Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Videos on iPad etc

This video is not brand new, but it's interesting.

(I found while looking for another version of this video, which won't play for me. Does it play for you?)

Re the first video (Charlie Rose), it is indeed an interesting conundrum for the publishing industry: Apparently Apple demands that Apple gets 30% of subscription sales, plus they keep all the contact to the customer base.  It must feel a bit like a tiger being trapped in a burning jungle, being offered a way out, but only by being carried away in a cage... what will happen? What kind of people will he be leaving with? Is there even any other way at all?

The guy from NYT says that the $500 price "is a total fake-out", everybody will want to upgrade and get a "bigger" one. Well, not me! I bought a wifi and 16GB model, the cheapest, and it works wonderfully. What do you need to keep on there anyway? You don't think 16GB worth of books and videos will get you through a vacation? I think the cheapest model is perfectly workable.  I also think though that many people think they need more, just because it's available, to Apple's profit.

By the way, I have a wifi portable device which gets me plenty of bandwidth for 15 Pounds Sterling a month ($25). And it can support up to five devices running off it at the same time. And it also works as a backup connection in case my Internet at home goes down. (It's also surprisingly speedy, way faster than a traditional phone modem connection, it does actually feel like broadband speeds, even though it's a 3G connection. I get download speeds around 100kB/sec, which is over 20 times as fast as a phone modem but not as fast as really good broadband.)

5 comments:

TC [Girl] said...

Eolake said...
"I found while looking for another version of this video, which won't play for me. Does it play for you?)"

Yes it did.

"By the way, I have a wifi portable device which gets me plenty of bandwidth for 15 Pounds Sterling a month ($25)."

We're still paying a bloody $60/month for any of these...although 'Clear' is, supposedly, going to be taking a $20 chunk out of it (although I don't see that pricing, anywhere, when I look, right now); they are just getting up and running, now. Looking forward to seeing how good that will be! (weird...this ad shows $55/month! But I have seen ads for $40. Yet more research to do.)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

It's unusual to have any service be cheaper here in the UK than in the US!

... Hah, that video actually plays on my iPad, but *not* on my Mac. Odd. (Even tried two different browsers. Might be my ad-blocking software.)

TC [Girl] said...

Eolake said...
"The guy from NYT says that the $500 price "is a total fake-out", everybody will want to upgrade and get a "bigger" one."

Just watched the vid. Perhaps the types of peeps he is talking about are those heavily into the games and such. They'll probably want/need the fastest machine they can get their hands on. That seems to be a big issue for peeps who play a lot of games: a fast video chip and the room for the memory-hogging software.

That and...I think it was purposely built with some of its drawbacks, so that Jobs could use the cheapest form of R&D available - the end user - whilst having the dough rolling in to create the next rev. He's no dummy! ;-)

The thing I see as a "fake-out" is how this device will only cost peeps $500. N'uh uh! It seems that people need to go hog-wild...with the applications, and various subscriptions, after purchase; a "small" fortune; and...where does it end?! :-(

(forgot about it not being able to multi-task. I don't like that. It would be nice to be able to have everything right at your fingertips for just getting through the day; integrating it into and allowing it to manage every aspect of a person's life! It's way too durn spendy to just be a glorifed e-reader, methinks! :-(

TC [Girl] said...

Eolake said...
"It's unusual to have any service be cheaper here in the UK than in the US!"

It does seem odd. I wonder if they're trying to get peeps in the UK on board. The fact that you guys don't have to have 2-year contracts is quite a nice deal, as well! I wish that would catch on, here...along w/the lower air cards! (Waiting, waiting!) :-/

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

You have some good points. Still:

1: He should and must be talking about the average audience, that's his job.

2: The iPad is highly capable as the cheapest model and twenty dollars' worth of software. Apple can hardly be blamed if people pig out. :-)

Lack of multitasking is a weakness, but it will be improved with iOS 4.2 in November.