Can we file a class action against Apple?

[joshstrike]

We really are the Apple base. Without the design core that's been lionizing and proselytizing for them all these years, they'd be dead by now.

I'd like to see Adobe roll out CS6 for Ubuntu or some other linux flavor and tell Apple to stick it. Anyone like me who spends any serious money on overpriced Apple hardware, just so we can avoid using Windows, would sell every Mac on the premises and switch over directly. That's a promise.

[EDIT] @Hanratty, after reading your edit: Yes, consumer herd stupidity knows no bounds. On the one hand, that's the formula that I exploit as a matter of course in my work as a brand designer. On the other, I'll fight tooth and nail to prevent a world where we're moving backwards in terms of our productive and creative options. Unfortunately, there's currently no viable alternative for designers to the Apple ecosystem; and my hope that might change in the next decade is probably pissing in the wind. Whatever system I have to cobble together to be able to go on producing the systems and designs my company is making now, I will. But I feel sure that people like me represent enough of a market for someone to cater to. Say, with a slate that lets me write code long-hand in dreamweaver and Flex, and work in photoshop with pressure sensitivity, with a linux terminal, about 1/3" thick, built in 3G and a 10 hour battery life. What do I have to do, file a patent? Will no one come out with this thing? Wouldn't pretty much everyone on this board buy one tomorrow if it existed?

[Frets]

I can think of several situations where a tablet with either touch or pen input would be of value.

I used to be a chef and I used to be a Kitchen Manager.
They are quite different in responsibilites especially if you are working for a chain.

As a K.M you are required to fill out large amounts of paperwork.
Prep lists, Ordering, P&L and budgeting are but a few. All use many of the same values for different purposes. I worked for a restaraunt that had over 350 menu items. to prepare them we needed 500 food products. Not to mention china, glass, silver and cleaning supplies.
Usually all of the above involves walking around with a clipboard and paper. Manually recording all the data, Then transfering it all by manual data entry. Honestly a tablet with the application installed would prolly shave 1 to 2 hours off each day. and two hours off end of week, end of month, quarterly and annual reports.

Another place that a solid tablet would be a good thing is for Live Musicians. Gear is expensive heavy and quickly outdated. Most musicians I know cringe when they think about bringing a laptop to a gig. Easy to break, hard to replace.

Top of the line workstation keyboards don't come cheap.
They are heavy, expensive and rarely intuitive. Computer based daws and sound libraries offer higher quality at a lower cost. However rack mount solutions aren't cheap either.
http://www.floridamusicco.com/prodde...sereceptor.htm

Once you pay for receptor you still have to pay for plugins. And because it's a rackmount. Inorder to get to any serious access you need to buy a monitor and mouse separate then haul them around.

Meanwhile something like a slate could operate Like a virtual KAOS Pro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QatzKxZ5kWo
MPC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdjP0dVJ-Zg
Not to mention Emu Command stations, Korg electribes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO60I...eature=related
and much more.

Even if you are not into techno, hip hop, trance a tablet with any midi operator device
(Keyboard, ztar, YRG, electronic drums etc)I considerably cheaper, more versatile and road worthy then either of the two above (top of the line workstation keyboard or receptor)

My Dad is in his 80's He uses his computer for surfing and email. He is a voracious reader and sharp as a tack. He goes thru books like water. He also likes to travel. A Notion Ink Adam would be perfect for him. And If they ever bring it to market I'd buy it for him. Though my step-mom would be jealous and I'd have to buy one for her.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/07/n...compatibility/

So I do think there is a market.
Sometimes a good idea is destroyed by conjecture, rather then simply seeing and following the existing pattern. Netbooks are still selling like hotcakes. Had Steve Jobs actually studied the trend instead of trying to re invent it He would have something.

[FlashLackey]

I wonder how well macbooks would sell if adobe apps were no longer available.

Like hotcakes...just like they are now.

