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Do you know why the flames about consumer electronics are so vicious? Because the stakes are so low.

— Reg “Raganwald” Braithwaite, adapting Wallace Sayre’s quote on academia in a call for civility on Hacker News

This article also appears in The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.

Microsoft will have a proper Microsoft Store in Toronto — it’ll be at Yorkdale Mall — but it’s not scheduled to open until November 16th. That’s a couple of weeks too late to capitalize on the buzz about Windows 8 and Surface, so they decided to set up a pop-up store in the Eaton Centre, located right in the middle of downtown Toronto. It’s on the bottom level, close to Sears’ south entrance. I had a meeting only a couple of blocks away, so I decided to take a look.

I arrived at the Eaton Centre around noon and made my way to the pop-up store, which maintained a constant crowd of a hundred or so people surrounding it. I approached from an upper level of the mall so I could get some overhead pictures. I wasn’t the only one taking photographs of the pop-up store; there was easily a dozen other people doing the same. That’s not surprising; people tend to take photos of queues for new stuff, and while a long line for new Apple goodies like the iPhone 5 is expected, a line for something from Microsoft is downright surprising, even for Microsoft fans.

The pop-up shop have demo units set up on three sides, where you can wait your turn to take a Surface for a spin. The fourth side, the one facing Sears, is where the cashiers are located, and it’s the end of the line for people who want to purchase a Surface. When I was there, this line was about three or four dozen people deep. I saw a number of people walking away with brand new tablets, which the staff placed into large, reusable Microsoft- and Surface-branded bags.

When I was there earlier today, the following were available:

• The 32GB model, without a cover, for CDN$519
• The 32GB model, with touch cover (the one with the flat keys), for CDN$619
• The 64GB model, with touch cover, for CDN$719
• The type cover (the one with the shallow-throw keys), for CDN$139

My first impression of Surface: pretty good. It’s a responsive tablet, with butter-smooth scrolling on par with the iPad and much better than all but the very latest Android tablets. The body feels solid and reassuring, the kickstand’s better than I expected, and the magnetic connection between tablet and keyboard is strong and makes a satisfying “click” when you dock the two together. There’s a lot to be said for being able to use the touch or type cover, both of which include a trackpad: it feels faster and more satisfying than typing on a screen. It also feels more “done” than Windows Phone 7 did when it came out, which is a good sign: it means that Microsoft has taken some launch lessons to heart.

My startup, CTS, is in the business of building mobile apps for enterprises, so we’re keeping an eye on Surface. Although I managed to take it for a spin for only a handful of minutes, it shows great promise and looks like a great platform to write apps for. We’ll be watching to see what the enterprise uptake on these devices will be.

Photo by Nick Wingfield.

The crowds came out to Times Square last night — well, they usually do, anyway; it’s probably the most iconic intersection in North America — but many of them were there to get their hands on Microsoft’s Surface.

“I’m not sure it’s a sight I’ve seen before,” tweeted Ina Fried about the scene pictured below. It was taken last night at Times Square:

It’s been a while since we’ve seen photos of a line for a Microsoft product (at least outside of a Microsoft developer conference, anyway), so this is a good first step.

Here’s a photo from Tom Warren, taken inside the Times Square Microsoft Store last night:

Here’s a photo of Times Square from Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft’s supreme corporate communications guy:

The on-the-street demo tables of Surface and other tablets are by the big, brightly-coloured banners made up to look like Windows’ “Modern UI” tiles on the right. Here’s a closer look taken at 10:45 last night, courtesy of the Times Square webcam:

Here’s a shot from the same webcam this morning at 10:43…

I’m heading downtown today for a meeting at a place only a couple of blocks from the Toronto Eaton Centre, one of the locations where Microsoft is opening a pop-up store to show Surface to Canadians. I’ll head down for a peek, take some pictures, play around with it and post my findings here.

Microsoft pop-up store at Toronto Eaton Centre, earlier this week.

If you’re in Canada and want to take Surface out for a spin, Microsoft’s pop-up stores are in these locations:

• Metropolis at Metrotown, Burnaby, British Columbia
• Oakridge Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia
• West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta
• Toronto Eaton Centre, Toronto, Ontario

Here’s MobileSyrup’s video of what’s happened so far at the Eaton Centre, published earlier today:

Just in time for the AndroidTO conference taking place in Toronto today, here’s Shit Android Fans Say. Created by the folks at MobilePhoneFinder, it’s a great response to the video Shit Apple Fanatics Say. The Android fan in this video is perfect.

