Apple

I pant, you pant, we all pant for iPad?

3 April 2010 - 9:32am | Laura Scott

Other devices such as the WePad will offer similar kinds of features. In the end, it's about the content.

There's a whiff of desperation in the air. The iPad is now supposed to be the white knight that can save publishing. Is it?

I wrote before how the iPad will define a new market for consumer technology. There's no question of the appeal of a simple, extremely portable device with a decent-sized screen to peruse news headlines and browse magazine articles. But the mainstream media hype seems perhaps overblown a bit.

Despite the restrictions, the iPad's full color touchscreen is seen as a game changer for media companies that have long struggled to make money off digital content, which most consumers expect to get for free or at a very low cost.

Book publishers see a new chance to get their electronic offering right -- and win more bargaining power if the iPad emerges as a viable rival to Amazon.com Inc's Kindle.

"We have all struggled in this industry to find an online model that works successfully in terms of content and the consumer's propensity to pay," Penguin Books Chief Executive John Makinson told a recent media conference in London.

And then there's the mild FUD, such as in USA Today, who claims to have "your questions answered":

Q: The iPad doesn't run Flash, popular software from Adobe that powers many Internet videos. Isn't that a huge oversight?

A: Consumers are likely to find the iPad's lack of Flash incredibly frustrating.

But Apple thinks Flash is buggy and prone to crashing computers. It wants media presented in the alternative HTML5 format. That's fine, but if you bring home the iPad this weekend, you'll find many sites urge you to "Download the latest Adobe Flash Player." If you try, it won't work.

"Incredibly frustrating"? That strikes me as a bizarre claim. I've been finding more and more that sites depending upon Flash tend to be a few years out of date. And when it comes to video, the iPad, like the iPhone and Android, has a native YouTube application to play those videos. The odd sites that have other Flash at work are sites I simply tend to ignore and move on from. It's only "incredibly frustrating" if you feel some deep need to get at content presented by a Flash widget on a site (or a site built entirely in Flash). Absence is Flash is nothing new to to anyone who has a phone with a web browser.

Q: Can you run Adobe's Photoshop image-editing software on the iPad?

A: No.

Actually that's not true. The iTunes store has had the Photoshop app up for quite some time now. [iTunes Photoshop app link] In fact, many software companies have developed lightweight apps that integrate with their more powerful desktop and/or web-based apps.

That's not to say that the iPad is going to thrill anybody as a computer. It's really an enlarged iPhone ... without the phone (and I'd say even the iPhone doesn't really have a phone). And I could see using it around the house as a magazine "e-reader". Maybe even for reading books, though on that score I'm not so sure.

John Erianne has an interesting take on why book publishing won't exactly be saved by the iPad/Apple store model:

Most readers are casual readers. Your average reader reads maybe two books per year. I’m not talking about voracious readers like yours truly — I’m talking about those people that might read the latest Twilight novel or maybe a Stephen King. These people will read a book once and then they are done with it. These people don’t spend a lot of money on books. Ironically, the more prolific the reader, the more esoteric their tastes in books so they may not go for the latest bestseller as gleefully as a casual reader. For perhaps different reasons, both of these groups aren’t going to be overly eager to spend $16.99 on a eBook and, unlike with music downloads, they are not likely to be downloading ten books at a time. Amazon has the advantage in that they’ve pretty much written the book on the selling of online books both the hardcopy and digital variety. Publishers fear Amazon the way brick ‘n’ mortar retailers fear Wal-Mart. And for good reason. Think about this: Amazon still has a virtual monopoly on selling hardcopy books online. They control the lion’s share of this market. As such, is it smart for a publisher to play hardball with Amazon over the Kindle? I’m not saying Amazon shouldn’t be taken down a peg or two, but when consumers are at stake, you’ve really got to pick your battles. And quibbling over a few dollars in price point is stupid.

While the Kindle may eventually go the way of the buffalo, Amazon is in a better position to turn the Kindle into device similar to an iPod Touch than Apple is to duplicate Amazon’s online marketplace for books. Which is not to say people won’t buy the iPad. Apple-o-philes will undoubtedly shell-out the $500 for this new toy just because it’s from Apple as well as other techies and gizmo-lovers who just have to have it because it’s the new thing. Just don’t bet on it as a game-changer the way the iPod and the iPhone were. It-is-not-going-to-happen.

