My Bite Into Apple

“Apple’s done a very nice job that allows people to monetize and commercialize their intellectual property,”

Some dude from The Seattle Times (I tried giving you guys a link, but it looks like the post was removed, anywho, the guy who wrote it is Brier Dudly) is translating the above statement from Steve Ballmer into “Microsoft is trying to make friends with Apple because Google is going sneak up behind both of them”, which isn’t neccisarily a bad thing too assume.

First off, let me say I think it’s “cool” that Steve Ballmer can openly admit that Apple did a great job with the App Store, and not be a dick and add something at the end like “but Microsoft can do it better”.

Getting back to the Apple-Microsoft-Google-thing; Google is becoming a serious threat. They’ve pretty much launched themselves into every market Apple and Microsoft is in except computer hardware. If Steve Ballmer is really recognizing them as a threat, and trying to get some friendship with Apple going, he deserves a pat on the back for seeing the threat so soon.

I don’t think it’s likely that Google will ender the computer hardware market, but it is already obvious that the Windows 7 Phone Series, the iPhone, and all the phones on Android will be duking it out over the next few years.

I’m waiting to see what Apple’s response will be. I’m guessing there won’t be one at all for two reasons:

1. Apple still sees Microsoft as an enemy/wants to still see them as a enemy.

2. They don’t see Google as much of a threat as Microsoft does.

I think 2 is very understandable, Apple has so much more market share with the iPhone than Microsoft does (duh) and probably will have more as long as the iPhone exists, therefore, Google and Android aren’t really a threat.

Earlier this afternoon I saw a tweet by David Chartier (http://davebc.com/) in my Tweetie timeline, it read: “Theory: The Apple Product that stands to be cannibalized the most by iPad is MacBook Air. Discuss.” It is quite an observation actually. I hadn’t heard anyone talk about the iPad conflicting with the MacBook Air since it’s release. Why didn’t anyone else blog about it?

Simple. No one was thinking about the MacBook Air in the first place. The MacBook Air has already been eaten. Before the iPad shipping date announcement, before the “Come see our Latest Creation” event on January 27,  and before the the rumors of an Apple tablet. The Apple tablet, iPad, did not eat the MacBook Air.

It ate itself.

Netbooks were on the rise, and Apple wanted to enter that market. So, they put out the MacBook Air. However, it was not a netbook, in fact, Apple even said it wasn’t a netbook when they released it. They called it an “ultra-portable”.

Apple believed downsizing was not a good idea, and, frankly it isn’t. Netbooks are kind of like a trap; they are advertised to be just as useful as normal laptops, but they aren’t. In summary, Apple entered the netbook market without entering the netbook market. They released the MacBook Air as a way of saying Apple can still compete with smaller devices.

At the January 27 event Steve Jobs addressed netbooks directly, saying they were slow, had old software, and so on. He said that Apple had something that does some tasks better than netbooks, normal computers, and smart phones. This was of course the iPad.

That being said, the MacBook Air seems completely irrelevant now; at least in terms of usefulness. If I was handed a MacBook Air of course I would take it, it’s sleek, sexy, does everything another laptop would do, and it’s by Apple. But, why pay a premium for something that already has a premium (Apple products guys) when you could get something that looks practically the same, has a superdrive, more ports, and is cheaper?

I’ve been asked to do an article on iPad (by my self and others) and I have tried to sit down and write about it more than a couple times; but I can’t bring my self to get more than a paragraph out. In fact, I’m still struggling to get my thoughts out clearly now, but I’m pretty sure they won’t come out the way I want them too even if I try, so I’m just going to throw it down on the table for you all. I want to talk about iPad. “OH NOT ANOTHER ONE” is probably your first thought, but bare with me, I’m trying to make this as different as I possibly can. I’ve jumped views on the iPad quite a few times since it’s release, but I am now declaring my self neutral on the topic. After reading this post I do expect you to find “neutral” the completely wrong word to describe my stance, but this blog is about what I think, and if I think I’m neutral, then I’m neutral.

So, iPad. The geeks and Apple fan boys (and girls) take the name very seriously, and the iPod-weilding teenagers listening to crappy music make jokes about it (for obvious reasons). My friend Josh Helfferich had a part of him die when he learned the iPad was called the iPad, but I expect that piece of him to grow back, along with all the others who were disappointed by the iPad’s name. This is just like iPhone. What a completely un-original name! Look at it now. Probably the most-known phone in the entire world. I expect the same thing to happen with iPad, it will grow on people. And I’m not just talking about the name here.

