What do iBook and iE have in common?

When Apple released the iPad version of iPhone OS, they chose not to include iBooks as one of the base apps of the iPhone OS. I am just wondering if they did this to avoid antitrust issues or just doing the right thing.

Anyone who has been around long enough will remember the world’s most celebrated antitrust suit in the United States. The main gist of this is that Microsoft got sued for bundling the Internet Explorer (IE) browser with the dominant Windows OS was presenting unfair competition for other browser manufacturers. The lawsuit also  argued that giving IE away was an unfair competitive practice against the Netscape browser since Microsoft could still cover IE cost indirectly through Windows pricing. Microsoft argued that IE was an integral part of Windows and that the two could not be separated.

When Apple announced the iPad, it also positioned the tablet as an eBook reader by the announcement that it was coming with iBooks. Many pundits saw that announcement as an Amazon Kindle killer move. So, when Apple decided that iBooks would not be a base app in the OS, I started thinking. (By the way, base apps are those ones that come basically installed with the OS and you can’t delete them).

Some blogger reported that Apple decision to make iBooks a separate download was because they want iBooks to be freely updateable instead of  having to wait for OS updates.  Anyway, I think that Apple’s excuse is plain odd. In the first place, there are several things that come down OS X install that get trickle updated anytime and out of phase with the core OS. Even for the core OS, service release cycles would be frequent enough for updating any app, even the iBook. Moreover, when Apple announced the 7 iPhone OS 4.0 tentposts, iBooks for iPhone was one of those. This simply suggests that iBooks is more than just any app. It’s more like the Calendar or Mail or iTunes (apps that you just can’t choose to install or uninstall). But in this case, Apple has learned that eBook sellers may pick on this as a cage-rattling opportunity and they’re not allowing that to happen.

Anyway, I am just wondering and thinking, “Well played, Apple!”. If you buy an iPad, you make a choice to download an iBooks or Kindle or Nook or B&N Reader. Thus, Apple cannot be accused of  leveraging platform advantage over the competition. If  in the next 5-10 years, Apple succeeds in getting iPhone OS to become the dorminant  consumer OS and then prices it at double what it’s worth (like $1000) and then appear to be throwing in all-you-can-read eBooks, they would actually be making $500 for eBooks. That would make people stop buying Kindle books.  Then, Amazon Kindle as we know it will be threatened for certain extinction.

I think it makes more sense to me now but it’s little too late for Netscape. I wish I understood it this clearly then.

Technorati Tags: iBooks

The iPad era: Is Microsoft hard of hearing, or just too heavy to respond?

As a Microsoft shareholder, I have reason to be concerned. I really do. When everything else around you is moving and you choose to stand still, you make a big target. Worse still, if you are a large one. 

I will dispense with the background quickly: On January 27, 2010, Apple announced a new breed of computing devices called the iPad. Launch date was set for end of March and the item was available in stores on April 3. This thing has no need for a pointing device, no need for third party chips, no need for Windows and actually, no need for any of the things that make normal computers dove-tail into some Microsoft service.

In the 2-month period between the announcement and release, so many companies jumped on and designed something that would take advantage of the iPad. Till today, I have heard nothing coming from Microsoft. At first, I was like ... "Microsoft can't be so stupid as to ignore this. They have to have Word, Excel and PowerPoint out there on day 1. They can't afford the risk of Office devotees discovering Pages, Numbers and Keynote." But what do I know? Launch day came and Microsoft released and announced nothing. Nothing!

You know, there was that time when WordPerfect was king. It was great on DOS and beat WordStar hand-down, in my opinion. Most people may think that it was the greatness of Microsoft Word that killed WordPerfect. But I don't think so. I think it was WordPerfect for Windows that killed WordPerfect. The then WordPerfect Corporation did not respond well to the new world and people learned Word. And guess what? They like Word. 

No one would need to learn a new productivity app if the one they like is available on their platform of choice.