For the long term, I'm not sure. Obviously, Apple has people smart enough to think about and analyze this type of thing. But, some things are difficult to measure. Apple clearly has momentum at this point in time. However, how much of a factor is designer/developer support in keeping that going? If the neighborhood "cool computer guy" is no longer suggesting that his friends and family buy mac products... Will that happen enough to hurt them over years?

We really are the Apple base. Without the design core that's been lionizing and proselytizing for them all these years, they'd be dead by now.

Seems that way to me. The "near death" experience Jobs references was avoided in large part due to the support of that base, a lot of whom now feel betrayed.

I'm probably not going to buy Apple products I had originally planned to. I know several people who have sworn them off. Of course, I'm in that industry and it's just anecdotal. But, I think it's quite possible that that will trickle down to other parts of the market for them, over time. It's not as if there isn't competition chomping at the bit just for tiny corners of their market share.

[WannaBe_80z]

[FlashLackey]

I think it's about time for Jobs to join Bill and focus on charity.

[WannaBe_80z]

Does everyone really think that Steve Jobs is solely making all these decisions?

[Frets]

Jobs work history shows this type of behavoir however back then it was directed at employess.

[hanratty21]

Yes, I am quoting one of my earlier posts in this thread. Looks like my prognostications aren't even taking an entire year. This just came from the quarterly Apple investor call a few minutes ago...

More than 80 percent of Fortune 100 companies are using the iPhone, and about 50 percent of the Fortune 100 are deploying or testing the iPad, Apple revealed Tuesday.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook announced those figures during the company's quarterly earnings conference call Tuesday evening. He said that the company is selling iPads and iPhones "as fast as (they) can make them," including those sales to the enterprise market

The iPhone has steadily grown in the enterprise market since it was first introduced in 2007. But Apple's comments on Tuesday would seem to suggest that the iPad has found faster adoption in the enterprise market.

The remaining question is: What are those businesses using the iPad for? Apple's executives did not provide any indication, though numerous companies have publicly embraced the device, giving some idea of where the iPad is being used.

Earlier this month, Wells Fargo revealed it initially bought 15 iPads used to demonstrate products at an investor conference. While the company spent two years looking at the iPhone, it spent just two weeks to approve the iPad for use. The company's experience with the iPad has led it to buy "a bunch" more.

In addition, Mercedes-Benz has used the iPad to sell cars, allowing sales people to handle credit applications on the touchscreen tablet device. The company is now considering using iPads at all 350 of its U.S. dealerships.

And SAP has developed its own iPad application, allowing managers to approve shipping of customer orders. The company also has a handful of other custom applications planned for development.

Again. Let me reiterate. I am talking about enterprise level development. Think about large corporations with a particular function that they can mobilize and keep fully functional because of a piece of hardware, not geeks buying apps from the iTunes store.

Turn on CNBC one year from now and look at all the suits traversing the floor of the exchange...iPad in hand streaming quotes and allowing them the mobility needed to do their job...better.

Camera is missing - agreed. It's not about features on the hardware though. It's about the implementation. Killer app of the 90's was email. Blackberry changed the game and evolved email from the killer app that it was to the KILLER app that it is today. It wasn't about what was on the device...it was about how it was implemented with the Exchange Server. Again...implementation, not necessarily feature set.

In my prognosticating way, I am 'seeing' this thing change the way people work...not as yet another tool to do their work.

tick tock.

looks like I'm not the only one who thinks this...


*edit* I think part of the problem is that people in this forum are so ingrained in technology and so opinionated about what they want in a mobile computing tool, we're not seeing this thing for what it is. It's not a big iPhone minus the phone. It's not a keyboard-less laptop. It's something unabashedly new.

