
Apple’s boring hardware updates - remi
http://www.marco.org/4222285032
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jrockway
_... LTE chipset (which currently has coverage almost nowhere)_

Whoa! Marco is beginning to sound more annoying than Gruber.

The Apple fanbois make statements like this all the time -- Apple doesn't
support something, so therefore it's irrelevant? LTE is available in NYC, LA,
and Chicago (and 20 other cities), which are the three biggest markets in the
US. That's not "nowhere", that's "a good chunk of the population".

Let me know when you can buy a Thunderbolt peripheral :)

~~~
chrisbolt
How good is that LTE coverage though, even within those cities? Granted, I'm
on AT&T, but today I was on the sunset strip in Hollywood and my iPhone
dropped to EDGE. The sunset strip doesn't even have 3G and I'm supposed to get
excited about 4G?

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joebadmo
I don't understand your logic or why you are getting upvotes. You're comparing
Verizon's LTE (for which the reviews are generally amazing) to ATT's
notoriously bad 3G, especially on the iPhone.

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jad
It's important to keep in mind that for Apple, hardware and software are not
independent products. The software, as great as it often is on its own, exists
to sell the hardware. Most of the iPhone's most compelling features, judging
from what Apple chooses to promote, come in the form of software that takes
advantage of new hardware. Think FaceTime with the iPhone 4, or video
recording with the iPhone 3GS. These aren't the kind of big splash features
that can typically come with just a software update.

Also consider the significant fact that new iPhones come with huge public
exposure. Usually glowing stories on The Today Show and Good Morning America,
articles in The New York Times, etc. This is publicity you can't buy. Free iOS
updates, even if they have major version numbers attached to them, just don't
have the same sex appeal with the public.

New hardware just seems to focus the customer's mind in a way that I'm not
sure software can.

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zdw
My wager for this summer/fall is an "iPhone 4S" with the A5 processor, with
almost no other hardware changes.

Plus a launch of iOS 5, with a revamped notification system, more developer
API's, and possibly some UI reworks (iOS is looking pretty long in the tooth
compared to things like Windows Phone 7)

~~~
twodayslate
I was hoping for dual cores and iOS5 (notification feature mainly).

My brother is saying they will be integrating a credit card system. That could
be possible.

~~~
zdw
Integrated CC system sounds much too niche, especially with Square and similar
solutions.

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runinit
In the future, all your cards will be on your "mobile" device.

~~~
zdw
In the future, all your cards will be public keys that can be revoked.

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laujen
Apple's events are almost always an hour. With that in mind, it is hard to see
how any of these hardware announcements, event LTE, would take up an hour long
presentation.

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jsz0
I'm not sure we're at that point yet but it will happen eventually. Once the
iPhone gets a multi-core processor, much faster GPU, and 4G what else is
really left for a yearly update? I doubt we'll see an octo-core iPhone 6 with
4 cameras, 2K display and 5G radios in 2013. The possible delay for the iPhone
5 seems more about re-aligning the product release schedule. It doesn't really
matter when the iPhone is released. Most people only buy a new phone with they
are eligible for a subsidized upgrade. The iPad, and iPod Touch, are the items
that need a big back-to-school/x-mas production push. It must be difficult (or
at least expensive) for Apple to release the iPhone mid-year and 2 months
later gear up for the iPad/iPod rush. I think we'll probably see the iPad 2
get an extended shelf life too. The rumors of an iPad release in September
were probably correct they just got the year wrong -- it'll be 2012. The last
piece of this is they may move to more frequent, but minor, OS updates. This
has already started to happen with 4.x where each release brought some
significant features. Perhaps all the bundled apps will be updated through the
App Store instead of OS updates as part of this.

~~~
bigfudge
256k should be enough for anybody.

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daimyoyo
I was really surprised that Apple chose to unveil thunderbolt in a press
release rather than at an event. They'd been working with Intel for years and
at the end all it garnered was "oh by the way the new MB pros will have
lightpeak I/O ports built in and we're calling it thunderbolt." Couldn't they
have waited the few weeks until the iPad announcement and unveiled it then?
Apple missed a huge opportunity for free press(they were already there for the
iPad, why not tell them about your revolutionary new I/O technology?) but oh
well. Guess even Apple drops the ball from time to time.

