7 ms·

Apple is brilliant at zigging when everyone else zags. Nobody cares about an MP3 player -- Apple does the iPod. Smart phones are dead, just look at Palm -- Appl

Apple is brilliant at zigging when everyone else zags. Nobody cares about an MP3 player -- Apple does the iPod. Smart phones are dead, just look at Palm -- Apple does the iPhone. Tablets are a joke, even Microsoft gave up -- Apple does the iPad. Want to beat Apple? Just do something that nobody else cares about anymore. You can build a better PC. You can reinvent MySpace. You could even reinvent old Apple products like HyperCard or printers.

mgkimsal 16y ago
Printers is an area which I've been waiting to see disrupted for a long time.
- parbo 16y ago
  Ink/toner subscription with free printer?
  - redorb 16y ago
    perhaps a flexible subscription I.E. I agree to buy 12 cartridges ... within 2 years; but can request up to that time when I need them. - Although I think you need a price on the printer to weed out those who will default on the ink. Much like the square cost $10 at the Apple store; but is free online.
  - mgkimsal 16y ago
    Not so much that, but better integration with other devices and services. Printer integration to automatically wake up and print documents when I need them, not when I remember to print. (boarding passes, etc). Printers that can take half-size paper, and potentially auto-scale down documents to work with that half-size paper. I hate printing because 70% of the time I need about 5 things on the page, but they're all spread out, and an entire sheet of paper is a waste. Email/web/bookmarks helps out, but we could get by with smaller paper most of the time, except all printers expect larger size paper. Better auto-discovery of local printers around me, and cloud integration to print things wherever I'm at. Easier ways to print remotely. If I'm onsite at a client, I can't print something I need until I get home, but I may forget then. Letting me print remotely so it's ready when I get home would help, and/or the scheduling for future printing, either at a set time or set context (IE - at home). "3D printing" that would allow me to use those awesome red/blue glasses to get the full 3D effect from my documents. Relatedly, I'm not sure why companies aren't giving schools free paper with ads on the back. This would help school budgets, and give advertisers a captive audience.
    - icco 16y ago
      I think Google is going to kill at this. Their cloud print looks like the first step towards many of the things you are talking about.
    - cpeterso 16y ago
      Printer hardware and usability need some help, too. In my office, the printers (and fax machines and copiers) are always jamming or difficult to replace the ink or paper without referring to the manual. The office printer room actually has a huge poster: "How to fax in 12 easy steps". Ironically, the process is so "easy" that the poster lists more than 12 steps.
      - crag 16y ago
        And don't get me started on the paper feeders!
    - trout 16y ago
      What about if you used multicast for printing? Create a printer protocol that basically multicasts for a certain address, and it automatically prints to the closest address. That printer would respond back with it's name and location plus map, and you wouldn't have to play the 'find the closest printer' game. You could combine this with the generic SMB/NFS/HTTP file drop idea, and simplify the printing process. The catch would be you would no longer choose a printer, but that can be looked at 2 ways. You can simply offer the option to choose through legacy methods, or you can make the assumption that it's easier to physically find the closest printer than it is to find the physically closest printer through logical means.
  - hedgehog 16y ago
    We got printers through these guys at a previous company: https://www.freecolorprinters.xerox.com/ https://www.freecolorprinters.xerox.com/
  - jberryman 16y ago
