War of ecosystems - Apple vs MS

[saintforlife]

Just the other day I was visiting my mom and she was talking about how she wanted an ipad (she is a BB user :S) so she could stream video to her TV and what not. I pointed out the fact that her TV already connects to her network and that in 2 minutes, I could have her computer streaming video to the TV with no extra devices. I simply enabled sharing on her media library and instantly she was able to view her media. Simple, and standardized. None of this Apple proprietary technology ****.

You just gave a real life example of how Apple beats every other platform because of its simplicity and ease of use. If your mom had an Apple TV and an iPad or iPhone, she wouldn't need your help to set up wifi streaming/AirPlay. All she has to do is push the big 'AirPlay' button that appears on the iPhone/iPad video itself and boom, her video or her iPad/iPhone screen is now 'magically' up on her HDTV. No setting up DLNA, shared media folders or any of that.

People can hate on Apple all they want, but they do make certain things incredibly easy for non-techie people to do by themselves.

 

[crystal_planet]

You just gave a real life example of how Apple beats every other platform because of its simplicity and ease of use. If your mom had an Apple TV and an iPad or iPhone, she wouldn't need your help to set up wifi streaming/AirPlay. All she has to do is push the big 'AirPlay' button that appears on the iPhone/iPad video itself and boom, her video or her iPad/iPhone screen is now 'magically' up on her HDTV. No setting up DLNA, shared media folders or any of that.

People can hate on Apple all they want, but they do make certain things incredibly easy for non-techie people to do by themselves.

Or she could spend an extra 700.00 on Apple products to do what she already could do.

Give me a break. Do you understand the concept of "the walled garden"? Think about it: yeah, you could have wonderful simplistic connectivity at the touch of a button - as long as everything electronic you own has the fruit logo on it. And you get to pay a premium price for the privilege. Sounds like a solid investment to me.

Why are you bragging on Apple TV? It's just like any other media streamer out there. HeII, the latest Apple tv just came with 1080p output. Every other streamer has been doing it for a while now.

 

[saintforlife]

Or she could spend an extra 700.00 on Apple products to do what she already could do.

Give me a break. Do you understand the concept of "the walled garden"? Think about it: yeah, you could have wonderful simplistic connectivity at the touch of a button - as long as everything electronic you own has the fruit logo on it. And you get to pay a premium price for the privilege. Sounds like a solid investment to me.

Why are you bragging on Apple TV? It's just like any other media streamer out there. HeII, the latest Apple tv just came with 1080p output. Every other streamer has been doing it for a while now.

Last I checked the Apple TV was $99 an iPhone is $200 (like any other smart phone). Where are you getting your $700 number from?

Also I doubt his mother can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p.

But just like a typical blind Apple hater, you go all 'specifications' on me. If they only got 1080p last year, on the same token can I ask you why in spite of the AirPlay Mirroring feature being out for more than 2 years, nobody else has been able to replicate it with the success or ease of Apple?

There are specs and features, and then there are specs and features. Some of them actually make a difference to people.

 

[crystal_planet]

I'm pretty sure Apple will win the tale of the tape for a while to come. No one even knows what the MS ecosystem will fully entail yet and I think a lot of people are going to take a wait and see approach because of it.

Apple's ecosystem is wonderful because everything works within it. How could it not? One company building the hardware and software better be flawless because there are no other factors to consider.

MSFT on the other hand, works with a whole variety of vendors. You say you don't like a Nokia Phone Mr. Customer? Well here, have an HTC. Not crazy about the Microsoft Surface? Well, try this Samsung tablet. Something for everyone - from entry level to deluxe full out gear.

Apple has none of that - I don't like to be told "You can get whatever you want, as long as we make it."

 

[crystal_planet]

Last I checked the Apple TV was $99 an iPhone is $200 (like any other smart phone). Where are you getting your $700 number from?

Also I doubt his mother can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p.

But just like a typical blind Apple hater, you go all 'specifications' on me. If they only got 1080p last year, on the same token can I ask you why in spite of the AirPlay Mirroring feature being out for more than 2 years, nobody else has been able to replicate it with the success or ease of Apple?

There are specs and features, and then there are specs and features. Some of them actually make a difference to people.

