Discussion on:

The three biggest tech blunders destined to happen in 2012

Siri is terrifying to me. It's a mind-blowing expansion of Apple's consumer knowledge, so Murphy's Law and pure greed agree they'll leverage Siri into everything with a microphone.

There's no shortage of crippled devices - glorified web browsers that run a few basic games and shopping list apps. IMO it would make less than no sense for Microsoft to try to compete in a market where on one had you have iPad, and on the other a zillion also-rans that can't compete on anything but price.

Windows 8 tablet devices - full featured mobile PCs that can do pretty much anything a desktop PC is capable of - will find a market in those who can't think of any use for the current tablets. I can't wait to get a tablet format device that will meet all my little web browsing and e-mail needs, while allowing me to do real work if necessary.

I am curious. What is it that the iPad can't do that a mobile user needs? You can review and edit MS Office documents. Connect to and query databases. Connect to file servers. Remotely connect to and control PCs. Make presentations. Manage your schedule and task lists.

The only thing I see a real restriction on is programming. And that is a very small minority of users, who would probably be better off with a powerful laptop or desktop anyway.

Apple has hit on and mass-marketed the small-scale 'app' and run with it and has turned it (again, marketing) into a cash-cow. They have focused on the pro's rather than even acknowledging any possible con's

At the end of the day, an 'app' (at least in present form) is not an 'application' and tying together a number of 'apps' does not replace a more complete application (and it DEFINITELY does not constitute a 'suite').

Microsoft needs to forget trying to compete in the 'consumption device' market and pick up on both where the now urbanly-fabled 'Courier' caused a buzz, as well as the vibe Samsung's Tab is gaining interest.... the 'creation' market! The iPad being able to patch together a 'presentation' through quirky templates and the like is NOT in the same vein as creating a presentation from scratch, just as an app is not a real application (or even a reasonable likeness of one)!

I always thought it stood for appler

What's an appler (I'm trying to learn as much tech jargon as I can)? Could it be someone who shrinks app-lications into app-lets?

the Onceler...

Or maybe a person who designs applets for Apple... (Just trying to help here.)

I agree with kaninelupus - while I can use my ipad for many basic computing functions, I certainly am not able to do all, or even a majority, of my computing needs on it. I regularly reach for the laptop when my ipad is just incapable or inefficient, eg editing large word docs, presentations, multi-tasking, anything that uses USB (eg camera, memory stick, VPN token etc), anything that requires Windows (eg my work VPN, designing with Visio, etc etc etc)

I can't imagine writing a long document, designing a presentation, doing large data crunching in Excel, manipulating images, etc on a ipad. It is a great consumption device. Not the best for actually producing some more than a quick email. A device like this has its place and with add ons such as a bluetooth keyboard it might do a fine job. I use a Windows tablet and enjoy using photoshop on it. Great thing is I pull out a keyboard and work away on those long annoying documents without any problems. When I need to only review the keyboard stays in my bag. Horses for courses, an ipad has its place. For those who want to only consume the ipad is great. To actually produce, regularly, then an ipad is not suitable. Great for at home, less so in a enterprise. People do have to work and not just browse the internet.

...because Steve decided "Flash is buggy" or something

Jason, while I agree with you that Microsoft won't make a smart phone that wirelessly docks with a keyboard and mouse, I don't think it's out of fear of cannabilizing Windows sales. Microsoft wants to sell people on the seamlessness (is that a word? It is now; I just made it so) of the "8" version of the OS on the phone, the tablet, and the desktop/laptop. By making them work together with SkyDrive, people can share data across all 3 platforms. What Microsoft is looking to do, though, is sell 3 copies of the OS: 1 in the phone, 1 in the tablet, and 1 on the desktop/laptop. THAT'S why they won't make the phone wirelessly hook up to the keyboard/mouse. The seamlessness (there's that word again - Copyright me, BTW Apple) is what is going to be Microsoft's strength in 2012, it's going to start the sales drive to the Win8 phones and tablets.

how about "Bio-seamlessness-ness"....my word...copyright me!.....LOLOL

I completely agree with your thought of Microsoft positioning to sell a cross-platform (my word in place of your seamlessness) OS that will flow between the different devices. If they do it well, coupled with a great marketing campaign (marketing: which they are completely terrible at) they will recapture their dominance.

NT

He/she is talking about three devices in one, rather than three separate devices.

that's not how MS's licensing lawyers see it.

I'm a he, not a she (just in case anybody really cares to know).

