Also covered on today’s Apple Q2 2009 financial results call were Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook’s description of netbooks, as currently on the market, having:
cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, and just not a consumer experience… that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly.
So where does that put all the rumors about an Apple netbook being all but imminent? Either once again shoved on the back burner like the iPhone nano, or — really imminent. (Apple has a history of trash talking product spaces and denying interest right up until they launch their own offering, like video on iPods, or, you know, smartphones).
Does this mean we’ll more likely see an Apple tablet? Mac OS X or iPhone OS X based? Opinions vary but Cook gave nothing away. Instead, to costumers who might want mobile web and email, he offered this advice:
They might want to look at an iPhone or iPod touch instead.
Okay, so I’ll admit that I leave my laptop at home now and just use an iPhone far more often than I ever would have guessed I would, but as a full on mobile replacement? Is it really there yet?
And what do you see, if anything, as Apple’s now near-mythical entry into the pseudo-netbook space? One of the above, or something else entirely?
Samsung NV4 CD Freaks.com, Netherlands AUTO, P Mode: After the brightness distribution in a shooting scene is measured, the exposure and focus are automatically adjusted (P Mode: user-controllable). DIS Mode: A shooting mode intended for low light conditions where digital correction of ...
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, Adobe took the wrapper off a real for-real version of their desktop Flash player designed (and hopefully optimized) for mobile devices like the iPhone. Well, technically they took the wrappers off the wrappers, since Flash Mobile won’t ship until the end of 2009 on its current schedule, and it won’t support the iPhone even then, only Windows Phone 6.5 (are we allowed to call it WinPho now?), Google Android, Palm Pre, and Nokia. Even these implementations are likely to only ship in 2010.
And the iPhone version? According to Anup Murarka, director of partner development and technology (via Macworld):
“We’ve made a lot of progress, but there is still a lot of engineering work to be done. [...] We’re working with Apple on what we have. We’re committed to make the Flash plug-in work on the iPhone.”
Analysts aren’t so sure, citing lack of low-level system access on the iPhone (and BlackBerry) as limitations, as well as Apple’s preference for their own QuickTime technology.
So, if no news is good news, not much news must be… what exactly then?
There have been many music making and recording apps made for the iPhone, and since that ground has been covered, many developers are starting to create more specific pieces of software that specialise in certain musical areas. MobileMix ($3.99, App Store) is such an app, and focuses on creating tracks from overlaying loops of recordings.
Welcome to Part I of this mini AppleScript feature on creating useful folder actions. We'll have more posts on this topic coming up, but for now, let's introduce what a folder action is. Have you ever wanted to just drop a file into a folder and have something magically happen? Say, have a file printed, whisked to a remote site via FTP, or perhaps have an image be automatically flipped from horizontal to vertical? With Mac OS X's built-in folder actions, you can easily do this with a simple drag and drop.
Creating the folder First, let's talk about how we can enable these "magical folders" that perform actions on files dropped within them. For this example, I'll show you how to make a folder on your desktop that, when a file gets dropped into it, will display a dialog letting your know that the file was placed there.
File under "It was only a matter of time": The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Nevada gaming authorities are warning casinos to be on the lookout for blackjack card counters getting an assist from their iPhones. While card counting itself is not banned in Nevada, the use of an assistive technology is a felony (!), and apps like Card Counter or A Blackjack Card Counter make it much easier for the math-impaired. ABCC's 'stealth mode,' which uses vibration to alert the user when the time is right for a big bet, is particularly head-achey for casino security.
Nevada casinos don't have any instances yet of gamblers being kicked out or arrested for iPhone use -- the initial warning was from California authorities, who spotted card-counter apps in use at a Northern California casino and thought it prudent to raise the alarm. The lure of easier blackjack winnings may be too tempting for some people to pass up, but the consequence of this iCheating may be that we all have to check our iPhones before heading to the blackjack tables.
Aside from the logistical challenges of an iPhone ban in casinos ("Sure, I don't need my phone, my family knows that I'll be here at the quarter slots for the next five hours"), this is a fascinating example of how the App Store is turning us all into denizens of the Matrix, with skills and information on demand and jacked in, literally at our fingertips. Need to level a bookshelf? Fine. Want to identify local birds? Done. Get your garage mojo in gear? Can do. Learn a language? Of course. Adding the ability to move money from the casino's pocket into yours with better odds than usual seems like a natural next step... and another 'disruptive technology' is going to come into conflict with a long-established, politically and economically powerful industry. Let's watch.
Update: Commenter 'brainopera' contributed his "Matrix moment" -- have you had yours yet?
Chris writes: "Gratis can be a good business. How? Pretty simple: The minority of
customers who pay subsidize the majority who do not. Sometimes that's
two different sets of customers, as in the traditional media model: A
few advertisers pay for content so lots of consumers can get it cheap
or free..."
Back in late 2008, I wrote something very closely related to what Chris is saying, here: "To me, the bottom line is that most of what used to work just fine in a disconnected world of 'totally segregated consumers and producers' will simply not work in the future". In other words, the traditional media model will not work in Online Media, going forward - the mechanics are entirely different. And this is where Free or Freemium plays a crucial role - and it's a huge mission to figure out how this ecosystem will generate rivers of cash, not just data. And it will involve Collaboration between content companies and creators, telecoms, social networks, search engines and device makers.
