iOS is lying and that's good

Apparently the iPhone (or, more accurately, iOS) uses screenshots to make apps appear to load faster than they do. This has been called "lying" in some articles, but I think it's a valid user experience tweak.

To users like you and me, the really important thing about software is the user interface. The UI is the software, as far as we're concerned. So this screenshot trick makes the UI more smooth and responsive, which increases your satisfaction with the software and makes the overall experience more pleasant. That's exactly the kind of thing software should be doing for you, and it's the kind of design-for-experience quality we expect from Apple products, too.

The main reason you would want your phone to include a delay at the point of loading an app would be to represent what is "really" going on. This is not important for two reasons. One, the difference between what's "really" going on and what you see is a lot more than when the app loads. There's a ton of stuff you never have to see, and you never want to. It is hidden from you as a user, and rightly so. There's no reason to hit you in the face with the app loading time and not that other stuff. Two, an app should not be primarily concerned with the hardware on which it runs, but the user who is on the outside. You, the user, have a better experience when the phone shows you a screenshot for a moment, then replaces it with the real app a moment later, so that's what it does.

I'm not an Apple fanboy. I have never owned an iPhone, nor an iPod or iPad, and I don't plan to get one. I love my Android phone and my Windows 7 desktop, and my entire career is built on .NET, a Microsoft platform that doesn't run on iOS or OSX, and probably never will. So this isn't brown-nosing from a cult member. I genuinely think this design decision by Apple was a good move, and I applaud it.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It's also pretty subtle, which is why it went unnoticed for so long.
PPS - And that's another sign of good design.

Siri

The buzz about the voice-activated personal assistant software Siri on the iPhone 4S seems to have settled down now. I wonder whether that means it has seamlessly integrated into people's lives or that it wasn't such a big deal after all. It's taken me a little while to realise, but I think the main advantage of Siri is that it is task-based. If you want to send a message, you go to Siri. If you want to look up a fact, you ask Siri. If you want to check your schedule, you ask Siri. On any other phone, if you have a task in mind, you have to think of what app does that task, find it in your menu and remember how to use it. The fact of apps is a barrier between you and what you want to do. Siri helps break that down, and that's a good thing.

But if it works so well, why isn't there a popular equivalent on desktop machines? Here's the most likely reason:



Look at this video of a man with a Japanese accent struggling to get Siri on his iPhone 4S to understand the word "work". Siri recognises that he wants to send an email, and knows that he needs to specify "work" or "home", but over numerous attempts still fails to find a match. You can hear from his voice that he's getting more frustrated as time goes on. Now, the point is not that Siri should recognise his accent, nor that he should adapt and use an American accent for this word. The point is that Siri should change tactics after a while, because this clearly isn't working.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Digital assistants need to recognise when they're failing and try something new.
PPS - Douglas Adams talked about this as the need for boredom in AI.

Wifi at work

For a very long time, wifi at work was a big no-no, simply because the IT admins considered it too insecure. Now suddenly it's quite common. What changed? My theory is that businesses started buying iPhone plans for their employees, which come with data allowances and excess usage charges. So when the data allowance runs out, it costs the business a lot. The best way to get around that, at least while employees are at the office, is to set up a wifi access point and direct the iPhone internet traffic through there, piggybacking it on the existing internet connection. Money and convenience overrides security yet again.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - That's usually how we get into trouble.
PPS - But in fact, it probably wasn't that secure before or after wifi.

App stores

There are only two things keeping the app store model afloat: curation and lock-in. Curation in the broad sense that people know where to go for apps for their platform, and it is a consistent, unified user experience, whether the apps are free or paid. Apps themselves aren't going anywhere, because there are some things apps can do that the alternative, websites, can't do. You need apps, and you need a place to get them.

But the thing is, curation can come from anywhere, and if someone else does a better job, customers will use it that alternative. That's assuming you can set up an alternative app store, which is the lock-in part. But even if you can't set up an alternative, you can always set up better recommendations, categorisation, searching and reviews with links to the official app store. Even if using your version is harder than the real one, that price of inconvenience might be worth paying.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - This is part of why Apple makes it impossible to set up an alternative app store.
PPS - It keeps them in control by force.

Android, iOS and market share

If you can retail a capable Android phone for under $100, how is Apple going to maintain their market dominance? Actually, worldwide, Android already has the lion's share of the mobile market (43% according to 2011 research by Gartner, vs only 18% for iPhone), and it's likely to continue to grow. The sub-$100 phones just prove that Android is flexible enough for pretty much anything. The real question is whether that dominance will turn developers to think of Android first and iOS second.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Apparently the new iPhone might be due out later this year.
PPS - That could change things again.

