The Mac App Store is here and the tech world is abuzz with talk about what it means for OS X, Apple, and for the rest of us. It’s an interesting question, I suppose. The App Store on the iPhone changed the telecommunications industry forever and propelled the iPhone from “super awesome phone” status to “super awesome miniature computer” by allowing users to extend their devices in endlessly personalized combinations of ways. Having a look at someone’s iPhone is like getting a tiny peek inside of the person that it belongs to because the App Store has enabled a level of customization that had never been seen before and, despite Google and RIM’s best efforts, still hasn’t been matched.
It’s only natural to speculate about the importance that an extension of the App Store paradigm to the desktop could have, but while the iPhone’s App Store created an entire industry and revolutionized an existing one, it’s important to remember that these are very different sets of circumstances. Here are some of the key differences:
- When the iPhone App Store launched, most people did not have a smartphone or think that they needed one. Today, smartphones are some of the hottest items in tech.
- The Mac software market is alive and well. Distribution through traditional channels has been working fine for most OS X users.
- Windows computers already have robust, feature-rich applications. The App Store’s apps are mostly analogs of existing Windows applications.
- Many Windows users have significant investments in their software, in both time and money.
- Most people already own a capable Windows computer.
To me, this says that it’s pretty obvious that it’s not Apple’s hope to get a bunch of new users with this addition to their OS. What’s more likely is that, having seen what kind of revenue app sales from the iPhone brings in, they wanted to the same sort of post-sale monetization to the Mac. Let’s look at some numbers. Continue reading →
Android is a lot of fun for people who like to tinker with things, especially for rooted users. Even without root, the platform allows third party apps to dig deeply into the OS’s inner workings, changing defaults and adding menu items. If you’ve ever used Dolphin Browser or Share by QR Code, you know this. One lesser known fact is that you can actually replace the animated boot screen on your Android 2.1 device fairly easily, and even create your own. 
So, I’ve got a new domain and blog and what better way to kick things off than with a review of a device most people have heard of but relatively few have used? The Apple iPad was launched yesterday and a friend of mine who works for Apple brought his newly acquired toy with him to an easter party today. I got to play with it for a while and these are my thoughts.