I like the leaving keys hanging in the door deal. It’s the kind of thing that can really make you popular. I can better that though. Many moons ago I broke off my car key in someone else’s car door. Similar car but not mine. The key worked the door and the ignition.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/21/the-galaxy-nexus-super-amoled-display-is-a-minus-not-a-plus/

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/21/samsung_galaxy_nexus_screen_held_back_by_subpar_subpixels.html

From those articles, I think it’s clear that the Super AMOLED isn’t superior to Retina. It sounds like the Super AMOLED Plus might be a competitor for the Retina display, though.

I never said that everything Apple does is new technology. One of their strengths is creating new technology, but I would say a greater strength is their ability to adapt and assimilate technology seamlessly so the user feels like it was always there. Vlingo is a great example, actually. I had the app on my iPhone (probably two years ago), but deleted it because it just didn’t seem too useful and using it was kind of intrusive to me. The point is not to create some kind of technology and just bolt it onto a device. The point is to make the technology a part of the device in a way that is transparent to the user. Apple tried “Voice Control” and it “worked”, but it wasn’t a smash hit. So they went out and bought Siri and integrated into their OS. I think that’s cool and it shows that they’re trying to get it right, not just trying to put something out there.

Most of the rest of your comment is “my opinion is that iPhone isn’t better in these respects”. I already know from previous conversations that I can’t change your mind because we’ll just end up at “I don’t like Apple and their ‘do-no-wrong’ culture.” I’m not going to spend time trying to break down that opinion. I’ll say this: I don’t think you can have it both ways claiming that Apple is copying other technology and then cite the Galaxy S2 which is obviously, um, “inspired” by the iPhone. That really goes for 95%+ of smartphones out there right now: they all look a LOT like iPhone. Their OS works a LOT like iOS. They have app stores like iOS. Text messaging on Android was more or less ripped straight from iOS. There’s no reason to get into a tit-for-tat argument over this, but saying, “Apple copied Vlingo!” is just silly. Vlingo exists on smartphones because Apple created the iPhone, then a bunch of companies copied it and started selling apps (just like Apple did) and one of those apps was Vlingo. It’s sort of a chicken and egg situation except we KNOW that iPhone was first and then it was copied by everyone.

A lot of people obviously disagree with you on the iPhone 4/S style. They sold a million 4Ses on the first day of pre-orders. You have implied that people just buy iPhone because it has an Apple logo on it, but a lot of that implication carries with it the idea that the Apple products are actually inferior and people just buy them because people are sheep. But this is the FIFTH iPhone. If it really was inferior, would people really keep buying it? Why? If you believe in efficient markets at all, then you gotta believe people would have caught onto Apple’s inferior technology by now, right?

Ultimately, you’re right that competitors are catching up. I think Apple’s phone is still ahead not only because of its own technology, but because of the “Apple ecosystem”, which I really appreciate. You don’t like that ecosystem, which is fine. And to that, I say the same thing I’ve always said in these discussions: “So don’t buy an iPhone.”

I also think Apple is making calculated moves to stay on top of the heap without expending too much of its resources trying to be WAY ahead of the competition. I want Apple’s competitors to keep trying to emulate the iPhone so that the iPhone continues to get better. Apple isn’t trying to be 20 years ahead of the competition — they only need to be about six months ahead. I think they’re doing that. They’ve shown they CAN be years ahead of the competition (see the first iPhone and the iPad, which is still blowing everything else away), but they don’t NEED to do that every time they release an iteration of an established product that’s setting sales records with every new iteration. Sprint just had its best sales day ever when it got the 4S. AT&T had a record number of activations thanks to the 4S. That’s what they’re trying to do–sell iPhone and make money. It’s working.

Let’s start with Siri. Its pretty much exactly what Vlingo already does on Android. Smart of apple to copy that functionality. Almost all the new “software” updates already are Android options. The new “cards” is already called Postagram on Android… and cheaper per card. Whatsapp Messenger is the same is the new iMessenger. Astrid Tasks does exactly what “Reminder” does. Find My Friends is the same as Google Latitudes. So, Apple software updates all seem to have taken a note from some very popular Android apps.

Hardware-wise, I think a fair cost/quality comparison is the Samsung Galaxy S2. Processor is slighly faster, battery time is apparently slightly longer, and even the camera… G4 did a review of it a couple of days ago and called it better than the iPhone 4S from their test of the new model. Certainly the 4S has the option for the 64GB drive. This would be more than the Galaxy can offer at 32GB, so there’s a point there, but not sure if people will pay double the price in order to get that much more GBs, especially with the continued rise of “cloud” and streaming-type apps (Spotify, Grooveshark, Netflix, etc). The talk on the Samsung Superamoled screen has always been good. Certainly there are a lot of Android producers that make crap screens, but the SuperAMOLEDs have been good. At 312 dpi, on a 4.3″ screen, the Samsung competes in resolution (and most science will tell you anything above 300 dpi services no purpose past 11″ from your face) and has a larger size (Which I know is a personal preference, and not necessarily a win or loss).

When it comes to body style, I think that is personal preference as well. I actually liked the previous iPhone bodies. I just don’t love feeling something “glossy” or “glassy,” and like a more matte feel that some Android phones offer. But once again, this is all personal preference.

I guess my point is I find it hard to see how they are staying “ahead of the curve” right now. The curve seems pretty even, if not slightly reactionary among a few major manufacturers right now.

So that’s what I decided to focus on: how his professional body of work has affected me and everyone else.

I totally agree that most people, especially famous or exceptionally successful people, often have a dark side that we gloss over, probably to our own detriment. I think we can learn great lessons from the “flawed” part of those really successful people. For some reason, King David comes to mind as I write this. JFK was like this as well. I think George W. Bush ended up being a pretty mixed bag – I don’t think it’s reasonable to classify him as completely good or bad. The same will probably be said about Obama one day.

Thanks for your comment!

The guy, like many (all?) titans of industry had a ruthless streak both in his professional and personal life (e.g. his first daughter) but that’s okay because that’s what made him what he was and gave him the relentless drive to innovate and create even while dealing with freaking pancreatic cancer!

Sorry for the rant, but I think the full color of someone’s life includes the good AND the bad and keeping the balance in place gives, in my opinion, the truest picture of the person and helps us to learn the lessons for our own existence that improve the quality of our lives (IMHO).

Tracy