~~~
dot
the ipad 2 was on the front page of thousands of free daily commuter papers
across the globe.

nobody cares about a new port. event or not.

~~~
djhworld
While I really like the idea of 10GB/s transfer speeds, I can't help but think
Thunderbolt will go down the path of Firewire.

It's called _Unviersal_ Serial Bus for many reasons, but I still think USB
will remain king, regardless of transfer speeds

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jonknee
Moving to a longer cycle also has the benefit of being friendly to people who
purchase the iPhone with a service contract. It's tough to be in a two-year
deal for a one-year device.

~~~
ugh
So the iPhone self-destructs now after twelve months? Devilish what Apple is
coming up with these days.

Normal people don't buy a new iPhone every year. And even nerds should know
that the market is moving at such a speed that it will be nearly impossible
for them to own the latest and greatest at any point in time. All iPhones were
at least 24 month devices.

~~~
jonknee
I think the point was more of a focus on software. Where we are today I think
the iPhone 4 stands up in hardware, but is lagging in software (notification
UI, reliance on iTunes, etc). An extra four months for some more RAM and maybe
faster data access isn't going to bother most people.

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mcav
The iPhone doesn't need to get any smaller, and the display won't need any
more increases in resolution. That's practically it's only noticeable physical
feature. Anything they add to it at this point will be hard to notice unless
it adds substantial new functionality.

They can always improve on speed, camera resolution, and storage; they could
add LTE and NFC, but I can't think of much else that would even _need_
hardware support that they couldn't add in software.

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kenjackson
A 4" display would be a pretty big deal. As would 3D support.

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barefoot
How about a display on the back? That way there would be (nearly) no wrong way
to hold your phone.

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meemo
You can only see one side at a time.

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idlewords
unless they go the Möbius route

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vl
My bet is on a larger screen: resolution is high enough to support larger
screen and competition has nice large screens already.

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eelco
iOS and all the apps are build for a specific _physical_ size. A larger screen
would mean apps would need to scale (or run in an awkward smaller size) which
would look terrible and be awkward to use (very large buttons). The
alternative would be to ask developers to make another, slightly larger
version of their apps. Not going to happen ;)

~~~
allwein
The apps are built for a specific resolution. As long as the screen resolution
is 320x480 or 640x960, the actual physical dimensions of the screen are
irrelevant.

~~~
bzbarsky
.. or 960x1440!

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aufreak3
There is still a _lot_ of scope for significant hardware changes in the device
space. A couple of my favourites - a) Pen input on iPad category devices
(great for schools!) and b) camera embedded within the display (so you can
look at the other in the eye).

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tomkarlo
Apple isn't a hardware vendor: it isn't building its strategy off continually
trying to get people to switch to the "latest and greatest." Instead, it's
focusing on making it's money off the app store / itunes platform, and doing
that makes it more important to keep their existing customers happy and on the
phones they've already bought. That's why you see them being so consistent
about upgrades, etc and support for the older units than other manufacturers.

Continual planned obsolescence is great for hardware sales but tends to make
your customers feel a little sour about the product they bought from you last
year. If you really want them to be loyal, buying apps and staying with the
brand, it seems like a better plan to keep them happy through as much of the
product cycle as possible by reducing hardware churn and focusing on software
upgrades you can use for marketing but also distribute to your existing base.

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dvdhsu
> Or an LTE chipset

> Would any of those justify an event?

 _Yes_.

LTE would be deserving of an event, especially if the launch of the iPhone
coincides with the launch of LTE from ATT.

~~~
zdw
Agreed, but the timing might not be this summer.

Apple has been known to wait until the chipset hits their power envelope
requirements - witness the original Edge-only 2G iPhone when cheap phones of
the same vintage were already 3G.

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Flow
What a silly person. The hardware is magic! :)