I see MS keeping 3 separate devices that don't "invade each other's space" (like a smartphone that you can wirelessly connect to a keyboard, mouse and monitor). By keeping the 3 separate, MS sells 3 copies of the OS on 3 separate devices. If the phone could invade the territory of the tablet, then MS would lose a sale, which is the basic premise of the article.

You might consider a Google search before making such a claim

Of course it's a word - always has been! Try a spell check!

as 'pure tech' companies, I'm sure Google and Apple would happily pursue your advice but they have powerful shareholders now who would prefer they use every technology to generate new sales.

I have had 3 Samsung Galaxies. the S, the S2 and now the Note.

The note is absolutely brilliant with 5.3 inch screen.

For those complaining , you can do anything with an Android phone after you root it.

Uninstall and install what you want.

Apple is for people that are not tech savvy.

hardwired battery? ROFLMAO

3,5 inch screen on 4s? LOL

Everyone I know that had an iphone is going to Galaxy.

iNuts are clueless about tech.

OR maybe you are an android nut

love your comments. I would be pretty ticked off if I bought a 4S and all I got was a duel core and SIRI. The phone looks like the 4.

I am always reminded of the line from the new TRON movie...."What is different about Flynn...I mean ENCOM 12?"......and he says "This year, we put a 12 on the box"

Yes, it's all about the case, right, kschlotthauer? The fact that everything else about the iPhone 4S is changed and enhanced is irrelevant--it's about the sheet metal, man...

Or dual core?

Dueling has been illegal for centuries...

A rather small group is going to be rooting their Android phone. The rest of the world is not so who do you market to? The 1% or the 99+%? As for the screen size? Just before Christmas, my XYL looked at a couple of Android phones with LTE (and a Windows Phone 7 device and a Blackberry) but went with the iPhone 4S. It had the best looking display from her point of view and fitted the cellphone pocket on her purse. Both the Android devices were too large to fit and she didn't like the tiles on the WP7 device. Nor was she impressed with the short battery life of the Android devices -- until LTE doesn't rapidly suck your battery dead, she's not interested. Carrying around a charger and spare batteries? Fergit it!

In my not so humble opinion, she is a better representative of the mass market than the small group which includes you and I who are quite willing to root/jailbreak/whatever their devices in the eternal quest for performance and flexibility.

I agree with the comment about the growing sizes of Android phones. It's appearing that you can't get top-flight hardware if you don't want the 4"+ screen to go with it. Having said that, it's apples to oranges comparing battery life. The 4S doesn't have 4G, so of course it's not going to dejuice a battery as fast as a 4G phone. And iPhones suck battery plenty well on their own, especially if you're mucking around with Siri all the time.

You're a HAM like me? 73

Yeah? And you can do anything with an iOS device after you jailbreak it. But in both instances, you exclude 98% of your intended audience if you require them to root/jailbreak in order to have a useful device. And you've made no case for Android.

I do agree about the hardwired battery and screen size. I was shocked that the 4S didn't arrive with a larger screen. But at the moment, that shortcoming is offset by the depth of the iTunes App Store, which is still far stronger than the various Android markets.

I have had Android phones now for 2 years, on my third, all Moto Droid (Droid, 2 Global, 3 Global now). I haven't "rooted" any of them. I haven't found a need to, have done everything I need in user mode. Perhaps it is becuse Verizon doesn't cripple the phone as badly as other carriers, I don't know. I also find it does more out of the box than Apple, as I haven't spent as much time searching Market for Apps in 2 years as I have in the last 2 weeks with an iPad.

Like I said, for me, the Droid is much easier to use than the iPhone and iPad. It is a mater of culture perhaps. I spent 15 minutes last night trying to figure out how to get a local copy of a file from Dropbox onto my iPad. In this case, yes, the App will do it..but it isn't intuitive to me. I still prefer drag and drop or menu->save and I prefer to be able to name folders and organize them my way. Clearly my conversion is not yet complete.

Here is a practical hint that works either way: if you have a teenager, get them the same phone as you get. They ahve the time and inclination to search out the best Apps, and it's like in-house tech support. Just don't ask me what it costs....like so many other things, if you have to ask....

...but it has a higher resolution than the Galaxy SII, and that probably (helps to) account for the higher price. That means large screen notwithstanding, the iPhone still displays more information. Of course, not great for the over-40 set (myself very much included) who have to pull out the reading glasses for every use of the phone - the Galaxy display is at least still pretty readable with the naked eye.

But I'm still sorry I went for the Galaxy and not an iPhone. Apart from the much prettier display on the Apple, the overall size of the Samsung makes it clumsy and reminiscent of the "brick" phones of the early cell phone days but mostly the menu options are convoluted and counter intuitive, and Dear Lord but synchronisation with Outlook is frought with issues - the truly, truly horrible Kies software for Windows makes Blackberry's desktop software look sophisticated and turbo-charged. And it (Kies) doesn't even work.

