*wonders when every tech thread will stop having discussions of flash sprinkled into it*

So far, the lack of flash on the iPad has been an issue only two or three times that I can remember, mostly on Engadget. Everything else has played fine, either via HTML5 video tags, or YouTube/Vimeo embeds that get turned into HTML5 video tags. The days of IE only sites were far worse for me back when I started running Firebird. Even a recent test in Denver of checking restaurant sites for hours and menus was surprising, in that 6 different places I checked in Park Meadows all had working HTML/mobile alternatives.

Bitt, you've partially responded into the incorrect thread. The MLB mention doesn't have anything to do with the comments in here.

I don't think it's unreasonable for Apple to make the claim they've made in their commercial.

More followup in the other thread.

Tom, once all the big menu producers switch over you'll see most restaurant pages compliant. So many are hosted on Menu Palace or similar one-stop-shops.

Recent news has the iPad outselling Macs (not surprising) and out-of-stock situations at 74% of Apple stores. The 3G model is sold out in 100% of stores. We can see why that 2 unit limit is in place.

So what's next for Apple? Here are a few things I think they should do.

1. Forbid Google/AdMob (all other Ad providers) ads in apps in the App Store. If you want to have ads in your app, it's iAds or you advertise your own apps. At the very least take 30% of all ad revenues from ad companies they approve.

2. Buy TomTom. Mostly for TeleNav. That would give them a huge leg up on Google who doesn't currently own any map data I'm aware of. It also means more money coming in from Google and other current licensees of TeleNav data, plus the ability to build-in or offer for a small fee, a nice Nav app (which would need some rework to Apple-ify). If they can get TomTom for under 2 billion it seems like a decent long-term acquisition.

3. Make one or more telephony acquisitions - mostly to update their patent portfolio.

Google owns their own map data for the entire US and Canada, and is quickly getting other areas too. Their streetview cars collected enough data to let them break ties with the other providers.

Easiest way to tell is to go to maps.google.com and look at a location with the map only view. If the copyrights in the bottom right are only for Google, thats an area using all in house data. Only when I get close to Mexico do I see something other then Google pop up down there.

Damn, they've moved pretty fast. Even a month back the data for my area said either NavTeq or TeleAtlas - and was out of date. I suppose they may have stopped updating it specifically because they were building their own.

Still a good reason for Apple to acquire such data. Being tied to Google in this respect is not wise.

Yeah, I have no idea what's taking Apple so long on the navigation front. Having free navigation on Android is absolutely killer. It meant that when I was in Phoenix, and when I go to San Francisco this fall, I don't need to shell out $100 for a stupid TomTom app that I only need when travelling.

To be fair, the TomTom app doesn't require a 3G connection, the Google app for Android does, right?

I can't complain about "Free," but if I'm going to pay, I'd like to have all the data on the device (ala TomTom, Navigon, etc..)

Very true, and it's something that I'm hoping Google might correct in the future.

For example, one of the very cool demos at Google IO was where you could push a plotted route in Google Maps to your phone. It would be great if, in the background, the phone also loaded all map data along that route and at least saved it to the SD card.

Also, the new Garmin phone that runs on Android does load map data, I believe. I'm not clear on the specifics, though.

What do you want it to save? The phone doesn't do anything. It just draws information received from Google. Do you want it to store all map tiles at all zoom levels as you drive? Its GPS capability only goes so far as to report a location. If you want an offline navigation system you'll have to use some other system.

I don't need it to load satellite views, but why couldn't it load all the roads in the general direction you'll be going? Or even pre-load just the roads on your route (it might already do that, I don't know). Why couldn't they do that? Would it be so difficult? It's Google, I think they have some smart people there who could figure an algorithm to decide what data to load before you set out.


I'm not sure what you thought I was saying. Did you think I thought it should load data over GPS? These phones, unlike a nav-only device, have almost-constant data connections, so in fact I'd expect them to be even better at their jobs.

When it comes down to it, these phones have more capabilities than a traditional GPS. And if I have an 8GB card in my phone, or all that space on an iPhone, why shouldn't I be able to preload a simple route, or even an entire city, or region, or country? My GPS in my Honda Odyssey had the streets and addresses for the entire country on a single DVD. Sure, that's at most 4.7GB (though I doubt it took up the whole disc), and Google maps has a lot more data than that Nav did, but I don't see why you couldn't load an entire city on your phone. Like I said in my post, I get the impression that the Garmin phone already does this, so what are you arguing?

Because if your route queries (and, to a lesser extent, map tile downloads) don't go through Google's cloud, they don't get to see what you're doing, and they don't get to monetize it.

Precaching the map tiles for your query (that still goes through Google) would be a useful half-way house, though...

Most people would complain like hell if their all-in-one GPS uploaded their searches and driving patterns to Google, but because Google Maps is _all_ in the "cloud", they don't mind. Go figure.

Yeah, good point. Still, I think that, for safety considerations, they should at least load all the street data along your path. What if you're out driving on some desert or mountain road with no cell towers around, and you take the wrong turn?

The ultimate question is: does the phone itself calculate routes, or is it the Google servers back in Menlo Park?

