Apple Tablet Operating System Claims: 'A Good Bit of New Sexy'

[mdriftmeyer]

No. What he said was:



I don't see "all non-Apple mobile devices totally open" anywhere in his statement. And even if he did say "most non-Apple devices are open" - that would be an absolutely accurate statement.

I have never heard of an Blackberry, Google, Microsoft or Palm "approving" mobile apps for their respective platform. Apple is the only smartphone OS vendor that imposes this.

Because you don't know what you're talking about.

http://supportforums.blackberry.com...2;jsessionid=7ADD8E4F2D4CD7F773AFEF7E2D04D7F8

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/appworld/faq.jsp

Microsoft's Mobile Development strategy, ala copy Apple.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/mar09/03-11WMMDevelopersPR.mspx

Microsoft Mobile Guidelines:
http://developer.windowsphone.com/Default.aspx

Marketplace Resources

• Application Submission Guidelines
• Application Policy Guidelines
• Content Policy Guidelines
• Developer Registration Guidelines
• Market Validation Guidelines

All list items are PDF documents outlining their stages of app development guidelines to requirements for certification, etc.

Palm:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/6706/navigating-palms-app-catalog-approval-process/

Navigating Palm's App Catalog Approval Process
Posted By: Ryan Kairer Tuesday, September 29, 2009 9:51:31 AM

Well known programmer and DNA lounge dude, jwz, has posted an interesting article on his dealings with Palm and their "Kafka-esque" application submission process. In short, Mr. Zawinski has had an unusual time simply figuring out how to go about listing two of his webOS freeware apps in the Catalog. He begins with an account of how it used to be, and goes into good bit of descriptive detail on all of the "hoops" he's had to navigate in order to legitimately distribute an application.

But taking a page from Apple's play-book, Palm has now decided that they have to be the one and only gate-keeper for all the software on your Palm Pre, in a way they never did on the Treo, Centro, or any of the earlier PDAs.

So if you, a developer, want to get your software into the hands of your customers, you have to beg and plead and wheedle Palm to distribute it for you.

 

[iamPro]

Unlike some here, I think the news do clear out some previous unknowns.

Assuming the source is reliable/true, we now know...

1. It's not OS X

2. It's not some scaled version of iPhone OS or even just a slight tweak to match the resolution of a bigger device.

3. The OS for the "big iPhone, but it's not just a big iPhone" will look pretty and sexy. Similar to 1 and 2 above, this implies that the OS will have a somewhat fresh look and feel in comparison to somewhat old feel of the current iPhone OS.


With so many competitors rushing out with tablets/slates/hybrid eReaders, and with the rumor from Silicon Alley Insider, I'm now thinking Apple actually will have something quite impressive on the 27th. Or else, personally, it'll be a huge appointment.

It's news enough to convince a once skeptic about Apple being able to deliver a "wow" effect greater than the bump to 3GS from 3G.

 

[hitekalex]

App approval? The Pre, for example, requires approval for listing in their App Store. You can download other apps or write one for yourself without paying a developer fee... but you have to know that, and you have to go seek them out away from the channel that is built into the device.

'Approval for listing on Palm App store' != 'Palm App store is the only way to get apps onto a platform'. You can downplay that difference all you want, but it's a huge one. On Palm (or Android, etc), a developer can easily choose to market the app on his own website or 3rd-party repository. With Apple, if they reject your app - you have no legitimate means to get it to the customers.

And don't even get me started on Jailbreaking - Apple has been doing everything they can to make JB difficult or impossible. If you follow JB community, the latest iPhone bootROM makes untethered jailbreaking impossible.

It's beyond me why people like you keep defending or downplaying Apple's "iron fist" practices. In the end, it's you as the consumer who pays the price, while Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. As far as I am concerned - if Apple doesn't open their platform, they won't see another dime from me, and my next phone will be Android, once my current contract runs out.

If you think this sort of thing is unprecedented, you're ignorant of the computing world. No offense, I'm ignorant about millions of things. But it makes the discussion not a productive one to engage in.

