Virtual Pants

• 2012-11-04

  Apples-to-Apples

  I have a couple problems with Marco’s latest post. First, he implies that Microsoft is “tricking” people by pricing the 32GB Surface at $499:

  It’s far easier for the Surface to appear to be cheaper than the iPad by starting at 32 GB than by starting at $399.

  The Surface doesn’t “appear” cheaper, it is cheaper. Marco is right, Apple arbitrarily prices its storage in $100 increments. Microsoft is selling you tablet storage cheaper than Apple is. Simple.

  Second, Marco maintains that the Surface is expensive:

  A Kindle Fire is $159. A Nexus 7 is $199. An iPad is $329. A Microsoft Surface is $499.

  Apple’s been selling midrange and high-end products at midrange and high-end prices for years, trying to get people to compare (sorry) apples-to-apples, but it just doesn’t sink in: Apple still has an “expensive” reputation, mostly because they don’t address the unprofitable low end of any market.

  The Surface is a decent deal, but it is also expensive: not compared to the iPad at the same storage level, but relative to the market. That’s what customers see, and that’s how the Surface will be compared.

  The problem is that he’s comparing the 10.6” Surface to a bunch of 7-8” tablets. I agree that specs are increasingly becoming insignificant, however, the screen size of a tablet is the one spec that customers clearly recognize and associate with value. Customers understand that there are “big” tablets and “small” tablets. They are willing to pay more for the big ones. And that’s fair. Marco’s apples-to-oranges comparison isn’t fair. Is $499 an expensive price in general? Maybe. But, when people say the Surface is expensive, they don’t mean that $499 is a lot of money, they mean that the Surface costs more than similar products. That’s not true.

  A 32GB Kindle Fire HD 8.9” is $369. A 32GB Nexus 10 is $499. A 32GB Microsoft Surface is $499. A 32GB iPad is $599.

  One Apple is more expensive than the others, and it isn’t the Surface.

• 2012-11-03

  Surface misconceptions

  Having just listened to the latest episodes of Build & Analyze and The Talk Show, it seems that Gruber & Friends have some misconceptions about the Surface. They haven’t had as much time to use one as I have, so let’s clear some of them up.

  Gestures are confusing and difficult to use
  Like any new device, the Surface has a learning curve. There are some gestures to learn. However, they are easy, intuitive, and after a short time with the Surface, anyone can learn them. There are essentially four gestures, each corresponding with an edge of the display: swiping from the right brings up a charms menu, swiping from the left enables multitasking, swiping from the top or bottom brings up a contextual menu. That’s pretty much it. Clearly, most people didn’t have trouble learning how to pinch-to-zoom, double-tap to zoom, double-click home buttons to multitask, and hold icons to move them on the iPad. Same thing here.

  The desktop mode is jarring and confusing
  The most popular complaint I’ve heard about the Surface RT is the inclusion of a desktop mode. Apparently, this is a big deal. It really isn’t. The Surface RT runs a tablet OS and this is where you will be 90% of the time. The desktop mode is simply another app on the device where Office runs. You can also use this app to do standard Windows tasks like accessing the file system and transferring files. I doubt anyone would complain about a native app to access the file system and transfer files on the iPad. When you launch an Office app, it automatically opens in desktop mode. When you switch to another app, you find yourself right back into the tablet OS. It’s simple and seamless.

  You can’t use it on your lap
  Yes, you can. I have the Type Cover and I can easily use the Surface on my lap. It isn’t quite as stable as a laptop, but it is perfectly usable and has not been an issue at all.

  It is expensive
  The Surface is cheaper than an iPad. The base model Surface has 32GB of storage and is $499. The 32GB iPad Wi-Fi is $599. But, what about the Touch Cover? A 32GB Surface with Touch Cover is $599. A 32GB iPad with Smart Cover is $638. And that doesn’t include a keyboard.

  It can’t be a laptop replacement
  Sure it can. Even the RT model. The Surface RT does email, contacts, calendar, web browsing, photo management, music and video, and even includes the Microsoft Office suite. Have you heard how great the keyboard is? Especially the Type Cover. Of course, the RT app library isn’t as extensive as the iPad’s, however, the above tasks easily represent the majority of day-to-day laptop usage and the app library will only improve over time.

• 2012-10-30

  Only Jobs could be Jobs

  Apple’s ouster of Scott Forstall is the big news this week. Forstall has been referred to as “Steve’s guy” and as Jobs’ mouthpiece within the company. Forstall was someone who consistently executed Jobs’ vision.

