The iPad Is Here
in [Mac Systems]
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From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Per_R=F8nne?= on 31 Jan 2010 11:49 Tom Stiller <tom_stiller(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > In article <michelle-A439E0.08494531012010(a)nothing.attdns.com>, > Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote: > > > In article <tom_stiller-A7BA9A.07281631012010(a)news.individual.net>, > > Tom Stiller <tom_stiller(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > "In the year of our Lord 1432, there arose a grievous quarrel among the > > > brethren over the number of teeth in the mouth of a horse. For 13 days > > > the disputation raged without ceasing...". > > > > Does that mean that horse meat tastes like bacon? > > It would be interesting how you got there from a discussion about the > iPad user experience without actually handling it and the parable of > arguing about the number of teeth in a horse's mouth without actually > counting them. Actually, the scholars used a much more reliable method than quanting the number of teeths in a hourse mouth. They quoted Aristotle! -- Per Erik R�nne http://www.RQNNE.dk Errare humanum est, sed in errore perseverare turpe
From: Fred Moore on 31 Jan 2010 11:50 In article <michelle-65957B.08460331012010(a)nothing.attdns.com>, Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote: > In article <00e0fdf4$0$17126$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, > JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > > > > But so many people know what the experience will be like, even though > > > they haven't had that experience. > > > > This is called intelligence. The ability to visualise an experience > > before it happens based on the information of what that experience might > > be like. > > Actually, these people are visualizing what they want the experience to be > like; they have preconceived notions, and are visualizing them. > > > What one cannot predict/visualise is how your usage patterns might > > change once you get the device and what sort of new uses you might > > develop once you realise what its abilities are. > > Exactly, yet they speak as if they know. Well, someone (Steve in his presentation?) said that if you know how to use an iPhone/Touch, you'll know how to use the iPad. So we have a fairly complete template of existing user experience to speculate from. Since literally _millions_ of people love their iPhones/Touches, I don't think it's too much of a stretch that most folks will enjoy the iPad.
From: Fred Moore on 31 Jan 2010 12:28 In article <2103373611286586898.454831jim_glidewell-yahoo.com(a)eternal-september.org >, Jim Glidewell <jim_glidewell(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > nospam <nospam(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: > > there's still a lot left for profit. credit card fees are typically > > 2-3%, the bandwidth costs aren't that high (most apps are tiny, > > especially the cheap ones) and they already have the billing > > infrastructure for music and videos. > > I tend to agree with this. I think Apple is deliberately deemphasizing > the money that are making and expect to make in the future on the App > Store. They certainly aren't making the margins they do on hardware, but > even a few percent over break-even would be more than the GNP of some > countries... Actually, depending on how one computes 'margin', Apple's margin is _huge_ on the app store. There's almost no depreciation in the cost of goods sold because the developers make the investment in the hardware to develop the apps. Even better, the developers have to buy that hardware from Apple. If the servers used to distribute the software is farmed out as someone here mentioned, there's no depreciation there either, though a use fee of course. Certainly there is work and related depreciation in developing the store software, but as Micro$oft has so clearly shown, once developed, the cost of replicating and using that software is almost zero. Bottom line: a very large percentage margin for this particular business area. Wall Street LOVES big margins. > I don't begrudge them on this at all - from a consumer viewpoint, the > App Store is an incredible bargain, and it appears to be at least > profitable enough to keep the dev's interest. When you can buy a game > for the price of a candy bar, and a database for the price of a slice of > pizza and a coke, complaining about the "walled garden" seems silly to > me. Especially when the combination of the walled garden and sandboxing > allows you to buy an app without giving any consideration to whether it > might screw up your whole system. For Windows users, such a concept is > fairly radical. Apple has built a platform where you can safely buy > quality software at mass-market prices, and the volumes are big enough > to provide a living to (some/lucky) developers. That's an excellent point. While I knew all of that, your statement of it brought it home to me. Safety in computing is a biggy these. A very good reason to think twice before jailbreaking your iPhone/Touch/iPad. On the other side, I have read that several computer security gurus are loudly taking Apple to task for grossly inadequate encryption of the RF data streams. Don't know if these people are just disgruntled Dozers badmouthing Apple or Good Guys sounding a valid alarm. > The iPad is going to be surfing on that wave, and the incredible amount > of good-will that the iPhone has garnered. This is Steve Jobs carefully > planned run at reclaiming the desktop, by flanking Microsoft through the > mobile space. > The iPad was on the drawing board long before the first iPhone was sold. > > The iPad is not an end-point, but another evolutionary step. There is no > doubt in my mind that there are already plans to further bridge the > desktop OS X with the mobile version. So you really think the desktop, at least as we have known it, is worth reclaiming? Most of the tech pundits I read are declaring it dead, gone the way of the horse and buggy. As soon as the technology gets here, all desktops will be replaced by servers and mobile, iPad-like clients (and wireless keyboards as necessary). The cloud lives. > This is going to be fun to watch. :-) Indubitably.
From: Tom Stiller on 31 Jan 2010 13:49 In article <michelle-3490E5.11144531012010(a)nothing.attdns.com>, Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote: > In article <tom_stiller-D867E8.11114431012010(a)news.individual.net>, > Tom Stiller <tom_stiller(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > "In the year of our Lord 1432, there arose a grievous quarrel among > > > > the brethren over the number of teeth in the mouth of a horse. For > > > > 13 days the disputation raged without ceasing...". > > > > > > Does that mean that horse meat tastes like bacon? > > > > It would be interesting how you got there from a discussion about the > > iPad user experience without actually handling it and the parable of > > arguing about the number of teeth in a horse's mouth without actually > > counting them. > > That parable is usually attributed to Roger Bacon or Francis Bacon. So? Taking a lesson from the politicians and avoiding the issue? -- Tom Stiller PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3 7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF
From: Tom Stiller on 31 Jan 2010 13:57
In article <fmoore-196279.12280531012010(a)feeder.eternal-september.org>, Fred Moore <fmoore(a)gcfn.org> wrote: > So you really think the desktop, at least as we have known it, is worth > reclaiming? Most of the tech pundits I read are declaring it dead, gone > the way of the horse and buggy. As soon as the technology gets here, all > desktops will be replaced by servers and mobile, iPad-like clients (and > wireless keyboards as necessary). The cloud lives. Many of those same pundits declared Apple dead several times over. As Niels Bohr said "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." -- Tom Stiller PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3 7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF |