Reasons to focus on the iPhone OS

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ciaocibai

进士
Wonder what proportion of those kids will be wanting to study Chinese?... I'm quite curious to know what proportion of Pleco sales come via the US, and what proportion comes via other countries. Based on all the tech news, I thought about 98% of Americans had iPhones by now, but I'm not so sure they're quite as popular in other countries. Still a great device mind you.

Did you read about the Android tablet from Google coming soon as well? Seems the Google vs Apple battle is heating up even further.
 
C

ciaocibai

进士
Oh, and not really related, but the Apple store is down at the moment. Word is they are updating the Macbook Pros. Time for a new laptop I think...
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
character - interesting, but I don't know how many teens are likely to go buying $100 Chinese dictionaries; the way to get at them is via iPad, probably, whatever else may happen with Android I think Apple's almost a lock to win the tablet war in K12 schools at least.

numble - I don't know what Microsoft's thinking with Pink; makes me less inclined to support Windows Phone 7, actually, Microsoft's so far behind in the mobile OS wars that the last thing they need is a second mobile OS to occupy their limited number of mobile software developers with. Particularly since this is apparently focused on the US market, which thanks to our screwy carrier subsidy system is probably the market that's least interested in giving up that much functionality to save an extra $20 on their next phone.

ciaocibai - It's tough to know exactly how many Pleco sales come via the US now, actually - Apple reports anything ordered via the US iTunes store as a US sale, even if it's someone in China ordering with a US-based iTunes account, so expat and non-expat Americans (and other people who set up US iTunes accounts so they can buy things like music downloads that iTunes doesn't sell in their home country) get lumped together. This may be another good subject for a customer survey, actually.

And I just ordered one of the new MacBooks myself; ironically, in spite of Pleco's new focus on i-somethings I'd only had a Mac desktop before now (made the switch to Windows way back in 2003 when CodeWarrior for Palm went Windows-only), with a Toughbook Y7 for on-the-go use. The Toughbook is still the best laptop I've ever owned, but it's completely impossible to make into a Hackintosh, even if I were inclined to write iPhone software on what Apple considers to be an illegal system.
 
S

sui.generis

探花
mikelove said:
numble - I don't know what Microsoft's thinking with Pink; makes me less inclined to support Windows Phone 7, actually, Microsoft's so far behind in the mobile OS wars that the last thing they need is a second mobile OS to occupy their limited number of mobile software developers with. Particularly since this is apparently focused on the US market, which thanks to our screwy carrier subsidy system is probably the market that's least interested in giving up that much functionality to save an extra $20 on their next phone.
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You might be more up on it than me, but I didn't think Kin was even supposed to have development or local applications, or rather, that it isn't a smartphone OS at all even though CE happens to reside under the surface. It's a feature phone designed to appeal to the people who made sidekicks famous (by the people who made sidekicks infamous). I think the main selling point -- social networks -- are integrated, not appified, into the interface.

I actually thought WinPho7 was a dumbphone OS, and then MS replied "you don't know how dumb we can get." Well played microsoft. Well played. :wink: Actually, although MS has left me far, far behind, I suspect they'll find market success for themselves. If for no other reason than it's hard to fail when you have a market cap bigger than the GDPs of most nations.
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
I don't think Sidekick was really about cool social networking features, actually - it was about having a big, cheap, durable device to send lots of text messages on. The same people I used to see carrying around Sidekicks started using Android-powered T-Mobile G1s instead as soon as those came out.

"Feature phones" are no longer significantly cheaper or easier-to-use than "smartphones," and I don't see Kin changing that, so there's still the question of who wants to buy this. Even 12-year-olds use apps, in fact the 12-year-olds whose parents won't let them have iPhones are apparently buying iPod Touches in droves.
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Right, because it's it's not like Android phones ever have hardware problems. Let alone Windows Mobile / webOS / etc.

Seriously, I haven't seen any drop in reception holding Pleco's iPhone 4 in either hand, and that was before purchasing the plastic bumper which even the people having problems agree fixes it - worst-case, if it can't be dealt with in software (though I suspect from Apple's comments to Walt Mossberg of WSJ that it can), Apple will just ship everyone who bought an iPhone 4 a free bumper and include them in the box (or fix the antenna) in later manufacturing runs; they did that with the iPod Nano's scratching issues and people kept buying those :)
 
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sui.generis

探花
mikelove said:
Seriously, I haven't seen any drop in reception holding Pleco's iPhone 4 in either hand, and that was before purchasing the plastic bumper which even the people having problems agree fixes it - worst-case, if it can't be dealt with in software (though I suspect from Apple's comments to Walt Mossberg of WSJ that it can), Apple will just ship everyone who bought an iPhone 4 a free bumper and include them in the box (or fix the antenna) in later manufacturing runs; they did that with the iPod Nano's scratching issues and people kept buying those :)
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Both of your solutions are completely unnecessary. People don't use iPhones to make phone calls anyway. :wink:
 
mikelove

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Very true on that - heck, within 5 years we may go start to see a shift entirely IP-based wireless billing; probably not in the US because our wireless carriers are so very very awful, but I could easily see carriers in some countries switching to a strictly pay-per-GB model, VOIP simply being one possible use for that bandwidth. (though this would probably require some sort of traffic priority scheme of the sort that network neutrality advocates are - quite correctly - wary of)
 
S

sui.generis

探花
mikelove said:
Very true on that - heck, within 5 years we may go start to see a shift entirely IP-based wireless billing; probably not in the US because our wireless carriers are so very very awful, but I could easily see carriers in some countries switching to a strictly pay-per-GB model, VOIP simply being one possible use for that bandwidth. (though this would probably require some sort of traffic priority scheme of the sort that network neutrality advocates are - quite correctly - wary of)
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I've been looking forward to that model of calling for a long time (and am gearing my usage with GV + Gizmo5 + Fring to take some of the load of my own calling and put it over wifi) -- but I hadn't even considered data priority issues. Obviously that's a huge deal. Phones are vital business, personal and emergency tools, and you don't want a 911 call being treated exactly the same as a rick roll.
 
J

Jin Darius

Member
I was really keen on getting a HTC Desire (Android 2.1) until my cousin suggested I might prefer the iphone 3gs for apps. I was skeptical and pretty much set on the HTC Desire until I heard of Pleco.

So please, specialise! I'm far more likely to follow your tool than I am a phone brand. Its exactly the sort of tool I've been wanting for a long time now and made me choose an iphone despite the much better specs on the HTC Desire.
 
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