Tag Archives: Apple

Why iPhone Works for Me

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I have been thinking lately why I choose the iPhone over an Android Phone. I mean these Android phones are every bit advanced as the iPhone and in the end complete the task originally assigned, accept and receive calls.  So I decided to make one of those lists that compared iOS to Android.

The Lists

The easiest was the applications, but as I began to dig I come with a list of 10 of my most used 3rd party applications:

  • Twitter for iPhone
  • Facebook for iPhone
  • The Weather Channel App
  • Reeder for iPhone
  • Camera+
  • Flixster
  • FCC Test
  • Sol Free
  • Stitcher Radio

Now there are a few more applications, but the 10 above are the most used that I would miss. Of the 10, only 2 were not available in the Android Market Place, but that didn’t seem to be a compelling reason for why I chose the iPhone.

I then looked at items such as cases, Android Phones offered, cellular network and so forth. I still concluded that neither was more important than the next. Granted I learned the T-Mobile data speeds were much faster than that of AT&T on 3G, but again concluded that it was just a matter of time before that was no longer an issue.

The Revelation

Then after reading the 37 Signals article, Ten Apps is All I Need, a great point was made by the author Niall Larkin regarding iPhone.

“It’s my favorite piece of technology and has been for years. Do you know why? Because Apple nailed the basics. Safari, Camera, iPod, Clock, Weather, Photos, Messages, Mail, and Maps are the apps that I use 95% of the time. Those are the ones that made me buy the phone and stick with it.”

I had to agree with this comment, but what separates the iPhone from Android for me is the iPod function. Sure Safari, Mail, Maps, and etc are great, but they don’t function any better than their Android counter parts. The iPod is what makes the iPhone stand out from Android.

It’s an iPod, a Phone and Internet Communicator

Before the iPhone, the iPod was Apple’s dominate product. Let’s face it without iPod the iPhone may never have come to be. I use my iPod App each and every day. I use it when I come to work, I use it at work and I use it coming home from work. On the weekends I have it connected to my iLuv or my stereo.

Though only 8GB in capacity I am able to enjoy my full collection of iTunes while at home via iTunes Home Share and on the 3G network with applications such as the PogoPlug App. The icing on the cake is that it provides me cell phone and access to the Internet.

But Android Can Play Music Too

Android may have a music player, but in my world without access to iTunes it simply is not worth the headache just as having a typical MP3 player is not worth the headache. When I connect my iPhone to my iMac all my music is synced, my pictures can be imported to iPhoto, a backup is made and I am on my way. No mounting of device, no dragging & dropping, and no lost data like with Android. In the immortal words of Steve Jobs “It just works.”

The experience will become even better once iCloud and iOS 5 are launched this fall. With Music Match I will have all my music in the cloud and will be able to retrieve it at any moment, without having to go through the trouble of uploading it to services like Amazon Cloud and Google Music Beta.

In the end the reason I wanted the iPhone in the first place is the same reason I will continue with the device, it is my iPhone, the one device for music, Internet and apps

iCloud: More Cloud, Less Me and You Can Do That?

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I am sitting in the local Fuddruckers setting up for the monthly Boise Mac User Group meeting when the waitress delivers my chocolate shake. She asks if we were the “Apple” people. I respond yes. She presents me with her iPhone asking why a photo she tried to upload to Facebook keeps presenting her with an error message.

Being “Apple” people I begin to troubleshoot. My first thought is to close down the Facebook App and start over. It is here I discovered running on this iPhone were close to 50 applications. I ask if she had ever closed out of an Application. The response, “you can do that?”

This is a common response to this question. So when Apple made all of the new announcements this past WWDC 2011, I wondered for whom the announcements were attended. Better yet, how many end users will understand 1/10th of the changes heading their way this fall with the release of iCloud and iOS 5?


More Cloud

On June 6, 2011 Apple presented iCloud to the world, declaring it a replacement for MobileMe, admitting it was “not our finest hour”. Apple developers were treated to a list of new features amongst them were iTunes in the Cloud and Photo Stream.

With iTunes in the Cloud users can access each and every song purchased from iTunes for free. For an extra $24.99 annually, users were provided Music Match. Using an iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, or iPad 2, or a Mac computer with OS X Lion or a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 Apple will provide a Music Match subscriber access to songs not purchased via iTunes in 256k quality. The service itself limits a subscriber to 25,000 songs, but iTunes purchases do not count against the limit.

Missing from the service was an iCloud player to compete with Amazon Cloud player and Google Music Beta, both providing Android Apps to play music. However, with the release of iCloud coming in the fall Apple has plenty of time to make changes. In the meantime Apple updated both iOS and OS iTunes applications to allow the push of purchases to all devices. It should be pointed out this does require the user to activate the feature within iTunes, something maybe my Fuddruckers waitress won’t know she can do.

Photo stream is another new/change feature. Photo Stream holds your last 1000 photos, with the option to create albums. All the photos coming through Photo Stream are kept on your PC or Mac. This makes a ton of sense considering my recent purchase of a new iMac with 2TB of storage along with an external hard drive making me very happy.

Essentially Photo Stream replaces MobileMe Gallery, well sort of. I am not sure how Apple will provide users to share their photo with family and friends as they do currently. One thought I have is with the use of Facebook and Flickr, Apple may have simply given up on this service. The keynote addressed the number of photos taken by an iOS device currently Flickr’s service, which is an admission that Galleries is not that popular.