And yet, I think we'll see more than just Apple fanboys snapping up iPads. Who else? Gizmodo has a funny post profiling 6 types of iPad fans and critics in which lot of it rings true — although I don't see myself in one category, but rather see bits of myself in all of them.

Still, while iPad represents at least a small inflection point in how people consume information, it remains to be seen how this will change publishing — let alone, whether it will be "revolutionary" in any way. It really depends upon the market. And on that score, maybe John Etienne is right: Apple is reaching out of its zone of competence and challenging Amazon's core business. And my bet is Amazon isn't going to take it lying down.

My sense, though, is that it's not entirely up to Apple. We have open source Android-powered touchpad devices coming soon, and they likely won't be constrained by Apple's walled market castle business model. How will content producers adapt to these new consumer behaviors? And will the consumers truly view a touchpad as profoundly different than the computer experience to the point of being more willing to open their wallets, as publishing prognosticators are predicting? The market will decide.

Personally I feel we need a new banking system where online transactions can operate in the fractions of a cent, rather than accommodating the roughly 30-cent floor on credit card-based transactions. (But that's a topic for another blog post.)

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how much of a breakout success the iPad will be, especially when even geeks run into the challenge of finding content. Dave Winer shared his experience this morning:

Okay so the iPad has a problem that lots of software has, when you finish the basic setup -- now what? There are no movies, newspapers or books on the device, and no clue as to how to get them on there. Those are the first things I want to do, see how it plays stuff. Maybe I'm wrong about that. I should disconnect and see what I get....

...Where can I get a book to try out for $0?

I also have to get Netflix. And the NY Times. What else?

Okay I want to copy bigLebowski.avi onto the iPad. How?

How to find good content. Hasn't that always been the challenge?

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iPad where there was none: How Apple's new product competes against non-consumption

15 February 2010 - 8:23am | Laura Scott

The iPad is low powered, but who cares for what it's intended to do?

Once I got over the ridiculous name — and thank you, HuffPo, for sharing the Mad TV sketch that long predates the iPad announcement — I started to see how the new Apple iPad fits in the current market.

It doesn't. That's right, it doesn't. And I predict it's going to be a pretty big success, too.

The iPad competes against non-consumption. There is no existing electronic device that it effectively replaces. Too big for the handbag, too small for most productive tasks, and with its touchscreen keyboard it really isn't a netbook. This is a new thing. A fun thing.

Let me explain.

Clayton Christensen has written and talked much about disruptive technologies and how they can cause dramatic shifts in existing markets, as well as open new markets altogether. One case he talks about is the advent of the transistor radio. Transistors had been around for years. The problem was that companies could not figure out how to use them in their products. You see, transistors could not take a lot of power, so they would blow out when you put them in a system requiring a lot of power to run.

Then in 1965 the portable transistor radio came out. How did they fix the problem of the transistor's low power capacity? They didn't. Instead they came up with a low-power product that actually could use transistors. Here's the thing: the product did not replace anything. It was completely new, for a new market of radio buyer. The transistor radio had no competition (except with itself). It was a hit because suddenly kids could listen to their own music. The radio itself sounded like crap, but that didn't matter because the alternative of going home and convincing mom and dad to put on rock and roll just wasn't in the cards. The transistor radio was competing against non-consumption. Before the transistor radio, people did not have an option except for home or maybe the car.

Now we have the iPad coming on the market, with its low-power, ho-hum performance processor. People are excited, but don't seem to have a strong sense of what they would actually do with an iPad. But I figure — and my hunch is that this is what Steve Jobs and company are figuring — is that the iPad will find its own place in our technology lives. It won't replace the smart phone because it's not portable. It won't replace the laptop because it's not really designed for much productivity.

No, it's for something new: The casual online consumption of media, away from the computer, free of the television, and with no dead trees to think about.

I see the iPad as becoming the morning newspaper, the weekly and monthly magazine, the video screener — and yes, the means to stay connected via social networks, email, etc. while you're doing all these other things.

When you go to work, the iPad will stay at home. When you go to a conference, the iPad will stay at home. In fact, for many people, I imagine the iPad will never leave the kitchen table.

