Tag Archive for iPad

| June 5, 2012
Comments Off on Tablet Notes

Tablet Notes

Tablet computer ownership will lead the industry over the coming 12 months as all-in-one devices continue to grow in popularity according to the CEA.

Windows 8 Tablets in November

Windows 8 Tablets in NovemberExpect the first wave of Windows 8 tablets to land in retail stores in November, according to CNET. A secret source deep within Intel (INTC) says the Intel-based Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 8 tablets will use Intel’s upcoming Clover Trail Atom chip. DailyWirless says that Clover Trail is Intel’s first dual-core Atom design based on its 32-nanometer process technology.

The author says the tablets will fall into two basic sizes: pure 10-inch tablets and hybrid 11-inch designs with physical keyboards. Windows 8, like Windows 7 before it, will be powered by chips from Intel and AMD (AMD) and will be able to run older, so-called “legacy” applications.

A separate release from Microsoft, Windows RT, will land on devices powered by ARM (ARMH) chip suppliers NVidia (NVDA), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Texas Instruments (TXN). RT will not run older Windows applications.

Chinese Tablet PCs Peel Away at Apple

Chinese Tablet PCs Peel Away at AppleApple Inc may find it harder to keep market share in China because homegrown tablet PC brands will win over more customers says a report on China Daily.com. Sun Peilin with Analysys International, told China Daily, Apple’s (AAPL) market share will shrink to about 70 percent, “Chinese tablet PC makers are trying to form a stronger echelon behind Apple by taking over the market share that belonged to small copycat manufacturers.”

Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 took 78.3 percent of the market share in China in Q1 2012, distantly followed by Samsung’s (005930) 5.1% and ErenEben’s 4.5% according to the article. AI’s data indicates tablet PC sales in China are expected to break 4.5 million units. Companies including Lenovo (LNVGY), Acer (ACEIY) and home appliance giant Haier Group, are releasing their own tablet PCs.

Sun from Analysys states in the blog the biggest obstacle Chinese brands face is how to come up with a different marketing angle against Apple, to avoid head-on competition with the iPad. “There are two separate markets for tablets: You can either go entertainment or business. The iPad is a big competitor in terms of entertainment, so Chinese companies should be different from iPad,” Sun suggested. Some Chinese companies have already differentiated their tablets. Beijing ErenEben Information Technology Co, a business tablet PC maker, won a government contract to provide tablets to the police department in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

According to Fang Liyong, COO of ErenEben, the company sold nearly 150,000 units of its first two generations of products in 2010, making it the biggest homegrown tablet PC brand by sales volume. “We are now selling nearly 30,000 units every month in 2011,” he said.

With a touchscreen developed by Japanese graphics-tablets maker Wacom Co Ltd, the ErenEben tablets were designed to offer an experience similar to writing on real paper. The COO boosts, “ErenEben has great growth potential, because China’s tablet market is so big, and Apple cannot take it all.”

iPad Suit

iPad SuitMohan’s Custom Tailors of New York is taking the boring and basic out of the word “suit” by designing a new and improved version for the modern man. According to their website, as men are dressing up and going out to dinner dates, museum galleries, and lounges in fine style, Mohan’s is creating contemporary and handsome designs to fit their needs. Mohan’s has introduced the fashion of the future with their new tech offerings, including pockets for your Research In Motion (RIMM) Blackberry, Apple (AAPL) iPod, iScribe, Bluetooth, and more. Most recently, they have revealed the first-ever iPad pocket in menswear, creating a fashion rush for “techies” around the world.

iPad Bacon Case

iPad Bacon CaseAt Antje Schmitt’s storefront at Etsy, the famous handcrafted Bacon Case for the Apple (AAPL) iPad 3 is now available. The Bacon Case is also available for older iPads, MacBooks, Netbooks, and Notebooks.

ZD.net – “The undisputed king of the weird category however, is the iPad bacon case ($59, pictured), which I’m ordering immediately.”

Gizmodo – “It’s $59, but who cares? Bacon iPad cases are what money was invented for, people. Well, that, and both actual bacon and actual iPads.”

Gearfuse – “Bacon and Apple products go together like peas and carrots. Or lamb and tuna fish. They’re both the perfect byproducts of their respective categories. Pimp your iPad with pork with the custom-made Bacon iPad case. It might not be actual bacon, but it’s realistic design is enough to make you wish you had a side of eggs to go with your balanced breakfast of pork and tablet.”