[joshstrike]

Unabashedly new? Too bad you can only compile code for it in Objective C, which is like the worst POS hackjob of a language to lurch its way out of the '80s. Too bad you can't even write and compile that code on the device itself. Too bad its got enough power to run almost any kind of existing Flex enterprise app or Flash game out there, of the hundreds of thousands in the wild, and small- to mid-sized businesses that have already sunk $100k + into developing their own software would need to redevelop everything since Apple has chosen to make any kind of porting or cross-compilation impossible.

I think my original post is being borne out; Justice is already interested and the FTC is investigating Apple for exactly this behavior. Whether a bunch of stock brokers have the latest toy is irrelevant.

[Frets]

Just go droid and let the ipads fall where they may.

[argonauta]

about android and the iphone: On Math, iPhones, Android, and the 100K Phone Gap

[clicky2]

Isn't that somewhat apples to oranges though? They're comparing the overall sales of Android devices to the iPhone 4 (with limited availability at this point). They also don't include iPad, 3GS (and older phones which are being sold and re-activated), and Touch into the equation ... which are all essentially iOS devices.

I don't dispute that Android might overtake iOS in the marketplace. It's pretty much inevitable since there are more devices and carriers that offer it. Hopefully it brings competition (which it is) that will make all devices better.

As for the iPad ... it was the first to market from a major player, what do you expect? Once other similar devices have marketing power behind them, game on. Until then, Apple will reap the benefits.

[FlashLackey]

I think it's a fair comparison if they are trying to get an indication of where the mobile phone market is headed.

This supports what I was saying earlier. Price point wins. Androids are selling faster than iPhones, even during an iPhone launch year.

I look forward to hearing the explanation when iPhones start supporting flash.

---

Same thing is going to happen with iPad. Once the market is flooded with products with similar functionality for a third of the price and the novelty wears off of the "look honey, they're having us buy the car on an iPad!" experience, the iPad will be nothing more than yesterdays iMac.

They make good products and do a good job innovating new technology. However, with Jobs quickly becoming the Metallica of the internets, I wonder if the bottom is going to drop out over the next 5 or so years.

[Frets]

A local high end car dealership is giving away Ipads with new cars. They are preloading the owners manual into it. Marketing strikes again, anyone remember internet ready electric blankets?

[hanratty21]

^ ^ ^
You're seriously comparing the iPad to an electric blanket? I sense a lot of animosity for the iPad in this thread. Just to reiterate, I am far from a fanboy, nor do I think this is the be all and end all of mobile computing, but I do see a tremendous market for this device. As the first major player to market with something like this with all of the infrastructure already in place (app store, iTunes supporting software, etc.) it WILL be a major success both financially and socially. As far as others coming to market with similar (better) products, it really won't matter in the grand scheme of things. People will still talk about the Slate and others with comments like 'So, it's like an iPad?' There are tissue makers other than Kleenex, but none that I buy...

Apple sold record numbers of them in the first 3 months and there are still Apple stores in this country where you cannot walk in and buy one all the time. They don't need to be the best, they just need to do what they're doing to be king of the hill.

[jAQUAN]

I suspect there is a toxic chemical in the metal case. My boss, a prominent flash developer, has become the worst apple fanboy since he bought an ipad. It's to the point where he is defending the genius bar.

[silverx2]

Genius bar, ha! Id like to watch them fix the problems i see daily.

[cancerinform]

So now iPhone users can download applications, which Apple did not allow. Does that also include Flash applications?

http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=10126

[clicky2]

Not exactly. It's talking about legal protection for those who choose to jailbreak/root their device, thus voiding the warranty in most instances.

The term 'legitimate software' seems a bit vague to me though. Is an iPhone app not approved by Apple able to still be deemed legitimate? I'm not entirely sure ... but I'm far from an expert on the topic.

[hanratty21]

When IBM/Salesforce/Accenture/Fortune 500 player/whoever comes in the front door and says 'we want 10,000 units with our app pre-installed...no iStore nonsense' ...it will happen. Period.

Not only will it happen. It has...and there you have it. Enterprise program.
http://developer.apple.com/programs/iphone/enterprise/