REally great post, Ankh. A couple of comments:
Quote:
It is a part of net folklore that iPad was labeled as a "big screen iTouch"? Most of the owners agree that this was "a good thing"(tm). What Apple has achieved is maximization of their major strength, the fat inventory of iPhone/iTouch apps. The transition (of software) to bigger screen is almost finished, and Apple got where it wanted to be in very short time. If there is any weakness in their position, it is that very big number of apps that already exists, strange as it might sound. Why? Because Apple's hands are tied, the rate of hardware changes now and in the future has to be gradual not to hurt that apps inventory. They can not afford to redesign iPad (or introduce a new platform) if that means loosing large number of apps.
|
I see Apple extending the Ios platform a couple ways. The next step up for the Ipad will probably be " Ipad HD" - The Ipad with a Retina display for $999. That won't extend things very far, though.
I think the next big move for Apple - AppleTV sets, which will be TV, apps, and video game console rolled into one. They can certainly run withthat for a while. The current Apple TV will be built into these sets. ( You don't believe Jobs REALLY thought of Apple TV as a hobby, do you?
.)
Quote:
I am not surprised to see them failing to challenge iPad position. Those devices are paving the road for the future development, and from everything that I see, the answer will be highly asymmetric. Google, Nvidia, Asus, Acer and other names from the Android world have a staying power, sources of income that they can use to finance this war. And I don't expect them to give up like HP did.
|
WE'll see . At this point, it really does look to me that the iPad will dominate the tablet market, the way the iPod dominates the MP3 player market. They'll have 60-70% with a bunch of also-rans fighting over the rest.
Quote:
have no doubt that Amazon will make money. No doubt at all. But I do believe that Amazon will play precisely the Apple game, and play it well. Content, hardware used to lock in. Android is on the opposite end of the spectrum by nature. The OS (and integration) is open sourced. Forget Stallman's blabbering on very leftist view of the software and world in general, the open sourced platform is a juggernaut when it comes to its ability to minimize cost of maintenance. Users are more likely to report bugs, quite a few of them will take matters in their hands, dig into the code and supply a fix.
I am fairly certain that ChromeOS has already met his premature demise, and that Android has every chance of defining "a generic computing platform" of tomorrow.
|
Agree on Amazon. Willing to give Chrome more time before I pronounce it dead. Dunno about the rest