FLMUG (aka MUGOO) » Feature

Thoughts on Steve

Charles Martin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:57:19 +0000

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is no longer the same river … and he is no longer the same man.” — Heraclitus

As a professional news writer, I have spent much of the last five days thinking about — and writing about — the death of Steve Jobs. My friends sent me condolence notices as though I’d lost a member of my family, or forwarded the delightful Onion tributes “Apple User Acting Like His Dad Just Died” and “Last American Who Knew What the Fuck He Was Doing Passes Away.” Those were some much-needed moments of levity in the hours and first days after the sudden news.

I’ve certainly shed a few tears since the news broke, but I was much more upset when Steve resigned as CEO — because it was back then, in August, when I knew the end was near. Steve Jobs didn’t want to give up that job for anything; he loved it like crazy, second only to his family. For him to write that letter was an admission that there was no hope left; that this time, unlike his previous two brushes with death, there was to be no escape.

In most of the tributes I’ve read since his passing, the emphasis has been on the devices he helped invent, the direction and revitalisation he gave Apple, the money he made and the personal touch that went into Apple’s products, which was why so many of them engendered such love, devotion and popularity. Most of them, however, miss the bigger picture. Steve Jobs was a unique and successful CEO, sure — but it was his influence on most facets of modern life, not his Apple products themselves, that made him an important person in the lives of so many. As Josh Weinstein so brilliantly put it, “I just realized I don’t have a second-favorite CEO.”

The reason your personal computer — no matter which brand you have — uses a mouse and a file/folder metaphor is because Steve Jobs thought that was a better idea than a command line. Indeed, the reason you have a personal computer at all is because Jobs and Wozniak thought computers shouldn’t just be for highly-paid specialists and academics, and worked to make them operable by untrained, regular people. If you want to see what we would have ended up with if not for Jobs and Woz, have a look at Linux sometime.*

*If you’re a nerd, you might like Linux, so let me rephrase that as “show your Mom or Grandma Linux sometime.” Sorry, nerds.

It was Steve Jobs’ creation of NeXT that helped spawn the modern, graphical Internet. It was Apple’s push for USB and ubiquitous Wi-Fi that made those things mainstream. It was Steve Jobs that figured out how to make a tablet computer useful instead of a crappy PC, and it was Steve Jobs and his executive team that looked at cell phones and said “these suck, let’s make some that don’t.”

Fundamentally, almost everything a modern person does during their waking hours that involves any form of electronics has been touched at least in some fashion by Steve Jobs. This is why the public has been moved by his death even if the only Apple product they own — if any — is an iPod. Because people intuitively understand that Jobs was very much the architect of modern living, cruelly taken away before we’d even gotten half-way to where he wanted us to be. Of all the companies out there doing cool stuff — and there are lots of them — when the public think of who is out there “inventing the future,” they think of Apple every time.

In 10 years or maybe less, most computers won’t even use the file/folder/mouse paradigm, or indeed be much like the ones we use now. Why? Because having created something, Steve was the sort of person who would be the first to blow it up and start over. His vision for the iPad is what started him down that path — and ended up defining what a post-PC era would look like, the next great platform on which marvels anew will be built. And oh, by the way, here’s what a cell phone ought to be like — just as an afterthought.

I consider myself very lucky to have been born just long ago enough that I remember the pre-computer, pre-Internet world. I was in high school when “personal” computers came to market, but at first I had little interest in them — I was planning on being an actor or performer, with a degree in communications or perhaps Liberal Arts some day. I had a clear idea of my future in television (probably video editing) or radio, with a fallback to performing — maybe doing some teaching to pay the bills. It was a good plan. It would have been a good life.

I had been doing some writing in high school, but my heart was on the stage — while in college, I become frustrated by the poor quality of the reviews in the school paper, so I marched down and offered myself as the arts critic. While there, I discovered that my talent for running my mouth also translated into being able to swiftly express ideas on paper — or should I say the monochrome screens of early word processors, followed quickly by TRS-80s (along with a few Apple IIs).

Before I knew it, my path had changed to becoming a journalist. Along the way, I learned how to diagnose software issues and train others and generally became a computer geek, but still — for me, computers were the next step beyond typewriters for the most part, albeit typewriters that could also play games when the work was done. I was nearly finished with college and my nascent training in journalism when my professor and I attended a demo that quite literally changed both of our lives — a Mac 512k hooked up to an Apple Laserwriter, demonstrating Aldus PageMaker 1.0. The presenters designed, wrote and produced an entire page of newsprint on the spot — we both looked at each other and realised that much of what he had spent teaching — and I had spent learning — about newspaper production had just become obsolete.

So I stayed in school a bit longer than I should have, re-learning my new-found trade, almost all of it on a Macintosh. Each new OS release and model year gave us new abilities — and more importantly, possibilities — to work with. After school I became a professional writer, Mac trainer and graphic designer: all skills I had picked up in the last half of my college career, all made into a profession by Apple.

Not only did Apple provide us with incredible machines, it also became one of the very few corporations that was consistently and incredible tasteful. Apple celebrated art and life, it told you what its products could do for you, and it never ever needed to shout about it. Most other companies — particularly tech companies — looked like used-car salesmen by comparison. The original Think Different ad, called “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” an unaired version of which was narrated (and written) by Jobs himself, is a gallery of elegance, an elegy to genius, an ode to non-conformity. It is completely splendid.

I worked for Apple myself, for a brief time. When the iMac was announced I was so enthralled with the idea of it that I volunteered my weekends hanging out at the CompUSA, demoing the machines for people because the sales staff didn’t have a clue. My evangelism got noticed, I was offered a paid job, first with Apple directly and then with their marketing firm. I eventually become a trainer, teaching others all over the state of Florida as Apple’s hold on retail grew. The pinnacle of that time, I remember, was me laying out to a senior manager at Apple my vision for the then-forthcoming Apple Stores — at the end I told them it was important that people who had already bought Macs should feel as welcome as people who were buying a Mac for the first time. “That’s exactly what Steve said,” the guy from Apple replied, and I was over the moon.

When Apple started their own retail stores, I was offered a position — but told I’d have to give up writing for Mac magazines and blogs and other publications. I reluctantly parted ways with Apple in favour of writing, but continued to espouse the Macintosh Way to anyone who would listen. I would modestly guess that I sold as many Macs to people as any of their average paid salesman in those early days. Compare an Apple retail store to almost any PC store if you want to see the difference between Apple and its competitors — the very best the other guys can do, after 10 years, is rip-off Apple retail ideas — poorly.

As the century ended, I became a tech journalist for many of the early Mac websites. I got sent to MacWorld in New York, and it was there that I met Steve Jobs at last. I attended one of his legendary keynotes, and at the end he told the audience that everyone would get a free Pro Mouse, which were being handed out at the back of the hall. Everyone raced to the back, while I raced to the front — sure I wanted a mouse, but there was Steve, and Avie Tevanian, and Jon Rubinstein and the rest of the team.

I said hello to each of them, shook their hand, complimented the show. When I got to Steve I made sure to tell him what a difference his work had made in my own life. He smiled and said thanks. I told him that everyone thought the prize was in the back of the room, but that I had come up because I thought the real prize was up front — the entire executive team of Apple, an enormous pool of incredible talent. He liked that line and agreed with it, and I left them to their business. I also got the free mouse.

On the occasion of Apple’s 30th anniversary, I wrote Steve a short note about how the company had changed my life and thanking him and the rest of the people at Apple for the incredible job they had done in saving the company. I got a two-word reply: “Thanks! Steve.” This was often as much as anyone got, I found out later, but it didn’t matter what he had said: what mattered was that he had actually seen it.

This year, on March 24th — the 10th anniversary of Mac OS X — I wrote him another note. By this time, I had learned how to talk to Steve Jobs. “Steve: Regarding Mac OS X — you were right,” I wrote. Another “Thanks!” crossed my inbox the next day.

Steve never finished college in the traditional sense; instead, he invented his own college, with its own courses. From visiting an ashram in India to selling soda bottles for food money to becoming a billionaire before he was 30 to getting himself canned from a company he started, Steve experienced a very wide range of life’s offerings and took all of it on-board. That’s what made him the man he became; the CEO who resonated with the common man, the head of a multi-billion-dollar corporation that seemed to have a soul that people responded to.

Steve was a genius, even when he was young, but he wasn’t yet ready to lead the company where he wanted it to go. The “secret” to his later success is actually pretty obvious: it was the result of living a life open to new ideas, making mistakes, and gathering the widest variety of experiences possible, and then learning from all that. That’s only a “secret” to people who haven’t travelled enough, who have never been broke, who haven’t failed spectacularly, who haven’t lived enough. Regular people know this instinctively; business elites rarely get it.

The Steve that ran Apple from 1997 on wasn’t the same man that got fired in 1986. And the Apple he came back to wasn’t the same company he had created. They were both changed by their experiences.

Without Steve at Apple, things will by definition be different. But death is nature’s change agent, as Steve himself once said. The Walt Disney Company has done plenty of good stuff since Walt died; Ford has put out lots of fine cars since Henry died. It wasn’t the same as it would have been if they were still here, but that’s okay.

I think Steve built an executive team that understands his philosophy and methodology, so when some product at Apple fails to do what they company had hoped some day — and this will happen, just as it did when Steve was running the place — I think they’ll follow his example as with his own numerous missteps, and use it as an opportunity to learn. That’s why I think Apple will carry on just fine for a long time to come.

Kids in the future will marvel at stories of a world where you had to sit at a desk to use a computer — in fact, the term “computer” will probably fall out of the lexicon before long — along with the notion that the internet, at one time, wasn’t available nearly everywhere you wanted it to be. Or that music once came on disc-shaped things you needed special equipment to hear that didn’t do anything else but play music. Or that people used to drive to a store to rent videos. Or that you used to have to send an e-mail or call someone if you wanted to talk to them. And a hundred other things.

I’ve often wondered what my life would have been like today without Steve Jobs and Apple — the future I could have had if a few different decisions had been made. I’m sure I would have found other causes to champion, and a profession I enjoyed. But for over 25 years, since that fateful day in 1985, Apple has been around to constantly surprise me and usually delight me. To this day I’m still astounded at the cleverness that flows out of Cupertino, the impact it has on the world, and how often it makes me re-think, re-consider, and re-direct my own life.

There’s no easy way to express all the gratitude I have for Steve and everything the company accomplished with and without him. Together, they gave me many of the tools I used to build my own future — how can you ever repay something like that? All I know is that I am not the same man I would have been — and the world is not the same as it once was.

Thanks, Steve.

