12/28/2007, 1:00pm, EST
Friday, December 28thiPhone ousted by Google in innovation ranks
Despite its features, the iPhone is not the most innovative development of 2007, according to PC World's top 25 list for 2007. The magazine instead presents the top award to Google Gears, the search engine giant's platform that allows Mac and Windows users to run web apps such as Google Reader and Zoho Writer without an active Internet connection. Though still in beta, Gears is more innovative for eliminating one of the last obstacles to abandoning at least some desktop-based software in favor of downloads.
The iPhone occupies second place for its somewhat mixed capabilities, the magazine explains. The touchscreen interface is labeled "intuitive and fun," particularly for its Safari browser, but is hampered by a few technical limitations such as its slower EDGE Internet access. Apple also occupies fourth place on the list for the Time Machine feature in Mac OS X Leopard, which is said to simplify the normally complex task of backing up and restoring files.
Other highlights of the list include the One Laptop Per Child project's XO notebook at third place, the Amazon Kindle e-book reader (fifth), and HP's TouchSmart all-in-one PC. Web-only services such as Facebook's app platform or finance tracker Mint also dominate the bottom half of the 25-member chart.
Filed under: iPhone, industry, Apple
Other story tags: Google, HP, Amazon, Facebook, OLPC, Kindle
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I'm surprised they didn't criticize it's lack of a microwave oven controlling device.
My $.02: web based apps, should they EVER become popular, won't do so for some time now. There's just not enough perceived security compared to having your machine run the app and the file stay within a closed environment. The whole world isn't wired for ultra-fast internet, so the majority webapps are about as useful as Web 2.0 or my appendix, the latter of which is gone as of last month.
Consider this a PC World flame post.
Any one who has knows the utter fallacy (and stupidity) of "webapps." I can't even begin to imagine ANYTHING of importance being done this way.
But, maybe that's just me.
Doofuses.
McD
McD
1. No 3G. 2. No handwriting recognition (Finger or Stylus). 3. Gets overheated with constant use. 4. Copied touch screen technology. 5. Copied name. 6. Only 1.3 Mp camera. 7. No camera stabilizer. 8. No zoom 9. No focus 10. No flash 11. No night shot 12. No real GPS 13. No on-board maps (nor mobile Google earth) 14. No MMS messages 15. No push-mail 16. No Skype 17. Slow Internet without flash or java support 18. No mobile TV 19. No memory card slots 20. No 3G or higher 21. Has to change screens just for a "Dot" or a "Coma" 22. Not many languages support 23. No voice recognition 24. Not very customizable. 25. Very few applications. 26. Stocked with a 2 year contract. 27. Needs to wipe off smudges frequently. 28. No good for e-mail response. 29. Bad screen refresh. 30. No help icon.
Nevertheless, they been trying to sell it as the next world wonder, and to be honest… it is a nice design phone and great media player. Now, seeing the amazing features on today’s gadgets, come on… my iPAQ hw6945 (over one and a half years old) with SPB Pocket Plus & SPB Mobile Shell (http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com) did all those iPhone ‘touch’, multimedia & web browsing (including tabs, zoom and span) wonders, with the touch screen plus great sync and office applications. Yes, crappy camera too.
Therefore, it is a bit sickening to keep hearing all those copied ideas and believing they are original, plus rising them as the best thing that has happened to mankind.