The Just-Buy-Our-Devices Model

post from Daring Fireball on 25 October 2011 09:04:16 PM. © Daring Fireball

Tim Bajarin, “Why Google and Microsoft Hate Siri”:

Yes, Siri is an important product for enhancing our user interfacewith the iPhone. But Siri is in its infancy. When it grows up, itwill be the front end to all types of searches conducted oniPhones, iPads, Mac?s and even Apple TV. And, if I were Googleor Microsoft, perhaps I too would be playing down the impact ofSiri since they know full well that it is not just a threat totheir product platforms, but to their core businesses of search aswell. In fact, they should be quaking in their boots since Appleis taking aim at their cash cow search businesses with theirtechnology and could very well impact their fortunes dramaticallyin the future.

I think it’s a stretch to call search one of Microsoft’s “core businesses”. They’re still losing money — a lot of money, consistently, quarter after quarter — in their online services division. But they wouldn’t be sticking with it if they didn’t see it as a future core business.

For Apple?s investors, the call for them to start payingdividends on their cash hoard is too short-sighted. Instead, theyshould be encouraging Apple to start buying up as many databasesand services they can and begin the process of entrenchingSiri?s role as the first line of offense when searching for aproduct and service and get the search ad revenue from this forthemselves. I believe that if they do this, they could probablyadd another $3-$5 billion in quarterly revenue to their alreadyhealthy business model within three years, as search becomesanother profit center for Apple.

I think Bajarin is correct that Siri is a huge deal, and that if it truly thrives, it will adversely affect traditional web search like Google and Bing. But I can’t see Apple monetizing it through advertising. That’s tacky.

I see Apple “monetizing” Siri simply as a way to sell more devices — more iPhones now, more iPads (and who knows, maybe Macs?) in the future. Siri could be the interface to future products, like tiny little Nano-sized devices, or home entertainment systems. Google’s ad-driven model disrupted Microsoft’s pay-for-software-licenses model. Apple’s just-buy-our-devices-and-look-at-all-the-cool-shit-you-get-with-them model could disrupt Google’s ad-driven model.

Microsoft’s model was: you’d buy a device, then pay for licenses for Microsoft software. Google’s disruption was: hey, you don’t need to pay for Microsoft software if you’re willing to put up with our non-blinking mostly-text ads. Apple’s model is: you don’t even need to see those ads, just buy your devices from us. (Although you could argue that with the the App Store, Apple is circling back to the pay-for-more-software model. But that’s not really a profit center for Apple.)

Siri doesn’t need to lead to advertising in order to add to Apple’s bottom line. Consider iCloud — Apple now offers free-of-charge online services ad-free. It’s a sunk cost in the name of the overall experience for Apple device buyers.

Read The Full Article:
http://daringfireball.net/2011/10/buy_our_devices_model

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Someones Starting to Get a Clue

post from Daring Fireball on 25 October 2011 08:03:37 PM. © Daring Fireball

From Anand Lal Shimpi’s review of the Asus Zenbook laptop:

In our earlier coverage I pointed out that ASUS had movedMicrosoft’s required Certificate of Authenticity to the powerbrick, something that’s usually located on the system itself.Microsoft mandates the sticker’s placement on the system, howeverthere is a clean PC program an OEM can apply for in order tosomewhat skirt the requirement. ASUS did apply for and wasapproved, allowing it the luxury of moving that CoA sticker tothe power adapter. While it does improve the beauty of themachine, it also means that if you lose your power adapter you dolose your CoA.
Microsoft and Intel were also petitioned to allow greyscaleversions of their respective product logos. ASUS’ request was alsoapproved, which is why you see less obnoxious Intel inside andWindows 7 stickers on the Zenbook.

Fewer stickers on the laptop itself, and the grayscale ones are more tasteful. But you know what’s cool? Not slapping stickers on laptops in the first place.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4985/asus-zenbook-ux21-review

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Steve Jobs Solved the Innovators Dilemma

post from Daring Fireball on 25 October 2011 07:03:29 PM. © Daring Fireball

James Allworth:

They can do it because Apple hasn’t optimized its organization tomaximize profit. Instead, it has made the creation of value forcustomers its priority. When you do this, the fear ofcannibalization or disruption of one’s self just melts away. Infact, when your mission is based around creating customer value,around creating great products, cannibalization and disruptionaren’t “bad things” to be avoided. They’re things you actuallystrive for — because they let you improve the outcome for yourcustomer.