Right.. resort to name calling or ad hominem statements, when you have nothing tangible to respond with.

 

[iPhoney:)]

That should be enough time for Apple to amass 100 million downloads and convince all the developers that the money is in the iTunes App store, again.

I sooo wish they'd cut the umbilical noose tying the app store to itunes!

 

[cmaier]

I have no problem with Apple insisting on an approval process for getting into the appstore. I have no problem with Apple giving prime icon real estate on the devices to its own appstore.

I have a problem with Apple not allowing me to provide other methods of getting apps on the devices. If people are willing to pay me to download un-apple-blessed apps off my website and install them, why shouldn't they be allowed to? If people want to give away their software in boxes of crackerjacks, why not let them?

It's not to protect the consumer. It would be trivial to add a "disable unapproved apps" feature that a user could select to detect whether poor performance is due to the device or due to some rogue app. This could even be automatically invoked ("I detect your device is running slow. I see this app is slowing you down. would you like me to uninstall it for you?")

On the iphone you can argue it is to protect the network (maybe). But that can't be the case for the ipod touch, and it isn't a realistic excuse for the tablet (many devices with aircards - nay, ALL devices with aircards, run software approved by no central authority).

 

[ipodtouch-user]

Any compatibility whatsoever?

So - does this mean that the hundreds of apps users have paid hundreds of dollars for are non-transferable and out the window? So much for upgrading.

 

[Stella]

I'm not quite sure where this "control freak" thing comes from. OS X is more open and better documented than Windows. Apple doesn't make a serious effort to discourage people from jailbreaking their mobile devices and doing whatever they want to with them. I really, honestly don't understand it.

Apple are fine with OSX, but look at how protective / restrictive Apple are of iTunes / iPod / AppStore.

 

[taylordubose]

Apple Tablet

I don't really care what OS it uses new or old as long as we can Jailbreak and Unlock it! Cydia FTW!

 

[coleridge78]

'Approval for listing on Palm App store' != 'Palm App store is the only way to get apps onto a platform'. You can downplay that difference all you want, but it's a huge one. On Palm (or Android, etc), a developer can easily choose to market the app on his own website or 3rd-party repository. With Apple, if they reject your app - you have no legitimate means to get it to the customers.

And don't even get me started on Jailbreaking - Apple has been doing everything they can to make JB difficult or impossible. If you follow JB community, the latest iPhone bootROM makes untethered jailbreaking impossible.

It's beyond me why people like you keep defending or downplaying Apple's "iron fist" practices. In the end, it's you as the consumer who pays the price, while Apple is laughing all the way to the bank. As far as I am concerned - if Apple doesn't open their platform, they won't see another dime from me, and my next phone will be Android, once my current contract runs out.



Right.. resort to name calling or ad hominem statements, when you have nothing tangible to respond with.

I'm not defending anything, I'm only countering incorrect assertions about Apple being unique... and absolutism from people who don't realize that everything is a trade-off. People can cry all they want about Apple's "iron fist", and I agree that some of the approval policies are bs and the process is broken... but that doesn't change the fact that even with those shortcomings far more third-party consumer apps are actually used on the iPhone/iPod Touch than any other device. People would do well to reflect on why that is, and what it says about the users that they want to reach.

And as for the ad hominem, it wasn't. It was stating a fact. If you think closed systems are unique, you don't know anything about computing outside of Windows (which itself isn't as open an ecosystem as anti-Apple evangelists would like us to believe). Everything from the first mainframes used in business computing to most embedded systems coming out right now are completely closed, and most mobile system are still mostly "closed" if by "closed" you mean "look sort of like the iPhone".

