Kyle LeBoeuf

This morning, Apple posted an open letter from Steve Jobs to the technology community in which he explains in great detail Apple’s stance towards using Flash in it’s iPhone OS products.

He pretty much hits the nail on the head, in true Steve Jobs fashion.

Adobe’s platform is closed and proprietary, insecure, unstable, and simply is not the best solution for touch-based computing as Apple is trying to define it.

While Apple does use plenty of proprietary software and tools, the big difference is Apple’s contributions to open-source computing. Apple incorporates a lot of open elements into it’s own products.

Also, allowing developers to develop in Flash brings their products away from the iPhone. From a business standpoint, this makes a lot of sense. Apple wants developers to code for the iPhone using it’s own tools because that is the best way to make quality applications for the platform, and that will bring the best apps and developers to the iPhone OS platform.

From the letter, on Adobe’s approach to iPhone development with Flash:

“We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.”

You’re only as good as your weakest link. Apple is removing the weakest link. Goodbye Adobe.

AppleCare is probably the most misunderstood product/service that Apple offers. Because of the stigma associated with most extended warranty-type programs offered by retailers, it is often ignored by customers without a closer examination to the benefits.

I used to work for an Apple Authorized Service Provider/Specialist and of course one of the biggest pressures we received from management (and Apple) was to sell AppleCare to people. Like every other retailer, this company carefully tracks “attachment rate”, or the percentage of applicable unit sales that have AppleCare attached to them.

I no longer work for the company, and it is of no personal benefit to me (I say this in disclosure), but I would highly recommend that you consider getting AppleCare for your future Apple products (and current, if they are eligible).

I say this for more then just the practical reasons. Yes, the out-of-warranty repair costs for most repairs on Apple products are outrageous, but my reasoning is founded on more then just that.

Part of the reason why Apple has such a loyal customer base is because it has systems in place that are very beneficial to the customer. It’s warranty repair system would fall under this category.

When you have an Mac (I’ll use a Mac as an example for this because the iPhone/iPod programs are a little different) that is under warranty that encounters failures, you have three options (four under some circumstances):

1. Take the computer to an Apple Store. This seems like a no-brainer. The folks at the Genius Bar can take a look at your machine and look into having repaired.
2. Take the computer to an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP). This is usually one of the quickest solutions to getting your computer fixed. I’ll explain later.
3. Ship your computer to Apple. This solution is for people who don’t have an Apple Store or AASP within a decent distance
4. If your computer qualifies, have Apple send a technician to fix it onsite. This solution is only available for certain machines (iMacs, Mac Pros, and Xserves)

Have you ever bought a computer from Best Buy and had to go and bring it in the get looked at by the Geek Squad? Yeah. I know.

The process sucks. You have three solutions when trying get warranty service from Best Buy:

1. Take the computer to the Geek Squad to get it looked at. This is annoying. Since you can’t schedule an appointment with the Geek Squad, you usually end up waiting in line for awhile before you get any kind service. On top of that, there’s a good chance that Best Buy will either tell you to use option 3 on this list or use option 3 themselves
2. Have Geek Squad come to your house and look at the computer. This can get expensive because Best Buy usually charges for this service regardless of your warranty.
3. Contact the manufacturer. Easily the most frustrating of three (unless you purchased a Mac!).

Biggest difference between Apple and the Geek Squad is this: training and specialization. Apple’s “Geniuses” fly out to Cupertino for service training before they are put on the Genius Bar. Apple Certified Macintosh Technicians (ACMTs) go through a rigorous testing process before they are certified to service Mac computers for AASPs. Geek Squad offers no real training for it’s technicians and a majority of the work on your computer is performed off-site, so you end up having to wait for several weeks before getting your computer back.

While Apple Stores do ship their computers to a service center for hardware repairs, AASPs typically employ technicians on-site who diagnose and repair your machine in-house, having the parts shipped to them and usually generating a turnaround time of about 3-5 days for most repairs, rather than 2 weeks that is typical for most repairs that are shipped out.

You can also ship your computer to Apple. Apple sends you a pre-paid shipping box and you ship the computer back to them. They diagnose and repair your computer and send it back to you. Turnaround time is usually 1-2 weeks. Just this alone is more convenient then dealing with Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

And in-case you didn’t know, AppleCare also entitles you to 3 years of free phone support with Apple. Apple can answer various questions about OS X, iLife, iWork, networking within OS X, and help troubleshoot issues, all for free. This costs about $50 per incident once you are outside of the initial 90-day support window that Apple provides.