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Read The Full Article:
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/10/steve_jobs_solved_the_innovato.html

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Stephen Fry on Steve Jobs

post from Daring Fireball on 25 October 2011 07:03:29 PM. © Daring Fireball

I missed this when Stephen Fry wrote it a few weeks ago, just after Jobs’s death. Brilliant:

As always there are those who reveal their asininity (as they didthroughout his career) with ascriptions like ?salesman?,?showman? or the giveaway blunder ?triumph of style oversubstance?. The use of that last phrase, ?style oversubstance? has always been, as Oscar Wilde observed, amarvellous and instant indicator of a fool. For those who perceivea separation between the two have either not lived, thought, reador experienced the world with any degree of insight, imaginationor connective intelligence. It may have been Leclerc Buffon whofirst said ?le style c?est l?homme — the style is theman? but it is an observation that anyone with sense hadunderstood centuries before. Only dullards crippled into cretinismby a fear of being thought pretentious could be so dumb as tobelieve that there is a distinction between design and use,between form and function, between style and substance.

The whole piece is great, and so much great stuff has been written about Jobs and Apple in the last month, but the above paragraph is just perfect.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.stephenfry.com/2011/10/06/steve-jobs/single-page/

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Is Mobile Safari Faster on iOS 5

post from Daring Fireball on 25 October 2011 07:03:29 PM. © Daring Fireball

Spoiler: yes.

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Read The Full Article:
http://blog.newrelic.com/2011/10/25/is-mobile-browsing-faster-on-ios-5/

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The Ubuntu Font Family

post from Daring Fireball on 25 October 2011 06:04:01 PM. © Daring Fireball

I don’t particularly care for it, and don’t think it’s going to age well, but it sure strikes me as better than Roboto.

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Read The Full Article:
http://font.ubuntu.com/

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Rolex

post from Daring Fireball on 25 October 2011 06:04:01 PM. © Daring Fireball

From a Slate story by Seth Stevenson, on Rolex signing Tiger Woods to an endorsement contract:

Privately held since its formation in 1905, Rolex is a notoriously tight-lipped company. It doesn’t release revenue figures, or explain leadership transitions. (It had a total of three CEOs from 1905 until 2008, when then-CEO Patrick Heiniger resigned under mysterious circumstances.) Even the corporate structure is a bit murky. Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf died childless in 1960, leaving control of his company to a charitable foundation he’d established. The Hans Wilsdorf Foundation runs Rolex to this day. When I emailed a polite-but-elliptical media-relations woman to ask whether Rolex is essentially a nonprofit, and who the foundation?s major beneficiaries are, she responded with this sentence: “The principal focus of the foundation is to support a variety of philanthropic endeavors.”

I did not know that.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/branded/2011/10/tiger_woods_rolex_spokesma
n_why_did_the_prestigious_watch_brand_.html

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AirPlay TV

Joe Hewitt speculates on Airplay’s potential regarding these “new TV by Apple” rumors. In short: latency, latency, latency.

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Read The Full Article:
http://joehewitt.com/2011/10/25/airplay-tv

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RantNetwork Releases Communilator 1.0.2

RantNetwork has announced that Version 1.0.2 of Communilator is now available for immediate free download through the Apple iTunes App Store and links on Communilator's web site. The 1.0.2 version offers new updated features that enhance the overall function and usability of the app. It includes enhancements such as an enriched results text box display and the addition of a "Full Feature" option. A landscape mode User Guide has been added .

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-32787.htm

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Troubleshooting a Battery-Sucking iPhone 4S

This is one of the nerdiest sentences I’ve written in months, but here goes: I loved this iPhone 4S battery-life troubleshooting story by Chris Breen.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.macworld.com/article/163200/2011/10/troubleshoot_iphone4s_battery.html

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