What makes the iPhone so successful
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It's an attractive thought, but... I doubt it. I've been watching the Droid ads on TV recently - they demo the Android app-switching UI as though it were something to be proud of. It's a drop-down menu. Laziness or lack of creativity, but probably both.
the point of the app switching demo is not how they do it, its the fact that it does it at all. The iphone is like DOS. runs one app at a time. press the home button and the app is sent a close notification and then gets 7 seconds (afaik) to save whatever state it wants and exit before the OS kills the process.
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Marketting has to have something to do with it, but Apple stuff tends to be designed to be user friendly. In fact, reading your post, I think you just said the same thing.
Chris Maunder wrote:
I think we as software developers, and Microsoft and RIM as the authors of OSs, need to go into the room of mirrors and have a good, long look at ourselves.
Every time I use Vista, I am reminded of how user hostile it is. I am hoping Weven is better. A friend of mine has an Android phone, and she can't work out how to use it. Is it really that hard ( that is, to write something as user friendly as the iPhone is ) ?
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Christian Graus wrote:
Vista, I am reminded of how user hostile it is
:laugh: So true.That was shot(Six) :cool: But MS really worked well with Weven. Just give it try. It will be a feel good scenario, whenever you remember your days with Vista.
Believe Yourself™
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To me it's responsiveness. I've been playing with one for a couple of days and I've been trying to nail down exactly what it is that makes it so easy to use. High on the list is the personality of the UI. It's friendly. It's familiar. A compass looks like a compass, the time looks like an old-fashioned timer and is designed to be spun using your fingers. This is huge. Then I started comparing my touch-screen notebook with the iPhone. Scrolling through a browser page is very jerky. Resizing a page shows jerks and flashes. The laptop is a tablet, so spinning the screen 90 degrees makes the whole screen go dark then redraw, window by painful window. The iPhone scrolls perfectly smoothly. When you change orientation it morphs beautifully from landscape to portrait. When I need to zoom there absolutely zero lag in redrawing. Compared to my Blackberry, or a Windows Mobile device the contrast is night and day. I think we as software developers, and Microsoft and RIM as the authors of OSs, need to go into the room of mirrors and have a good, long look at ourselves.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
Completely Agree with you. For the Touch sensitivity/responsiveness : They have made a MASTER PIECE The Touch seems reading your mind. Means it does exactly what you want. It want jerk the edges and objects. Perfection at it best. And that makes them different from the others. :thumbsup: Though there are some thumb down scenarios where iPhone S**** No Bluetooth data transfer. :doh: Poor Battery Life. :zzz: A HOT metal brick after talking for long period. :mad: No Data Transfer without iTunes :( They must have to concentrate for the above things.
Believe Yourself™
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Speaking of speaking English, I've just been watching season 2 of Underbelly and it's full of Kiwi's. They put on a het, they have dunner at sux o'clock. It's driving me nuts.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
You realise that the main character (Terry Clarke, mr asia) actually *was* a kiwi, don't you? Man its shocking how you aussies claim kiwis as your own once they cross the ditch - for example: - Crowded House - Sam Neil - Fred Hollows - Phar lap - Russell Crowe Actually, you can keep Russell Crowe
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To me it's responsiveness. I've been playing with one for a couple of days and I've been trying to nail down exactly what it is that makes it so easy to use. High on the list is the personality of the UI. It's friendly. It's familiar. A compass looks like a compass, the time looks like an old-fashioned timer and is designed to be spun using your fingers. This is huge. Then I started comparing my touch-screen notebook with the iPhone. Scrolling through a browser page is very jerky. Resizing a page shows jerks and flashes. The laptop is a tablet, so spinning the screen 90 degrees makes the whole screen go dark then redraw, window by painful window. The iPhone scrolls perfectly smoothly. When you change orientation it morphs beautifully from landscape to portrait. When I need to zoom there absolutely zero lag in redrawing. Compared to my Blackberry, or a Windows Mobile device the contrast is night and day. I think we as software developers, and Microsoft and RIM as the authors of OSs, need to go into the room of mirrors and have a good, long look at ourselves.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
Yes and No. Basically Apple do a substantially better job at the UI than just about anyone else. But then they go and sit on their arse, get arbitrary, and also refuse to compromise of their quirkier 'standards' even when everyone else can see that they suck. Look how long it took them to get past the one button mouse. But from a smartphone perspective the iPhone is actually a massive yawn. Does it drive mobile broadband usage? Nup, it doesn't even register on the charts it's that small. What really drives mobile broadband usage is all of the people with 3G dongles. Is it technologically advanced? Nup, not even with its initial launch. It is however a very good assembly of parts. Is it good business for the Telcos? Nup, the cost of acquiring an iPhone customer has meant that most Telcos that run it get substantially less of a return than other smartphones. Some of them have even been running at a loss (the idiots bought into the hype). The AppStore is a great concept - that Apple didn't invent. And just one application running at a time? Come on! Basically, with the iPhone, Apple cleaned up a lot of the UI nastiness around mobile phones in one go. And then promptly proceeded to do nothing more. Like so many of the other Apple products the iPhone is the Rolls Royce of Smart phones - Over-priced, over-rated, and over-taken (already). The real movers and shakers in the smartphone market are Samsung and hTc, watch what they are doing if you actually want to get ahead.
