I Love my iPad--Another Game Changer from Apple

Unboxing my new iPad.

During my lifetime, I've been truly blown away more times by Apple than any other company. They've done it to me five times now.

I can still remember the very first time I ran each of these devices from Apple: Apple IIe, iPod/iTunes, iPhone, and the Mac. Each time I was completely blown away, giddy even, with the sizable leap in innovation with each of these products. Well, it happened to be again yesterday, when my iPad was delivered to my home. I spent a good portion of the day using it. And I have to say, I love it. It exceeded my expectations.

Sure, I expected it to be nice, but in a way my expectations were kept in check, given I have owned the iPhone since the day it came out. I guess in a way I was expecting it to be just an iPhone, only bigger. I found it to be so much more. The larger screen allows iPad apps to be much nicer than their iPhone counterpart. They aren't just marginally better and easier to use, but a magnitude better.

With a few taps I was streaming full-length TV shows in beautiful clarity. Photo viewing, web browsing and email have never been so enjoyable. Games are amazing. It's the ideal device to use while watching TV, laying in bed, and certainly to watch movies while traveling.

It's not perfect, no 1st generation product is. Just like with the iPhone, I'm sure it will improve each year. But, this first product is far enough along for me to already know I wouldn't want to not have one. Anyone who waits for the next generation of the iPad will miss out on all the amazing things it can do right now.

For those of you skeptical about "do I really need a device between my iPhone and laptop?" You'll see. You do. And you will be getting an iPad. The iPad will be big. That's my prediction.

Apple has done it again.

Kevin

PS: As some of you may know, my company has five different apps in the Top 100 of the iPhone app store (social networking). We just submitted our first iPad-optimized app, CLIPish for iPad, and it should be available any day in the app store. Look for it.

My Email to Apple about their iPhone App Store Approval Process

Below is an email which I sent to the good folks at Apple.



Apple,

As the CEO of a company with a popular app in your iPhone app store (Dating DNA), I'd like to offer up the following suggestion:

Apple should offer "priority reviews" to developers for $20 (or whatever amount makes sense) per app submission. In other words, developers could still submit their apps to the App Store for free and wait several days for the normal review process, OR they could choose to pay an extra fee for a quicker turn around. Apple would then use those funds to hire more QA testers.

The problem we have as a developer, is we release a product which both the developer and Apple find no problems with, but once thousands of people start using it, users may discover a serious crash or bug. There is currently no way for developers to get users an immediate fix for this. =( This causes the iPhone user to suffer, and it gives the developer a black eye for not having corrected the problem quickly. They blame the developer (low star rating, bad write ups and reviews, angry emails, etc.), not knowing a fix has been waiting for approval from Apple for weeks.

Charging a fee would also solve the problem of developers submitting new versions too often, because they know their either going to have to wait or pay a fee. You could even charge the fee EACH TIME the app needs to be re-submitted, forcing developers to really make sure the app or update is tested fully before submitting.

As you know, the App Store is hot, and it's only going to get hotter. This problem needs to be solved for the sake of Apple, developers and, most importantly, the customer. My suggestion seems like a very fair and easy solution to implement. For the smaller developers who can't afford a fee, it would still be free but they just need to wait a little longer, but for the bigger developers who have invested tens of thousands of dollars into their app, they could pay for quick turn around on updates and fixes.

Thanks for considering my suggestion, and keep up the great work!

Kevin Carmony
CEO, Dating DNA

---

PS: I sent this to people I personally know at Apple, as well as their developer program team. From the dev prog team I received an auto reply that they would get back with me, but it started with:

"Please note that the Apple Developer Connection will be closed from Wednesday, December 24th through Friday, December 26th for the December Holiday. We will re-open on Monday, December 29th, 2008."

Hmmmm....considering today is January 15th, it makes me wonder when they'll be getting back to me. =)

Apple iPhone 3G - For those who still don't "get it."

I've been a huge fan of the iPhone from the very beginning, and in my blog told everyone to buy Apple stock. Apple's stock was $85 when I made my first predictions about Apple's stock, and today, just a year later, it's at $185. (This is where you should reach for the Subscribe link to my blog. ;-)

Just like a year ago, when the iPhone first came out, there were those who could only see the glass half empty, bemoaning the handful of things it didn't yet do, those same skeptics can be found today. These people, however, lack the vision to see everything it DOES do, and how revolutionary it is. These skeptics are like those who saw the first PCs from IBM and Apple 25 years ago, and because it wasn't perfect, assumed it would fail. I've never looked at what the iPhone DIDN'T do, I've always looked at what it DID do, and how it did it better than anyone else.

The iPhone isn't just a "phone," it's an entirely new platform. Any tech visionary would get that, and this is why my company, Dating DNA, was the first online dating site with an iPhone web app, and why we've been busy with the iPhone SDK to be the first to have a full-featured dating application in Apple's new iPhone App Store on the day it's launched.


