Standing in line for my iPhone 4 as the black curtains fell and the front of the store was revealed Apple’s slogan for the iPhone 4, “This Changes Everything. Again” was displayed prominently.

I could not help but think of the email exchange between Gawker writer Ryan Tate and Steve Jobs in which the two sparred over a number of things but it all began over the iPad being deemed as “Revolutionary”. I could not help but wonder if their might be another email exchange about if the iPhone 4 really changed everything, Again.

After using the iPhone 4 for the past few days I have been attempting to determine if the iPhone 4 lives up to its slogan or if I should be ready to pen an angry email to sjobs@apple.com in Ryan Tate fashion.

Design & Hardware

If Jonny Ive’s pontificating doesn’t convince you that the iPhone 4’s design is revolutionary there are a few other factors that will. The iPhone 4 doesn’t have the same feel that the 3G or the 3Gs had with its contoured back that fit neatly into your hand. It does feel like you are holding a piece of technology. The slim design fits nicely into your pocket and the buttons are extremely more responsive. The design takes after the rest Apple’s product line with a unibody style design. This streamlined look with the two glass faces makes the iPhone a truly beautiful device that all other smartphone’s will surly attempt to mimic.

Turning your attention to the hardware the Retina Display really does live up to its hype. If you own an iPhone 4 just point your browser to theNYTIMES.COM and zoom in on The New York TImes. It is truly the best looking typeface I have ever seen on a mobile device. As for the camera the 5 megapixel and 720p Video rise above the quality on the spec sheet. Apple has proven with this design that the marrying of multiple device (digital pocket camera, flip cam, iPod, and cellphone) is truly possible and are not simply random specs to be added as extra selling points.

Software

iOS 4 is now an OS that has matured to both provide users and developers with an array of API’s that lead to great Apps. It has come under scrutiny for not being open. The “multi-tasking” has been attacked for not being true multi-tasking. Withstanding all of that though it still delvers a great experience for consumers which is the goal of the device. Jobs has answered the attack on “multi-tasking” seen in a a MacDaily News article, “”People shouldn’t have to understand multitasking. Just use is [sic] as designed, and you’ll be happy. No need to ever quit apps.” That is the philosophy that makes iOS so easy to use, you don’t need to understand how it works, just use the device.That is what allows for iOS to change everything it is designed with the consumers’ best interests you just have to drink a bit of the Apple Koo- Aid to realize it.

Culture Impact

The reason the first iPhone changed everything was because it was the first smart phone for consumers that was designed for a consumer not a business man. It was a cell phone that was easy to understand and had some cool features. As iOS evolved so did the iPhone. However, iPhone 4 is the first time that the OS and the hardware have evolved to create something new.

Design, hardware and software are only part of the equation in changing everything. The question becomes is the iPhone 4 with FaceTime, 5 megapixel camera, video in 720p, a retina display and iOS 4 really change everything? My answer is yes it does.  It is not because it can video call or it has a high quality display. It is all of things combined. The iPhone 4 will change everything because it has the ability to once again change not only how we communicate but how we interact with our mobile device. It is no longer a mobile-phone it has become the first device to truly transcend the concept of phone and that is why it changes everything, Again.

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Jony Ive, Senior Vice President of Industial Design says in Apple’s iPad video, “There isn’t even a single orientation, there is no up, no down. There is not right or wrong way of holding it.” But what he forgot to say is as long as you don’t have to dock it.

On iPad launch day I purchased an Apple iPad Case, an iPad dock, and an Apple Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard. When I use that keyboard I typically use the Apple case to prop the iPad up in landscape mode and type away.

After the launch Apple began to ship the iPad Keyboard Dock. I was perfectly content with my bluetooth keyboard and in fact believed it was a much better option for users of the iPad due to the freedom it provided. On my last visit to the Apple Store I was picking up an iPad Keyboard Dock for a friend and I decided I would give it a try before bringing it to them. I enjoyed the special function keys at the top of the keyboard. It gives the user access to the home button, search, show/hide keyboard and lock. It also contains controls for brightness and volume that a standard bluetooth keyboard has (Eject key allows you to show/hides the keyboard). I found it a cool accessory for the iPad but I decided I am still happy, it was for a friend and not me. I believe the the flexibility of a bluetooth keyboard for both freedom to place the keyboard where ever and use with different devices out weighs any benefits that the Keyboard Dock has. It is well worth paying an extra $29 for separate iPad Dock.

