Dvorak: The iPhone is Not a Computer

Cranky ol' John Dvorak has this one right, I think. I wish people would stop calling the iPhone a computer. The iPhone is a powerful portable device, but it lacks the functionality of a computer, mainly in the realms of input and creativity.

I went without Internet for a couple weeks and found myself severely limited in what I could do with my iPhone. Anyways, its wrong to compare a desktop to the iPhone, as they're both meant for two different purposes.

"What's worse is that people leave these little devices everywhere. And, generally speaking, they leave them all over the place unlocked and with limited encryption enabled. The ease with which someone can steal these things and rob the data is a little ridiculous. I cannot tell you how often I've shouted the words, "Hey, you left your phone!"

And, yes, the kids are all looking for alternative platforms, but what do kids know? Seriously, what do they know?"

Link to article.

12 Future iPhone Apps from Read Write Web

Is it just me, or are these the most boring dream apps imaginable? Read.

Rehashing Last Quarter's iPhone Sales

Maybe because iPhone news is thin these days, Roughly Drafted is revisiting iPhone sales numbers from last quarter. Roughly Drafted's Daniel Dilger points out that of over 4 million smartphones sold in the previous quarter, iPhone sales represented over a million of those, giving the iPhone around 27% smartphone market share. He also points out that the overall smartphone market increased 180% from the previous quarter. From the article:

"A large chunk of the new growth in smartphones can be attributed to Apple. It’s hard to say whether that’s because the iPhone attracted a new audience to the smartphone market by offering an approachable product, or if Apple simply gobbled up a large portion of the existing demand that would otherwise have resorted to smartphones using software from Palm, Symbian, RIM, or Microsoft."

Using a percentage of the smartphone market share is totally useless because there isn't even a consistent definition of what a smartphone is. In a couple years, what now constitutes a smartphone will simply be known as a cell phone. Using the percentage of overall cell phone market share is much more telling.

"Overall, NPD counted 38 million mobiles sold in the US in the same quarter, which gave Apple almost 3% of all of the nation’s new phone sales in its first full quarter of sales. Incidentally, in just a day and a half of sales in June, Apple sold over 1% of the phones in the previous quarter."

As I've stated before, Apple's eventual matured share of the cell phone market will be determined by the direction they take with future versions of the iPhone. A $400 cell phone is not an affordable choice to most people and can't capture as large a portion of the market as the iPod has. Choice is an important word here because buyers can choose from a huge market of free cell phones. Choice, cost, and the cell phone industry's current business model are what really differentiates this market from the mp3 market, rendering iPod comparisons almost useless. Although it is important to note that the current cellular business model is likely to change dramatically if the open network model of the 700 mhz is successful.

This revisiting of past sales for future speculation is like estimating the iPod market's share based on the sales of the first version. But I, of all people, appreciate the need to give people something, anything, to read about the iPhone. Besides, Roughly Drafted is just a great site.

No Multitouch for Android

Great read over at Crave about Android and java. From the article:

"[Android] supports touch-screen technology, but Horowitz declined to comment on support for multitouch, a notable iPhone ability that opens up user-interface possibilities, beyond saying multitouch support isn't in the first version of the Android SDK."

There will be no multi-touch pinching in Android, or at least, it's not built into the SDK. But it could be added later. Is multitouch really that important? Multitouch on the iPhone is used mostly for growing and shrinking the browser view, pictures, and maps. I rarely use the pinch or grow multitouch features on anything but Google maps. The biggest benefit of touchscreen technology is quick menu selection, and that only requires a single touch. The omission of multitouch from Android is probably to keep the hardware cheaper, and I wouldn't consider it a big deal. Multitouch seems like it'd be much more useful on a larger screen, for instance, on a MacBook Touch tablet.

Who's Afraid of Apple and Google?

Apparently, not Symbian. I think they should be at least worried about their growth. Another interesting piece by GigaOM.

New iPhone Commercials: Hello, Kristin

Can't say I'm a big fan of the new style of iPhone commercials. I have to call bullshit on Apple in the new Kristin commercial where she states she "mobile blogs" backstage at her dance concerts. Don't get me wrong, you can mobile blog on the iPhone. But it's not a built-in feature for the iPhone; it's all done on the blog side via email, and it can be a complicated set up for the everyday user. It's hardly something Apple should be marketing as an iPhone feature. Strange.

Cheese With Your Whine?

Entitlement. The belief that one is deserving of certain privileges.

The new fashion in the iPhone blogging world is to complain about Apple's latest software update for the iPhone. Gizmodo and Leo LaPorte have both written articles complaining. People want to install their own software on the phone. They want to use it with whatever mobile network they want. They bought the phone, it's their property to do whatever they want with it. Here's the thing, no one can stop owners doing whatever they want with the phone after they purchase it. Not even Apple. Apple is not coming into their home, seizing their iPhone, and updating it. It is the iPhone owner who chooses to connect the iPhone to Apple's servers. They know exactly what they are doing. They don't even have to update the phone to use it with iTunes.

If someone purchased an iPhone thinking that the phone is not worth it as is but will improve in the future, well, that person was counting their chickens before they hatched.

If you want to purchase the iPhone and do whatever you want with it, you can. Just stay away from Apple. Don't update the software. Don't ask Apple to do anything for you. What makes you think you are entitled to Apple's help? When you are purchasing the iPhone, you are not paying for Apple's assistance in helping you do whatever you want to with the phone. If you want to improve the iPhone, do it yourself. You even have a hacker community to help you.

iPhone Terminology: Goodbye "iPhone Optimized"

Because of the iPod Touch, we can no longer say a website is iPhone optimized because the iPhone no longer has a monopoly on touch-screen, Safari web browsing. Bloggers are starting to use the ugly phrase mobileSafari interface. Hopefully, something better comes along.

The grammar of tech changes as quickly as its hardware and software elements. The phrases iPhone optimized or iPhone friendly were correct usage for a whole two months. Now they will slowly dribble out of existence, surviving only in outdated websites and Google caches.

John Gruber on the iPhone's Pricing

If you haven't added Daring Fireball to your RSS reader yet, you need to. There's an excellent post (accessible in the site's archives) on the iPhone's pricing.

"There are millions of people who have already spent $399–599 on an iPod within the last few years. With the exception of storage capacity, the iPhone does everything these iPods do, and, well, a whole lot fucking more. Why wouldn’t these same people think about spending $499 or more on an iPhone?"

Whenever someone asks me how I like my iPhone, I rave about it, but I always end by saying, "But it's too expensive to be really popular." I still think I'm right; yes, this current version of the iPhone will sell millions (does that make it popular?), just like the expensive models of the iPod have sold millions. But also like the less expensive iPods, the iPhone won't sell tens of millions until there's a Nano equivalent.

Test post #2 - Picture

Taken with my iPhone and emailed to my Blogger account.