Posts tagged iPad
Why businesses should not ignore the power of touch-screen web surfing
Jul 6th
Two thirds of UK businesses have no idea how their websites function on touch-screen devices such as the iPad and iPhone, according to a new LinkedIn poll.
Commissioned by user experience specialists Foresite, the poll reveals that of the 103 UK company directors who answered the survey, fewer than a third (32%) had tested if or how their websites worked on the devices.
Not only is it important to see how a company’s website appears and how the brand is represented, but businesses must know what ads on their site look like and make sure they are functioning.
With more than 3 million people across the globe holding onto an iPad already and with more than 1 million iPhone 4’s sold in the first few weeks, touch-screen devices are a market that is rapidly expanding and anyone who is online must keep up.
Last week, I was the lucky winner of a three month unlimited ‘buy one get one free’ pass to a particular brand of cinema complex. I immediately looked that cinema chain up on my iPad, which was on the coffee table (I didn’t want to walk to the study to get my laptop of course).
I typed in the cinema’s name and the website immediately popped up. A good start, but then I could not click on anything or navigate around the site. Instead of going to see a movie on Sunday (and spend a a couple of tenners at the candy bar) I didn’t know what was on so I decided to stay home and watch the Long Way Down on DVD.
I’ve had similar experiences with supermarket brands and banks – this is not good news for online business. Read the rest of this entry »
Think an iPad is too big for your bag? Just roll it up…
Jul 2nd
Apple’s iPads could soon allow users to roll it up like a good old fashioned newspaper thanks to new technology being developed in Australia and Italy.
Researchers at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Melbourne University and Italy’s University of Padua are using laser technology to make products – including TV;s, iPads, mobile phones and Kindles – more flexible, thinner and cheaper.
While this all sounds pretty cool, I can’t help but think ‘so what’.
I have an iPad (as of the second day it was officially available) and I have absolutely no desire to put it in my handbag and carry it around with me.
The device is excellent, I use it for everything from reading books, playing games, using apps, email and checking my finances. But the device tend sit on my coffee table and I am mainly reaching for it during an ad break or when I have time to laze about on the couch.
It really isn’t an ‘on-the-go’ device. But, that being said, with the future of newspapers looking bleak, perhaps in a few years time when e-readers and tablets are more advanced – as well as a broader offering of Wi-Fi services in city centers – we’ll be more willing to ‘roll it up’.
But, just a few years ago, a similar technology to what is being developed in Australia and Italy was being used to develop screens that would replace light bulbs. The screens would be fastened to a ceiling like wallpaper to light a room. We’re yet to see this come to market though…
The laser technology for the iPad and similar devices will potentially dramatically cut manufacturing costs and make color displays brighter.
The biggest advantage for advertisers and app makers? Location based marketing.
Businesses lure in customers with iPad-led innovation
Jun 3rd
If you thought the iPad would make a good contribution to your coffee table, something you fiddled with while watching the news, you are wrong. The little tablet gem is proving pretty popular with businesses the world over, and more importantly, it’s driving innovation.
Budget Aussie airline JetStar – whose parent company is Qantas – is renting out iPads as part of its in-flight entertainment system.
The Apple iPads will be available for passengers to rent on flights over an hour long (and in Australia that’s not hard),and will be pre-loaded with movies, TV, books, music and games, for $10 (£5.70).
The service is a combination of Australian in-flight entertainment service provider Stellar Inflight and UK-based Bluebox Avionics 2 the in-flight entertainment software company.
THE iPad is already a tasty product among gadget lovers, but a North Sydney restaurant has become the first in Australia to replace their printed menus with Apple’s new touch screen device.
Meanwhile, another Aussie business, the Global Mundo Tapas restaurant in Sydney’s Rydges Hotel, is handng out iPads with a custom-made iPad application which allows customers to browse the virtual pages of the menu with a sweep of their finger.
Diners can peruse the dishes and see a picture of what the dish looks like along with tasting notes before compiling their order and sending it wirelessly to the kitchen.
The iPad menu can also suggest the best wines to go with certain dishes and suggest the best food pairings.
When ordering steak, users can even specify how they’d like the meat cooked and which sauce they’d prefer. It will even ask them if they’d like fries with that.
