Steve Jobs: 'Pad? That's my word' The latest off-the-cuff email from Steve Jobs has injected another soupçon of silliness into the ongoing kerfuffle over the iPad's name - and in doing so, it has further established the CEO of the Decade's reputation for imperious disregard for the developers who have contributed mightily to his company's success. Jobs' most …
There will always be thousands of companies out there that will produce apps for the iPhone, while it remains viable, but if you start to annoy the top developers - the ones with the big budgets and the high quality software teams then you are left with a bunch of script-kiddies and ... yes .. flatulence apps.
What percentage of developers make truly stunning apps? These are the ones that musn't get annoyed. If their focus starts to shift to other platforms then it will not be good to start receiving second hand apps six months after other platforms have got them, if at all.
This happened with Nintendo in the early 90s.
They were difficult with ISVs but they played ball cause they had to.
Then the Playstation showed up and a lot of studios jumped ship as soon as they could.
A lot of awesome games wound up on the PSX and the '64 came in distant second. It only got worse with the 'Cube and it took until the Wii in '06 to really rebound.
That's a *full decade* as distant second.
I doubt any of the current crop will be the ones to give Apple the kick in the rear they need, but just wait.
With the current trend of Jobsism, I can predict that this attitude will lead to a never before seen scenario, something I'll call the "Atari/Nintendo crash". Everyone knows about the Videogame Crash of 1983/84, and how Nintendo got the gaming companies to flock en masse to the PSX. Jobs will bring BOTH things to Apple:
- Pissing off the developers over idiotic stuff will not bring any friends to Apple. If they manage to piss off the big devs (the ones doing the good apps), they will leave en masse to either the Blackberry appworld, or the growing Android platform. I wish they went to Palm, but it doesn't seem to be so appealing right now. Anyway, this would be the "Playstation" effect.
- The remaining devs will be either the Jobs fanbois, or the lazy iFart suckers that churn a lot of useless apps. These guys will saturate the AppStore such that it will reach critical mass, and people will just stop buying apps. This happened with all the Atari crap games on clearance, triggering the Crash.
Eventually, the well will go dry, and the whole "... there's an app for that!" marketing campaign will backfire, as the "selling point" will no longer be valid. Users with lapsing contracts will switch to Android or Blackberry, and the fall of the almighty iPhone will be complete.
Sadly, this seems to be the only way that Apple will ever understand that Jobs' attitude is hurting them.
But the quality issue was real there. I well remember the flood of cheap tat that was foisted into the marketplace by people who didn't get how the Atari market had been killed.
Not to say that some of the officially approved games weren't underdeveloped and poorly thought out or that there weren't some good ideas in the unapproved titles, just that the "Tengen" line was decidedly less stellar than those who played ball.
Radio Shack lost this one as they thought they owned the word "SHACK"
Radio shack was going after any website be it commercail or personal if they had the word Shack either as a TITLE or HEADING on their website.
Well we all know what happened yes? Don't remember?
RADIO SHACK LOST!
For a short time people reveling that they won against Radio shack put up
titles in their HTML document:
LISA'S SHACK
WEL COME TO BOB'S SHACK OF HORRORS
SHACK OF DELIGHTS
etc, etc, etc, etc, yadda yadda yadda.
So now again we will have:
WELCOME TO THE PAD OF INACHU!
You could walk out of radio shack and go elsewhere. If you have an iphone then you have to buy from the store. If apple suddenly decide to pull the app you like then it sucks to be you really.
This is hardly going to end well for apple. Sure in the short term they will sell but even the fanbois wont be raving about a product with no apps.
"The dev, Chris Ostmo, tells 9to5Mac that he sent an email to Jobs noting that his company had spent "tens of thousands of dollars" marketing its apps and that changing the apps' names would require him "to spend to spend tens of thousands of dollars more to market new names."
Tens of thousands of dollars marketing a bible study app?
In this modern, less superstitious age, there are probably less than ten thousand people that believe in that crap!
He's already wasted his money on advertising, that's for sure!
Backed up by nothing you mean.
There's evidence enough in the ground to prove the Bible is nothing more than the sort of stuff goat-herders knew a couple of thousand years ago.
They knew how to herd animals and so on, I'm sure. But they thought the world started just before their grandfather was born. They liked to sacrifice things all the time...
From http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/03/an-open-letter-to-dr-laura-schlesinger.html
Time for a change of pace. This came via e-mail from Marshall Auerback:
In her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlesinger (a popular conservative radio talk show host in the USA) said that homosexuality is an abomination according to the Bible Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, and was attributed to a James M. Kauffman, Ed. D.
