Here are a few articles that are worth reading – best of Monday.
iPhone Reviews and Some Thoughts
There are a host of iPhone reviews – these are representative:
iPhone 3GS from Register Hardware
The game-changer that iPhone made to the cell phone market is stunning. Apps are now the game and everyone else is playing catch-up to generate cell phone apps. This article gets into the pot of gold iPhone apps have become for software developers, this article gets into the “dark side” – how being the apps gate-keeper opens up questions about censorship.
Having used the iPhone this weekend, I can attest that cell phone apps will become one of the hottest software markets ever. I can download a very credible marine app that will give me GPS charts on the water for $4.99. Considering that a good chart plotter costs at least $500, draw your own conclusions. Tom Tom is developing an app with associated hardware that will compete with stand-alone GPS units; no pricing, but it will most likely be a lot less than a stand-alone.
IMHO Apple’s iPhone is 10% phone and 90% mobile computer. If you only need a mobile PC to check some emails, there’s no need for a netbook. It’s not a netbook, but who knows what iPhone 4 or 5 will look like? Could be that Apple’s netbook will look more like an iPhone than a netbook.
RIAA Wins $1.9 Million Judgement Against File Sharer
Jammie Thomas-Rasset, in a jury trial, lost the trial and now owes the RIAA $1.92 million for sharing 24 songs. Ars Technica explores what options are possible for her – good read. TechDirt has a great article on how the RIAA views this award, some defending it as “fair”. Give me a break! Read the comments – always a good read.
Dying Desktop Demand
Good article referencing a study from iSuppli which shows a 23% drop in demand for desktops. Laptops are gaining share and frankly are fundamentally changing the PC business. Look around at the decline in PC hardware sites and you get the idea; my last foray to my local computer show was depressing – maybe 20% of what it used to be and an absolute lack of traffic. It’s rapidly becoming a laptop-small-form-factor world and I’m beginning to feel like the last-iceman on the block.
Steve Jobs Gets New Liver, Returns to Apple
The perennial question – how much does Apple need Steve Jobs? This article from CNN explores this issue with no real conclusion – and frankly that’s about where it will rest for some time. Don’t kid yourself, though – a company develops a culture that starts from the top and works down. Even though Apple is certainly a mature company and will survive without Steve Jobs (he IS mortal, after all), how well it survives and how many game-changing products it introduces post-Jobs is an open question.
As an example, take a look at Ford. A change in management and a thrust to smaller, greener hybrids same from the top, not from the bottoms-up. The mess that Chrysler and GM find themselves in is not due to the thousands of workers making cars – it comes from a myopic top-floor management that is running on fumes. DeLorean was a visionary and the old-line antibodies kicked in and spit him out.
Apple will not be the same company post-Jobs; and OK company but it may not deliver the game-changing technologies we are used to seeing.
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