Publishers dont drive change in the ebook industry: Shatzkin on Apple's move

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DMB

Does this mean that if, say, I wanted to install MS Office on my hypothetical iPad, I would have to buy it from the Apple store?

Correct.
Except there is no MS Office or Open Office or equivalent.
There are light duty document viewer/editor apps and Apple sells their equivalent to MS Works as unbundled apps.

iPad is not a Macintosh tablet and should not be cross-shopped or compared to laptops or Windows TabletPCs. iPad is, rather, a derivative of iPod touch and iPhone and is based on smartphone technology (ARM CPUs, Flash storage, etc) instead of x86 desktop-derived tech. You *can* use them to carry out some light productivity work (just as people used to do on PalmPilots and PocketPCs) but that is not what they are designed to do; iPads are *not* full-function computers and cannot be turned into computers. (I've seen it tried, though.)

What iPads are primarily designed for is (paid) content consumption, gaming, and non-Flash web surfing.
(Flash-based web sites are designed for desktop PC browsers and eat up too many resources to provide a smooth and responsive experienced on ARM-based hardware so rather than try, Apple just told website developers to stop using Flash and use HTML5. This has not yet happened.)

[DMB]

Thanks very much for the information. I had no idea they were so limited. Clearly, an iPad would not make a good replacement for a laptop. Do the same limitations obtain on Android tablets?

[afa]

I would wait for fjtorres's more detailed reply, but in short, yes.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

http://www.skyfire.com/en/product/iphone

And this allows interactive flash how?

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by DMB

Clearly, an iPad would not make a good replacement for a laptop.

Depends on your uses. If you primarily do email, surf the web, watch videos etc. then it works fine. If you write your latest magnum opus or need an Ethernet jack, a laptop is likely a better option.

Originally Posted by DMB

Do the same limitations obtain on Android tablets?

Not that I know of. A lot of the limitations are because iOS doesn't really give you access to the file system in the same way as a typical computer.

Each app has its own "bucket" of storage, so you have to use iTunes as an intermediary to copy files to and from the device. Some apps now do allow more system-wide access to files, but I found it to be rather clunky in this respect.

AFAIK with Android you can run whatever apps you want, you don't have to go through Google Market, and you can access the device's file system normally.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Apple just told website developers to stop using Flash and use HTML5. This has not yet happened.)

Sure its happening. See my sig for one example.

I can provide others.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Not that I know of. A lot of the limitations are because iOS doesn't really give you access to the file system in the same way as a typical computer.

Read this developers interaction with the manager:

http://www.sethclifford.me/stream/20...my-pocket.html

when I went to Staples, I asked the sales guy for the 10.1 and the first thing he said was "What are you buying it for?" When I replied, "development", he said "Ok, because this thing isn't going to replace a laptop for you". No problem, I assured him, we're app devs, and we know what we're doing. Then, the manager came over to verify the coupon I had and asked the same question again. Again I replied "development" and he asked "Of what?" rather indignantly.

"Uh, Android apps?" I replied incredulously.

"Oh, ok, because we're selling a lot of these things, and we get a LOT of them back. People buy them thinking they're getting rid of a laptop, and they all come back returning them."

[BearMountainBooks]

I didn't read through all the posts, so someone probably already posted about Amazon's plan to be able to sell on iPad without having to do the 30 percent cut. Basically...there's an app for that...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/government...rictions/10701

[stonetools]

The Kindle Cloud Reader has a lot of potential, but it really doesn't make it any more convenient for Ios customers.

For what its worth, Apple has always pushed web apps as an alternative to native apps.

And, most importantly, Apple needs to do a better job emphasizing what HTML5 mobile web apps are capable of, and that such apps are completely open for both developers and users. To use the walled garden metaphor, Apple needs to make more people aware that right across the street from the App Store’s beautiful but tightly controlled and regulated walled garden, there’s a very nice public park, open to everyone.

A web app store, as per Eric Meyer’s suggestion I linked to earlier today, should not and will not come from Apple. Apple should host a directory of great HTML5 apps that work well on iPhones and iPads — and do a better job bragging about HTML5, WebKit, and the iPhone OS’s status as the best platform for completely open mobile web content.

DARING FIREBALL

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by DMB

Thanks very much for the information. I had no idea they were so limited. Clearly, an iPad would not make a good replacement for a laptop. Do the same limitations obtain on Android tablets?

As mentioned, the simple answer is yes. The more complicated answer is that Android, in allowing more open-source apps, could allow for more complex uses that would never get past Apple's filters. However, at the moment--tablets are media consumption devices with customizability and some input allowances; you can enter data into pre-set programs, but no programs exist for complex data manipulation & management.

Can enter text. Lousy platform for writing a novel. Can round up bookmarks online; lousy platform for designing webpages. Can track checkbook spending; lousy platform for business accounting.

If there's *one particular thing* you want to be able to do, you might find an app for it. Or a small cluster of apps. But there's no elegant cross-app coordination for managing creative or business work, and it's not likely to exist in the future.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

but no programs exist for complex data manipulation & management.

Open Office gives you Word documents and Excel spreadsheets if you buy the paid version.

I have it on my phone.

The fact is, tablet processors now are as powerful as the pentium II machine I built in 1998 and they have orders of magnitude more memory.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Android, in allowing more open-source apps, could allow for more complex uses that would never get past Apple's filters.

An example or two, please.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

An example or two, please.

Example of uses that could never get past Apple's filters? Or more complex apps?

Don't have specifics for either; I just know that Apple has booted out a number of open source apps (some open source licenses clash with Apple's TOU), and Apple puts strict constraints on its apps.

I don't know if one open source app could access another one to allow coordination between files--I'm pretty sure Apple isn't going to allow apps that do nothing but manipulate another app's content.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Don't have specifics for either; I just know that Apple has booted out a number of open source apps (some open source licenses clash with Apple's TOU)

Actually open source groups have forced Apple to pull apps, because the OS groups say the licence conflicts. (At least in the examples I have seen, for example VLC: http://www.macstories.net/news/vlc-f...-now-on-cydia/)

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Actually open source groups have forced Apple to pull apps, because the OS groups say the licence conflicts. (At least in the examples I have seen, for example VLC: http://www.macstories.net/news/vlc-f...-now-on-cydia/)

The OS licenses predate the Apple license; those apps should never have been approved. I don't consider the OS supporters to be bad guys for saying, "no, you can't keep distributing our work in violation of the license by which it's made available." It's not difficult to comply with an OS license; Apple refused.

The apps are still available--for anyone who isn't working through Apple's restrictions on use.