01.26.10
Posted in Apple, Geek Culture, Google, ramblings at 1:14 pm by Nate Smith
Unless you have been living under a rock, or perhaps in the electrical power-less tundra of the Midwest, you probably knew Apple was making an announcement on 1/27/2010. I have been predicting and prognosticating about what Apple might be up to on other entries here tomorrow we may find some things out. Here are the questions I would like to see answered:
- If Apple introduces a new device, is it a tablet, and how many displays will it have?
- Will apple somehow redefine a product category or create a completely new one?
- What kind of secret deals has Apple been up to in order to secure whatever new content might be available on a new device (books, newspapers, magazines)
- How does the new Apple device fit into the Google picture?
- How does the announcement further extend the iTunes media monopoly?
- Will there be a new iPhone or iPod touch in addition to a possible new device?
- Will there be a new firmware or OS for iPod or iTunes?
- Will a new wireless network provider be involved?
And Finally, one more thing….
- Will Steve Jobs be stepping down at Apple?
That’s a lot of questions, but there have been a lot of secrets, rumors and questions about how Apple could change another media category like books and magazines, and how they could subsidize an expensive new device to make it more affordable to the masses.
Once the announcements are made and the dust settles we can start guessing at how long it will be until the next revision of a potential new product and when it will cost $100 less than it did at the announcement. Apple fanboys, warm up your wallets.
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10.17.09
Posted in Apple, Google, ramblings at 9:55 am by Nate Smith
It may be we are starting to see the real reason that Google and Apple are parting ways in the board room.
The following is speculation.
Apple is rumored to have a tablet-type device coming to market. The parts have been purchased, the agreements are in effect, but there has not been an official product announcement yet. And it is starting to get late for holiday timing. One of the issues with producing an Apple tablet like an iPhone or an iPod is the cost. In order to make the price lucrative to consumers Apple needs to find a hook that can create repeat sales. For the iPod this is music, for the iPhone it is phone service and music (and other media). A pad or tablet is not necessarily the device of choice for listening to music. It should be good for watching movies, but would be better are books or magazines in brilliant Apple-display color.
Google has been feverishly scanning books for a while. They are getting in the news and getting themselves into some controversy for it.
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google was recently removed from the board at Apple. Now Google has announced that it will begin selling electronic books . It would appear that Apple is trying to find a source for electronic books, or a way to sell electronic books and magazines and Google was simultaneously getting ready to do the same thing leading to a conflict which resulted in the change. (we are still speculating here) Perhaps they could not agree on how to achieve this.
So who is Apple talking to about selling electronic books and magazines? Are they going directly to the publishers or are they working with Amazon.com? It would seem an Apple product would probably trump the Kindle so that seems unlikely. Maybe they will still partner with Google?
Could an Apple tablet or pad be released simply as a Macintosh computer? I think that seems unlikely giving the profit opportunity for repeat sales from something like books or magazines.
It will be interesting to see what happens and what future income streams Apple will try to dominate.
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06.10.08
Posted in Apple, Google, Windows/Microsoft at 9:54 am by Nate Smith
I’ve often said that you cannot beat Microsoft by going head to head with them. You have to come at them from an angle. Microsoft has crushed all the companies that have tried to oppose them directly. Apple with the iPhone and Google with Android are evolving new paradigms in computing and leap-frogging over Microsoft.
Google understands that content is king, but they realize that their content is your content so their value-add is locating and displaying the content and manipulating it. The key to this strategy is giving access to this content anytime, anywhere. Enter Android. Android should continue the precedent of manipulating content and add inexpensive, anytime, anywhere access to Google. Android won’t run Windows and it won’t have MS Office so down the road we should expect a continuous evolution of tools to use the file formats we are familiar with. At the same time a realization will occur where we learn those files aren’t the best way to use the content anymore and the new tools will be developed using things like Ajax and cloud computing. Exit Microsoft.
What does Apple bring to the party? For one, lots of style and ease-of-use, but where Android will probably look like a portal to Google, the iPhone will combine a high end client end-point with a portal, and local storage. So along with access to a world of Google-mediated information you have music, movies and games.
It will be interesting to see how Apple and Google remove the perceived restrictiveness of these small platforms (particularly small screens) and expand our access to our standard world of information.
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06.17.07
Posted in Apple, Linux/*BSD/Unix at 12:43 pm by Nate Smith
I’m writing this post using the Safari for Windows Beta. So far so good. I’m not sure what Apple is accomplishing by issuing Safari for Windows, but you can bet there is a deep plan for it. Apple does not usually do things without plans within plans. One theory is the oft-rumored apple compatibility layer. It is likely that a packed layer exists within apply to bring all of the OS X functionality over the top of another operating system, doing for Windows what has been done with NetBSD. If it exists the fundamental portions are probably reasonably well tested between QuickTime and iTunes.
It is unlikely that the world needs another browser, between IE, Firefox and Opera and a few special purpose or “lesser” browsers it is hard to imagine a need for another browser. What trick is hiding up Apple’s sleeve? One way to answer this might be to consider how well the Safari Browser works with RIAs (Rich Internet Applications). How well does it work with applications using Ajax - such as GoogleApps, and how well does Safari work with flash-based applications? Keep in mind MS is also releasing an RIA platform.
By the way, Safari says it is for XP and Vista but it will work on Windows 2000, IE 7 will not work on Windows 2000 and of course Firefox will run on Windows 2000.
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