The Demented Ravings of Frank W. Zammetti Visit www.zammetti.com for all things me

What the Apple v. HTC suit is REALLY all about

Well, it's just about 2am here and I just got back from a business trip a few hours ago... I SHOULD be going to sleep, but instead I'm doin' the ole' blog thing!

On the flight back I saw the news that Apple has opened litigation against HTC claiming infringement on 20 patents (as per Android Central's reporting).  This of course led to almost an hours' worth of debate between myself and my boss on the drive home.

In short, this seems to me like the absolute stupidest move Apple could ever make because it puts them in serious jeopardy.

And plus, it's in no way, shape or form about HTC or what they may or may not be infringing!  No, this is a proxy war between two (and possibly three) very big dogs.  And it's a war I don't see any way Apple can win.

To be clear, I don't for a second believe Apple cares one bit about HTC directly and what patent infringement might be going on with them.  This is about one thing and one thing only: the threat that Android and Google pose to Apple's place in the smartphone market.

Android has been gaining ground steadily since its release, which is frightening to Apple's "we must thoroughly dominate the market" mentality.  They won't be content with 70% or 80% or even 90% of the market.  No, it's all-or-nothing for King Jobs and his minions.  The Nexus One in particular is a scary proposition for Apple because aside from being a pretty damned good smartphone by all accounts, it comes unlocked, which means it has the potential to penetrate the market much more through flexibility and availability on multiple networks alone.

Google is all but synonymous with cloud-based living at this point.  How many people rely on Gmail and Google Calendar and even Google Docs these days?  More and more, people are becoming comfortable with living their digital lives in the cloud, and Google has for a while now been positioning itself as the gatekeeper to that world.  Apple's Mobile Me is in direction competition with that.

Now, tie smartphones to data in the cloud, which is what all the big players are doing now, and you see where Apple looks over at Google and says "woah, hey, THAT'S the primary threat".  Not hard to come to that conclusion at all.

So, how does Apple deal with it?  Well, how they SHOULD deal with it is simply to continue to make good products.  They should compete on merit because, regardless of how you feel about them, you have to admit that they CAN compete on merit!  That's what most normal people and companies would do... but then, most people are not, and most companies are not led by, over-the-edge egomaniacal control freaks.  Apple is, so the rules aren't the same.

Back to smartphones for a moment... who makes Googles' Nexus One?  Well, not Google... no, it's our friends over at HTC.

And that exclamation of "AH-HA!" you just heard is Steve Jobs and his room full of lawyers realizing a strategy.

Apple doesn't want to attack Google directly, really in any way, because that's one helluva dangerous opponent.  Apple has more cash reserves at the moment, but Google isn't exactly hurting in that regard by any stretch, and their market capitalization is pretty similar at the moment.  Google is certain to have a real nice patent portfolio by now with which to fend off Apple if they had to.  There's probably some intangible assets they could deploy in such a battle too.  Whoever ultimately won, Apple would be wounded in that confrontation pretty badly.

What they CAN do however is attack a lesser opponent, someone Google depends on.  HTC fits the bill nicely.  How much of a dent would it be in Googles' plans if HTC went bye-bye?  A pretty big one I'd say.  Google wants the Nexus One to succeed because that's the business model they want to pursue.  They ultimately do want to own the hardware and the OS, just like Apple, and the Nexus One is the first iteration of that.  Sure, they could find another partner.  Motorola perhaps.  But HTC has a strong track record in this space and they are in many ways the best option.  Besides, if Google went to Motorola instead I'd expect they'd be served with a legal filing from Apple a short time later too.

And on the surface, it's not a bad strategy.  Unless HTC has some strong patents to fight back with... and they'd have to be strong enough to be able to get injunctive relief against Apple almost immediately otherwise Apple could just litigate them into the ground over a prolonged period of time... then Apple stands a real good chance of winning that battle.

Here's where it can get dangerous for Apple though...

Google isn't likely to jump into it directly just like Apple wouldn't attack them directly.  This is very much the United States and the Soviet Union fighting each other via Vietnam... neither side wants the fallout that would result from a direct confrontation, but you can be sure Google has a HUGE stake in this game and WILL be involved.  One way they could do it would be to hand HTC a bunch of patents to use against Apple with the understanding that Google has a perpetual, free license to those patents.  They could even decide to buy HTC outright, assuming they had the money.  I don't think there's any real chance of that though... what would  be the upside to taking on the litigation themselves?

There's a much larger 800-pound gorilla in the room though, and this is the part that Apple may not be counting on enough.

Microsoft.

