Apple's Next Hit Could Be a Microsoft Surface Pro Clone 252
theodp writes "Good artists copy, great artists steal," Steve Jobs used to say. Having launched a perfectly-timed attack against Samsung and phablets with its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Leonid Bershidsky suggests that the next big thing from Apple will be a tablet-laptop a la Microsoft's Surface Pro 3. "Before yesterday's Apple [iPad] event," writes Bershidsky, "rumors were strong of an upcoming giant iPad, to be called iPad Pro or iPad Plus. There were even leaked pictures of a device with a 12.9-inch screen, bigger than the Surface Pro's 12-inch one. It didn't come this time, but it will. I've been expecting a touch-screen Apple laptop for a few years now, and keep being wrong.
It's the OS, Stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
To do this, Apple would need a new OS, or do some sort of horrible blend between OS X and iOS. That's not happening. I think there will be a bigger iPad at some point, but it will just run iOS. It won't be a convertible.
Re:It's the OS, Stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
To do this, Apple would need a new OS, or do some sort of horrible blend between OS X and iOS. That's not happening. I think there will be a bigger iPad at some point, but it will just run iOS. It won't be a convertible.
I agree. It doesn't need to be a convertible. Apple already makes perfectly serviceable, compatibly-sized Bluetooth keyboards, as well as mice and touchpads. Hell, I use them sometimes with Android devices. Why make a "convertible" at all, when you already have everything you need?
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Posting here to undo accidental wrong moderation. But I agree, Apple already has everything needed with the Bluetooth keyboards and mice.
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From at least 7.1 onward, you can enable functionality of mouse/touchpad. [ringwald.ch] But it may not work quite the way you'd like. I do agree that they could improve how the mouse works in iOS. They are a bit behind the game on that.
The thing is that the tablet is evolving. It started out as just a "mobile device" but people are using them more and more for serious work. That means NOT just holding it in your hand or lap, but standing it up on a desk and using it as a des
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iOS was not a development of the iPod firmware. That was an embedded OS called Pixo. iOS is Unix.
After the iPhone Apple released an iPhone-with-the-phone, and called it the iPod touch. But that wasn't simply a music player.
Re:It's the OS, Stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
Correct. With that said, although it is derived from OS X, there are some key differences that make it less than ideal for use in a laptop-like environment. In particular, pointing devices become a problem, in part because iOS doesn't really support them, and in part because apps aren't designed in ways that would work well with mice even if it did.
IMO, any usable hybrid device would really need to run the full OS X stack when in laptop mode, with UIKit running in a full-screen Simulator window when used as a tablet. Otherwise, it's just an iPad with an attached keyboard, which isn't really any more interesting than an iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard.
Re:It's the OS, Stupid (Score:5, Interesting)
It isn't the idea that is bad; it is the implementation. One device with two distinct interfaces is a recipe for epic failure. But a single, unified interface that can take input in more than one way is useful, assuming you can get developers to adopt it. Mind you, it isn't a game-changer, and it isn't something that would be useful for every app, which makes it a hard sell, but that doesn't mean the concept lacks merit.
For example, if I had a full-scale laptop with a touchscreen:
An iPad can theoretically do both of those things, but lacks the CPU power, storage capacity, and pointing precision to do aspects of either task well. And although you can buy physical control surfaces and digitizer tablets or use an iPad as a controller in conjunction with your laptop, that's nowhere near as convenient as having it all in a single package, and being able to just reach up and interact by touch occasionally.
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The latest OS X includes Handoff, which right now is just a way of starting work on one Apple device or computer and subsequently continuing it on another ("Handoff"). ArsTechnica, in their long-form review of OS X 10.10, has some details on the internals of this feature. It seems to be implemented in a way that would eventually allow for having client tasks on your iDevice interact with server processes on your remote OS X machine - or on a cloud server.
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iOS is in no way based on Linux. It's based on UNIX.
Since you want to nitpick, NO. You're wrong. It's based on BSD, which is neither Linux or UNIX.
But all of them (Linux, UNIX, BSD) are posix-compliant, which is what many people mean these days when they say Linux, even if it's technically incorrect.