You're right. The 700.00 figure is wrong and I apologize. More like iPad -499.00. Apple TV - 109.00. Air Port - 179.00. iMac 599.00 - 2000.00+. And don't forget the quintessential iPhone. Hey man, you want perfect connectivity, you gotta pay the price - amirite?

Of course 1080p is not important because Apple told you it wasn't important. Neither is NFC, inductive charging, big screens. LTE wasn't important either until now - now it's real important.

Yup. I'm a hater - I've admitted as much. Can you admit you are an iSheep?

 

[Mitlov]

Give me a break. Do you understand the concept of "the walled garden"? Think about it: yeah, you could have wonderful simplistic connectivity at the touch of a button - as long as everything electronic you own has the fruit logo on it. And you get to pay a premium price for the privilege. Sounds like a solid investment to me.

Walled garden critiques of Apple? Microsoft and Apple are a basically the same with Windows 8.

Phones: can only get apps from Apple's store/MS's store.
ARM tablets: can only get apps from Apple's store/MS's store.
x86 machines: can get apps from Apple's store/MS's store OR third parties like Steam and brick-and-mortar stores.

 

[anon(5335877)]

Last I checked the Apple TV was $99 an iPhone is $200 (like any other smart phone). Where are you getting your $700 number from?

Also I doubt his mother can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p.

But just like a typical blind Apple hater, you go all 'specifications' on me. If they only got 1080p last year, on the same token can I ask you why in spite of the AirPlay Mirroring feature being out for more than 2 years, nobody else has been able to replicate it with the success or ease of Apple?

There are specs and features, and then there are specs and features. Some of them actually make a difference to people.

Maybe an iPad?

And no, the iPhone isn't $200. It's $200 on contract. If you could buy a brand new iPhone for $200 off contract, people would be all over that.

Because DLNA already exists. If a manufacturer were to create their own proprietary standard, it'd only work with their products.

Plus, look at the manufacturers. Sony and Samsung make smartphones, TVs, and Blu-Ray players so I guess they could do it if they wanted to. But what about HTC? They make only phones. And Roku?They make streaming devices, but they don't make phones.

Also, doesn't Samsung have something? Have you ever seen the Galaxy S III "dongle ad?" So I assume it can mirror content wirelessly, I just have no idea what Samsung calls it.

 

[crystal_planet]

Walled garden critiques of Apple? Microsoft and Apple are a basically the same with Windows 8.

Phones: can only get apps from Apple's store/MS's store.
ARM tablets: can only get apps from Apple's store/MS's store.
x86 machines: can get apps from Apple's store/MS's store OR third parties like Steam and brick-and-mortar stores.

This is true. And I'm not overly happy about it either. Every smartphone o/s is walled off to some extent -Marketplace, iStore, Google Play store, BlackBerry App World.

And at least I can go over the fence in terms of hardware. It's not as much as I'd like but it's something.

 

[power5]

You just gave a real life example of how Apple beats every other platform because of its simplicity and ease of use. If your mom had an Apple TV and an iPad or iPhone, she wouldn't need your help to set up wifi streaming/AirPlay. All she has to do is push the big 'AirPlay' button that appears on the iPhone/iPad video itself and boom, her video or her iPad/iPhone screen is now 'magically' up on her HDTV. No setting up DLNA, shared media folders or any of that.

People can hate on Apple all they want, but they do make certain things incredibly easy for non-techie people to do by themselves.

Wait, she would need to setup an itunes account first. Apple TV will do pretty much nothing without that. Then she has to sync all of her movies if she has any with itunes. Then she will have to rebuy any that do not conform to the apple licensing agreements or are not in the correct mp4 format. If she has none in mp4 she will then need to download a converter program and convert all her video files which takes a very long time. I converted all my VOB movies to mkv over the 24/7 process of about a week. That was with some that did not work and had to be tweaked. If she just wants to stream netflix content or something, then yeah, she would be fine with just pressing the airplay button.

 

[brmiller1976]

Saintforlife makes a great point about user experience and usability. People are willing to pay the extra $ to get the same capability if the capability is easier to access.

Sure, I could poke around in the registry on a Windows Vista machine and get most of the capabilities of a Windows 7 machine "for free," but poking around in the registry is an incredible pain in the toochus. Much better to pay the $150 and get something that "just works."