Apple's "It's Show Time" media event discussion thread

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I only looked at the Smithsonian magazine earlier and it was one of the scanned ones, so no adjustable text size, no flowing text, basically looked like a scan turned into a PDF. I just now looked the National Geographic magazine and it looks pretty good and was formatted for News+, but it had huge page margins. Not much formatting option though, only text size. I'm not sure why Apple didn’t use Books for the viewing platform, that would have been much better.

Most of the selection is just ported over from Texture. Smithsonian is the same on Texture and I would assume other services like Zinio or Amazon. If the publisher doesn’t do the work to make their content feed reflowable, there is not much to be done about it.

[OtinG]

Got my new iPhone XR. Here are a couple of screenshots from it viewing the National Geographic magazine via News+.

It actually looks pretty good on the XR.

Oddly enough I cannot locate the Smithsonian magazine in News+ on my iPhone XR, but it is available on my iPad Pro 9.7”. I wonder if that is because it would be a royal PITA to read on the smaller screen since is doesn’t have flowing text? Also one thing is missing in News+ and that is a search function. I can’t find one anyway. I really don’t like having to browse to find something when I already know what I want to locate.

......

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

And so, it seems, does Apple. Otherwise why even bother. I heard (and I cannot say that its true or even remember where I read it) that Netflix rejected being included because Apple wanted a 30% cut. There needs to be a benefit both ways. If I was a provider, I would not take it on either, if thats true.

And you're right, most services are actually aimed at the US market and likely wont come to Australia or other countries outside the US.

The only thing thats going to show here is TV+ and I will ignore it, because the content is US-centric. We can't subscribe to some of your available services (like HBO, CBS AllAccess etc) because of geography and the stranglehold that Fox (Foxtel) has on providers like HBO and Showtime. CBS has bought our local Channel 10 and we now have 10Play which is a pretty crappy offering. We can't get access to the whole of CBS Allaccess because again, there are geo-restrictions.

Not the whole pie, just 30%.

The advantage is being on whatever platform your customers want to use. That's why Apple is pushing TV to smart TV's and Roku.

Well, Apple is a US company. Until things change and we don't have Geo-restrictions, I don't know that one can blame Apple because various services are Geo-restricted. Some of it is because of old business models, some of it is because of government regulations. TV tends to be heavily regulated in many countries and locations.

[pwalker8]

Oddly enough, the iPad mini is still not available for local store pickup. That seems pretty odd.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Not the whole pie, just 30%.

The advantage is being on whatever platform your customers want to use. That's why Apple is pushing TV to smart TV's and Roku.

Well, Apple is a US company. Until things change and we don't have Geo-restrictions, I don't know that one can blame Apple because various services are Geo-restricted. Some of it is because of old business models, some of it is because of government regulations. TV tends to be heavily regulated in many countries and locations.

Oh goodness I am not blaming Apple for georestrictions, I'm simply saying that those are things which make subbing to decent providers very difficult, and therefore make the new TV+ less attractive for those of us not in the US. I *would* sub to showtime if I could, ditto HBO. But I cant.

Apparently we are getting News+ later this year. It will be interesting to see what they manage to pull together for the rest of the world.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

Apparently we are getting News+ later this year. It will be interesting to see what they manage to pull together for the rest of the world.

News+ is misnamed. It should have been named Magazines+ because it currently has around 300 magazines and a just a few newspapers.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Oddly enough, the iPad mini is still not available for local store pickup. That seems pretty odd.

On Apple’s website they have this shipping note for iPad mini 5

Order today, delivers:
Apr 12 - Apr 17 – Free

Sounds like they don’t have many available for shipping if it takes that long. Maybe a supply chain issue, maybe they underestimated the demand, maybe none of the above.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

On Apple’s website they have this shipping note for iPad mini 5

Sounds like they don’t have many available for shipping if it takes that long. Maybe a supply chain issue, maybe they underestimated the demand, maybe none of the above.

My observation from previous releases, Apple brick and mortar stores have good supply upon launch. I think they prioritize stocking those. I think they keep separate stock for online pickup and store walk-ins, though. The online pickup, I believe, is available a bit later.

Then Apple online orders are shipped directly from factory as fast as they can make them. Typically, actual delivery dates are often 1-2 weeks earlier than the website estimate.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Oddly enough, the iPad mini is still not available for local store pickup. That seems pretty odd.

I picked one up at Best Buy yesterday. Cancelled my Amazon order as they said it had been back ordered already.

[OtinG]

I bet Apple underestimated the demand for a mini 5. They clearly let the mini line sit idle for years and we thought they would soon officially retire it but then they seem to have reluctantly updated the line with the new mini 5. From a personal perspective, I'm glad they did release a mini 5 and it definitely has a place in the mobile device community fitting in very nicely between the iPhones and full size iPads. I hear a lot of people saying/writing that why would anyone need a mini when the iPhones have fairly big screens now, especially if you get an 8 Plus or a XS Max. However, the mini remains very portable and has a much larger and much more usable screen than any iPhone when it comes to surfing the internet. For example, try viewing this forum on even a large screen iPhone. Maybe there is a hidden mobile version, but I cannot find one. It is viewable on an iPhone, but trying to type replies is very difficult due to the iOS interface and keyboard taking up so much space and the text being so small. No issue viewing and replying to posts for this website on a mini though. Compare that to the MacRumors forum that looks very nice and is formatted for smartphones.

Seriously though, is there a mobile version of this forum? I hope so as viewing it on my iPhone is a royal PITA.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

I picked one up at Best Buy yesterday. Cancelled my Amazon order as they said it had been back ordered already.

odd. Well, eventually they will stock them in the Apple stores and I'll buy one. I'm not in a huge hurry.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Seriously though, is there a mobile version of this forum? I hope so as viewing it on my iPhone is a royal PITA.

There is, but you won’t like it (or at least I’d rather use the full site). Cannot remember the URL, but it is ‘old style mobile friendly’, whereas it needs to be modern ‘responsive’ UI.

[tomsem]

Signed up for News+ (Planning to drop Texture). At least so far, The New Yorker shows up as ‘full pages’ on my iPad, but reflowable (no ads, but also no cartoons) on my iPhone. Neither is what it looks like in Texture, or, I think in TNY app. I can probably get used to it. At least it is consistent across publications. I don’t necessarily like Texture’s recommendations, hope Apple can improve on this.

There seems to be a slightly better (for the most part) selection than Texture: Scientific American, more photography and musician oriented publications. Not seeing Smithsonian today.

I don’t see any way to view past issues, but maybe they accumulate over time.

[Edit: something kicked in: now it is reflowable on both iPhone and iPad]

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I bet Apple underestimated the demand for a mini 5. They clearly let the mini line sit idle for years and we thought they would soon officially retire it but then they seem to have reluctantly updated the line with the new mini 5.

Nah. 1-2 weeks is pretty tame for a new launch. I've seen shipping estimates that slipped to 1-2 months for other products. No sense ramping up manufacturing capacity to perfectly meet launch demand when it would just sit idle the rest of the year.

Originally Posted by OtinG

Seriously though, is there a mobile version of this forum? I hope so as viewing it on my iPhone is a royal PITA.

http://www.mobileread.mobi/forums/

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tomsem

There is, but you won’t like it (or at least I’d rather use the full site). Cannot remember the URL, but it is ‘old style mobile friendly’, whereas it need to be modern ‘responsive’ UI.

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

http://www.mobileread.mobi/forums/

Wow, that is worse than sucks, almost criminal to be that terrible of a mobile friendly website! The word "mobile" is in this sites name, they really need to make it smartphone friendly. Yes, I do prefer the full size version!