Apple iPad and related items (part 2)

[Crispy]

 

[editor]

I think we just need to introduce a rule that personal abuse is not acceptable in this forum. It won't affect 95% of users but it might help considerably lighten the tone overall.

What do others think?

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Outlaw lying and making shit up about posters by abusive mods and you've got a deal.

 

[Crispy]

I think we should ban KE and editor from the forum for a month and see how things go.

 

[editor]

I think we should ban KE and editor from the forum for a month and see how things go.

And I should be banned for what exactly? For posting up relevant content you don't happen to like? For daring to criticise a certain brand?

It's not me throwing around personal abuse every day. I'm all for robust tech debate, platform wars and 'my thingy is better than your thingy' debate, but the endless random personal insults really are getting too much.

 

[Crispy]

Oh ffs.

As you were, gentlemen, as you were.

 

[editor]

Oh ffs.

As you were, gentlemen, as you were.

Thanks for your valuable contributions.

 

[Crispy]

There is not much point in making valuable contributions on this thread/forum.

 

[pesh]

I think we just need to introduce a rule that personal abuse is not acceptable in this forum.

think thats totally fair, but only if you ban the facepalm smiley too... if you can't call someone a moron you shouldn't have a smiley that is saying the same thing...

 

[editor]

There is not much point in making valuable contributions on this thread/forum.

Well, I still try and there's been some good discussions going on, despite pottymouth's best efforts.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Looks like the iPad mini is all but confirmed going by the increasing strength of leaks, rumours and various speculations. The 7" tablet market is about to get VERY interesting..!

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Yeah, more rumours always means something is more likely to happen. Like the iPhone Mini.

 

[maldwyn]

We've seen physical iP5 leaks, so where are the 7" ones - other than the whispers?

 

[editor]

Yeah, more rumours always means something is more likely to happen. Like the iPhone Mini.

Indeed. There has been no actual 'leaks' from Apple about this supposed 7" tablet. It's just sites making up stuff for the terminally gullible and making a nice few quid from the advert revenue.

However, there is evidence that Apple were considering a 7" tablet in response to the Samsung Galaxy

Steve Jobs and other Apple senior executives discussed the idea of a smaller iPad to compete with Samsung’s seven-inch Galaxy Tab early last year, according to internal emails submitted as evidence in the two companies’ US patent case.

In January 2011, Eddy Cue, who leads Apple’s iTunes business, sent an email to executives including Tim Cook, now Apple’s chief executive, and Phil Schiller, the company’s marketing chief, forwarding a review favouring Samsung’s smaller tablet over the iPad and saying: “I believe there will be a seven-inch market and we should do one.”

The email, submitted by Samsung on Friday in the San Jose court, is the first public confirmation Apple has been considering the product, despite Mr Jobs’ previous reservations about the appeal of a tablet smaller than the iPad’s 10 inches.

The email shows that Mr Jobs signalled his approval for such a device in conversation with Mr Cue, who enthused to colleagues that the smaller size was “very compelling”....

Samsung’s counsel then showed an email to the court in which Mr Cue had written that the company should follow Samsung into the seven-inch tablet market:

“I expressed this to Steve [Jobs] several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time. I found email, books, Facebook and video very compelling on a seven-inch. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc725e40-ddb0-11e1-8be2-00144feab49a.html#axzz22a3LKr9F

 

[hendo]

I've had an iphone for a few years now and bought an ipad on the first day they came out. Apple changed the game for phones, effectively invented the tablet market and I've been a huge fan; I'm on my second ipad and will probably get an iphone 5. Yet I don't really entertain any notion that the new iphone will be much of an improvement on the iphone 4, which pretty much ticks all my boxes. I think the android/ios device arms race is now in stalemate; beyond incremental improvements in memory and chip speed there's probably not too much they can do to these things to make one vastly superior to the other. I haven't ambushed editor yet but I'm sure the Nexus is an excellent device at a brilliant price.

But one side is going to lose this race eventually and I think it will be Apple. Someone on one of the tech blogs was writing that Google's mastery of systems will eventually see it win through and I reckon that's right. We're getting to the point that the device is almost irrelevant, it's all about the OS, the user-experience and the content - and the Google cloud experience is immeasurably superior to Apple's. I have quite a fast PC and it really struggles with itunes. The icloud seems to resent me intruding to alter things; Chrome by contrast is immeasurably better written and unites your internet self with your real self pretty effortlessly. I expect android is much the same.

The App store has been a big help to Apple, but I wonder if the App Explosion is over. So many are just gimmicks; I install one, play with a bit, throw it out, rinse and repeat. Maps,twitter, instagaram - Android has the essentials that Ios has. There' s the fracturing of android which some say is an issue, and some issues with app quality on android, but few people say that's a massive problem.