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It's based on Mach, which is neither Linux nor BSD.
Apple didn't develop it. They bought NeXT, which had adapted it from Mach.
iOS is POSIX compliant? Don't be silly. There are whole chunks of the API not implemented. Sure, there are add-ons to make MacOS POSIX compliant. Just like there are add-ons for Windows NT.
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It's based on Mach, which is neither Linux nor BSD.
No, Apple's version of Darwin is very definitely based on BSD. Apple says so, Wikipedia says so, and you can see original BSD copyright notices in some command-line applications.
Apple didn't develop it. They bought NeXT, which had adapted it from Mach.
NeXT was a l--o--n--g time ago, man. Things have changed since.
iOS is POSIX compliant? Don't be silly. There are whole chunks of the API not implemented. Sure, there are add-ons to make MacOS POSIX compliant. Just like there are add-ons for Windows NT.
Where did you learn to read? I wrote that BSD, Linux, and UNIX are posix-compliant. I did NOT write that iOS, which is based on BSD, was posix-compliant. That is a different thing entirely.
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Here's what Wikipedia says about OS X, BSD and Mach: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X... [wikipedia.org]
Why don't you look it up directly, rather than making straw-man arguments involving XNU?
The very first paragraph links to the page on Darwin [wikipedia.org]. And that page says this at the top:
Darwin is an open source Unix-like computer operating system released by Apple Inc. in 2000. It is composed of code developed by Apple, as well as code derived from NeXTSTEP, BSD, and other free software projects.
Darwin forms the core set of components upon which OS X and iOS are based. It is mostly POSIX compatible, but has never, by itself, been certified as being compatible with any version of POSIX. (OS X, since Leopard, has been certified as compatible with the Single UNIX Specification version 3 (SUSv3).[2][3][4])
So I stand corrected. BSD and OS X are not Posix-compliant. And actually I knew that, but I had forgotten. Still, I stand corrected.
Nevertheless, they still belong to the family of "Unix-like" operating systems, as I stated earlier [wikipedia.org]. Quote:
The various BSD variants are notable in that they are in fact descendants of UNIX, developed by the University of California at Berkeley with UNIX source code from Bell Labs. However, the BSD code base has evolved since then, replacing all of the AT&T code. Since the BSD variants are not certified as compliant with the Single UNIX Specification (except for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and later), they are referred to as "UNIX-like".
So we were both partially correct. OS X, while being based on BSD, is compliant with the S
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iOS is based on OS X, which is a proper UNIX.
As I stated elsewhere on this page, no, iOS is based on BSD. OS X is also based on BSD, but that doesn't mean iOS is based on OS X.
There are many similarities, but for obvious reasons, they had to strip a lot out in iOS to make it practical for mobile hardware.
And no, BSD isn't UNIX, nor is OS X. They are posix-compliant operating systems, like Linux, AUX, and HP UX. None of them are actually UNIX anymore. All split from actual UNIX long ago. But they are all "unix-like" operating systems.
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Sorry, but those reasons are not "obvious" to me. Mobile devices these days have the compute power of high-end desktops of only a few years ago, desktops that ran professional UNIX environments just fine. What was there to "strip out"?
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iOS is based on OS X, which is a proper UNIX.
As I stated elsewhere on this page, no, iOS is based on BSD. OS X is also based on BSD, but that doesn't mean iOS is based on OS X.
There are many similarities, but for obvious reasons, they had to strip a lot out in iOS to make it practical for mobile hardware.
And no, BSD isn't UNIX, nor is OS X. They are posix-compliant operating systems, like Linux, AUX, and HP UX. None of them are actually UNIX anymore. All split from actual UNIX long ago. But they are all "unix-like" operating systems.
Well since we're all nitpicking, UNIX(R) is a trademark, just like POSIX(R) and you can call your butt either one if it's certified [opengroup.org].
_If_ the above systems are actually certified to be POSIX compliant to some degree, they could also be a test away from being UNIX certified, to some degree.