_______________________
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination… end of
debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.
1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual unseemliness – Lev. 15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev. 1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really
necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev. 24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.
Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.
Your adoring fan,
James M. Kauffman, Ed. D.
Professor Emeritus Dept. of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education
University of Virginia
Really, I didn't know turkey was allowing people to explore Mt Ararat, when did they find the remains of the ark?
or for that matter, Adam & Eve's Plymouth Fury: " God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury"
Have they identified if Moses and Joshua had cars or motorbikes? "The roar of Moses' Triumph is heard in the hills" and "Joshua's Triumph was heard throughout the city".
The Apostles seem to have done their bit to save the enviorement and car polled however cramped it may have been for them "The Apostles were in one Accord."
No doubt they used it to get an ice-cream from the Walls of Jericho.
I suspect any US city with more than 11000 people has > 10,000 Christians in it.
Despite their Saviour's poverty and ideas that rich men cant get into heaven, wealth flies around American Christian groups (as long as they dont let too many minorities join their churches).
There is, I suspect, an almost bottomless market for fleecing those who are inclined to belive in non-existent things. I just hate myself for not knowing how to properly take advantage of them. Unlike the developer of the Bible Study [cr]APP.
Hrm... can I try that... I claim all the vowels (plus y for good measure)... El rEg alone gives me two to go after, but thE rEgIstEr gives me a further 4... could be good money.
Say, erm 2p per usage per page on the site?
(Yes, yes I know you cant do things like that, but it sounds good doesnt it).
AC cuz I'm at work.
I mean, I applaud the concept (Stelios was also my first thought when I read the article), but I think it needs more, umm, padding? *cough*
I've almost arrived at a point where I'd set up a website listing all the non-Apple iPads, just to piss off Jobs. I know it's childish, but that (a) has never stopped me (grin) and (b) is a reaction to the way Jobs behaves.
I use Apple kit because it happens to work for me, but there is no chance in hell I'll ever become a zealot and appreciate this sort of control freakery. As a matter of fact, it does the opposite. Every time he does stupid stuff like this I end up evaluating if I really want to be associated with the turtle neck equivalent of Scientology.
Mine's the one with the lawsuits, thanks.
Obviously, "Journal.APP" will have to be renamed again, because it starts with "APP", which is the first three letters of "Apple."
Also infringing: "McIntosh apple" (the apple) for obvious reasons, "Notepad.exe" for using "pad" in the name, NASA for using a launch "pad", and we can't forget each and every keyboard manufacturer, for allowing people to type the words "iPad", "iPhone", or "Apple" without sending money to Apple.
Probably should post this anonymous, because the iLawyers will probably iSue me... ah well.
I don't care how many iPhones are out there. I'd never write an application for any platform with the knowledge that the company behind it gets to decide whether or not it ever becomes available to the end users. That's just idiocy. I'd give away a Blackberry app for free before I'd try to make a prophet off the iPhone. Apple's ridiculous stance on allowing apps onto the platform is ludicrous. Frankly, speaking as a developer, it pisses me off and I'm not alone. If Apple would just let people sell their apps as they wished they'd have a lot more developers willing to work with them.
And because someone's bound the make the accusation, this isn't sour grapes. I haven't and won't ever submit an app for the approval of a power mad company like Apple.
As much as I LOATHE bible types and their disturbing stupidity, even I cannot ignore this rather worrying clue that Apple is in danger of becoming the reverse of its former self.
You know, the free-thinking, freedom loving, alternative type of outfit. (A silly idea of course, when the firm is worth more than Wallmart :-) but we all have to live in our dreams. Reality being so tawdry.)
It's almost like the local hippy vegetarian bookshop suddenly running up a Swastika flag on Hitler's birthday and they all started wearing Burkas.
It won't stop me getting my iPad though when it makes it to London. I just hope Steve recovers from his (temporary) bout of ill-tempered paranoia. We all have bad days.
Dear Alex,
Apple "a free-thinking, freedom loving, alternative type of outfit"?
What exactly have you been smoking lately? Worth avoiding, methinks.
It isn't exactly with a small degree of irony that Apple's departure from that model was in 1984 (the launch of the original Macintosh), Orwell must have been killing himself with laughter if he hadn't been dead for 34 years already.
We are not talking about "having a bad BOUT" - it's a personality deficiency that seems to have gotten worse over the 26 years since it emerged. I'm perfectly OK with Apple trying to contain information about new products, but to exercise control over what is said and what is done with the product is IMHO going well beyond delusional paranoia..
Anyway, I'm sure you've made the marketing department's day with that comment. I bet they're still laughing.
Joke alert, because you probably forgot.
That's a perfectly reasonable suggestion. One of the reasons why WINE is such an effort is that Windows apps make extensive use of a sprawling and poorly documented API, and many have significant dependencies on undocumented details. Since Apple *insist* that you stick to documented behaviour, and since the OS is deliberately limited in the features that it offers even through that API, it should be a piece of piss to produce an emulator.
Of course, whether Google *want* Android to have 100,000 fart apps on launch day is another matter, but they might be interested in picking up all the developers who wrote iPhone apps only to see them barred because Steve got out of bed the wrong side that morning.
Lower-case 'L' looks too much like an upper-case 'I', which would make JournaLPad be JournaiPad, that's what they're objecting to. Whether that's a valid trademark complaint... we'll, I find that a bit tough to believe, but it's not like any app with "pad" in it will need to be renamed.
I search of iTunes for apps with the word "pad" turned up roughly 230, most of which have "pad" in their name. If they tried to get 230 app developers to change the name of their app, it would be a much bigger story.
I hereby resolve, the next time I decide to buy any Apple personal computer or computing device or phone or media player for my own use, I will defer the purchase for one calendar month because of what I just read.
By way of full disclosure, I was not particularly likely to buy any of his stuff ever, but that event just got put back another thirty days.
I do reserve the right to suspend this decision if the story turns out to be untrue, but c'mon, it sounds like him.
.. I know where you could put the dynamite chillies you may find in other dishes.
I rather like the idea that the Thai don't think those things are hot enough so they go and roast them. That's the perfect additive to the family size drum of lubricant suggested in an earlier comment..
Mine's the one with the wet wipes..
Instead of complaining about reasonable control over product naming in a single store for a device that's been on the market less than a month, complain about the glaring absence of an equally functional market place for one-man developers for platforms anything up to 20 years old: MS Windows, Blackberry, Nokia, Linux, Mac, Xbox. It's blindingly obvious that Apple's paranoia level on the App store is just about perfect, and developers flock to it.
The App store has been successful far beyond Apple's imaginings, and now it's criticised as though Apple was the only company with the only product anyone could buy, even though apps are a negligible part of Apple's earnings, which are in turn a tiny part of the earnings of the whole industry. Despite startling growth rate, the app store is still a seedling of a new species, needing TLC.
I don't actually think Steve Jobs is being arrogant here. He's just micromanaging the best business decision for his company. The genius comes from seeing what others didn't see. The outrage and jealousy come from not being in place ourselves where Apple's choices work.
Apple has 3 proprietary gadgets, iPad, iPhone, and iPod, and its own store for selling add-on content and software specifically for those gadgets. Those gadgets lie somewhere between a general purpose user programmable computer, and a fully closed proprietary gadget (eg dumb phone, central heating controller, modem, PABX). That market position (similar to games consoles) and the flexibility it gives Apple is the foundation of their current success. There can be no question that they can sell what they like or not in their App store, and in the context of that store, it's very helpful of Apple to actually cite the specific detail that put them off this app. Most store buyers won't tell you why they've rejected your product, precisely because it just triggers arguments and bad feeling.
Of course the developer is free to call his bible app what he likes when he sells it in some other place, or for some other platform.
"The App store has been successful far beyond Apple's imaginings"
Really? The app store was always envisaged as the only place where you could get apps for the platform. The only way such a monopoly could fail to do well is if the hardware flopped. I rather doubt that was Apple's intention, so they must always have imagined the store would do rather well.
"complain about the glaring absence of an equally functional market place for one-man developers for platforms anything up to 20 years old: MS Windows, Blackberry, Nokia, Linux, Mac, Xbox."
Ignoring the operating systems (do they really need a unified marketplace? A discussion for another time, maybe), Xbox Live has an indie section on its marketplace where one-man dev teams often put up their games. Blackberry has App World (I haven't used it myself). Nokia has Ovi.
I won't comment on the others as I haven't used them, but having used OVI for over a year now I can safely say that it's a disgrace.
Nokia is capable of so much more, but the OVI store is a shambles.
You can't browse the store on the web browser on your phone,you have to use the OVI application which is slow, cumbersome and un-intuative.
If you use the store on a computer you can't download anything to install to the phone later, you have to "send a download link" to the phone.
The download link is sent as an SMS that can take days to arrive.
I tried to buy an application about a month ago and it took two days of trying until the credit card authorisation stopped timing out. That wouldn't be so bad, except it refused to save the card details until I had successfully made a purchase, so every time it timed out I had to enter all of the details again. On the bright side, I've now memorised all of the details for that card.
