4 ms·

IPhone: The New Personal Computer

31 points by naish 18y ago

aneesh 18y ago
> "but with the platform iPhone becomes the new personal computer .... Every major service, Amazon, Netflx, Twitter, Digg, Flickr, Facebook, is already available, or will soon be, ... this is powerful and unprecedented Unprecedented? Surely not. Windows Mobile is a platform that allows you to do all that. Blackberry is another mobile platform for developers. iPhone may yet be the best mobile platform (the jury's still out), but it's certainly not the first.
- bigbang 18y ago
  Right. But, with the ability of 3 party developers to develop applications for the iphone(and make some money) creates lot of interesting applications unlike Blackberry or windows mobile.
  - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
    Er -- Windows Mobile is an open platform. Developers have been developing apps on it for many years now.
    - axod 18y ago
      But who in their right mind would want windows anywhere near their phone? It's not fun writing for something like that.
      - dualogy 18y ago
        Switched a very short while ago from the Windows to the Unix eco system but I can't confirm that it's the platform itself that makes or breaks the fun in developing.
        cstejerean 18y ago
        I had a windows phone and I had to reboot it half a dozen times per day. It reminded me of my parent's windows machine (yes, I'll get around to buying them a Mac soon enough). IMHO having a stable platform with solid tools can make development fun.
      - bbgm 18y ago
        I use winmobile and have regretted it pretty much ever since. The interface is just not intuitive as a phone interface. Not that most phone interfaces are, but winmobile 5 at least is about as bad as it gets.
    - jimbokun 18y ago
      Can't remember the name of the author or the book, but he addressed the issue of the Vikings "discovering" the Americas before Columbus. Well yes, in the sense that they were physically there earlier. But the author pointed out that rarely has a "discovery" had so little impact. For better or worse, Columbus' "discovery" led to mapping, further exploring, trading, colonization, etc. etc. (pillaging, plundering, exploiting, if you prefer). Which is why it is the one that gets mentioned in more history books. If I'm being too subtle, Windows Mobile is the Vikings and iPhone Columbus in the above analogy.
  - aneesh 18y ago
    The Windows Mobile is over a decade old as a platform for apps. The Blackberry also allows 3rd party apps. As a platform, there's nothing new here with the iPhone except lots of hype and a slick UI.
    - mrtron 18y ago
      I suppose that selling your app through iTunes is the first example of one of these providers creating a distribution and sales network for your 3rd party apps though. But winmobile and blackberry platforms have been in existence for years and years.
      - Tichy 18y ago
        There are lots and lots of platforms for buying mobile applications. Not sure if there is one explicitly BY Blackberry, but still.
        yawn 18y ago
        The problem is mindshare. No one knows what they are. I remember a site called "handango" (I just checked and they are still there) that handled this, but most people have no idea of where to go for their content. Apple's answer is iTunes: a familiar interface for anyone that owns an iPod.
        Tichy 18y ago
        In Germany everybody knows Jamba, but everybody hates them. Also, every network operator has tried to create their own platform (O2, T-Mobile, e-plus, Vodafone) - not so different from Apple after all? But nobody trusts the network operators (rightfully so), and awareness for mobile applications was not very big. I guess iPhone has an advantage because apps are a key marketing ingredient.
    - riahi 18y ago
      The comparison between the iPhone UI and Windows Mobile UI is the crux of the matter. With a device that you use dozens of times a day, every single day, the UI better be damn good. As of now, the UI on mobile devices has not been good. I've had a Dell Axim x51v running Windows Mobile 5 and 6, and let me tell you, this pda would crash at least once a day due to memory leaks or other gibberish. I shudder to think what the phone versions of Windows Mobile are like, since just the PDA was so unstable. This also reminds me of the people trying to rid Verizon phones from their horrific UI and replace it with the UI that originally comes on the phones. Just because VZW-UI and Motorola-UI phones are equally functional, does not mean the UI does not matter.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- wallflower 18y ago
  Apple's reality distortion field is in full-effect - I think of not being too far from religious fundamentalism (in terms of how people love to preach about the product). It's impossible to separate hyperbole from Apple - it's fundamental to their ethos. The Razr was one of the best-selling phones of all-time. We have to give it props. However, how many people would stand in line for the new Razr (for four hours)? The Samsung Instinct? Or even for the still-in-development (touch-screen) Blackberry Thunder? I own (and am very happy and even happier with the 2.0 firmware) the 1st generation iPhone (since I upgraded from an ancient Nokia 8265 it was going from the horse-and-buggy to a limo).
Tichy 18y ago
Flagged as advertising spam...
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- pg 18y ago