IF we're just calling all the above "[POSIX|UNIX]-like", they all qualify... to some degree.
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You obviously don't really know what you're talking about.
That's pretty funny.
Just look it up. You're wrong.
Most of these OSes, including most flavors of Linux, are Posix-compliant. Posix is what passes for a standard for "Unix-like" operating systems these days. But that doesn't make them UNIX, any more than Linux is UNIX. They have all deviated from true UNIX (legally and otherwise) for a long time now. And Linux is definitely not UNIX. But it's Posix-compliant too.
And not all "Unix-like" OSes are even certified posix-compliant, though more of them coul
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Re: It's the OS, Stupid (Score:5, Informative)
I highly recommend you stop making comments on a subject you know nothing about.
Apple has been getting UNIX 03 certification since 10.5 (Leopard). The recent 10.10 (Yosemite) release received certification on September 24, 2014.
http://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/apple.htm
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I have never ever heard anyone say "Linux" for "POSIX-compliant". That's just really weird.
For a long time, lots of people referred to them as *nix. But that's hard to say.
I didn't say they were correct. Just that it's used. Many people today wouldn't know Red Hat from Qnix from BSD from Solaris from Debian. To them they're all "Linux", because they're not Windows.
Maybe you're not hanging around non-professionals much?
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Technically, it sits on a Mach/XNU kernel, with a BSD userland.
If you want a kernel that has an unbroken heritage, the only mainstream OS out there that would have that would be Solaris, which was formerly a BSD kernel, but switched to a AT&T SVR4 kernel. AIX also started out from AT&T code, but went with an odd mix of BSD and AT&T userland items.
All and all, kernel heritage is one thing, but consider the application first. Would someone use QNX for a large-scale database cluster? Not really.
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OK, here's the reason I'd like to see this convertible, as long as it runs OSX:
I understand, but we were talking about two different things.
I would like to see more-powerful tablets, too. Whether they're Windows, iOS, or Android (or something else).
But that doesn't mean it has to be "convertible". As I mentioned, there are already quite adequate Bluetooth keyboards and meese around. Just put your tablet on a stand, use those, and you effectively have the same thing as a "convertible". That's all I meant.
But yes, I do agree that better processors, more RAM, and more storage in
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I run MaxDSP on my Surface Pro, and the touchscreen allows me to access the full power of that program.
What I was getting at before is that with keyboard and mouse, and a powerful-enough tablet, I can work away from the office almost as well as I can at the office, because if it's too much for the tablet I can always just remote-control my office desktop from the tablet. That doesn't work as well for things like sound and video production, of course.
So yeah: the more powerful they make them, the better. Apple still has very nice sound support in OS X. If it could make the tablets powerful enough to run th
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Absolutely. The problem is not that the Apple tablets are not powerful enough, it's that iOS is not powerful enough.
Or maybe that's not right either. Maybe it's just that iOS is not designed for production, but rather for consumption.
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I understand that they want to "bring them together", but they are going to have to do that by improving iOS, not dumbing down OS X.
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if it's too much for the tablet I can always just remote-control my office desktop from the tablet.
How many cellular gigabytes per month does that use?
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What's wrong with using the iPad as a second screen, as some third party software lets you do?
Then you get touch and a traditional laptop.
All of the compelling uses I read about for something like the Surface have boiled down to pretty niche uses that are really not sustainable. It's nice that you like your Surface now, because it's not going to be around for many more years. Hopefully it will last you a while.
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This is easy. You architect around the most complex platform , eg this 2-in-1 in laptop mode which would have a fast Core i5 or Core i7 as cpu running OS/X. When you detach the keyboard and put it into tablet mode, it adopts an iOS skin, with emulator to run iOS apps (which you already do indirectly when you're building iOS apps on an OS/.X system now). You have the ability though, to have OS/X apps / utilities in the background, possibly providing local cloud services to the tablet layer.
It's interesti
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If you look at the design of the A7 it has a lot of capabilities that iOS isn't using. I wouldn't be shocked if around 5 years from now it isn't OSX running in a compatibility mode with a few OSX applications running under emulation and/or being recompiled.
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This is easy. You architect around the most complex platform , eg this 2-in-1 in laptop mode which would have a fast Core i5 or Core i7 as cpu running OS/X. When you detach the keyboard and put it into tablet mode, it adopts an iOS skin, with emulator to run iOS apps (which you already do indirectly when you're building iOS apps on an OS/.X system now). You have the ability though, to have OS/X apps / utilities in the background, possibly providing local cloud services to the tablet layer.
Ugh. The worst of both worlds.
It doesn't need two "modes". You can already use an external keyboard with iOS devices, just fine... just as you can with Android.
It isn't Apple that was behind in this field, it was Microsoft. THEY had to add touch. Other OSes already worked both ways.
No desktop applications in tablet mode = fail. (Score:2)
I suspect if they are going to copy Microsoft, they will copy Window's 8's ability to switch between the "fat fingers" interface and desktop on the fly.
It's also possible they could put in an ARM chip to give you the option of booting to iOS and saving power, but I find that a bit wasteful and far-fetched.
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You don't necessarily need a new OS which is a blend between OS X and iOS.
It's conceivable that you run a single application which can switch UI depending on how the device is being used. If the device is motionless, use a desktop/laptop UI. If the device is in motion, use the mobile UI.
At that point, the actual OS is only needed for file manipulation and management of background tasks (and can be either OS X or iOS).
Either way, the OS has to be able to interact with applications on either the desktop or
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A bigger iPad. A bigger iPad.
The maxiPad?
I think not....
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Why would they need a new OS? When Microsoft introduced the concept in 2002, they simply added the features into XP. Over the years, they added more and more touch and digitizer friendly features to Windows. Ubuntu has been trying to copy the Microsoft model with its Unity desktop manager, and KDE has most of the basic XP-Tablet features built in.
Windows now ships with features that lets it adapt to tablet, workstation, laptop, or media center paradigms.
All Apple really has to do is add support for basic
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An iPad with a hard drive? As in, a spinning disk? That doesn't sound very likely to me, to put it mildly.
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I used to have a Shark drive, which was basically large-pocket-sized. It used a tiny hard drive with removable platter cartridges.
Then IBM produced a tiny hard drive that fit inside Compact Flash cartridges. At the time, they had higher capacity than regular CF cards.
Of course that capacity advantage didn't last very long. Regardless, I think GP was probably referring to a Flash drive or SSD.
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Spinning hard drives for mobile devices have been around for many years.
And.... thank god they're pretty much non-existant anymore.
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iPod classic. Oh crap, it was discontinued on Septermber 9 2014. Seems the 1.8" HDD have stagnated for years if they're even still made, and their niche has effectively ended.
On the other hand a 2.5" single platter, 5mm high drive exists, aimed at ultrabooks. It could easily fit in a Surface Pro clone. Have flash on M2 PCIe so that the user puts in whatever he want!
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hard drive may mess the weight distribution up too.
But frankly there's not an exceptionnally strong reason for no removable flash storage, that'll be a commercial and design decision.
Flash can also get integrated right into the main CPU, or why not in a stack.
Seen a dumphone design on the web (chinese card phone) that consisted of only two chips, main SoC and radio. The SoC integrates some RAM and flash (has 8MB but not sure if the figure is for one or the other) and there's slots for SIM and micro-SD. So t
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IOS on a tablet with a hard drive would be a nice laptop for most people
2005 called and wants its thick, noisy, fagile tablet concept back.
Re:It's the OS, Stupid (Score:4, Funny)
2005 called...
Oh my God! Did you warn them? About Beta?
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No, try a MacBook Air, running iOS, but with a regular Ethernet jack on it, too.
Why the MacBook Air? Because its so lightweight and gets such great battery life now -- would probably do even better if running iOS instead of full OSX.
Why iOS? Because it's much harder for the average computer illiterate person to screw up the machine, and it still lets them get on the Internet, use Facebook, access email, and play games, which is all they really care about anyway.