Charles Martin
Victoria BC

A No-Brainer Shortcut for Quickly Creating PDFs

Mike Sullivan — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 07:00:25 +0000

This month’s tip from Mac-Aide.com: A No-Brainer Shortcut for Quickly Creating PDFs

We Mac users are used to the convenience of being able to quickly create a PDF from any Mac app that has a print function. Choosing one of the several standard options from the “PDF” drop-down menu of the Print dialog of any Mac app lets us do things that PC users need extra software to do — even with the new high-priced Windows 7 OS!

The PDF button is tucked neatly into the bottom-left corner of every Print dialog of every Mac app, but it’s surprising how many people don’t know about it or use it. In fact, one of the most common questions I get from new Mac users (and some long-time Mac users!) is, “What software do I need to be able to create a PDF on the Mac?”

The answer, of course, is that the software you need is already built-in to Mac OS X, and has been since Mac OS X 10.0 first shipped nearly a decade ago. See this screenshot if you have trouble finding it on your system.

For those of us who do know about and use the “Print to PDF” function in Mac OS X, it sure would be nice to be able to save some time and some mouse clicks each time we want to create a PDF. This month’s tip gives the recipe for a shortcut to do just that, also using built-in features of Mac OS X.

First, the setup, which you need to do only once for each Mac you want the shortcut to work with:

In Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, click on the Apple icon in the menubar, then choose “System Preferences…”
In System Preferences, click on Keyboard
In Keyboard Preferences, click on Keyboard Shortcuts tab, and then select “Application Shortcuts” on the left-hand list.
Click once on “All Applications” in the right-hand list, then click the little “+” symbol at the bottom of the right-hand list to add a new shortcut for all applications. See this link if you need help with this step.
In the dialog box, type “Save as PDF…” (without the quotes) in the Menu Title field.
In the Keyboard Shortcut field, HOLD DOWN the Command key (shown with a ⌘ symbol on your Apple keyboard), and then type the letter P.
Click Add.
Close System Preferences.

Setup is done!

Now, whenever you want to save a document or the Web page, e-mail or any other type of file you’re viewing in any Mac app as a PDF, simply type ⌘+P (meaning, hold down the Command key [⌘] while you type the letter ‘P’) TWICE.

The first time you hit ⌘+P, the print dialog will come up, as it does in all Mac apps when you press ⌘+P; the second press of ⌘+P will invoke your special keyboard shortcut, which will force the “Save as PDF…” function to execute.

All that’s left for you to do is choose a file name and destination for the PDF file, and press Return. Hint: to jump instantly to the Dekstop as the file save location, press ⌘-D while in any File Save or File Open dialog.

While you’re at it, be sure to check out the other neat things you can do with PDFs from the Print dialog box in any Mac app. For example, you can instantly create a PDF and slap it into a new e-mail message, ready to address and send in a few seconds. Or, you can create an Encrypted PDF, which will require a password to open by you or anyone else you send it to — a great way to send sensitive documents over an insecure medium like e-mail.

Enjoy your new-found efficiency and amaze your Windows-using friends with this month’s tip!

Mike

Mac-Aide.com

A quick way to speed up Web surfing on all your computers

Mike Sullivan — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:01:29 +0000

This month’s tip from Mac-Aide.com: Use Public DNS for Faster Web Surfing

I have noticed, while helping several Mac-using friends here in Florida, that their Web surfing experience is less than optimal. It’s not that the “wire speed” they are getting from their Internet Service Provider is slow — most of us here in Central Florida have at least 10Mbps download speeds through the local providers. In fact, I’ve found that the culprit is slow Domain Name Server (DNS) response from their ISP.

DNS is part of the behind-the-scenes ‘plumbing’ of the Internet. DNS is what makes it possible for your computer to connect to other sites on the Internet using easy-to-remember names like Yahoo.com or Google.com. Without DNS, you would need to remember and type in long Internet Protocol addresses for each site, like 70.121.3.82 (my computer’s current IP address on the Internet). Instead, a special computer at your ISP called the Domain Name Server ‘translates’ the easy-to-remember names like google.com or flmug.org into the IP addresses that are actually used get you to the Web sites you want to view.

A slow DNS server at your ISP can slow down your whole Web experience. Since most Web pages today place dozens or hundreds of requests to various servers around the Internet, a delay of even a few hundreths of a second per request in DNS response can add up to several seconds of delay on every page you visit. What I’ve found is that the local ISPs do not have fast, reliable and responsive DNS servers to quickly and efficiently send their customer’s traffic where it needs to go.

In every case I’ve seen so far, a quick, easy and free change in the DNS settings of their home Internet router fixes the problem. Switching the router from using the ISPs default DNS service to a faster, more efficient public DNS gives an immediate and noticeable improvement in browsing performance. Pages load faster, and the whole online experience seems, and is, snappier.

Making this change is something you can do yourself in just a few minutes, or I can do it for you just as quickly. There’s nothing to download, no software to install or maintain, nothing to buy, nothing to subscribe to or register for. And it’s free!

To read more about DNS and why you should consider switching to a public DNS, check out these two excellent suppliers of public DNS:

I customarily configure the networks of all my clients to use OpenDNS, and I use it myself on my home networks. I’ve never had a problem and the browsing speed I get using my local ISP is noticeably faster with OpenDNS than when using the DNS the ISP provides by default.

