ne"}

Get Better Gear!

Premier Sponsors

Other World Computing

TechRestore

Top 5 Free Apps

Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Every Day: The Best of the Verve Years

    • 8 out of 10
    • Joe Williams
    • Joe Williams was Figure Two in my three-man education in singing. A brilliant vocalist, scatter, and interpreter of jazz and blues, Williams produces music that's totally unique, yet sounds so effortl
  • Chicago Transit Authority

    • 10 out of 10
    • Chicago
    • For those of you who don't know, Chicago didn't always suck, and everyone in the band didn't always play a keyboard. When the band started off they were pioneers of rock and jazz fusion, and guita

  • Hello

    • 8 out of 10
    • Poe
    • Poe rocked my world with "Angry Johnny" (I want to kill you/I want to blow you/Away) and "Trigger Happy Jack" (Trigger Happy Jack/ You're gonna blow/But I'm gonna get off/Before you go), as powe

  • 2112

    • 10 out of 10
    • Rush
    • We all know it, right? Well, ya just gotta have it. 2112 finally showed Rush out on their own, doing their own thing, and doing it well, IMHO.
  • Playing the Angel

    • 8 out of 10
    • Depeche Mode
    • Oddly enough, Playing The Angel is a return to form for Depeche Mode, even though it may well be argued that they never truly deviated from their roots in their more recent offerings. In the

Reader Specials

Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!

News

The iPhone’s Secret Sauce

The secret sauce to the iPhone design may or may not be unique to Silicon Valley, according to Charles Cooper at C|Net. Other companies, in other locations, also have a lot of smart employees. However, two key elements stand out in Apple’s case: software design and technical restraint.

Mr. Cooper posed the question: "So how is it that a novice in the cell phone arena produces a technical tour de force the first time out, putting to shame the likes of Samsung and Nokia (and U.S.-based Motorola)? It’s not like the handset makers don’t know how to pull together the necessary hardware functions into a single unit."

So Mr. Cooper asked Brad Meador, one of the principals at ClearContext, a San Francisco-based software developer, who had important insights into Apple’s success with the iPhone.

"Listen to what the market needs and strive to meet those needs in as simple a way as possible," Mr. Meador said. "It’s a little tricky because the initial feedback you get on a new software product is usually from a more tech-savvy, early adopter crowd, a group that’s prone to lead you down a path of too much complexity for the market you’re ultimately trying to reach." [Emphasis added by TMO.]

And just as important, new products need to "just work," a concept that’s hard to implement when software is complex and confusing. Drawing the line is the key, and Mr. Cooper observed that, "How a company answers the question [simplicity/functionality/complexity] separates the winners from the losers."

The result was borne out when Mr. Cooper saw an iPhone for the first time: "I’ve seen lots of other smart phones, but nothing like this. When a colleague brought his newly purchased iPhone into the newsroom on Monday, a room full of otherwise hard-bitten reporters was reduced to a gushing scrum of starry-eyed goobers."

As are we all.

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me  Forgot your password?

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.

Commenting is not available in this section entry.