Why an Ethernet jack? Because wi-fi simply isn
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You can get a Thunderbolt / Ethernet adapter for the MacBook Air. The problem with an ethernet jack is that the Air is too thin for it.
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Can you even spec out a macbook with spinning disks? Last I checked, it was all SSDs.
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Lately they have been new Taiwan brands in the laptop market. MSI, Gigabyte. They seem nice and "desktop like" in a sense (no stickers, can be bought without an OS, 1080p and 900p displays..). I propose you buy one and report later on build quality : )
Perfectly-timed? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Perfectly-timed? (Score:3, Insightful)
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The original poster sounds like an Apple fanboi. The iPhone6 was perfectly timed only in the sense of 'gosh, Samsung and others have been making lots of money off bigger phones... we'd better try to get some of that FINALLY.'.
Trying to copy Surface is.... coming late to the party too.
Apple hasn't really innovated much since Steve left the scene. Now it is trying to make progress not by inventing innovative new products that control new product spaces
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Microsoft, where is this? I don't give a crap about small tablets or notablebooks (or convertibles). I want the big mid-livingroom coffee table you developed and I want it to be
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The original surface (surface 1.0) was renamed pixelsense around the time they launched the tablets to avoid confusion. is that what you want?
If so, available on general sale eg http://www.misco.co.uk/product/Q505997/Samsung-SUR40-with-Microsoft-PixelSense-Legs-Not-Included
Otherwise, if you're saying you saw large demo versions of the surface (new) for coffee table use, I'm not sure - though HP, Lenovo etc do 'portable' large screen tablet/desktop hybrids that may fit. Though, as I say, never seen an MS v
Re: Perfectly-timed? (Score:5, Insightful)
And for a long time before Steve left the scene. Apple has been a success by letting other companies release new types of devices and then execute their own version of that type of device. Apple did not create the first portable music player, the first smartphone, the first WIMP interface, etc.. Apple's success has largely been down to executing arguably better versions of devices that already exist in the marketplace. Now, Apple is also benefitting from being perceived as a luxury brand.
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also with a heavy dose of stylizing and marketing, and though the fanboi's will come out of the woodwork to kill me on this ... even some of the stuff Jobs let out there wasnt all that great (puck mouse)
Re: Perfectly-timed? (Score:4, Informative)
Samsung and others have been making lots of money off bigger phones.
You might want to review that statement, Apple appears to be cleaning house on the money side, taking 87% of the profit in the market. [businessinsider.com]
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You might want to review that statement, Apple appears to be cleaning house on the money side, taking 87% of the profit in the market. [businessinsider.com]
Worse for Apple's competitors, that was in Feb. 2014. Since then Samsung is in trouble (sorry, Samsung isn't but I bet some Samsung executives are) because their profits in the mobile market have dropped by 70% from last year, and Apple can't build the iPhone 6 fast enough (about 20 million sold worldwide and 20 million pre-ordered in China alone).
Pace of innovation (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple hasn't really innovated much since Steve left the scene.
I see this a lot and I'm not convinced, especially since the guy has only been in the ground for around 3 years. How much does Apple have to do for you to change you mind? Where is the boundary between what you consider innovative and not. What is your evidence that their pace of innovation has slowed? I'm not saying you are right or wrong but you stated it as if it is axiomatic and I don't think I agree. I don't see any other companies really innovating meaningfully faster when you are talking time scales of 5-15 years which is what matters here.
Apple has historically introduced one or two big products per decade. The original Apple Computers came out in the late 1970s. The Macintosh was created in 1984. The iPod in 2001. The iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010 which are really the same device in different form factors. Other products of note were the Apple LaserWriter (first desktop laser printer - Apple dropped the ball on that one) in 1985 and the Newton MessagePad in 1994. (The Apple Watch is too new to decide if it is noteworthy or not) Apple's most grim time financially was during the 1990s when their big bet (the MessagePad) was a flop and they mismanaged the Macintosh. I think people might be confused about their pace of innovation late in Steve Jobs life because they mistakenly consider the iPhone and iPad to be different devices when they really aren't. In fact the iPhone came out to the development for the iPad. They are the same device really.
