Google's Android is Eating Apple's Lunch

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by teh603

So much consumption, so little attempts at sustainability.

In future years, there hopefully will be relatively more discussion of device repair, and less of device acquisition.

While I stand ready to fix our family Kindles, Amazon keeps on giving free replacements, some seemingly outside warranty. When they stop doing that, I'll start repairing.

As for soldered CPU's as a blow against sustainability, you can argue it, but isn't it a stretch? I like the idea I could upgrade a CPU, but never actually have. There must be a few broken PC's out there needing a new CPU, but compared to a bad power supply or bad hard drive or bad keyboard or bad mouse, the bad CPU problem is rare. And soldered CPU's may be a tad more reliable.

[HappyMartin]

I upgraded my MacBook. Had one of the new retina MacBooks on order until I discovered no FireWire card and no way to fit one. Upgraded the ram on the old machine, chucked out the DVD burner and put in a SSD drive for a start up disc. Replaced the original HD with a 1 TB drive. That is the type of upgrade that extends the life of a machine by at least 2 years saving me good money.

Was going to buy a new Mac Pro desk top machine but no upgrade by apple in that sector for 3 years. Canned that purchase as well.

I can now point to 3 apple purchases I didn't make, laptop, iPhone and desktop machine.

I don't think they will notice as they watch people batter and claw at each other to buy the new iPhone.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I'm actually hoping that Windows will expand the customer base to people who didn't consider either Apple or Android.

Well,

I'll pre-order the Surface Pro as soon as I'm able. Because we have to test books on virtually (ha!) every device, I have an iPad. It's a nice toy--but it's lousy, in my opinion, for real productivity, as in, actual work. Yes, it has reminder apps and calendars, but for any type of keyboarding, I find it horrible. The apps don't really work cross-platform (trust me, I've tried), and I'm also very...displeased by the "you don't need to know how it works" patronizing attitude that Apple takes. When something does not work how you expect it to, there's nary a real manual in sight. Can I play word games and Sudoku on it? Yes. Do I read on it? I read Pulse and Flipboard, but not books. I find the thing far too heavy for any extended reading time. Does it do some flashy things very well, like the dreaded "Survivors" Immersedition book? Yes. But to me, it's a toy, not a real tool.

I was hungrily eyeballing various Droid tablets before the advent of the Surface, and from what I've seen of it thus far, I'm fairly impressed with it. Does it have nine billion apps? No, but I'm not seeking nine billion apps (I have never played "angry birds" and don't really know what it is, other than a game), I want something I can do serious keying on, and that's certainly not the iPad. Touchscreens are spiffy, but they suck for real keying, as we all know. I don't care if a magic voice (Siri, GoogNow) talks to me. I just want something that I can do actual WORK on. </rant>

As far as Apple's market share, versus everyone else's, my sole observation on this is that if Jobs were still alive, he would never have allowed the company to do something as boneheaded as naming their new product the "mini-pad." (And yes, I know, that's not the REAL name). I can promise you that while guys may not think that when they see ads for it, women do. I've actually started calling my Nano (for workouts) "The Tampon." (This also tells me something very interesting about how many women are in top spots--really--at Apple; or how seriously their input is taken vis-a-vis product design/naming/release. Because trust me, no woman would have been that stupid.)

I know it sounds trivial...but Jobs was all about the trivial. He understood his market; he knew that his devices appealed to right-brainers, not left, generally speaking. Deisgners and other creative types, rather than business users. He knew that "cool" was a huge part of Apple's marketability and appeal. Things like rounded corners, eye-candy, etc. In a million years, a product that would be called the 'mini-pad' would not have escaped without him cleverly renaming it to something ELSE, even if it was a dumb-ish name ("Lisa," anyone?). Now, this alone certainly is no death knell for Apple, but I think it's indicative of slippage. It's the small things that, to me, seem to indicate the lack of that minute, Jobs-ian oversight that he wielded to ensure that people would line up to spend absurd amounts of money for bloody PHONES, for the love of heaven. I think that small slippage will continue to show up, and continue to cause erosion in the market share. Now, I could be dead wrong--it wouoldn't be the first time; but that's what I see.

