Just because something doesn’t have the kiss of Apple, doesn’t mean it’s doomed to failure

October 21, 2010 Chilling_Silence How-To's / Guides / Tech info

I’m *so* over all the moron commentators out there who write “news” articles, just to fill their quota of words for the week so they can get paid. It’s plain to see more and more often how little research actually goes in to articles, as the rush to be the first to “break the news” takes precedence over something well-written and accurate. There’s always a truckload of stupid little spelling mistakes which look like the article was put through a bad speech-to-text program, or written by somebody who has absolutely no idea.

However, back to my main point: The number of Apple aficionados out there who blindly take what Steve Jobs says as gospel is nothing short of retarded.

I’m here today to tell the world that just because Jobs has said something, doesn’t mean it’s the law. Heck, most of it is just his highly biased opinion about his own companies products, and much of what he says about other products quite often misses the mark entirely.

So today we’re going to look at some of the recent “myths” that have been flying around about Apple, the iPad, and Android devices. Specifically, tablets! I’m going to try and squeeze in a few pictures as well, just to keep you entertained.

There was a recent article by Jobs, and I’m going to basically go down it and pick it to pieces. So much of what’s said is downright wrong or totally biased because he made the stuff (Or at least his company did) and he presumes that all consumers are going to take it all at face value.

You can read the article for yourself here.

So lets get started! Steve Jobs words are italics for clarification.

Jobs: “The first thing most of us think about when we hear the word “open” is Windows, which is available on a variety of devices. Unlike Windows, however, where most pc’s have the same user interface and run the same app, Android is very fragmented.”

I’d love to ask Jobs in-person to explain this doozy.

Lets start with the fact that Android by very nature is happy to have Widgets on the home screen. Lets overlook the fact that all the iOS users have been living without them because Apple doesn’t deem them as important, that’s not the point. The point is that SenseUI (One of the interfaces he’s talking about) is (for the better part) a collection of widgets.

In fact, with Windows, the GUI has also changed a fair bit over the years. From Windows 95, to XP, to Windows 7. However, somehow (as if by magic) users are smart enough to navigate their way around the OS enough to do what they want to do. The Start Menu is still in the same place, though now it’s a round circle and doesn’t have the label “start”. Just because Jobs presumes that all his users are too dumb to use anything more than 1 physical button, doesn’t mean that the rest of the world is stupid. The same goes for Android, for the better part of it, the phone button lives down the bottom of your screen, and you usually either launch your apps from the button next to it, or from the home screen itself.

Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

So, which of these two phones is running Sense UI, the custom one from HTC? Can you tell? Or do you even care? Is it “hard to figure out” (as Jobs writes) how to use the phone? You know that for the better part, your phone button is down the bottom, and so is the menu to launch all your other Apps. If you want to customize your Home Screen, well then Android actually lets you do that, unlike the iPhone where you’re stuck with *all* your apps there (Or in folders).

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 1!

Jobs: “Twitter client Tweetdeck recently launched their app for Android. They reported that they had to contend with more than 100 different versions of Android software on 244 different handsets. The multiple hardware and software iterations present developers with a daunting challenge. Many Android apps work only on selected Android handsets running selected Android versions. Compare this with iPhone, where there are two versions of the software, the current and the most recent predecessor to test against.”

That’s interesting Steve. The Tweetdeck guys don’t seem to agree with you:

Current data pins Android version 2.2 and 2.1 at between 73% & 89% adoption rates. Current speculation over iOS4 is around 65% of all possible devices that can run it, are running it. Not bad from both camps. However, one things for sure, developing Tweetdeck which was in Beta phase for the supposed hundreds of versions only required two guys, and there was over 30,000 people that joined in to beta test the app for Android on every single kind of device imaginable. Does that mean that iOS developers are just slow / lazy, if two guys are able to pull off such an awesome app, in such a short amount of time themselves? Probably not, but if I were Steve Jobs, that’s the kind of outrageous conclusion I’d jump to. Thankfully, I’m not.

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 2!

Jobs: “Even if Google were right, and the real issue is closed versus open, it is worthwhile to remember that open systems don’t always win. Take Microsoft’s PlaysForSure music strategy, which uses the PC model, which Android uses as well, of separating the software components from the hardware components. Even Microsoft finally abandoned this open strategy in favor of copying Apple’s integrated approach with their Zune Player. Google flirted with this integrated approach with their Nexus One phone.”

If only I could figure out a way to write a sound, I’m thinking of one of those game-show buzzer sounds right now that means “WRONG, you fail”.

PlaysForSure is a pretty poor example there Steve. Googles flirted approach was initially to show manufacturers just how much could be accomplished with Android, which at the time hadn’t really taken off. Remember, that was just 9 months ago. Since then it’s growth has been nothing short of astounding! PlaysForSure is really nothing like Android, and you’re outright wrong about the Nexus One. The “PC Model”, we’re presuming you mean Microsoft, is closed-source. That means that nobody can see the source-code. Which reminds me, when was the last time I saw the source code for OSX? Never … Sure the Darwin Kernel is open-source, but not the better part of the OS. With Android, it’s a different story. In fact, there’s nothing stopping people like Cyanogen from taking the code, modifying it, and redistributing it to other users. Can we do that with MacOSX, or with iOS? Nope, sure can’t.

Check out Cyanogenmod:

CyanogenMod is Android with a few built-in modifications and customizations. It currently runs on about a dozen devices, with more being added all the time.

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 3!

Jobs: “In reality, we think the open versus closed argument is just a smokescreen to try and hide the real issue, which is, what’s best for the customer, fragmented versus integrated. We think Android is very, very fragmented and becoming more fragmented by the day.”

