Nexus 7: Just Try And Sue Google Now, Apple
Yesterday, my Nexus 7 arrived and I spent a bunch of time digging into it. I’ll have the results for you next week.
Something (almost) even cooler than my new Nexus 7 arrived at Answer Guy Central yesterday. Remember that UK judge who threw out Apple’s lawsuit against Samsung because he ruled that the Galaxy Tab isn’t as cool as the iPad? He’s ordered Apple to publicize his ruling.
Given how I feel about software patents, that would be plenty of cool for one day. Justin Bieber, I’m watching you.
But I happened to have a conversation with a co-worker yesterday that from my perspective was even cooler than any of that. She’s in her forties. She’s a funny, whip-smart, no-nonsense person. She has young children at home and is busy, busy, busy. She’s an art-side worker and a hard-core Apple person; Windows PC’s? I don’t think so.
And she uses an Android phone and is getting ready to switch to the latest and greatest. iPhone? Not happening.
Cool, it turns out, isn’t just about how something looks. Toys? No thanks; let’s talk tools.
What my friend specifically was talking about was an application available on Android called Swype. Swype is a keyboard replacement for Android devices — and just about every other computer, it seems — but isn’t available on the iPhone.
Swype, as the pronunciation of its name suggests, makes entering text on your mobile device a lot faster and easier. instead of hunting-and-pecking on the on-screen keyboard, you . . . SWIPE your way through entire words, and Swype does an uncannily good job of understanding what you’re writing.
Why isn’t Swype available on iPhones? My guess is that the biggest reason is Swype’s need to replace the built-in Apple keyboard and Apple not liking when software developers dig into iOS at that level.
Cool? No, uncool. And a business change that Apple needs to address unless they want to see their already-eroding share of the SmartPhone market continue to slide.
Legal battles over who had ideas for general software functions aren’t useful. And it seems as though the more software patents get issued the stupider things become.
Forced Coopetition. Very Cool. So I’ll say it again: I love the UK! And my Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7, too. Looks like they’ll be sticking around for awhile; thank you, Judge Birss.
