so the iToy Apps Store has opened...

....and what a pitiful pile of nothing!

Most of the applications there are simply glorified versions of webapps.
Then there are some jaw-droppers:
. $15 for an app to get public transportation schedules that you can get
over the web for free (and you have to buy a separate app for each
public transportation system that you want to monitor)
. the company that has two Twitter clients (a free one that dumps
advertising and a $10 one that doesn't)
. multiple ebooks, each of which costs money, as opposed to a free ebook
reader for the whole Gutenberg library
. are people nuts enough to pay $30 to read the Bible on an iToy??
. the Sketches app, which is free to the jailbreak community, is $8 in
the App store??

I guess that it's a care of a [...] and his [...] soon are [...].

If you want applications for your iToy, jailbreak it and use Installer to
get a much larger and better set of applications, most of which are free
or shareware.

Put another way, don't be in a hurry to upgrade to 2.0 if you already have
an iToy; wait until Zibri & company finish the 2.0 jailbreak.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

Mark Crispin <mrc@Panda.COM> wrote in
news:alpine.OSX.1.10.0807101923202.1537@pangtzu.pa nda.com:

> . $15 for an app to get public transportation schedules that you can
> get
> over the web for free (and you have to buy a separate app for each
> public transportation system that you want to monitor)
>

Do people who can afford a FruitFone on ATT for $100/mo ride the bus....or
do they take the Beemer into town?

I've never rode the bus...maybe that's why I don't have a FruitFone.

I always figured bus riders would carry TracFones from Walmart.

At 10 Jul 2008 19:50:50 -0700 Mark Crispin wrote:

> . are people nuts enough to pay $30 to read the Bible on an iToy??


Doubtful- most of the fanboys here seem to already have a religion, and the
Bible isn't it's Good Book... ;-)

> . the Sketches app, which is free to the jailbreak community, is $8 in
> the App store??

To be fair, why shouldn't the author get reimbursed for his sweat if he's
chosen to charge for his software? Doesn't he deserve 70% of $8 for his
efforts? ;-)


> I guess that it's a care of a [...] and his [...] soon are [...].


I dunno- it's also a case of convenience. Many people don't want to mess
with jailbreaking and the (admittedly small) risks involved. If they can
get the apps important to them for a few lousy bucks with the ease of
iTunes shopping, and not altering their iPhone, so be it.


> If you want applications for your iToy, jailbreak it and use Installer
> to get a much larger and better set of applications, most of which
> are free or shareware.
>
> Put another way, don't be in a hurry to upgrade to 2.0 if you already
have an iToy; wait until Zibri & company finish the 2.0 jailbreak.


Fair enough, but for iPhone 3G owners, the app store is the only game in
town...

Larry <noone@home.com> amazed us all with the following in
news:Xns9AD7EDDCF1B03noonehomecom@208.49.80.253:

> Mark Crispin <mrc@Panda.COM> wrote in
> news:alpine.OSX.1.10.0807101923202.1537@pangtzu.pa nda.com:
>
>> . $15 for an app to get public transportation schedules that you
>> can get
>> over the web for free (and you have to buy a separate app for
>> each public transportation system that you want to monitor)
>>
>
> Do people who can afford a FruitFone on ATT for $100/mo ride the
> bus....or do they take the Beemer into town?

They take the bus. How else do you think they can afford the rate plan and
applications necessary to make it even somewhat functional? I say this
because over a year after the inital release and I have yet to meet anybody
serious about mobile telephony or data with one of them.

I have, however, seen a number of them in the possession of Walmart
employees, most under the age of 20. One of them even told me that it was
the best iPod he'd ever owned.

On Thu, 10 Jul 2008, Todd Allcock posted:
>> . the Sketches app, which is free to the jailbreak community, is $8 in
>> the App store??
> To be fair, why shouldn't the author get reimbursed for his sweat if he's
> chosen to charge for his software? Doesn't he deserve 70% of $8 for his
> efforts? ;-)

I have no problem with the author of an application selling his
application for whatever price he sees fit. Some jailbreak community apps
cost money; typically you have to purchase a product key to unlock them
from demo mode.