Programming on your phone

Would Apple ever approve a programming app for the iPhone or iPad? It's capable of running such things, but it would mean less control for Apple. To allow users to write new apps right on the phone is the very definition of "arbitrary code", which is a big no-no in security terms. But if programming itself is a security risk, then it's a risk everywhere, not just on the phone. Who will write the new apps when nobody is allowed to program any more? You can't win a lock-down battle as well as embrace the developer community.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - At some point, someone will want to do something you haven't thought of.
PPS - And then you're holding back innovation.

Future computing looks a lot like today's

The things we tend to see in video demos of "future computing" are super-thin touch-screen phones, translucent LCDs, wall-sized interactive "whiteboards" and gestural interfaces for just about everything including data transfer. That's all good, and quite exciting, but it represents little more than "better, faster iPhones" to me.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Someone out there must have more imagination than that.
PPS - Or perhaps imagination is a dying skill.

The world of tomorrow

My friends recently made a whole new person called Georgia. Thinking this morning of the world she will grow up in, I noted the following things:

1. There have always been iPhones and iPads.
2. There has never been an unbroken male line of Australian Prime Ministers.
3. Michael Jackson has always been dead. Same with Heath Ledger.
4. WiFi has always been available on planes, and the TSA has always tried to stop you getting on board.
5. There has never been a building called the World Trade Centre.
6. George W Bush has always been a former President of the United States.

There's obviously a lot more that will be true about the world by the time she grows up, and it's possible items 4 and 5 won't stay on the list, but it's interesting to think about.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I don't think I'd recognise this world through those eyes.
PPS - At least not yet. They can't quite focus.

Friday Zombie Blogging - PvNvZvP

Coming soon to iPhone and its cousins, Pirates vs Ninjas vs Zombies vs Pandas, in case your iPhone doesn't have enough zombie-themed games yet. This one seems to be about hurling its namesakes at other players' defenses as living projectiles, presumably in an attempt to knock down walls and take over territory.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It's not entirely clear from the screenshots.
PPS - And the trailer is still "coming soon".

Mobile plan data inclusions as standard

I am happy to discover that data inclusions are more common on mobile phone plans these days. When the iPhone first came out and included data was a synonym for iPhone, I was kind of bitter about it. There was nothing special about the iPhone's ability for mobile internet, but arm-twisting mobile providers into including a download allocation made it seem revolutionary. And it was, in a way, but to tie it exclusively to the iPhone hardware was nonsense. Now, finally, it seems like we're at the point where we admit other phones can use the mobile web too.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - As usual, I'm a little behind on this one.
PPS - I always get into stuff just as it's finishing being cool.

Apple vs freedom and how it works for you

The obvious advantage of Apple controlling everything you can and can't do with your phone, plus being the only manufacturer of hardware and software is that the idea of "system requirements" for apps can be reduced to a handset or OS version number in the worst possible scenario. In the Android space, different phones have different capabilities so it can be harder to determine if a particular app is going to run on your phone or not. At that point you get into the realm of real system requirements and possibly compatibility checkers, and by then most users will throw up their hands in confusion and go buy an iPhone.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Again I go on about the iPhone.
PPS - You know I'll end up with one eventually.

Where are the iPhone-compatibles?

I was wondering the other day: where are the iPhone-compatibles? When the PC industry took off, it was because some hardware guys bought some off-the-shelf components and started building desktop computers compatible with IBM configurations for a fraction of the cost. I guess what's standing in the way of the same kind of action for iPhones is proprietary everything in a tiny, well-engineered package. That doesn't mean you can't get a knock-off lookalike from a Chinese sweatshop, but I'll bet it won't run anything from the App Store or last even a third as long as the real deal.

And if someone legitimately tried to make a compatible non-iPhone, Apple would stomp them to the ground with a titanium sledgehammer of lawsuits before they even got to packaging the thing. Like it or not, Apple has taken over the smartphone space just like they took over portable music. There's not much hope of prying their iTunes claws out of music until DRM-free sales are the norm and it's easier to sync with any random player, but if another touch-screen smartphone ran App Store content, cost less and was otherwise indistinguishable, Apple's market share would start to shrink.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Then again, it might make that whole App Store ecosystem less attractive.
PPS - Because then you'd never be quite sure which apps would run on your phone.

Bluetooth remote control for home entertainment

I can imagine devices like televisions and DVD/Blu-Ray players coming with Bluetooth interfaces in the future and iPhone remote control applications rather than physical remotes.
This means no searching for the right remote, no losing it (because you can just load the program on another handset), as many duplicate controllers as you have phones in the house and finally that we can have $5 universal remote programs on the app store rather than $100 devices.

