The beginning of the end for Microsoft

There are two main reasons why Microsoft is still a profitable company, irrespective of how many mistakes they make: Windows & Office. Even though Mac & Linux have tried for years to unseat (or even unsettle) Windows from its dominant market share, they have hardly made a dent. There are several reasons why they haven't been able to:

1. Apple made MacOS X a closed operating system without licensing it to anyone which means that it is tied to computers made by apple, which are pricey (and beautiful). The barriers for entry for anyone who want to switch are high. Apple refuses to acknowledge that most people grew up and own Windows PCs and does not accommodate them by making it easy. While BootCamp made it easier but still they weren't addressing their core concern: what can I do with my existing windows computers. With the iPhone, Apple has diverted its engineering resources on to that. Instead of addressing the core OS concerns, Apple is spending its time and resources trying to mimick Vista & Windows 7.
   
2. Linux & various other linux-like variants. There have been several notable efforts in the Linux front. Most notable being Ubuntu and the most recent effort from Intel, Moblin. I've gotta say Ubuntu is years behind from becoming an usable, mainstream, home operating system. There are so many issues with keeping it open-source and not being able to provide "proprietary" device drivers. There are just too many variants and ways to do the same thing and none being easy.

I think Google is spot-on in its post about the needs of a computer user:

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.

Everyday, I wait for about 5 minutes for my PC to become usable. Every year or so, I have to re-install Windows on my computers as it has slowed down considerably from when it was a fresh install. I have to use a myriad of programs to backup my computer. And have a myriad of hard drives and storage to move around my media over and over.

If (and that's a big if) Google is able to address all these concerns and make an Operating System that's secure, simple & fast, then they would own the home market in a few years. Cracking the enterprise market is much harder as it requires change of thinking & operating model for a lot of enterprise IT departments (which means re-training or even hiring new people) and that aint gonna happen in years - maybe in a decade or so.

But sure enough, Google has both the money and the engineering prowess to pull this off. Go Google ChromeOS!

Collateral Damage

In the tech world, when a large company launches a product, it inadvertently kills off a lot of small companies which were offering features that were not available previously. Case in point: iPhone 3GS. Here are the list of several companies/products that Apple cannibalised when it introduced iPhone 3GS:

1. Flip: With iPhone 3GS' video recording capabilities and it's ease of use to upload videos onto YouTube, who needs a Flip? Wonder if Cisco is regretting its acquisition of Flip?
2. PSP/NintendoDS: Have you played a racing game on a iPhone 3GS? It's fast and and graphics is as good as a PSP or a DSi. Why would you need a PSP if you can play the same game on an iPhone 3GS?
   
3. Garmin/TomTom/Navigon: With its GPS & compass, stand-alone GPS device manufacturers are forced to address this market by making available their apps to provide turn-by-turn navigational software on iPhone 3GS. By opening up accessory/dock access, Apple is letting them have their hardware touch on top of the software. If your phone can be your GPS device, why would you a Garmin, TomTom?
4. Several small AppStore vendors: By offering Voice Memo, Voice Control & Compass a built-in apps in the Appstore, Apple basically killed off several apps that were trying to do the same thing (albeit ineffectively).
   

Oh, by the way, I bought an iPhone 3GS and if you don't follow me on twitter, please do so. Will try to update the blog more regularly.

I'm a PC and I love Macs

You have gotta hand it to Apple. They know Industrial Design, period. Jobs unveiled Apple's latest set of Notebooks and I've got my eye on the 15-inch MacBook Pro. That may very well be my next notebook (if it runs Windows Vista using Bootcamp).

Oh yeah, the whole back-and-forth between Apple and Microsoft about "I'm a PC" and "I'm a Mac" is kinda silly. I use PC as a main home and work computer but I love Macs. I use them occasionally at work and love some of the things they have on Mac. Obvioulsy I hate some of quirks that exist on Mac (Visual Studio beats XCode hands-and-pants down, for example), just like I hate some of the bloatware that runs on Windows (*Cough*Media Player*Cough*). But the notion that you have to hate one to like other is kinda silly, if you ask me.

Music Label in Disguise: Apple

Let's say you are a small, but very good, singer-songwriter, having your own following - and suddenly you get featured in Apple Commercials and Boom, you are a celebrity - a world renowned celebrity. Doesn't that make Apple a music label, promoting songs to the top of the charts? Hmm...

The latest is Yael Naim, who's "I'm a New Soul" is very soothing and apt for the new MacBook Air. This is following in the footsteps of Orba Squara's "Perfect Timing" (featured in iPhone Ad) and Leslie Feist's "1234" (featured in iPod Nano ad)



Via TUAW

MacBook (Lotta) Air?

I'd have to say I'm kinda disappointed that Apple chose to introduce the MacBook Air as the rumors indicated that they would (hmm, is apple slipping in keeping its lids tight? Lately, the leaks have been spot on mostly) but stopped short of going the entire length.

I agree its an engineering marvel - its sleek, very light weight and extremely well built. I'd have to agree with Apple about dropping the integrated CD/DVD drive. I hardly use mine in my laptop other than that occasional time when I have to re-install my OS and/or install an app that comes on a CD (like MS Office etc).