The point of this post was to clear some common misconceptions about AppleCare and about its usefulness. Apple’s service program easily distinguishes itself from the rest and doesn’t warrant the resentment many customers have towards it because of practices that are standard in the electronics retail industry. As always, Apple is a cut above the rest. Faithful Mac customers know this, and should expect the same from their service and support of their products.

For a Mac, getting AppleCare grants you amazing service for three years (two years for iPods, iPhones, and iPads). Crazy deal if you ask me, especially considering that AppleCare for a MacBook Pro is a small fraction of the cost of a major repair.

Think about it.

Twitter just announced that it acquired Atebits, maker of the popular Tweetie app for iPhone and Mac.

I wonder what this means for other Twitter application developers, like Tweetdeck (which is what I use). Before, Twitter simply owned the platform that these applications were built upon. Now, Twitter actually has a vested interest in this application space and will move to increase it’s exposure amongst the users of Twitter.

Is Twitter going to restrict or possibly even ban other applications in this space?

As Ryan Block tweeted, “As of today, if your app depends on Twitter for anything other than identity or content syndication, you are officially on notice.”

It will be interesting to see how Twitter moves forward with this acquisition.

There has been a ton of heated discussion all over the internet about some changes made to the developer’s agreement in the iPhone OS 4.0 that includes the banning of tools that allow developers to port applications written in other languages not supported by the iPhone. The most prominent of these tools is a part of the new Flash CS5 that is being developed by Adobe.

The tool included in the Flash CS5 product will allow developers to export code written for Flash so that it is supported by the iPhone.

As of iPhone OS 4.0, developers will no longer be able to use these tools. This has caused a severe backlash from some in the developer community and we are beginning to see the battle lines being drawn.

On one hand, you have Apple, who stands by their decision to ban these tools based the fact that applications built with these tools will not get along with features and APIs that are being introduced in the update.

On the other, you have companies like Adobe, who’s product will be left out in the cold. Adobe took such offense at Apple’s move that one it’s prominent employees blasted Apple on his personal blog.

My own personal opinion follows:

==Begin Rant==

Flash sucks. Get over it Adobe.

Apple doesn’t support Flash’s platform because it’s terrible. The number one cause of crashes in OS X are flash-related. The number one cause of crashes in Internet Explorer are plug-in related. Guess which plug-in is the most common on Internet Explorer? Yep. You got it. Flash.

If Adobe would put more effort into improving the stability of its media platform, perhaps companies like Apple would consider adopting it into their devices.

Instead, we get this craptastic plug-in.

Apple is not really to blame here. They are protecting their platform and their users and encouraging open innovating through the use of HTML5 over technologies like Flash.

The clock is ticking Adobe. HTML5 will replace your Flash platform.

==End Rant==

As noted earlier this evening, Apple is holding a media event tomorrow to showcase the upcoming OS 4 for the iPhone.

I’ve been combing through all of the big rumors this evening and this is what I want to see the most:

1. Multi-tasking: This one’s a no-brainer. Apple is running out of excuses NOT to have this in the iPhone. Jail-breakers do it and it doesn’t kill their battery life that much (and if it does, so what? I want mutli-tasking!)
2. Orientation Locking: The iPad already has this feature, though it’s through a switch. Seems like it would be easy just to add a setting in the software that disabled it. I use my iPhone a lot when I’m laying in bed and would love to be able to prevent it from flipping around automatically.
3. Unified Inbox: This one was pretty much confirmed from “the man” Steve Jobs himself. I want to be able to view all of my inboxes at once I want to, like I already do on my Mac.
4. AT&T Tethering: I know that it’s very unlikely but this would be nice. Come on you guys, you promised this to us LAST YEAR!
5. UI Refresh: The iPhone UI has remained largely unchanged since it debuted in 2007 with the original iPhone. Some updates to bring it up to speed with current trend would be nice. Especially…
6. Customizable Home Screen: Yes we have this already with the iPad. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to change the background on our home screens?

Find out what Apple is up to with OS 4 by following the live blogs like gdgt.