    That seems to be essentially what inkjet printer manufacturers have been aiming for. Printers are just a shitty loss leader for ink. I would prefer someone make a printer that I could afford that didn't suck hugely.
  - philwelch 16y ago
    It would be disruptive enough if someone made a printer that just fucking worked. My parents have been through a series of all-in-ones over the past decade or so, all of which have crapped out and shipped with terrible driver software that causes kernel panics. I've been told you can't even buy a consumer printer with metal gears anymore, just cheap plastic gears that are liable to break in a paper jam. The printer landscape out there is so dismal, I still haven't replaced my HP printer from the late 1990's. Even though it only prints black and magenta anymore, at least it still prints at all despite being more than a decade old. I won't be able to say that about any printer I buy today.
  - tvon 16y ago
    I'd much, much rather just pay an honest price for both the printer and the ink refills. Though, what you propose is more likely to have actual success...
- ApracticalUser 16y ago
  who prints anymore?
- fragmede 16y ago
  Here's the disruption I'd like to see for printers - forget all that driver nonsense; network printers should have a webpage where you upload a PDF which (after proofing, if needed) it then prints.
  - matthavener 16y ago
    I'd be interested to see some kind of printer driver as a service. Email a PDF to "mysecretprinterid@myprintercomany.com" and it prints the page
    - tedunangst 16y ago
      There are HP printers which do this.
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
  - tvon 16y ago
    Not to be all full of stop energy or anything, but why would you want this over a print dialog?
    - w1ntermute 16y ago
      Like he said: > forget all that driver nonsense
      - fragmede 16y ago
        To underscore the point, I've found Windows drivers come in two flavors. Either OS-specific - meaning Windows XP, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit, and Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit as well), along with OS X and Linux (cough they're both CUPS), which means I have to download the drivers 4 or 5 times; or a massive 300 megabyte (bandwith is cheap, but that's just a bit big) download, and OS X/Linux is usually a separate download anyway. I don't even remember what hacks I had to do to get the drivers for all the flavors of Windows drivers to so other people could use my print server. It's so much nonsense that if someone needs to print something, most people find it easier to copy the file to my computer and print it from there, rather than setup my (networked, auto-driver installing) printer on their computer.
- crag 16y ago
  I second that. Scanners and faxes too. There has to be a better way then a box sitting in the corner of the office. Costing more keep it supplied with toner cartridges.
dagw 16y ago
I'd love to see cheaper printers that can do page collating and binding. I want to hand my printer the ebook I just bought or a collection of papers I've downloaded and get back a properly bound book. I know such printers exist, but they're hardly priced for the home market.
tintin 16y ago
Your comment is making clear Apple does a great job letting you believe this. Your statement about Smart phones is just plain false. Samsung alone is outnumbering iPhones. Apple is zigging best with the iPad. But then again other tablets are not a joke. There are some really good ones on the market and a lot of people are happy using them. And Microsoft did not gave up, they just did not believe in tablets. They believe in smartphones and released WM7. MP3 players.. well ofcourse they sell a lot of them, but Creative and other brands still sells a lot of them too. It's very simple: people who are having a nice bank account buy Apple, all the others buy something else. Apple is a great brand, but it's stupid to say nobody cares about something other than Apple.