With innovations like these, it’s no wonder analysts are expecting sales of the iPad to hit 5.5 million by the end of this year.
Next year, one Macquarie Group analyst reckons that sales will top 13 million units worldwide, citing continued strong demand.
I can’t wait to see how other businesses will be utilizing their iPads!
Apple’s evil twin emerges in China
Jun 1st
So, you thought only Louis Vuitton handbags and Rolex watches could be faked? Well it seems even the iPad has an evil twin.
Despite Apple’s massive success with iPad – having already sold more than 2 million genuine iPads since its launch 2 months ago – a Chinese challenger has emerged, beating even Google to the game.
The iPed, no that’s not a spelling error, is identical to Apple’s massively popular tablet and is selling for a fifth of the price at around $US126.
Available in Shenzhen in the country’s south, the lookalike product runs on Google’s Android operating system and is said to be powered by an Intel chip.
Pictures of the iPed, filmed by Japanese TV news and posted on YouTube, show the gadget being sold in a Shenzhen computer mall in packaging that looks remarkably similar to an iPad box.
The change in vowel is seemingly the only major difference in appearance between the two computers.
A review of the iPed on tech website TECHi says “the iPed is exactly what you’re thinking: a Chinese knock-off”.
“The iPed is an Intel-driven, Android-based copycat packaged like an Apple product and, to be honest, it doesn’t look half bad.”
Last week, Apple and its contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn refused to confirm or deny rumours that the iPad was being made at Foxconn’s massive Shenzhen factory, which had been hit by a spate of staff suicides.
The iPad will go on sale in a further nine countries in July including Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Apple’s sale of the century
May 20th
Apple is on a roll, the iPad has sold out across the world as we eagerly awaits the devices launch on our shores and now the iPhone has been voted a more important invention than the car and flushing toilet.
There’s no doubt that what Steve Jobs has done for Apple is anything short of astounding. He’s turned ‘geek’ onto ‘chic’, credited with launching the most ‘must have’ items of the 21st Century.
The company has sold more than 42 million iPhones since the smartphone’s launch in 2007. That figure is staggering, and it’s no wonder that the device has made it into the top ten of the world’s most valuable inventions.
The list, compiled by Tesco Mobile, placed Apple’s iPhone eighth. The wheel took the top spot and the aeroplane second.
There’s no doubt that Apple is hoping for continued success with its e-reader device the iPad. Despite the mass criticism of the product after its announcement in January, the iPad has gone on to sell over one million units in the first 28 days.
A new survey from Boston Consulting Group confirms that the device is poised to become mass-market.
The BCG survey reveals that more than half of all consumers are planning to buy an iPad, Kindle, or Similar Device in the next three years.
Consumers are embracing e-readers, says BCG. Patrick Forth, leader of BCG’s media practice, suggests that e-readers and tablets were not a niche product for early adopters but could become the MP3 players of this decade. Read the rest of this entry »
The iPad has given us freedom from porn, says Steve Jobs
May 18th
Gawker writer Ryan Tate has managed the impossible – an interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs – but the iPad critic got more than he bargained for though after lambasting the CEO via email after a few too many on Friday night.
Tate sent the email to Jobs after he saw a new ad for Apple’s iPad which claimed the device was a “revolution”.
Slightly offended, Tate asked Jobs what Bob Dylan would think of such wanton use of the “R” word.
“If Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company?” Tate wrote.
“Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with ‘revolution’?
“Revolutions are about freedom.”
Three hours later - at 2am - Jobs replied with his thoughts on what freedom meant, along with a sting in the tail for Tate.
“Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data,” Jobs wrote in an exchange published online by Gawker.
“Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn.”
Jobs added, “By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?”