Companies like Samsung and HTC and others are trying a lot of stuff and most of it is crap but some is good and works. Apple works really hard on a few things and doesn't release as much but their batting average is much better. Neither approach is right or wrong but you have to look at it on a time scale of more than 2-3 years to get a sense of pace of innovation. Realistically we should be having this discussion about 5-7 years in the future.
Product ideas that can move markets the way the Mac and the iDevices have are REALLY hard to come up with. I see some companies like Samsung throwing a lot of stuff out there but most of it is quite unremarkable. I think expectations that Apple would introduce some big market moving product the minute Steve Jobs died is pretty unrealistic. It may turn out that without Jobs the company will founder - they did once before. But we really should wait a few years to see if they really can or cannot come up with their next big success. I think their ApplePay service *might* turn out to be a really big deal but that remains to be seen. I think it is the most interesting new product they've done since the iPad and it certainly could be the most lucrative.
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Apple hasn't really innovated much since Steve left the scene.
Other products of note were the Apple LaserWriter (first desktop laser printer - Apple dropped the ball on that one) in 1985
Wrong... HP developed the first desktop laser printer in 1983. "The first laser printer intended for mass-market sales was the HP LaserJet, released in 1984" So, no, Apple didn't drop the ball on the LaserWriter. HP was already in the market and other manufacturers released products around the same time as Apple.
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Okay, let's actually look at that list shall we?
ApplePay - Google Wallet has been working for years
Lightning Cables - inferior to USB (e.g. no 1080p video), the only novelty being that they are reversible
iPad Mini - copy of all the other small tablets
Touch ID - okay, laptops had this for years but it was new on phones
Lager screens - copy of every other popular phone
iOS7/8 - wow, they keep developing software, no one else does that. Also, iOS7 wasn't exactly a design tour-de-force.
AppleWatch - smart watches
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Well, the Note 4 will have to eclipse something before there will be a need to explain anything to you.
Just because you're geek drool is pouring doesn't mean the general public cares.
Re: Perfectly-timed? (Score:2, Funny)
All Apple had to do was wait for Steve to die, then release a device with a screen bigger than Jobs would approve . VoilÃ! Then some jerk can self promote his garbage on Slashdot and proclaim its brilliance.
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How is a device that most people have never heard of "eclipsing" the iPhone. It's certainly not outselling it.
How do you figure that Samsung hasn't eclipsed the iPhone? They sell more phones each year by a wide margin [statista.com] (Samsung: 444 million vs Apple: 151 million in 2013), and are on par with Apple when you only count phones that are comparable with the iPhone (about a third of their sales).
When you look at the quality of the phone features, Samsung really has the iPhone beat. I was contemplating moving to the iPhone when they announced their larger models since I have an iPad and would like my phone and tablet to be
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The statement was that the Note 4 hasn't eclipsed the iPhone nor is it out selling it. That statement is true.
Samsung also sells microwaves and TVs, so that means they are outselling the iPhone as well, right? No, it doesn't, thats not what the discussion about. We're not talking about throw away free phones which is what samsung excels at.
The details about the Note 4 don't mean shit when the implementation on a whole is crap. Samsung is going to have to get away from Android and the fact that everythin
Bad idea (Score:3, Insightful)
I've been expecting a touch-screen Apple laptop for a few years now, and keep being wrong.
That's because a touch-screen laptop is a terrible idea. Today's phones are powerful enough with a docking station that includes a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
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Sharp observers would notice the phrase "Desktop Class" used in Apple keynotes the last year or two, when describing the power of their A# mobile processors.
I for one would not be surprised if Apple released a 12" "WorkBook" that is essentially a 12" iPad with full keyboard & touchpad, running iOS w/2gb RAM. Their entire "office" suite - iWork - is already a complete feature copy of the OS X version - all that's missing from making it truly useful on the iPad is .. a quality keyboard.
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Re:Bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Sleeve cases for laptops are nothing new - I had one for my second-generation MacBook Air.