I am sure that some old soldiers at Microsoft are so callused in their joints that they don't know how to stay alive through agility. Before now, Microsoft was good at playing on its own field because it was a very large field but now, it needs to learn to strategize in a multi-faceted way. It needs to learn the times. It needs to be nimble at the feet. It needs to walkout more. 

Jealousy has no place in modern business. An old-fashioned way of thinking would go this way: "If we build for a non-Windows platform, we are encouraging it and hurting our main bread and butter. So, ignore it and use our sheer strength to suffocate the market place." And that's so sad, if you ask me! Amazon is my hero company in this regard. The iPad came head-on with Kindle, and the press sensationalized it. What did Amazon do? Sulk, wine and play the ignore game, wishing that iPad crashes and burns? No. It made an iPad-compatible Kindle. Apple played a similar genius game when they made BootCamp, a Windows-compatible apple machine. And believe me, there's little more to know about how well a company is run or how smart and nimble its execs are. By comparison, AMZN shares stood at $131.81, AAPL at $235.97, and MSFT at $29.16. When last did you see such a large company equity worth so little? Ford and GM kinda come to mind.

I have a personal investment in Microsoft and so I have an interest in advising them not to be stupid. If the iPad makes the iPhone OS the dominant breed of consumer OS, then Microsoft may be positioning itself for certain extinction. No one company has a monopoly control on what people like. A good company should always position itself well for every eventuality. 

My Great Windows Azure Idea:: A window into my lover's heart

Today, I dare reminisce on how my lover treats me. You may have such a lover too. Like, it's all feeling blissful until that rare "wait-a-minute!" moment. Then, you wonder if you've been getting the rough end of the stick all along.


Windows Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing offering. It's like your application sitting on some platform out there, nestled on top of a highly scalable, robust and distributed (NLB + operating system + database + network + servers + domain name + buildings + air conditioning + disaster recovery + CDN + ...  'you get the idea') all wrapped in one single "pay-per-use" experience located at Microsoft-maintained data centers.

Long ago, in October/November 2008, some of us tech lunatics (as in 'madly in love with technology') were recruited by Microsoft to try out these new stuff and tell them what we think The idea was that we are the technology community and we were previewing this stuff and we say what we want, they make it happen and then they'd release the final product, and we and them will live happily ever after. Just think of it as the nerd equivalent of, "Windows 7: my idea!".We were a select few. Our idea mattered. We loved it! We worked tirelessly night and day, we poured in opinion, we made friends, we fought one another, we fought Microsoft, we defended Microsoft, champions rose and fell on the score board (rising when their answers helped others and stayed up late taking questing from another time zone, and falling when they go on vacation), people got help! People gave help! The revolutionary Azure way was on its way! Our compensation package: Pure adrenaline. Yes, Microsoft paid us in adrenaline units; the excitement of uninstalling Feb CTP to install July CTP! The uncertainty that follows if you didn't follow the uninstall/install order carefully. The sigh that follows when Pita.O or Neil Mackenzie or Yi-Lun Luo or Steve Marx or jnak (there are many other heroes of the community) gives you an answer that works. The frustration when you got the wrong answer, the diligence from re-installing, the fortitude from data corruption, calling in sick at work because you were hung over from doing too much Azure last night at home, the $200 you shelled out to get a Vista upgrade because they wouldn't put the SDK on your Windows XP. The laptop you have to lug to work because your client still insisted on Windows XP ... again, you got the idea. All pure joy! All pure adrenaline! All worth it. Lunatics, remember? After all, you were contributing to something important.

The idea was that all those opinions were heard and someone in the back office was also working day and night to consider the ideas and actually do something with them. After all, the community has spoken! After all, this would have cost Microsoft so much and would have cost the community so much too! It can't just be for nothing, right? They must be important, those ideas. Yes!