I think there's a real scenario where Google and Microsoft team up against Apple.  Why you ask?  Do you know who makes a lot of Windows Mobile devices?  Yep, HTC again.  So far I've seen no hints that Microsoft is looking to produce their own hardware with Windows Mobile 7, so it's  not at all far-fetched that they'll be working with HTC again as a premier partner.  They won't want to see HTC be destroyed either.

They of course don't want to see Apple have the smartphone market locked up so tight that Windows Mobile 7 has zero chance right form the start either, and since Android is really the only viable competitor right now (as much as I love Palm's webOS, to be fair, Android has more momentum as a competitor to Apple right now) they can't afford for Google to be knocked down TOO far either.  Android doing well, at least for a little while longer, in a bizarre sort of way is actually good for Microsoft.

Microsoft getting into the fray, whether publicly or privately (and I strongly suspect we might never know if they do get involved) is a real bad thing for Apple because Microsoft has a MASSIVE patent portfolio.  And they've got patents on some pretty basic stuff that, let's face it, EVERYONE is infringing on (and yes, you can make that same argument for Apple, IBM and a lot of others).  Microsoft PLUS Google though... that's a battle almost no one could win (IBM could maybe pull it off, but that's probably about it).

To put it in simpler terms: Apple runs the risk here of hitting not one but TWO hornets' nests and then standing there laughing at them.  If Microsoft and Google decide to play the old "the enemey of my enemey is my friend" game then Apple is in for a world of hurt.

Then of course you have HTC, stuck in the middle, possibly having their value reduced massively...which is another angle to this: Apple could in fact be looking to purchase HTC.  I admit I just don't see any reason they'd want to, but assuming they do, filing patent infringement cases can be a good way to reduce the value of a takeover target enough to make purchasing it far more attractive.  I pretty much discount this scenario though as it doesn't make much sense to me in this case.  It's not at all an unheard of tactic in business to be sure, but in this case it just doesn't fit in my mind.

No, I think it comes down to Apple wanting to hurt Google without going after them directly.  So, we get to witness a fascinating little proxy war.  Apples' boardroom calculus (or, Steve Jobs' insane inner voice, depending on what you believe) says this will work... and it could, if Google stays out of it.  I don't see how they can though... I don't think Google can afford to let HTC fail; one way or another they've GOT to get involved.  The question then becomes if Microsoft feels threatened enough to get into it too, which is a huge gamble for Apple to take because while they can almost certainly beat HTC, and MIGHT be able to beat Google alone, there's NO WAY they come out on top against both Google and Microsoft (plus HTC don't forget).

Patent wars NEVER end good for anyone.  They're a shitty, almost desperate tactic that frankly only bullshit companies pull.  And they ESPECIALLY never end well for the initiating company if multiple other companies gang together in common cause against them.  Only time will tell of course, but Apple quite possibly just sealed their own fate here.  If they miscalculated, if Google and Microsoft both get involved even if only under the table, that's real bad news for Apple no matter how you slice it.

And that leads to the question of who's driving this whole thing in the first place?  Steve Jobs is all but an absolute, infallible dictator at this point, so it's completely reasonable to think he fell in the shower one morning and awoke an hour later with this plan in his head.  That wouldn't surprise me.  Jobs has arguably almost ruined Apple twice, and he's about due for a third try I'd say!  Maybe this is it.  Then again, maybe the entire executive committee got together and dreamed this up.  You know what, maybe Apple LEGITIMATELY feels like they're in the right and that's it!  That could be the case.  I don't for ONE MICROSECOND think that's it at all, but to be fair, it could be.

To conclude... ask yourself what the benefit of suing HTC is for Apple.  What do they stand to gain?  Do they need any added income from patent licensing fees?  No.  Is HTC any sort of direct threat to them?  No.  Is this really a matter of principal where they truly feel their IP is being infringed and they want to fight for their rights in that regard?  Could be, but I just can't believe that.

What POSSIBLE reason is there for them to go after HTC at all?

There's only one in my mind: Google.  (And maybe Microsoft to a lesser extent)

Patent infringement cases like this are the equivalent of the nuclear option.  Apple has clearly just pressed the button.  Let's see who lobs ICBMs back their way and who has less scorched earth when all is said and done.  No matter if you agree or disagree with me I think we can totally agree this is going to be very interesting to watch!

When comparisons go wrong

I was reading a post over at The Register today talking about Opera Mini on the iPhone.  One of the talkbacks made a comparison between Apple's App Store and a real store.

They said (essentially) that if you own a brick-and-mortar store you can choose to sell any merchandise you want and reject any you don't want to sell.  You can do this for any reason, no matter how stupid to everyone else, and it's acceptable.  They went on to say, by extension, Apple should have the same right and that's why it would be OK for them to reject Opera Mini (if they do... apparently Opera hasn't submitted it yet, or at least hasn't heard an answer yet).  That's why it is OK for them to reject any application for any reason and nobody should complain about it.

The person is of course correct about a store in the physical world.  It is well within the rights of the owner to sell or not sell whatever they want.  Shouldn't the same right extend to Apple and their store?  Surely the fact that it's not a physical store doesn't make a difference, does it?

No, it doesn't make a difference, and on the surface it seems like a perfectly reasonable, correct comparison.

The problem is, it's not.

I'm reminded of the words of Jean Luc Picard from one of my favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "The First Duty"... while talking to Wesley he says "You told the truth up to a point.  But a lie of omission is still a lie".

Now, the talkbacker wasn't being dishonest.  No, he simply made a mistake in his argument, but one based on the same principal: you can make something false appear true simply by omitting a troublesome detail from the argument.

What's the flaw you ask?  Simply put, there are other stores in the physical world that you could go to in order to buy something the first store doesn't offer.  That's how it's meant to work.  Walmart doesn't have the DVD player you want so you head over to Target for it.  You may be annoyed at Walmart for not carrying it, but you can't claim they did anything wrong by not carrying it.  That would clearly be a ridiculous argument.

In the case of Apple, there is no other store to choose from.  You buy from Apple's store or you hack your device and run afoul of crappy legislation (I'm looking at you DMCA... and by the way, if we ever meet up at a party I'm gonna bitch-slap your punk ass!)  No other store means that Apple is an absolute gatekeeper to anyone wanting to sell merchandise (read: apps_.  No such gatekeeper exists in the real world.  Sure, you may not be able to find anyone who wants to sell your product in their store, but you have many options to try, not just one with an absolute final say in all matters.

To go further, I'll say what some won't: Apple does have a monopoly (which in and of itself is not a legal or even moral problem) and they are in fact abusing it (which very much is both a legal and moral problem).  In my opinion they should be brought up on antitrust charges.  There's certainly no shortage of people that would testify about abuses they have experienced.

What about the competition?  Well, Palm lets you install apps from outside their store, officially now in fact (and even before it was official they were at worst agnostic).  Microsoft of all companies, in light of their legally-proven monopoly abuses of the past, has always allowed this with Windows Mobile and unless they intend to change that now with their new app store, will continue to do so.  I'm frankly not sure where Android or Blackberry stand on things.

I do know that only Apple has seemed to be abusive about it if you go by nothing else but public outcry... well, maybe "public" isn't the right word there... developer outcry perhaps.  Certainly the public doesn't seem to mind very much, they are quite happy with their iPhones and the app store.

And therein lies the rub, as they say.  I can sit here and, as I see it, be right about all of this, but at the same time still be wrong!  If the public at large doesn't have an issue with it, does it matter if it's wrong legally?  After all, things are only illegal or wrong because society at large has deemed them so, and as public opinion changes so too do laws (we're likely to see marijuana legalized in our lifetime for example).  Even taking the legal aspect out of the debate, iPhone owners are, by and large, very happy customers.  They don't care if Apple rejects some apps for dubious reasons.  If they did, the sales numbers wouldn't be what they are both in terms of phones and apps.

But in any case, I don't think the comparison to real-world stores is valid.  Until there is another store someone can buy an iPhone app from, or Apple decides to allow "sideband" installs without jailbreaking... neither of which is likely to happen before marijuana is legalized!... it's just not a valid comparison in my opinion, and because of it, to me, Apple is illegally abusing a monopoly position and should be prosecuted for it.

I'm not a lawyer of course, but that's the way I see it.

(and yes, I'm pretty sure this means you won't see me writing a book on iPhone programming any time soon!!)

Thoughts on Palm’s CES showing

CES was a good show for Palm, no question.  They “brought the thunder”, “made it rain” or whatever the hell it is the cool kids are saying these days.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say it was a great show for them.  They delivered on everything most of us thought they would based on various rumors and hints leading up to the show, and yet still managed to give us a surprise or two.

What did we get?  Let’s run down at least some of it:

• The PDK (Plugin Development Kit).  For code monkeys like me, this is the biggest announcement.  It allows us to write native applications in C/C++ that, from what I think I’ve understood through reading, wind up running essentially as browser plug-ins to the Webkit engine that provides the webOS UI (hence the PDK name).  No question this is cool and opens up a whole new world of applications.  In fact, one of the surprises Palm pulled off was a bunch of titles released into the App Catalog concurrent with the announcement that are pretty awesome.  I’ve downloaded a couple myself already and they are clearly head and shoulders above anything we’ve seen on a webOS device before.  However, all is not right with the world here, but I’m going to come back to this later because it’ll wind up being the main thrust of this post I suspect.