Since I first wrote this column for subscribers to my Mac-Aide Tip-of-the-Month newsletter, the famous New York Times technology columnist David Pogue praised OpenDNS in his blog this week. Read his excellent take on why this is a no-brainer upgrade for all Internet users at his blog here.

Give it a try if you’re up to it, or let’s work on it together. It should make a big difference in your online experience, no matter which ISP you have. And remember, it’s FREE!

This tip from Mike Sullivan at Mac-Aide.com, a Mac expert offering training and consulting for Apple users in the Kissimmee/Orlando, FL area.

Main Meeting Location – UCF Business Incubator

Walt Sellers — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 23:34:07 +0000

FLMUG Main Meeting
Aug 12 (2nd Thursday of the month)
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

UCF Business Incubator,
3218 E. Colonial Drive, Suite G,
Orlando, FL 32803
321-281-8383
View UCF Business Incubator in a larger map

One More Thing …

Charles Martin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:22:03 +0000

I’m sure a number of you have watched the keynote by now — I’m really looking forward to seeing the whole thing in HD so I can better see the Retina Display in action, and so forth, but on the whole I have to say it was a very good keynote even with the minor technical glitch (570+ wifi networks in a single room?!).

Among some other things that really caught my ear, however, was one thing Steve said that I haven’t so far heard anyone else really pick up on: at about the 1:33:30 point in the video, talking about FaceTime, he made a very bold statement that Apple would sell “tens of millions of FaceTime devices in 2010.”

Note the use of the term “devices” rather than “iPhones,” or even “iOS devices.” What did he mean by that?

Of course the iPhone 4 will do very well, but I don’t think it will sell “tens of millions” of units in six months. The iPad cannot (at present) do FaceTime either, so that’s out, and while a new iPod Touch in time for the holidays would hardly be surprising, it isn’t going to sell tens of millions either.

In fact, if you added up all the anticipated sales of iPhone 4s and iPod Touches, you might get well over 10 million, but still not “tens of millions” of units.

Oh, and this doesn’t include retrofitting all the Macs out there with Facetime via a software update either. Steve said Apple will sell tens of millions of units.

But even if you throw in let’s say 6 million or so camera-carrying Macs that Apple will likely sell in the next six months, you’d still be (in my opinion) lucky to move much more than 20M units, and that’s not really enough to qualify for an expression like “tens of millions of units.”

Thus, my speculative conclusion is that Apple has more coming, and whatever it (or they) is (or are), it (or they) have cameras.

A new iPad, for example, most of you are thinking. Maybe, but I just don’t think so. Not this year. Not with them selling so incredibly well right now.

What else could Apple be talking about that they are so sure will be a hit, so revolutionary and irresistible that Steve feels comfortable they will be able to make, let alone sell, millions more units than have already been (speculatively) accounted for? That developers don’t even know about?

To my way of thinking, it would have to be something inexpensive and aimed at the mass market. Probably something that the public are already familiar with but will now have a high-quality camera and internet connectivity added to it. Or possibly something totally new, but if I were a betting man I’d say we should look for a totally revamped iPod lineup later this year. What else could move tens of millions of units in six months?

Man if this keeps up I’m-a gonna need a second job!!

12 Reasons Why the iPad is NOT “Just a Big iPod Touch”

Charles Martin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:15:56 +0000

Sorry folks, I’m still thinking about the iPad as we get closer to its release date, and since I’ve made up my mind to get the 32GB WiFi/3G model as soon as its available and/or I can afford it (not necessarily the same date!).

As the trolls, nay-sayers and Apple-haters’ initial wave of “I fear what I don’t understand” type rants have faded away, they’ve been replaced by comments much more insidious IMHO: the dismissive “it’s just a big iPhone/iPod Touch” comment.

Well, first of all, saying that like it’s a bad thing is fairly ridiculous. The iPhone/iPod Touch products have been huge successes for Apple, jacking up their already-high reputation with the younger demographics, increasing sales of Macs, and making Apple a ubiquitous presence in all walks of electronic life (not to mention throwing a few sheckles into Apple’s already-sizable coffers). Now that they’ve been out for a few years, I notice also that the older crowds are really starting to pick up on them as useful entertainment devices as well.

But the iPad is not just an iPod Touch “for people with fat fingers” or “for the nearly blind” as I’ve heard in some of the more snooty posts I’ve read. It’s a great deal more, which is why publishers and developers are so incredibly excited about it. Read on for 12 more reasons why the iPad moves into its own space and adds up to more than a Reader’s Digest Large Print Edition of the iPod Touch.

1. Certainly the iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad have a lot in common, starting with similar-looking hardware. When its switched off, and perhaps to some even when its first turned on, the iPad just looks like a big iPod Touch. I grant you that. But starting right with the lock screen, which doubles as a large, beautiful digital picture frame … the iPad shows off how its going to be different.

2. The thing is — it won’t be used as “just a big iPod Touch.” Because of its larger size, it brings an entirely new dynamic to the multi-touch screen. On an iPod Touch, your finger takes up (and effectively blocks) about a third of the screen, meaning that what you are able to do with it is limited. On an iPad, the bigger screen makes the influence of your finger at least 4x more accurate, which opens up a lot of possibilities in software that just cannot be done on an Touch. Gestures that would be awkward on the iPod Touch can be accomplished on the iPad. iWork on the iPad is just one example — that same app would be utterly impossible to use on the iPod Touch. Likewise the revised Mail, Contacts and Calendar. It’s not just more screen space, its the freedom for developers to take advantage of what the iPad brings to the table.