I’m not so sure on that, as I mentioned earlier, the latest two releases of Android (2.1 – Oct 26th 2009, 2.2 – 20 May 2010) have only been released in the last 12 months. This is largely due to the rapid development cycle that Android is going through as they both “catch up” and as they innovate and push the boundaries. I already mentioned earlier how many Android phones are running 2.1 or 2.2 as opposed to iOS4 (Which granted is still significantly younger), but again I don’t see that as the issue here.

The word fragmented means “Disconnected, having been divided”. I certainly don’t see it like that any more than I see different manufacturers of Televisions being fragmented. What about laptop manufacturers, with different screen sizes, from 7″ to 19″. Some laptops run XP, some run Vista, some run Windows 7, yet users seem to cope. What about automobiles? Some are 2-seater convertibles, some are 15-seater vans, yet users are able to jump between one or the other (for the better part) just fine. Same with Android! This whole “fragmentation” is a stupid, stupid catch-phrase that somebody once thought up, and the media has sensationalized and overhyped.

You’ve also got to remember that most of the new apps still work fine on Android-1.5, which was considered the first “real” version of Android.

If people are able to drive cars just fine, why can they not use Cellphones? Sure, it may be a little different for developers, but no different compared to developers of Windows applications, who arguably have the most diverse hardware and OS variety to program for. What about Web Developers who manage to build websites that work across everything from Internet Explorer 6, to IE9, to Opera, to Chrome, to Firefox, to Safari, and beyond. Sure the odd person moans because of how retarded Internet Explorer behaves, but for the better part, it’s not an issue.

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 4!

Jobs: “Second, I’d like to comment on the avalanche of Tablets poised to enter the market in the coming months. First, it appears to be just a handful of credible entrants, not exactly an avalanche.”

Considering we’ve got Android-based tablets coming out from Toshiba, LG, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, Sharp, Archos, Hannspree, Asus, Motorola, that’s a lot more than just “Apple”. In fact, that’s at least a 10:1 ratio. That’s an avalanche.

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 5!

Jobs: “Almost all of them use seven-inch screens as compared to iPad’s near 10-inch screen. Let’s start there. One naturally thinks that a seven-inch screen would offer 70% of the benefits of a 10-inch screen. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. The screen measurements are diagonal, so that a seven-inch screen is only 45% as large as iPad’s 10-inch screen.”

Yet for some reason Jobs goes on to think that means that smaller means worse? If-so, then why have they just released their new Macbook Air in only an 11″ form-factor? Are Macbook users suddenly only able to do 30% of what the users of the 27″ iMac can?

Then we go on to the debate that the screen size is too small to be function. If that’s the case, then why are there millions of both iPhones, Android Phones, iPod Touches, iPod Nanos (Now also with multi-touch and a 1.5″ screen) and more all being sold worldwide? Do fingers magically shrink to fit the <4″ screen size, but anything between 4″ & 9″ your fingers just freak out at? Don’t be ridiculous.

In fact, I’ve used 7″ Android Tablets, they weight about half as much, which actually means I’ve been able to use one for around 3 hours without having to rest it on my knees or lie it down because it’s feeling heavy. By contrast, the iPad weighs twice as much, and I found after about 30 minutes it was getting uncomfortable to free-hold it without resting it.

Steve even goes on to say “Apple’s done extensive user-testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them.”, yet for some reason they think that a 1.5″ iPod Nano is magically able to offer more functionality than a 7″ Tablet?

Don’t be stupid Steve, just because you don’t wanna make a 7″ device doesn’t mean they’re doomed to failure. Get down from your high-horse!

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 6!

Jobs: “Even Google is telling the tablet manufacturers not to use their current release, Froyo, for tablets, and to wait for a special tablet release next year. What does it mean when your software suppliers says not to use their software in your tablet?”

It means that just like Apple figured out earlier this year when they released the iPad, there’s a difference between screen resolution and physical size. In fact, my 7″ Android tablet had exactly the same resolution as my 3.7″ Cellphone. The only difference is the pixels are larger on the bigger screen. What about the fact that the iPad has less pixels than the iPhone? It’s not just about the size, or the number of pixels, but about how your software handles both the combination of physical size vs pixels. Right now Android does pretty damn well, but not well enough that Google are recommending it. So what’re they doing? The right thing, by suggesting manufacturers wait.

The great thing about it being Android is that it’s not terribly difficult if manufacturers like Samsung (Who are releasing the Galaxy Tab with Android-2.2) to go from the current Android-2.2 to Android-3.0!

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 7!

Jobs: “Fifth, iPad now has over 35,000 apps on the App Store. This new crop of tablets will have near zero.”

Odd, isn’t that where the iPad started just 6 months ago? It didn’t stop them from selling more than your Mac computers.

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 8!

Jobs: “We create our own A4 chip, our own software, our own battery chemistry, our own enclosure, our own everything.”

Are you sure about that Steve?

A4 CPU – A feature-stripped ARM Cortex-A8. Fail.

Software – iOS is based off MacOSX which runs the Darwin kernel, which you bought back in 1997. I think you can have this one though, just coz I’m a good sport.

Battery – Sure, we’ll give you this, and the batteries are usually pretty good.

Wifi & Bluetooth – Broadcom

Flash storage – Toshiba

USB Power Supply – Foxlink

Enclosure – The back perhaps, but the screen is made by LG / Samsung

# of Steve fails in 1 article: 9!

I could go on, but you get the picture. Long story short, he’s terribly mis-informed, yet somehow the large following of Apple Fanboys can’t see it for what it really is. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great devices that Apple produce. I had an iPhone for 2 years and currently have a Macbook, but Apple certainly aren’t the only ones who can make good Software / Hardware.

Android, Apple, Google, iOS, iPad,