Thank you for acknowledging that solving the mystery of "When you hold a tablet device with both hands, why does the tablet need thick bezels?" is indeed a challenge worth the Nobel Prize. Remember: Hating Apple is ok. Hating Apple and not thinking because of it is not ok.
On Mar 29, 9:56 am, Casper Bang <[email protected]> wrote: > There's another aspect of the iPad where it's obvious that Apple is > using all their lock-down skills against the user, and that's the > micro-SIM card. Let's first do away with the excuse that a traditional > mini-SIM is too large - we fit them in our smartphones with ease. > Since the iPad pretty much is the only product to make use of a micro- > SIM, this means that contracts aside, for all practical purposes > consumers won't just be able to just pop in a SIM from some arbitrary > data carrier. It's a fully legal way for Apple to tie customers to > particular carriers through an ill-adopted industry standard. If I was Apple, I would want all iPad owners to have free, high-speed Internet access so they can buy shiny new content from my iTunes store whenever they want to and wherever they are. If I was a carrier, I'd hate that idea because iPad users will downloads hundreds of megabytes over my cellular network, and I don't make a single cent on this, turning me into a dumb pipe. With Android, it's different - you can put your own UI on top of it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Sense), you can install your own apps and your own content stores (http://blogs.computerworld.com/15715/ at_ts_backflip_android_phone_is_a_face_plant), so carriers can get some value / make some money on the side. With Apple, you don't - you just get the "halo" of selling an iconic device. So carriers need to restrict your iPhone as much as possible to still make some money. That's why it's illegal to use your regular iPhone for data tethering with your computer with most iPhone contracts (so you pay extra for tethering), and in Germany it's still illegal to do VoIP on cellular networks (so you pay for your phone calls). Now what you want to do - take the SIM card from an existing device with a data plan and pop it into an iPad - is illegal with most data plans. I mean I don't like phone companies, but a contract is a contract. The micro SIM card seems to only benefit the carriers, not Apple, so maybe Apple put it in as a bargaining chip to get better data plans (and the unlimited $30/month plan without a contract from AT&T is a good deal). Or the carriers complained that too many users jailbreak their iPhone and tether with it. Or it's Apple's fascination with small things that conveniently require adapters (after all, they put the Mini Display Port into the Macbooks). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
