Macgasm

All Things Digital reports that, Bill Gates is not impressed with the iPad.  Really Bill, really?  Why is that?  Is it because the Tablet PC running Windows is such a success?  Or, is it that the iPad might just be better than the new Slate PCs that Steve Ballmer showed off at CES?

Bill Gates explains to BNET why he’s not impressed:

“You know, I’m a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen and a real keyboard – in other words a netbook – will be the mainstream on that,” he said. “So, it’s not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, ‘Oh my God, Microsoft didn’t aim high enough.’  It’s a nice reader, but there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.’”

Let’s look at the first sentence in his statement.  Bill Gates has always pushed for a mobile platform in a tablet format.  However, he first talks about a Tablet, then he says that netbooks are going to be mainstream.  But Bill, I thought you were talking about Tablets.  You lost me there.  As for his comment on voice and pen inputs, the last time I looked there was no real voice interaction with a Tablet PC.  Don’t even get me started with Pen Recognition.  My company tested one of the early Tablet PCs, and at the time it was quite impressive, but I seem to remember the Pen Recognition not being up to par.  Now Microsoft could have improved on it, so don’t start the hate mail.  I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one.

He goes on to complement the iPad as a nice reader, but then he says, “…there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.’”  Really, is that why a week before Apple announced the iPad, Microsoft showed off Slate PCs at CES?  Was Microsoft trying to say hey we did it first, or look we got three different vendors behind us?

It’s like sibling rivalry.  I’m going to top you before you can top me.  I personally think Microsoft saw the iPad as a possible threat, that’s why they announced their Slate PCs the week before.  Out of the three different Slates, only one of them appeared to be working.  And if memory serves, it seemed to do the basics of the iPad.  Read eBooks and watch movies.  When Steve Ballmer was listing off the features of the Slates, it almost sounded like a laundry list of items from the iPad.

Whether Bill Gates is, or is not impressed with the iPad seems to be irrelevant.  Microsoft seems to be playing catch up these days.  You see it in search, in cell phones, and now with the iPad, in the form of the Slate PCs.  I can’t say that the iPad will dominate, nor can I say  the same about Slate PCs.  The only ones that will determine this is John Q. Public.  That’s right, you the consumer.  You’re going to decide with your wallets.  It doesn’t matter if I’m impressed with the iPad, or if Bill Gates is not.  All the pundits thought that the iPhone was doomed before it left the gates.  Now look at it.  It’s out-selling every other cell phone on the market.  Because we decided with our wallets.

Photo Credit: Bill Gates

[via @All Things Digital, @BNET]

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In this episode, we talk about HTML5 and the end of Flash!

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It only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch, and the moment the first VOIP app was approved a while ago, we knew we’d be seeing a barrage of new apps integrating the feature. So when I say spoil the bunch, I really mean spoil iPhone users because frankly things are about to get awesome up in the appstore. This week has brought rumours of video streaming over 3G, and now with voice and video calls being possible, it looks like mobile networks are beginning to realize that their data bundles are going to be more important than their cellular bundles in the very near future.

You should keep in mind that there’s no front facing camera on the iPhone so it won’t be a video chat, instead you’ll see the incoming callers video feed, and they’ll hear your audio.  If there was ever a case for a front-facing camera Fring just made it. Fring is free on the appstore.

Video of the App in Use

There’s been a lot of talk about the iPad and all the minutia that surrounds it. But what about some stuff that no one is talking about, stuff like how much apps could cost, what the pricing sweet spot might be, and how developers could use the iPhone and the iPad in tandem. Here are some thoughts on all of those things.

Apple’s facing a real opportunity to increase revenue for developers.

It’s no surprise that there’s a lot of developers out there that are a little annoyed by the downwards push of the appstore pricing. It’s made it hard from some great innovators to turn a coin on their applications. They might not complain publicly about it, but they’ll certainly gripe about it over a couple of beers. Apple’s facing a real opportunity to help developers with the iPad. A bigger screen means more features, and in some cases a better experience. Things that were smooshed into the small screen on the iPhone now has a bit more space to breathe. Suddenly an application like TweetDeck might become a little more use on a device like the iPad. No offence to the TweetDeck team (I use the app on my desktop), but I just couldn’t stand it on the iPhone. While there will obviously be a slew of new applications for the iPad, some developers might be finding solace in the fact that they can now offer a more in-depth version of their iPhone apps on the iPad, and as a result sell them for a little bit more. The difference between a Sim City on the iPhone and a Sim City on the iPad could be substantial, and if done properly, and not a direct port to a new system, could easily increase revenue for the developer.

