The dust has begun to settle on the announcement of the new iPad 2 and first reaction has generally been positive. Not everyone’s persuaded, however. Darien Graham-Smith’s objection – The iPad 2: yes, but still, what’s it for? – is that it’s still just a cross between a glorified smartphone and cut-down netbook, so what’s the fuss?

Darien’s right: tablets are just another form of existing computers, but I think that they are as revolutionary as Apple claims. In particular I think they will come to provide our main platform for consuming web-based content. Key to this is the tablet’s new, book-like, handheld form factor which allows computers to become truly personal and enables their users to move on from merely browsing content to actively and immersively engaging with it (the activity previously known as “reading”).

Apple, as well as pioneering the tablet format, currently produces the best implementation of it and the iPad 2 will raise the bar even higher. Moreover, by providing a superior system for the same price, end users will clearly be getting more for their money.

However, I won’t be buying an iPad for the foreseeable future. And I don’t think that you should either…

Apple v Flash: a matter of principle

The iPad isn’t designed to provide the best web-based experience, but to prevent it.

So why not? Follow the argument and it leads to fundamental principles of openness and choice, and a crucial fork in the road that will determine the very nature of the web, of computing and even of how we do business. On the surface it all comes down to the fact that the iPad 2 still doesn’t support Flash.

To most people this probably sounds trivial. Clearly the lack of Flash support is inconvenient – especially in a device supposed to be providing the best web experience – but is it really a deal breaker?

More to the point, surely it’s only a temporary inconvenience? After all wasn’t Steve Jobs’ main objection to Flash that it wasn’t suited to low-power devices? Clearly the iPad 2 is more than capable of supporting the new mobile-optimised Flash 10.1 player, so presumably it must now be in the pipeline? After all, why should Apple give Android such a clear advantage and selling-point? Just relax and wait for the iPad 3.

Well I don’t think that Flash or Silverlight support is coming and, when you unpick why, it reveals the iPad in a very different, unflattering and frankly sinister light.

Apple v Flash: war is declared

Personally the scales fell from my eyes when, the day before the launch of Adobe’s Creative Suite 5, Apple announced that it was changing its terms of service to ban third-party development tools. This deliberately hostile act completely undercut what should have been the star capability of the new Flash Professional CS5, its ability to produce native iOS apps. You could still produce them, but now there was no point as the only way to get apps through to end users is through the App Store which Apple controls, and now the company had unilaterally banned any apps that were in any way associated with Flash.

A tweak to Apple’s terms of service might again sound trivial but I was astonished and appalled. How could you possibly justify not supporting any means of writing native iOS applications? It meant that Apple was willing to deny its users choice and functionality and was willing to fight very dirty to damage Flash and to keep it off its devices.

The obvious question was: why?

The answer is simple: follow the money.

Why Apple hates Flash #1: Apps

Crucially, Apple doesn’t only make its profits from its devices. Much of its revenue also comes from native iOS apps that are only available via the App Store. Of course many of these are free but, when they aren’t, Apple takes a non-negotiable 30% of the price paid. Imagine the sort of money that Microsoft would have gained if it had taken 30% of every Windows application ever sold.

The danger for Apple would be if there was another way to deliver rich app-style functionality and deliver it outside of its App Store and, worst of all, deliver it independently of its devices. Step forward the cross-platform Flash and Silverlight players and the future of rich cloud-based computing based on browser-hosted Rich Internet Applications (RIAs).

Ultimately Steve Jobs wasn’t really concerned about Flash-derived native iOS apps and indeed has since backed down on this front. Rather, as his Thoughts on Flash show, Jobs’ hatred of Flash goes far deeper: he wants to drive the technology – currently installed on around 99% of internet-connected systems – off the web entirely.

As I wrote at the time (The fundamental differences between Flash and HTML and the real reasons that Steve Jobs wants to kill it) this isn’t actually because of Steve Jobs’ surprising and less than convincing belief in open standards, but rather the opposite: his absolute determination to stop the browser-based web becoming a platform for rich device-independent applications.

Jobs’ Thoughts on Flash succeeded better than he could possibly have hoped. The message has come over crystal clear to developers (though not end users) that Apple has absolutely no intention of ever supporting cross-platform players.

At a stroke cross-platform Flash and Silverlight development has been deprived of its major and essential attraction – universality – and the move towards delivering truly internet-based rich internet applications has hit Apple’s brick wall. By walling off its users, Apple has managed to sabotage the development of the rich cross-platform web for everyone, not just its own users. Flash has indeed been damaged, and possibly terminally so, if Apple is not forced to change its policy.

In the meantime there is no alternative. Developers realise that if they want to access the lucrative iPad market – and they do – then they need to do it the Apple-approved way. That either means producing comparatively design-poor HTML5 apps (think free) or signing up to become an xCode-based rich iOS apps developer and accepting Apple’s terms of $99 a year and 30% of any sales.