I do think that Sketches is strange that it is free to the jailbreak
community, but $8 in the apps store. IMHO, it's a nice toy, but I
wouldn't pay $8 for it. There are other apps that I have paid for.

>> I guess that it's a case of a [...] and his [...] soon are [...].
> I dunno- it's also a case of convenience. Many people don't want to mess
> with jailbreaking and the (admittedly small) risks involved. If they can
> get the apps important to them for a few lousy bucks with the ease of
> iTunes shopping, and not altering their iPhone, so be it.

However, not only are you spending more money, but there are a lot of apps
that you will never get that way. The Apple apps store will never carry
anything like MxTube, Terminal, or Finder.

> Fair enough, but for iPhone 3G owners, the app store is the only game in
> town...

Or you can get a much less expensive 3G phone that provides a lot more
phone services (and much better battery life), and use the money you save
to buy a much more capable Internet tablet... :-)

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

Mark Crispin <mrc@Panda.COM> wrote:

> . are people nuts enough to pay $30 to read the Bible on an iToy??
> . the Sketches app, which is free to the jailbreak community, is $8 in
> the App store??

It seems now that Gen X has been stealing music for so long that they
now think they are entitled to everything for free. I'm afraid as baby
boomer parents we have raised a generation of lazy, apathetic theives.

They would never walk into a CD store, load up their pockets with CD's
and leave....but don't think twice about doing the same thing with their
computer.

Get out of your Mom's house, get a job and then enjoy the fruits of your
labor. Until then stop your whining.

The Bob <nospam@bob.com> wrote in
news:Xns9AD7E02349EF6bob@216.196.97.136:

> I have, however, seen a number of them in the possession of Walmart
> employees, most under the age of 20. One of them even told me that it
> was the best iPod he'd ever owned.
>
>

hee hee....thanks. Great fun talking to the faithful on the waiting line
at 0730 this morning. I had printed out the high resolution picture of the
main circuit board and 3 of the guys on the line were techies who love
gadgets. They hadn't seen ifixit.com's pictures and a lot of the rest of
the line was standing very close by as we discussed the chipsets installed,
most identified by ifixit.com's website last night.

We're STILL trying to find its GPS receiver, chipset and antenna that must
be imbedded into the plastic back because it's not on the PC board.

On Fri, 11 Jul 2008, anon posted:
> Mark Crispin <mrc@Panda.COM> wrote:
>> . are people nuts enough to pay $30 to read the Bible on an iToy??
>> . the Sketches app, which is free to the jailbreak community, is $8 in
>> the App store??
> It seems now that Gen X has been stealing music for so long that they
> now think they are entitled to everything for free. I'm afraid as baby
> boomer parents we have raised a generation of lazy, apathetic theives.

Gen X?!?

I was developing software and designing Internet protocols back when your
mommie was still wetting her diapers.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, a great deal of literature,
including the King James version of the Bible, either are long out of
copyright or were never copyrighted to begin with. They are in the public
domain, and are available in electronic form for free from Project
Gutenberg and other sources.

Anyone who pays for public domain ebooks is a sucker, especially to read
it on a tiny iToy screen. If you're going to read ebooks, get a Kindle.

As for Sketches, it is certainly the author's right to ask whatever price
he wants. However, his current market plan seems to be to give it away
for free to the jailbreak community via Installer, but charge $8 to people
who use the App store.

In other words, it is a stupidity tax on the fanboys who use the App
store.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

At 11 Jul 2008 07:52:49 -0400 anon wrote:

> > . are people nuts enough to pay $30 to read the Bible on an iToy??
> > . the Sketches app, which is free to the jailbreak community, is $8 in
> > the App store??
>
> It seems now that Gen X has been stealing music for so long that they
> now think they are entitled to everything for free.

As opposed to you, Oxy, who just thinks internet service and telephony
should be, right?

On Fri, 11 Jul 2008, Todd Allcock posted:
> As opposed to you, Oxy, who just thinks internet service and telephony
> should be, right?

Oxford thinks that it's OK to sign other people up on various spam mailing
lists, such as he did to my old UW account on April 11. Everybody keeps
logs these days, including his ISP and even the spammers.

He ought to be more careful. He may wind up pulling that stunt on someone
who will do more than just laugh at his immature behavior.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.