That's why the mobile connectivity is only a pre-pay option, and not at all emphasized. Because this is a device that will live off of your home wifi.

And though I certainly have other things I probably should do with my money, I want one!

There has been much concern about digital rights management (DRM) in the iPad. Apple is maintaining very strict control over the device and what you can do with the content on it. It's looking like publishers are counting on it, and are pinning at least part of their hopes of salvation in this new media economy on paid subscriptions on this device that is so much more than a Kindle.

Then there are Kindle users who are concerned that Apple seems to be defining a new version of eBooks.

The way I figure it, however, is that the market will sort that out. DRM does not fly with consumers when it makes the purchase a hassle or the experience a pain in the ass. DRM sure didn't work in the iTunes store, when consumers discovered they couldn't play the music they bought on another device. We'll see how that sorts out. (Honestly, there is a lot to say about DRM, but I'll save that for another blog post sometime. Maybe a series.)

Related iPad blogging:

Rosa Golijan points us to Kim Zetter's Wired blog noting that Wired will be coming to the iPad by subscription this summer. It's not surprising to see Wired among the first to jump on board, given their audience.

Katie Marsal reports that, just as the Android app market was starting to pick up steam against the iTunes store, iPad developer interest tripled after the hype.

Apple revealed at its iPad event that there are more than 140,000 applications available on its mobile App Store. That software will be compatible with the iPad when it debuts at the end of March.

But developers will also be able to create new, iPad-specific applications that take advantage of the multitouch device and its 9.7-inch screen.

While the App Store saw a huge increase, new Android applications grew about 25 percent in January, continuing a steady ramp for Google's mobile platform. However, Apple's App Store spike helped to push it even further ahead of Android.

It makes me wonder how long it will be before a company releases an Android competitor to the iPad.

Or has it already happened? Amanda on NetBookBoards gives us the specs on HP's new "smartbook" which....

combines the portability and design of a netbook with the hardware and software often seen in smartphones. The Airlife has a battery life of up to 12 hours, longer than what most netbooks can offer. While the Airlife and iPad are very different in terms of design, they share many similar features such as simplified software interfaces, touch-screens, and ARM processors (most netbooks use Intel processors).

But is the Airlife really an iPad competitor? It doesn't seem to fit the use case I described above.

Staci D. Kramer reports on Disney's enthusiasm about the iPad:

Bob Iger wasn’t on stage for the iPad launch last month, but the Disney CEO just gave a demo spiel Steve Jobs, the company’s largest shareholder, would applaud about a “really compelling” device that could be a game changer. Volunteering and replying to analyst questions about how Disney plans to use the new Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) tablet, Iger reeled off a series of iPad uses that are either likely or already in progress: a companion to ABC’s Lost, an ABC News app, a digital books app for Disney, an enhanced version of the popular ESPN Sports Center app, and apps for Marvel (NYSE: DIS).

Amy-May Elliott shares with us Bill Gates' shrug over the iPad.

"You know, I’m a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen and a real keyboard - in other words a netbook - will be the mainstream on that", Gates said.
"So, it’s not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, ‘Oh my God, Microsoft didn’t aim high enough.’ It’s a nice reader, but there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it".

Notwithstanding various cynical reactions out there to the iPad, self-confessed Apple fangirl, Lorraine Marie shares some iPad accessories she's wanting (as the iPad itself is a given).

Because it’s a known fact that I’m an Apple fangirl, many people feel it’s their duty to let me know that they won’t be buying the iPad. That’s fine with me- people can certainly choose not to buy Apple’s latest product. But I’m not one of those people.

Before wrapping this up, I just have to share the prescient Mad TV sketch:

So what do you think? Do you want an iPad? Why? (Why not?)

[I wrote this for BlogHer.]

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Are you wanting an iPad?

14 February 2010 - 6:59pm | Laura Scott

I find myself wanting an iPad to read the news in the morning. It would be nice for magazines, too, I think. Of course I'm assuming that the usability will be very good. Maybe I'm wrong.

But I think the iPad will be a big success.

What do you think? Is the iPad a must-have device for you?

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What apps do I use just about every day?

27 September 2009 - 9:09pm | Laura Scott

I blogged about it on BlogHer.

