[Archived] Iphone 4G

[Eddie]

I've not bought won't and I won't be buying one, but I know plenty of people who have and who put them to good use, even when they already have a smartphone, a laptop and a desktop. It's better than a phone, but smaller and easier to transport than a laptop or even a netbook.

[LeChuck]

I bet none of them would own one if it had a 'Matsui' label on and wasn't advertised everywhere.

People will happily have any brand of desktop/laptop/phone if it does the job, because they're actually useful. An iPad is barely more portable than a sleek netbook, I don't buy the 'portability' reason at all.

It's new, it's from Apple (OMG!), it's advertised everywhere. That's why people want one. It is not providing the market with anything new in terms of functionality.

Edit: I've gone well away from what I started talking about. Even if the iPad was brilliant, people shouldn't be queuing up for hours on release day and high-fiving as they enter. They make me hate Apple.

[Eddie]

I'm not entirely sure why you are so shocked. That's the same with a ton of car, clothes and electronics manufacturers (or pretty much anything really).

As for that, I know one area where it is of great use is for medical care. My father has been involved in health information systems for a long time and doctors have long been reluctant to use computers built into rooms as the feeling is it lowers patient confidence, while leaving the room and printing information off rather defeats the purpose, so a well designed tablet pc is the perfect solution. Others have existed before, but in terms of quality, battery life and ease of use it's the best there is.

[Biddy]

I'm not entirely sure why you are so shocked. That's the same with a ton of car, clothes and electronics manufacturers (or pretty much anything really).

As for that, I know one area where it is of great use is for medical care. My father has been involved in health information systems for a long time and doctors have long been reluctant to use computers built into rooms as the feeling is it lowers patient confidence, while leaving the room and printing information off rather defeats the purpose, so a well designed tablet pc is the perfect solution. Others have existed before, but in terms of quality, battery life and ease of use it's the best there is.

some form of tablet pc maybe, but an Ipad for every Doctor on the NHS (being very UK entric here)? hmmmmm. Can't see that one being a big vote winner in this age of cost cutting.

[LeChuck]

I'm not entirely sure why you are so shocked. That's the same with a ton of car, clothes and electronics manufacturers (or pretty much anything really).

As for that, I know one area where it is of great use is for medical care. My father has been involved in health information systems for a long time and doctors have long been reluctant to use computers built into rooms as the feeling is it lowers patient confidence, while leaving the room and printing information off rather defeats the purpose, so a well designed tablet pc is the perfect solution. Others have existed before, but in terms of quality, battery life and ease of use it's the best there is.

Nothing compares to the stupid hype surrounding new Apple products, except maybe with pop stars and film stars. It's plain weird.

As for the doctor thing...I think Biddy has already made a good point there. Plus, even if doctors are using them, I bet none of them are queuing up on release date acting like starstruck teenage girls.

[Glenn]

That's got to be one of the oddest statements I've ever read. I think you will find that ANY x86/x64 based OS will work on a "PC" you don't have to have Windows at all. People just have the expectation that they must. Even in windows, you can happily install ANY other web browser, ANY other media player, ANY other office application etc etc.

Microsoft were stopped from shipping Internet Explorer (not WMP) in Europe on Windows 7 to allow competition for other browsers. Apple on the other hand are allowed to continue to ship Safari (their own browser) on their OS (that is tied to MAC's only). They have one of the most tied down infrastructures going and continue to get away with it. The only reason no one really goes after them is that they still only hold a niche of the computing market.

What has Apple actually invented? They have designed some nice things around items that already exisited but I can't think of what they invented from scratch.

the GUI, stolen from Xerox Parc

OSX - is linux under the hood

touchscreen/smart phones - been around for years

I know there probably are some major things and I'm just being silly for the sake of it but they don't invent a whole lot of things.

Cough, OSX is NeXTStep/BSD under the hood, people with beards get very upset when you confuse it with linux

Play safe, OSX is a UNIX clone under the hood

[Biddy]

Cough, OSX is NeXTStep/BSD under the hood, people with beards get very upset when you confuse it with linux

Play safe, OSX is a UNIX clone under the hood

I didn't know you'd grown a beard Glenn

[Eddie]

Biddy, you answered your own question about why apple gets away with it and microsoft doesn't when you pointed out that they only have a small percentage of the market. You can't be a monopoly in a sliver of the market. The problem microsoft had is that its operating system is included in the vast majority of computers sold.

There main area of invention is within industrial design, which isn't as noticed, but it is what makes apple, apple. They do also though have a tons of inventions and developments across touch screen, computing and telephones.

As for saying they stole things from rivals, they didn't, they were simply the the first to make a lot of things standard and put them on a successful product (cd-rom drives, 802.11, USB, Firewire, the mouse, the trackpad, GUI, multitouch).

[Biddy]

Biddy, you answered your own question about why apple gets away with it and microsoft doesn't when you pointed out that they only have a small percentage of the market. You can't be a monopoly in a sliver of the market. The problem microsoft had is that its operating system is included in the vast majority of computers sold.

But why should apple get away with it just because they have a smaller market? Anti-competitive is anti-competitive no matter how big your user base is.

As for saying they stole things from rivals, they didn't, they were simply the the first to make a lot of things standard and put them on a successful product (cd-rom drives, 802.11, USB, Firewire, the mouse, the trackpad, GUI, multitouch).

