Posts tagged Samsung
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 does Samsung’s future look like?
Oct 13th
Samsung’s new corporate image spot promotes its new tagline and brand positioning, “Inspire the World, Create the Future.”
The electronics giant aims to showcase how “our vision is to innovate human-oriented products and technologies. Preparing in advance, Samsung creates the future of digital life.” Interesting that its future vision springs forth from a non-electronic, actual, paper-bound book.
Windows Phone 7 – in detail
Feb 15th
Following reports yesterday that Microsoft was to launch a challenger to the smartphone market currently dominated by Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Andriod and RIM’s Blackberry, the tech giant has unveiled the details of its closely kept mobile secret.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft showed off Windows Phone 7 for the first time. The handset will pull together content from social networking sites and other web services on a scale unseen on competing platforms and will most likely pose a serious threat to its competitors RIM, Apple and Google.
Why?
It’s flashy and new and has been designed with the user in mind, making all those things we use our mobile for more accessible, easier to use and to navigate.
Previous Windows Mobile versions were scrapped to make way for a completely new design that integrates Microsoft’s Zune music player and the Xbox Live gaming service.
The tech giant is ready to hit the smartphone market big time and has already secured partners including Samsung, HTC, HP, Sony Ericsson, Dell, LG and Toshiba.
At the Windows Phone 7 unveiling, Joe Belfiore, VP for Microsoft’s Windows Phone division, said the explosion of applications and web services available on mobile phones meant devices had become far too complex claiming that that phones had started to resemble PCs but “a phone’s just not a PC – it’s a smaller, more intimate device”.
Microsoft wanted a smart design that would separate applications and bring together some of the key things that are most important to people.
It’s five key hubs, that feature on a completely new interface with a ‘start’ page based around live ‘tiles’ representing the most common tasks include people, pictures, office, music + video and games.
The ‘people’ tile is all of a users contacts from Outlook, social networking sites and web mail services – pulled together with thumbnail images into one interface. People the user has recently communicated with rise to the top and for each contact the phone can display their recent activity on various social networking sites.
Under the ‘pictures’ tile is all of the users photos taken with the phone, synced from a PC or uploaded to social networking sites. Photos uploaded by friends to their social media profiles can also be accessed.
The Office’ tile is pretty self-explanatory, it allows users to view and edit documents or make voice, text and picture notes.
Every Windows Phone 7 will essentially be a Zune music player, with users able to sync music and videos using PC software similar to iTunes under the ‘music + video’ tile. Third-party music and video applications such as Pandora are also integrated.
Lastly, finally finding a way to take Xbox to the next level, under the ‘games’ tile users will be able to play games against other Xbox Live users.
Microsoft has said a key priority with the new operating system was maintaining consistency in design. Each Windows Phone 7 device will have three buttons on the front – Start, Search and Back. The tile menu interface will also be virtually the same on all handsets.
The built-in calendar pulls together appointments from both web-based personal calendars and from Microsoft Exchange, while addresses and phone numbers are automatically hyperlinked. Clicking on an address brings it up on Bing Maps.
The maps feature is interesting, and will be a major competitor to Google Maps. By simply typing “sushi” into the search function – which is of course powered by Bing – the user is shown all of the sushi restaurants in the immediate area plotted on a map. From that screen the user can get directions, ring a restaurant or read reviews.
The web browser is based around the same code as the desktop Internet Explorer, and there is full support for multi-touch gestures such as pinching to zoom. But just like the iPhone, Adobe Flash support won’t be present at launch.
So that’s it. It all looks pretty simple to use, and smart too. But one burning question remains: what about apps?
With the actual launch to consumers still so far away, Microsoft said it would reveal more details about the applications that will be available on the platform at its Remix conference later this year.
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