Focusing is About Saying "No"

A remark from Steve Jobs's Q&A at the 1997 WWDC. Jobs goes on to say the result of “saying 'no'” is that Apple was going to unveil products where the “total is much greater than the sum of the parts.” Was that first, bondi-blue iMac in his mind at that point?

Whatever products he had in mind, this is one of the things that makes Apple Apple. While other companies have raced to add as many gee-whiz features to their products as possible, Apple clearly has spent a great deal of time saying “no” to ideas. Sometimes it frustrates people, but that's OK. This is the difference between a company driven by an engineering-marketing complex and one driven by a visionary-artist.

The former appeals only to our rational side; when done well, the visionary-artist products appeal not only to our rational side (as we admire the engineering of the product) but also to our creativity (as we take in the aesthetics). Too often technology does appeal to us only rationally and in doing so fails to take into account that we are creatures that were made to be creative.

I think this is a fundamental place people like RMS, who have been criticizing Jobs since his passing, are missing the boat. License agreements may be a form of “prison,” but so are products so ugly and uncreative that they prevent us from doing what we want to do or make it a displeasure to do.

Part of freedom is not just having free access to tools, but having tools that enable us to realize our aspirations.

iPhone 4S "Disappointment"

The “disappointment” over the iPhone 4S for only taking one of the best phones on the market and giving it a better camera, doubly fast processor, seven times more graphics power and an incredible voice assistant is really taking its toll on sales. That must be why the first batch of 16GB models — the ones set to be delivered on the first day of the phone's launch — are sold out and AT&T acknowledged record sales.

Ah, if only every company could disappoint customers like this.

War

Apple's decision to keep the 3GS available is huge. Previously, Apple has only kept two generations of iPhones on the market at any given time. But, keeping the 3GS out there shows that the company wants to compete at every level of the smartphone market, not just the high end. With the iPhone now on three out of four US carriers and available in low-end, middle and high-end configurations, Apple has “finally” declared all out war on Android.

Time will tell a lot: much of Android's growth has been due to its multi-carrier availability and wide range of pricing. Now what will be its shtick?

LTE Dreams

Tomorrow is the big day — the iPhone 4S or 5 or whatever-it-will-be-called will finally be unveiled. Reliable rumor reports seem to suggest that Sprint will be receiving the phone. That could be interesting, especially if Apple offers a WiMax enabled version. While AT&T will likely semi-justifiably label its new iPhone as “4G” since it will use HSPA+, a WiMax enabled phone would be a “true 4G” variant.

Still, the real dream remains LTE. I think it is almost certain that Apple will not release an LTE-based phone tomorrow. But, after spending a few weeks using a Verizon 4G Galaxy Tab 10.1”, I can't help but think about how nice an iPhone with LTE would be.

That dream may still be a bit off in the distance, sadly.

The First Real iPad Competitor

Most tablets have been dead on arrival — they cost as much or more than the iPad and none of them can do everything the iPad can do. Sure, each has its own shtick that it does better than the iPad; the trouble is, none of them present a compelling narrative for how they are going to improve the way people do the things they really want to do.

That will change with the Amazon tablet:

Meanwhile Amazon has summoned the press to an event Wednesday, September 28, in New York City, where many are guessing the company will unveil a new tablet computer based on Google's Android operating system.

I'm not predicting the iPad's doom. But, I think Amazon may be the one company intelligent enough to really compete with Apple for consumers' hearts and minds. (The fact that they've built up a huge pile of digital media perfect for a Kindle tablet won't hurt either.) Given that Amazon is bringing its powerful Kindle franchise into the mix, this tablet may run on a fork of Android, but I'd be surprised to see Android branding anywhere.

The Human Side of an Icon

Lisen Stromberg writes observations on being a neighbor to Steve Jobs:

While Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal and CNET continue to drone on about the impact of the Steve Jobs era, I won't be pondering the MacBook Air I write on or the iPhone I talk on. I will think of the day I saw him at his son's high school graduation. There Steve stood, tears streaming down his cheeks, his smile wide and proud, as his son received his diploma and walked on into his own bright future leaving behind a good man and a good father who can be sure of the rightness of this, perhaps his most important legacy of all.

A Sign of the Times

From the Microsoft Bing blog:

What you're seeing today is only the beginning. Lasso moves Bing beyond the search box. Although it will only be available in Bing for iPad to begin with, we're already thinking about how to take Lasso even further — so stay tuned.

Lasso is a novel idea — the sort that fits the “new Microsoft” that seems to be emerging and releasing really great products like Windows Phone 7. Note, however, that Lasso is being released first on the iPad, not Windows 7 Tablet Edition or even Android. This speaks very clearly about what Microsoft understands about the mobile OS market right now.

HT: John Gruber

Sorting Out 4G Service Options

And speaking of my coverage of 4G networks, if you are trying to decide which network to go with, you may find my aforementioned article helpful in choosing which sort of 4G is right for you.

Google's Search Share Shrinking

Lance Whitney reports:

Looking at the overall search engine market from May 2010 to May 2011, Compete found that Google has lost close to 16 percent of its share, dropping to 63.6 percent from 73.9 percent. At the same time, Microsoft grew its share by 75 percent, jumping to 17 percent from 9.7 percent.

The other three search engines tracked—Yahoo, Ask, and AOL—grew only slighty over the past year, showing that most of Bing's gain has been at the expense of Google.

Not surprising. After Google unceremoniously (and for reasons Google refused to confirm or verify) terminated OFB's advertising account and walked off with unpaid ad revenues they owed us, I decided to switch to Bing. Much to my surprise, it turns out Bing has some nifty bells and whistles I've come to really like.

What is really notable, though, is that Google is the only major search engine to lose market share year over year. Inexplicably, also-rans Ask.com and AOL made small gains. Something is afoot.

Details Make the Difference

The thing that makes Apple different is the sort of details Apple pays attention to. Amidst the headlining features Cupertino unveiled this week, they added an option in the iTunes sharing preference tab to keep play counts updated between devices synchronized by iTunes Home Sharing. Finally — this is something I've wanted to see for years.