The iPad will continue to grow onto people into all aspects, JUST LIKE THE IPHONE. It’s funny that so many dismiss the iPad because of it’s “lack of features” and “flash” because that was the same reason the first iPhone was dismissed. Look at it now. iPhone users get by easily without flash. We’ve got HTML5 and H.264, so up yours Adobe! There has not been one time were I’ve wanted to visit a website and view it’s content but couldn’t because I didn’t have flash on my iPhone. Not once! It’s because developers saw that the iPhone was a popular platform and they re-designed and re-coded their websites to be compatible with the iPhone. Now, that did take them a while. I know we didn’t get mobile versions of Facebook, Digg, and Twitter right away, but that was because Apple had not allowed third-party applications. Now, iPad is out, and it has that opportunity to be noticed and developed for. We don’t need flash! It’s really that simple. But you’ve heard that a million times, let’s move on.

The iPhone was Apple’s test iPad. The iPhone is the iPad Nano (yeah I stole that deal with it). That’s why they were so slow at improving it. They wanted to see what people could live with and what they couldn’t live without. Now that the iPhone is main-stream and has all the features that people expected for it to be in the first place, Apple is rolling out the iPad. But, I think it’s still a test. I think it’s still the second phase out of three, or four, maybe five. They are going to slowly roll out features on the iPad like with the iPhone. iSight, iChat, iLife, Superdrive, whatever they put it in, unlikely or likely, they are going to do it slowly.

There is still more to come, whether it’s from the Mac, from the iPhone, from the iPad, from the iPod, or from the iWhatever. Take Apple’s tests. When they give you them back you will not be disappointed.

When I hear something like “James is up to the bat. Were down by four and the bases are loaded. He needsto do this. He better not blow it.” I can’t help but think of the business world. Baseball and business is what I like to call it. They are two completely different things, yet they are completely the same thing at the same time. Baseball is a game involving a bat, usually wooden, a field, usually green and grassy, and a ball, usually white and leathery. Businesses (more specifically Apple) are no different. Sure, this is a wide claim for a fourteen year old blogger, but it really does make sense.

The bat, or the batter, is the company it’s self. The company has been given a chance to gain reputation and make lots of money, or in baseball terms; they are next in line to bat or they have stepped up to the plate to get a home run, win the game, and make the crowd go wild over them. Now, the overall success of the hit (or release of the product) all depends on the people, if any, on the bases (product supporters; features, partner companies). It also depends on how fast (demanding) the pitch (public) is. You follow me?

If I release a lamp that completely and utterly shatters all other lamps in that market but no one had asked for it to be made or no one had rumored about it, or created hype about it, it wont sell. It’s the basics of the basics of our known world. My dad once said something very wise: “Nothing sells unless there is demand, no matter how ‘great’ it is.”

In this case, the bases are loaded. There are tons of people who want to see a tablet or another significant update, like iPhone OS four. They are also throwing a fast pitch. They want it quickly and they want it now. Rumors are swirling around and hype is being created. Apple is James, they have the bat. The public is the bases and the ball. The field is opportunity for Apple. They need to hit the ball in the correct part of the field in order to get the runners home and score some points; in order to please the crowd.

Apple needs to hit this ball. Hard.

So it’s the beginning of 2010, and Apple is supposedly going to release a tablet at an event scheduled for the 26th of this month (Now 27th). The Apple tablet rumors have swirled around since the death (kind-of) of the Apple Newton. It was not until late 2007 that rumors really started to fly. Several different mockups have popped up in the past couple of years. A mockup by Chris Messina’s stands out. It was created in November of 2007. Have a look here. Chris not only creates a beautiful concept, but gives also gives a description of what will be inside. He specifically notes that it will run iPhone OS, and says if Apple were to make a tablet, it should run iPhone OS too.

This has sparked lots of debate within the community. Most of the population has said iPhone OS, like Chris has, but that would be very inefficient. the iPhone 3GS, which runs at $199 USD runs the iPhone OS lightning fast. If Apple is going to build a tablet with a price of at least $500 USD (That’s what the WSJ said) don’t you think it would be smarter to put something better on it? Perhaps Mac OS X? (I’m assuming the innards will be pretty decent).

The large group of Mac users looking forward to a tablet from Apple are graphic designers. Macs have continued to gain market share and support from graphic designers because the operating system handles pixels, colors, and graphics in general better than Windows. Graphic designers live by Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop; does iPhone OS run the full version of either of those? No, therefore, Apple would miss the mark and disappoint a large group of the people who would like this tablet.

To end this post I have interviewed Sebastiaan de With, an extremely talented designer to find out what he would like to see from the tablet. Enjoy.

