) roughly $20 billion which is close to but less than double 2008′s $12 billion. Actual proceeds from sales was up over 100% from $4.4 billion in 2008 to $10.8 billion in 2009. Nothing else on the cash flow statement moves around that much from year to year.

What does this mean? Probably not a whole lot. It looks like someone’s playing around with securities. I guess the thing that worries me most is that a lot of those securities are “US Agency securities” and Corporate securities (stocks and bonds). If you add it up, of the $34 billion in “cash”, upwards of $20 billion is in these securities which generally represent non-guaranteed securities. US Treasury securities usually are US government issued (and backed) bonds, t-bills, etc. Less speculative (depending on how you look at our government’s budget today, though) but also weaker in terms of returns.

So what’s wrong with this picture? Well, not that it will necessarily happen but $20 billion in “possibly” secured investments (US Agency securities aren’t all guaranteed) is a bit scary in an age where everyone’s getting bailed out and major companies no one thought could fold or file for bankruptcy actually did.

And, the other side of the coin is this: if you’ve got $20 billion you can spend on speculating in securities investments (which of course can add to the bottom line…no problem with that), why wouldn’t you try to put more of that back in your company (R&D is something like $1.3 billion…for a company that innovates and books $36 billion in revenue with 30% gross margins, that’s a bit cheap) or hand it out to your loyal shareholders (damn my father for not giving me money for Apple stock back in the late 1980s)?

I’m not saying investment activity like this is unexpected but I do wonder why more funds aren’t being dished out to parts of the company that could improve its growth and outlook even more so? Why not establish and donate some of those funds to a couple of non-profits: one to help bolster the education system in California (which can send you back top graduates while also showing how much you care about students–one of your best markets) and another to fund start-ups with interesting technologies or innovations?

Remember, the multi-touch interface came from research done OUTSIDE of Apple. Why wouldn’t you corner the market on computer repair nanites or holographic monitors? Or better yet, creating a better battery for my brand new iPod Shuffle which can’t hold a charge longer than a few hours while OFF?

out

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Apple reveals a new mouse

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

And, it’s actually pretty cool (conceptually). The new Magic Mouse is out and about.

Very cool idea: making the mouse itself multi-touch so you simplify the mouse external surface and let multi-touch take over. It also frees up the interface so you can invent new touches or gestures to handle certain tasks. Now, instead of needing to add a new button or scroll wheel, you just read the interface for a certain type of touch. BAM…new UI interaction.

The real question here is if this will stick. It might look good on paper but how will things go when you’re handling that ashtray and touch the wrong place which results in you deleting a folder or worse sending a tweet you didn’t mean to (i.e. something you can’t undo or confirm).

As soon as I can, I’m gonna grab one of those suckers and try them out. Stay tuned…

out

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iTunes 9

Monday, September 14th, 2009

iTunes9LogoSome interesting shit going in in iTunes 9. I just upgraded (not really putting 2 and 2 together about the latest announcements from the Big (but thin) Steve-o.).

Underwater Basket Weaving from Home? Awesome!

Underwater Basket Weaving from Home? Awesome!

Outside of the new interface (which in the store, especially, takes some getting used to…yes, you can double-click the name of the artist or album to go to it but if you miss and hit some white space you’ll end up listening to the sample, fun), they added something interesting: iTunes U. There you can find audio tracks from lectures and transcripts/notes. There is also a battery of other items related to campus life and the like. While pickings are a bit thin if you’re hoping for, say, an interesting lecture from MIT (there are basic bio and such courses available), you’re a bit out of luck…for now.

Seems like prep for a tablet geared towards colleges and the students therein. Better yet, while they’re using PDFs for now, I could imagine a annotating reader app that could also be used as a notepad with handwriting recognition…now you’ve just killed Amazon’s little Kindle and dove head first into the high price world of textbooks. Bookstore out of stock? No problem, for $4.99 you can “borrow” a copy for a quarter or a semester or pay $29.99 for a lifetime copy…you just need to wait for Apple to invent the iBookPress to actually print the whole thing in the comfort of your dorm room.

Another thing of note is the sudden disappearance of my favorite little Shopping Cart. I guess Apple got frustrated with people like me who dumped items they were interested in buying but weren’t. Now, there’s a Add to Wish List option that drops that little nugget into a Wish List (accessible from the little arrow next to your Apple ID in the upper right of the screen…just hover over it and you’ll see it). How do I know they built this sucker for me (the same guy who broke iTunes a while back because I had items in the Shopping Cart for too long)? Because all my items that I left in my Shopping Cart back in iTunes 8.x are in my wish list now! Magic!

You can also use that little menu to the right of the Buy button to gift, copy the link, and…wait for it…share the song on Facebook or Twitter. Look who decided to go iSocial (<– look a new trademark!). Those options will drop iTunes Store links with relevant info (and album covers) and everything. Not bad. I could’ve used that a couple weeks ago…thanks.

I’m not sure I’m TOO happy about the whole Wish List thing. Why? Because I liked being able to just click the fucking buy link and deposit my loot in a place where I could go later and pick out the best bits for purchase. Now, it’s click, click and another couple more clicks to dig into the Wish List and buy that bitch.

So far so good…we’ll see if there is anything worth ranting about (my favorite pasttime) but for now, let’s just call it an interesting release.

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Steve Jobs is back…Tablet anyone?

Monday, August 24th, 2009

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Steve Jobs is diving into the Tablet project himself. Still recovering from his stealth liver transplant, he’s supposedly knocking things around and causing the usual stress for Apple employees.

Of course, Apple and Steve-o are both denying doing anything other than them sitting around watching their stock price go up.

Just the rumor (and from the WSJ no less) is enough to tell you this project is solid again. Though, keep in mind it’s failed to go anywhere in the past.

As the article mentions (and I’m sure some of you Macheads know), they’ve looked at doing a better Newton for some time. Previously, they ran into brick walls: “the first time because the battery life was too short, and the second time because there was insufficient memory”.

Nowadays, though, outside of battery life issues, the cost of flash memory and other components are low enough that the day of the tablet seems to be nigh. Price estimates still fit into the $399-999 range and are likely to be relatively competitive to netbooks since that’s the real competition for this product.

Of course, you need to add in Apple’s profit dividend into the price. I think $599 and $799 seems like the right prices, differentiated by memory/disk space. Wouldn’t it be cool though if they could have another price point to fit 10″ and 14″ tablet size. Mmmm…tablets…

Time will tell. I think a September announcement would be too early. I think an announcement timed with Macworld 2010 (with something suitably 2010-themed) and availability timed with the 2010-2011 school year to be the best bet right now.

Stay tuned!

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iPad? I lost my appetite…

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

TechCrunch stumbled on something about iPad on a Barnes and Noble questionaire/survey. FFS, if it’s called an iPad I might have to scratch it out and scrawl something more befitting the device…of course, if it’s just a glorified Kindle, I ain’t buyin’

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