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Originally Posted by DaveF
But having the small killer app for every nutter on the planet is a killer app  |
Yes! That is a perfect way of putting it.
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Originally Posted by DaveF
*Casual users aren't going to invest the effort programming a universal remote requires. And I don't see iPhone users letting the family juggle their iPhone during Must-See-TV to change channels. And since it's not a dedicated remote -- it leaves when the owner makes a call, it's not very usable for the family. Finally, it lacks a feature all universal remotes have: learning. The iPhone has no IR input, right, so you can't learn missing remote codes. There will be a remote app and people will play with it for a day, and then forget about it -- just like 10 years ago with Palm PDAs. ("This has all happened before and will happen again", as they say on BSG)
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I have a feeling that we need to stop arguing over this, as our experience gap is causing us to talk past each other -- I've never used a universal remote, and it sounds like you haven't used an iPhone.
I'll try one last time anyway: the way I see an iPhone Universal remote -- it wouldn't be programmable or capable of learning -- thus it would be way, way easier for Johnny Q. Public to use. Presets for every remote/device under the universe would be available for download online, or as templates through the iTunes Store. The iPhone U-remote vendor could go in either direction with a razor/blade sales model: give away the program and charge for the templates, or sell the program and give away the templates.
You are right though that the lack of IR is a big problem -- but not due to a learning deficiency but because you need IR to control devices that expect an IR remote signal. The only way around that is to have a separate little box mounted in front of your equipment that translates WiFi or Bluetooth into IR. That, or in the future all HT equipment will be equipped with with WiFI or Bluetooth just as entire airliners are being equipped with iPod docks now...