[djgreedo]

Originally Posted by MovieBird

iTunes doesn't come in a Linux variant. Nor is iTunes the premier ecosystem in my eyes when they use Apple specific formats.

iTunes has the best range of product (though Microsoft, Amazon, etc. are catching up very quickly), but iTunes is garbage. It's a terrible application for managing a music library, and it's ugly and sluggish. It's a shame I have to have it installed on my PC so I can buy music from the iTunes store. As soon as Microsoft or Google allow me to buy from them without having to circumvent geo restrictions I'll make a party out of uninstalling iTunes for the last time.

Even the inexplicably neglected Zune ecosystem is better than the Apple ecosystem (streaming 1080p on Xbox, buy from Xbox, PC, or Zune and play on either, Zune Pass, playback through Windows Media Center, 720p playback from Zune HD via HDMI vs iTunes and the Apple TV).

Micro USB is 3 mm tall (reference). The iPad is 13.4 mm thick, according to Wikipedia. I don't see a size issue, and considering that everybody else and their mother puts a USB slot on their device, I can't see cost being an issue either. They're simply commodity parts now. To not include something that won't mess with aesthetics, for pennies in hardware costs, that many people would find useful, seems asinine to me.

To Apple, aesthetics are far more important than flexibility and functionality. My phone and ereader both have micro-USB slots, and they are both thinner than an iPad.

It's also an advantage of the Apple way (from Apple's perspective). While companies like Microsoft are taking their time trying to cram features into their products so they can do whatever users want, Apple simply beats everyone to market with a stripped-down product (i.e. cheaper to make, easier to keep slim, better battery life) that appeals to people who don't really care about functionality or interoperability. A prime example is the iPad. Tablets have been around for a decade, and the oldest models can arguably do anything the iPad can (albeit with older screen/touch technology). But the older tablets were not pleasant to use. They never found the balance between functionality and usability. While the tablet PC makers were trying to make a tablet PC that was usable, Apple created a giant PDA that looked like a tablet but got a lot of usability from its drastic tradeoffs.

On a related note I think the fact that all of a sudden Apple are cagey about iPad sales figures (despite being a company that constantly brags about sales at every opportunity if they can get any positive spin) is interesting. Perhaps consumers are getting more tech savvy and thus less likely to fall for Apple's combination of brilliant marketing/crippled products. Then again, Apple might be holding off for a bigger sales announcement. If iPad sales have been phenomenal they may account for the equivalent of 10% of netbook sales, which would be impressive.

When it locks you into only one way of doing things, the Apple way, then it's not bolder. What if I don't have any other iDevice? I then look around at all the perfectly working older equipment I have that uses standard interfaces that I would have to replace with iDevices. It gets rather expensive when you do that.

DLNA is far superior to the iTunes solution. My PCs, TV, Blu-ray player, sound system and NAS are all DLNA compliant, and all interact with each other perfectly despite being from different manufacturers (i.e. I can choose which products I want based on any number of factors and not have to buy only from a single manufacturer to ensure interoperability).