So yes, I'd like to complain about the lack of an equally functional market place for other devices.
"The App store has been successful far beyond Apple's imaginings,"
Yeah even without going into the monopoly issues I doubt it was beyond their imagination and the store is a success simply because there hardware is a success - now we could say that is because fanbois would buy a brown smelly iTurd if the iPontif demanded it but its a whole new debate.
The App Store would never work on any other platform because even Microshite is more open. And that is saying a LOT.
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IIRC, that bit's one of the Ten Commandments.
So that's come from God Himself (the other one) who's supposed to have a handle on absolutely Everything, Everywhere and Everywhen, according to those that believe this sort of stuff.
Who's to say that it wasn't Apple that He had in mind when He wrote this? He's alleged to moves in mysterious ways you know and you don't get much more mysterious than warning Biblical era Hebrews about the dangers of shiny tech-toy addiction.
really ... that's the whole point ... very soon we'll be paying royalties and licencing fee while buying natural apples from the fruit stall or supermart ... I'm sure jobsie would love to have some micro control over what we eat ... how we eat ... what kind of soil it has been grown on ... and top it up with how you are supposed to pay ... white crisp notes ... with the a signed document understanding that you may well loose the note without any explanation or reason at the sole discretion of ... ahem ... apple! It's getting old and sick!
The mental imbalance shown by Jobs is well documented and at least traceable back to
the very early reports of emperors and senators in Rome two thousand years ago.
The word "Pad" is a from the English language. You are American I am told.
Whilst his fawning followers and lawyers may bow to his childish whims, common sense
will prevail in such cases of demented aberration.
The market for employment will no doubt be curious as to if they will be chased away
by offering "Jobs" available.
So, here we are Jobs......., Pad, Apps, Apple, iPoo, et al.
Enjoy the world and...... maybe take some time off ?
You know, I'm not sure Apple can actually get away with the condition in the contract which states that they can ban an application for any reason even if it meets all the requirements spelt out in the terms and conditions, at least under UK law, where a contract has to be "reasonable."
Maybe it requires someone with very deep pockets to challenge it in the courts?
I agree with Doug Glass. In fact, as I was reading this article, his title was exactly the thought going through my head.
A while back when iPhone OS 3.0 was coming out a friend of mine tried to convince me to get on board with it and develop an app with him. I had no interest in learning Objective C and don't even have a Mac to install their SDK on so I turned him down.
Ever since then I've been reading more and more articles like this one about Apple's way of doing business. And I just do not understand how they can look people in the eye and say, "Yeah get on board with us. You'll have instant success! It's a great platform!"
Not saying though that Microsoft's intentions to somewhat follow on Apple's heels with their plans for the Windows Phone 7 app store is any better...
Hi, reminds me of the big Home Depot / Office Depot litagation. Home Depot sued Office Depot for the use of the work Depot. The judge ruled the 'Depot' was common work allow and in the dictionary and can't be alone trademarked. Sorry Steve of Apple you don't even really own iPad either and definitely can't trademark Pad. Get real!
Hi, reminds me of the big Home Depot / Office Depot litagation. Home Depot sued Office Depot for the use of the work Depot. The judge ruled the 'Depot' was common word allow and in the dictionary and can't be alone trademarked. Sorry Steve of Apple you don't even really own iPad either and definitely can't trademark Pad. Get real!
when blowhards try to copyright sections of the English language. I hope Kotex or some other feminine hygiene supplier goes after Jobs over infringing on their copyright to the term "maxipad".
By the way, in the U.S. you don't use "it's" unless you are talking about the possessive of a non-human subject. e.g. "The dog has lost it's collar" vs. "Its a nice dog"
Uh..I think you have that backwards. "It's" is a contraction of "It is". So used as a contraction "it's"- "It's a nice day" or as a possessive is "its" - "the dog broke its leash.
Can't we just all agree to start a new language and leave all of the alternate spelling behind? Of course, that would only work if we spoke as we wrote and stayed away from slang. Right....will never happen.
Long ago, the writers of "Star Trek" (the original series, not these newfangled extensions or "reboots") designed a prop that was supposed to be a personal handheld computer input and display device. They named this device a "Personal Access Display Device", or PADD (pronounced "pad") for short.
The current feature set for notepad-sized computer/input/display systems (like the iPad and it's brethern) seems to have mirrored the Star Trek PADD: wireless network connectivity, notepad-sized display, cursive input, portable, multifunction, independantly programmable, etc.
A good case could be made for the idea that Steve Jobs (or the Apple marketing team) "borrowed" the name *Pad from Star Trek.
Sorry, Steve, but it looks like you borrowed "prior art".
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