» Now, that’s a review
At almost 25000 words, Federico Viticci’s review of Editorial can rightly be called epic. And the app sounds great. Consider it bought.
» Clear your calendars
And take the phone off the hook.
After originally being announced for a July launch date, Plants vs. Zombies 2 will finally be coming to iOS devices tomorrow.
It does take the shine off it that it’s switched to a freemium model.
» Gmail Privacygate
Nilay Patel on the “Gmail users have no privacy rights” scandal:
Google’s argument is that people who email Gmail users are necessarily involving Gmail’s servers in the mix, kicking the third-party doctrine into effect. This is pretty basic stuff.
I don’t like a business model where I’m the product instead of the customer, but this really seems to be just how email works and not some nefarious plot.
» The time is (maybe) now
Rene Ritchie:
So what makes 2013 a better year to release a less expensive iPhone 5C than 2010 was to release a less expensive iPhone 4C? The type of product Apple can produce to fit that slot is likely far better, and far more in keeping with their standards, than anything they could have produced in 2010.
Ritchie highlights John Gruber’s comment that Apple is likely not concerned with cannibalizing iPod touch sales. There’s still a market for a low-cost, non-phone iOS device; the question is whether Apple fills that with what we’re calling the 5C without service, keeps the iPod touch maybe at a lower price, or slides down the existing iPad mini.
iPhone 5C You In September
You can’t swing an iPod touch on a lanyard without hitting someone who believes Apple will ship a lower-cost iPhone soon. Here’s the pertinent trilogy of arguments.
Benedict Evans: “Defending iOS with cheap iPhones”
Ben Bajarin: Customer Acquisition and the Entry Level iPhone”
John Gruber: “The Case for a New Lower-Cost iPhone”
Evans suggests an inflection point — where the high volume of Android users is finally catching up to their relatively lower worth — is forcing Apple to defend the iOS platform. Bajarin correctly notes that Apple doesn’t want just any ol’ customer, they want customers that are engaged in the ecosystem. Gruber completes this game of Hollywood Squares by arguing that Apple’s not going to make a lousy phone that’s missing important features. It’s just going to make a lower-cost, full-featured phone (iPhone 5C), retain the iPhone 5 and introduce a new, premium phone (iPhone 5S).
Personally, I don’t see how this, or at least something very similar to it, is not exactly what’s going to happen. The iPhone is now on all major carriers in the U.S. Apple needs to move down the cost spectrum to bring more customers — still good ones — into the iPhone fold while defending its high-end turf. The same is true for the iPad.
There is never going to be a fire sale on iOS devices, but Apple can afford to open up its offering to fuel continued growth and defend its platform.
Headline analysis
I am an avid student of headline jerkery. One of the things I notice done over and over is the omission of any kind of qualifier.
“Why the Samsung Galaxy 45b Stroke 10 Mega AMAZE is an iPhone Killer”
“Why Tim Cook’s Use of the term ‘Customer Sat’ Spells Apple Doom”
Etc.
This one, on a ReadWrite piece by Matt Asay, is pretty good, though.
“Why Market Share Trends May Favor Apple, Not Android”
Note the use of the very simply and short word “may”. This one little word, that is so rarely used in technology punditry, makes a somewhat extreme viewpoint more palatable. Asay’s not saying this will happen, he’s identifying a factor that many pundits don’t consider. That is:
…very few people dump their iPhones for Android smartphones. The iPhone remains aspirational. Android phones? Not so much.
Now, even I don’t think Apple is going to take a market share lead from Android any time in the foreseeable future, even with a cheaper iPhone. So the degree to which the headline makes the tacit implication that that’s possible is overstating things. But at least this is qualified. I don’t get why sites feel the need to have their headlines take the most bombastic stance possible for the cost of three letters and a space.
Well, OK, I do get it. It’s because of pageviews. But that’s not an answer I want to hear.
» ‘Android is better’
Wait for it.
It was just meant to be a quick experiment. I started using a Nexus 4. I was going to go right back to my iPhone after a week.
Waiiiit…
A week in it started feeling normal; the larger form factor was no longer a nuisance.
Coming up.
It only took that first week to realize I wasn’t really locked into the Apple ecosystem and certainly not iCloud.
Hang on.
I’m loving Android.
Aaaaaand… NOW.
Most services I rely on daily are owned by Google.
There we go.
It should not be that surprising that Google services work better on Android. Does Apple need to do a better job with its services? Sure. But not everyone is a soup (Google search) to nuts (Google+) Google services user.
So Android may be better… if you’re heavily invested in Google services.
» Same old, same old
Marco Arment on the “Lodsys drops suit and donates to charity” headlines.
There are no winners in this case. Nothing has changed for the better. If anything, the system has been strengthened and validated.
This struck me reading this “news”, too. This isn’t a change of heart. It doesn’t affect their strategy. They just decided not to continue to fight one guy who was able to get $200,000 in pro bono legal work.
» Missing the Point
A thoughtful and spot-on piece by Adam Engst about the Department of Justice’s proposed remedies in the ebook price-fixing suit against Apple.
Don’t get me wrong — as a publisher, I hate the fact that Apple won’t allow purchasing links to outside sites (such as my own!). But Apple’s policies with respect to its other businesses were not at issue in this suit, and were not found unlawful, so it seems unreasonable for the DoJ to attempt to regulate Apple’s behavior here.
This piece in particular seems like the Justice Department overreaching. Is Amazon going to be required to allow iBooks on the Kindle?
» iPhones retain their value better than Samsung’s phones
Another production of Gene Munster’s Small Sample Size Theater:
Since April, he or his team has been monitoring the resale prices of six devices on eBay and Chinas Taobao Marketplace — three iPhones and three Samsung smartphones running on Googles GOOG Android platform.
I have no doubt that iPhones hold their value better than any other phone — Apple products always hold their value better — but remember that Samsung has 100 different phones.