Hitch

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Touchscreens are spiffy, but they suck for real keying, as we all know.

Have you seen the new ultrabooks with touchscreen?

[elcreative]

Hitch... what sort of actual work... I'm currently getting plenty done but any warnings about the the terrible nature of doing work would be appreciated as would the nature of apps not working cross-platform - do you mean the output or what??

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by 5thWiggle

But Apple has walked off with all the roast beef, the seafood and most of the desserts...

... eventually suffering a bad heart attack from all that saturated fat

Meanwhile, android, feasting on the bulk of the buffet -- with a well balanced diet of poultry, fish, eggs, veggies, fruit, nuts and grains -- remained sprightly and healthy and continued to prosper and thrive.

Personally, I don't want anyone to "win". Competition means choice and I like choice.

We all want that, which is why I am rooting against Apple for its anti-competitive behavior in courts around the world. That has had or will have the effect of diminishing choice for consumers, especially in the U.S. where Apple's litigation strategy is having initial success.

What I saw in the charts was that though Apple (one company) had less market share overall (US numbers), it had vastly more profits than most of its competitors combined. The worldwide numbers just make worse.

Actually, the top chart showed that the other companies listed combined had over twice the net revenues of Apple. And that chart really didn't even show all of Apple's competitors. It was a somewhat random and haphazard sampling of companies, which questions the value of the chart to begin with.

Android is now king in terms of worldwide market share. And if you value competition as you say you do, then you will welcome that. Because instead of hegemony, it means the proliferation by different companies of different devices running android -- more choice for consumers!

--Pat

[MovieBird]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

I have one significant design complaint, they did not use a 'dedicated' graphics card and that is a sin for a "pro" laptop. Means we won't be using them for our mobile 3D CAD workstations (probably have to keep using HP EliteBooks).

What 3D CAD works on OSX? I've been looking forever for a decent Linux CAD, but the only decent products I've seen are on Windows.

[Penforhire]

MovieBird, I'd be using Boot Camp or Parallels in Windows for programs like Creo, AutoCAD, and Lightwave. I'm not a Mac-OS user (only iOS) but their hardware is sometimes worth 'Hackintoshing.'

You mentioned Linux CAD. Is there no Microstation version for that? A long time ago we ran Microstation on Sun sparc boxes running Unix.

Hitch, what productivity issues did you notice? I'm still coming up to speed but I've got my desktop OneNote files working fine through Outline+. Haven't decided on my primary word processor yet, maybe Docs to Go if I want desktop sync. Otherwise maybe Paper or iA Writer if I'm willing to jump through more sync hoops. Sugarsync is working fine but it seems Dropbox support is integrated into more apps so I may be adding that. I've been using Handbase for a relational database since my Palm days and it works reasonably well in iOS as well (you do also have to buy the desktop program if you want desktop functionality beyond CSV files).

For handwritten note I decided on Note Taker HD and Wacom's Bamboo stylus but I haven't used it as much yet. Tried a Targus stylus but didn't like it, tip too soft. I know I eventually need to try Adonit's Jot stylus.

After a week I'm still very happy with Logitech's Ultraslim keyboard cover. Decent keyboard feel, perfect styling, no lag, lots of battery life, and some nice function buttons like select next or last word. I carry the combined device in a neoprene sleeve (keyboard cover does not protect sides or rear).

[MovieBird]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

You mentioned Linux CAD. Is there no Microstation version for that? A long time ago we ran Microstation on Sun sparc boxes running Unix.

Unfortunately, Microstation only runs on Windows these days. I don't know what all of these companies are going to do with W8...

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

I upgraded my MacBook. Had one of the new retina MacBooks on order until I discovered no FireWire card and no way to fit one. Upgraded the ram on the old machine, chucked out the DVD burner and put in a SSD drive for a start up disc. Replaced the original HD with a 1 TB drive. That is the type of upgrade that extends the life of a machine by at least 2 years saving me good money.