With Apple's next release of their iPhone, the 3G, they have once again DONE a lot of things right. Already there are the skeptics nit picking over the fact it doesn't do everything perfectly yet. (I fully expect another blog from Michael Robertson pointing out everything the 3G doesn't yet do, like he did when the iPhone first came out, and completely missing the future vision of this new platform.) These people let the few areas that have yet to be developed, blind them to the fact that the iPhone is completely changing the mobile market. Even though the iPhone is a small percentage of the cell phone market, it completely dominates all other mobile devices for web traffic (web browsing, ebay, etc.). You don't need to be a genius to figure out that the iPhone has opened mobile computing up to a whole new area of Internet functionality. (Complaining that the iPhone doesn't have a "real" keyboard, is like complaining that your cell phone doesn't have a chord tethered to the wall.)

With the iPhone now having 3G support, enterprise support, GPS, and 3rd party applications, and all at a much lower price ($199), there is no doubt in my mind that the iPhone will continue to revolutionize the mobile market. Just watch how the applications market for the iPhone EXPLODES! 3rd-party developers will bring features and functionality to the iPhone that other mobile devices will only dream about having. Yes, Apple may not have provided every feature for the iPhone, but they HAVE now handed developers the tools to do just that.

Apple is doing so many things right, and not just with the iPhone. If you didn't listen to me the last time I recommended Apple stock, it's not too late.

Kevin

Online Dating Comes to Apple's iPhone

For those of you following my new venture, the free web service Dating DNA (www.datingdna.com), not only is it my desire to allow everyone to use their Dating DNA Number across the Internet's entire social graph (MySpace, Facebook, Craigslist, etc.), but I also want to make the Dating DNA service available on a wide array of Internet devices, such as the iPhone.

Today, Dating DNA announced the first-ever, full-featured online dating system for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. Just like online dating is shifting away from traditional dating sites such as Match.com and eHarmony to social networks like Facebook and MySpace, so too are many people moving to their cell phones for interacting socially on the Internet.

Anyone can now get their free Dating DNA Number from their PC, at www.datingdna.com, and then login to Dating DNA's special iPhone Web App URL (www.datingdna.com/iphone) from their iPhone or iPod Touch to browse photos and get compatibility scores with thousands of other Dating DNA users. (You can also read more about the Dating DNA iPhone Web App on Apple's website here.)

Now, when you're away from your PC, you can browse photos of individuals you are compatible with, and with one "tap," add them to your "DNA Strand." Users can, however, only browse photos of others with whom their compatibility score matches that user's "Compatibility Threshold." Unlike traditional dating sites where literally anyone can view a user's profile and photos, and then contact them, Dating DNA keeps all information and photos private, except to those who meet or exceed a "Compatibility Threshold," set by each user. This means photos and profiles are only seen by those a user is compatible with, based on the rules and criteria they set.

Search for "dating" on Apple's website.

Dating DNA continues to make great progress in our goal of becoming the Internet's central nervous system for online dating.

Give Dating DNA a go on your iPhone, and let me know what you think.

Kevin

How Apple Won Me Over

Once I left Linspire I was anxious to try Skype, Ubuntu and the Mac, all of which have, I must admit, been a welcome change from the last six-years' diet of start-up dog food.

Six months ago, my desktop computing looked like this:

Linspire/Freespire - 90%
Windows - 10%

Today, it looks like this...

Mac Pro Desktop & MacBook Air - 85%
Ubuntu - 10%
Windows Vista - 5%

I have a KVM that allows me to switch between my Mac Pro, Ubuntu and Vista PCs, and my MacBook Air goes with me everywhere when on the road or traveling. (To watch a video of me demonstrating Leopard and the Mac Pro, click here, or scroll down for a low-res version.)

So, how did the CEO of a Linux company, within six short months, wind up a die-hard Mac fan?

Here is my journey...

My first exposure to anything "Apple," was a few years back with iTunes and the iPod. Yes it was closed and DRMized, but I found myself not caring because it worked so brilliantly. I must have owned six or seven different iPods over the years, each more impressive than the last. I found the iTunes software to be easy to use, and buying music was just a click away, with even non-DRM MP3 files available today.

Next came the iPhone. Being so impressed with the iPod, I purchased my iPhone on day one when it came out, and have never looked back. I find the iPhone to be hands-down the best cell phone I've ever used, and by a long mile. It wasn't perfect, but it sure came closer than anything I had used before. I could, for the first time, REALLY surf the web on my cell phone.

Next, came the MacBook Air. We needed a Mac computer at our office to test our website's compatibility with Apple machines. So, I figured I'd buy a MacBook Air for the testing, and I could try using it when I traveled. Within a few days, I was completely hooked, so much so that I found my self avoiding my desktop computers running Ubuntu and Windows. In less than a week of owning the Air, I purchased a Mac Pro with 4 gigs of RAM and looped it into my KVM. I found myself using the Mac pretty much all the time. Unlike the first time when I moved to Linux, and had to force myself to use it, Mac was so smooth, easy, beautiful, and fun to use, it was hard to stop.

