rental price or purchase price?

on the price in SG vs MY, you can say that in a way, its also due to how low our currency has fallen

Firmware specific? Smells like a software logistics nightmare to me.

More likely its gonna be something tied to your iTunes account.

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Added on January 30, 2010, 12:52 amDon't get your hopes up for PDF files, 'cause I remembered something about the epub format during the presentation. But on the good side, you can still use Stanza (the desktop version) to convert all your PDFs to .epub. Thus the only left over question is whether you can load your own .epub files in or not, and how to do so. 2 possible ways that I can think of:
- downloading from somewhere like Stanza does (the iPhone/iPod Touch version)
- drag and drop your epub files into iTunes and sync from there, just like how audio/video is currently handled.

This post has been edited by fyire: Jan 30 2010, 12:52 AM

I did grumble about the lack of Bluray in the Macs, until I asked myself, how many BluRay disks do I actually own anyways, and how many do I plan to get in the near future. Answer is that I don't own any BluRay disks (apart from PS3 games, which can't be used on the Macs anyways), and how many BluRay disks am I planning to buy in the near future? Most likely 1 at max, seeing how much it costs, and that's just for the fun of it.

On the camera, are you really gonna hold up a 9.5 by 7.5 inch piece of equipment to take photos with? If anything, a front facing camera will actually be more useful for video calls.

Well, the question that I'm asking here is, has there ever been any software or firmware from Apple that is region specific? Only thing there ever was that does this is the iPhone with its sim lock, but even for that, its still the same firmware that runs on the iPhones regardless of simlock or no simlock.

Like I said, very much a software logistics nightmare that could be easily resolved by controlling it in a single location instead, via the iTunes account.

That's a sim lock. But the firmware versions are still the same, regardless of whether the phone is simlocked or no.

No, I'm saying that the iBook app is likely going to exist in all iPads anyways, 'cause they're most likely to be controlling the ebook purchases in the same way that they've been controlling regional audio/video/app purchases all these time. Via the iTunes store account.

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Added on January 30, 2010, 1:25 amWhich also brings up the other question of, how many ppl actually watch bluray disks on their computers anyways, instead of on that huge flatscreen in the living room?

This post has been edited by fyire: Jan 30 2010, 01:25 AM

Ah.. but what exactly does the 'iBook' term here refer to anyways? The app? Or the iBook store service? After all, even before the iTunes store availability, ppl have been dragging and dropping their own music and/or movies into iTunes (the desktop app) to be synced anyways.

And as per what I had asked earlier, any history of Apple offering region specific software or firmware? And does it make sense for them to start doing so when its something that can be controlled via the iTunes store account, especially considering that regional availability is more likely due to licensing reasons? Such regional licensing issues is something that needs to be resolved likely country by country. Imagine the logistical nightmare when it comes to the issuing of firmware updates later on too.

I'm not asking if you do. I'm asking exactly how many ppl actually watches such movies on their computers instead of on that wide screen TV in the living room.

Well, you just hit the spot with the term here: 'portable DVD player'. There's heaps of DVD disks all over the place. But what's the average ratio of DVD / BluRay ownership anyways?

Sure, BluRay is the future, but its as per the question that I had asked, its the adoption rate high enough that most people feel the need to watch bluray on their portable computers?

I'll agree that Apple could have offered it as a Custom To Order option, and my guess that they did not is because they would prefer to cut down on the number of options available whenever they can, for purposes of simplifying the supply chain issue.

Ahh.. so its an app to be downloaded separately. well, that still reinforces my original argument though, that its regional control via the iTunes account rather than something that you need to hack the firmware to get it into your iPad if you happened to live outside the US.

Well, if you're to compare the matt/gloss screens, quite a lot of ppl who are too used to matt screens had been screaming over the annoyance of seeing their own reflections. In this case, its something where the target market are more or less evenly split between gloss or matt.

But when it comes to BD, is the demand for it that high though? And mind you, Apple does have a history of wanting to keep their inventory lines as simplified as possible. To me, this is the most likely reason for them not offering it as a CTO.

There's a difference between the cost of an average optical drive of such types, and the cost of having to add one more item into your supply chain to be managed you know.

Why yes of course, the faster you can convince people to switch their DVDs to BDs, the faster you'll get Apple to offer such optical disks in their product offerings

edit: gee. Alienware really cut down on their product range. there was around 5-6 different models a year ago that I noticed, when my aunt asked me to help vet through their notebooks 'cause my cousin was asking for one.

This post has been edited by fyire: Jan 30 2010, 02:19 AM

Like I said, supply chain cost vs how much money they can make by offering it as CTO

A private school kid wanting to get a refurb? Not likely. Then again, I was looking at the Australian store where he'll be making the purchase from. 4 models there right now apparently.

Well yeah, but you do realize that both of them are actually in different market segments right?

Why yes of course. Apple is a commercial entity after all, and seriously speaking, I'm not under any illusion of them being that super nice. Are you under that illusion?