Remains of the Day

iCloud will continue to store your contacts, bookmarks, email, calendar and documents. It will just do it in a different way. It will cost the user nothing. Additionally, iCloud will backup items and iTunes will allow you to download your purchased apps and music a not additional charge. The user will also receive 5GB of storage.

Are these iCloud features going to better than the current free services offered by the likes of Google, Yahoo or Microsoft? With Gmail I get 10GB of storage. I can set up Google Drive for my documents and of course can set up contacts and calendars. Nothing to big hear but it is enough of change MobileMe subscribers will notice, but is it enough to bring new customers?  With no ads, please sign me up for some new accounts.

Less Me

Lost in the announcement regarding moving from MobileMe to iCloud was what will happen to iDisk, iWeb and the price for extra (if any) storage. Currently for my $99 I am given 20GB of online storage for my email, bookmarks, iCal, file uploads and web space.

As mentioned before iCloud will be free with 5GB of storage. There was no mention of some useful features such as iWeb website hosting. This past Monday came word from Steve Job’s iPhone that indeed iWeb was going away based on the emailed question. I would point out that Steve said “Yep” to the number of questions. Users of iWeb can upload their site via FTP to a web host, but it comes with a cost of another service, however considering the cost of hosting to a MobileMe yearly subscription one could save.

The other useful information not mentioned was the possibility of additional storage. I would be surprised if come this fall that Apple isn’t selling additional iCloud storage. How could they sell stockholders on the idea that “we stopped selling MobileMe for $99 a year to offer its main features and then some for free?” I suspect that Apple will find a way to continue collecting the $99, while also collecting even more from iCloud.

Add iOS 5 to the Mix

Getting back to my waitress from Fuddruckers. Adding iCloud to the mix with iOS 5 may on the outside appear very simple to those in attendance and us Apple Fan Boys and Girls. I do wonder what this means to the typical “I only have an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad” user.

Listening to my list of Podcasts this week leads me to get excited about the announcements, but at the same time think wow did Apple complicate things? There are enough changes in iOS 5 that will cause a lot of users eyes to become glazed over. There is an interesting article from MacRumor that over 50% of iPhone users visiting the Genius Bar have never connected their device to a computer. There is the PC free idea for iOS 5 combined with iCloud connecting to a PC isn’t needed, but if you think about the fact that people weren’t smart enough to connect to a PC to begin with, what else will the not do?  It is clear to me the new features are aimed at the Fuddruckers’ waitress to make things easier. However, I am sure you will continue to hear “you can do that?”

Boise Town Square Mall iPad 2 Launch Experience

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I participated in my first Apple product launch on March 11th, 2011.  The day began with me at work as normal, but I left at noon and headed down to the Boise Town Square Mall (BTSM) Apple Store iPad 2 launch.  A family member had been waiting in line since about 9:30AM.  She was 7th in line and I was in 8th in line.  I later found out that the BTSM opened at 5:30AM for mall walkers.  Two gentleman arrived within minutes around 6:30.

 

The line started to grow as the day progressed. At around 2:00PM the line had grown from 18 to 40 people. I walked around the way to notice that people had moved mall furniture up against the wall for a comfy spot to wait. I started to poll people on which capacity and color they were looking to pick up. Many said black, but I was surprised at the number of those that were looking to pick the new white model.

The day progressed and I carried on many conversations with those standing in line with me. As the time drew closer to launch we began to yell out how many hours were left until launch. At 2:00PM mall security informed us that if it happened again we would be escorted out of the mall. We informed the manager of the store what had been told to us and he was visibly upset and began to have a lengthy “discussion” with the security team assigned to the event. We were later informed that we could yell and get as excited as we pleased as Apple was in charge of the event and was allowed to have said events.

Right about 3:00PM the Apple Store began to close in preparation for the event. Many people continued to walk by asking what was going on and why was the store closing. One individual had traveled a great distance and was visibly upset the store was closed and proceeded to argue with the Apple Employee chosen to handle questions.  The individual stated that the store was being unreasonable in not allowing her to purchase the device considering the great distance driven to purchase. For the record it was an iPod Nano, available most anywhere, which was the advice given to by the Apple Employee.

As 5:00PM approached the store employees began to ask us which model we were looking to purchase and how many. They went through the line and comments I overheard were that the white model is in limited supply and there were no guaranties.  We received a ticket after giving out our choice and that choice was entered in to what could be described as an inventory application on an iPod Touch.

The anticipation began to build.  We were asked to remove our chairs and other items as the area that was being referred to as the “staging area” for each waive of customers.  The manager once again graced us with his presence carrying on conversation with us first 18 in line.  The big moment finally arrived and the some 300 people in line began to crank up the volume.

After 4 and half hours I was welcomed into the store to purchase my 32GB and 64GB White iPad 2 WiFi models. I had the Apple employee setup my iPad 2, as I wanted to ensure that it indeed was in working order before I had left. After all I didn’t want to get home after standing in line and not have the thing power up.

My observation from the launch was that Apple went out of its way to create buzz for a product that didn’t need much hype. Apple went out of its way to make those of us in line comfortable by offering coffee, tea, and water, while also receiving a black blanket for our troubles. The other mall stores were offering us in line many different discounts on iPad related items. In the end I walked out of the store with what I came for and had a great time doing so and yes it was worth the wait.