WHat is next for apple…Voice?

Image by ohskylab via Flickr

I think we can happily say that Apple has with some success turned the failing tablet market into a viable industry with its iPhone, iPad and iOS platform.  Even though they were not the first, or maybe even the best, in the end Apple did take the tablet device into the mainstream.  Apple turned a touch device into reality on both the phone communications scale and arguably the personal computing level.

So if we take the notion that the tablet device was one of those things that us computer geeks wanted to see as reality, because it was in the books and movies we like, not because there was any real practical application.  Then we need to ask ourselves, what is the next fantasy device we want Apple to turn into a consumer device?

Well here’s hoping that Voice Control is next, and according to The Next Web it may be …. Read more here.

Jason

…if it isn’t broken, I say “Break it”…”BREAK IT!”

Carrier Matters: Case on point

Image via Wikipedia

I have discussed this in a recent post about the importance of mobile phone wireless carriers in the real world.  As people interested and immersed in the tech world, sometime we forget that all these cool devices, technologies and services need to be connected to work.  If you then want the full experience, that connection needs to be there when you need it, and reliable as well.

In the last post, I mentioned how the choice of carrier is really more important than your choice of device.  This can be more so the case in the world of smartphones where most of the experience is reliant on being online.  Remember, though, that another use for the mobile phone device is also to make calls.  Many of us here in Oz picked up mobile phones more so for safety and communication while traveling from home.  But the gist was that people complain about their device, when the problem is really their choice of carrier.

On Saturday the 12th I was doing just that.  I was taking my two young girls to the in-laws, some 4 hours from home, when on a dark and rural road I was second on the scene at a single truck accident. I arrived at a scene my years of computer games, movies, and imagination hadn't really prepared me for.  The driver had dozed off and come off the road, and came to a sudden stop at the base of some established trees on the side of the road.

I slowly drove past the inferno that was once the cab and trailer of the truck and I think I swore, even in front of my girls.  It was so alight that I stopped thinking of survivors, and focused back on getting to safe distance from the possibility of exploding fuel tanks.  The accident can’t have been more than minutes old, but the fire was so fierce that I could only hope the driver had died on impact.

Once past, I saw a woman on the road by her car.  I pulled up in front of her car and got out and heard her yelling she had no signal.  We were kind of in the middle of nowhere, but only about 20 minutes from a major town.  My first thought as I pulled out my iPhone 3GS was that if she had no signal, then what hope did I have?  Well I tried “000” anyway and  I got through, on a couple bars of signal. 

At the time of making the call, I didn’t know that the husband of the woman had actually dragged the driver clear of the cab before I had got there, and that when asked by the operator “Fire, Police, or Ambulance?” my weak reply of “better send all three”, was going to matter.  For the husband’s quick actions, and (if you could have seen the fire that greeted me) bravery, and getting through to get the ambulance quickly, saved the drivers life.

I can’t really say how long I was at the scene but it was punctuated with lots of exploding fuel tanks.  Once the Police and ambulance arrived, I gave my details and left so I wouldn’t be in the way.  The interesting thing was that while I was on the phone and during the time while we waited for help, a number of cars pulled up to the scene.  I was the only one with signal, my carrier was Telstra.

I grew up on the land so maybe my choice of a carrier with better coverage was just a natural one.  But it did surprise me a little that even those who lived in the area had gone with carriers whose coverage is lacking where they live.  This is not a Ad for Telstra as I could fill many posts about their faults, but a call to common sense.  If you want the service, choose your carrier before your device.  My iPhone beat up better phones because I had a bar of service, and they didn’t.  I could use Google Maps to find my location and the nearest crossroad and call for help.

Anyway, I’m proud to share the same first name with Jason, who did something that I can only hope I would have the courage to do if I had been first.  If we catch up, drinks on me.

Jason Remnant

...if it is Broken, sometime all you can do is sit back and enjoy the fuel tanks exploding.

Carriers Matter: iPhone meets Verizon

Image via CrunchBase

I was in the chemist yesterday, waiting as you do, checking e-mail and Twitter when I got the “Hey, is that an Apple iPhone?”.  I was a little taken aback as it is 2011, and even here in Bendigo the iPhone is a common sight.  But no, this wasn’t “Hey is that an iPhone?” question directed to early adopters, but a lead in to a “I used to have one of those but sent it back” stories.

The crux of the story was that he had reception issues with the iPhone.  “They have reception problems don’t they?” was his next question.  I informed him that they don’t, and I haven't had any issues with the 3G, and current 3GS.  He then asked who my carrier was and mystery  was solved, he was with a carrier whose coverage of the area is bad.  So bad that he needs to use a 9dB antenna on a broadband wireless card for his computer.