1. Before we begin, I’d like to note that you were offered a job at Apple, could you tell readers that are unfamiliar with this what kind of work they wanted you to do?
They wanted me to take a place at their OS X design team. This involves doing work on Mac OS X; everything from how Safari looks, for instance, to the Dock, menubar and other UI elements. Almost too much to list :). What it does *not* include are the iLife apps, and the ‘ProApps’ - these have their own design groups. I’d like to go over all the reasons why I’d have liked to work there and why I didn’t go for it eventually, but that warranted an entire blog post of its own on my website, so I won’t get into that.

2. What is your current setup and how does it help you with your work?
I use a 30” Apple Cinema Display (I’d seriously like an LED model, but I won’t step down from 2560x1600. It’s liberating, and the colors are still great) and an eight-core Mac Pro. I prefer it over an iMac, because it lets me install my own upgrades. I went from a 500 GB drive and 4 GB of RAM to two TB of storage and 16 GB of RAM, which makes a huge difference!I also love gaming, and it’s a beast with the right graphics card.As a second monitor / drawing utensil I use the Wacom Cintiq 12WX. It’s a drawing tablet with a screen. I hate regular tablets, but for sketching and doodles it’s a great little device. I don’t ‘draw’ my regular work with it though. For that I use a recently acquired Razer Mamba mouse, which offers fantastic precision. I’m extremely picky when it comes to mouses, so I go through at least two to three per year.I also use a unibody 17” Macbook Pro extensively. Its high-resolution screen and amazing battery life are great.

3. Would a tablet replace a current item in your setup? Could you find an Apple tablet useful in your workflow? What would you use it for?
It wouldn’t really replace anything. If I had a 13” Macbook, it might replace that. I’d obviously -have- to get the tablet because I need it for design work :) I’ve already had offers from people who aren’t even sure about the device yet, but want designs done in advance to be ready when it hits.I’d probably use it for video consumption (I love anime and TV series), strategy games (huge possibilities) and browsing the web. And pretending I’m in a science fiction movie, as well.

4. What do you think Apple is going to put into the tablet?
A screen. Perhaps a touchscreen.No, in all seriousness, a top-grade capacitive touchscreen like the iPhone’s, at about 10”, with some internal storage, probably on par with the iPod touch’s internals or more. Some sort of fast mobile chipset that allows for a long battery life would seem logical, but I am also quite sure they’ll make sure it has some punch in the graphics department. Apple’s seen the opportunity games have now, and I am sure they won’t let go of it anymore.Apart from that, the most amazing software. It’s not a Mac, it’s not an iPhone, so that leaves us with something new. Since they had a chance to re-imagine the way software looks and works for the iPhone, I am sure they’ll do the same here, building on some conventions from the iPhone and far less from the Mac. The only avenue to put software on it will obviously be the App Store, but I do hope for wireless syncing – it might be a nice alternative to having such a huge clunker tethered to your Mac.

5. What would you like to see in the Apple tablet? (Size, specs, OS)
A bit over 10”. Very little bezel, mostly screen. Fingerprint resistance. An X86 processor (Moblin would be cool) or some sort of power to virtualize old Windows games (hello, Command and Conquer and Total Annihilation). I wouldn’t bet on that though - it’s probably something more power efficient, which’d also be welcome. I’d love 3G connectivity, but I am not sure if that’s in the cards. Lots of RAM for multi-tasking would also be neat.My biggest dream though? What I detailed in my MobileMe Home post on my blog: total data portability, having my files anywhere on my tablet, my media in ‘the cloud’, being able to listen to my music and watch all my videos on demand. Real sci-fi material. That’s a dream, but a sweet one. Only a tablet can pull that off nicely.The OS? Eh, it’ll simply be ‘tablet OS’, and I trust Apple has done a kick-ass job on it. They’ve been working on it for a few years now.

6. What is one thing (or a couple of things) that the Apple tablet must have for you to buy it? Would you buy it regardless of what was inside it?
It would have to be shipping, that’s pretty much all. As I mentioned, people are so crazy about it already I’m sure I’ll be designing a lot for it. As a consumer, though: it’d have to be made clear to me why I’d want it, and I’m sure Apple would make that very clear.

7. Any last things you want to add?
I’ve seen a lot of people misunderstanding the tablet. I feel like it’s obvious that it is not a replacement for the Mac or even part of the Mac lineup. It’s not a ‘big iPhone’ either. It’s something new. People should stop treating it as a small extension of Apple’s existing platforms. And that’s probably also what’ll make it so great.To learn more about Sebastiaan’s work and talent visit his company website or his blog (he’s got a Twitter too).