But, who is it exactly targeted at? Regular consumers - not really? MacBook was already thin and small enough to be carried around. So its clearly aimed at people who are extremely mobile and absolutely must check email/write long emails while waiting in the boarding line in the airport, namely the Business minded folks and executives on the move. Although I wonder how many of those "suits" would really "switch" to a mac? Ofcouse you can run Windows Vista on a MacBook Air, but what's the upside for Apple in that?

Instead I'd have liked to see a complete refresh of the notebook line - MacBook Pro design is almost two years old and is looking like its "old" when compared to MacBook. I'd have also liked to see more "multi-touch" screens (multi-touch touch pad doesn't really do justice) a la Microsoft Surface in MacBooks.

Anyways, the most exciting news that came out of MacWorld atleast for me is the fact that you can now rent movies right from your couch using Apple TV (which if you remember, Steve Jobs said is just a hobby :-)). Not just Standard definition (DVD quality) movies but real High Definition movies. And they've got all the major studios on board. That's gonna be game changing. Netflix which was driving Blockbuster out of business, is now going to be driven out of business by Apple. Ofcouse, the studios and Apple have to put in crazy limitations such as a) once you start to watch a movie, you have to finish watching it in 24 hours b) HD movies can only be viewed from Apple TV and c) You can only rent HD movies not buy them. Arghhh. Also, apple should have really refreshed Apple TV hardware to support 1080p output. Oh well, next MacWorld I guess.

The Untold Story of the iPhone

I'm a sucker for product case studies which involve engineering & software. And particularly a case study of the development of iPhone by Fred Vogelstein on Wired is sure worth a read. Lot of juicy details about how confident (confidence bordering cockiness) Steve Jobs was:

Jobs delivered a three-part message to Cingular: Apple had the technology to build something truly revolutionary, "light-years ahead of anything else." Apple was prepared to consider an exclusive arrangement to get that deal done. But Apple was also prepared to buy wireless minutes wholesale and become a de facto carrier itself.

It takes a lot of guts to have such a confidence and Jobs has delivered on his promises more than once. An interesting read..

I Hate Love Apple

You are a company that's introducing a new product for the first time and how do you treat early adopters? Why, yes - by reducing the price of the product 33% two months after it was introduced.

I paid $599 for my iPhone 8GB. Apple just reduced the price of 8GB iPhone which is the only iPhone you can buy now, to $399.

So, Apple is punishing those of us who are early adopters (suckers, guinea-pigs) who paid the full price for being, how do you say, stupid?

I'm hoping Apple will pay me back $200 they owe me. Apple, I take cash, check or credit card.

Update:

Well, Apple did it right. They are giving all iPhone owners $100 back. Thanks, Steve.

Clutter Free Desktop

Simply amazes me as to how much electronics Apple can cram on to their devices. The one on the right is pretty much my setup at work and home (although I use a laptop on a docking station instead of the tower)

My Love / Hate Relationship with my iPhone

Well, as everyone who is on my buddy list would know by now, I bought an Apple iPhone on June 30, just a day after it came out. No, I did not wait in the line and no, I dint have to fight over it with other fan-boys. I wasn't even planning to buy it when I went to the Apple Store on Saturday. I was simply going there to check it out. I was both amazed and intrigued by its brilliant and beautiful Apple design. So I decided to buy it right then and the fact that the Apple Store employees were super efficient helped me ease into that decision. I figured that I wont be paying that much more than what I'm paying right now for monthly service (I'm on a $40 plan and $20 more for unlimited data wasn't bad)

AT&T Activation Nightmare:

I tried to activate my phone Sunday at 1PM (After reading all the activation issues, I called all my important contacts to let them know that I may be unreachable). I'm an existing AT&T customer and I went through the steps of activation and got the dreaded message: "Your activation needs additional processing" (not the exact words but the one most got).

I figured I'd just wait for an hour and see what happens. I did and nothing happened. Then I called the 877 number and was on hold for about 25 minutes. I got a very nice lady who asked me the basic information about my account and put me on hold several times to find out what was wrong with my account and finally came back and said my current plan with AT&T is not eligible for iPhone activation which is weird coz I have the same exact (voice) plan that's offered with iPhone (450 anytime minutes, 5000 n/w etc). Then she said I might have to go to the store to get the plan switched to something that's eligible for the iPhone.

I asked her to see if there's something she can do to avoid my trip to the AT&T store. After another 20 minutes of holding (for a total of 56 minutes on the call), she came back and said that she has figured it out and it was my "Auto bill-pay enrollment" (I have enrolled for automatic bill payment at at&t website) that was causing the software to think that I haven't paid my bills and hence the activation was failing. She corrected that and after another few minutes of holding was able to activate the phone.

So by 3PM today, I was able to use my iPhone to make & receive calls and text messages. I also setup my voice mail without any issues.

While I hit the dreaded activation issue, calling the 877 number and being patient and polite did the job for me. Overall, I'm a happy camper - thanks to one fine CSR lady at iPhone Activation Support Center.