The trouble with that scenario is that not everyone would have a compatible mobile device to load the program, so you'd still need the old-fashioned infra-red remote too. Also, a Bluetooth interface would definitely take more power than the infra-red version.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - There would probably still be stand-alone universal remotes for sale.
PPS - They would just have to be compatible with the Bluetooth programs instead.

Compensating mobile app authors by continued use

According to Jakob Nielsen (and probably popular wisdom too) iPhone apps are downloaded a lot more than they are used. However, the charge for a non-free app is incurred when it is downloaded. Taking this to its logical conclusion, app writers are more likely to design to entice you to download rather than to get you to keep using their app. Can this be fixed? Possibly.

Since Apple controls the whole platform, they could gather usage statistics from each user and app, sync them when the iPhone is connected to the computer and gather those statistics in aggregate at Apple HQ. Given this world-spanning database of app usage, app writers could be compensated by the amount of continuous use their app gets.

Users wouldn't want to pay for the time spent in an app, of course, so the pricing model would have to change. Instead of charging for downloads, the iPhone plans would include an app service charge that provides perpetual free access to anything in the app store. That service charge is then broken up and distributed to the app writers based on their usage stats. Now app writers have incentive to write for continued use (which should equal good design and desirable functionality) rather than downloads.



Mokalus of Borg

PS - The service charge needs to be negligible or very subconscious.
PPS - And it would be hard to switch to this model after the pay-per-download model.

Passive indoor mapping via iPhone?

I wonder if you could use the iPhone's hardware for real-time mud-mapping, building up scrollable representations of places as you go. You'd probably need the GPS to make it work properly, which would in turn mean it can't be used as easily for shopping centres, even though that's what triggered the idea for me in the first place. It would probably be too intrusive, as well, since you'd need to keep the phone held either up in front of you or panning around to get a good representation of the surroundings, rather than just passively gathering data as you go.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I still think you could do location awareness with barcodes on the walls and image recognition.
PPS - That's if you could be bothered producing your own shopping centre navigation app.

Apple advertising in email sent from iPhones

The iPhone apparently adds "Sent from my iPhone" to every email, which, although it's straight from Apple, can be mistaken for bragging by the user instead. And since it's easier to leave it on than turn it off, and you don't see it when you're sending messages, you'd probably not turn it off, at least initially. Now imagine if, when setting up email on your iPhone, it asked you "Would you like to advertise for Apple with every email you send?" You'd probably click "No", which pretty much means this "feature" should not exist at all.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I seem to have been writing a bit about the iPhone lately.
PPS - Probably means I subconsciously want one.

iPhone Nano?

I heard someone remarking that adding basic phone capabilities to the iPod Nano would open up a big market. Then again, that's pretty much the iPhone, only less capable. But perhaps there is a niche for an iPhone Nano, with less power, fewer functions and costing less.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Don't be too surprised either way.
PPS - I won't be.

Mobile phone exclusive deals are bad for consumers

The United States FCC is investigating mobile phone exclusivity deals where one carrier is the only one to get a particular handset. AT&T, in response, claims that exclusive deals benefit their customers by providing "innovation, lower cost and more choice".

Innovation seems less likely to me when you have one company looking at one product on one type of plan, because they don't have any incentive to do anything different. As for lower costs, monopolies have historically been shown to increase prices, not lower them. And finally, how are you getting more choice when your only option to get an iPhone (for example) is to go with AT&T?

In short, AT&T's response is demonstrably false on all counts. Therefore they are either deluded or they want to maintain their own exclusive deal because they don't have to spend money innovating or providing better deals to consumers.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I think it's the latter, in this case.
PPS - Nobody could really believe their arguments if they are examined in any depth.

The iPhone only runs apps Apple likes

Apparently the big selling point for the iPhone is that it can run small applications. So it is in Apple's best interests to make it easier for developers to add value to the iPhone as a platform. They shouldn't use it as a way to get all developers to buy Mac machines, and they certainly shouldn't put up barriers to publishing apps or running them. If the ads said "we've approved an app for that" as opposed to "there's an app for that", the process becomes less exciting and more obviously another way for Apple to keep control of what you own.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - You can "jailbreak" your iPhone to run whatever you want.
PPS - Apple is trying to put a stop to that, too.

Shopping centre directions as an iPhone app

Whenever I'm using an interactive map at a shopping centre I wonder whether the same thing could be turned into an iPhone application. The main reason is that although I can read maps, I have trouble remembering them, and one I could carry with me would work very well. Unfortunately I don't think you can just hook into the GPS system inside a shopping centre, so you'd need some other solution like "You Are Here" barcodes scattered around the centre that the phone can pick up with its camera.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - In the end, it would probably be easiest just to attach a printer to the interactive maps.
PPS - I'd be surprised if nobody has thought of this before.