3. Likewise, the new processor (at least 3x more powerful than the one in the iPod Touch) means, at least for a while, that a lot of functions and power in the iPad can be leveraged in ways you cannot manage on an iPhone. We’ve only seen a bare hint of that power in the demos so far, but I did notice for example that Google Maps and video player were far more responsive than I’ve seen on my iPhone, suggesting that Apple has added dedicated onboard components for specific jobs (like decoding H.264) that you can’t fit in a Touch. This too will be documented to developers and exploited, resulting in apps that could actually require the iPad’s architecture — like this new version of iWork — and don’t run on iPhones, Touches … or even Macs! Think about how the iPhone went for seven months without any apps other than the ones Apple included, and the App Store was not an overnight sensation. Think Apple won’t pull that rabbit out of the hat again for the iPad?

4. You may not have noticed it, but Apple barely paid any attention to the iPad’s built-in iPod features. Why was that, if the iPad is just a big iPod? The reason is because although it can play music, that will almost certainly be the least used of its main functions (not counting playing music in the background while other apps are running). This is Apple’s first totally new product in a very long time that didn’t have music as its main focus. This is because the potential of the iPad far outweighs the (now realised) potential of the iPod Touch.

5. Though we have only seen a demo of it, it’s already pretty clear that reading a book on the iPad will be a hugely different experience (not just “bigger”) than it would be using (say) Classics on the iPod Touch. They didn’t go into it, but iBooks is likely to have features normally found on the Kindle rather than just the same feature set of something like Classics (which, incidentally, I love) running pixel-doubled.

6. The social aspect will be sooo different with this product. Let’s say you were surfing on your iPod Touch, and found a funny LOLcat picture you wanted to show your wife, sitting on the other end of the dining room table. Or a great YouTube video you wanted to show everyone in your living room. With an iPod Touch, you have to either hand the device over and let it pass round the room, or everyone has to be within a foot of you. It’s kind of awkward sharing things with someone else, even those very close to you. With an iPad, you just flip it over, and everyone in the room can see it (and probably hear it if they’re quiet). Or anyone sitting next to you can enjoy what you’re watching exactly as well as you can. The iPad isn’t just bigger, it has an entirely different and much higher-quality screen on it than the iPod Touch does. Don’t underestimate how this factor will change how people interact with it, or the impression it will give others in terms of a desire to buy.

7. Built in mic means that Skype, IM, voice recorders and other such voice apps don’t require a headset mic to work (though of course you have that option). Very nice.

8. Real, full Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR that supports lots of different kinds of devices (including, according to Apple, any kind of bluetooth keyboard). Can’t get that from a Touch either.

9. Connecting it up to a projector. Ever since the iPhone came out, I’ve been wanting to hook it up to a projector and run a Keynote (or PowerPoint, I suppose, if you must) slideshow. I can use the iPhone as a remote, sure, but I still needed a laptop to create and run the actual slideshow. Not anymore I don’t.

10. It may not fit in a pocket, but it does fit rather perfectly in a folder, a notebook, a knapsack, a purse, a briefcase — even Stephen Colbert’s tux! It’s just so much more portable than a laptop, and (perhaps this is a big YMMV thing, but) I don’t tend to do much “computer” work when I’m away from my workdesk, I tend to want to do more “relaxing/recreational” things; surf/email, read a book, chat, play a game. Perhaps a little bit of writing or tinkering with a slideshow. That’s what I tend to do when I’m in a coffeeshop, and that’s why I don’t bring my laptop to coffeeshops much anymore – because the iPhone can do most of that. But even when I do have my laptop with me, I still tend to do that “light” stuff when I’m using the laptop in waiting rooms, airports, airplanes, ferries (etc), probably because I know my time in those places is going to be limited (at least, I hope so!), so I tend to want to do either short-duration tasks (catch up on my “to-do” list for example) or time-killing exercises (“Die Zombies! DIE!!”).

The iPad truly does mean I can leave the laptop behind almost 100% of the time, and perhaps even trade it in towards a bigger and more powerful desktop for the home. As I mentioned in my previous post, because I’ve needed a laptop for all the presentations I do, and only wanted to keep one machine in sync, I felt constrained to only own a laptop – but the iPad frees me up to make my “home” computer anything I want, and reduces my dependence on a bulky laptop down to the point where I might not need one at all! I like laptops, but I also like freedom and options.

11. Seniors and other non-nerds would love to own a zero-configuration, zero-maintenance computer that’s actually large enough for them to see. You kids of today with your sharp eyesight (grumble grumble) can do most of that on an iPod Touch, but people of a certain age need something a) more accurate and b) larger than that for us to use it the way a teen might use the iPod Touch. Not just bigger, mind you (we’re old, not blind!), but bigger and more accurate. I promise you this much — middle-aged and senior non-nerds are going to eat this thing up, and this is the exact same group that is generally pretty “meh” to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

12. Lastly (at least for now till I can get my hands on one), that dramatically longer battery life will make a huge difference in how its used. At least IME, the iPhone and iPod Touch crap out pretty quick with sustained use. The iPad’s claims haven’t yet been really tested, but Jobs indicated that with “normal” use (let’s call that “using the apps it ships with” for arguments’ sake), it should last all day. This means the iPad represents more freedom than an iPhone or iPod Touch can generally give me, allowing me to further divide my “real computer” tasks from my “on-the-go” tasks. I could see a lot of people basically leaving the iPad on the coffee table or their nightstand almost all the time, using it as the “den computer” or the “bed computer” so they can spend less time at their “desk” and yet don’t have to lug so much “equipment” around to achieve “mobility.”

