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Windows vs. Mac: I'm starting to change.
superboyac:
Quick update:
My little sister just got an iphone for the first time. She is in love with it. She has never been a gadget person, computer person, or anything like that. I'm telling you, it's not just hype. Apple is doing something very right somewhere.
I know we criticize the behind the scenes stuff, because we are knowledgeable computer people, but the end user experience is very exciting to most people. You have to give credit where credit is due. I'll never get an apple product anytime soon I can never be tied to the DRM or proprietary stuff if I can help it, like many of you. but ignoring Apple's sinister plans to take over the world and all that, they give the people what they want, and that is good business.
And it's not just because it's hip or cool. It's more than that. My sis really loves using the thing, it's easy for her. She didn't have to ask me how to do this or that. Cmon guys, you have to recognize the value in that.
I just had to mention that.
The other thing is I'm sure some of these Android phones can do the same or better, etc. But my sister didn't buy one. Apple got my sister to buy an iphone, which is amazing to me. So there's also value to getting people to buy your product. There are a lot of things I have to applaud apple for. I'm a Sony guy when it comes to gadgets, and I love their technology. But everything that Sony does wrong, Apple does right.
mouser:
Oh there are a lot of things Apple does right in terms of usability, and focus on usability.
There are also a lot of things Apples does cleverly in terms of *advertising* which have nothing to do with usability and features and are just pure brilliant marketing. Notice when you see an ad for a normal computer, they are telling you how fast the chip is, how much memory it has, how it has great monitor resoltuion, etc. Then notice an Apple ad, showing how people can listen to their favorite music! burn cds of music! It's not that the Apple does things the others don't in this case, it's that they are talking to a different audience.
My mother is quite tech savvy and bought an android, and is constantly frustrated and peeved at the UI and workflow.. She sees people using iphones having none of the problems she has. Apple deserves major credit for focusing on making 99% of the workflow really smooth and painless. [Things get a bit more dicey when something goes wrong]
JavaJones:
The iPhone is a good experience for the lay person, no doubt. iPad probably too, aside from the little technical foibles that are cropping up already, and probably just indicative of a 1st gen device. That being said, I have 2 friends who recently bought iPhones and are having terrible troubles with AT&T's network and/or iPhone's 3G/call reception (note: both these people had AT&T before, with different phones, and had less/no problems).
As for Android vs. iPhone, there are a couple things here. First, your sister probably bought an iPhone because Apple's marketing appealed to her. Android itself doesn't have any unified marketing, but the most marketed Android phone to date, particularly on its "Androidness", was the Verizon Droid, and the marketing spin there is pretty aggressive, techno-centric, and decidedly not oriented toward the lay person, or women, or anyone who isn't a "bare knuckled bucket of does". So Apple's marketing is definitely successful, but also oriented in a direction that a major competitor hasn't really exploited yet.
Second, Android as a platform is less unified than iPhone, plain and simple. This is one of the potential downsides of Android for the average user. For the tech geek it's a boon because it means you have options, and lots of 'em. But the average person just wants simple. To is iPhone is "lock-in", to them it's "simplicity", which is great.
What I want to point out though is that I think the advantages of iPhone as a platform and as a device could largely or even entirely be achieved *without* Apple being total a-holes (see latest developer clauses and consider the implications for devs trying to make a living). I'm a bit disappointed in how Android is panning out now as far as there being far too many devices already (unnecessarily), each with small variations that make them subtly different and potentially incompatible with each other. But it's early days yet, and I have hopes that the platform will solidify and unify a bit more, maintaining the open nature and ability for customization, without betraying the fundamentally shared platform benefits and the possibility for a shared ecosystem that it can bring. The last thing I want to see is phone makers not upgrading Android OS because they haven't had time to update their custom UIs...
In the end though, Android may not be there to serve the same needs iPhone is. Hopefully they'll figure out a way to balance these issues better than Apple has, but I fear they're erring on the opposite side of some of them by being too flexible and "open". There needs to be a bit more platform standards enforcement on Google's part IMO.
- Oshyan
mouser:
What I want to point out though is that I think the advantages of iPhone as a platform and as a device could largely or even entirely be achieved *without* Apple being total a-holes
--- End quote ---
amen.
superboyac:
yes, mouser. That's exactly the point I'm making. One of the reasons I'm sensitive to this subject is because I'm experiencing this more and more in my actual job. I used to be very against all things Apple, like worse than anybody you've ever seen. But we have so much technology, so many options, so much informations, just so much everything everywhere, that it's not so valuable just to have something powerful, or versatile. One of the most important things today, if not THE most important thing, is the user interface, or the user experience, or whatever you call that.
See, most people do not care for all the things we care about. If I tell them that they can't transfer their music to another device or something like that, they just shrug their shoulders.
But a very good example of why we here don't like apple is the following:
My good friend also bought an itouch last year. He had some audiobooks on it, and he wanted me to listen to it. So I said, go ahead, just put it on my flash drive and I'll listen to it at home. Well, we spent like an hour trying to do it, but it was not possible because of the DRM. So, the big companies can be very glad that their protection works pretty well.
That being said, just about all companies would be well served to take a good look at Apple's strategic planning and learn from it. I would love those little companies that make great products that I love to be able to let go of their geeky side and focus a little more heavily on the end-user experience. Easier said than done.
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