My thanks to Claude Moelan from MobilePhoneFinder for pointing this one out!

Discount Code for iOS in Practice, Hello! iOS Development and HTML5 in Action

Manning Publications’ Deal of the Day for today, Tuesday, October 23rd, is for iOS in Practice, a book by Bear Cahill that comes out on November 1st. Here’s the description:

When you are building an iOS app, you want more than basic concepts—you want real answers to practical problems. You want iOS in Practice.

This book distills the hard-won experience of iOS developer Bear Cahill into 98 specific iOS techniques on key topics including managing data, using media, location awareness, and many more. And the sample apps are wonderful! As you pull them apart, you’ll see two things: experienced app development and creative design savvy in action.

What’s inside:

• WhereIsMyCar drives you through maps, CoreLocation, and camera access.
• PlayMyLists tunes in on settings, audio, and shake detection.
• Rock, Paper, Scissors explores networking, voice, in-app purchase, push notification, and invitations.
• Examples written for iOS 6 using Xcode 4.5.

Written for readers who know the basics of Objective-C and are interested in practical app development.

If you order the book online and use the discount code dotd1023cc, you can get the ebook version of iOS in Practice for a mere US$20 (a $15.99 savings off the regular price). You can also use this code to save 45% off these books:

• Hello! iOS Development
• HTML5 in Action

Lumia 510, Nokia’s New Low-End Windows Phone

Here’s a video featuring Nokia’s latest smartphone, the Lumia 510, a phone for the budget-conscious shopper. Here are its features:

• 800 MHz Qualcomm processor
• 256 MB RAM
• Windows Phone 7.5, upgradeable to Windows Phone 7.8
• 4″ screen, 480 * 800 resolution
• 5-megapixel camera at rear, no front-facing camera

Samsung Galaxy Note II

The Samsung Galaxy Note II, a 5.5″ device that lies somewhere between phone and tablet, goes on sale in the U.S. on November 9th at AT&T and tomorrow, Wednesday, October 24th at T-Mobile. It will retail for $300 with a two-year contract.

Today’s Apple Event Will Be Streamed

Today’s Apple event — the one rumoured to be the launch of the iPad Mini — will be streamed via the web and Apple TV. This should be interesting.

 

Most People Search for Apps Based on Function, Not Name

This chart is based on Chomp’s November 2011 App Store search terms.

In Search Engine Land’s article, The Most Popular App Store Keywords from Chomp and Google Play, you’ll not only learn what the most popular search terms for iOS and Android apps are, you’ll also learn that most app search terms are focused on what the app does rather than its name. Keep this in mind when you’re writing up the description of your app!

iOS 6 U.S./Canada Adoption Rate is at 61% One Month After Its Release

iOS 6 boasts the fastest adoption rate for a mobile OS, with 61% adoption in a month, according to Chitika Insights, the research wing of Chitika, an online ad company.

Here’s how iOS distribution breaks down in the U.S. and Canada:

Click the graph to see the source.

Chitika expect to see iOS 6 usage peak at about 70%, and should the iPad Mini prove to be more than just a rumour, it’s expected to accelerate adoption.

For comparison’ sake, here’s a breakdown of Android distribution, courtesy of an article on BGR posted on October 2nd:

The two most recent versions of Android are:

• Android 4.0, a.k.a. “Ice Cream Sandwich”, released October 19, 2011 (just over a year ago). It’s on 23.7% of devices out there.
• Android 4.1, a.k.a. “Jelly Bean”, released this summer, July 9, 2012. It’s on 1.8% of devices out there.

These two versions, put together make for about 25% of all the versions of Android in the wild. The most common versions out there are:

• Android 2.2, a.k.a. “Froyo”, released May 20, 2010. It’s on 12.9% of devices out there.
• Android 2.3, a.k.a. “Gingerbread”, released December 6, 2010. It’s the most common, installed on 55.8% of devices out there.

A Field Guide to Mobile App Testing

If you’re a mobile app developer and have wondered how testers approach their work, you’ll want to check out this Smashing Magazine article, A Field Guide to Mobile App Testing.