When the iPhone came out — when the iPod first came out — its spec sheet really didn’t make it stand out from its competitors at the time. In the case of the iPod, it really took about three years and three generations before it dominated the industry. The iPhone did it quicker, but still did have that seven-month period where it was very unclear if Apple would even meet its first-year sales goal.

But look at how fundamentally both products changed — and the success they enjoyed — over time, even without huge changes in hardware (the iPhone has essentially the same feature set and hardware today as it did when it came out 2.5 years ago!). I think the iPad is a continuation of Apple’s recent trend in making hardware that is in itself not full-featured (the aluminum keyboard, the magic mouse, the iPhone etc) but really shines once you add in the software. I have no reason to think the iPad will not stand apart from its iPod Touch “cousin” more fully as the rest of 2010 goes by.

Better Marketplace beats Better Device

Walt Sellers — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:33:08 +0000

A lot of people have asked me about the iPad since the unveiling. The questions lead me to wonder what was expected? A beefed-up iPhone? Or a slimmed-down Mac? A merger of both? Will it wind up like the Mac Cube, iPod Hi-Fi, or Apple-TV products?

I now think the question of ultimate success may come down to who can provide a better on-line marketplace for things that can be downloaded. And that requires defining how to compare marketplaces, especially digital marketplaces for digital goods.

Some thoughts on a good marketplace:

- large base of suppliers to make the goods

- efficient transport of goods

- efficient & secure exchange of money for goods

- large base of consumers to buy the goods

- effective means for consumers to consume the goods (computer devices for digital goods)

- builds and retains high consumer and producer confidence and trust

A financial specialist can add a lot to the list, I’m sure. And when I say “efficient”, I include quick, low-cost, and easy-to-use.

Did Apple succeed in an mp3 player market by competing better in all the same old ways? Apple’s products cost MORE. They usually had less storage capacity. Apple actually delivered fewer features. What Apple did have was a better marketplace for the digital goods that customers consumed with the Apple’s products. (Example: 99 cents for the one song you wanted, not $18 for the whole CD, and you get it now, with one-click.) Customers have shown us their opinion of that value proposition.

Did they succeed in cell phones by competing on the same terms as everyone else? The iPhone was expensive, even for a smart-phone. It did have that nifty voicemail trick to go right to the one you wanted. And it was an iPod, albeit a low-capacity iPod. But it had always-on access to the song marketplace and a need to make sound to announce calls. It extended the marketplace to songs-as-ringtones and extended the sales opportunities to include the consumers’ musical whims. Need a song to fit the current mood? Heard a cool song on the radio and want to buy it? Apple made a deal with the trendy Starbucks company to allow their Macs and iPhones to make free wifi connections to iTunes and not only buy songs, but see a display that could let them know what song was playing in Starbucks at that moment. The current-song feature no longer works, and apps can recognize music for you, but you can still connect to Apple’s marketplace for free in a Starbucks. Starbucks still distributes free-iTunes-song-of-the-week cards. Perhaps it is no coincidence that AT&T now powers Starbucks’ internet in place of T-Mobile.

Apple further extended their marketplace with big-name TV shows and Movies in conjunction with an iPod Video. In another move, they extended their audio marketplace by adding audio-book and talk-show content from “Audible.com” This partner enjoys continued success and expansion of its product line. Inclusion of such extremely long audio content caused some problems in the iPod players, but Apple upgraded the software to fix them and customers continued to buy.

The NeXT extension to the marketplace: inclusion of software to subscribe to the new audio category called “Podcasts”. Now large amounts of totally free audio programming is available to marketplace customers. Most of these programs were shows with too narrow an audience for radio broadcasters, or were too time-sensitive for traditional physical distribution or were just experiments by enthusiasts. But many podcasters have succeeded financially. Some now have audiences that radio shows would envy greatly. Since some podcasts send video, that expanded Apple’s video marketplace. And all Apple did for these podcasters and consumers was make it easy to find, subscribe, download and listen.. The audience for podcasts exploded. The number of podcasts grew (and continues to grow). Audio professionals have a whole new industry. Apple never spent any money to distribute the shows. Apple did introduce a means of putting images and chapter markers into audio shows. Now an Apple device can show a picture on the screen at the show’s direction. A consumer might see the topic of discussion. The chapter markers allow a consumer to jump around a long show more easily. This was, in a way, a first test of doing large amounts of business with small producers.

Now consider Apple’s extension of the marketplace to include Apps for the iPhone. Apple reportedly gave up the deal that netted a percentage of AT&T’s large monthly fees for iPhone data service. Apple opted instead for control of the App sales in their marketplace instead. This marketplace has new wrinkles: a very large number of very small producers making very large numbers of very small transactions. It started out slowly and had a lot of growing pains, but Apple basically built a means of making a large number of deals with a large number of small developers to sell their low-priced apps for a 30/70 split. Unlike the free podcasts, Apple helps deliver the free apps to marketplace customers.