However, my qualms with the iPad Dock does not end with the Keyboard Dock or Bluetooth Keyboard debate but rests with the fact that I can’t dock landscape.

I very seldom complain about an Apple design however, I believe that this is a flaw with the iPad. So I now find myself blaming Jony Ive for my disappointment with the iPad’s one design flaw. Like he said, “There is not a right or wrong way of holding it.” But when it comes to docking it is a different story and I find myself having to fit the product.

I am constantly annoyed every time I open up Words With Friends HD and have to rotate my iPad 90 degrees, to portrait. When an App makes me reorient the device to portrait I might be annoyed however, when I can’t dock the device and utilize it in the position I want I am very annoyed – especially when I would like to use Apps like Calendar, IM+ or News Rack which show more information in landscape then portrait.

I really hope that the next iPad can truly live up to Jony Ive’s belief that with the iPad, “I don’t have to change myself to fit the product. It fits me.” I’m not saying two dock connectors on the device for portrait and landscape but if that was the solution I would not complain. I just wish that I could use a keyboard and dock in the way that I want. (With all of that said I still love my iPad and would not get rid of it no matter what.)

Apple (Ticker Symbol: AAPL) ended May with its shares trading at $256.88, finishing the month with a market value (sum value of all outstanding shares) of $233.74 billion dollars. Apple’s total market value has eclipsed the market value of its long-time rival Microsoft and positions the company only behind Exxon Mobil in market value among publicly-traded US enterprises.

Meanwhile Scott Craig of Merrill Lynch has reportedly raised his target price for Apple to $325 per share. At Friday’s closing price Apple is trading at a price-earnings multiple of just under 22 times trailing 12-month earnings, a discount to the 63% rate of earnings per share growth Apple has experienced in the first six months of its current fiscal year. Recent analyst target price increases suggests there’s room for share price appreciation leading up to the release of June quarter results in late July.

The early success of the Apple iPad including the product’s enthusiastic reception in late May as it began a limited international release may lead to additional analyst target price increases during June. Last week on The Other Mac Blog I issued an earnings estimate for Apple of $15 (or more) in earnings per share this fiscal year on revenue of about $65 billion.

Stay tuned to The Other Mac Blog as we enter the final month of the June quarter and more information on magnitude of the Apple’s iPad’s early success become available.

Robert Paul Leitao

By using my iPad for the second half of spring semester I have gotten acustomed to its use within the classroom. When finals approached I knew that I would find myself using the iPad in ways I did not usually use my laptop. For my larger research papers however I did ditch my iPad for my larger screen laptop so I could research, write, and watch HULU all at once. However, when it came to studying and reviewing for my finals I found my self turning to my iPad over my laptop and printed notes.

FlashCards

I have been a fan of the Apple Desktop application iFlash ($14.95) for quite some time and enjoyed their accompanying free iPhone App when the iPhone first came out. However, when I realized I would have to go searching for the license key and re-download iFlash for my desktop computer I decided to take a second look at flash card applications. That is when I discovered FlashCards (currently $2.99), an easy to use flashcard application that even allowed me to upload a .csv through their website. I have been using it this week to review my history terms and could not be happier. The one complaint I have with most flashcard applications, especially now that the iPad is an option, is I think having the user type the answer instead of just saying it to him/herself can help the memorization process, but that is just my personal opinion.

Reviewing Notes

Most of my notes have been taken within the Notes application or Pages depending on what else I was doing on the device during the class. This meant that I quickly copied my class notes from the notes application into Pages. I was able to review my notes while on the go. I have already talked about the mobility that the iPad has and was able to take full advantage of this benefit. Even right before my religion test I was able to review  my notes until the moment the teacher handed the test out. The other benefit that the iPad had was that I had scanned pdf versions of other students notes on my iPad for the one or two classes I had missed.  I used Good Reader For iPad ($0.99) to review these scanned notes.