  I’ve often thought that someone like Steve Jobs would have failed miserably had he not become a millionaire founder of a successful technology company at a young age. His personality was divisive. His manners lacking. Interaction with colleagues was often painful and sometimes hurtful. He had strong opinions. He took credit for the work of others. He was also brilliant. But many companies wouldn’t tolerate such a personality for long enough to for the brilliance to shine. For this reason, it is unlikely that someone like Jobs will rise to his position ever again. That’s part of what made him special.

  It seems that this theory was proven correct. Forstall by all accounts had personality traits similar to Jobs. According to one rumor, Forstall’s stubborn refusal to sign a letter apologizing for Apple Maps was the last straw. That’s something Jobs might have done if he sincerely believed there was nothing to apologize for. Like Jobs, Forstall appears to have been a divisive character who was difficult to work with. Even so, like Jobs, Forstall had a loyal following of people who admired him. Jobs undoubtedly created lots of friction within the company. That friction led to world-changing products, in part, because he was the most difficult person in the company to get rid of. Forstall’s friction was avoidable. Only Jobs could be Jobs.

• 2012-10-29

  An actual Microsoft Surface buying experience

  Some quick background: I haven’t voluntarily used a PC in 10 years. I have purchased every iPhone and iPad on launch day. However, I think Microsoft has done a great job with the Windows 8 UI. It just seems refreshing to me. In my experience, the iPad is clumsy for actually doing work (mostly email, Word and reviewing PDF documents). A versatile tablet like the Surface intrigued me. So, I decided to go check one out in person.

  As I walked to the Microsoft Store in Tysons Corner, Virginia, I noticed a crowd in front of the entrance. It was a family posing with their new Surfaces while a Microsoft employee took their photo. The inside of the store was packed and the excitement over the Surface rivaled any iPad launch I’ve been to. Employees were enthusiastically showing customers features of the Surface. There were a few tables of Surfaces set up for live demos. I had to wait a few minutes before a Surface was available for me to try out.

  Despite already reading several reviews of the Surface, I decided to let a salesman explain to me the features of the Surface. I guess I was curious as to whether he knew his stuff. He was very knowledgeable about the device, and patiently showed me the features he thought I would be most interested in and a few I didn’t know of. For example, I didn’t know you could dock the email app next to a Word document, which is something that I would use quite often.

  The build quality was fantastic. The TypeCover was very nice as well. I typed some test sentences using it without any errors. The TouchCover was thinner, but more difficult to type on without practice. The UI was surprisingly responsive, maybe because so many reviews wrote that it was sluggish. Before I knew it, I had spent 30 minutes with the Surface. The Steelers game was about to begin and I had to get home. I asked the young man how many Surfaces he had sold that day. He sold three (the store had been opened for about an hour). I told him to make that four, and I walked out with one of the more impressive devices in recent memory.

  The moral of the story is that you should go to a store and try out a Surface if it is something that interests you. Don’t listen to other people’s views and opinions. You might hate it. You might like it. Everyone’s needs and expectations are different. I came away impressed and pleased with the experience and the Surface.

• 2012-10-16

  Batteries not included

  Last night, Microsoft launched its Surface ad campaign with a one-minute advertisement during playoff baseball. The ad focuses on one thing: the Touch Cover. Based upon the ad, I assumed that the Touch Cover was an included component of the Surface. You know what they say about assumptions.

  Microsoft announced pricing for the Surface this morning: $499 for the base 32GB model without Touch Cover. To get a Touch Cover bundled with the Surface, it costs an extra $100. To get an unbundled Touch Cover (or a color other than black), it costs $120. Bad move.

  The way I see it, Microsoft had two options:

  1. Use the Touch Cover as the focus of the Surface ad campaign and include it for free (or make it relatively cheap).
  2. Don’t rely on the Touch Cover as the focus of the Surface ad campaign and charge $100-120 for it.

  Microsoft is currently doing the third option: make your customers feel ripped off right out of the gate.

  By way of contrast, another well-known technology company also has a new commercial focused on a product accessory. And it comes free in the box.

• 2012-10-13

  The Kindle is a great product

  Jim Dalrymple writing for the The Loop on reports of Amazon selling the Kindle e-reader at cost:

  That’s one way to do it I suppose. Or you could just design great products and make money on all of it.