Putting aside the gold-rush urban legends, the real question is “did those producers find the marketplace a good deal?” App developers chafe at some of Apple’s rules and restrictions. But do many profit well? Even after Apple takes 30%? Do customers do well? Are they paying more or less for the goods they buy? Do they get more value or less value? Does the system build and retain trust of both? The answer is apparently “Yes”. But consider this: Apple does not dictate price in the App marketplace. And yet the prices have continually gravitated toward the minimum of 99 cents.

An upcoming question: If a similar marketplace is created for book authors and musicians, would they prefer it over traditional publishing/distribution companies? (Some books are already sold on the App Store as Apps.) Maybe not for the authors of books with large mainstream audiences. But what about all the others? The books that would barely rate a “yawn…OK” from a traditional publisher? Books with a niche market? Books that are enjoyed, or are good references, but not convenient to keep around in paper? (High School and college book-bags can get really heavy.)

For producers of any kind, 70/30 may look a lot better when you recall that transaction and distribution costs comes from Apple’s 30% (and the $100 annual fee), not the producer’s 70%. For small producers, the work Apple does for the money may be indispensable. Recreating the infrastructure, marketing and financial deals Apple has would be impossible. And thousands of very small modest marketplaces are not as interesting as one big, really good marketplace. And who makes things easier to use than Apple? Also, Apple actively markets the devices and even picks some Apps for inclusion in their TV commercials. I’m told those lucky apps gain large sales, but none of them had any influence in their selection. (Agreeing to let them do this is part of the contract to get a developer account.)

Its possible there is still much for the world to learn about building and running a successful digital marketplace. Most business practices are based in lessons from producing, delivering and selling physical goods. Still, the trust and confidence issues may prove to be the biggest frontier. Can producers trust the marketplace? Will Apple raise their cut? Will Apple make restrictions that are too tight? Will producers be put out of business by out-of-control copying? Can consumers trust it? Are they safe from rogue producers? Will their purchases be worthless if something happens to Apple, AT&T or the producer or the deals between them? Will the purchase be worthless if a particular device is no longer available or a system upgrade is incompatible, or a new device takes over? Will Apple or the producer simply decide to take it back? (Remember Amazon’s “1984″ take-back from Kindles? Perhaps this is why DRM-free music sells better?)

To get back to the iPad: while it is new and unproven, it ships with a considerable, ready marketplace. It does something to expand that marketplace by being a consumption device with more screen size and cpu power. It expands the ability to consume the goods. Its connectivity will make the opportunity for sales larger by making the marketplace available at the consumers’ whim (heard that song in the restaurant, bought it; thought there might be an App for that, bought two; didn’t have to remember to find it on the home computer later on.) Indeed, the connectivity and power mean that a separate computer is not needed to access the marketplace. Access to the marketplace is easier and cheaper than ever since setup for 3G internet access can be accomplished on the device itself, requiring no long-term contracts for subsidies, no intervention or assistance from cell-savvy personnel, no activation with a desktop computer (like EVDO modems). AT&T might opt to sell them with subsidies and contracts, but options are now available.

An interesting twist on consumer trust and value propositions in a digital marketplace: ownership is not necessarily tied to possession of a physical thing. If someone steals your iPod, you still “own” all the goods you’ve purchased (Apps, songs, books). You can put them right back into use for the cost of another device. You can’t say that for a CD in a CD-player. And really, which investment is usually bigger? The songs or the player? The computer or the software? The games or the game system?

The iPad — The “Goldilocks” Computer?

Charles Martin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:36:33 +0000

Chas

At this writing I haven’t had a chance to view the video of the keynote yet, but I’ve heard the audio and read all the news sites and the many Mac forums I monitor.

The reaction, at least initially, reminds me a whole lot of what we got from this same community regarding the iPod at the time of its introduction. Which is to say “mixed opinion,” followed by historical revisionism as the mainstream decided (slowly) that it was actually a pretty awesome product.

As I listened and read, I too had a mixed opinion about this thing: I liked many of the ideas, but some things seemed to be missing, and I wasn’t sure that there was a place in my power-user’s life for one. I did think and do think that this new product passes the “Grandma” test in a whole new way and may well prove to be a big hit with normal people, book lovers and educators. It may even be revolutionary (starting with killing off the Kindle, the Nook and so on — what staggeringly awkward and primitive failures of imagination those products look like now).

Then I thought about it some more. Second impression — oh dear, I may just have to give Apple even more of my money.

As I’ve gotten busier, I have allowed all my magazine subs — including some of the Mac mags I used to write for — to disappear. I barely read magazines anymore, despite enjoying them. Ditto for newspapers. The iPad would make this much easier for me to do, particularly when I’m lounging in a coffeeshop/airport (or at home for that matter!). If I had spare cash, I’d be spending it on Starbucks stock (or any other chain that is also an AT&T wifi hotspot) — I think business will be booming in a few months. Imagine being able to buy any magazine every published — even back issues — for a modest price and start reading them instantly. For me, at least, the doctor’s office will never be the same again.

If the AppleTV is the “den” Mac, and the MacBook/MBP is the “on the go” Mac, I think the iPad may be the “La-Z-Boy” Mac. I can certainly see myself enjoying it greatly in such a chair.