• The Pre and Pixi Plus and Verizon availability.  I used to be a Verizon customer but I’ve been a very happy Sprint customer for a number of years, long before the Pre.  To be frank, I could care less about Verizon and Palm being on their network, except for one key point: it opens up a whole new base of users to sell apps to.  In this regard alone this is a huge bit of news.  We of course knew this was coming for some time, although the devices themselves were kept pretty quiet until the past few days.  I am pretty pissed that I can’t get a Pre Plus as a Sprint customer though and my hope is Palm and Sprint make it available in the not too distant future.  The problem however is if its six months out say, which doesn’t seem like a crazy guess, then I’d bet we’re beginning to talk about a Pre v2 then (or v3, depending on who you ask) and maybe it’s better to just skip the Pre Plus.  The point of course is I want the damned thing NOW, so boo-hiss to Palm on this one.  I’m sure it makes sense from a business perspective… I’d guess Verizon made them being the exclusive provider of the Plus devices part of the deal, and Palm realizes that it’s more important to get webOS-based devices into the hands of more users and that us Sprint customers who get pissed are just a bit of collateral damage.  Makes sense for them.  Sucks for us though.

• The news about webOS 1.4 was where I think there were some surprises.  Certainly I didn’t really anticipate video (although I was hoping).  It sounds like a real nice upgrade all-around and kudos to Palm for continuing their free upgrades at a rapid clip.  Now, where the hell is voice recording guys?  I’m hoping it gets slipped into 1.4, or is there already and they just didn’t mention it.  This is one thing I REALLY miss from my Windows Mobile days and it’s surprising that a modern smartphone doesn’t have it.  Palm, if you’re listening, I can’t imagine for a second this is a difficult or time-consuming thing to implement… slip it into 1.4 and make at least me a very happy person!  Please!  I’ll name my next child after you… Palm Zammetti has a nice ring to it : )

• Flash is coming soon.  This is awesome news and will of course greatly expand the webOS application landscape.  I'll be very happy to be able to show people Happy Tree Friends, Weebl and Bob and The Lonely Astronaut on-the-go again!  Here’s the one key question though: how is it implemented?  Is it the case that we can visit a web page and have Flash content work?  That’s a given.  However, will I be able to “install” a Flash app and launch it directly from the launcher?  In other words, will I be able to run a Flash application in such a way that it looks no different than any other webOS application?  That’s my hope.  Knowing the architecture of webOS I frankly EXPECT it to work that way.  Now, how “installation” works, I’m not so sure, but at the end of the day since webOS is essentially a browser for all intents and purposes, and Flash is a browser plug-in, I certainly think it SHOULD work this way and if it doesn't then I'd say Palm has missed an opportunity.  Maybe it's not up to them, maybe it's 100% on Adobe, but I know if I was Palm I'd exert as much influence as possible to ensure this was the case.  At this point, if I had to bet, I'd bet it does work this way because it seems too obvious... but we'll see.

I may have missed one or two things, but I think those are the really major items.

Ok, so now I want to talk about two things that I see as negatives about the whole native app thing that I haven’t seen mention of elsewhere.  First, stability.

Yesterday I was playing Asphalt5, which by the way is an awesome game!  However, it crashed on me twice in a ten minute period.  This was a hard crash too: I had to literally pull the battery to get any sort of reaction.

This is very much the risk you run with native applications.  We can talk all we want about the stability of Linux, how things are compartmentalized and all that jazz, but at the end of the day, its C, its pointers, and that’s a dangerous combination in the hands of lesser developers (hell, even good ones!).  It would be easy to say maybe we’re just looking at one poorly-coded game in my case, and maybe I’m making an unfair generalization from it.  The problem is that it’s a generalization that’s always been true on every platform out there!  The closer you get to bare metal, the more dangerous your code becomes, regardless of what safety the OS provides.  So, we may see some stability issues from this native capability, and unfortunately that’s going to wind up reflecting badly on Palm.  Remember, most users aren't developers... they don't know from C, or web versus native development, they just know that their Pre crashed hard playing The Sims, and they'll blame Palm (and the company who created the game of course, in whatever ratio they deem correct).

I’ll be honest though: the sooner I see a Commodore 64 emulator ported over the sooner I’ll be 100% in love with the native capability : )

However, there’s a much more subtle negative… or, to put it more correctly, POSSIBLE negative (it very much depends on your point of view, as Obi Wan once said!).

So here we have Palm all along telling us the web application development model is the future.  They’ve built their whole operating system around that concept and in fact have I think effectively bet the future of their company on it because if webOS turns out to be a failure it could ruin them.  From the very start they’ve been telling us that HTML+CSS+JavaScript is all you need to create robust, top-notch applications for webOS, and I know that I for one believed it, in fact did before Palm said anything, and I still very much believe this to be the case.

So, do we now take the native apps as a tacit admission that the web development model doesn’t quite cut it?

I know what you’re going to say: only for a certain class of applications that might be true.  3D games still are not generally possible with web technologies (a few tech demos and even one or two relatively simple games that do exist being exceptions).  And to a large extent I agree with you... what web developers can do increases seemingly every day as the technologies and standards develop, but today, right this minute, there are clear limitations  Why should Palm say that only the web development model is right then for everything?  Why shouldn’t they say that maybe for certain types of applications there needs to be a different approach?

I’m ok with that in general I suppose.  I’m ok with saying “if you’re going to write this sort of application, the standard SDK is fine, and if you’re going to write this other sort of application than maybe you should be using the PDK”.  That makes sense to a large extent.

Where I see it as a negative though is from a philosophical perspective.  Palm is really the first company that has delivered in a mainstream way what many of us have been talking about for a few years: a web technology-based operating system.  To now have to admit it may not be all it’s cracked up to be (if you agree with interpreting it that way) is depressing to those of us that have bought into that model completely.

I was in a sense looking to Palm to push the boundaries on this web development model to new heights because I think they’ve positioned themselves better than any other company to do so.  And I believe they still will do just that, but I think now providing this native capability might serve to muddle the picture somewhat.

To be sure, I think there’s SO much more potential in the web development model, even for games, than what we’re seeing now.  There are a few games in the App Catalog today that actually begin to show what’s possible, and I really wanted to see Palm develop the tools for that model more.  And in fact, I’m 100% sure they are anyway!  If you read the developer site carefully, where they talk about the PDK, they also state that they are working on bringing JavaScript APIs to us developers that give us access to that sort of native power form the web technologies perspective.  Awesome!  That’s what I really want to see!  In fact, I will state for the record that I wish THAT was the primary announcement at CES… as cool as the native apps are, as neat as I think the PDK will be, I would much rather have heard how there were some new JavaScript APIs that gave us more robust hardware access.

I would have preferred that because, philosophically, it’s more inline with what Palm has been preaching all along: the web model.  It’s almost like there’s a dual message now, and from one point of view it’s good, but from another it’s bad.  If the web model was really up to task today we wouldn’t need the PDK.  The fact that it exists in a sense shows that it’s not, and I would have preferred Palm push the boundaries in that area more.

Still, philosophy is debatable, as are these points of view.  Palm did a great job at CES and I for one am VERY excited by what they announced.  I think they made the right moves, all things considered… so long as stability doesn’t prove to be a huge problem with the native apps (only time will tell) and as long as they continue to push the envelope on what the web development model can do.

On the later point, I think they will, but here’s my concern: how easy would it be for Palm to say “ok, we can relax a little now because when people want to code a Twitter client they can use the web model, and when they want to code Halo they can use the native model”.  I think that would be the wrong answer.  The RIGHT answer, to me, is “we’re going to work to make the web model so powerful that you never again need the native model, but FOR NOW, this is the temporary solution we offer”.  That’s cool with me... but over time I should need that PDK less and less, if Palm is doing things right!  If it doesn’t go that way then as far as I can tell they will have admitted the web development model was a mistake.

There’s one other possible third negative that I’m not even sure I agree with, even though I’ve thrown it out there as a possibility in discussions already, and that’s that this native capability might be a bad thing for small-time developers (like me!).  With the EA’s and GameLoft’s of the world in the mix now porting, who can spend so much more on development and, more importantly, ADVERTISING, than I ever could, it’s going to be harder for one and two-man type shops to make a buck.  I think those large development houses might effectively eat our lunch.

Now, some have responded to this by saying that it’s a shame not everyone can be successful but that’s the way the free market works, and I agree.  The difference however is that small-time developers really can’t compete against those bigger companies in most regards.  Like I said, advertising if nothing else.  Oh, to be sure, there WILL be successful small-timers…when it comes to games, a good, fun concept trumps the largest development and advertising budget you can name.  Word of mouth is an extremely powerful thing.

But, if that’s ALL you’ve got going for you, it’s a HUGE gamble to even develop a game.

I’m not sure how this is going to play out… some claim that it hasn’t had a negative impact on the Apple app store,   However, I’ve looked at a number of reports about the top-selling games of 2009 for the iPhone, and guess what?  Most of the top-selling games come from two sources: EA and GameLoft.  Hmm, I just might be on to something here, unfortunately.  Believe me, as someone who develops games and has a few projects gearing up that I hope to make some money off of on webOS, I certainly HOPE I’m wrong and I even WANT to be wrong!

One other thing I want to touch on, and that’s Ares.  I was going to write a rather lengthy blog post about that a week or so ago, but I decided not to because I wanted to think about it a bit more.

Here’s my basic opinion… technologically, it’s cool as hell.  The developers working on it deserve all the credit in the world, they are doing fantastic work.  And, it’s going to be useful for some people.  In fact, just being able to do some of the layout and have the basic skeleton code generated, that would be worth it to ME, someone who otherwise wouldn't need it.

If I was running the show at Palm, would I have built Ares?  Probably not and here’s why: I don’t really think it’s necessary.  The barrier to entry with webOS is already so low that I don’t think Ares buys you much there.  As far as source control and emulation and all that stuff?  Any developer worth their salt has those bases covered anyway.
Who is Ares really for?  I don’t think it’s really for someone like me who has a strong web development background already.  The SDK and Eclipse plug-in gives me all I really need.  No, I think it’s for people that aren’t as accomplished a developer.  If I was running the show, I think I would have had a different set of priorities, a different resource utilization map (I also got some inside information on this aspect of it, which I won't divulge because it was a private conversation... suffice it to say some reasonable arguments were made in rebuttal to my thoughts here... one thing I will say is that Palm certainly seems to have a vision and isn't just doing things for the sake of doing things... whether a given decision turns out to be right or wrong, good or bad, having a vision is a key to success).

And here’s where that could be a problem: Palm has said for a while that they want quality over quantity in the App Catalog.  We’ve already seen hints that they’ve strayed from that a bit… might Ares push that goal further away?  If less talented developers can easily develop for webOS, will that result in a ton more “craplets” out there?  Maybe.

My suspicion about Ares is that at some point down the road we’re going to look at it and say “wow, Ares was a cool product, a neat idea, but there wasn’t much point to the exercise”.  Now, I want to make sure I say here that I could very well be wrong!  I spoke to someone at Palm about this and he mentioned that Ares is a forward-looking product, they see it as something that will be appreciated more down the road.  I think that’s a fair thought, and it might even prove to be correct… it may at some point down the road be recognized as a stroke of genius.  As we sit here today looking at it though, I personally doubt it.

Still, like I said, Ares is very impressive from a technology standpoint and I very much want to commend the team working on it.  Even if it winds up being a bust in terms of real-world usage I do think it’s pushing boundaries and showing us what a new model of developer tooling might look like.  In and of itself, that's very much worth something.

One last point before I go... I'm going to deduct a few merit points from Palm for one thing: STILL NO **USABLE** FREAKING AUDIO API FOR JAVASCRIPT APPLICATIONS?!? I'm getting sick of silent games, or games using the same set of system sounds that everyone else uses.  Please, for the love of all that is good in the world, audio API yesterday please!

Avatar: Yeah, it rocks

---- OBLIGATORY SPOILER ALERT! ----

I'm not going to go over the movie's plot point by point, but some things will get mentioned that, if you don't want to know anything about the movie before you see it, you won't want to read.

---- SPOILER ALERT OVER ----

So I went to see Avatar tonight with a buddy of mine and my 9-year old son.  We went to the local Carmike movie theater, which isn't anywhere near as nice as the Regal 24 20 minutes away that we usually go to.  But, it was a good choice because (a) the theater was only about half-full so there was plenty of seats and plenty of buffer space between people, which I like, and (b) this theater actually has better projectors and sound systems than the Regal does!  So, you trade a much better concession stand, arcade, stadium seating and an otherwise nicer facility for an overall better movie experience.

And for Avatar, that was the right choice.

So, as the title here says, I think the movie is fantastic, put simply.  No, I don't think it changes cinema as we know it, as some have claimed.  No, it's by no means perfect.  Is it Jim Cameron's best?  Maybe.  It certainly doesn't rise or fall too far above or below his other work (I still think The Abyss might be singularly his best work, but Avatar isn't too far off and, after I give it some thought, it might jump out ahead).

But in any case, man, it's damned good!