So it was the carrier to blame, not the iPhone.  We can’t even blame Apple’s choice of carrier as the iPhone is available here in Australia on all the major carriers.  I just don’t get the mentality of some people.  Maybe it is the negative press, maybe the tall poppy syndrome, or maybe expectations, but some technology and the consumer don’t mix.  Purely because the consumer don’t want to understand.  On a recent TV current affairs show with the headline of “Apple’s new iPhone 4 has screen cracking issues” (while showing a 3GS in the promo), a young girl announced that the screen cracked on her 3GS and she only dropped it three times.

Luckily after parading a bunch of unhappy consumers who had had their iPhones crack from being allowed to roll around in their bags, dropped, and so on, one voice of reason says (referring to iPhone 4) “It is made of glass, what do you expect? Put a case on it”, Amen.

Whereas I don’t believe there are any issues with the iPhone’s reception here in Oz, no more than any other Smartphone, reception has been a big issues for Apple in the US.  This issue has a lot to do with the iPhone only being available on one carrier, AT&T.  Also it seems to be an issue in the major city’s with the highest iPhone per user ratio. 

All this is about to be tested as Verizon gets a shot at hosting an iPhone product.  (Actually it won't, as AT&T and Verizon have very different networks - AT&T are GSM, and Verizon will have a CDMA version).  But what it will do is put the iPhone into Verizon’s high Android market, and the challenge here will be how much of that market Apple can grab.

Despite all the flexibility issues leveled at the iPhone, the reality is that Android has its own issues with platform fragmentation and issues with OS updating.  Can Apple exploit Android’s problems by offering Verizon customers a choice? Or will they need to offer a better device?

Whatever the reason, the decision to move into multi-networks might just be what Apple needs to get their market share back, and prove that openness will take you so far.  Not that I think that is a good thing.  Competition is important in all markets, even the one-sided ones.  Android though, has a bit than just market share to worry about.  If the Android is just going to be the Smartphone OS for the Geeks, then it isn’t going to be competition.  Sometimes free ain't better.

Jason Remnant

...if it isn’t Broken, then you will probably need to pay for it.

Is the Smartphone Race Over?

Broken Points:

The iPhone created the Smartphone market for the masses

The iPhone is a feature phone, not a Smartphone

Apple has done what it wanted to do with the iPhone and iPad, which was gather new users to the Apple brand

The Smartphone fight is now between Android and Windows Mobile 7

Click to read more ...

iPhone getting Multi-tasking: Are you happy now?

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

With the announcement of the coming OS 4.0 for the iPhone we seem to be finally getting Multi-tasking.  There was a collective sigh of relief from the geeks, and a hurried re-organising from the hater's who saw the lack of multi-tasking as the iPhone's great sin against tech-kind.  Now the only issue Apple has left is the Adobe question, and Mr Jobs is happy to give a "No" as the answer.  So at least the hater's have something to focus on.

As a long time Win-Mo/HTC user, I'm disappointed that Apple has caved in to the pressure, and are poised to drop one of the best features of the iPhone platform, the lack of Multi-tasking.  Stopping third party Apps from multi-tasking is one of the key features that has made iPhone the first stable smart-phone, and allowed the smart-phone to reach beyond business and into the consciousness of the mass user base.

Now, yes, the iPhone has always been able to multi-task, that is why you can listen to the iPod App while you Tweet, web surf, or check-in with Foursquare.  It has just been restricted to the core function Apps of the device.  What this gave us was something that other smart-phones dreamed about, or took lots of micro-memory management to achieve, a stable device that could make and receive phone calls and the odd email.  Not to mention lasting a days usage, and I could go on and on (and often do).

With all the things that the iPhone does right, I really believe that the "no multi-tasking" is the reason the whole platform is successful.  This is one of those cases where stability and function win out over features. I mean, regardless of the hype, the iPhone was successful without features like cut and paste, which was standard on smart-phones before the iPhone.  So the platforms success was more about the things it didn't do and how that impacted on the stability of the core functions, than how it pandered to the Geek few.  Really, that is what Android is for.

So where are we at now? Maybe Apple have worked out the great smart-phone problem, and we are about get our cake and be able to eat it at the same time.  Gizmodo.com.au has a great post "How Multi-tasking works in iPhone OS 4.0" which explains nicely how Apple looks like they're going to run multi-tasking on the iPhone.  I'm still worried that this could break the useability of the core functions of the phone, or that many Apps will need to be updated to work properly with multi-tasking, due the fact that they had never needed to worry about memory management before.

In the end I guess I shouldn't be too concerned, this is Apple after all.  We will all love the result, regardless of the outcome.  And really, what are the other choices?

Jason Remnant

...if it isn't Broken, listen to the Geeks, they know how to mess it up.