I know there really are people like you who like the Surface - I work with a Windows admin that loves his. But having used the latest Pro 3 with the "good" type cover... I don't get the love. Typing is awful, the trackpad is awful, and having to take one of your hands off that keyboard to touch the screen is slow as hell. I watch my coworker use his, and every time he reaches for the screen it's like whatever he's doing shifts to slow motion. it sure looks like a bad concept from top to bottom.
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I never use the trackpad, it's useless. I use the active stylus heavily. OneNote is amazing. Before that I'd used a LiveScribe pen, and various Samsung Note devices. Nothing compares to the Surface Pro with OneNote.
Are we really going to call it a clone? (Score:4, Insightful)
Isn't a big iPad just a big iPad?
ipoo (Score:2, Funny)
Apple can shit in a box and people will buy it.
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Well, I'm holding off on buying the new iPhone (despite being able to upgrade) in hopes that some of the bugs in iOS 8 will get ironed out soon. Otherwise, I may buy a Windows phone next.
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Strange. Apple makes the best products
Best?
For whom? By what standards?
They make some very good products and have a consistent and effective design language but they are as much a fashion [forbes.com] company now as a technology one.
third case (Score:2)
... and imbeciles leave out the opening quotation mark.
"Perfectly timed"? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:"Perfectly timed"? (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact of the matter is EVERYONE is playing catch up.
When the iPhone 6 (and +) came out, android users started talking about how they'd had swiftkey keyboards, etc., for YEARS.
They conveniently forget about things like how Samsung came out with a fingerprint sensor after apple's introduction, or any of the other features phablet makers played follow to leader to Apple on, like a half baked watch Samsung got out on rumours of the Apple Watch so they could be the first mover.
This is the nature of competition. Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, and any other phablet makers are going to innovate. They'll create unique features for their products. A few years down the road, anything that was a brilliant idea is going to get copied.
So can we please all stop this b.s. of "X is copying Y"?
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Yup. I like Apple, but even I consider "perfectly timed" to be a case of revisionist history.
The rest of the summary falls apart under scrutiny too. Microsoft can do the Surface Pro 3 because it has a common OS across both platforms. Apple does not. In fact, despite some recent iOS-ification of OS X moves, Apple has always publicly stated that they think the two should remain separate, and with Yosemite they've made it ABUNDANTLY clear to anyone paying attention that they really do view them as two separate
it is perfectly timed (Score:2)
The market starting using more and more large but mediocre phones, just as demand is really starting to grow Apple introduces a model that doesn't sacrifice performance or battery life to have a larger device.
By waiting Apple also gave device makers a lot of rope to hang themselves with in going to screens with absurd DPI. Now the poor bastards (Note4, etc) are hamstrung changing and powering so many wasted pixels, and the companies cannot back off the resolution they have chained around their own necks.
Ap
Re: (Score:3)
My name-brand phone that I've had for ages -- and had Apple users asking me what it was, then telling me they were going to switch to Android -- has the exact same resolution as the iPhone 6 Plus.
And it's performance in every way is significantly less. When they had the smaller res, they lacked the CPU/GPU the modern Apple hardware has now. The modern Android hardware has the better GPU/CPU but the screen res is killing performance. Apple let them dance right over the sweet spot.
My phone looks better, it
Good artists copy, great artists steal -Steve Jobs (Score:4, Insightful)
Steve Jobs may have been many things, but Pablo Picasso is not one of them.
They a 27 inch one to replace the iMac (Score:2)
Call it the iiPad
My suggestion for Apple (Score:2)
Cloning a failure would be a failure.... (Score:4, Insightful)
You can hate Windows 8 all you want... (Score:3)
People can hate Windows 8 all they want, but the signs are clear: Microsoft wants a unified platform for mobile and desktop apps, because at some point Google will get Android apps to run on Chrome OS and Apple will get iOS apps running on OS X machines
A mainstream machine that merges the tablet with the laptop market will make it clear to those who have been distracted that tablets are the main PC for millions of people. I think that Surface Pro is more of a proof of concept while the the MacBook Air or the supposed 12" iPad can be that machine.