mgkimsal 16y ago

Printers is an area which I've been waiting to see disrupted for a long time.

parbo 16y ago
Ink/toner subscription with free printer?
- redorb 16y ago
  perhaps a flexible subscription I.E. I agree to buy 12 cartridges ... within 2 years; but can request up to that time when I need them. - Although I think you need a price on the printer to weed out those who will default on the ink. Much like the square cost $10 at the Apple store; but is free online.
- mgkimsal 16y ago
  Not so much that, but better integration with other devices and services. Printer integration to automatically wake up and print documents when I need them, not when I remember to print. (boarding passes, etc). Printers that can take half-size paper, and potentially auto-scale down documents to work with that half-size paper. I hate printing because 70% of the time I need about 5 things on the page, but they're all spread out, and an entire sheet of paper is a waste. Email/web/bookmarks helps out, but we could get by with smaller paper most of the time, except all printers expect larger size paper. Better auto-discovery of local printers around me, and cloud integration to print things wherever I'm at. Easier ways to print remotely. If I'm onsite at a client, I can't print something I need until I get home, but I may forget then. Letting me print remotely so it's ready when I get home would help, and/or the scheduling for future printing, either at a set time or set context (IE - at home). "3D printing" that would allow me to use those awesome red/blue glasses to get the full 3D effect from my documents. Relatedly, I'm not sure why companies aren't giving schools free paper with ads on the back. This would help school budgets, and give advertisers a captive audience.
  - icco 16y ago
    I think Google is going to kill at this. Their cloud print looks like the first step towards many of the things you are talking about.
  - cpeterso 16y ago
    Printer hardware and usability need some help, too. In my office, the printers (and fax machines and copiers) are always jamming or difficult to replace the ink or paper without referring to the manual. The office printer room actually has a huge poster: "How to fax in 12 easy steps". Ironically, the process is so "easy" that the poster lists more than 12 steps.
    - crag 16y ago
      And don't get me started on the paper feeders!
  - trout 16y ago
    What about if you used multicast for printing? Create a printer protocol that basically multicasts for a certain address, and it automatically prints to the closest address. That printer would respond back with it's name and location plus map, and you wouldn't have to play the 'find the closest printer' game. You could combine this with the generic SMB/NFS/HTTP file drop idea, and simplify the printing process. The catch would be you would no longer choose a printer, but that can be looked at 2 ways. You can simply offer the option to choose through legacy methods, or you can make the assumption that it's easier to physically find the closest printer than it is to find the physically closest printer through logical means.
- hedgehog 16y ago
  We got printers through these guys at a previous company: https://www.freecolorprinters.xerox.com/ https://www.freecolorprinters.xerox.com/
- jberryman 16y ago
  That seems to be essentially what inkjet printer manufacturers have been aiming for. Printers are just a shitty loss leader for ink. I would prefer someone make a printer that I could afford that didn't suck hugely.
- philwelch 16y ago
  It would be disruptive enough if someone made a printer that just fucking worked. My parents have been through a series of all-in-ones over the past decade or so, all of which have crapped out and shipped with terrible driver software that causes kernel panics. I've been told you can't even buy a consumer printer with metal gears anymore, just cheap plastic gears that are liable to break in a paper jam. The printer landscape out there is so dismal, I still haven't replaced my HP printer from the late 1990's. Even though it only prints black and magenta anymore, at least it still prints at all despite being more than a decade old. I won't be able to say that about any printer I buy today.
- tvon 16y ago
  I'd much, much rather just pay an honest price for both the printer and the ink refills. Though, what you propose is more likely to have actual success...
ApracticalUser 16y ago
who prints anymore?
fragmede 16y ago
Here's the disruption I'd like to see for printers - forget all that driver nonsense; network printers should have a webpage where you upload a PDF which (after proofing, if needed) it then prints.
- matthavener 16y ago
  I'd be interested to see some kind of printer driver as a service. Email a PDF to "mysecretprinterid@myprintercomany.com" and it prints the page
  - tedunangst 16y ago
    There are HP printers which do this.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
- tvon 16y ago
  Not to be all full of stop energy or anything, but why would you want this over a print dialog?
  - w1ntermute 16y ago
    Like he said: > forget all that driver nonsense
    - fragmede 16y ago
      To underscore the point, I've found Windows drivers come in two flavors. Either OS-specific - meaning Windows XP, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit, and Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit as well), along with OS X and Linux (cough they're both CUPS), which means I have to download the drivers 4 or 5 times; or a massive 300 megabyte (bandwith is cheap, but that's just a bit big) download, and OS X/Linux is usually a separate download anyway. I don't even remember what hacks I had to do to get the drivers for all the flavors of Windows drivers to so other people could use my print server. It's so much nonsense that if someone needs to print something, most people find it easier to copy the file to my computer and print it from there, rather than setup my (networked, auto-driver installing) printer on their computer.
crag 16y ago
I second that. Scanners and faxes too. There has to be a better way then a box sitting in the corner of the office. Costing more keep it supplied with toner cartridges.

dagw 16y ago

I'd love to see cheaper printers that can do page collating and binding. I want to hand my printer the ebook I just bought or a collection of papers I've downloaded and get back a properly bound book. I know such printers exist, but they're hardly priced for the home market.

tintin 16y ago

Your comment is making clear Apple does a great job letting you believe this. Your statement about Smart phones is just plain false. Samsung alone is outnumbering iPhones. Apple is zigging best with the iPad. But then again other tablets are not a joke. There are some really good ones on the market and a lot of people are happy using them. And Microsoft did not gave up, they just did not believe in tablets. They believe in smartphones and released WM7. MP3 players.. well ofcourse they sell a lot of them, but Creative and other brands still sells a lot of them too. It's very simple: people who are having a nice bank account buy Apple, all the others buy something else. Apple is a great brand, but it's stupid to say nobody cares about something other than Apple.