Today I was going to be quiet and study some more flash , alas a couple of items appeared on my reader in close proximity that suggested that iPhone isn’t just a neat phone but it’s also the future of handheld gaming and the death of terrestrial radio.
It’s also the death of common sense least for the current incarnation of the iPhone. Which network is going to have the ability to support that many real times streams? If you don’t have immediacy it’s not radio. Sure you can DL the playlist 1st over night then just add in the hosts locally may work, but why bother what are we trying to achieve here? Replication of radio? Why? if it’s so bad would we want to?
Apples target… 10 million phones.
Yep that kills radio’s more than 1 unit per person. > 300 million.
that kills Nintendo’s ( just one companies) 20 million DS base.
It doesn’t even kill XM/ Sirius merge with 17.3 million paying users. It’s a bit late to walk by the bleeding corpse of radio and get your friend to take a picture of you standing with your foot on its chest. That’s the perception of radio anyway. Sadly it doesn’t jibe with these results.
Radio reaches more than 235 million listeners over the course of the week according to the RADAR 97 June 2008 Radio Listening Estimates. (link)
20 times more people than Apple expect to sell phones to. Radio Two controls, no computer needed to keep it in sync and oh battery life can be in weeks/ month range.
As to handheld gaming? Would you pay $70 a month for your kid to play games on it? Beggars belief really that it’s being seriously considered as a question.
Can we start using the iPhone to do excellent iPhone related things rather than trying to recreate the old world?
Usually I am annoyed by the insistence that free and freedom when confused. Usually I defend companies and their right to offer whatever hare brained and insulting restrictions they think they can get away with , which in a fair market , e.g one that isn't regulated by the state, don't last too long. What I do like to do though is point out some fun holes in the arguments of both fan boy and detractors alike.
The 5 real reasons to avoid iPhone 3G:
* iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones.
No more annoying than most phone companies. While I can see were the principle comes from I am hard pressed to see how anyone could dev/ create an Iphone app and not have access to the cheapest part of the puzzle. You may as well bitch them out for not making free hardware while you are at it.
* iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
Despite what that nice Mr Turtleneck said? I'm shocked really I'mm zzzzzzzzzzzz
* iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
Same with any modern phone, inherently built into the system thanks to your masters and not an Apple exclusive.
* iPhone won't play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.
Most phones , hell most media players wont play OGG or Theora for the same reasons most vcrs were vhs. Heck apple won't even do flash so it's not a slight at free apps more a we have QT, our store is QT based and we want you to carry a mobile sales kiosk with you , and if you're really good we'll letyou make phone calls with it.
* iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don't spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software -- like the FreeRunner.
Oh yes, don't whine if you are not going to offer alternatives.. Oh come on how many people want terminal access on their phone? It's time to get a fricking grip with this idea that consumers , I do hate that term but in this case I need to conjure up the grazing accepting masses and humbly suggest that a phone that's 2x the cost of the iPhone won't work on the mass level. Now a phone co ( MVNO) that makes up a better platform, a company that creates and integrates a phone into their structure I totally get why this phone is cool but I can't for the life of me see where the non hacker is even remotely served by this.
While MR Ford's model T is a breakthrough in functionality and reliability for the common man we find that our oxy acetylene, bar stock and DIY bearing factory while be far more useful to the new driver.
I agree with most of this post apart from the relative weight it places on each of the three problems that Apple’s competition faces. Firstly any person that doesn’t evaluate a tool on what it can do for them, rather than what people think it does , has a problem. For a great example of that hang around any gun store on a Saturday afternoon
The second problem is that Apple's skill at PR has somehow turned into an excuse for reporters not to do their jobs. The implied message in the CNET article is, "if you don't put on a spectacle, the press will ignore your products." Excuse me, but isn't the press's job to dig out the real value and separate it from the hype? Don't we pay you (or sit through your ads) to look past the PR and fancy speeches and advise us on what really matters? If we just wanted someone to echo the latest hype, we could get all our news from blogs.
This should have been #1 reason . Technology “news” in the US should find another name which rhymes with shill. Press releases are rarely news.
The technology filter/ tab on most mainstream media sites could easily be called advance consumer warnings. While stories about advances within the material sciences get a look in it’s unlikely that anything that’s not a breakthrough in acronym cramming , or naming an inherent property of a device as a feature, will stick around long.
So that the biggest problem ? nope wanting someone to tell you what really matters , the biggest conceit of the last 100 years of MSM , rather than being able to evaluate it for yourself.
When you audience have a Facebook profile / webpage, a sculpture created to "honour" your uptime then
other than a stunning viral campaign for demotivators what's left to say about Twitter?
That's not as interesting a question as where is it being said?