Wifer had an iPhone3 and decided tp follow my lead and go Android, but she had so many problems sending MMSs( I never send them) she swapped to iphone4s. Google Android MMS problem, it seems to be widespread.

Jason, I have been in IT since 1988 and I have seen my fare share of big tech bunders. You have it each of these right on the head, hopefully coverage like this article and comments about might wake someone up in the Google or Apple ranks. Microsoft forget it, they have made so many blunders, I can see them continue to fall behind in the PC-mobile convergence.

Amazon and (to a lesser extent Apple) have not bothered to learn from the past - the not too distant past either!

Music was pirated widely because users felt that they were being ripped off paying for a full CD when all they really wanted was one or two songs....

The eBook publishers are making the same mistakes by pushing their prices up 50% in the last few years - to the extent that people think twice about buying a book.

And when that starts to happen, they start asking their tech-literate friends if they can't get a copy of the book without buying it. The moment the copy is made in easily accessible format, the genie is out of the bottle and everyone will be downloading books from the internet for free...!

Verizon sat up and took notice when everyone expressed outrage over a $2 payment fee....

Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble need to be taking notice before it is too late!

I do agree to a point. Google only provides the manufacturers a vanilla version of the OS, it is the carriers and the mfg. that muck it up with crap like Blur, Sense, Bliss etc.

I have a thunderbolt and rooted it and installed a debloated ROM and I am able to customize it to the hilt. I think that is why the NEXUS is going to be pretty big, because if I am not mistaken it is a ASOP ROM.

"..Instead of using this tool to push the technology world forward, Apple will treat it like a cheap gimmick for selling more phones and tablets..."
Hold on here, Jason. Apple won't push technology forward for technology's sake. This holds true for almost all money-making companies on earth. So, it's like stating the obvious. If limiting Siri to the newer products will ensure the constant cash flow, then by all means, even a tech fan like I would do so. Altruism is usually out of the scope of most money-making machines. Interesting article.

Minor clarification. We push technology forward not for it's own sake, but to make the world more interesting. We do so using other people's money most of the time. They deserve to benefit from the endevour as well.

As startups, we start with an idea we know is "cool" and (using other peoples money) make it real. We never know how we will make "cool" profitable, or if we will, until we have pushed the technology and expanded the horizon of what is possible. But if we can't find a way to make it valuable to people, it isn't really cool.

Innovation is spurred by passion and fueled by hard work and persistence. The most succesful comercial tech companies invest heavily in new technology, and are constantly looking for ways to push further. This push is "in scope" of any tech company that wants to survive long term.

When I see the Siri adds, I wonder, have you iPhone users really lived without voice commands all this time? Wow!

Yes we have waited for Siri - and guess what - it actually works straight out of the box - unlike EVERY other vendors product. If being first means crap quality - your welcome to it every time, I'll stick with quality.

Siri may have worked for some users (ie those with US accents), but here in Australia, my experience has been it is *completely* useless. The gap between the ads and the reality is sooo vast it probably constitutes false advertising.

Change your iPhone's language to 'Stahlyon and Siri will work fine.

what "Stahlyon" is. Can't make it make sense no matter how I read it - care to clarify?

I believe he is referring to the Or-stray-lian version of English we Aussies use

..and that's why Android is more popular. While Apple knows such things should be left to trained professionals, as simple users can't be trusted to recognize what works for them, some of us just don't fit the Apple concept. Apparently there are more than I thought,

The Apple concept is ???we know what is best???. The Android concept is ???developers and users will figure it out???. The later has made products that work for more people. For some people (like me), Apple???s idea of what is ???best??? is often awkward and sometimes crippling. I find the Android much simpler to use than iPhone.

Google has made becoming an Android developer easy (and free). That always leads to greater variety of available software (think PC vs MAC when I was young and you were...well probably weren't yet . Yes, "variety" means lots of choices, some of which will be bad. I tihnk the bad ones will be vetted by the market - developers that stray from what makes sense will lose, those that figure out what makes the best user experience will survive. I always read the user reviews before I try an App. It's a philisophical difference - I think the "communicty" of users is better at figuring out what works than a few people in Cupertino or Mountain View.

My prediction is that Google will try to become more like Apple and attempt to assert greater control over the platform and apps. They will try and control the quality of Apps that appear on the market. They may try to lock down the platform so it is harder to get Apps from other than Market. That would be a huge mistake.