
IPhone: The New Personal Computer - naish
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/iphone_personal_computer.php
======
aneesh
> _"but with the platform iPhone becomes the new personal computer .... Every
> major service, Amazon, Netflx, Twitter, Digg, Flickr, Facebook, is already
> available, or will soon be, ... this is powerful and unprecedented_

Unprecedented? Surely not. Windows Mobile is a platform that allows you to do
all that. Blackberry is another mobile platform for developers. iPhone may yet
be the best mobile platform (the jury's still out), but it's certainly not the
first.

~~~
bigbang
Right. But, with the ability of 3 party developers to develop applications for
the iphone(and make some money) creates lot of interesting applications unlike
Blackberry or windows mobile.

~~~
aneesh
The Windows Mobile is over a decade old as a platform for apps. The Blackberry
also allows 3rd party apps.

As a platform, there's nothing new here with the iPhone except lots of hype
and a slick UI.

~~~
mrtron
I suppose that selling your app through iTunes is the first example of one of
these providers creating a distribution and sales network for your 3rd party
apps though.

But winmobile and blackberry platforms have been in existence for years and
years.

~~~
Tichy
There are lots and lots of platforms for buying mobile applications. Not sure
if there is one explicitly BY Blackberry, but still.

~~~
yawn
The problem is mindshare. No one knows what they are. I remember a site called
"handango" (I just checked and they are still there) that handled this, but
most people have no idea of where to go for their content. Apple's answer is
iTunes: a familiar interface for anyone that owns an iPod.

~~~
Tichy
In Germany everybody knows Jamba, but everybody hates them.

Also, every network operator has tried to create their own platform (O2,
T-Mobile, e-plus, Vodafone) - not so different from Apple after all? But
nobody trusts the network operators (rightfully so), and awareness for mobile
applications was not very big. I guess iPhone has an advantage because apps
are a key marketing ingredient.

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mynameishere
_The reason is that iPhone with its application platform is a better personal
computer_

Holy _shit_ , that's the stupidest thing I've ever read. The iPhone couldn't
replace the Commodore 64 for the bulk of its uses.

------
JoeBlu
Wake me up when I can install my own software on it. I'm not going to go
around begging for the keys to my own castle.

------
sanj
Newton, Palm, WinCE and the Blackberry can all add 3rd party applications.
However, having developed for 75% of those platforms, I can tell you that it
wasn't _easy_.

What's missing from this article is the impact of the iPhone App store. It
makes it absolutely trivial for a user to install new applications -- directly
from the phone.

Compare the iPhone:

1\. Click on App store

2\. Search for the app you want

3\. Click Install

to what we have to do with all of the other platforms above:

1\. _Find_ the app you want (ie, no centralize directory)

2\. Download the app to a laptop/desktop.

3\. Move the app to whatever machine this particular device is already mated
to (yes, you can often do it on a guest device, but good luck.)

4\. Unpack/Unzip/Untar the application

5\. Open up the syncing/install application

6\. Move it to the right directory or select the correct collection of files
from the syncing application

7\. Plug in or dock your handheld

8\. Sync.

How often do you think that the latter occurs? While Palm boasted of having
hundreds of thousands of apps, a tiny fraction of devices had _any_ of them.

This integration is important. The handheld ecosystem goes far, far beyond
"well, you can develop for it!"

It is a lesson that I'm hoping the Google folks are learning.

~~~
martythemaniak
Enough with the FUD already

Let's have a look at what a BlackBerry has to do:

1\. click on google.

2\. search for the app you want

3\. click on install.

And unlike the iPhone, you don't have to get prior approval from RIM to sell
or distribute your wares and you certainly don't have to give them a 30% cut.

What's more, non-apple platforms are far more open as to what you can actually
do - background processes & listeners, better access to the system etc.

~~~
wallflower
> Ever notice how the nicest applications are always ones made by RIM? An
> outside developer could never create the BlackBerry Facebook application in
> a million years, again, because of the API access. We heard RIM is actively
> trying to listen to developer’s cries for help, open up some APIs, give them
> newer and better tools, and possibly include things such as OpenGL graphics
> support. But it’s still extremely difficult to develop for BlackBerry
> devices and distribute those applications.

[http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/07/16/blackberry-bold-
vs...](http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/07/16/blackberry-bold-vs-
iphone-3g-yeah-we-definitely-went-there/)

------
jrockway
Here's the problem with tiny "personal computers" like the iPhone. They are
only for consuming content, not for creating it. Basically, it is like
watching TV, except in text form.

There's nothing wrong with that, but people use their computers for more than
just mindless content consumption. Even the "average joe" probably plays a 3D
game from time to time, or send emails to his family, or whatever. Anything
like that is painfully impossible on such a small device (at this time
anyway).

So while the iPhone is great for looking up someone's phone number on Facebook
and then sending them a "hey lets get coffee" text message, it's not so great
for anything more complicated than that. And even the most casual computer
users need to do things more complicated than that. (This post would never
have been written from a phone. The same goes for delicious bookmarks, and
everything else Web 2.0.)

------
Tichy
Flagged as advertising spam...

~~~
pg
When you flag something, you don't have to also comment about it. It makes for
boring comment threads when people post comments saying something shouldn't be
on the site. Not a lot of bits of data in such a post. So if you feel that way
about something, just flag it. Otherwise your comment becomes one of those
"vote up if you agree" type posts that take over the front page of any site
that allows them.

This particular case, incidentally, is certainly not spam. Overly positive
perhaps, but you're crying wolf to call this spam.

~~~
hugh
_It makes for boring comment threads when people post comments saying
something shouldn't be on the site_

That's true, it does. But if downvoting is impossible, commenting that it
shouldn't be here is frowned upon, and flagging is reserved for the most
egregious cases, what is the appropriate thing to do when you don't think an
article doesn't belong?

(NB. I don't think this article belongs in that category. It's not a great
article, but it's perfectly on-topic, and not, as far as I can tell, spam.)

~~~
pg
Seems to me the responses should be:

    
    
      If the story is:             Do this:
    
      spam/way offtopic            flag
      boring or mildly offtopic    nothing
      good                         upvote

------
omouse
How to write for a blog or anywhere else where you need the ad revenue and
eyeballs: Make a bold and incorrect statement and attempt to prove it just
like in English Lit. Crit. class.

