Are the iPad missing features really showstoppers?

Reading this article today prompted me to ask the question, Do the iPad shortcomings actually matter?

 

Let’s face it, the iPhone came out 3 years ago with no 3G, no MMS, no multi-tasking or flash support and yet it’s been revolutionary in the mobile market and has forced other manufacturers to re-evaluate and rework their phones and user interfaces. All the companies that scoffed at the time about it’s capabilities are now catching up with its stranglehold on the mobile market.

 

Looking at the netbook market, it’s been more of the same for years. Tablets have come and gone, Netbooks are popping up all the time but what’s innovative or different about them? They all run Windows or Linux and are all far too complicated for *most* people and battery life sucks despite them being solid state disk (SSD) based.

 

Does it matter that the iPad doesn’t have Flash as HTML5 takes hold? Will it force developers to support non-flash devices or question if they

need flash at all for particular web site features? Does multi-tasking really matter if you have a device that launches apps instantly and apps remember where they were when you left them? Is it a bad thing that you have 100,000+ apps at your disposal that are safe, trusted and won’t break your device?

 

I had a great conversation with someone the other day that nailed the case for the iPad. He was talking about buying his parents a notebook/netbook so they didn’t have to go upstairs to the office/den all the time to be able to emails/surf the web etc.

 

The problem is a netbook would be over the top for what they need. They just need to be able to email, surf, see photos etc so they don’t need anything over complicated.

 

The iPad is an ideal solution for them. They can sit on the sofa, email / surf using an interface that isn’t complicated and a device that’s easy to manage/backup etc.

 

This is where the iPad may well succeed - making netbooks/sub-notebook type devices easier to use for *most* people and maybe, just maybe we might start seeing some innovation and revolutionary products from competitors as a result.

TomTom Car kit for iPhone

Bought one of these recently and used it today for the first time. Worked brilliantly although I expected the hands free to just work (it didn’t and requires Bluetooth sync which takes a few seconds). Excellent bit of kit, overpriced at 99.99 GBP but definitely the best mounting kit I’ve seen for the iPhone.

Best thing is that it works with a slim case STILL fitted on the iPhone.

Flash on the iPhone? I nailed it a year ago.

In January 2009 I made this post this post in which I commented on why I thought we would never see Flash on the iPhone.

I didn't believe it was a performance or stability issue - I believed it was Apple ensuring that their Appstore was the ONLY appstore on the iPhone.

(jail broken phones excluded of course)

The fact is, allowing Adobe to put Flash on the iPhone is basically allowing them to run their own Appstore of Flash based applications and this represents a threat to Apple.

With the release of the iPad we're seeing discussion on this again but do Apple know something we don't - will HTML5 make Flash obsolete?

Comments welcome

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Importance of making your application “power aware”

In a world where mobile mobile usage is increasing, developers need to be more aware of mobile usage when developing their applications. Typically software developers make no allowance for when a notebook is running on battery power and keep their applications running (and processing) in the background.

 

Calling all developers and Microsoft too, please can you make your applications and services battery aware. I can’t stand seeing my CPU at 25% on battery power because searchindexer.exe is doing “something”

Snow will not beat us, not today, not ever.

Today Basingstoke pretty much ground to a halt with snow and abandoned cars as far as the eye could see.

Our office was empty save a couple of local Escapees who braved the snow and walked in. The rest of us were at home and whilst we weren't snowboarding we could get on with our work, something that would have been impossible previously.

This time we were prepared. This time we used technology to beat the weather and it worked. Yes there were glitches but we managed to get 90% productivity today instead of what could have been about 20% in the past.

Oh and did I mention it cost us almost nothing?

The preparation was simple. Yesterday we made sure that:-

1. we all had each others mobile numbers.
2. we all installed Skype and shared each others login names
3. we setup Logmein on everyones Mac and PC (remote control)
4. we setup Logmein Hamachi on everyones Mac and PC (VPN)
5. we made sure everyone knew how to access web based e-mail etc.

The result? We could work from a warm home and easily access our computers and files as if we were sitting in the office. Skype enabled us to keep in touch as did e-mail and mobiles weren't even used (well mine didn't ring)

In the past we may have given up and stayed home and ending up behind on our work.

Today we beat the weather and tomorrow we'll be stronger for it.

Bring it!

1 way the iPhone is better than the Google Nexus one

So Google have finally released the Nexus one "superphone" which apparently is going to challenge the iPhone.

Or is it?

What most people seem to be missing is a fundamental flaw with Android phones which is the limitation of App storage.

The G1 and Droid allow 256mb of App storage.

The Nexus one? 512mb

The iPhone? 32gb

Apple have had 3 billion App downloads, and tens of thousands of apps in the app store. There is no doubt that mobile app downloads are key moving forward.

We are told that the nexus (and possibly other Android phones) will allow storage to an SD card later with a firmware update but why has this not been addressed now?

It seems Google have made a massive mistake and are glossing over it. There will be a lot of disappointed Nexus users especially those that will switch from the iPhone.

www.google.com/fail

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Don't underestimate the power of social media

Christmas no. 1 this year is Rage Against the machine and all because of a Facebook campaign started in Essex, UK.

The aim was to beat X Factors stranglehold on the No. 1 spot each year and to many peoples surprise it worked.

One person decided it was enough and with the force of social media behind them they made a difference.

No government or organisation should underestimate the power of social media. It is without doubt a force to be reckoned with.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]