  When you flag something, you don't have to also comment about it. It makes for boring comment threads when people post comments saying something shouldn't be on the site. Not a lot of bits of data in such a post. So if you feel that way about something, just flag it. Otherwise your comment becomes one of those "vote up if you agree" type posts that take over the front page of any site that allows them. This particular case, incidentally, is certainly not spam. Overly positive perhaps, but you're crying wolf to call this spam.
  - Tichy 18y ago
    Ok - I admit I am (or was) still not quite sure what the flagging is for. Like in this case, probably the person submitting the article was not a spammer, even though I considered the article itself to be pure advertising. Maybe that is why I felt the need to comment - will refrain from doing so in the future.
  - benjamincanfly 18y ago
    This may be a silly question, but how does flagging happen? I've been reading for a few months - wondering if there's a karma threshold before one can flag?
    - jcl 18y ago
      Yes, there is a karma threshold. I'm not sure what it is, but I'd guess it's somewhere between 20 and 100: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=226400 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=226400
  - hugh 18y ago
    It makes for boring comment threads when people post comments saying something shouldn't be on the site That's true, it does. But if downvoting is impossible, commenting that it shouldn't be here is frowned upon, and flagging is reserved for the most egregious cases, what is the appropriate thing to do when you don't think an article doesn't belong? (NB. I don't think this article belongs in that category. It's not a great article, but it's perfectly on-topic, and not, as far as I can tell, spam.)
sanj 18y ago
Newton, Palm, WinCE and the Blackberry can all add 3rd party applications. However, having developed for 75% of those platforms, I can tell you that it wasn't easy. What's missing from this article is the impact of the iPhone App store. It makes it absolutely trivial for a user to install new applications -- directly from the phone. Compare the iPhone: 1. Click on App store 2. Search for the app you want 3. Click Install to what we have to do with all of the other platforms above: 1. Find the app you want (ie, no centralize directory) 2. Download the app to a laptop/desktop. 3. Move the app to whatever machine this particular device is already mated to (yes, you can often do it on a guest device, but good luck.) 4. Unpack/Unzip/Untar the application 5. Open up the syncing/install application 6. Move it to the right directory or select the correct collection of files from the syncing application 7. Plug in or dock your handheld 8. Sync. How often do you think that the latter occurs? While Palm boasted of having hundreds of thousands of apps, a tiny fraction of devices had any of them. This integration is important. The handheld ecosystem goes far, far beyond "well, you can develop for it!" It is a lesson that I'm hoping the Google folks are learning.
- Tichy 18y ago
  I can only speak for mobile Java applications, and they definitely can be installed over the air: type URL of app or browse to it in the phone's browser, install. I also don't see how having only one store is an advantage. There have been no good stores for mobile applications, that is true. But that seems independent from the just one store problem. If there was one trustworthy store for applications, the other bad stores would be irrelevant. It also remains to be seen how good the iPhone Appstore will really be. Why should it be better than the other stores for mobile applications out there? Also, wasn't there a store for Palm Pilot applications from Palm Computing back in the day?
  - sanj 18y ago
    Mobile Java is a freaking mess on the Treo. I don't have experience with other platforms. But the apps are second/third class citizens. You've missed my point on the store. It isn't that it is a single store, it is that the shopping experience is seamless.
mynameishere 18y ago
The reason is that iPhone with its application platform is a better personal computer Holy shit, that's the stupidest thing I've ever read. The iPhone couldn't replace the Commodore 64 for the bulk of its uses.
omouse 18y ago
How to write for a blog or anywhere else where you need the ad revenue and eyeballs: Make a bold and incorrect statement and attempt to prove it just like in English Lit. Crit. class.
JoeBlu 18y ago
Wake me up when I can install my own software on it. I'm not going to go around begging for the keys to my own castle.
jrockway 18y ago
Here's the problem with tiny "personal computers" like the iPhone. They are only for consuming content, not for creating it. Basically, it is like watching TV, except in text form. There's nothing wrong with that, but people use their computers for more than just mindless content consumption. Even the "average joe" probably plays a 3D game from time to time, or send emails to his family, or whatever. Anything like that is painfully impossible on such a small device (at this time anyway). So while the iPhone is great for looking up someone's phone number on Facebook and then sending them a "hey lets get coffee" text message, it's not so great for anything more complicated than that. And even the most casual computer users need to do things more complicated than that. (This post would never have been written from a phone. The same goes for delicious bookmarks, and everything else Web 2.0.)
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