Why Apple hates Flash #2: Content

It gets worse. It turns out that Apple has an even bigger incentive to keep Flash off its devices which goes to the very heart of the new handheld tablet form factor: its ability to replace paper as the future electronic delivery route for newspaper and magazine content.

Currently just about all newspapers and magazines are produced using the two main publishing packages, InDesign and QuarkXPress. For years both packages have been developing their ability to output rich and interactive designs to Flash, ready for the arrival of tablet-based delivery.

When the first tablet did appear, everyone simply assumed that the iPad would naturally embrace such rich Flash content. Or they did until Steve Jobs made it clear that he had other intentions and that, amazingly, Apple’s devices would be kept a Flash-free zone. If publishers want to access the lucrative iPad userbase – and they do – then they need to do it the Apple way through native apps.

Both Adobe and Quark have been forced to entirely rethink their electronic strategies, ditching Flash and coming up with brand new digital publishing platforms based upon native iOS readers.

I must admit that I thought that Apple’s anti-competitive behaviour and artificial restriction on iPad functionality – holding back tablet-based publishing for over a year – was an incidental by-product of the need to keep Flash off its devices to protect its apps revenue. After all, once the free reader apps were installed, surely the publisher would simply be free to deliver content to it and charge accordingly? Guess what?

Follow the money

In mid-February Apple unveiled its new App Store subscription service, allowing publishers of content-based applications – not only newspapers and magazine publishers, but video and music broadcasters – to offer recurring billing based on its In App Purchase API.

At the same time it announced that it was enforcing terms preventing iOS software from “utilising a system other than the In App Purchase API to purchase content, functionality, or other services in an app.” and that it was therefore banning a number of existing apps such as Sony’s eReader and digital library.

For good measure it also added new terms preventing apps linking to external websites to purchase subscriptions and banning the use of lower out-of-app subscription rates to undercut the in-app rate with its 30% tax. And just in case you thought you might have spotted a possible loophole, it also warned publishers that they cannot provide free iOS-based access as part of print-focused subscription packages.

Apple’s walled garden

Apple’s real business model is to hold its users hostage within its walled garden and then to charge heavily for access to them. This isn’t “insanely great”… it needs to be stopped.

Suddenly the billions in app revenue seem like very small beer. Apple wants a non-negotiable 30% of every commercial transaction (revenue, not profit) in any way associated with its devices. And it wants it for ever with absolutely no possibility of competition.

Worse, Apple is claiming this enormous prize for one reason alone: it’s holding its users hostage within its walled garden and then charging for access to them.

Even more incredible: Apple is getting away with it. The developers, publishers and other providers can’t complain too loudly because they can’t afford to fall out with Apple – not when it owns the App Store and so controls the only way in to the walled garden.

Meanwhile the end users and reviewers seem to be so dazzled by their brilliant hardware and apps that few of them seem that interested in what’s going on behind the scenes and outside the wall.

The iPad revolution

Yes the iPad is truly revolutionary, but not in the way that Apple would like you to think.

Ultimately the iPad is not about providing the best web experience to end users, in fact quite the reverse. By trying to kill Flash and Silverlight development and so restricting the browser-based web to HTML, Apple is deliberately holding back its full potential to ensure that the next generation of rich internet apps and rich internet content are artificially tied to its own devices and routed through its App Store.

Apple’s refusal to support cross-platform web standards and its walled-garden strategy goes entirely against the extensible nature of HTML and the open cross-platform principles on which the web is built. At the same time its anti-competitive App Store, with its unavoidable 30% tax, goes against all established business standards.

Ultimately it’s not the beautiful design and engineering that makes Apple unique, it is the company’s ugly business model and practices. The iPad isn’t designed to provide the best web-based experience, but to prevent it. Rather than ushering in the future of internet-based computing, Apple is squatting on it.

The Android Alternative

Thankfully there is an alternative. Despite Apple’s new slogan “it’s not a tablet, it’s iPad 2″, there is nothing inherently different about the iPad; it really is just a handheld computer. The coming invasion of Android tablets will do all the things that the iPad can and will also support Flash as well as AIR (for offline apps) and Silverlight and any other cross-platform web standards that come along as the future of rich cloud-based computing develops.

Crucially Android’s unlocked tablets will also support traditional, open competition free of Apple’s 30% tax and 100% control.

Thanks to Android there is an alternative to Apple and so no reason that we should allow Steve Jobs to divert and subvert the rich future of the open web.

The iPad 2 might look attractive but that hides a much darker side. Now isn’t the time to buy into Apple’s walled garden; now is the time to break free and – ideally – break it open.

Tweak the settings

First things first. The iPhone’s battery isn’t its strongest point, so the priority is to get rid of any unnecessary drains. Go to Settings and change the Fetch New Data settings to a wider interval – or off completely – if you don’t need constant email updates, lower the auto-lock timer, and consider disabling Bluetooth and the GPS location services until you actually need to use them.

