Posts in stories

On iPhone, Android And People’s Perception

I was watching Chuck last night, and just like every episode recently aired I noticed there were many iPads and iPhones around. I don’t know if this is a trend amongst producers or Apple paying for product placement, but the thing is - Apple products are everywhere in today’s TV shows. I’m referring to “TV shows” as it’s the only kind of content coming from television networks I regularly consume nowadays.

So while I was watching and yet another iPhone showed up, my girlfriend - who is not exactly a “tech savvy” type - said: “Look, another iPhone 4”. The same happens every single time in the other shows we follow.

I also noticed, though, that there are other kinds of gadgets showing up every once in a while, namely non-Apple cellphones. They’re usually Motorola, HTC, Samsung Galaxy devices (I also spotted a Nexus One on Chuck) running, as you may guess, Android. I know those are Android devices, and when I see them I usually whisper “look, that’s an Android phone”. But I know those are Android devices, because I’m a geek who’s interested in technology and reads dozens of tech blogs every day. Do regular people notice these products at all? Read more

A Cloud Over The Mac App Store

Wayne Dixon over at Macgasm, about how app data will be backed up with the Mac App Store:

So this leads me to wondering something: how does the application’s data get backed up? Right now within the iOS App Store, your data is backed up when you sync your iOS device and this information is then backed up again when you backup your computer (you do backup your computer, right?). But if your application data is just stored locally and you do have to do a re-install of your computer, even though you are able to download the software itself again, your data may not be easily placed in the correct location, even with backups.

When Apple announced the iOS-like model for the desktop we didn’t really wonder much about how the backup model was going to be carried over to the Mac. Is it going to be carried over at all? On the current version of OS X (and on previous iterations as well) each app stores its data in various folders on the hard disk. Usually it’s the “Application Support” folder inside a user’s library, but preferences, caches and databases may be stored somewhere else. Not to mention the possibility to manually select a different destination for the main database in some applications, think of 1Password, Candybar and DEVONthink. Is the Mac App Store going to change this? Read more

Back to the Cloud

When I bought my first iPhone, I didn’t realize I would need the cloud someday.

By “cloud” we usually mean “online sync” nowadays. The possibility to keep different devices’ settings, email accounts, app databases in persistent synchronization. OmniFocus uses the cloud, for example. Simplenote is a cloud-based note taking application. Dropbox is the non-plus ultra of cloud-connected setups.

Then there’s MobileMe. Apple’s own sync infrastructure / online drive / web-based app suite that has managed to gain quite a few users over the years but, according to many, is still struggling to find an identity. What is MobileMe? Why does Apple keep on redesigning its web interface and doesn’t ship a major overhaul of the underlying engine instead?

OS X left the desktop and landed on the iPhone to gave birth to iPhone OS. Years later, iPhone OS evolved into the 2.0 version of Apple’s original mobile vision, iOS for iPhone and iPad. The once-OSX-now-iOS is going back to the Mac with Lion.

.Mac and iTools were tied to the Mac. The newly renamed MobileMe later approached the web and iPhone as lovechilds to keep safe and constantly connected. Two years after the introduction of MobileMe, it is time for Apple to go back to the cloud. Read more

Should Apple Allow Installation of iOS Apps From Other Sources?

The Mac App Store won’t be the only way to install apps on a Mac. As Steve Jobs confirmed at the “Back to the Mac” event, the Mac App Store will be the best way to discover and install apps, but not the only one. You’ll still be able to purchase apps directly from developers’ websites and run installers or .DMG files just fine. Can you imagine what could ever happen if Apple turned the Mac into an App Store-only “closed” system with no possibility to download software from other sources? After 20 years of regular installations?

So in a matter of a few months you’ll be able to install apps on your Mac in two different ways, and one of them will likely take over the other one in a very short period of time. If Apple understands the natural differences of the Mac from iOS and consequently adjusts the Review Guidelines in a way that developers won’t be forced to water down their apps, the Mac App Store will be huge. Both for users and devs.

Should Apple do the same on iOS? Read more

Mac App Store: What Do Developers Think?

The announcement of the Mac App Store caused mixed reactions between developers and users alike. We don’t know if the App Store will work on the Mac platform, where we’re all used to software licenses, developer websites and no restrictions, but it’s very likely that Apple will nail this one once again.

MacStories polled a few developers about the subject, and I collected some thoughts from around the blogs of other devs. Here’s what they think of Apple’s latest plan for the Mac. Read more

Is Apple’s Lion a Lion?

Yesterday Apple gave us a sneak peek at some features coming in the next major iteration of OS X, Lion. For those who missed it, Lion will be available starting next summer, and more previews will likely be shown in January (when the Mac App Store will open), at the WWDC ‘11 or, perhaps, at another Lion-focused event. We don’t know yet.

Yesterday’s preview, however, was built around a simple concept: Apple brought OS X to the iPhone and iPad and created a new mobile operating system called iOS from it; now the best features experimented on those devices are coming back to where it all started, the Mac. Read more

“Integration” As A New Way To Define iOS

In case you missed it, Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance at today’s Apple Q4 earnings call. What he had to say about 7-inch tablets, Android, Nokia, RIM and Apple’s philosophy is all over the internet. You can read a full transcript here.

Reading between the lines, what strikes me is the focus Steve put on the word “integrated”. The iOS platform is integrated, Android is fragmented. With the iPhone, you get an integrated device. You don’t have to mess with hundreds of different devices running multiple versions and variations of the Android OS. But that’s not really the point, we get Steve’s thoughts on Android. Tweetdeck’s developers get them even more.

What interests me is the use of the term “integrated” as a new way of defining iOS, and thus the devices is runs on, against competitors. By definition, to integrate means to “combine two or more elements so that they become a whole”. So it’s clear that, in Jobs’ mind, Apple deeply integrated the hardware with the software to create a new, reliable, user-friendly experience. Read more

Thin Air

Steve Jobs, at the iPad announcement in January:

Everybody uses a laptop and a smartphone.

And a question has arisen lately: is there room for a third category of device in the middle? Something that’s between a laptop and a smartphone. And of course we’ve pondered this question for years as well. The bar’s pretty high. In order to really create a new category of devices, those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks.

Better than a laptop. Better than a smartphone.

Now, some people have thought…that’s a netbook. The problem is, netbooks aren’t better at anything. They’re slow, they have low quality displays and they run clunky old PC software. So, they’re not better than a laptop at anything. They’re just cheaper. They’re just cheap laptops. We don’t think they’re a new category of device.

According to the latest rumors we’re hearing today, Apple is going to announce a new, smaller, thinner MacBook Air on Wednesday. A 11.6-inch MacBook Air. Some people are saying Steve Jobs will revise his position and carry a new shiny netbook on stage. In my opinion, that’s not gonna happen.

By definition, netbooks are small, lightweight and inexpensive laptop computers. By Jobs’ definition, netbooks are slow, low-quality and unusable laptop computers. In Steve Jobs’ mind, inexpensiveness equals cheapness. Lightweight OS equals clunky old software. He doesn’t see the current generation of netbooks as a viable alternative to bigger, more powerful notebooks.

If Apple’s really going to announce a smaller MacBook Air that many people could call “a netbook”, that device is going to be a “smaller, thinner, yet powerful laptop computer” in Jobs’ definition. An even faster, high-quality and lightweight MacBook Air, ultra-portable and super-usable. Something like that.

Apple is not going to release a netbook as we know it. Just like they didn’t release a regular smartphone in 2007. If the rumor’s true, I’m ready to bet on a new way - perhaps more expensive, but classy - to intend small laptop computers.