Bolstered by this feeling of relevance, we gave ideas:
(a) We want multiple roles per instance
(b) We want to make it less expensive to run my very small service on Windows Azure
(c) We want you to continue to offer Azure free for developers
(d) We want the ability to send emails right from Azure (as in local smtp server)
(e) We want a way to reschedule worker roles so they only run when needed
(f) We want you to Create a "beta" environment for.NET 4.0 tests and evaluation
(g) We want you to Provide DNS services for our domain and subdomains

But then,  these ideas and many others like them were scattered over the community space or placed on connect. There was no way of seeing, in one place, what Microsoft actually did with these ideas. So we just kept giving them!

Then, there was this top shot from Microsoft who sent surveys to a few of us, really select few! These guys can really make you feel important. Mike Wickstrand. And we responded to the surveys, all about how to make Azure better. And Mike sent back these nice appreciation letter of how they so love what you  are doing for Azure and even invited you to VIP status for the next PDC. The point being, these ideas we give are really very important to Microsoft. So, we kept giving them!!

Then, Mike goes and sets up this aptly named website called MyGreatWindowsAzureIdea.com and invited us to go aggregate these ideas there and vote on them. The concept caught on. They even pinned a redirect on the community space telling us in essence, "if you put your idea on this new ideas aggregator and it gets voted up by the community, you'll get Microsoft's listen". So, we went. And we kept giving them and voting them up!!!

Then, here's the time of reckoning! Microsoft released the commercial build of Azure on Feb 2, 2010. Then, I cast my eyes back at those great windows azure ideas we gave. The most popular ideas are captured in the list I showed you above. They have votes ranging from 266 - 1790. Yes, 1790! About 600 and 1000 early adopters of the Windows Azure platform actually spoke with one voice on an idea. It must have been accepted or even completed, right? (Note that there are tabs for "Accepted" and "Completed" on the MyGreatWindowsAzureIdea.com site.

Oh! There! There are items in the competed and accepted columns. It must be good. What? Just one item  accepted? It has 150 votes. Oh, do you know why it was moved to accepted? No, not the votes! Mike said he heard it "annouced at PDC[09]" prior to even launching the "my great windows azure ideas" site. Ok. What about the other accepted ideas? None. Right, and the completed ones? All 4 of them. Yeah!! Highest votes on each of them? Vote count: 1,2,4,58. Who are the proud authors of the "completed" ideas? Mike, Mike, Mike and ... Mike. Each and every one of them. Wait a second!! Nooooo! Each of these ideas was already implemented and deployed prior to PDC09. So, let's just call these Mike authored ideas, "Idea templates" seeded into the system to show us how the process will work.

So, last week or two, I got another questionnaire from Mike. I haven't even opened it. Maybe I should. Maybe there's a t-shirt ballot to be entered for. Maybe I should do it for the t-shirt. Man! I'd love to be paid in Microsoft t-shirt rather than sheer adrenaline. Hmmm ... could I still do it just because the ideas count for something?

Open Letter to Fido/Rogers:: Give us a data equivalent of the couple's plan

In recent posts, I have been eScratching my head about how I can make my existing 1GB data plan work well for me ... and be assessible from my iPad. And today, I've come up with a very good idea!

You know how Fido and Rogers ... and perhaps a few other networks in Canada ... have had this couple's plan idea? The plan works like this: You buy a 300 min calling time on your phone, and then buy a base phone plan for someone in your family (or honestly anyone in your local calling area). Once that person is joined to your "couple's plan", both of you would share out of your 300 min time pool for all outgoing calls from both phones + you call each other for free.

Ok. Now, am thinking, if Fido can create a couple's plan for data, my iPhone SIM and my iPad SIM could be added to that plan and all my 3G wireless usage will come off the same 1GB plan already on my iPhone.

I know, I know, the fat-fed status quo will be reluctant to do this. But with the new wave of wireless competition banging on the shores of Canada lately, someone is going to have to swim harder or start sinking. It will never be business-as-usual ever again. Just consider this a free shot in the arm, Fido/Rogers.