I’ve also been enjoying Classics on the iPhone, but have been very hesitant to get into eBooks properly. My wife has a Kindle, and it’s … okay . The iPad, on the other hand, has real potential for eBooks (particularly that they are using the ePub format — very smart), magazines, comic books (sorry, graphic novels), and even other written formats. Finally, I can invest some time and money into Canadian mags I’ve been wanting to check out!

So yes, I think this will inject new life into newspaper and magazine-type publications, and open the field to new voices (desperately needed, particularly on the political and investigative journalism fronts). That part, I think, I think will be revolutionary. Heck, its only been out a few hours and its already changed the eBook publishing industry, particularly when it comes to pricing.

A second example: I am typing this to you on an extended keypad attached to my BlackBook. Some years ago, I got tired of trying to keep a laptop and a desktop in sync, since I give a lot of public presentations. So I went all-laptop, and built myself a little base station here at home that the laptop plugs into. So now I carry a laptop with me on every airplane trip, carry the laptop on every presentation (and hope there’s working wifi where I’m going), carry the laptop on the ferry rides to Seattle or Vancouver. The iPhone has turned out to be quite good in a lot of these situations, allowing me on occasion to go without the laptop, but it’s never been sufficient for me to leave the laptop behind when I had any real work to do — particularly since the main reason I travel is to do presentations, which like the lackadaisical schoolboy I used to be, often get, er, “revised” on the way to the gig.

The iPad + iWork changes that very significantly in several ways:

I can do “real work” on an iPad, whereas on an iPhone that’s all but impossible. Porting iWork over to the iPad was a stroke of serious genius.
The 3G option makes it possible for me to have internet almost anywhere, which will be a godsend to my presentations when wifi isn’t available. The minute I heard you could hook an iPad to a projector, I was almost totally sold. This is a game-changer for road warriors, educators, and maybe even students.
The greatly increased battery life means I can be away from my “base station” for a lot longer, but do almost everything I need to (including Back to My Mac if I need it). I don’t need to lug a “real computer” around with me at all anymore. My “real computer” can stay at the house, which means I can get a better/more powerful “real computer.”
9.7″ screen = easier on my aging eyes. There, I said it.
Bigger than an iPhone, but still able to be used usefully in coach seating. Try that with a regular laptop. HAH!
As Steve said (and I fully concur) … beats the crap out of a netbook for most things. Amen.
Assuming (hehheh) that Rogers (our Canadian primary 3G provider) goes along with some similar pricing for an unlimited data plan a la AT&T for the thing … I think that will cause a revolution in its own right.

The Apple iPad

So, whereas yesterday I had been thinking about whether I wanted to finally upgrade to a 13″ or 15″ MBP, today I’m thinking my next computer(s) will be a 27″ iMac at home (I have really been wanting one, but couldn’t justify it because of my need to do presentations) and an iPad for the road. Much easier to sync, particularly for me as a MobileMe member. Much lighter. Does pretty much 100% of the things I would want to do on the road. I can have 3G when I need it, for a very reasonable price, and not pay for it when I don’t need it. No contracts, no ongoing mandatory expense. Fantastic battery life. Beautiful LED backlit IPS screen. Large (albeit virtual) keyboard. All my favourite iPhone apps.

There are a few other things I could have wished for, and the first one that came to my mind was a mic. Turns out it has one, along with speakers (just wasn’t mentioned in the keynote for some reason). This means I can use Skype. With Bluetooth, even. Sold!

I would have paid extra for a model with an iSight in it, and an iChat app. It would have been really nice if it had at least one in-built USB port instead of making us buy and use a little dongle, but OTOH now that functionality will (probably) be available to the iPhone/iPod Touch as well, which opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities.

So the thing’s not perfect. But it’s highly, highly intriguing. I think I’ve found a place for it in my life, mostly near the couch.

Still, I have little doubt that third-parties will plug the little gaps in short order, and as Jonny Ive said “there’s no wrong way to hold it,” so using it “upside down” with a webcam attached to the dock port could be huge. My wife will never get me lost again — I could have a GPS app on this thing!*

*It is, of course, always my wife’s fault if we get lost.

Obviously this is just my life and YMMV, but I certainly predict this to be a big hit (though I suspect there will be a slow start till the accessories and apps are fully built up. That’s okay, though — the iPod had a slow start too) and I do think it will change the world, at least a little. I think it will kill the Kindle/Nook/etc (which may have the unanticipated effect of further hurting libraries), and I think it will revitalise the magazine/graphic novel and newspaper publishing companies, take e-reading mainstream and continue to solidify Apple’s grip on the media world, which has so far been pretty mutually beneficial (but I can see where some people would be concerned about that).

I think it will largely kill netbooks that aspire to be anything more than bargain-basement Microsoft Office machines. After today, they finally look like what they really are — toys.

Steve + Tablets

On the other hand, I think seniors and newbies and switchers — and heck, most non-nerds — would be very well-advised to give the iPad a test drive as soon as possible. I think this is exactly the right amount of computer for the average person, reformulated in a way that drops some of the barriers and makes learning it much easier. And it’s a pretty fine supplement to a “real” computer even for geeks (at least, this geek).

Finally, I think the iPad will draw netbook owners who want something more, tablet owners (particularly artists) who want it done right, and adults who would have otherwise bought an iPod Touch (which is now pretty much a kid’s device). If Apple had offered a nice set of bluetooth headphones (and the aforementioned webcam) I think they would have made it just about perfect.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this later, but those are my initial thoughts.