[opendtv] Re: Comment: Complexity bites Apple, puts reputation at stake

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:31:16 -0400

At 3:17 PM -0500 4/9/10, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Perhaps Apple should consider dialing back to 802.11g mode, to see if that makes the signal more reliable. It might, in that MIMO would not be used.
It will be interesting to see whether this same problem occurs in upcoming 4G LTE, in its higher bandwidth modes. I'm not sure how a highly variable bit rate can be avoided by mobile users, given that these schemes all exploit the same MIMO design. Does anyone really expect the multiple propagation paths to remain consistent as the device moves? How? 

Bert
I find it very interesting watching the coverage of this issue. To date I have only seen two stories discussing this problem. One from Info World and one from EETimes. In both cases the stories try to turn this problems into a MAJOR screw-up by Apple, and a threat to the success of the iPAD.
This morning I found another story on the subject from a Mac oriented magazine/website: 

http://www.macworld.com/article/150516/2010/04/ipad_wifi.html?lsrc=rss_main
Bottom line, these problems are quite limited and there is a strong likelihood that a software update can resolve them for the very small percentage of users that are having a problem. 

But that is not why I am responding to Bert here.
It is ALSO not clear that there are any real problems with third party WiFi hardware, or that there are issues with certain new operating modes as Bert alludes to. What MAY be at play here is simply the increased level of complexity of an evolving standard, with the very real possibility that some software updates will be needed by all parties to make these new modes interoperate properly. There's nothing like the real world to put the stuff that worked "in the lab" to the test, so that the bugs can be ironed out.
This happened to MPEG-2 because many vendors tried to implement a subset of the standard and then discovered their product did not work with perfectly legal and MPEG-2 compliant bit streams. And dare I mention the learning curve for the ATSC standard, where it took almost a decade to deliver receivers that actually work reliably.
Clearly Apple has been a leader in terms of adopting new technologies - the iPAD is certainly no exception. But the irony here is that the REAL issue that is causing some competitors and trade publications to look for ANY REASON to undermine the iPAD, is that the product is so disruptive and threatening to a number of entrenched players and their proprietary technologies.
To be specific, the iPAD provides a clearly differentiated approach to the next generation of affordable mobile media appliances. The Wintel minions have been consumed in a race to the bottom, trying to condense the essentials of desktop and notebook computing into lowest common denominator netbooks. The iPad offers an alternative that may appeal to a wide range of consumers who do not want or need to remain tightly coupled to the past.
Last weekend I watched as consumers walked up to the iPADs, on display at the local Best Buy, and start interacting with them. Without trying to sound too much like Steve Jobs, there WAS something magical about the experience. You could sense the excitement and joy in discovering a new way to control very complex applications. There was no such excitement a short distance away where the Netbooks were on display; actually there were NO customers playing with Netbooks at all.
Perhaps its all about the form factor, although I doubt this. But I cannot see consumers getting excited about a new generation of tablet computers running Windows and Linux. Apple has moved beyond the PC and has created not just a range of successful devices, but an entire ecosystem that significantly enhances the perceived value of the hardware. What they announced Thursday with iPhone OS4, is even more threatening to the status quo, especially to Adobe and their proprietary Flash juggernaut.
The most encouraging aspect of what Apple is doing is that they are building this new ecosystem atop open standards - while carefully controlling the environment in which developers are building new businesses. The iAd demos provide a glimpse at what will be possible with HTML5; the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad will soon offer developers an audience of more that 100,000,000 consumers/devices to help drive the adoption of HTML5.
Thus it comes as no surprise that there are some hired guns out there that are trying to keep Apple from succeeding yet again. Somehow, "Finding MIMO" seems like such an obscure issue to get hung up about when trying to slow down a much needed revolution in the way we interact with and use technology to enhance our lives. 

Regards
Craig


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