The Other Things Matter

The iPad was great for studying and great for taking study breaks. I used iCal to organize my study schedule and a to do list I made in the Notes App. Also, being able to chat mid study session and ask a quick question to a fellow student was also very useful. The iPad has fit neatly into a my student life and I can’t wait to return next year with all my text books loaded up and see what other Apps and tools are at my disposal.

Earlier today Mac Daily News reported that Apple’s service MobileMe may become free. The service provides email, contacts and calendars syncing, along with 20GB of space to store files, simple web hosting, photo sharing, even services to find lost or stolen iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads. It first started as a free service in 2000 iTools. It was repackaged in 2002 as .Mac, and then became the service it is today in 2008, MobileMe. While iTools and .Mac were the favorites of Apple users MobileMe received many mixed reviews. However, it is a service that I and my entire family use every day and could not live without hence we have been willing to pay $99 for single packs and $149 for family packs since .Mac.

So Why Make It Free?

Hardware

Apple is a hardware company. Apple designs software and services to sell more devices. While it nice to make $100 off users once a year, Apple would much rather have customers buying iPhones and Macs to gain the benefits of MobileMe for free. The other problem that Apple faces is that in the retail environment when a customer comes into buy a Mac they are presented with the Mac, iWork, One To One, MobileMe, and Apple Care (not to mention the suggestion of an external hardrive). Depending on your computer MobileMe, iWork, One To One, and Apple Care can run over $400 on top of the computer. If Apple can cut out the expense of MobileMe it becomes another feature of the computer providing many benefits for the user and Apple computers become even more attractive purchases.

Google

It has been hyped up that Apple and Google are at odds. Google offers free web services. Apple asks for $100 for many services that Google also provides. Apple already has begun rich and easy to use web interfaces with both MobileMe and its own retail schedule system. Apple has begun to create iWork.com to share and easily access your documents for free. The next logical step is for MobileMe to be joined with the iWork.com. This move will mean that Apple is taking the first aggressive step towards Google. While it may not be entering the search business it is most certainly entering the online services business, one that google has dominated and really controlled since Gmail first started.

So What Does This Mean?

Right now this is just a rumor that has been unconfirmed. However, it will certainly be the conversation of today on the Mac Blog Sphere. If Apple does plan to move to the free online service model you can be sure that it will be announced at WWDC and coincide with the server farm in North Carolina. If Apple does make this move I will eagerly await not having to pay my renewal in the fall.

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About a year ago, May 5, 2009 to be precise rumors began to fly that Apple was looking to purchase Twitter. This was after Facebook, Google, and Microsoft had been reported to have made attempts at purchasing the company. At that time it seemed crazy that Apple would look to purchase the company as reported by  MacRumors, “Twitter continues to run on venture capital funding and has yet to find a revenue stream.” However, Twitter did have some other interesting features.  It had been recently featured on Apple.com in the Business profile section. It was an entire company nearly run completely on Apple computers. It was a wanted commodity by Apple competitors and many Mac Bloggers at the time had some interesting ideas of what Apple planned to do once it purchased Twitter.

Owen Thomas in a Gawker article felt that, “if you understand the particular culture of those who work on the Web. While Apple might have it’s pick of hardware designers and software engineers, Web developers are a breed apart — and they have balked at working at a company like Apple, which may look innovative to the world at large, but seems fusty and hidebound to the Mission hipsters who build websites.” Thomas continued, “Apple is surely realizing it needs to play in this world [web], and needs someone to show it the way. Is it coincidence that Apple has put Twitter executives on stage so frequently, or that it profiled Twitter as a “business” recently?” Believing that, “If Apple buys Twitter, it won’t be about making money. It will be about making a statement. In 140 characters or less.”