What do you think the average price point for an iPad app might be? I’m going to say between 5.99 and 9.99. The iPhone has taught us a valuable lesson, and there’s some mistakes that won’t be made this time around. Developers know that if they start under pricing themselves off the start they’ll be in a world of hurt once the market economy for the iPad starts stabilizing and meeting consumer expectations.

The real power of the device might be a combination

I get why people are speculating about the iPad in terms of a completely unique and new device, but lets take a moment and evaluate what the iPad could mean in conjunction with the iPhone. It’s a whole new possibility that many aren’t thinking about, and I’d like to see some developers really challenge the perception as it currently stands. Imagine having the calculator on your iPhone connect to Numbers on the iPad, and work together to create a whole new experience? What about being able to load up Eliminate Pro on your iPad, and have the iPhone act as the controller? If this were to become a reality companies could developer a whole bundle of applications to support an application on the iPad. We might see a 0.99 cent application for the iPhone that’s a controller for a development firms games, then an iPad game for 9.99. Talk about a new spin on the expected revenue model that’s being discussed.

All it’s going to take is some innovation from developers, and if there’s group of developers that can do it it’s iPhone developers.

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In this episode, we talk about watching live TV on your iPhone.

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Maybe TV executives actually do listen to us measly internet users. Apple may have convinced television executives to lower the price of their video content to a paltry $0.99 per episode. Jobs has long stated that he believed that the sweet spot for consumers was $0.99, and was on the record saying that music over 0.99 was a terrible idea. Yesterday, we wrote about the music industry noticing a growth decline since they moved to increase price by 30%, and today we hear that another industry is thinking about chopping the price.

It’d be welcome for most people, and it’d certainly be welcome for those of us who find ourselves purchasing entire seasons of a show just so we can catch up to date with the television (ahem, Lost, ahem). We don’t have any interest in re-watching them, and we certainly don’t want to eat up our precious bookshelf space with the discs. At the $0.99 price point I’ll find myself more willing to purchase an episode on iTunes instead of hitting up other shady methods.

It’s a smart move, and it might just put the iPad into the hands of some people who are still on the fence. The music sold iPods, and the TV shows and eBooks will sell the iPad. Apple knows this, and it’s the reason Jobs has been hitting the streets knocking on the doors of major magazines, newspapers and publishers. Success for the device will be directly proportional to the success of the iTunes store and the availability of affordable content. Cheap TV programming is the first step for many.

Via Apple Insider

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In this episode, we talk about the importance of charging.

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Well excuse me if I’m not all super excited about Hulu’s attempt at moving to H.264. I live in Canada.. You know, America’s hat? Alright, who am I kidding I still use Hulu, and love it. Take that internet restrictions.

Alright, now for the quick bit of news. Apparently Hulu is scrambling to convert their video streaming service so that it serves up HTML5 compliant videos, instead of the flash ones that are present now. The news comes at an interesting time because Adobe’s evangelist used a Hulu screenshot in a post that illustrated that the iPad won’t be the best web experience. I said in my post about that fiasco that it’s only a matter of time until these websites start offering up alternative pages to devices that don’t support flash.

Lucky for Hulu they’ve apparently been keeping H.264 versions of video on file, so the migration to HTML5 might be a little bit quicker then originally expected by some pundits. Michael Arrington went on the record suggesting that the move to HTML5 might still be 3-5 years away (see video below), and that it’ll be a while before we could do away with Flash. Seems like the move might be a little more quicker than he thinks.

If Hulu is indeed working on an HTML5 player, and does have H.264 versions of their videos in storage, it’s likely only a matter of time before we see a native iPhone or iPad app. I’d welcome that to my video viewing setup, and I’m sure most users would as well.

Video of iPad discussion and HTML5

Via Techcrunch and TidBits