The Good:

• The Glass LCD Screen is just amazing. You have to see it to believe it on how bright and crisp it is. Looking at pictures at this screen is a wonderful experience.
• Finally, a cell phone where I can browse internet - the real internet not the "mobile" or the "wap" versions. But I already see some websites putting up "iPhone" versions of their websites which is not good. I was able to pay my credit card from my iPhone which I have never done before.
• I resisted buying a "real" iPod so far. But with iPhone, I get a phone with an integrated iPod. And apple's headsets are probably one of the most comfortable ones I have used. iPod Cover Flow is way cool and very slick.
• iPhone itself is very thin and looks much smaller than it actually looks in the pictures. But it weighs more than you'd think it would. Apple tend to pack its products with very dense electronics.
• Multi-touch interface is everything its touted to be. You'd have to give Apple credit here for recognizing how people hated using styluses. It's both gratifying to use fingers to flick, drag & pinch your phone. Infact, I end up trying to do the same thing on my computer, GPS etc. Bad habit ;)
• Every application works as advertised: Email, SMS, Weather, Internet, Phone and YouTube.
  

The Bad:

• The battery life sucks. There's no other way about it. I don't know if its due to the fact that I'm leaving Bluetooth & WiFi turned on all the time. I cant get the iPhone to last a full day without it complaining at the end of the day about low battery.
• Edge speeds are slow and I mean slooooow. While I can sympathize with Apple as to why they those EDGE over 3G, its clearly not adequate for a smooth browsing experience. You either have to have a lot of patience or get a hotspot service from Boingo or T-Mobile. Maybe AT&T should give iPhone customers free WiFi service in places where they have their hotspots.
• Overall stability of the phone is not upto the mark. I have had several instances of Safari crashes (nice thing about the crashes: It sends diagnostic information about the crash to Apple, the next time it syncs with iTunes). I have had the phone come to a crawl where it wouldn't respond to the "slide" and I had to do a soft reset to get the phone working again (probably, a memory leak in one of their apps: Cough! Safari! Cough!)
• The iPhone is not meant for one-handed operation, which I'm so used to while driving or holding something at my other hand. The fact that you have to "slide to answer" an incoming call when the phone is locked is annoying. Since the phone is wide, reaching all the places in the screen with your thumb is very difficult.
• Accelerometer which automagically switches from Portrait to Landscape and vice versa needs work and has failed several times for me.

The Ugly

• One word: AT&T. They are probably the Achilles' Heel in the Apple - AT&T partnership and it beats me as to why Apple chose AT&T. They better have stuck a deal with AT&T on how much investment AT&T should make on their network, customer service and most of all their website, if they want to keep all the iPhone customers from defecting.
• Why put WiFi & Bluetooth and make it crippled? Why cant I sync with iTunes over WiFi when both my PC and iPhone are in the same LAN? Why can't I use iTunes from the iPhone to buy songs directly from iTunes Store while on the road? Why can't I use Bluetooth to listen to my songs wirelessly (A2DP anyone?)
• The Unknowns: This is the biggest fugly factor for me. Apple has a very secretive operating process but I dunno if it helps them with the iPhone. They better have some serious development team churning out features on this phone on a regular basis or else people would soon get bored of watching YouTube vidoes and end up switching carriers and their phones.
• While the Keyboard was always a problem in a "keyless" iPhone. The fact that only Safari supports the landscape keyboard is a big bummer. It should be available for all the apps. And put a damn "period" button on the main keyboard. I dont have to press 3 buttons to put a period at the end of a sentence.

That said, I dont plan to return my iPhone as I'm willing to give Apple and AT&T the benefit of doubt and an opportunity to improve on this.

iPhone Hype at its highest

This ad created by iPhone enthusiasts is clearly clever and better than all the Apple's ads.

Much Buzz About Nothing

If there's one company that's making right moves in every direction and department, its gotta be Apple, Inc. The most recent example is their upcoming Apple Store in Boston. They can generate buzz about anything - even things like opening up a new store - although they sure have changed the retail experience and have brought new meaning to consumer retail.

Stephen Colbert on iPhone

The best commentary on iPhone I have seen:

My Next Phone

No 'stinkin' Buttons. WiFi. Bluetooth. GSM Quadband. iPod. Mac OS X. Visual Voicemail. Thin, really thin. Mobile Web done right. iPhoto.

Dreams do come true. Meet my next phone, Apple iPhone. This is going to be the most talked about and most sought-for product of the year. Apple's gonna be rich.

My New Year Wish

Her face is a map of the world
Is a map of the world
You can see she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
And everything around her is a silver pool of light
The people who surround her feel the benefit of it
It makes you calm
She holds you captivated in her palm

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

I feel like walking the world
Like walking the world
You can hear she's a beautiful girl
She's a beautiful girl
She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white
Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember
What you heard
She likes to leave you hanging on her word

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

And she's taller than most
And she's looking at me
I can see her eyes looking from a page in a magazine
Oh she makes me feel like I could be a tower
A big strong tower
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be
Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
Why the hell it means so much to me

from the single "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall