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We're in a transitional period. The vast majority of people who have iPads do have a PC of some kind also. For now it's the most practical way of doing backups,
by jsz0 16y ago
We're in a transitional period. The vast majority of people who have iPads do have a PC of some kind also. For now it's the most practical way of doing backups, updates, and syncing large amounts of content. I do think Apple will move in the direction of not requiring a PC for these things but it's non-trival. How do you sync 16-64GB of data over 3G? Do you push 300MB+ updates to someone with a 150MB/month data cap? 2GB? How, and where, do you sync purchased content? How do you backup the device? This is a very important feature iTunes provides that most people won't even notice until they have some need to restore a device.
The newest iOS update has modified the way OS updates work by not erasing/re-syncing the device. I suspect this is one of the first steps towards moving to a more OTA existence for the iPad. They still need to trim down these updates so they're not killing people's caps. Everything on the content side is going to require a lot more work. If you look at Android for example that does just about everything OTA you realize that a) Google doesn't really sell content so they don't care how or if you get anything on your device. Figure it out yourself. b) Android doesn't backup automatically. Some of your data is synced to Google Services but if you flush your Android phone down the toilet by mistake you're going to lose all your application data and content you synced, or created, on the device. Again -- figure it out yourself if you want a good backup c) Google doesn't update all their devices at the same time. There will never be 100 million+ Android devices trying to download android3.0.tar.gz at the same time. It's a bigger challenge for Apple to do OTA updates given their strategy to update all compatible iOS devices at the same time. I'm not trying to bash Google, their system is fine, but people make it sound like this super trivial thing to divorce post-PC devices from the PC. It's not. Google has been able to do this through minimalism. They don't take any responsibility for updates/backups/syncing so it's a bit easier for them to pull this off right now. If you use Google Exchange with an iOS device you get most of the same benefits in-fact.
Apple could easily divorce the activation-via-PC step but it would set the expectation that you don't need to connect it to a PC ever for normal operation/update/syncing. When they do remove the activation-via-PC step you can be sure everything else won't require a PC connection. It will be all or nothing. That's how Apple tends to operate.
- chrisbolt 16y agoWhat iOS updates have required erasing/resyncing? I can't remember ever having to do that.
- kemayo 16y agoI updated my stepmother-in-law's iPod touch 3g from iOS 3.something to iOS 4.2, and it required a full backup and restore.
- jsz0 16y agoIIRC all the 3.x and 4.x releases until 4.3 have. I'm wondering if maybe that was due to having developer builds installed previously? I assumed it was standard practice but you're making me wonder if I'm wrong about this.
- zakovyrya 16y agoI was updating with dev builds since 3.x without erase/resync. Are you sure that you were updating (Alt + Check for Update), not restoring (Alt + Restore) your iOS device with new firmware?
- va_coder 16y agoI updated my iphone from 3 to 4 and all the apps bought through itunes on my phone (not my pc) were wiped out.
- mckoss 16y agoI'll have to disagree with most of what you say here. I would attribute Apple's decision not to divorce the iPad from a PC to their desire to assert some presence onto the PC ecosystem. They don't want to be be JUST your tablet OS, they want to be on the desktop, by forcing installation of iTunes onto Windows machines as well. This way, both products reenforce each other, and they can get increased market share on devices and onto Windows machines (with an activated credit card so you can purchase music directly on the PC). Apple is ultra-competitive and they do not want to cede any niche of the market that they have managed to gain. Even though the experience of using iTunes, especially on Windows, is horrendous (for all of the reasons already stated in this thread). That's that only logical explanation for maintaining this extra complexity by a company that is otherwise brilliant at simplifying the user experience. BTW, I do think Google has approached this with a much better vision - treating an Android device as a first-class network citizen. Google does sell content (app market as well as enable 3rd party music stores), most Android apps integrate some form of cloud storage for your data (which don't have to be managed by Google) - if you switch your device, you'll not likely loose anything important to you. Updates also work very well over the WiFi network - no need to use your low-bandwidth data plan. Overall, I don't see this as a technical hurdle for Apple - they just have a conflict of interest in locking up users vs. giving them the best user experience.
- siglesias 16y agoIt doesn't have to be either or. Both are probably true.
- ryanwaggoner 16y agoUpdates also work very well over the WiFi network - no need to use your low-bandwidth data plan. If you don't have a computer, you're unlikely to have a wifi router.
- mckoss 16y agoInteresting point. But WiFi networks are available in coffee shops, etc. And I think the main point of simplification I would be looking for is not that I won't have a computer as well, but I don't want my devices to be dependent on that computer.
- jonknee 16y agoI think Google has it figured out with how they do updates for Chrome. On the mobile side they don't have the luxury of everyone running the same software (carrier/manufacturer customizations) like Apple does, which really gums up the works. Apple should be able to significantly improve the update experience. As far as syncing goes, I think a good first step would be to do it all over WiFi on the local network in the background (TimeMachine style). I have my iPad/iPhone running on the same local wireless network as my laptop all day/night, it's nuts that I have to physically connect the two. The step up from there is to sync to the cloud, but still over WiFi.
- ryanwatkins 16y agoIts not trivial to divorce these "post PC" devices, but its just increasingly lame to require it, and several others have overcome the hurdle. Android has. WebOS has. I get OTA updates to my WebOS device, and it backs itself up over the air nightly. I just updated to 2.1 and all my apps just magically came back, and it had all my email/im/linkedin/facebook account settings too - I just had to re-enter my passwords to confirm. If Palm/HP can manage it, Apple can. And the syncing of data over 3G argument is pretty lame. Most people find themselves with wifi at home/work for the large updates. Having to cable my iOS device to my PC each morning to get my daily podcasts from iTunes is nuts. These are wireless devices, they should wake up, download the content and have it just magically "be there" when I decide to listen to one in the subway the next morning. Having to cable it up, or even open the application to force the sync is crazy.
- lreeves 16y agoJust an FYI, there's several apps for IOS that can grab poscasts from the device itself with no need for an iTunes connection. I used Podcaster and it works pretty well.
- pdaddyo 16y agoAnd a follow-up FYI for Android users, Google Listen is fantastic.
- ryanwatkins 16y agoThey're nice and all for not having to use a cable, but neither appear to wake up, see if there is anything new and automatically download it. This way I wake up in the morning, take the subway to work and my data is already "just there". I dont have to even launch the app before going into the subway (with enough time to sync up). This is not possible on iOS but a feature I use it daily on webOS. So not only post-PC, but proactive in keeping my data updated.
- drivebyacct2 16y agoI will cry the day that a closed ecosystem device becomes peoples' primary computing device.
- rglullis 16y agoCompared to the current situation, with 90%+ of the population using Windows or Mac?
- drivebyacct2 16y agoThose aren't closed ecosystems. OS != ecosystem.
- rglullis 16y agoYou are correct. Sorry I misinterpreted what you meant. However, I wouldn't be too surprised to see a completely closed Mac/PC ecosystem in the future. Not now, but in the the next 5-10 years. As things move more and more "to the cloud" and the desktop becomes a dumb terminal, the easier it is for Apple to just tell everyone that they must go through the App Store.
- jpr 16y agoWindows, which is by itself in the ~90% range, is not and has never been a closed ecosystem. You can easily install any piece of software you find anywhere. MS is even falling over themselves to give you free developer tools.
- code_duck 16y agoYears back, before Vista was released, people were very concerned that MS might move to do in Windows what Apple has done - lock down Windows so that any software requires digital signing to execute. They did introduce that dialog which warns you when software is not signed, but of course MS didn't take this to the degree that Apple has. While it's a great way to take care of malware, I really don't think Apple's vision of the future is one I want to compute in.