I just love Koalas - they go great with Bacon.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Windows 7 is streets ahead of Vista, give it a try.
I will, I am intending on buying a Weven notebook next time I am in the US ( b.c it's half the price of buying it here ).
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
I suspect that company's are scared that they might violate a patent or two.
You're claiming that Apple invented the only possible way to have a user friendly system ? I don't mean that things have to look exactly like the iPhone, although I do think it's worth asking why Apple were the ones who were able to design something so usable. I mean, why can't Microsoft take the time to design something that's easy to use ?
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Christian Graus wrote:
I mean, why can't Microsoft take the time to design something that's easy to use ?
Notepad. Touche. I win.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Speaking of speaking English, I've just been watching season 2 of Underbelly and it's full of Kiwi's. They put on a het, they have dunner at sux o'clock. It's driving me nuts.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
Chris Maunder wrote:
It's driving me nuts.
Don't you mean nots? When you back for our Sydney beer? I reckon I can get Josh and Ashley there again.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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Just bought one for my Wife, her answer to the question is a lot shorter. It's cute and pretty and does what she wants it to do! I like your answer better.
Jörgen Andersson wrote:
It's cute and pretty and does what she wants it to do!
Sounds like the iPhone .. grin
The only thing unpredictable about me is just how predictable I'm going to be.
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Christian Graus wrote:
I mean, why can't Microsoft take the time to design something that's easy to use ?
MS is the 800lb gorilla. They were so used to simply forcing people to use their products that they lost the fire needed to do things in simple, elegant ways. They used to be different. But when they became the defacto OS of the world they lost the need to fight or even innovate much. The business world liked stability and familiarity. Only now that the business world is being populated by people that like new things, like intuitive design and want speed are they seeing the need to get off their duffs and move. They've got divisions that are as good at marketing as Apple. They have divisions as good at making fans as Apple, but these divisions aren't really in charge of the big stuff. (X-box is the noteworthy one) Weven is a good step in the right direction. But until ALL their people stop thinking that they don't need to listen, they aren't infalliable and they need to compete to survive, they are in trouble. They can't expand out of their market with Google and Apple dominating 2 of the markets they want and Sony and Nintendo fighting them in another. Heck, the biggest threat to the iPhone is a Google product. When Microsoft is called an "also-ran" in a market something is wrong. So why can't they do it? Cause they have a corporate culture that says they don't have to. They fix that and we might be really impressed.
ragnaroknrol wrote:
They were so used to simply forcing people to use their products that they lost the fire needed to do things in simple, elegant ways. They used to be different. But when they became the defacto OS of the world they lost the need to fight or even innovate much. The business world liked stability and familiarity.
Very true. Why do you need to respond to user demand if they're going to buy the thing anyway. The iPhone is clearly devised with Joe Average consumer in mind. So did MS (or others) miss the boat a bit in seeing the switch from corporate to personal use (or more accurately how much this switch would mean to the bottom line?)
The only thing unpredictable about me is just how predictable I'm going to be.
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Yes and No. Basically Apple do a substantially better job at the UI than just about anyone else. But then they go and sit on their arse, get arbitrary, and also refuse to compromise of their quirkier 'standards' even when everyone else can see that they suck. Look how long it took them to get past the one button mouse. But from a smartphone perspective the iPhone is actually a massive yawn. Does it drive mobile broadband usage? Nup, it doesn't even register on the charts it's that small. What really drives mobile broadband usage is all of the people with 3G dongles. Is it technologically advanced? Nup, not even with its initial launch. It is however a very good assembly of parts. Is it good business for the Telcos? Nup, the cost of acquiring an iPhone customer has meant that most Telcos that run it get substantially less of a return than other smartphones. Some of them have even been running at a loss (the idiots bought into the hype). The AppStore is a great concept - that Apple didn't invent. And just one application running at a time? Come on! Basically, with the iPhone, Apple cleaned up a lot of the UI nastiness around mobile phones in one go. And then promptly proceeded to do nothing more. Like so many of the other Apple products the iPhone is the Rolls Royce of Smart phones - Over-priced, over-rated, and over-taken (already). The real movers and shakers in the smartphone market are Samsung and hTc, watch what they are doing if you actually want to get ahead.
