Posts tagged iPad
How to be a digital ninja in 2012
Jan 16th
Looking to bolster your digital capabilities in 2012? There’s only one device you’ll need, and finally it is your mobile.
We’ve published many a headline over the years to the effect of “Is this the year of mobile?”
While we’ve all waited eagerly – knowing the broad capabilities our pocket devices hold – we have been disappointed year and year again.
But finally, it seems like 2012 is it for mobile.
And we’ve not waited because there hasn’t been cool stuff on mobile until now, we’ve just all been so caught up with devices that have come since mobile.
You have to remember that mobile is an old platform – reinvigorated perhaps by replacing ‘mobile’ with ‘smart’. The year of the smartphone has dawned.
Why?
Our insistent need to be socially connected at all times. But not only is social growing, content is.
Facebook currently boasts 800 million users worldwide. Of those, 350 million are using Facebook mobile – sharing news clips, photos and blogs.
We’ve said content is King before, but this will ring true more than ever in 2012 as internet users shy away from simple status updates.
Branded apps are also on the rise as smartphone take up steadily increases and the naysayers of the iPhone, HTC, iPads and other smart devices join the life of the living.
Brands have been trying to get into the pockets of consumers for years, but there has always been a challenge for some to do it in an organic, fun and engaging way.
So with the huge growth in online shopping outside of eBay, there’s never been a better time.
With this, brands will also become more creative when it come to geo-location platforms and there will be a smoother, more complete social integration.
I had never quite realised how much my phone could do until I was given an iPhone 4 recently. But it wasn’t until after my laptop and iPad were stolen in a break and enter until I realised I could actually do everything I wanted and needed to do from my phone – my iPhone 4.
I think others are starting to notice also…especially brands and marketers.
I can’t even catch public transport with checking the app to see how long I have to wait, go to dinner without checking out Yelp or start my morning without checking the latest specials on ASOS.
It’s an increasingly digitally mobile world.
Is there really an alternative to the really cool iPad?
Jun 1st
More than one year since its release, the iPad is starting to come up against some hefty competition. Make can anyone really knock this crown off the Apple head?
Intel is in the middle of promoting a new, thinner and lighter mobile computer called an ultrabook in a bid to challenge the growing dominance of Apple’s iPad and the tablet computer market.
Intel’s vision is to enable a new user experience by accelerating a new class of mobile computers.
The world’s largest chipmaker said in a statement, “These computers will marry the performance and capabilities of today’s laptops with tablet-like features and deliver a highly responsive and secure experience, in a thin, light and elegant design.
“The Ultrabook will be shaped by Moore’s Law and silicon technology in the same way they have shaped the traditional PC for the past 40 years.”
Hardly a ‘sexy’ brand, despite its cool singing geeks ads, Intel has a lot of bricks to lay in order to build a path to first place in the light computer market – with in which the tablet sits.
Nic Newman, managing director and head of strategy at personal media company TigerSpike reckons that while the personal media landscape is rapidly evolving and for publishers across the UK, no device has sparked such a change in consumer behaviour as the iPad.
And Apple is a tough act to follow.
Newman said, “Through our own research, we have found that average engagement time on a publishers’ iPad app is 30 – 34 minutes. This is a significant time for a reader to dedicate to a specific application. When you compare this to time spent on a publisher’s website, it is far higher – we’re seeing page views five times higher on a publisher’s tablet app than on the website.”
Intel said that Ultrabooks based on its latest 2nd Generation Intel Core processors will be on shelves later this year. So there’s a long lead time if you want to back the underdog.
The company is aiming to convert 40% of consumer laptops to the new category by the end of 2012.
Desktop computers and laptops continue to outsell tablets. Last year, nearly 18 million tablets were shipped, with Apple’s iPad accounting for nearly 83% of the market. More than 346 million personal computers were shipped in 2010, with Hewlett Packard grabbing 18.5% of the market, and Dell having 12.3%.
However, while PC sales have slowed down in the past two years, iPad sales have skyrocketed.
Research firm International Data Corporation said last month it expects that there will be 50 million tablet shipments in 2011, with Apple maintaining 70% to 80% of the tablet market.
Jefferies & Co. projects that 70 million tablets will be sold this year, with the total expected to increase to 246 million in three years.
But Intel is adamant, “We want to find new ways to propel the PC forward. With what has happened in the tablet space, there is a ‘hurry-up’ to the PC industry.”