Apple sent out media invitations to a private event showcasing the 4th version of the iPhone OS this past Sunday.

Typically for these events, the bigger tech media outlets such as Crunchgear, Engadget, and gdgt will have live blogs of the event. I personally plan on using gdgt’s live feed. It’s the cleanest and least cluttered. Good pics too.

Link to gdgt’s live feed for tomorrow is here. Check it out.

Wonder what’s next for the iPhone?

Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

In case you live under a rock, the iPad was released today. I got word that my local Apple Specialist was carrying it and had demo units so I made the drive down to check it out. Here are my first impressions:

IT IS INCREDIBLE!!

That sums up my first impressions, but I’ll go into it in detail:

1. The display is gorgeous. The built in 9.7-inch screen is stunning. It renders the colors and images very very well. This is definitely the ultimate visual media consumption device.
2. The iPhone OS and multi-touch interface translates almost perfectly to the larger display: Since it’s an updated version of the iPhone OS, the iPad is entirely touch-based and this works well for the device. Performing tasks or browsing through apps and features on the iPad is a breeze.
3. The keyboard is terrific. When rotated into landscape mode, the iPad keyboard is pretty natural, really only slightly smaller than keyboards found on Apple’s MacBook laptops today. I found it really easy to type large amounts of text.
4. One of the best features by far on the iPad is the new Safari. I love using Safari on my iPhone because of the ease of the touch interface. The only problem I have with it is the tiny size. The iPad solves this problem thanks to its full-sized display. I can view websites such as the NYTimes and the full version of Facebook in full-resolution. Videos (non-flash) play within the browser window, rather than popping up the video player over your browser window like it does in the iPhone. All of the features that you are familiar with on the iPhone when it comes to browsing is all here on the iPad, just way WAY better.
5. There are ton of little odds and ends that bring huge improvements to the iPhone OS. One of these features is the ability to lock the orientation of the device into a single mode. This allows you to maintain a normal orientation (portrait or landscape) when you’re laying on your side. You can also change your home screen (think desktop wallpaper for the iPhone OS) background and have more then 4 apps for quick access at the bottom of the screen.
6. One of the coolest features is the “Photo Frame” mode: If you lock the iPad and go to the lock screen, you’ll notice a little picture button the bottom right next to the “Slide to unlock” bar. Touch this button and iPad instantly converts into an automatic photo frame slideshow, complete with iPhoto like transitions between slides. Interesting feature.
7. The iBooks app is nice: The iPad includes a copy of Winnie the Pooh for your reading pleasure, and it gave me a chance to play around a little bit with the iBooks application. The pages are very easy to read and the text is very clear, though I imagine that prolonged reading on the iPad’s LCD display will cause some slight discomfort. You can rotate the iPad and move between looking at a single page or two pages at a time (like an open book).
8. The Mail app on the iPad is terrific: It will instantly be a fan to many business types and other people who are use to mail formats like those found in applications like Outlook. When in landscape, mail takes on a very Outlook like appearance, with your inbox being in a column on the left and a full preview of the email being shown in a reading pane on the right. When viewing emails in full size in portrait mode, your inbox can be access via a popup menu that appears when you hit the inbox button in the upper right.
9. The device definitely has a different feel to it in terms of handling and weight: At 1.5 pounds, the iPad can be awkward to hold in one hand, which is required if you wish to use the device if you’re in a standing position, or if you want to hold it upright like you would a book. But it feels very solid, and I don’t necessarily worry about bending or breaking the device when I hold it.
10. Overall, the device is a pleasure to use: The demo units that the reseller had were not loaded with very many dedicated iPad apps, so there were many features on the device that I did not get to explore, but just from what I’ve seen so far, the device is absolutely amazing.

This device is going to change everything. After using it and sitting down at my MacBook Pro to type up this article, I already feel a little sad that I am not typing it on the iPad. I didn’t get to try out everything that I wanted to. For example, I wanted to spend more time with the Pages app. I also wanted to sit down and take a good look at the some of the iWork apps. I got a chance to play around a little bit with the Pages app but I really didn’t get as much with it as I had liked. My dad went out and picked up a 64GB model at Best Buy, so I may get more opportunities to play with it tonight. I’ll update this post with more impressions.

Can’t wait till the day when I can finally get my own.

Kyle