Rather, could Android software development suffer because it won’t be able to attract the same number of developers — who are now looking to make boatloads of cash via the iPhone apps store?

Correct me if I’m wrong folks, and Android may surprise us yet,but there doesn’t seem to the same kind of simple application where you click, choose, and download — which is tied into a singular payment scheme.  True, one would think that this would natively exist with software for cell-phone companies that allow you to put everything onto a single bill (I think our Japanese friends have already sorted this one out) but this level of sophistication is something that I will certainly be watching for with Android’s release.

Why?  Well, I’m sure that many developers are looking to contribute to the growing library of Android applications out the goodness of their own heart, I’m sure many of them are also writing with dollar signs in their eyes … particularly with the rash of articles written recently about how profitable it can be writing popular iPhone apps.

Will Apple and the iPhone be poaching the best and brightest for the lure of cold hard cash?  Hard to say at this point — particularly as I’m sure people program and dev for a great many reasons.  

But with application development (for the iPhone, for Facebook) clearly being much more than a basement hobby, and something so profitable that it can power a real business, it seems reasonable to think that from the developer side at least, free vs. fee is, going to be, for some, a bit of a no-brainer.

On the flip-side, of course, is the mind-set of the user of the respective systems.  Will iPhone users, because of things like iTunes, be conditioned to paying for software?  And will Android users, being used to open-source ethos (whether they call it that or not), be used to software that is free?

I guess we’ll have to wait until 10:30EST today (and likely much later) to find out.

Nothing to see here except for non-sequitur humour that passes as “funny”.  I can’t believe Microsoft paid him $10M to star in this dreck.  Or, rather, I can’t believe that Jerry Seinfeld wants to attach his name to this kind of work for *any* kind of money.  Shoes?  Clowns?  Cake?  Is that supposed to be clever or inspired, or merely “Jerry”? <shakes head>

Yesterday, for example, I found myself on my couch surfing on my iPhone (via Safari) while watching TV, while my computer was sitting about 5 feet away from me.  I could have gotten up to use my computer, but the problem is that its facing away from the TV.

Yes, aside from the thought “jeebus, WHEN did you get so colossal lazy?”, the other thought that also popped into my mind was that the browser in the iPhone was perfectly acceptable for recreational surfing.  And it allowed me to surf while doing all kinds of things, including watching TV, without hauling out my laptop *and* a TV tray *and* its electric plug.

(having a baby meant getting rid of that TV tray, as its an object with a high center of gravity, and a high risk of damaging small fleshy things, which would put me at a higher risk of getting personally damaged by my wife)

So, its no surprise when I heard that the iPhone, as a means browse the internet, has actually *doubled* its share of the browsing pie. This isn’t merely mobile browsing, but *all* browsing.  Now, the actual numbers are a lot more humble than what I thought, at about 0.3%, but given the kind of positive experiences I’ve been having I’m not at all surprised.

I do wonder if and when Apple grants people the ability to use the iPhone as a tethering device for laptops, how it might change the uptake for the iPhone as a browsing experience.  Not that its currently being allowed in the States, but apparently, in just another month its coming to Canada. Tell you what: when it does come, I’ll try it and let you know. ;)

Even though I’m a couple months late to the party, here are my thoughts

1. its a magnificent piece of technology. The iPhone has its faults (see below), but its a great piece of hardware.  Silky smooth crystal touch screen.  A nice solid un-plasticky kind of weight.  A user-interface that is slick, easy to read, and otherwise gorgeous.  It has something almost super-naturally tactile about it (given the whole touch-screen thing, that’s the point, I suppose) that makes you want to touch it and hold it all the time.

2. typing is atrocious. In spite of how awesome the UI is, the fact that it is almost 100% touch screen necessitates that the keyboard is also part of the touch screen.  This means, unlike most data phones, there are no keys to provide touch-feed back when you’re typing.  As someone who’s migrated from a Blackberry, this makes typing an atrociously frustrating chore, and although, I admit, I’ve only had it for a couple days, there is just no way I’ll be composing lengthy emails, or blogging for that matter, via iPhone.  Perhaps my fingers are fat and pudgy, but even so, I find myself making far too many unintended keystrokes, even after about 10-15 hours of usage, and I just don’t see it improving.

3. iPhone “apps” are awesome. The iPhone apps store is one slick piece of work.  You browse apps.  You find apps.  You download them directly to your iPhone.  And you have a new app.  I am not planning to jailbreak the phone, and yet, there’s still a ton of stuff available.  Some of it is crap.  Some of it is surprisingly good.  Like, for example, “Epocrates”, which is a program that is popular amongst medical students and physicians, originally developed for the Palm Pilot.  There’s a free iPhone version which is just as good as I remember it (allows you to search a comprehensive drug database, cross reference for adverse events), but given the iPhone’s excellent graphics, also has a “pill display” portion, where you can actually see what pills look like.  This is an application that could have easily sold for bongo bucks — but its free.

4. 3G isn’t as fast as I thought it’d be. Caveat — I live in Toronto, and the 3G coverage is pretty excellent.  I understand that in the states, or, other areas in Canada, the coverage can be quite spotty.  Having said that, sure, the 3G network is meant to be between three and five times as fast as the EDGE network.  But, it doesn’t really feel that fast.  Why is that? Personally, I think its because unlike with the Blackberry I was previously using, which was an EDGE network phone, I was probably browsing mobile-optimized web pages.  With the iPhone 3G, I am browsing web pages — which, perhaps, are three times as heavy, in terms of data size.  Its able to stream video, however, which *is* something to see.

5. battery life sort of sucks. Coupled with the fact that there is no easy way (read: impossible) to change batteries, and the fact that most people will want to use the iPhone as a cool doo-hicky — and not merely a phone — you’ll perhaps find that the length of time your batter lasts is between 3 – 5 hours.  Now, actually, compared to laptop batteries, this isn’t that bad (in my experience), but the problem, as I stated, is that you can’t change the batteries, and furthermore, for most people, they’ll also need the iPhone for one other thing: to make calls.  Yesterday, I nearly ran out of batteries before the end of the day, and it wouldn’t have mattered so much except that I had to make a few unexpected emergency calls.  I was sweating bullets, silently praying that I wouldn’t run out of juice while I was making those calls.

6. The camera is crippled. Displaying photos is nice.  Taking photos, however, sucks.  There’s no zoom.  There’s no flash.  And it suffers mightily from a longish exposure time, requiring your hands to be pretty still to avoid a blur on the photo.  Especially at night.  Having no zoom also sucks, and I didn’t realize how sucky this was until I actually needed it (case in point: I wanted to take a photo of an insect the other day — don’t ask — and I had to get so close to it that I was within eating distance)

While there are a ton of things that could be better (I don’t even want to think about how fragile it is), there’s one unmistakeable thing about the iPhone.  It is an amazingly unique piece of hardware that does some things so well that it makes you forget (most times) about the others.

Most of it being negative, thanks to Rogers’ bald-faced, shamelessly blatant attempt at profiteering, that is, as one glance at their voice and data plans suggest.

I have nothing further to add, actually, other than to say that at times like this, I begin to wish and hope with all my might that companies that happily provide so little and ask for so much, get their delicious comeuppance.

Not just the usual “demand is soft, interest is down, Rogers stock takes a brief dip and everyone moves on”.

No, I mean some sort of catastrophic, humiliating, trip on that step you didn’t see in front of a world-wide audiene, public pie-in-your face, step in a cow-pattie at your wedding kind of comeuppance.

I mean, I don’t think it will actually happen come July 11th, but hey — a man can only hope.

{although some more recent news suggests that perhaps Apple might snub Rogers after all}