On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 22:55, Jim Tonge <[email protected]> wrote:
> And iStore lock-in? For those without a computer, they have but one store to > buy content from, no? The hardware supports several scenarios not yet exposed by the OS. The iPad can operate as a USB host *or* a USB client; plus, it speaks Bonjour (DNS service discovery) over both WiFi and Bluetooth. Third-party apps can do clever things with this stuff today on the iPhone and iPod touch, but the OS itself doesn’t do much with it. It‘s really not in Apple’s interests for people to go to Dell or HP or whoever the buy a cheap PC just to tether their iPad to, so there's a big motivating factor in adding support to the OS for a fully-working device without the aid of a PC> Microsoft got smacked down not because they tied one bit of software into another, nor because they were a monopoly, but because they abused that monopoly with strong-arm tactics in order to create another. Nobody gives a toss if Orange releases a mobile phone which can only get content from SD cards or the Orange Music Store, though they might complain it's a bit rubbish. As it goes, I have a fair amount of content my (unjailbroken) iPod touch which is neither iTunes-purchased nor synced from the desktop, and more options are being added to the OS with each release. While it's true that you can't run any app you like (through any official means - see footnote [0]), there's not quite as much lock-in in other respects as people seem to think. M. [0] Assuming you can jailbreak, you can do what you like: you’ll get no support from Apple, but you’re not paying for that, either. Again, this is no different from most consumer devices. - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