Wither iPad: WiFi or 3G?

In a recent ZDNet article, author Rachel King reported an AT/T CEO's analysis suggesting that most persons would be buying WiFi iPads rather than the 3G version. I agree with the AT/T analysis but I think Rachel's meta-analysis is a bit off.

The AT&T analysis is dead-on. But I think Rachel
missed the point a little bit when she said, "If
you’re already plunking down $500 or $600 on a gadget,
the last thing you want to add is another monthly
fee."

The issue is not about buying a $15 a month
subscription to support a $500 commodity! That's the
way our lives work: We buy power subscription and
cable subscription to support a flat-panel tv
purchase. We buy skating club membership to support
the purchase of expensive skates. We purchase 3G
wireless access to support iphone purchase. iPhone
actually costs about $600 as well (if not for the
contract that underwrites the difference).

I believe the AT/T analysis is saying: iPad buyers
would mostly already be iPhone users who already have
existing 3G plans with their carriers. They won't want
to buy yet another 3G plan for data on another device.

What we should all be promoting now is for tethering
support b/w the iPhone and the iPad so people could
actually use the data plans they already have on both
co-complimentary devices.

My iPad wish list : Tethering

I am getting the iPad but am getting a WiFi-only model. I expect it to come with inward internet tethering support so I can extend my existing iPhone 3G data plan to the iPad.

First off, this post is not about joining the "I want a camera on the iPad" bandwagon. Or the rant credited to Bill Gates about a poke pen, voice recognition and camera. I don't care about any of those. Actually, I do. I don't want them. I don't want to have to pay for them. No one is saying yet, where the camera should be facing: Facing me like the laptop or facing my friends like the iPhone. I don't want either of those. If any, I would rather say, make it a webcam, to face me. But then, I have to stream all that video over my little precious 3G bandwidth!! Ok. Enough of that. Please read on.

Since Steve Jobs announced the iPad on January 27, 2010, I have been preparing grounds to be one of the first to get it in my hands.

First thing I needed to do was find the money for it: I had this other Sony eBook Reader PRS-600 Touch Edition I purchased in September 2009. I had to immediately put it on eBay and it was won by this nice lady in Saskatchewan. So, I was $316 on my way. Then, my wife donated some $375 cash back she got from Costco/America Express. Money-wise I am ready and waiting for late March.

But here's the backdrop to my problem: I already have a 1GB data plan with Fido and it supports tethering. So, I can right now, use my MacBook Pro to access internet anywhere, either on the Snow Leopard or Windows 7 side of the Mac. The Macbook pairs with the iPhone in my pocket and am on my way to the internet through the iPhone's data plan.

I am getting a WiFi-only iPad 32 GB. I don't need a 3G data plan on every mobile device I have, duh! It just feels wrong! The iPhone takes up only about 200MB (max) of the 1GB data plan (and my usage is relatively heavy). I do everything else, including read iPhone kindle on the phone everyday (except stream movies) with the 3G plan all day; and when I get home, my WiFi takes over. So I never even hit 200MB a month. Fido won't give you tethering unless you have a >= 1GB data plan.

So, here's what I need Apple to have on-board the iPhone OS 3.2 (iPad OS): The Bluetooth services should include support for inward tethering (ie: just like the MacBook/Windows can find the iPhone's internet and connect to it, the iPad should be able to do that).

So, I want to have my iPhone in my pocket and transparently be browsing iBookStore on the train with my iPad on my palm, over Bluetooth. How's that? It's not a deal breaker for me, but it's going to make one really contented iPad user.

What'd you think?

Blogging with Windows Live Writer

I just casually opened the Live Writer on my Windows 7 beta and up it goes asking me to configure. Then, I enter the URL of my site and boom, it picks up my blog site and configures everything. And here I am blogging, right from my desktop without even the need to log onto anything. I am impressed.

Maybe, this is one way I can get back to some blogging.