How exactly does the BoD position relate to the supply chain when the demand may not be that high? Also, keep in mind that unlike LED panels, or flash chips, or custom CPUs, etc, optical drives are still pretty much commodity items (although pricier than the rest of the optical drives). Looking at Apple's history, they're not gonna be remotely interested in the first dibs and the securing parts unless its something that they can hog all to themselves. Let's be realistic shall we, do you really want Apple to try to hog BD all to themselves?

Well, when Alienware has got Dell's supply chain backing them up, they do not have to swallow the supply chain costs on their own right?

And as for the creative professionals, dO they really burn to BD for such shipping? But seriously lar, have you seen the average size and length of such video chips that's usually worked on? Even the HD variants? Very seldom do you get these video clips being over 4GB in size. Its not an issue of DVD medium size limitations either, but get any bigger than that, and its gonna be real cumbersome to work with, unless its the final product that's being assembled.

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Added on January 30, 2010, 11:00 amyes they do.

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Added on January 30, 2010, 11:01 amwell, its as per the questions that I had asked:
- so what's the average adoption ratio worldwide anyways?
- and how many people feel the need to watch BD on their computers instead of on that big widescreen TV in the living room hooked up to some mega sound system?

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Added on January 30, 2010, 11:06 amNot really. As I've mentioned before, try to take an OS where the normal method of input is via keyboard/mouse or touchpad, and drop it into a tablet without a keyboard/touchpad that fully utilizes a touchscreen and you're in a world of pain indeed.

Your comparison on the netbooks is kinda flawed for that reason, because the netbook still uses the standard keyboard/touchpad interface.

Those people with computers with touchscreens running a normal desktop OS, how much do they make use of the touchscreen anyways for normal day to day use? Apart for dedicated uses where a dedicated app is run all the time?

I'll agree with you that ppl want a scaled down Mac instead of a scaled up iPhone, but I'l here highlighting the fact that its an easier transition (from the human interface perspective) to scale up from the iPhone interface than to scale down from a Desktop OS interface.

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Added on January 30, 2010, 11:08 amIts not just about the hardware requirements of the OS. human interface design needs to be completely revamped for the entire desktop OS due to changes in the human input method.

isn't that still under NDA? that's the reason why I've refrained from saying anything about the SDK at all.

This post has been edited by fyire: Jan 30 2010, 11:08 AM

Ah yes, but do not forget that there's 2 parts to my question. Of those who had adopted, exactly how many of them have the need to watch it on their mobile computers rather than on that huge widescreen TV in the living room hooked up to a nice sound system?

And are OS X users really being ignored to that extent? Seriously though, what's stopping you from getting a 3rd party BD drive and hooking it up via firewire anyways?

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Added on January 30, 2010, 2:29 pmin at least 60 days time?

This post has been edited by fyire: Jan 30 2010, 02:29 PM

data only. but the possibility of VOIP calls using skype is there

No.

Even if you're to ignore the OS performance here, you'll still need to address the human interface aspect of things. how are you going to handle your usual input? Its like I had mentioned before, trying to cram an OS where the input method is via keyboard/mouse into a device where the input method is primarily is via a touch screen, you're in for a world of pain, unless its solely for the purpose of a specialized application for a specialized purpose.

Come to think of it, in regards to the thick bezel and the lack of the camera:
- the thick bezel: well, if you're to think about it right, the device is pretty much too thick for you to hold at the edges like the iPhone. You need something to grip onto. And without that bezel, you'll end up with your gripping hand on the size of the screen which translates into a touch onto the screen itself.

- the lack of a front facing camera: I've been puzzling over this, then somebody actually made a good point on it. There's pretty much no up, down, left or right to this device. Up is whatever direction that is currently facing up as you rotate it around and so forth. Which plays hell when it comes to the mounting of a front facing camera. I guess at the end of the day, its a choice between the ability to rotate the screen and the camera (till somebody can fit a camera that autopans accordingly to the rotation)

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Added on February 1, 2010, 5:45 pmI buy those that I can write off as a work related expense

This post has been edited by fyire: Feb 1 2010, 05:45 PM

In regards to the camera, there's 2 ways the camera is to be placed:
- back: are you really gonna hold up a piece of equipment that big to snap a photo with?
- front: Like I mentioned earlier, there's no up down left or right that's fixed for this device. Up is whichever up that you rotate the device to. With that in mind, unless you can have a camera lens that can automatically detect faces or a group of faces and pans the camera lens accordingly, the device rotation will play hell with such a camera placement. Thus, its a choice between a front facing camera and the ability to rotate the device orientation as needed.

And in regards to flash, well, personally I hate flash. And I don't facebook either, so it doesn't effect me

edit: according to my GF who uses facebook for work purposes, the iPhone app for facebook actually makes a pretty good replacement for the web version. I guess that resolves the viewing of facebook videos problem?

This post has been edited by fyire: Feb 1 2010, 10:45 PM