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Dropbox is what iDisk should have been

24 September 2009 - 8:20am | Laura Scott

Of course, if Apple's iDisk didn't actually suck — didn't actually sync at dial-up data rates, didn't actually take days to sync a few megabytes of files, didn't actually stop syncing altogether at the first file conflict it encountered (which should be conflicting at all), didn't actually corrupt files due to all of the above — then Dropbox would probably have a much smaller market, at least among Mac users.

But iDisk does suck.

And Dropbox is easy peasy.

And Dropbox is also cross-platform, so you can sync across all kinds of computers.

And Dropbox makes individualized sharing of folders possible.

So now I am using Dropbox, and when my MobileMe account expires, I'll have to see if syncing other stuff via MobileMe is worth $99/year. After all, I'm already syncing email and calendars via Google.

This whole situation boggles my mind, though. It's not as if Apple didn't have the resources to make iDisk totally rock.

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Snow Leopard problems with Quicktime and Keynote

6 September 2009 - 2:31pm | Laura Scott

Following up on my previous post, I'm having more problems with Snow Leopard. Here's the story.... I created a slideshow (for DrupalCon Paris 2009) that was to autoplay on a hi-def monitor. Aside from crashing issues I mentioned before, I was able to create the slideshow and export it to an autoplaying Quicktime movie. Only the Mac's own Quicktime 10 would not play it past 4 seconds. So I installed the optional Quicktime 7. It was able to play the video for about 25 seconds or so, and then stop. In both cases, if I set the video to loop, it would loop only the few seconds that it would play. The same file on a Windows machine had no problems. So Quicktime on Snow Leopard has issues, at least with the files that Keynote on Snow Leopard generates. Joys on the bleeding edge.

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Experiencing Snow Leopard in the real world

1 September 2009 - 2:03am | Laura Scott

First, I want to say that I love Snow Leopard. This latest OSX (10.6) is wiki-wiki! All the more so on my SSD MacBook Pro. I log in and within 2-3 seconds I have desktop, ready to go.

But to be honest, it has not been a bug-free experience. Which is why I read with amusement in the Ars "review" (which really isn't a review, more of a background piece) that Snow Leopard was a no-new-features/no-new-bugs release. There are new features, which others have covered more than adequately.

There are also new bugs. Or at least the new OS has shifted enough that apps declared stable and supported on Snow Leopard may be supported but certainly are not stable, in my own experience.

And it's only been since Saturday, so my experience is thin. But in that time I have spent a lot of time in Apple's own Keynote app (iWork '09) and Adobe's InDesign CS4.

They both crash. A lot. To provide context, in both apps I am working with modestly large documents. My Keynotes tend to be graphics heavy. Maybe on the high side of normal usage by people in general. But this is Apple's own product. I have resorted to saving after each change I make, knowing that at any moment, anything I do could make the app go poof! and disappear, without even leaving a note.

I have lower expectations regarding Adobe's InDesign. Since Snow Leopard came out ahead of what most developers expected, maybe Adobe got caught off guard. But when it comes to InDesign, I am doing rich document work, not magazine layout. These should not be pushing InDesign anywhere near its limits.

But InDesign has become my fickle friend, collapsing on me when I do something innocuous like a cut/paste.

In both cases, my gut tells me that this could be related to memory management issues of Snow Leopard itself. I have 8GB of RAM, but copying things from Word to put into InDesign would kill InDesign. When it comes to Keynote, however, whether it's the app or the OS, this is on Apple.

I'm going to keep investigating settings, and if I come up with anything I will post an update from the bleeding edge.

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Mac OS X, Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux together in Parallels worlds

22 December 2008 - 9:21pm | Laura Scott

So I bought two seats of Parallels a week or so ago. I couldn't resist: It was buy one, get one free. (And still is through December 31st.) Now my desktop Mac at work and my MacBook Pro drive the latest versions of OS X Leopard, Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux, all from the same desktop, running in ... parallel. Who needs to choose between Mac and PC when there's Parallels?

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Apps that make the iPhone and iPod touch game-changers in tech

14 December 2008 - 10:43pm | Laura Scott

The online world changed for me this year. I discovered the handheld — or rather what the handheld promises to be. I had a Palm 700p before. It was a good phone. Qwerty keyboard. Great reception. Worked just about anywhere. But after more than 2 years with the Palm, I just had to try the iPhone, the multitouch interface, the motion sensor. But I had no idea what worlds would be opened up over the months since — mostly not by Apple directly, but by the creative minds creating some applications that strike me as almost mind-blowing.