Chris goes on: "With physical stuff, samples must be doled out sparingly -- there are
real costs to be paid. With bits, the free versions are too cheap to
meter and can be spread far and wide. That's why so many people
businesses (expensive!) are turning into software businesses (cheap!),
which is why your cranky tax accountant has morphed into free TurboTax
online, your stockbroker is now a trading Web site and your travel
agent is more likely a glorified search engine..."
Yes, indeed: this is why I think that the content business - starting with music - is turning into a software business, too - witness the explosion of app stores for mobile devices, and how much $$ people are paying for iPhone apps. Now imagine that content (starting with music) will be bundled into such apps, and people will perceive it as BUYING SOFTWARE or buying a cool app for their phone but in fact the content is included (yet paid for i.e. packaged). I think that if permitted by the rights-holders Pandora could easily sell a mobile device application that could include video, audio, feeds and images - I am dead certain people will pay for that. I will have a separate post on this sometime later this week.
Chris then hits the nail on the head: "Expect the shift toward open source software (which is free) and
Web-based productivity tools such as Google Docs (also free) to
accelerate".
Totally. Then, Chris warns (and I agree - that's why I am also hard at work on next-generation advertising models): "The standard business model for Web companies that don't actually have
a business model is advertising...Two problems have
emerged with that model: the price of online ads and click-through
rates. Facebook is an amazingly popular service, but it also an
amazingly ineffective advertising platform..."
And I also like his conclusion (and this is the first time that I see it spelled out like this, from Chris): "Does this mean that Free will retreat in a down economy? Probably not... "Free" has as much power over the
consumer psyche as ever. But it does mean that Free is not enough. It
also has to be matched with Paid. Just as King Gillette's free razors
only made business sense paired with expensive blades, so will today's
Web entrepreneurs have to not just invent products that people love,
but also those that they will pay for. Not all of the people or even
most of them -- free is still great marketing and bits are still too
cheap to meter -- but enough to pay the bills. Free may be the best
price, but it can't be the only one"
I call this challenge the '21st century content economics' challenge (yes... borrowed from Umair Hague's brilliant post on this topic), and it's the main topic for my work this year. If we can figure out how to generate many new revenue streams based on Feels Like Free access to content, then we can start modeling the business plans for the next 5 years. More soon! But what do you think? Comment below.
Techcrunch has got a great post up tonight, from guest author Noel Hartshorn, who is the developer of the i-Doodz app for iPhone. Here’s the Techcrunch intro to his post, which is a sort of straight-from-the-trenches view of how the App Store experience has been:
Noel Hartshorn (left in the picture) is a 37 year old Wales (UK) based iPhone developer, working in partnership with illustrator Dennis Harrison (on the right). Formerly a contract technical writer, Noel became one of the many casualties of the global economic crisis. With the IT contract market in decline, and with a lot more time on his hands than anticipated, Noel decided to take the plunge into iPhone development. This is his story.
The article is a very interesting - and very funny - look at how things went from looking for iPhone devs to make an app for these guys, to realizing their budget wouldn’t cover that and they’d have to do it themselves, to the vagaries of App Store pricing strategies. It’s told with much style and wit …
Next, the tried and trusted Lite version strategy. Tried and trusted?! Despite the description of our no-cost Lite version stating its inadequacies, it received the apparently to-be-expected “needs more!”, “is that it?!” and “it should have….” comments. It seems all apps should be free and make you cups of tea whilst implementing global peace and eradicating Third World debt. Our Lite version does none of that. It simply provides a taster of the paid version. Apparently, this was naïve.
I won’t spoil too much here, but it’s a great read, especially for aspiring iPhone devs, as it sounds like Noel and his partner will be sticking round in the App Store for a while. Here’s wishing them very good luck with that too. Check out Noel’s full post HERE…
MUSIC NEWS - Eighties Brit synthpop/funk band Spandau Ballet are planning to make a comeback with a new album and a world tour says manager, Steve Dagger. The group formed 30 years ago and had a run of hits that included True (see video on Today's Video Clip page) Gold and To Cut A Long Story Short (buy CDs here) . The group broke up in 1999 when singer Tony Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble sued guitarist Gary Kemp over claims he owed them nearly $1.5 million in royalties ! But the members have now put aside their differences and teamed up with Kemp's brother Martin for a reunion. Dagger says, "We're not making announcements yet, but yes, basically, the boys are back in town. Not just a nostalgic re-run of the old but a fresh slant on what Spandau Ballet are about."
SmashWord is a different and fun word game for the iPhone, that is described as ‘a fast-paced blend of speed and vocabulary’. Here’s an idea how it works:
Connect the letters Boggle-style - vertically, horizontally, or diagonally - to form words of three letters or longer by dragging your finger from one tile to the next. Valid words are removed and new letters fall into place when you lift your finger.
I’ve never played Boggle, but have been enjoying SmashWord a lot on the iPhone. To me, this game feels like word search on steroids - because you can go in all directions, and combinations of directions, to form words.
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Welcome to Part I of this mini 
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