Why I'll Most Likely Get the iPhone 4S

I think the 4S is an underwhelming release overall as a tech fan and very much so if you have an iPhone 4. But I think for those of us, with 3GSes, it's a very good upgrade. Since we have a pretty good thing going with our Family Plan and being grandfathered into our Unlimited data plans, we aren't going to go switch carriers anytime soon. That being said, I had been looking into some Android devices a few months back to see what is out there. The best one out there seems to be the Samsung Galaxy S II. It has a few specs that are better than the 4S, but many of them are right on par now. Apple essentially caught up with it and a couple other devices, rather than leaping them like they normally do. I think that's where the disappointment stems from. People are used to Apple completely jumping the competition or redefining the market and with this release they've merely caught up, at least hardware-wise. 

For me, the biggest issue is that my headphone jack has not been working since around Jan/Feb. I can't listen to anything with headphones which is extremely frustrating, so I want to get a new phone. I waited specifically for the announcement of this one to see what Apple would do. While the Galaxy S II looks great, the only major thing that would really convince me to switch is the fact that it can do 4G. The problem is that 4G is still not very widespread and from what I've read, most of the time you end up getting kicked off onto 3G. Verizon's LTE is supposed to be a bit better, but as I already said, we aren't switching networks so it's a moot point.

I'm very much tied into the Apple ecosystem now with the iPad 2 and my Macbook Pro and iOS 5 looks really great. Android still can't interact with the rest of my Apple products quite as well so the cost of switching to a new OS is hard for me to justify. Since most of the specs of the 4S are on par with the Galaxy II, the only real big reason to switch is the 4G, which I've already mentioned.

The 4S will certainly be faster than what I have with the new processor. It also has the better screen that the 4 has. And the cameras are clearly way better. I don't even have a point-&-shoot camera so this would end up being my camera. The Siri thing is nice to have but isn't necessarily something that I need. I know that there are a few features in iOS 5 that won't be available on the 3GS but I can't remember what they are. The integration with iCloud will also be nice as well.

I'll read some more thoughts and reviews on it before making a decision, but will probably get one. From the comments I've read so far the consensus seems to be that no one with an iPhone 4 should get it but people with a 3G/3GS should. I'm also going to take a look at the Nexus Prime, which should be announced next week. I simply am tired of not being able to use my headphones with it when I have all my music on it so I need a new phone soon regardless.

The iPad has arrived!

I finally bit the bullet and splurged for an iPad. I'd been holding out on the first generation as I didn't feel like I needed an iPad and wanted to see what the next generation would be like. Once I saw what the new one was like, I was definitely interested in picking one up. Do I need one? Absolutely not. Do I want one and am I glad I have it? Absolutely.

I picked up the 32GB in white, wifi only. It was tough to choose between storage capacity and wifi vs. 3G, but storage won. I've got a 32GB iPhone and have only 3GB left so I knew I could easily use the space. I figured I can pretty easily get by with just wifi since most of the places I'm going to use it will have it. I'm primarily going to use it at home, at my parents' house, in the office, or at friends' houses so I should be covered. Worse comes to worst, I'll jailbreak my phone and tether, so long at at&t doesn't thwart me.

So far I love it and it does exactly what I need it to do. In fact, I'm typing this post directly from the iPad with the onscreen keyboard and the Squarespace app. One thing that surprised me when I picked up the iPad and started looking for apps was how few iPad-specific apps there are. I naively assumed that most, if not all, iPhone apps had iPad counterparts. That's turning out not to be the case. A majority of the apps I use on my phone don't have corresponding iPad apps. There are many notable apps that I could list and I really can't understand why they don't exist. I've had to keep a number of iPhone apps on here just to have access to them, which sucks. I really hope these will be developed. The experience of using iPhone apps on the iPad isn't all that great. It's better than nothing, but still sucks.

Can the iPad replace a computer? At this point, I don't think so. When iOS 5 comes out, I might be able to answer that differently, but for now I'll have to say to keep your computer. Surprisingly, it's Apple who is making the case for keeping a computer. Right now you still need one just to set the iPad up. iOS 5 will make it less necessary but until you can set it up without a computer, this is a no-brainer. Not to mention, how are you supposed to set up an Airport or other wireless network without a computer? Until Apple comes out with an app to set up an Airport device, you'll have to have a computer around.

Pairing the iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard would certainly help to make a convincing case for going without a computer. The built-in onscreen keyboard is quite good when you're in landscape mode, but if you're going to be doing a lot of typing you're definitely going to want a physical keyboard. There are a number of cases that have built-in keyboards, like this one from Logitech, that would make for a good setup. I've also looked at a few roll-up keyboards that I can stuff in a small pouch, but am a little skeptical about real world use. Though they aren't terribly expensive so I may pick one up. For now, I'm going to stick with the Apple smart cover (in blue) which is amazing. It really has so many ways to use it and is great. My only gripe is that it really does not protect the back at all. I'm looking at two cases that protect just the back and allow you full use of your smart cover, one called the Cover Buddy, and one called the BaseCase. I haven't taken a good look but will order one soon.

