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This is marketing 101: create an original position, a USP. [1] What's going on now, is a bunch of suits and managers who want to ride on Jobs' coattails and bui

by sudont 16y ago

This is marketing 101: create an original position, a USP. [1] What's going on now, is a bunch of suits and managers who want to ride on Jobs' coattails and build me-too products for a market they don't actually understand one bit. The fervor over subscriptions should be a key to these idiots that there is a strong market for an actually open device: instead they're taking the main competitor, an open source project even, and making it functionally more closed than iOS to an average user. Apple is hammering away at the middle-road consumer, and Google's OS is not only positioned as "me too, but also everything!", it's being filtered through handset manufacturers who have their own agendas, which run counter to what Android suggests to be. My suggestion? Google builds a durable tablet for academics and scientists to research in the field with. Because of Android's open nature, it would be trivial to open up an entire ecosystem of sensors and data loggers that would integrate. The best gift I ever got for my father was a kill-a-watt, there's a huge, untapped consumer market for data collection and processing. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positioning_(marketing)#Product_positioning_process http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positioning_(marketing)#Product...

silvestrov 16y ago
Because of Android's open nature, it would be trivial to open up an entire ecosystem of sensors and data loggers that would integrate I think it would be easy for Apple to match this: they can just add a USB host port to the iPad and allow apps to talk to connected devices. Almost everything today is USB-based. Apple just does a little step at a time instead of completely opening the barn door as the first step.
- mlinsey 16y ago
  Agreed. I don't see why Apple would reject apps that connect to external sensors. There are already many such apps that use Bluetooth (eg Wakemate) or the headphone jack (eg Square), although getting approved to link up with the bottom port is supposedly a pain. If you want to take advantage of the closed nature of Apple's platform, you have to push the kind of apps they don't like. So far, that's mostly just home screen customizations and pirated games, I guess. Google Voice was looking like a killer app not-available-on-iOS but Apple backed off of that one.
  - Anechoic 16y ago
    >I don't see why Apple would reject apps that connect to external sensors. They don't: http://itunes.apple.com/app/audiotools/id325307477?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/app/audiotools/id325307477?mt=8
Anechoic 16y ago
> Google builds a durable tablet for academics and scientists to research in the field with. Because of Android's open nature, it would be trivial to open up an entire ecosystem of sensors and data loggers that would integrate. Apple has kinda done this via the dock connector. For example I just bought one of these to turn my iPod touch into a sound level meter: http://www.studiosixdigital.com/iphone_measurement_micropho.html http://www.studiosixdigital.com/iphone_measurement_micropho.... The bad news is that it's not compatible with the iPad or newest iPhone/iPod touch so possibly Apple is removing the external interface capability. edit: there are also ODBII interfaces although I don't know if they work with the newest iDevices
- sudont 16y ago
  Exactly, about the shutout. Remember the project that siphoned juice from the audio jack to power sensors? That would probably be a no-go. I'm thinking about jailbreaking my iPod just to experiment with that project. The dock connector is actually pretty good for providing power and basic connectivity-up-to-a-USB-port, but I'm betting it would be shut down by App Store rules. Which is a shame, because Cocoa is probably one of the best frameworks for a researcher or hobbyist to build in. Which is where Google would come in: they could provide a great API for building out sensor platforms, not only in WiFi and Bluetooth, but also whatever 2.4ghz home-rolled or XBee modules people are using.

by sudont 16y ago

silvestrov 16y ago

Because of Android's open nature, it would be trivial to open up an entire ecosystem of sensors and data loggers that would integrate I think it would be easy for Apple to match this: they can just add a USB host port to the iPad and allow apps to talk to connected devices. Almost everything today is USB-based. Apple just does a little step at a time instead of completely opening the barn door as the first step.

mlinsey 16y ago
Agreed. I don't see why Apple would reject apps that connect to external sensors. There are already many such apps that use Bluetooth (eg Wakemate) or the headphone jack (eg Square), although getting approved to link up with the bottom port is supposedly a pain. If you want to take advantage of the closed nature of Apple's platform, you have to push the kind of apps they don't like. So far, that's mostly just home screen customizations and pirated games, I guess. Google Voice was looking like a killer app not-available-on-iOS but Apple backed off of that one.
- Anechoic 16y ago
  >I don't see why Apple would reject apps that connect to external sensors. They don't: http://itunes.apple.com/app/audiotools/id325307477?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/app/audiotools/id325307477?mt=8

Anechoic 16y ago

> Google builds a durable tablet for academics and scientists to research in the field with. Because of Android's open nature, it would be trivial to open up an entire ecosystem of sensors and data loggers that would integrate. Apple has kinda done this via the dock connector. For example I just bought one of these to turn my iPod touch into a sound level meter: http://www.studiosixdigital.com/iphone_measurement_micropho.html http://www.studiosixdigital.com/iphone_measurement_micropho.... The bad news is that it's not compatible with the iPad or newest iPhone/iPod touch so possibly Apple is removing the external interface capability. edit: there are also ODBII interfaces although I don't know if they work with the newest iDevices

sudont 16y ago
Exactly, about the shutout. Remember the project that siphoned juice from the audio jack to power sensors? That would probably be a no-go. I'm thinking about jailbreaking my iPod just to experiment with that project. The dock connector is actually pretty good for providing power and basic connectivity-up-to-a-USB-port, but I'm betting it would be shut down by App Store rules. Which is a shame, because Cocoa is probably one of the best frameworks for a researcher or hobbyist to build in. Which is where Google would come in: they could provide a great API for building out sensor platforms, not only in WiFi and Bluetooth, but also whatever 2.4ghz home-rolled or XBee modules people are using.