Thomas believed that Apple’s acquisition of Twitter would be a move to grab web savvy designers and be able to harness them to help Apple enter the world of web class applications past what MobileMe currently was. Apple was looking to make a statement with the purchase of the company but what if Apple had other plans at the time besides social networking or grabbing some skilled web designers.

What would have happened if Apple had purchased Twitter for the technology it possessed and looked to integrate it into the iPhone and iPad. I had hoped that Apple would look to Twitter to create a system of messaging for the iPhone. I thought of Apple’s attempt to make a version of BBM for the iPhone and other potential devices such as the iPad. Apple had hoped that by not including picture messaging on the original iPhone users would have smartly taken to emailing photos instead of desiring MMS. Yet, this did not catch and Apple eventually folded adding MMS support.

Text messaging was prior to the age of smart phones with data plans and while Apps promise free text messaging they also require a second number, an email or some type of inconviense  to the user that often question whether saving $20 a month is worth the pain free process of text messaging. BlackBerry’s service BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) allows for push conversations between all BlackBerry Devices. It is a popular favorite with my friends who own a BlackBerry and often a bragging point used when comparing phones. However, imagine Twitter becoming the major means of conversation between phone users as opposed to text messaging. It would be free for any phone with a data contract and it is being widely adopted. If Apple had purchased Twitter this might have been one of their plans.

Since May 5, 2009 when rumors started to fly it seems that Twitter has only grown in popularity and Apple publicly has made no more advances towards the company. Especially after yesterday’s Twitter bug it seems Apple might have made the smart way staying away from the company.

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On Friday Apple’s share price (Ticker Symbol: AAPL) ended the day and the month of April at $261.09. At that price the company’s market cap (or sum value of all outstanding shares) is about $238 billion.

On my personal blog Posts At Eventide I make the case for Apple’s share price to move beyond $500 and for the company’s market cap to reach $500 billion or one-half trillion dollars within three years from today. Beyond all of the facts and figures there’s a simple axiom that applies to Apple’s business model:

Apple doesn’t sell products and services. Apple creates customer relationships that sell the company’s products and services.

From the company’s inception in the late 1970′s until the worldwide success of the Apple iPod following its release in 2001, Apple’s primary revenue and earnings came from the sale of personal computers. While the iPod line became a big success and for years assisted in fueling Apple’s explosive growth, it was more than the device itself that was needed to bring about its success. The opening of the iTunes music store in 2003 and the release of iTunes for Windows were catalysts for iPad sales and global adoption of the music player. The iPod and the two factors mentioned exponentially increased the base of Apple product customers.

While the Macintosh line of personal computers have been in the market since 1984, in the most recent quarterly period only 28% of Apple’s reported revenue came from Mac sales. In that same three month period iPhone-related revenue represented 40% of the total. Remarkably the revenue category that includes iTunes activity was responsible for  almost 10% of the total. Apple’s revenue mix is much more dynamic today than at any time in the company’s history. Apple’s recent release of the iPad will make the revenue mix even more dynamic. This new product line may add 20% to the current quarter’s revenue total and in its first calendar quarter of release surpass the Macintosh in unit sales. it will also expand Apple’s reach to millions of new customers who own neither a Mac or an iPhone.

Although the Macintosh line is contributing less to Apple as a percentage of overall revenue, the company is selling more Macs now than at anytime in its history and the Macintosh remains at the center of Apple’s success. Where people make a big mistake in evaluating Apple is choosing to view the company as a collection of separate product lines that have their unit sales combined each quarter for financial reports.

As I posted in my latest blog entry, evaluating each product line outside of its interdependent relationship with other product lines or revenue segments will invariably lead to an underassessment of Apple’s revenue and earnings growth potential.

Apple doesn’t need commanding unit market share in each of its product segments to fuel revenue and earnings growth. Apple needs to continue creating customer relationships while increasing the yield per existing customer relationship through the sales of products and services. It’s the customer relationships that grow the company not the isolated sales of individual products. Disassembled and viewed individually, each product line or revenue segment would not appear to justify today’s almost $250 billion market cap let alone reveal the potential for a doubling of the share price over the next three years.

