Hi Sushi,
> Why do you say this?!
> Who knows what Apple has up her sleave when it comes to a new PDA?
> I for one, am going to wait and see before I pass judgement.
The first reason is that I simply don't believe that Apple regards the
interface as being an important area for them anymore. Theatricality, yes -
usability no. They have seen that if the OS basically works, that's good
enough for most users. Pushing the boat out and trying to really get to
grips with fundamental usability issues has dropped off the agenda.
The Newton is a very well crafted and studied system with a very good UI.
This cannot be said for current Apple SW (not the trivial stuff like
iTunes/DVD/Photo bought in from other developers) but AppleWorks, OS X,
Sherlock II, QT Player which are truly feeble, amateur stuff.
The second reason is that there is no evidence that Apple are spending money
on the kind of basic research that gave us the UI for the original Mac &
Newton. This kind of research is expensive and SJ feels it's not cost
effective. He sees (and happily bundles) badly designed software that is
selling well - why bother to make the extra effort in this area?
For SJ, the pride of creation comes from the box not the contents - this has
always been the case and is the reason that so many of the Mac pioneers
departed - they saw their mission to make SW that was carefully crafted and
usability tested undermined and marginalised. Newton was developed while SJ
was away - now he's back, and has ridiculed it, there can be no internal PDA
project which has the values we especially appreciate.
I feel that this attitude may have serious repercussions in the future but
what it means now is that there is no culture for doing it better. It also
means that the technology route they have chosen is a very conservative one
designed to fit in rather than stand out. They have made a choice which is
cemented into the very core of OS X that certain values are in - glitz,
compatibility, conformity and some are out - usability, efficiency,
elegance. The former group is cheap the latter, expensive.
There is very little possibility that a future PDA will not be based on an
existing system such as OS X or Palm - SJ has stated in the clearest terms
that Macintosh is the only OS that Apple will develop.
We smugly jeer at a Linux PDA because it takes 3 seconds to launch an
application, conveniently forgetting that OS X is based on the same basic
technology. Also, a PDA based on OS X looks difficult at low cost
considering the HW requirements. One based on Palm might be much better if
Apple license HWR to them for the new rev. of the OS but then it will be a
Palm rather than an Apple PDA, no matter how it's badged.
I state it again, the current Apple has neither the means or the desire to
do a PDA from scratch and do it well.
However, Palm may well do a "scribblepad" that is very nice if it has HWR.
Apple may market one in the same way that Sony does now, giving it a
particular flavour but it wont be their technology which, all things
considered, is probably a good thing.
I must pump my Palm insiders for hot gossip!
Joel.
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