That's my point. The phone doesn't do any work other than displaying and reporting to Google of changes (ie. You're not on the route anymore). You'd need a different app that did the work client-side in order for Dignan's point to be useful.

Sounds like Garmin et. al. have nothing to worry about Google current nav implementation then. It sounds like it completely sucks ass.

Google seems to be shifting right into Microsoft's role here. They're doing big things, but everything they're doing is only half-baked.

Because that's not how Google Maps works. The client is used for rendering and that's about it.


I'm not sure what you thought I was saying. Did you think I thought it should load data over GPS? These phones, unlike a nav-only device, have almost-constant data connections, so in fact I'd expect them to be even better at their jobs.[/quote]

Sorry, I meant that Google Maps doesn't have navigation built-in like a Garmin or TomTom product would. It simply reads the location from GPS and sends that to Google. A Garmin device reads the location from GPS and then does work internally.

Don't be disingenuous. You know it most definitely does not suck ass. It only fails if you're off the grid. On the grid it's about the only implementation I have any desire to use.

I'm not sure that's entirely true. I feel like it responds too quickly to minor deviations for all of the work to be done on Google's servers. I have a suspicion (though I've not tested it) that the application itself will do some routing on its own, though it may be limited to getting you back on the route already provided by Google's servers.

Yeah, I have no way to prove what I'm saying. I'm just going with Occam's razor.

Google Maps Navigation (not currently available on the iPad or iPhone) will cache the route to prevent issues if the data connection is lost along the way. Text to speech also works fine when offline. The routing part I'm not certain, but it't probably what Bitt said, just good enough to get you back to the master route, and would fall apart if you deviate off course a ways.

Oh, I do. Get a route, then put the phone in Airplane Mode.

Better yet, try to get a route in Airplane mode.

I was being kind. If it worked the way you describe, it would suck worse than ass. Seriously.

If the app doesn't actually do any navigation then it means it can't reroute if you lose your data connection. It also means it can't reroute quickly when you do have a data connection (at least a non-optimal one). It also means you can't plan a route without a data connection. Which means it's nothing but a toy which means it's no competition for real navigation software. Which means it sucks in my books.

The Google-powered Maps application for iPhone sucks as well. Big time. Completely worthless, I wish I could uninstall it from my iPod since there are other much better apps available. But having the map service as part of the OS is useful and that's the bulk of what that app is exposing anyway.

What Tom said. It does cache the instruction for your route. If you wander off completely however, it won't know how to get you back to your destination without reconnecting since it doesn't store maps locally and therefore can't reroute you.

So, get this... The DOJ is starting up an investigation into iTunes because supposedly Apple used its market power to make the playing field level and promote competition:

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/05/26/us-departmet-of-justice-to-investigate-apple-over-itunes/#comments

The details are that Apple supposedly threatened labels with not "featuring" (ie. special promotional positioning and consideration) specific tracks if the labels continued to engage Amazon in exclusivity deals that gave Amazon preferential pricing and lead time over everyone else for those very tracks.

Umm, right. Maybe the DOJ should be investigating the labels or even Amazon for shady shenanigans. Music labels have balls of steel, seriously. We're going to give this guy special pricing and a one day head start over everyone else, but you need to make sure to promote the same songs on your front page. Maybe the labels should just have asked Apple to put a link to Amazon's site into iTunes.


They must also be selling a lot of fricken iPads... Apple just caught up to (and slightly passed) MSFT in market cap.

Today's the international launch day, anyone on the other side of the ocean picking one up today? They are still in short supply here in the US, with nearly every store having to collect customers information to put them into a queue.

And Apple is definitely putting a lot of effort into localizing things, as the UK gets their own guided tour of the iPad, narrated by a British fellow and featuring the Guardian instead of the Times.

2 Million iPads and counting. I believe that number already eclipses what any other manufacturer will be able to reach with their misc. tablet products.

Having more demand than expected is always good thing. Not having enough supply is not. A lack of supply continues to constrain sales at least in the US. It's just speculation, but Apple may be significantly ramping manufacturing for the next iPhone and running a little thin on assembly lines at the moment.

They're well on their way to selling more than 4 million units for the year and the new iPhone is sure to do some large business and set some new benchmarks in the industry. At this point I'm really interested in what's going to go down at WWDC regarding the iPad and OS 4 (which will be installed on the new iPhone by default).

We went to the Kingston store (London) on Saturday to have a play with one, there was a queue for them outside the store but it wasn't massive, maybe 8 people.

We went past another couple of hours later and the queue had maybe increased by another 5 people, but you were still free to join it, it doesn't look like they had any stock issues at that store.

The stock levels of the iPad in the UK are clearly coping better than all three iPhone launches. For the iPhone launches they maintained a list of which stores had stock for weeks after launch. There is no sign of that being done for the iPad.

8 people lined up outside a store on the second day of product availability is pretty good. I saw photos of a couple of lines on opening day (from the UK) and they were massive, at least a hundred people long.

My brother was able to pick up an iPad here in Canada - I think yesterday. Not sure if he just walked in or had it reserved.

Given all the buzz, I actually expected that Apple would be selling them a little bit quicker, perhaps having just hit their 3 million milestone instead of 2.