Another way to view the prospects of Apple’s future success is to understand the depth and importance of Apple’s customer relationships. With an increasingly dynamic product and revenue mix, customer relationships become the most important constant. A customer who purchases a Mac from the experience of using an iPhone or an Apple iPad has tripled Apple’s revenue from that one customer relationship. Conversely a Mac owner who purchases an iPhone or Apple iPad has increased Apple’s revenue from the customer relationship by roughly 50%. This revenue yield ratio does not include recurring revenue sources such as app, music, movie or book sales, etc. through the iTunes franchise.

If you are an Apple product owner chances are you currently have more than one Apple product in your home or at a minimum have purchased content such as music, movies, apps and now electronic books through iTunes. Your relationship with Apple continues long beyond the original transactions when your Mac, iPhone or iPod were purchased. With the highest customer satisfaction levels among competitors in the company’s  major product segments, supporting and expanding customer relationships is Apple’s key to success.

For the 6-month period ended in March, Apple increased revenue about 40% over the prior year period and grew earnings per share by 63%. That pace of earnings growth should continue through the remaining moths of the company’s fiscal year with continued strong revenue and earnings growth through fiscal year 2011.

It’s the expansion of customer relationships that will propel Apple’s market cap to one-half trillion dollars within three years, not the success any one product line. It’s the dynamic nature of Apple’s revenue mix with strong customer relationships as a constant that’s the source of the company’s growth and future earnings potential. My updated 12-month share price forecasts have recently been posted.

Robert Paul Leitao

On my second day of using an iPad instead of a laptop as a college student I found the iPad excelling in all areas except one, HULU.  My Tuesdays are typically spent putting together the newspaper which means I do not have class.  It was a very nice long Easter break especially because we did not have a paper this week.  This day, however, was filled with work with or without class both for classes as well as for the paper.

NUMBERS
Yesterday was my first real world experience using Numbers on the iPad. I was emailed a series of Excel files from one of the Business guys on the newspaper and began playing with the salaries for next year. It involved color coding the background of cells, simple formulas and a lot of copy and pasting. I chose not to use a bluetooth keyboard.  I found the on screen keyboard for Numbers to be an incredibly pleasing experiences especially with the formula options. It made my friends in the business school very jealous how easily I could pull up all the formulas but even more convenient my more recent formulas. It does take some time to get used to using your finger and navigating through cells and rows but it becomes a natural flow once you have become acclimated to the interface which takes possibly 5 minutes at the most. While I have begun to use Pages I will wait until I have gone to class to begin my review on Pages.

RSS READER- NewsRack (If You Don’t Have It Get It)
I have said casually that the iPad might bring about the main stream use of RSS and more importantly Google Reader. I have begun to uses NewsRack to constantly check my RSS feeds. This is because Safari does not have a tab view. On my laptop I would use auto open tabs to check all of my websites in the morning, at noon, and at night. Without auto tabs I have begun to reuse my Google Reader and one of my favorite paid apps NewsRack (Formally NewStand), which not only syncs with Google Reader but also can be used on the iPhone as well.

NO HULU
So what was the first use for my computer since taking up the iPad as my primary device, the Flash based website HULU.com. While I did watch one iTunes TV Show which I had previously subscribed to, which was a pleasurable experience being able to have the 9 inch screen close and to be able to simply curl up with the iPad and watch. HULU. does not yet provide me that experience. However, many people will tell you rumors are flying that a HULU app will be coming.

Battery Life
The most shocking benefit that the iPad has provided me in the past two days between playing games, watching tv or Netflix, using wifi and bluetooth, typing documents, and web surfing is I can go from morning to night without needing to charge.  I will begin to track how much time I am spending on each activity and what my battery life looks like in future posts.

I’ll be trying out a new style for these posts tomorrow.  Please let me know which one you prefer in the comments below.

The nice thing about going to a Catholic University is the fact that I had Easter Monday off. The bad part was, it was also Day 1 of trying the iPad out as a college student without any classes to attend or real homework to do. This however, gave me a chance to try out and play with a lot of the different apps.