For now, I'm just enjoying this thing and finding out cool new apps and uses for it every day. Is it a must-have? No, but it's great to have. If you can swing for one, you won't regret it.

Balancing Funding

TechCrunch had a great guest post by Mark Suster, a former entrepreneur-turned-VC entitled, "How Many Investors Are Too Many?" today. I won't list the whole article here, but the basic advice is to get a split between 2 with the lead VC taking 20-25% and a smaller one taking 7.5-15% or two who take 15-17%. He provides a lot of great advice and this is one of the more thought-provoking pieces TechCrunch has done in a while. Suster lists a number of rules to follow if you're getting onto the Angel/VC-funding path.

Speaking as employee number one at a start-up, we've so far been very fortunate not to have to take outside funding. As we expand and grow our baby, we'll have to see how things change. But we make no bones about it that we believe in the model of taking as little funding as possible. It's quite simple- the more investors you allow to fund your company, the more you have to pay them. And be clear- they're not going to want a small return; they're going to want something like a 10X return. The more they put in, the more you're going to need to have at the end and getting a blockbuster exit is extremely difficult. We all think of the outliers- the Facebooks, the Twitters, etc. but most companies never make it that far. The blockbuster exits make news but they're the exception, not the rule.

It's entirely possible to build a very profitable business without some pre-determined exit or taking funding. I love companies like 37 Signals, who make popular web apps like Backpack and Basecamp. These guys are just making a product, albeit a premium one, and not planning on some specific exit. They're continuing to improve their products and they did it by bootstrapping. I feel bootstrapping is the best way to go if you can do it. It's clearly very difficult and most entrepreneurs can't do it, but you should try to find a way. The more you do it yourself, the more you keep.

Thoughts on the New Apple TV

So Apple went ahead and reworked that little "hobby" as I had anticipated they would. The new Apple TV is shipping now and I think I'm going to be passing on it for a while. As a current ATV owner, there's really no good reason for me to get the new one at this point. 

I'm not going to sit and rehash all of the changes/differences between the old one and the new one, but rather just make mention of a couple of key issues.

I think the biggest miss for Apple and the one that has me bothered the most is the failure to include apps for the platform. As we know, the new box is running hardware very similar to some of Apple's portable devices and is running a variant of iOS- it's essentially an iPod Touch without a screen. With the marketshare and mindshare that Apple has with its portables and the iPad, it's inconceivable as to why they wouldn't build in the ability to have apps on the Apple TV. I just can't understand why they wouldn't do it now. I can understand why they didn't have them initially, as the idea of "apps" was something that was not a part of the lexicon of the average user (which is now clearly Apple's intended market.) But now when every device is focused on having "apps" and as something that my Mom gets, it makes no sense why Apple wouldn't have them in this device.

The possibilities for having apps on the ATV are incredible. There are just so many apps that I use on my iPhone that would be perfect on the ATV in a living room setting. Besides a number of the native Apple apps, I can think of a number of apps that would greatly benefit from being on this platform- Pandora, LastFM, NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB- virtually any media, music, or photo app, not to mention the possibility for having games on the big screen! Imagine playing the popular Angry Birds game on your TV with your iPhone/iPod/iPad as the remote. There are a ton of other situations that would be great here and I just can't understand why they wouldn't make them available immediately. 

Since the restriction is essentially a software issue, we could very likely see Apple just decide to allow devs the opportunity to develop for the ATV in the not too distant future. There's also the additional feature that Apple announced called AirPlay, which allows you to play media on your portable device on your Apple TV. If you have a movie that's on your iPad but not on your Apple TV, you can simply send it to the ATV and watch it on the big screen. Potentially, Apple could build in a way so that devs could add the ability to output to the ATV via AirPlay in the iPhone/iPod/iPad app. This would eliminate the need to develop ATV-specific apps. Although, I think ATV-specific apps would work well too.

The change from storing media on the device to streaming is also an interesting decision. It definitely points towards the idea that Apple will eventually offer a total streaming service, especially with their recent purchase of land in North Carolina that's allegedly for a new data center. But I still would have included a hard drive. As it stands, you have to have one of your computers on in order to stream content from your hard drive to the new ATV. So all the movies, photos, music you have on your computer need to be connected in order to be played on the ATV. That's a real pain, considering you don't have to do that now. There are times I just want to turn on my ATV and play the things I own. Granted, my computer is turned on 99% of the time, but that's not the point. What would be great is if Apple would just let you connect to a NAS drive so you wouldn't necessarily have to have the computer itself on. I'm planning to move some of my media to the drive that's attached to my Airport base station, but since my MBP is my primary machine, there are library issues I have to work out first. (If anyone has any tips/recommendations on how to have media on a NAS drive when running off a laptop, please, please, please let me know. I'd love to hear your setup/workflow. I hope to have a post up about this specific issue sometime soon.)

I think the ATV certainly has potential, but in its current state, I just can't see why I would get one since I already own an ATV. When the issues around apps are resolved, then I may be inclined to pick one up, especially since it's so much cheaper than the previous one. But for now, I'll stick with my current one.

Still here...

I'm still here...just very, very busy with start-up shenanigans. I'll have something here soon.