Let that be a lesson to Flash perhaps…
MARKETING NEWS BITES: iPad launch pushed back, Google’s privacy blunder and Facebook’s Farmville commission
May 17th
A quick round-up of news from around web:
Google has admitted that its fleet of cars responsible for gathering photographs for Google StreetView have, for several years, accidentally collected personal information – which could include email messages and passwords – sent by consumers over wireless networks. Reuters
The UK release date of Apple’s iPad has been pushed back even further – now until 7 June. The pre-order page on Apple’s Web site now reads the new date, a full ten days after the planned 28 May release date – which was itself pushed back from the original April release. CNET
The US is poised to take the lead in smartphone downloads of mobile applications by 2011, according to new data from ABI Research. Currently, Europe leads all global regions in smartphone mobile application downloads, with North America coming in second, trailed by Asia-Pacific. Marketing Vox
Facebook has made changes to its agreement with companies and developers who build features for the website and will take 30% commission on all financial transactions made through the site. Times Online
What is iPad? 200,000 apps and the world wide web
May 16th
Apple has released a new ad for the iPad, as many countries are still left waiting for the device with Australia in particular being told to wait two more weeks to place orders.
The ad, titles ‘What is iPad’, should continue to hype and hysteria as it describes the tablet device and shows images of people using it in every which way they can.
A voiceover says: “iPad is thin, iPad is beautiful, iPad goes anywhere and lasts all day, there’s no right way or wrong way, it’s crazy powerful, its magical and you already know how to use it. It’s 200,000 apps and counting, all the world’s websites in your hands, it’s video, photos, more books than you can read in a lifetime, it’s already a revolution and its only just begun.”
Some might find this spot less subtle and more boastful, see what you think:
Six reasons why Steve Jobs hates Flash (and doesn’t need it)
May 3rd
Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, last week declared war on rival Adobe with a scathing attack on its Flash video programming technology. In an open letter he lists six reasons why Apple does not need Flash.
Jobs published a rare open letter branding Flash a failure on mobile devices. Meanwhile, Flash is the most widespread video player technology on the web used by many millions of sites for videos and games.
But here are his six reasons why Flash is a technology of the past:
- The programming foundation is full of software bugs. “Flash is the number one reason Macs crash,” he wrote.
Flash, says Jobs, drains battery life and does not work properly on touchscreen devices.
- Flash puts a third party between Apple and software developers. That means developers could take advantage of improvements from Apple only if Adobe chose to upgrade its own software.
- Other emerging programming standards such as HTML5, can perform many of the same tasks, and are catching on with software developers.
- Leading video and news websites have recoded some videos to make them viewable on the iPhone and iPad.
- “Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too).
MARKETING NEWS BITES: Gizmodo raided, Google fined for defamation and digital music sales save the day
Apr 27th
A round up of news from around the web:
It has now emerged that Gizmodo bought the stolen iPhone that it claimed to have found in a bar for $5,000. Gizmodo got a huge scoop and some 3.6 million visitors to its site, but they are now facing criminal and possibly civil liability issues. The police have now raided a Gizmodo editor’s home and have seized property. TechCrunch
Google has been fined $8500 in Brazil after an anonymous internet user posted defamatory messages on one of its sites against a priest, calling him a “paedophile”. A court in the state of Minas Gerais ruled in favor of the 54-year-old priest, identified by his initials J.R., after rejecting Google’s argument that the US web giant was not responsible for what users posted on its Orkut social networking site. O Globo Daily
Israel has ended its ban on Apple’s iPad tablet computer, imposed over concerns its wireless signal could be disruptive. Israel’s Communications Ministry says that after a technical review, officials have decided to allow the popular device into the country. Israel banned iPad imports earlier this month, after fears that the powerful gadget’s wireless signals could disrupt other devices. AP
Susan Boyle, Lady Gaga and Take That helped the British music industry to grow in value for the first time in six years, according to official sales figures. Record labels, which have faced a slump in CD sales and a long-running battle against internet piracy, experienced a rise in income from music sales from £916 million to £929 million in 2009 - the surprise increase marks the first time that the growth in income from digital services has outweighed the decline from sales of CDs. The Times
Although three-quarters of marketers use third-party mobile networking applications, most do not create their own customized apps or use mobile advertising, according to a new survey from SocialMediaExaminer.com. As mobile smartphone usage rates dramatically increase, so does the potential for specifically aiming marketing programs at smartphone users. A sizable majority of marketers (75%) currently employ third-party mobile networking apps, such as Facebook on the iPhone, to interact with their fans. Marketing Vox
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