 

[deus_ex_machina]

A third operating system? It's getting annoying to deal with OS X and the iPhone OS alone. Now we get to "learn" a third :-(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BklC1TUFS8#t=0m13

 

[hitekalex]

Because you don't know what you're talking about.

http://supportforums.blackberry.com...2;jsessionid=7ADD8E4F2D4CD7F773AFEF7E2D04D7F8

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/appworld/faq.jsp

Microsoft's Mobile Development strategy, ala copy Apple.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/mar09/03-11WMMDevelopersPR.mspx

Microsoft Mobile Guidelines:
http://developer.windowsphone.com/Default.aspx

That's nice, but all of these platforms support ways of side-loading apps, without having to hack the underlying device OS. iPhone OS only runs Apple-signed apps, unless jailbroken. Do you not understand the difference?

I could care less about Apple's app approval process, if they also allowed the developers to directly distribute the apps to the customers.

And yes, Palm / WebOS also supports app side-loading without jailbreaking (although Palm has bee trying to make it less obvious). I have done it many times on my co-worker's Pre.

 

[coleridge78]

I have a problem with Apple not allowing me to provide other methods of getting apps on the devices. If people are willing to pay me to download un-apple-blessed apps off my website and install them, why shouldn't they be allowed to? If people want to give away their software in boxes of crackerjacks, why not let them?

Because as we've seen with every last mobile environment up til now, it will result in an unstable, unfriendly ecosystem and the end result is that almost nobody bothers to use apps. Which in turn ensures that very few developers will bother to make good one, and you get a vicious cycle.

Cf. the wasting away of PalmOS. Cf. the current death spiral of Windows Mobile.

That's NOT to say there aren't some great apps on those platforms that people actually use. Of course there are. But, while I am not endorsing Apple's approach I certainly understand from their perspective why they're doing it. And as long as it helps to keep the ecosystem dynamic I have a hard time getting worked up about. Obviously, if and when their process becomes so onerous that a critical mass of good developers give up, it'd be a much different story. But as a user it's far more important to me that there's a good constellation of usable apps as opposed to being able to download any app I want from anywhere.

 

[Ozy]

It better not be so much like an iPhone that it won't run Flash. I also don't want apps only delivered via iTunes. This will be an immediate no-go for me if so.

 

[coleridge78]

That's nice, but all of these platforms support ways of side-loading apps, without having to hack the underlying device OS. iPhone OS only runs Apple-signed apps, unless jailbroken. Do you not understand the difference?

I could care less about Apple's app approval process, if they also allowed the developers to directly distribute the apps to the customers.

And yes, Palm / WebOS also supports app side-loading without jailbreaking (although Palm has bee trying to make it less obvious). I have done it many times on my co-worker's Pre.

And the iPhone lets you use any web app you want, from anywhere, driven by HTML5 interactions and animations; but Windows Mobile doesn't.

Again... there are tradeoffs. This isn't a new concept. You continue to deny that there is any way to do anything on the iPhone outside the App Store, and that all other platforms are open wonderlands. Both are utterly false and just make you look ignorant.

 

[WLS]

Pretty sure I don't want this. I don't need another telephone data bill.
I said a while back that it would be a flavor of the iphone/itouch ecosystem and OS with some enhancements and I'm expecting that but there better be a Wifi only version or forget it.

 

[Stella]

And the iPhone lets you use any web app you want, from anywhere, driven by HTML5 interactions and animations; but Windows Mobile doesn't.

Again... there are tradeoffs. This isn't a new concept. You continue to deny that there is any way to do anything on the iPhone outside the App Store, and that all other platforms are open wonderlands. Both are utterly false and just make you look ignorant.

Its not the 'iron fist' approach that is working for AppStore and Apple, its the iTunes Integration together with the the popularity of the iPhone / iPod / iTunes Store .

Apple could very well loosen its grip and let third party AppStores ( think macupdate.com ) or 'side ways' app installations and AppStore will still retain its popularity.

 

[mabaker]

The level of the new CES tablets is very pathetic. REALLY pathetic.

I thought they'd want to kick Jobs' ass.

I for one don't want Apple to get comfortable. Palm Pre Plus, Nexus etc delivering really good things lately.

 

[newConvert]

Hmm, now what would be awesome is if it IS 3g enabled (I imagine it will be) however, you can share the same data plan that you currently have.