31 points by naish 18y ago

> "but with the platform iPhone becomes the new personal computer .... Every major service, Amazon, Netflx, Twitter, Digg, Flickr, Facebook, is already available, or will soon be, ... this is powerful and unprecedented Unprecedented? Surely not. Windows Mobile is a platform that allows you to do all that. Blackberry is another mobile platform for developers. iPhone may yet be the best mobile platform (the jury's still out), but it's certainly not the first.

bigbang 18y ago
Right. But, with the ability of 3 party developers to develop applications for the iphone(and make some money) creates lot of interesting applications unlike Blackberry or windows mobile.
- DanielBMarkham 18y ago
  Er -- Windows Mobile is an open platform. Developers have been developing apps on it for many years now.
  - axod 18y ago
    But who in their right mind would want windows anywhere near their phone? It's not fun writing for something like that.
    - dualogy 18y ago
      Switched a very short while ago from the Windows to the Unix eco system but I can't confirm that it's the platform itself that makes or breaks the fun in developing.
      - cstejerean 18y ago
        I had a windows phone and I had to reboot it half a dozen times per day. It reminded me of my parent's windows machine (yes, I'll get around to buying them a Mac soon enough). IMHO having a stable platform with solid tools can make development fun.
    - bbgm 18y ago
      I use winmobile and have regretted it pretty much ever since. The interface is just not intuitive as a phone interface. Not that most phone interfaces are, but winmobile 5 at least is about as bad as it gets.
  - jimbokun 18y ago
    Can't remember the name of the author or the book, but he addressed the issue of the Vikings "discovering" the Americas before Columbus. Well yes, in the sense that they were physically there earlier. But the author pointed out that rarely has a "discovery" had so little impact. For better or worse, Columbus' "discovery" led to mapping, further exploring, trading, colonization, etc. etc. (pillaging, plundering, exploiting, if you prefer). Which is why it is the one that gets mentioned in more history books. If I'm being too subtle, Windows Mobile is the Vikings and iPhone Columbus in the above analogy.
- aneesh 18y ago
  The Windows Mobile is over a decade old as a platform for apps. The Blackberry also allows 3rd party apps. As a platform, there's nothing new here with the iPhone except lots of hype and a slick UI.
  - mrtron 18y ago
    I suppose that selling your app through iTunes is the first example of one of these providers creating a distribution and sales network for your 3rd party apps though. But winmobile and blackberry platforms have been in existence for years and years.
    - Tichy 18y ago
      There are lots and lots of platforms for buying mobile applications. Not sure if there is one explicitly BY Blackberry, but still.
      - yawn 18y ago
        The problem is mindshare. No one knows what they are. I remember a site called "handango" (I just checked and they are still there) that handled this, but most people have no idea of where to go for their content. Apple's answer is iTunes: a familiar interface for anyone that owns an iPod.
        Tichy 18y ago
        In Germany everybody knows Jamba, but everybody hates them. Also, every network operator has tried to create their own platform (O2, T-Mobile, e-plus, Vodafone) - not so different from Apple after all? But nobody trusts the network operators (rightfully so), and awareness for mobile applications was not very big. I guess iPhone has an advantage because apps are a key marketing ingredient.
  - riahi 18y ago
    The comparison between the iPhone UI and Windows Mobile UI is the crux of the matter. With a device that you use dozens of times a day, every single day, the UI better be damn good. As of now, the UI on mobile devices has not been good. I've had a Dell Axim x51v running Windows Mobile 5 and 6, and let me tell you, this pda would crash at least once a day due to memory leaks or other gibberish. I shudder to think what the phone versions of Windows Mobile are like, since just the PDA was so unstable. This also reminds me of the people trying to rid Verizon phones from their horrific UI and replace it with the UI that originally comes on the phones. Just because VZW-UI and Motorola-UI phones are equally functional, does not mean the UI does not matter.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
wallflower 18y ago
Apple's reality distortion field is in full-effect - I think of not being too far from religious fundamentalism (in terms of how people love to preach about the product). It's impossible to separate hyperbole from Apple - it's fundamental to their ethos. The Razr was one of the best-selling phones of all-time. We have to give it props. However, how many people would stand in line for the new Razr (for four hours)? The Samsung Instinct? Or even for the still-in-development (touch-screen) Blackberry Thunder? I own (and am very happy and even happier with the 2.0 firmware) the 1st generation iPhone (since I upgraded from an ancient Nokia 8265 it was going from the horse-and-buggy to a limo).