Now, let me give you the reaction of my friend... he didn't like it much at all.  I *think* his main problem was just that it didn't have enough action and was a bit too, I don't know, wishy-washy maybe?  There's no question that a big part of the story is a love story, and I'm not sure he's the type of guy that ever allows himself to like a movie like that.  It's also definitely "slow" in parts.  This isn't a criticism of him at all... everyone gets to decide for themselves what they think of a movie, and whatever his reasons, he didn't like it much.

My son?  I think he's mixed on it.  He was generally well-behaved throughout, which is usually a sign that he doesn't hate what he's seeing.  I'm not at all sure he totally got the movie, but I know he picked up at least some of the key points because he talked about them a bit afterward.  Still, for him, there wasn't enough action for sure.  I think because the action that was there was really good, it was passable for him.  But yeah, overall I think he's mixed.

Me though?  I loved it.  Start to finish, I thought it was excellent.  The story, in one sense, is pretty simplistic, and really isn't anything too original (maybe the idea of the avatars themselves is at least somewhat original, but in a way it's not a hugely important aspect, as weird as it is to say that given the title of the movie!).

No, at its core, this is a high-minded, new-age-themed movie.  Creatures in perfect equilibrium with their environment, who commune with it and are connected at a fundamental level to it?  A global consciousness that all the inhabitants of the planet are a part of?  The ability to store the memories and "spirit", in some sense, in that global consciousness?  Yeah, that's some left-wing hippy crap right there for sure!

But, it's an incredibly positive idea.  The whole world of Pandora is so beautiful, and not just in a visual sense.  The way these creatures live in perfect harmony with each other, that's a beautiful thing.  It's something we can only wish and hope for here on Earth.

Now, that theme leads to one or two bad moments in the film.  There's practically a dance number (repeated twice in fact) that I groaned a bit during.  It was a little *TOO* hippy-influenced!  It really did look like a few thousand people at Woodstock who got a hold of some bad acid while some happy-happy-joy-joy music played in the background.

But, it's over pretty quick, so I can cope.

The love story angle, again, was a really nice thing to watch unfold.  Everyone's always looking for that "soul mate" connection, and that's what we wind up with here.  It didn't feel like two creatures hot for each other that just wanted to snog; it really felt like it was much deeper than that.  At the same time, it's not an overpowering, wimpy kind of romance thing... you know, the kind of love story guys generally HATE to watch.  No, it was very much in service of the overall story and worked well.

The journey the main character takes is really what makes the movie work IMO.  Like I said, it's not a complex story, and there's no twist to speak of, it all plays out pretty much exactly as you expect it to.  If you're looking for a movie full of surprises story-wise, this most definitely is NOT it.  But, a straightforward story doesn't mean it's *simplistic*.  There's a subtle difference.  You can have a story with complex themes that plays out straight as an arrow, and that's what this is.  How Jake Sully evolves over the course of the story is really the key here.  It's the journey of someone overcoming his own narrow-minded view of things.  It's the journey of a man awakening in a mental and spiritual sense in a way he never dreamed of.  It's the journey of a person becoming at peace with the world around him.

In short, it's the journey we all ultimately want to take, even if we don't know it.

Simple exploration is also a big theme here, and that's a concept that is near and dear to me.  One of my favorite activities is simply going for a drive somewhere I've never been.  I absolutely LOVE that sense of discovery.  I'm also a person who loves the feeling of learning something new, not because it's new information I can make use of, but just that simple moment of discovery when something I didn't understand or know before now is suddenly clear in my mind.

That's the reason Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which most people seem to think isn't so great, I think is one of the best ST movies.  It's all about the unknown, about discovery and exploration (yeah, it's about those things under the threat of imminent destruction, but still!).  The act of exploration and discovery, whether anything comes of it afterward, is worth it in and of itself.

Throughout this movie, the main character Jake is exploring an alien environment, discovering about it and its inhabitants and learning about things he had never been exposed to before.  There are times when the simple joy of this comes through clear as a bell, and I absolutely loved being along for the ride!  The fact that Pandora doesn't exist doesn't matter because it exists in Jim Cameron's mind, and now on the screen, and exploring it is effectively as real as exploring a real planet.  He's also learning about himself, which is one journey of discovery we're all on whether we want to be or not.  Discovering our fears, exploring our limitations and learning about our motivations and values is the very definition of the human experience, whether it's on Earth or Pandora.

What about the FX you ask?  Simply stated, magnificent.  Is it the best-looking movie I've ever seen?  Well, if not, it's damned close.  There's so much detail here, and the blending of the practical and CG is just unbelievable.  I still think the shot of the alien ship floating of Johaanasburg in District 9 is the best reality/CG blending I've ever seen, but there's some of that here as well.