The Mac has everything I love about Linux (fast, secure, uncluttered, Unix-based, etc.) but the software and services were so nicely put together, not to mention how "beautiful" everything looks. The way everything integrates and works together, including the .mac services, is great.

I still appreciate the speed of Ubuntu, and how far they've come (for a free operating system, it's quite amazing), but for sheer joy in daily computing, I admit, I'm hooked on my Mac.

I'm sure some reading this will feel I've sold out and given up on the Open Source movement. Well, after six years, it's no longer my fight, and I just want a computer that's easy, fun and productive to use. I don't have the source code to my car, TV, Tivo, Sonos, microwave oven, refrigerator, or my tennis shoes, but because they just work, I don't need it. I'm no longer interested in using software to support a cause or movement. I just want to use software to get stuff done.

So, until someone comes along with something better, you can find me using my iPhone and Macs.

Kevin

PS: Yes, I know John, you've been telling me to switch for years! =)

Click the below video to see me demo my Mac Pro and Leopard. Once it's playing, click in the upper-right hand corner of video to view full screen. For a Hi-Res version of the below video demo, which looks a lot better than the embedded one, click here.

Lest You Think I Love iEverything from Apple...iDon't.

After my blog about my belief in the iPhone, some may think that I am under the hypnotic spell of Apple. Not at all. Just as I predicted when the iPhone was first announced that it would be a big hit, conversely, when Apple TV was announced, I predicted it would be a big flop. I felt this way because, unlike the iPhone which leap frogged past all other smart phones with its innovative UI, I didn't see Apple TV adding much to what was already being locked up through HD DVRs from Satellite providers, Cable companies, Tivo, and others.

According to Forbes, "Six months later iTV is a flat-out iFlop. Renamed Apple TV upon launch, the ballyhooed box has sold perhaps 250,000 units--far behind the 1 million sold for the iPhone, which was priced twice as high and has been on the market less than half as long."

So far I feel pretty good about my predictions. iPhone a hit. Apple TV a flop.

Kevin

I Love My iPhone

Apple just dropped the price of their iPhone by $200. Go get one.

I've been a believer in Apple's iPhone from it's announcement in January of this year, months before its release. While others, like Michael Robertson on his blog, were predicting it's failure, I was confident it would be a success, so much so, that I purchased a large amount of Apple stock that very day and recommended that others consider doing likewise. (Apple's stock was $85 before their iPhone announcement in January of this year, and is at $142 as I write this, up nearly 70%. ) While Robertson was decrying the iPhone for not playing with his other start-up ventures (SIPphone and MP3tunes), I knew the average consumer wouldn't care. Would they care they can't use MP3tunes, when they CAN use iTunes and mp3 files? (BTW, you can use Skype on the iPhone.)

What would matter, is that the iPhone completely tore into the mobile phone paradigm, leapfrogging past anything else on the market. The very thing many complained about (most without ever touching an iPhone), is the very thing that revolutionized the user interface for mobile devices...the lack of a keyboard.

Everyone knew you could make a better device if you didn't need to use up real estate for a keyboard, but rather than just follow the conventional wisdom that you simply MUST have a keyboard, Apple set out to innovate and figure out how to make a device work without one. They solved the problem with artificial intelligence which calculates, based on your typing and location of the keys, what words you were meaning to type, automatically correcting words as you go. As Walter Mossberg said, "My conclusion is that the keyboard issue on the iPhone is a non-issue." Walter said that within five days of using the iPhone, he could type as fast on it as he could on his Treo, which had physical keys and he had been typing on for years.

As the Vice President of Technology for Franklin Covey back in the early 90's, the largest time management firm in the world, I started using PDAs long before the cell phone was ever popularized. I have owned dozens of handheld devices, PDAs and cell phones over the years, and ended up using several versions of the Treo over the last few years. Today, I look at the Blackberry, Treo, Nokia, etc. phones, and they all look so outdated to me. It reminds me of how I felt looking at at typewriter, after I had started using a word processor.

I believe Apple has changed the rules for the UI for mobile devices, and Nokia and others better scramble quickly to catch up.

In my next blog I'll explain why I wished I had an iPhone years ago, so that I could have learned an important lesson for desktop Linux.

Kevin

PS: There are hundreds of apps for the iPhone, with more being written every day. Here are just a few of my favorite iPhone applications:

http://meebo.com
http://iphoneappsmanager.com
http://moviesapp.com
http://readscriptures.com

And one I wrote in minutes: http://kevincarmony.com/eat

Great program to use your iPhone's MP3 files for ring tones: http://www.efksoft.com/products/iphoneringtonemaker