Was going to buy a new Mac Pro desk top machine but no upgrade by apple in that sector for 3 years. Canned that purchase as well.

I can now point to 3 apple purchases I didn't make, laptop, iPhone and desktop machine.

I don't think they will notice as they watch people batter and claw at each other to buy the new iPhone.

I have a 13 or 14 year old Dell. It was an XPS desktop. 2 drive bays and loaded with stuff I never use these days. 100MB Iomega, 3 1/2 inch floppy.
The Ram has been increased from 128 to 768MB. The (about) 12GB system drive to 120GB and the 2nd bay has a 320GB in it. Added USB2, Firewire, Ethernet, and some other stuff. Still has a 450Mhz 1 core pentium. I thought of changing the cpu, but I was told there was a motherboard problem. Only has a CD drive on it.

Still it will do most of what I want with certain exceptions.
I have moved my Small Business TAX program to my ladyfriends Toshiba.
I normally have "Flash" cut off to help with the speed.
I use GOM which is adaptable to old machines when it plays video, but I still miss out on the quick stuff, so I don't play video on it much.
I have noticed that my 12Mbps internet feed only comes in at 5 or 6MB on a direct wire to my computer, but on the Toshiba which is actually on the wireless router, it will be 10 or 11 MB. Other visiting machines like a Mac Book Pro also get 10 or 11MB.
So my computer itself cuts down the speed of the internet.

MS Office or Google Docs work fine.

I could have bought 6 or 7 computers during the lifetime of that machine. That is money that has gone to other things.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Have you seen the new ultrabooks with touchscreen?

No, I have not. Do you like them?

Hitch

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Hitch

No, I have not. Do you like them?

They were presenting Windows 8 on Acer hardware, and I played around with one. The hardware is nice, the screen was responsive, and it felt quite natural to mix using the keyboard with touching the screen. The OS on the other hand was a little annoying.

I'm trying to decide if it's better to go for a tablet with a keyboard docking station or an ultrabook with a touchscreen.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

I could have bought 6 or 7 computers during the lifetime of that machine. That is money that has gone to other things.

Spent it all on women, didn't you?

Originally Posted by MovieBird

Unfortunately, Microstation only runs on Windows these days. I don't know what all of these companies are going to do with W8...

Why would Windows 8 make a difference for CAD? Good old Windows is still there to run their software as-is, and CAD software is sufficiently specialized that people will go out and shop for it (i.e. they don't have to play by Microsoft's rules to sell in Microsoft's store).

[MrDoug]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

I have a 13 or 14 year old Dell. It was an XPS desktop. 2 drive bays and loaded with stuff I never use these days. 100MB Iomega, 3 1/2 inch floppy.
The Ram has been increased from 128 to 768MB. The (about) 12GB system drive to 120GB and the 2nd bay has a 320GB in it. Added USB2, Firewire, Ethernet, and some other stuff. Still has a 450Mhz 1 core pentium. I thought of changing the cpu, but I was told there was a motherboard problem. Only has a CD drive on it.

Still it will do most of what I want with certain exceptions.
I have moved my Small Business TAX program to my ladyfriends Toshiba.
I normally have "Flash" cut off to help with the speed.
I use GOM which is adaptable to old machines when it plays video, but I still miss out on the quick stuff, so I don't play video on it much.
I have noticed that my 12Mbps internet feed only comes in at 5 or 6MB on a direct wire to my computer, but on the Toshiba which is actually on the wireless router, it will be 10 or 11 MB. Other visiting machines like a Mac Book Pro also get 10 or 11MB.
So my computer itself cuts down the speed of the internet.

MS Office or Google Docs work fine.

I could have bought 6 or 7 computers during the lifetime of that machine. That is money that has gone to other things.

If I were you I would blow the dust of your wallet and enjoy the latest and greatest. just my 3 cents.