I almost didn't go for it. For many months I resisted. I'd had AT&T service before, and did not want to go back. But that GUI tempted me.

It's a good GUI, and even the awkward keyboard laid out for 9-year-old fingers is saved by the rather smart active spellcheck.

But ever since firmware 2.0, the iPhone has been something else.

Apps.

Some are amazing. Some unexpected. Some just pretty cool. Here are a few.

[Breaking: Microsoft releases its first iPhone app: Seadragon... a game-changer? Doesn't look like it at first glance.]

Shazam

This app is amazing. Hear a song you like? Start up this app and let it listen for a few seconds, and it'll find it for you. This screenshot shows the result of a song I heard in the end-titles of an episode of True Blood, when I was introduced to a new band.

It's hard enough to be exposed to new bands in this day and age when radio sucks and the music studios don't want anyone to share their favorites with others. You gotta be able to grab it when you hear it. Shazam!

Google app

You expect Google to come up with some good stuff, but this app tops expectations, again using sound. Start the app. Speak. And Google gives you search results. Nice!

Apparently Google technically broke Apple's API rules with this app. But it's Google, and Google and Apple are friends. And so innovation happens.

OneTap

Want to take in a movie? Start the app, and it finds the movies playing in the nearest theatre by you, with upcoming showtimes and ratings. All at literally one tap.

If you want to exert yourself and go for a second tap, you can read a (very) little synopsis, or watch a trailer. Nifty!

Ocarina

Ocarina is a musical instrument. You actually blow into the mic and touch your fingers on the screen. It's like an electronic flute! And it takes practice to produce anything sounding musical.

Bloom

Bloom is another instrument. This time it's easier to make pleasant sounds, because you're leveraging the creativity of Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers. It's like a musical loop. You tap on the screen, and it chimes depending upon where you tap, and after a configurable amount of time it starts to loop back on you, while you continue to tap. There are some variations on tone and mood that you can also set. Very cool.

Asphalt4

What's a gaming assortment without a fast-car racing app? This one is cool. It takes advantage of the iPhone's built-in motion sensor to make the handset itself a controller, like a Wii. To steer, you tip the phone right and left.

The graphics are outstanding for a little handheld app, and outdo many XBox and PSP apps in that department. Shiny!

Twittelator

There are a few Twitter apps out there, but this one is the one I keep firing up.

I especially like the hot-topics search feature. This app is truly Twitter tops in my book. Tweet!

Twitterfon

If the tweets in Twittelator take up too much space for you, a stripped-down Twitter app is this one. Clean, lean, lightweight. Tweet and run!

WeatherBug

Every day starts with my reaching to the nightstand for my iPhone, and firing up WeatherBug. (Okay, I might check Twittelator first.) I want to know what the weather is looking like for the day.

And yes, it was -3 degrees this afternoon. Colder at my house. Brrr!

Maps

Apple does alright in the app development department. Maps comes pre-installed, and it is really one useful app, melding maps and search into a handy interface to find what you need and where it's at. The pin marks the spot. Doink!

HoldEm

I confess I find this one totally addicting. I love poker now! The computerized opponents are pretty tough. And they bluff!

I prefer the eye-in-the-sky view. The action is faster. All in!

2009?

Who knows? There are many new handhelds coming out next year, or are out now. And some will be running Android, Google's open source handheld operating system, which will put some pressure on Apple to open up a little.

Maybe we'll see some effective leveraging of handhelds in social media. Aside from Twitter, the offerings have been underwhelming. But the interest is out there. And every change that makes a device more entertaining to use and useful to have around starts to change how we live our lives.

A year ago I was living in Palm world. Now that's behind me, and while it's not so easy to make a phone call, I wouldn't go back. Not on a bet!

This post is also posted on BlogHer.

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Me not available

13 June 2008 - 1:22pm | Laura Scott

When the Apple Store came back up after revamping, somewhere around the WWDC this week, I went to http://me.com and was redirected to the Apple MobileMe page.

But for the past 2 days now, me.com has been down. DNS is hell.

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