Apple is also expected to face more competition this year from Research in Motion’s PlayBook, Samsung Electronics’s Galaxy Tab and Motorola Mobility Holdings’s Xoom.
Question is, are we even ready for something new yet? I’m certainly not over my iPad yet.
What the iPad means for brands and publishers
Mar 4th
Greg Taylor, design director at personal media company, TigerSpike comments on what the launch of the Apple’s new iPad means for consumers, businesses, brands and publishers.
For brands and publishers
The advancements of the iPad 2’s overall capabilities further extend the ability for brands and publishers alike to create highly indulgent and immersive user experiences. The addition of the front and back facing cameras open up the opportunities for highly interactive modes of interaction such as ‘air gestures’ where the user can interact with the device without touch, and applications will now be able to map users movements to create an entirely new level of interaction and personalisation.
Moreover, it’s not just apps that will be getting a facelift. Web browsing on the device will increase due to the improvements in Safari. In turn, we’ll see more ‘tablet friendly’ websites using technologies such as HTML5.
For brands and publishers that have not stepped into the iPad realm, 2011 will be the year they’ll be looking to the device with more people flocking to the tablet revolution and specification enhancements of the iPad 2 expanding the possibilities.
For consumers
This leap forward in terms of device portability and software advancement essentially offers consumers more for less. The utility aspect of the iPad has increased tenfold, with web browsing becoming faster, games becoming more responsive, and social bandwidth increasing with FaceTime. Apps are set to become even more immersive with Apple’s new Duel-core A5 processor. It’s truly an exciting time for the personal media landscape.
For businesses
Bringing FaceTime to the iPad further extends Apple’s enterprise platform reach. This coupled with the HD mirroring capability, and an overall increase in specs, will accelerate the device’s cut-through in the tablet market. The iPad 2 provides many exciting opportunities for businesses to cut operational costs and increase employee productivity – all through one slick and highly portable device.”
How businesses take advantage of the platform and device capabilities will be shaped by their individual business needs. By taking the inherent qualities of the iPad 2 and the forthcoming OS 4.3 software update, there is a real opportunity in the market to build outstanding applications that challenge the way businesses operate.
iPad 2 – time for marketers to get on board
Mar 3rd
Hoorah! Apple has officially released its iPad 2, and online searches reveal that the world is already captivated by the gadget reminding marketers to prepare content for a boom in the tablet market this year.
“Thinner. Lighter. Faster. FaceTime. Smart covers. 10 hour battery.” Goes the advertising slogan, which hit my inbox this morning.
The device itself doesn’t have anything we didn’t already expect, but perhaps the launch of version two of Apple’s game changing device will prompt others to follow more aggressively.
But first, Samsung, Motorola, HP and Research In Motion might have to solve a more difficult problem first: beating Apple on price.
Sixty-eight percent of tablet users say they are “very satisfied” with internet content accessed via their tablets, compared to 42% of smartphone users.
But tablet adoption is slow-growing, new products and low prices may help make tablets more mainstream and core to the future of the mobile internet, so marketers must get on board.
The device continues to offer new ways for marketers to reach consumers in what is becoming an increasingly lucrative advertising medium – interactivity.
As for apps, there are now over 65,000 available and there’s no denying that they have also played an increasingly important role in brand advertising.
So if iPad 2 has done anything so, it is remind marketers that tablets are certainly no fad.
Apple goes back to the future – with Mac
Oct 21st
For most of the year, Apple has focused on the fastest-growing, most lucrative portion of its business — the iPad and iPhone, which run the iOS operating system. Now it’s going back to where it all started.
Last night, Apple showed off the little side business of making computers that run the Mac OS X operating system, the performance of which would have made a bigger splash in previous years.
At the “Back to the Mac” media event at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, the company previewed the next major version of Mac OS X (dubbed “Lion”), introduced iLife ’11 and a new FaceTime application for videoconferencing, and released a new version of the MacBook Air notebook.
Quite a showing when you consider the company has this year already launched the iPad and the iPhone 4.
We were beginning to think Apple didn’t have any fuel left.
But the focus wasn’t intended just to bolster the strength of the Mac market. CEO Steve Jobs said “back to the Mac” refers to a blending of technologies.
He said, “We’re inspired by some of those innovations in the iPad and iPhone, and we’d like to bring them back to the Mac.”
Apple has incorporated many features of the iPhone and iPad iOS operating system into Mac OS X Lion, due to ship next summer.
One such feature is the finger-based multitouch gestures that are the primary way of interacting with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
So what’s next?
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 »
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