  While there’s no problem with championing Apple’s business model, as Jim often does, this implies that Kindle e-readers aren’t great products. And that’s incorrect. Amazon’s latest Kindle, the Paperwhite, is one of the most highly reviewed consumer electronics products in recent memory, both by professional reviewers and consumers.

  In fact, according to Shawn King on The Loop earlier this month, the Kindle Paperwhite really shines:

  While I prefer the iPad, Amazon is doing a great job with the Kindle line. The reviews for the Kindle Paperwhite have all been quite complimentary. I’ve recommended various Kindles to any number of people who don’t need the full feature set or functionality of the iPad.

  It’s fine if Jim sincerely believes that Kindle e-readers are not great products, but that view is both inconsistent with his own site and most others. Just because Amazon’s business model differs from Apple’s does not necessarily mean that the products being sold are any less “great.” The Kindle Paperwhite is a perfect example.

• 2012-10-10

  The Magazine: Introducing the app blog

  Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper, has been hinting at a new app project on his podcast over the past several weeks. Today it launched in the App Store. It’s called The Magazine.

  What is it? Seems pretty obvious, right? Not so fast. The Magazine is a subscription-based app that provides four blog posts every two weeks. The blog posts may be old posts previously published on the web or future posts that will eventually appear on the web for free. In fact, the foreword, written by Arment himself, explains that The Magazine isn’t really a magazine at all. It’s an app blog. For $1.99 per month, you will receive eight curated blog posts, old or new. That’s it.

  Recently on App.net, Arment stated that people who knew about The Magazine pre-launch were surprised nobody thought of the idea sooner. That led me to believe it was incredibly clever. Disappointingly, The Magazine is merely a new business model to generate revenue from old and new blog posts. Arment could have easily designed it as a website, but chose to use the App Store subscription model instead. That’s the novelty in The Magazine. Blogs have traditionally used ads, web-subscriptions, paywalls, and sponsorships to generate revenue. To my knowledge, no mainstream technololgy blogs have tried a mobile subscription model. The Magazine will surely be your first blog in the notoriously empty iOS Newsstand.

  Now that we know what The Magazine actually is, should you subscribe? The Magazine is well-designed and focuses on great curated content. Arment is well-connected and should continue to provide blog posts from the best writers in the technology industry. For this reason, only someone like Arment could pull off such a project, which is probably why app blogs like this haven’t popped up before. I’ll be subscribing, and if you enjoy great technology writing, I think you should too.

2012-09-20

Google Maps for iOS 6 is already here

The launch of iOS 6 came with rave reviews for most of the features, but one update in iOS 6 has many people upset. The maps app in iOS 6 now uses Apple’s own maps instead of Google’s. A quick look at “The Amazing iOS 6 Maps” is all you need to understand why people are upset. Apple’s maps aren’t as good as Google’s. 

The YouTube app has also been removed from iOS 6, but here, Google released its own YouTube app into the App Store. People have been asking when Google will do the same for maps. Well, the good news is that Google Maps are already available as a standalone app in iOS 6, kind of. The Google+ Local app allows you to search for restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and other POIs and displays the results using Google’s maps. Cleverly, the button at the top, which allows you to “Open in Maps” doesn’t take you to Apple’s Maps app, but instead to Google’s own web app for maps.  Google’s web app provides most of the same features that the Google maps app did in iOS 5 and earlier, such as directions via car, public transit, walking and biking.

So, for local searching, which I suspect is one of the most popular uses for the maps app on the iPhone, the Google+ Local app appears to work quite well. It’s the best option we have until Apple improves its maps app, or Google releases a full-featured native maps app for iOS.

• 2012-09-19

  iOS 6 doesn’t bring iCloud.com email addresses to me.com users

  As reported by Ars Technica back in July, some developers with me.com email addresses were switched automatically to iCloud.com email addresses when using iOS 6 Beta 3. At the time, the assumption was that iOS 6 would automatically switch all me.com users to iCloud.com email addresses, while retaining the ability to use their me.com email address:

  Forget @mac.com or even @me.com—Apple is changing things up yet again when it comes to the e-mail domains given to subscribers. The company indirectly revealed on Monday that it plans to issue @icloud.com e-mail addresses to those using the mail feature of iCloud. If you are currently using a @me.com address from MobileMe but testing the iOS 6 betas, you’ll receive an @icloud.com e-mail that matches the previous one automatically.