I just love Koalas - they go great with Bacon.
Yeah it is Rolls Royce at this much of amount and that is True. but in case if they give the same thing in more less amount then it can be a real movers and shaker. Anyway we would except more from apple for moving towards more reasonable price. That is possible if Samsung and HTC come out with the really good competitor with apple's one. And let's hope they will.
Believe Yourself™
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ragnaroknrol wrote:
Ballmer is crazy and could care less about his customers.
FFS, it's couldn't care less, as in he care so little for them it is impossible for him to care less than he does now. Can't anyone fucking speak english on here any more?
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
Michael Martin wrote:
Can't anyone f***ing speak english on here any more?
Nope. Not until Chris includes voice commanding support. You have to settle with written "English" for now.
-- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
Windows 7 is streets ahead of Vista
in what way ? the toolbar ?
Speed. Stability. Size of footprint. Stability. Features. Did I mention stability?
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith
As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
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You realise that the main character (Terry Clarke, mr asia) actually *was* a kiwi, don't you? Man its shocking how you aussies claim kiwis as your own once they cross the ditch - for example: - Crowded House - Sam Neil - Fred Hollows - Phar lap - Russell Crowe Actually, you can keep Russell Crowe
Johnno74 wrote:
You realise that the main character (Terry Clarke, mr asia) actually *was* a kiwi, don't you?
Um, yes?
Johnno74 wrote:
Man its shocking how you aussies claim kiwis as your own once they cross the ditch - for example: - Crowded House - Sam Neil - Fred Hollows - Phar lap - Russell Crowe
We'll take Phar Lap, but you can keep your other cast-offs ;)
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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Chris Maunder wrote:
It's driving me nuts.
Don't you mean nots? When you back for our Sydney beer? I reckon I can get Josh and Ashley there again.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
Maybe mid/late January but I'm not sure. I'll keep you posted. I could do with some warm about now...
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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ragnaroknrol wrote:
Ballmer is crazy and could care less about his customers.
FFS, it's couldn't care less, as in he care so little for them it is impossible for him to care less than he does now. Can't anyone fucking speak english on here any more?
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
Making assumptions not in evidence. I couldn't care less about mac development. It wouldn't be easy since my degree of indifference is asymptotically approaching zero, but I could always insert more zeros between the decimal and first significant digit. :-\
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
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So MS's inability to get patent cases moved out of Texas is their downfall? ;) Seriously, someone needs to put the kibosh on Texas juries handing anyone with a questionable patent a judgment.
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Hi Chris, I don't have an iPhone, don't need one, but I have friends, who are Windows programmers, that rave about them. I would not be willing to sacrifice "copy and paste," and running more than one application at a time (is that still true ?) for whatever the iPhone benefits are, but that's just a reflection of my lifestyle (I make almost no use of the telephone). And I'm just personally not into small devices : I want big screens, big keyboards, readability. Portability not important to me. Personal taste : perhaps related to age and eye-condition, as well as life-style ? I won't echo the other responses here I quite agree with, about "usability," etc., other than to say I think Marc Clifton (as usual) "nailed it" when he talked about "flow." The only thing I can add, that I think I haven't seen here yet on this thread, is the idea that the iPhone is a compelling, fascinating, as well as useful, toy ! It's power of "enchantment" seems, to me, to have spread beyond the usual circumference of the "Cult of Mac" in the way viruses spread. From my jaded perspective, the iPhone is the larval stage of much more interesting and useful devices to come. best, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be arithmetical, numerical, rather than algebraical and analytical. This is an error. The engine can arrange and combine numerical quantities as if they were letters or any other general symbols; and it fact it might bring out its results in algebraical notation, were provisions made accordingly." Ada, Countess Lovelace, 1844
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So MS's inability to get patent cases moved out of Texas is their downfall? ;) Seriously, someone needs to put the kibosh on Texas juries handing anyone with a questionable patent a judgment.
