Thread: iPhone 2012 ;)
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2011-10-08, 15:48

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
Yes, though it's a question of semantics. Is Mac OS X part of Mac OS? If it isn't, the phrase "Mac OS will always have QuickDraw" is true. Otherwise, it's false. I bring this up because it's conceivable that, some day, iPhones will have developed way past how we think of iPhones today, and it's possible that it won't be until then that the screen size changes. I.e., that it will take not an evolutionary revision, but a radical change.
I think we're more in agreement than you think.

Adding a second screen size would be the most radical change to the product line yet. It would literally change the face of the product, in a way that would be immediately obvious even to people who had only seen pictures of the iPhone before. If the larger screen had a different aspect ratio or pixel count, it would require developers to choose to support it, and whether to only support it. There would be two iPhones. It would split the app base in an unprecedented way.

The argument against it, the one Gruber doesn't quite make, is that Apple should never do this, that the gains don't outweigh the cost in added complexity. And it's entirely possible Apple views things that way — there's a convincing argument to be made, there. But the counter-argument is that the phone market is massive, certainly large enough to support two substantially different Apple products that target different segments. After all, the phone market is far larger than the notebook market or audio player market ever was, and Apple makes multiple MacBooks and non-iOS iPods to target different segments.

So, idunno. Apple's pretty smart, and if they decide to stick with 3.5" forever, I'm sure they'll have reasons. But I know what what I'd like them to do, and I think there's a case to be made for it.

But anyway. I want to talk about something else now

There's really not anything missing from the current iPhone, or even the 3GS, which is why Apple will have to continue "inventing" new key features, like FaceTime and Siri. This might not be as exciting as those two, but I think an area that is ripe for some Apple magic is NFC. Everybody still views this as just being about mobile payments, which to me is about as shortsighted as thinking the cloud is just a hard disk in the sky. Tap-to-pair for accessories seems like it has the "just works" qualities Apple values, but I'm also thinking tap-to-share for files. If you think about it, it's still surprisingly difficult to just give a file to someone — most people use email, even if they're standing right there. That seems like crossing a river by going the other way around the world, to me. There's got to be a better way.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong