POI
This is a much more important article than it may appear on the surface. It shows exactly why it was such a mistake for Google to capitulate to the carriers. They made the proverbial deal with the devil, trading control of their destiny for traction. Too bad.
Make no mistake, when Andy Rubin tells Dieter Bohn and Nilay Patel of The Verge that “costs” and “battery life” are two major factors in the decision, it’s pure misdirection. Said another way, it’s bullshit. How do we know this? Just look at the iPhone 5. It’s rolling out on LTE networks around the world just fine with its thin design, multiple antennas, and solid battery life.
The real issue here is that Google wants to sell an unlocked LTE phone and can’t because the U.S. carriers (Verizon in particular) have them over a barrel. And why do they want to sell unlocked phones (which are more expensive since they’re not subsidized by the carriers)? Because the carriers have proven time and time again that they will not allow Google to push timely Android updates.
And yet, Apple has no problem shipping iOS updates over the same networks. Why? Because they strong-armed Verizon into the same deal they got with AT&T. They fought for the user. Google sold us out to sell some phones. Now the devil is collecting.
Steve Jobs.
February 24, 1955 - October 5, 2011.
This mans lasting impact is his pursuit of bringing UNIX to the masses. He succeeded and we’re all better off for it. I’ve read accounts that people cried when they heard of his passing. For the record, I didn’t. I love the work he did, but I didn’t know him. My loss I guess.
And yes, when my contract expires on my worn (but very usable) iPhone 4 come january I’ll be getting the 5. I’ve lived with the alternatives and for me, there is no better phone I can buy for money.
(via nicklazilla)
I had been wondering if/when this might happen. Maybe it’s a glitch with iOS 6 beta 4, but I doubt it.
At the end of the day, Apple and Google are obviously at odds with one another. But if Google still offers a service that Apple deems to be the best for its customers, they’ll use it — see: Maps, until iOS 6, and Google Search still being the default in Safari. But I think everyone can agree that the YouTube app hasn’t been good in a long time. It’s now a weak link in iOS. So why not remove it?
The weird thing here is that while they obviously did it with permission, it was Apple and not Google that built the YouTube app (as they did with the Maps apps of old). So you could certainly argue that Apple was more to blame for the app falling into disrepair as other video apps rose in popularity.
Maybe neither side could come to terms on a new app. Or maybe Apple is okay with Google now building their own YouTube app and simply putting it in the App Store. Maybe Apple learned over time that the app simply isn’t that important in the iOS stack.
Or maybe Apple has something else in mind. Remember, in Mountain Lion, there’s an option to share videos to Vimeo, but not to YouTube…
Update: The Verge got a statement from Apple:
Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended, customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.
Makes sense — in line with my guesses above. I wouldn’t be shocked to see some sort of “Send video to Vimeo” menu option in iOS in the future.
Apple “035 Prototype”
It’s not all too surprising to think that Steve Jobs and his teams at Apple were dreaming up the iPad nearly 10 years ago. What is surprising however is that Jony Ive designed and built a prototype as early as 2002, simply codenamed “035”.
This revelation was made by Network World while digging up documents from a deposition of Jony Ive conducted by Samsung in 2011. BuzzFeed later got their hands on full color photos of the prototype as you can see above.
Crazy to see the device in relation to the iPad 2. Given the tech at the time, it presumably had to be that big.