MAIL
My first impression of the Mail App was that it made email fun again, being able to easily organize and view email in a way that I had never before. It brought the ease of the iPhone email application combined with a larger screen and speed. The one draw back that I see in the Mail App is that there is no way to create new folders (mailboxes) which means that it can’t replace my desktop based mail client. This issue however also occurs in the Contacts and Calendar applications on the iPad in regards to contact groups and different calendars however this is an easy update to the Apps. All in all I managed to reply to emails and organize my email box, a task which I had been putting off for quite sometime.

ON SCREEN KEYBOARD
I have already said I don’t think more than a paragraph should be typed on the on screen keyboard . I am beginning to rethink that philosophy, as many reviewers have been typing entire articles out on the keyboard. Personally I would just rather use Dragon Dictate because it is very powerful and proficient. It has a gorgeous interface for the iPad. I will be rethinking my philosophy on the on screen keyboard. For now, I am using a bluetooth wireless keyboard along with the Apple iPad case which has made for a very nice experience.

APPS
In future posts I will begin to review specific Apps that I use on a daily basis along with Apps that I believe are well made and take advantage of all the possibilities the iPad has to offer. One of the most interesting things I have noticed is that the iPad may bring RSS feeds into popularity and Google Reader might see an increase number of users because of how easily some of the RSS readers utilize Google Reader.

AS A STUDENT
As a student one of the things that I have noticed with the iPad is that I am much more focused on the tasks that I am currently working on. While I may have an IM application running in the background and music playing I am focused on the task at hand. This means that their are no videos running in a corner of the screen or websites to distract me however, if I should need any of videos or website they are simply a touch away. I am able to complete my work much quicker then in the past. As a student who has been using a laptop in class and for homework since 7th grade(2001) as much of a blessing it has been it has also opened the door to numerous distractions. For the first time in a long time I have not felt distracted and have been able to just sit down and work. That might be one of the greatest benefits of the iPad the ability to have what your working on take up the entire screen.

I have yet to use my computer today however I will be forced to log onto a computer in order to add links because I still have yet to find a way on the iPad.

In the Mac Blogging Community in the past 48 hours you can find tear downs,
unpackings, and impulsive reviews of the iPad. It is my hope The Other Mac
Blog can distinguish itself from those style reviews. As a full time college
student and Mac enthusiast, I believe I can provide the Mac community with
an interesting perspective. I know there are a lot of people who want to see
if the iPad can really replace the laptop in education and I have a first
hand chance to become part of that debate.

For the next 30 days I will use my iPad instead of my MacBook Pro in every
scenario that a common college student would use a laptop. From taking notes
in class, to researching information, to studying for tests, and even
Facebook creeping, my iPad will be there every step of the way. I will put
this new device to the test.

There are some scenarios that the iPad will not be able to provide the
solutions I need namely my work for my school paper. The photo illustrations
and layout of the paper sadly require the use of Adobe Products such as
Indesign and Photoshop (although I personally use Pixelmator). There will be
some other times when I will deem it necessary to use a fully functioning
computer such as intensive database research, syncing and backing up my
iPad, and unforeseen situations as well (essentially times when using an
iPad would result in effecting my grades poorly). I see the new buying model
for students to be that of an iPad and a desktop based computer be it an
iMac, Mac Mini or a Windows PC.

I have already begun my iPad transition – I am writing this article on my
iPad. I am, however , using a bluetooth keyboard to type because I believe
anything that is longer then a paragraph needs to be done with a keyboard.
That said, this keyboard and the iPad are still a lot easier to lug around
then my 15in Macbook Pro. The new WordPress iPad App is amazing as well.

I will be posting daily starting tomorrow on what I was able to do on my
iPad and when I needed to use a computer as a crutch. I would appreciate
comments on any of these articles and feedback if there’s an app that can be
used on the iPad to replace a particular need for a computer.

I look forward to testing the iPad and providing the Mac-using world with
insights into whether or not the iPad is a game changer for college
students.