I'm w/ rogers in Canada and got the 5gigs $30 deal they had, however I don't come anywhere close to that...even 1gig, if I can share between the two that would be amazing.

Fat chance of that happening though. Well, without a jailbreak of some sort.

 

[Tsurisuto]

Will it run Flash?

I hope so. But I only see Apple allowing Adobe to release Flash for the Tablet if it is hardware accelerated.

 

[coleridge78]

Its not the 'iron fist' approach that is working for AppStore and Apple, its the iTunes Integration together with the the popularity of the iPhone / iPod / iTunes Store .

Apple could very well loosen its grip and let third party AppStores ( think macupdate.com ) or 'side ways' app installations and AppStore will still retain its popularity.

Well, I think we're both just theorizing. Maybe you're right, who knows. I just know that I am not so quick to look at the junkheap of, say, the PalmOS ecosystem and say, "hey, Apple should do that instead!"

 

[couto27]

the 27 january 2010 will be marked in history .
i expect a great device that will sell has much as the macbook or perhaps the iphone.
where can i do a pre- order

 

[harley3k]

If it's not an open platform, open as in like a MacBook, then I just don't see what it's going to be good for.

I don't need a bigger iPod/iPhone...the one I have fits in my pocket.
Unless there is some value proposition/killer-app that I'm just not seeing - that is going to make this a must have........an eReader? Not likely. Like Steve himself said, I don't need another gadget that lets me read while I'm on the toilet.

I could use a more portable MacBook.
Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and get the AIR.

 

[MattInOz]

But will it blend?

Well if it's 7inch it might inside the blender, but 10inch I think it will be safe.

 

[coleridge78]

If it's not an open platform, open as in like a MacBook, then I just don't see what it's going to be good for.

I don't need a bigger iPod/iPhone...the one I have fits in my pocket.
Unless there is some value proposition/killer-app that I'm just not seeing - that is going to make this a must have........an eReader? Not likely. Like Steve himself said, I don't need another gadget that lets me read while I'm on the toilet.

I could use a more portable MacBook.
Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and get the AIR.

I'm curious... why is it important to you that it's "open like a macbook"?

 

[hitekalex]

If you think closed systems are unique, you don't know anything about computing outside of Windows (which itself isn't as open an ecosystem as anti-Apple evangelists would like us to believe). Everything from the first mainframes used in business computing to most embedded systems coming out right now are completely closed, and most mobile system are still mostly "closed" if by "closed" you mean "look sort of like the iPhone".

Please stop with assumptions of what I know and don't know, as you obviously have no idea. And I never said that "closed systems are unique or unprecedented", speaking of strawmen. The context of this discussion is consumer-oriented computing platforms.. not mainframes.. not microwaves.. not VCRs.

And even on my dumb RAZR many years ago, I could install little homebrew Java apps, without "Motorola approval". Apple is trying to have it both ways - on one side, they want a semblence of an open platform with a large 3rd-party development community.. on the other side, they want to have complete control over what goes on platform.. of course giving Apple-developed apps preference and priority along the way. This is the stuff that's not going to fly, and the less Apple apologists like you will defend it - the higher the chances are that Apple will change their ways. Or competition will force them to eventually.

And the iPhone lets you use any web app you want, from anywhere, driven by HTML5 interactions and animations; but Windows Mobile doesn't.

Again... there are tradeoffs. This isn't a new concept. You continue to deny that there is any way to do anything on the iPhone outside the App Store, and that all other platforms are open wonderlands. Both are utterly false and just make you look ignorant.

Really?? HTML5 is what differentiates iPhone from other smartphone OS's?? First, HTML5 is far from being standardised yet, so it's not widely adopted in every browser. Second, HTML5 support in WinMo is just the matter of an Explorer upgrade. Or you can simply install Opera browser in WinMo today, which will give you similar level of HTML5 support as mobile Safari/iPhone. By the way, show me an alternative browser on iPhone that's not based on built-in Safari webkit engine? Oh wait.. you can't, because Apple won't allow/approve it.

Obviously you're the one without a clue, so I am done with you here.