  Well, iOS 6 is here and there is no option available at this time to obtain iCloud.com email addresses. At the moment, it appears that only new iCloud accounts will be given the iCloud.com domain. If you were looking to upgrade your me.com email to an iCloud address, hope is not lost. It is possible that this change is coming and Apple has yet to flip the switch. It just hasn’t happened yet.

  UPDATE: Apple has posted a support document, which states:

  For all existing iCloud users, Apple has reserved an @icloud.com email address. You will receive an @icloud.com equivalent for every @me.com or @mac.com email address or alias that you have as part of your account. For example, if you currently have trudymartin@me.com, you will now also have trudymartin@icloud.com.

  It will take a few weeks for Apple to grant you access to your new @icloud.com email address. You will be notified by email when the process is complete.

• →

  Office for Mac 2011 gets Retina display support at last

  Matthew Panzarino:

  The Microsoft Office team has announced that Office for Mac Retina support is now here in version 14.2.4. This means that Office 2011 will now look sharp and lovely on your Retina Macbook Pro.

  iOS 6 is exciting and all, but we knew that was coming. This is a nice surprise. It was interesting that the Retina MacBook Pro launched without support from many of the most popular software suites, including Office. Then it was reported that Microsoft had no plans to include Retina support in Office 2011. Retina support in Office has been a huge barrier to entry for many professionals lusting over the new Retina MacBook Pro. Now all the suits can upgrade without hesitation.

• 2012-09-18

  Jim Dalrymple reviews the iPhone 5

  I’ve been using the iPhone 5 as my main device for almost a week now and it has been a treat. As I do with all of my reviews, I want to give you an idea of how I use it in my life and how it performs in my daily tasks. To me, that is what makes a device like the iPhone 5 important, not the specs.

  The iPhone 5 reviews are going to be flowing heavily over the next few days. If you only have time to read one of them, this is it. A simple and elegant review of a simple and elegant device. And he loved it.

• →

  AT&T will be slapped with net neutrality complaint over FaceTime blocking

  GigaOm:

  Free Press, Public Knowledge, and the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute have informed AT&T that they intend to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against the wireless carrier for violating network neutrality rules. The complaint will address Ma Bell’s plan to keep certain subscribers from using Apple’s FaceTime video calling on the AT&T cellular network.

  Glad someone is on our side. Only time will tell whose side the FCC is on. Arbitrarily blocking FaceTime for iPhone users as a means to coerce them into switching data plans is utterly wrong and a clear violation of the the network neutrality rules. What’s the difference between using data over Skype or FaceTime? 

• →

  Archiving in the trash: The Instapaper UI

  So you’d like to save something forever. Would you throw it in the trash? Probably not. But Instapaper thinks that’s exactly where you should put it. Sometimes.

  Instapaper on the iPhone doesn’t have an archive button in either list view or reading view. In the list view, you’ll find it tucked within the trash can, which is normally dedicated for deletion. An unintuitive UI design choice to say the least. 

  

  In the reading view, you’d assume that you archive the same way. Nope. Here, you click the share button to find a delete, archive and share (huh?) button. Note that the identical share button has an entirely different purpose in list view, where it is used to access an open and copy menu. Same button, completely different uses in the same app. 

  

  Imagine if Android’s Gmail app made you click the trash to save something. We would certainly see complaining blog posts and snarky tweets all over the place. So why does Instapaper get a free pass?

• →

  How AT&T paid me $173.82 to go to Verizon

  So essentially, what AT&T told me today was that I can stay at AT&T and pay $500.00 to upgrade two of our iPhone 4S’s to iPhone 5′s, OR I can leave AT&T pay $320 and then get the iPhone 5′s for the normal $199 price elsewhere. AT&T more or less told me that they would pay me $180.00 to go to Verizon. And no one would budge to fix this.

  Same exact thing happened to me. I also asked the AT&T representative what his company would think of him if he let approximately $2,000 in fees fly out the door next year simply because he wouldn’t give me an upgrade. He told me he wasn’t allowed to do the upgrade, or else he’d be fired. Sounds like a sound business strategy to me.

  (via Daring Fireball)

• 2012-09-14

  Stop complaining people

  Virtual Pants (three weeks ago):

  On September 12th, let’s remember that we won’t see a new product category. We probably won’t see a radical new redesign. We will see a new and improved version of the best computer ever.

  And that’s exactly what we got.