If you don’t generally need your phone for communication at night you should seriously consider switching on Airplane Mode, as it disconnects you from all networks – thus saving on power – but keeps the clock, alarm and all other basic functions running as normal.

Ditch the heaphones!

We’ve all sat on the train listening to someone else’s leakage, but only the cheapest headphones have this problem – and despite charging you a fortune for the phone, Apple still has the cheek to bundle such a shoddy set. Ditch them, spend a small amount on a quality pair of noise-reducing headphones (we’d recommend the £40 Sennheiser CX400s), which create a seal in your inner ear to prevent your tunes leaking to all and sundry. The added bonus is that you won’t need the volume turned up so high, so you might still have ear drums in ten years time.

Fix the camera

The camera on the iPhone isn’t that great compared to those in most of today’s smartphones, and one of its weaknesses is poor performance in low light conditions. To improve it somewhat head over to the App Store and stump up $0.99 for the Night Camera app. Now, when you press the shutter button, instead of taking the picture immediately it measures the accelerometer until it determines the stillest moment to snap, thus minimising camera shake. It won’t work miracles but for less than a quid it’s well worth grabbing.

Learn the shortcuts

It’s amazing how few people know how to really use their iPhone. They may know the little things like double-tapping on a web page to zoom the text to fit the screen; tapping the narrow bar at the top of Safari to jump straight to the address bar; or holding a finger in a text message to bring up the magnifying glass to edit more closely.

But then there are the lesser-known extras: pressing the Home (on the front) and Sleep (on the top edge) buttons together to take a screenshot; touching an image in Safari for a few seconds to bring up the option to save the file; double-pushing the Home button when the phone’s locked to bring up quick playback controls; holding down a letter while typing to bring up accented alternatives or symbols.

The general rule is simply to hold buttons down in every input screen and see what happens. The first time you auto-complete a web address with a .co.uk when you thought you only had a .com button, you’ll kick yourself for not experimenting sooner.

Download the best apps

While you can search very simply using the search bar now built in to Safari, the Google app lets you rest your fingers while you speak your search queries (even if you may have to become an American to get consistent results, thanks Google). Better still, it’ll bring you location-based results first, so finding the nearest takeaway is as easy as drunkenly slurring “curry (hic)” to no one in particular. It gives you the ability to point your search not just at the web in general but also at Google’s maps, images and shopping services – plus directly into Wikipedia, which is great for rather indiscreetly ruining pub quizzes.

Location services are everywhere in the App Store. AroundMe (right) checks your GPS position and lists the nearest bars, pubs, banks and anything else you’re likely to need when you’re out and about – and gives you map links to help you find them. Where does the same thing on a map but feels a bit more coporate, with chains like Starbucks pre-programmed into your default searches. WikiMe is similar but more left-field, listing Wikipedia entries relating to sites in your vicinity – more for tourists and trivia purposes than genuine navigation, but you’ll learn while you walk. 

The iPhone doesn’t have voice recording built in, but the free iTalk (right) application solves that. It’s a well designed dictaphone substitute which records at the touch of a big red button, and stores the results at a choice of three qualities. And once your interview’s complete, transcribe the results using EasyWriter, which gives heavy emailers a much-needed landscape-orientated keyboard. It’s a shame it doesn’t work (yet) for SMS messaging, but it’s another minor improvement to the iPhone’s interface that we’d hope Apple will one day incorporate itself.

On to entertainment, and Last.fm is the pick of the bunch for UK users. Sign in with your usual account details and access any genre of music you like. Similar recommendations follow, making it great for a commute, particularly once you’re tired of your own MP3 collection. If you’re connected by Wi-Fi you can always navigate to the BBC’s iPlayer website and stream programmes, although you can’t download them. And the iPhone can also find other entertainment for you: the Movies app (right) from Flixster uses your GPS signal to bring you locations, phone numbers and showtimes for local cinemas, along with DVD reviews and new releases.

And finally, let’s not forget that the iPhone is a very capable gaming device too. If you don’t want to pay, you should head straight for Sol Free Solitaire, with its many varieties of the card classic. You’ll also find the App Store crammed with countless versions of all the famous names, from Sudoku and Scrabble to Battleships and Monopoly – the quality varies and the ratings system doesn’t help much, so you should generally stick to freebies and apps recommended by friends if you don’t want to be disappointed.

But if stumping up a few quid doesn’t put you off, there are two must-have games. Super Monkey Ball makes the most effective use yet of the iPhone’s accelerometer to turn an old console classic into a game that feels as though it was just made for a handheld like this.

And what can we say about FieldRunners? If you’ve spent the number of hours we have fighting through any of the Flash-based Desktop Tower Defense games on the web you’ll know exactly what to expect: turrets, upgrades, waves of bad guys and goodbye to the rest of your evening.

There are plenty more out there; most are rubbish, some are good, a few are as essential as these. If you come across any you think deserve a place on this list please let us know. And above all else, enjoy your iPhone!