This may well be the last iphone I buy because really Apple are selling a pair of devices to me now, a partnership of phone and tablet, and a cloud experience to unite them. If Google start to nudge seriously ahead - the Nexus won't be their last tablet - and their cloud experience continues to improve, and nothing radical happens to itunes, then I may well desert the Jobs temple and I won't be on my own. This Nexus is a real declaration of intent; cheap and effective. The next one will have more memory and probably pack 3G. By contrast Apple's rumoured change to the charger, which makes a number of devices in my house partially redundant, is aggravating and Apple no longer enjoys the tech-lead which would have allowed them to inflict this change painlessly. There is an arrogance there which doesn't fit with the tough spending decisions many people in their target markets are having to make. Apple executives are rich with their options and may not have heard about double dip recessions. This may be a problem, over time.

The iphone 5 is a real defining point. It really has to be something great that puts it ahead of the Galaxy, and by some margin. The future for me as a consumer is lightweight computing that allows me to unite with my content, work and fun wherever I am , whichever of my gadgets I have, and with a minimum of fuss. Apple gets there but I'm starting to wonder if Google and Android aren't starting to do it better, and crucially, cheaper.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Yeah, more rumours always means something is more likely to happen. Like the iPhone Mini.

When they reach a certain level they indicate something is afoot. Steve Jobs wasn't opposed (aside from his public statements which were little more than trolling which confused his detractors) to the idea and like I said Apple will go where the money is.

 

[elbows]

But one side is going to lose this race eventually and I think it will be Apple.

Depends what you mean by lose. I dont care if one platform gets dominant market share, but I certainly dont want to see a situation where only one platform is profitable and popular enough to survive and attract developers. For example I do not have fond memories of the years where Windows was pretty much the only game in town on the desktop.

In an ideal world if there are only two viable and thriving platforms for a particular device, Id rather one of them not be Apple since their os's are only supposed to run on such a limited range of hardware and they are such control freaks. But they do know how to take a large share of a sectors profits without needing to completely dominate the share of customers, and they designed some stuff rather well in the last 15 years, and as android is so open in many ways it provides a good enough counter that we actually feel like we have some reasonable choice right now.

Even if Apple started to make a load of decisions that were stupid and bad for their business, I dont think we have to worry about their mobile OS fading out for years to come, iOS and android have both done well enough to secure their foundations. Apples smartphone market share can continue to decline and android 10-inch tablet apps & hardware sales can continue to disappoint, it wont kill them. What I'd like to see now is a third viable and thriving mobile OS, with Microsoft being the only obvious contender but by no means a safe bet. Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 RT are likely good enough OS's, but sadly it takes more than a good OS to get somewhere and momentum can be hard to come by.

 

[maldwyn]

The App store has been a big help to Apple, but I wonder if the App Explosion is over. So many are just gimmicks; I install one, play with a bit, throw it out, rinse and repeat. Maps,twitter, instagaram - Android has the essentials that Ios has. There' s the fracturing of android which some say is an issue, and some issues with app quality on android, but few people say that's a massive problem.

Developers have been shown to favour iOS as Apple users seem the most willing to pay for Apps, whereas Android users want it all for free.

 

[mrs quoad]

Developers have been shown to favour iOS as Apple users seem the most willing to pay for Apps, whereas Android users want it all for free.

Or paid for by advertisers.

Bleeeeeeeh.

 

[maldwyn]

.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Any 3G owners able to recommend a good payg deal? Which network does the best deal these days?

 

[audiotech]

GiffGaff.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Hasn't there been some serious issues with their network reception/customer service recently?

 

[audiotech]

None that I'm aware of?

 

[editor]

Hasn't there been some serious issues with their network reception/customer service recently?

I haven't had any.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

None that I'm aware of?

Ah, yeah just realised this uses the O2 network, so when that tanked a few weeks ago tons of people on GG were fucked too. Hmmm...well that's less a risk then as I'm not interested in it for my phone. Cool, sim ordered!

 

[audiotech]

The "tons of people" didn't include me. I trust you went for the £5 in extra free credit, only realised by clicking here.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

The "tons of people" didn't include me. I trust you went for the £5 in extra free credit, only realised by clicking here.

Yup.

 

[editor]

After spending a bit of time with the Nexus 7, I think the market is going to be too big for Apple to ignore.

Being Apple, they'll probably brand it under the Touch name rather than iPad mini or whatever (so it doesn't look like they're just following Android's lead). And, if such a beast emerges and it's priced right, I suspect it will sell like shit off the proverbial shovel.

I'm still sticking with this prediction (if, indeed, a smaller tablet does emerge)!

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Just as Apple take 70% of the global tablet market? I reckon at best the Nexus will reduce that to 60% and that's assuming Apple doesn't wipe their asses with an iPad mini. Like I've said before the tablet market is following the iPod market.