What utter nonsense. And I only said the GUI was stolen from Xerox Parc nothing else. I only brought that up as Apple accused microsoft of stealing a GUI from them when they had copied it themselves.

[BuckyRover]

I don't want to turn this into (another) iPad debate.

I know the quote isn't about the iPad, but it's that kind of ethos which ends up producing things that people simply do not want or need, until it's implanted in their thick heads that they do.

Tablet PC...yeah, I get that. This is about as powerful as a kitten's fart though. If it was as powerful as a say...a netbook, then I'd totally get the point.

"browse the internet on around the house and on my way to work". People could do that already.

You really think that's what "normal" people want? (I'm excluding message board warriors from normal people).

They don't want power, they want it to work and look good. Get with the program.

Im going to buy one for my new business. I will use to show clients our portfolio in a casual environment, without necessarily requiring a presentation.

I'll let you know how it goes. You stick with your "powerful" netbooks.

[LeChuck]

You really think that's what "normal" people want? (I'm excluding message board warriors from normal people).

They don't want power, they want it to work and look good. Get with the program.

Im going to buy one for my new business. I will use to show clients our portfolio in a casual environment, without necessarily requiring a presentation.

I'll let you know how it goes. You stick with your "powerful" netbooks.

Hang on...

You've come up with a practical use there, I can see why you'd want one. It's funny that the only practical uses suggested here are for business.

99% of people are buying them to impress clients, they're buying them to impress fellow travellers on the bus, or easily-impressed friends.

You do seem the sort of person who makes people hate Apple though. You're defending a piece of electronics like it's your own child.

[BiggusLaddus]

But why should apple get away with it just because they have a smaller market? Anti-competitive is anti-competitive no matter how big your user base is.

No it isn't. If you have a dominant position in the market, you have the power to destroy your competition by unfair means (short-term loss-making, unreasonable bundling of products, etc).

The company I work for was hit with a fine of ~8m CHF for anti-competitive practices relating to some of our products with which we dominate the market. We had to completley change the way we sold those products and now have to stick to a regulated pricing structure. If we are caught doing the same again then the next fine will have an extra nought on the end.

If Apple get to the stage where they are considered to dominate the market, then this will also apply to them. I suspect it wasn't far off with ipods in the mp3 player market and the forced use of itunes.

[Eddie]

Hang on...

You've come up with a practical use there, I can see why you'd want one. It's funny that the only practical uses suggested here are for business.

99% of people are buying them to impress clients, they're buying them to impress fellow travellers on the bus, or easily-impressed friends.

You do seem the sort of person who makes people hate Apple though. You're defending a piece of electronics like it's your own child.

I know a few people who have bought them so that they can comfortably browse the internet on the train to and from work. The fact that you can connect from wherever you are and that it is more comfortable to read and use than a phone makes it quite practical for that. Again, it's far from a necessity, but if you have the money there are plenty of uses.

[LeChuck]

See...that's why it annoys me!

Nobody would have asked for a £600 product that lets them browse the internet more comfortably whilst commuting. Apple just use their thinking of

"You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."

and make something that other companies are already making, jazz it up a bit, market the hell out of it and convince people they need it.

Incidentally, I've seen people using them on public transport and they look like utter ######, they really do. Especially the guy in front of me who obviously didn't know the rules to Spider Solitaire. £600 well spent for him.

[Biddy]

I've nothing against Apple for anything you are saying there to be honest. That's called creating a market and generating revenue. Every company on this planet would want to do likewise to make a profit.

Not sure why you are arguing that as no one thought of having one it should never have been made. If that's the way the world worked we wouldn't have computers or tv's or even the wheel!

[BuckyRover]

I make people hate Apple?

Give it a rest. I was one of the first people in my office to get an iPhone. I rarely talked of it's virtues, I was just seen to be using it all the time. That's what makes it attractive, usability.

It's you with the problem, you said somebody using one looked like a ****. It's a new thing, in a few years (5?), the majority of people will have a touchscreen device. When I studied computing it was always seen as a natural progression towards more intuitive devices, it's just taken a while to get there.

[LeChuck]

It's you with the problem, you said somebody using one looked like a ****. It's a new thing, in a few years (5?), the majority of people will have a touchscreen device.

People have been using touchscreen devices for a while! Thing is, technology usually makes them smaller, not bigger.

In the words of Alan Partridge...IT'S TOO BIG!

Everyone could see what he was doing on it. To make it worse, he was just playing a card game.

[Biddy]

[Billy Castell]

I'm another one who cannot understand the point in having an Ipad. It just seems like a massive Iphone to me.

Charlie Brooker's view.

[Guest Kamy100]

I see that there is finally a official Blackburn Rovers app on the App Store, it costs £2.39.

[Flopsy]

Air video is a great mp4 converter / slingbox type app

[Iceman]

Ill rather get the Sony Ericsson X10 or the HTC Desire.

I see that there is finally a official Blackburn Rovers app on the App Store, it costs £2.39.

Official Rovers App

[Blue n White Rover]

I see that there is finally a official Blackburn Rovers app on the App Store, it costs £2.39.

For 1 month.

£7.99 for 3 months

£24.99 for 12 months

There is also a Free version available.

[Ricky]

The additional charges are just if you want the video highlights and stuff. very much in the same style as the current rovers website.

[graddomi88]

For 1 month.

£7.99 for 3 months

£24.99 for 12 months

There is also a Free version available.

Where is the free version? I can only see the £2.39 one.