Bastion

Windows Mobile: Like Using Fred Flintstone's iStone

Obviously the poster is not an iThing user - at all. The iPhone is not only "great for playing music", like it is just an iPod attached to a mobile phone.

It has a full browser, no WAP, displays just like a desktop browser, in portrait or landscape and dynamically scalable; streaming media (e.g. AOL Radio, YouTube, etc.); WiFi and Bluetooth networking; GPS-enabled Google maps; customizable interface (e.g. dock arrangements, clocks, pictures, etc); full pop, IMAP, and Exchange ActiveSync email client.

Gee, all of that is the same list you raved you could do on your HTC.

Oh, and I haven't even touched on the true power of the iThing - easy to find, integrated application platform. You can even run Windows on an iThing, via a RemoteDesktop client. Or a UNIX machine, via the VNC client. And you can get to all of your enterprise resources via the built-in VPN. You can use the iThing as a remote control for media players, presentation slides, automated home appliances, etc. It's the best way to take along videos for travel 'cause you don't need a separate DVD player nor worry about storing the disks. It's also the best way to share photo albums, 'cause, again, you don't need a separate device and it displays them in gorgeous high-resolution, deep contrast with an easy to use interface. Gone are the "brag books" or "wallet" photos - I just use my iPod touch. Oh, and I think I forgot to mention the iTunes Music store, where you can also just buy whatever you think your library is missing - whenever and wherever. For example, I used to collect the Starbucks free download of the week cards, but never got around to entering the code when I got back to a computer. Now, I have my iPod right there with me so I immediately put in the code and enjoy my free music, while I'm still in Starbucks.

Yes, Windows Mobile runs apps. But so does any smartphone. You show your ignorance when you claim that only Windows Mobile runs apps.

I just happen to feel that the best mobile app platform out there today is the iThing. Maybe that will change in the future, but for now...


On Jan 12 12:55 PM longandshort wrote:

> Obviously the author is not a mobile power user, she prbably just
> likes to carry a cool looking expensive phone around rather than
> run useful apps on it. I have been using my HTC windows enabled phone
> for 2 years now and have run more apps on the windows mobile platfrom
> than 2 years ago than I can find on a Blackberry today. e.g
> - full browser
> - streaming media and media player
> - dial-up networking(tethering)
> - maps
> - Sirius streaming radio
> - custom desktops (weather, clocks)
> - email (web based and IMAP)
>
> ..point I am trying to make is, Iphone is great for playing music,
> blackberry is great for texting and email, windows mobile phones
> are great for running apps..

Nintendo Wii: Facing the Inevitable

Oh, User 32' you reminded me of a Bruce quote I actually wanted to comment on:

"Money is getting a lot tighter as the world tips into recession. Casual frippery, like most Wii purchases, will be an early casualty. "

Casual frippery? Like ALL video games are "casual frippery"! Are you kidding me? No one NEEDS a video game system - ever! The ONLY reason anyone buys a game system is for entertainment.

Now, that said, conventional wisdom shows that two categories actually tend to increase during a recession: alcohol consumption and entertainment purchases (go figure, the people want to "escape" their sometimes nightmarish reality).

Therefore, the recession could actually go easier on the video game industry (not necessarily to the point where these companies don't lose money, of course). And if people are looking to be entertained, it will be in the manner of their choosing, not yours. If they like "toys", they will continue to buy them. There is nothing intrinsically more valuable about a gory shooter or slasher game with hyper-real graphics over a light, colorful, cartoony leisure, party, or platformer game.

Truly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Regardless of what you try to convince us to believe.

Nintendo Wii: Facing the Inevitable

To pile on WriterGuy: or that the iPhone was doomed because it didn't have a itty-bitty keyboard.

I think Bruce has missed the boat. These "toy" games are immensely popular - and graphics aren't the prime motivator, it's what's fun! Just look at the up-and-coming iPhone/iPod Touch game market. Many analysts are saying that the PSP and DS need to take a look over their shoulder or risk getting run over.

And these mobile games are small, not overly rich in the graphics, but cheap and keeping people entertained.

Remember, that was one of the Wii's original market strategies: we're cheaper than the other guys (especially over the PS3!)

I think someone may have forgotten why people play games in the first place...

Microsoft Admits Apple's iPhone Is Better

Actually Boobies comment is pretty spot on. The iPhone/iPod Touch graphics aren't "special" (i.e. innovative, as in mostly unique) because there are other devices with similar capabilities.

Go back to the quote. The Microsoft guy says that it is the *combination* of graphics capability and distribution that makes bringing this software to the iPhone a no-brainer.

Boobies is probably right that those other devices are technically capable of hosting Seadragon - probably the G1 Android and the Linux Eee PC, too. But these have a much smaller user base than iPhone/iPod Touch, and Microsoft is in "more" competition with Google and Linux than Apple. (Which is probably a mistake for Microsoft to view Apple that way, but at least that's the way I see the various company relationships).

I've posted this before on other blogs, but what makes the Apple approach most special isn't the hardware, the touch screen, the Dashboard-like interface, the blah, blah, blah...

No, what Apple has right, and has been doing so for some time, is the end-to-end customer experience, and the iTunes/App Store is the ticket here.

Until competing mobile devices have something that makes it as easy to synch, system update, and browse/buy new apps as what Apple has, Apple will continue to crush the competition.

And luckily, this gives Apple the breathing room to continue to spend their cash largess and further push the hardware envelope.