Over the past few years we've seen some amazing advances in blending computer-generated graphics with the real world, and this is certainly a big step in that direction in terms of characters.  The expressiveness of the CG Na'vi really can't be understated.  This most definitely is the next level of motion-capture.  It's really is amazing in parts and you'll absolutely forget you're looking at creatures that don't actually exist at times (it's not perfect though... every now and again you notice something that's not *quite* right, and it jars you for a moment... which is really telling you how good it is the rest of the time!)

I was also struck by the quality of the sound.  Like I said, this theater has a killer sound system, and that most definitely helps, but especially during the scene when the humans first attack the Na'vi in force, the explosions were truly magnificent.  You could feel them force of them from the sound coming out... just the right volume and tone, and of course perfectly matched to the visuals.  And frankly, that really helped heighten the emotional experience of this scene.  It's a truly sad moment, and if you're at all empathizing with the characters at that point then I think you'll notice that the sound plays a big role in getting you there.

Now, there's definitely some parts that aren't as good as others here.  There's a few lines of dialog that are groan-worthy.  There's a few logical problems here and there (My biggest one: no Na'vi thought of the trick Jake does to get the big flying creature???  Really?!?  They've been doing that for like 100's or 1000's of years and THE MOST OBVIOUS SOLUTION IN THE WORLD NEVER DAWNED ON THEM?!?).  But, if you are willing to not nitpick, you'll be fine (and nothing really knocked me over the head and threw me for a loop, I only saw relatively minor things).

Cameron also hits you over the head more than a few times with an obvious left-wing agenda.  Now, I'm OK with this because I agree with most of the agenda... but there's a few instances were it's *SO* obvious, and more than a little preachy, that it'll pull you out for just a second.  I think you'll recover quickly though.  But, if you're of a right-wing mentality, be prepared: you'll probably want to blow up Hollywood after this.

Some people will see this movie as something of an anti-technology movie, and I think that's wrong.  Technology isn't the enemy, its our usage of it that is.  It's forgetting that life without technology is possible and that what's really important in life isn't your iPhone or your PS3 or your Audi.  Those things can enhance an otherwise good life, but they can't make a life good, and if you're one of those people that thinks they can... I don't know how else to say this except: you're wrong.  Conversely however, giving up technology altogether isn't a ticket to instant happiness.  There's got to be a balance.

So, overall, great movie.  It's definitely NOT for everyone though... if you're expecting 2 1/2 hours of non-stop action, you'll be disappointed.  If you can't allow yourself to enjoy a love story, you'll hate it.  If you aren't accustomed to thinking about "meaning of life" sorta stuff, you won't get it and won't like it.  If you're bothered by beings that don't look exactly like you (i.e., you're a bigot) you'll probably hate it.  But, this isn't a movie for people like you.

This is a movie for people who believe the world would be a better place if we got along with each other better, and everything in our environment too.  This is a movie for people who realize that a simpler life is often-times a better life.  This is for people who are capable of caring about others and allow themselves to feel emotions based on a story.  Too many people these days see emotion as weakness, and that's a load of shit.  If you can't or won't allow yourself to be emotional based on nothing but ideas, if you can't put yourself in a hypothetical situation and feel the emotion of it, then this isn't a movie you're going to like.  And if all you want is explosions up the wazoo, well, you're going to be happy for only about half this movie (you'll totally LOVE that half though).

And, while I haven't bought a Blu-Ray player yet, I definitely imagine this is the movie that will make me do so.  If you see Avatar and think it's anything but one of the top three best-looking movies ever made, I frankly question your sanity.  And if nothing else, you'll enjoy the audio/visual aspects of it for sure, story aside.

But if that's the ONLY aspect of it you enjoy, I'd say you completely missed the point.  This is a good story, even a great story I think, even if it's very predictable and not overly complex... but it's a movie that definitely isn't for everyone.

And, come to think of it, that's very sad because it really SHOULD be for everyone.  The story really SHOULD affect everyone in a similar way and it really SHOULD make you realize that the human race probably isn't on the best path right now... I like to think we're not doomed or anything quite that drastic, but when you look at the Na'vi and Pandora in this movie, you've GOT to realize how far we really do have to go.

Book “Practical Palm Pre webOS Projects” now available

Hey all... just a quick note that my book, "Practical Palm Pre webOS Project" is now available at Amazon, and I presume, other retailers.  For info you can go here:

http://apress.com/book/search?searchterm=zammetti&act=search&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

Hope you enjoy it and Happy Holidays... eh, screw that politically correct crap: MERRY CHRISTMAS!