Tichy 18y ago

Flagged as advertising spam...

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
pg 18y ago
When you flag something, you don't have to also comment about it. It makes for boring comment threads when people post comments saying something shouldn't be on the site. Not a lot of bits of data in such a post. So if you feel that way about something, just flag it. Otherwise your comment becomes one of those "vote up if you agree" type posts that take over the front page of any site that allows them. This particular case, incidentally, is certainly not spam. Overly positive perhaps, but you're crying wolf to call this spam.
- Tichy 18y ago
  Ok - I admit I am (or was) still not quite sure what the flagging is for. Like in this case, probably the person submitting the article was not a spammer, even though I considered the article itself to be pure advertising. Maybe that is why I felt the need to comment - will refrain from doing so in the future.
- benjamincanfly 18y ago
  This may be a silly question, but how does flagging happen? I've been reading for a few months - wondering if there's a karma threshold before one can flag?
  - jcl 18y ago
    Yes, there is a karma threshold. I'm not sure what it is, but I'd guess it's somewhere between 20 and 100: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=226400 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=226400
- hugh 18y ago
  It makes for boring comment threads when people post comments saying something shouldn't be on the site That's true, it does. But if downvoting is impossible, commenting that it shouldn't be here is frowned upon, and flagging is reserved for the most egregious cases, what is the appropriate thing to do when you don't think an article doesn't belong? (NB. I don't think this article belongs in that category. It's not a great article, but it's perfectly on-topic, and not, as far as I can tell, spam.)

sanj 18y ago

Newton, Palm, WinCE and the Blackberry can all add 3rd party applications. However, having developed for 75% of those platforms, I can tell you that it wasn't easy. What's missing from this article is the impact of the iPhone App store. It makes it absolutely trivial for a user to install new applications -- directly from the phone. Compare the iPhone: 1. Click on App store 2. Search for the app you want 3. Click Install to what we have to do with all of the other platforms above: 1. Find the app you want (ie, no centralize directory) 2. Download the app to a laptop/desktop. 3. Move the app to whatever machine this particular device is already mated to (yes, you can often do it on a guest device, but good luck.) 4. Unpack/Unzip/Untar the application 5. Open up the syncing/install application 6. Move it to the right directory or select the correct collection of files from the syncing application 7. Plug in or dock your handheld 8. Sync. How often do you think that the latter occurs? While Palm boasted of having hundreds of thousands of apps, a tiny fraction of devices had any of them. This integration is important. The handheld ecosystem goes far, far beyond "well, you can develop for it!" It is a lesson that I'm hoping the Google folks are learning.

Tichy 18y ago
I can only speak for mobile Java applications, and they definitely can be installed over the air: type URL of app or browse to it in the phone's browser, install. I also don't see how having only one store is an advantage. There have been no good stores for mobile applications, that is true. But that seems independent from the just one store problem. If there was one trustworthy store for applications, the other bad stores would be irrelevant. It also remains to be seen how good the iPhone Appstore will really be. Why should it be better than the other stores for mobile applications out there? Also, wasn't there a store for Palm Pilot applications from Palm Computing back in the day?
- sanj 18y ago
  Mobile Java is a freaking mess on the Treo. I don't have experience with other platforms. But the apps are second/third class citizens. You've missed my point on the store. It isn't that it is a single store, it is that the shopping experience is seamless.

mynameishere 18y ago

The reason is that iPhone with its application platform is a better personal computer Holy shit, that's the stupidest thing I've ever read. The iPhone couldn't replace the Commodore 64 for the bulk of its uses.

omouse 18y ago

How to write for a blog or anywhere else where you need the ad revenue and eyeballs: Make a bold and incorrect statement and attempt to prove it just like in English Lit. Crit. class.

JoeBlu 18y ago

Wake me up when I can install my own software on it. I'm not going to go around begging for the keys to my own castle.

jrockway 18y ago

Here's the problem with tiny "personal computers" like the iPhone. They are only for consuming content, not for creating it. Basically, it is like watching TV, except in text form. There's nothing wrong with that, but people use their computers for more than just mindless content consumption. Even the "average joe" probably plays a 3D game from time to time, or send emails to his family, or whatever. Anything like that is painfully impossible on such a small device (at this time anyway). So while the iPhone is great for looking up someone's phone number on Facebook and then sending them a "hey lets get coffee" text message, it's not so great for anything more complicated than that. And even the most casual computer users need to do things more complicated than that. (This post would never have been written from a phone. The same goes for delicious bookmarks, and everything else Web 2.0.)

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]