Let’s Get Our Verb Tenses Right

Pete Mortensen, in a piece titled “App Store Subscription Plan Demolishes the Appeal of iOS”:

Think about it. If you’re an average consumer and you’re trying to decide between an iPad and one of the many Android Honeycomb tablets scheduled to ship in the next few months, the ability to put your existing content on that tablet would likely be a key decision in that process. Both can take MP3s, and the iPad can take video content from iTunes. But if the trend continues in the direction is has been thus far, the iPad won’t have Kindle books or possibly even Netflix by the time the full impact of the subscription guidelines plan shakes it self out. It’s a pretty easy choice for consumers under those circumstances.

If the Kindle app goes away, and Netflix goes away, yes. But isn’t that a big “if” at this point? Kindle’s still there. Netflix is still there. And Apple and Netflix apparently get along well enough that Netflix has a premium position on the Apple TV 2 — built right into the system software. I think it’s foolish to speak of these apps in the past tense at this point.

★ Tuesday, 22 February 2011