The touchscreen will be secondary, what will define the PC market will be app stores. One fine morning we'll look at the PC market and realise that 30% of machines are running Google Play apps, 30% are running Windows Stores and 30% are running iTunes apps.
Uhh...I doubt it (Score:4, Insightful)
These are the same analysts who said that apple needed to make a netbook or they would die (or who each quarter predicted a netbook was coming).
Apple has placed an alternative bet: that the devices can overlap capabilites and responsibilites (e.g. via handoff, or less intensely as with iwork) but have fundamentally different jobs to do, and try to make each do its job well. I don't commute to work in a tank, but some people find tanks useful. The surface, and W8, are neiher tank nor motorbike, and really do neither job well.
Apple changes their mind (and never admits it, as with phablets!) and they also make brain damaged decisions, but there is some method to their madness. Analysts generate quotable sound bites; that is the method behind their madness.
Re: (Score:2)
The basic idea is
1) make up some product rumor
2) repeat it every year
3) ???
At least the underpants gnomes had an objective.
Type and touch? (Score:3)
I'm on my second touchscreen computer and fifth tablet. I do not like touch screen for a laptop/desktop. For a smartphone I can think of no better way than a touchscreen given the lack of input device. For a portable TV otherwise known as iPad a touchscreen is about the same as a dial on the side. For a Microsoft surface or a laptop with touch screen removing your fingers off the keyboard to touch the screen is cumbersome. I also found myself rarely detaching the keyboard.
Re: Type and touch? (Score:2)
For a portable TV otherwise known as iPad a touchscreen is about the same as a dial on the side.
Funny, that. I rarely use my ipad for video. Sometimes I stream videos to my AppleTV using my ipad, but most of what I do on my ipad is web consumption--just the standard mix of text and graphics, mind you not web video. aside from that, there's kindle, and reading pdfs.
But of course, I may well be an outlier.
A large screen ipad might be good for drawing, provided that the stylus can be accurate enough-- drawing on my ipad feels like I'm in kindergarten, fingerpainting. Then again, I'm not the artistic type
Could, would, should... you be any more vague? (Score:2)
I think MS would complain if I called that vaporware, because even they didn't steep that low. This ain't even a "we kinda sorta think we might one day" announcement. It's some leaked (yeah, right) rumors about what some tech giant could be thinking about making.
How the fuck is this relevant in ANY way?
OSX Slate S (Score:3)
Okay, so I don't know what they'd name it, but I would kill for a Surface Pro style device running OSX with a thunderbolt port on it.
Two separate modes of operation, iOS like modes for when I'm in tablet mode, OSX like mode when I'm attached to a real keyboard, pointing device and display.
I'd kill twice if they packed it into something the size of the iPhone6 or 6s.
I would easily pay $4k or more, probably even 5k if they could some how cram 8-16G of ram, 512GB of flash, a haswell chip for docked mode, an ARM for mobile mode into something the size of a iPhone 6s if it had a thunderbolt port and could fully mutate between the two modes, hell, it wouldn't need to share apps, just storage space so that native apps for each mode could access the same data.
I've been wanting this for several years and we're rapidly approaching the point of being able to do a full on developers level of CPU power/ram in a phone sized device. I'm seriously considering a surface pro for this reason but its just not quite there yet, its damned close. If Apple took the same hardware and released it with OSX, I'd buy it and accept the early adopter penalty of having to replace it in 2 years when they get it done right.
I don't want a macbook air, I want a surface pro running OSX in desktop mode, iOS in mobile mode and nothing more than a thunderbolt port for docking.
Apple, please take my freaking money and give me this.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Perfectly-timed? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
For the most part, Samsung doesn't really compete with Apple, Samsung competes with the many other manufacturers of Android phones. It's only in the flagship products (Galaxy, Note) where there is competition with Apple, but I don't think that these represent the bulk of Samsung's sales outside the USA.
Re: (Score:2)
Can we see your bestselling Gnu tablet?
Surface Pro meet iPad Max? or Maxipad? (Score:3)
I always thought the biggest iPad, should be called something like the iPad Max, or if that's too cliche, the Maxipad.