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To me it's responsiveness. I've been playing with one for a couple of days and I've been trying to nail down exactly what it is that makes it so easy to use. High on the list is the personality of the UI. It's friendly. It's familiar. A compass looks like a compass, the time looks like an old-fashioned timer and is designed to be spun using your fingers. This is huge. Then I started comparing my touch-screen notebook with the iPhone. Scrolling through a browser page is very jerky. Resizing a page shows jerks and flashes. The laptop is a tablet, so spinning the screen 90 degrees makes the whole screen go dark then redraw, window by painful window. The iPhone scrolls perfectly smoothly. When you change orientation it morphs beautifully from landscape to portrait. When I need to zoom there absolutely zero lag in redrawing. Compared to my Blackberry, or a Windows Mobile device the contrast is night and day. I think we as software developers, and Microsoft and RIM as the authors of OSs, need to go into the room of mirrors and have a good, long look at ourselves.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
I don't have the iPhone, but I do have a 2nd gen 16 gb iPod Touch (the bastard child of the iPhone -- I don't think it gets invited to the same parties, poor thing). It's replaced my Dell Axim x50v as my primary PDA. It's also replaced my iPod Classic 80 gb as my primary music player. I don't have a lot of apps for it, mostly freebies (I'm a cheapskate, heh) like Stanza and a couple of games. I paid for the OS upgrade mostly because one of my apps needed it (Mobile-Blu). The only thing from my Dell I haven't found a replacement for yet is ListPro, but I bought the desktop version when I picked it up for the Axim. I used to do development for Windows Mobile (just my own stuff, nothing professional). I'd love to get into development for the iPhone/iPod Touch, but can't really afford to buy a Mac for it right now. I'd love to get a Mac Mini eventually as it would be pretty easy to hook it up to my existing KVM switch. I'd rather they just port the development tools to Windows, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon. I'm used to C#, so Object C shouldn't be too difficult to pick up. I think the only thing I miss from my Axim is the ability to use handwriting to input information. I find that easier than using the soft keyboard on the iPod Touch. Otherwise, like you said. It's much easier to use and easily more responsive than the WinMo and Blackberries I've used in the past. I haven't picked up an iPhone yet as I use a pay as you go phone and haven't found any provider that can beat the (on average) $20 (US) per month we spend for minutes on my and Mrs. Flynn's phones. :) Flynn
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The iPhone, as a device, is neither here nor there for me. It's a chunk of circuit board wrapped in a pretentious skin and sold at way too high a price. The touchscreen works perfectly, I will give it that, but it gets warm when you make it do anything, it's battery life sucks, and it uses that aweful propriatary iPod connector. It's the concept of designing a PDA that works with you, instead of works it's own way and expects you to learn, that grabs me. Beyond that, and something I completely forgot to mention, was the ecosystem that surrounds it. The iPhone automatically syncs with my computer (via iTunes) and I can use it as a remote for my AppleTV. I make a change in one place (movie, photo, MP3) and everything has it. The blackberry is brilliant with its Exchange integration, but can anyone name RIM's multimedia management application? Me neither, and I've used a blackberry for years. As well, the AppStore has, I think, taken many people by surprise. There have been apps for Windows Mobile for years and years, but is there a market? Same with RIM. But within an hour of having the iPhone I was downloading games and gadgets that were a) fun, and b) amazingly creative and useful. And then there's the core UI of the iPhone OS itself. It just works. It doesn't multitask, which would cause problems for me because I'm forever flipping between email and my calendar, or I'll listen to music then pop onto the (crappy) blackberry browser to check the site. That is not going to happen with an iPhobe, but what does happen is you open an app, use it, close it and switch to another, close it and switch back and everything is so quick and smooth that, unless you actually want to have two things running at once, you don't even notice. I'm not actually expecting too much more from Apple. They've had a long time to innovate MacOS X and frankly it's nothing magical. The iPhone is revolutionary because it changed the way we think about Mobile apps. I think someone else will now come along and take the ball and run.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
Chris Maunder wrote:
It doesn't multitask, which would cause problems for me because I'm forever flipping between email and my calendar, or I'll listen to music then pop onto the (crappy) blackberry browser to check the site. That is not going to happen with an iPhobe, but what does happen is you open an app, use it, close it and switch to another, close it and switch back and everything is so quick and smooth that, unless you actually want to have two things running at once, you don't even notice.
The only thing that does multitask on the iPod Touch/iPhone is the music. It will continue to play in the background if you hit the Home button. I listen to music and read in Stanza all the time. The only annoying thing is if you want to do anything with the music (pause, skip tracks, etc.) you have to exit the app you're in and re-launch the Music/iPod app. Still, it's pretty quick and responsive, so you don't notice it too much. :) Flynn