Clueful Scans Your iOS Apps For Privacy Behavior

Clueful by BitdefenderSecurity firm Bitdefender has introduced Clueful, an app that scans your Apple (AAPL) iOS apps lets you see what information other applications installed on your iDevice might have access to. Once downloaded and installed (iTunes), the $3.99 app scans your iPad 3, iPhone 4s or other iOS Apple products to see what’s installed and puts it in a list that can be filtered based on the various kinds of behavior. This includes things like:

  • Apps that can track location
  • Apps that can read the address book
  • Apps that might drain battery
  • Apps that use iPhone’s unique ID
  • Apps that display ads
  • Apps that gather analytics

These behaviors are listed in the results and explained on each app’s detail page. However, Clueful doesn’t log how often these behaviors happen. Clueful also notes if your data is encrypted, and if app makers anonymize you as a user, CNET News.Com reported.

Besides scanning what you have downloaded, the article explains that the software is designed to let you research what kinds of information an application wants to use before you buy it from the App Store. However, the author says, ” this appeared to be a work in progress, it is slow and unable to pick up a handful of big name games and apps.”

Bitdefender maintains all the data behind the privacy analysis, and users can ask to have apps that are not a part of that system analyzed. CNet states that Clueful comes some three months after Apple came after fire for the fourth time over how iOS and apps log and send user information to third parties.

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| May 10, 2012
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What Happened to the Paperless Office?

What Happened to the Paperless Society?The Economist wonders whatever happened to the “paperless office”? Thirty years ago computers were hailed as the beginning of the paperless office era. In 1980 The Economist recommended that firms trying to improve productivity “reduce the flow of paper, ultimately aiming to abolish it”.

Unfortunately not many people listened to The Economist. Since they extolled the virtue of a paperless office, global paper consumption has increased by half.

Paper consumption

The average American uses almost six 40-foot trees a year in paper. Gizmodo says don’t feel too bad. The EU bureaucracy in Brussels pushed the Belgian paper consumption to a whopping 8.5 trees per person. The equivalent to four Rockefeller Center Christmas trees.

Paperless office research says

The trend will not change. A report from ITnewsLink reports that more than half of Americans think the U.S. will never go paperless. Pollster Poll Position conducted a national survey to see if Americans think the U.S. could ever be a paperless society.

Poll Position researchPoll Position’s research found that 56% of Americans said they don’t think the U.S. would ever be a paperless society. Only 20% said yes, one day we’ll all go paperless. 24% of Americans were undecided or had no opinion on the question.

Other Poll Position finding

  • 63% of the 18-29 age group said the U.S. would never be a paperless society and 23% said we could be a paperless society.
  • 56% of men and women said we could never be a paperless society.

You can still vote in their online companion poll.

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I think that in an era of computers, Amazon (AMZN) Kindle Fire and Apple (AAPL) iPad tablet computers, iPhones and Google (GOOG) Android smartphones that paper consumption would decrease. Apparently it takes more than buzzwords like “paperless” and “green” to make a difference.

Related articles
  • The Paperless Office? (Going Green) (whattheythink.com)

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| March 10, 2012
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If Elvis had an iPad

If Elvis had an iPadBoingBoing brings us news of the Futulele from music app developer Amidio. What is a Futulele? Why it’s a ukulele synthesizer that combines an Apple (AAPL) iPad with an iPhone in a dedicated guitar-shaped case. The iPhone is used for chords and the iPad is used for strumming. The iOS devices are connected to each other via Bluetooth.

Amidio says it’s still looking for a hardware partner to build the case, but then there’s an app for that due out in April. Just in time to be one of the first music apps optimized for the iPad 3.

Elvis Presleyrb-

I wonder what Elvis would have thought about Can’t Help Falling In Love being played on an iOS-based jury-rigged Ukulele.

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| March 6, 2012
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Top Wireless Predictions for 2012

Top 10 Wireless Predictions for '12 from Juniper ResearchUK-based Juniper Research published a year-end list of predictions for the mobile and wireless industry for 2012. A copy of the report can be downloaded from Juniper Research, with registration here. Are they on-target or off-the-wall?

Recession Likely to Hit Smart Device SalesRecession Likely to Hit Smart Device Sales. Juniper Research says the continued recession will hurt smartphone and tablet sales. They believe tablet sales will be hurt more than “must-have” smartphones.

They say cash-strapped consumers may opt for the lower-priced tablets. This could benefit players such as Amazon (AMZN) Kindle Fire or ARCHOS (ALJXR) ARNOVA branded devices rather than an Apple (AAPL) iPad. eReaders are most likely to be the hardest hit according to the report.

The Year of the Quad-Core Processor2012 – The Year of the Quad-Core Processor. ASUS (2357) was the first to release Quad-Core Processor. The new chip appeared n November 2011, It ran on the Eee Pad Transformer Prime with the newly launched NVidia (NVDA) Tegra 3 chip. Qualcomm (QCOM) has also added a quad-core chip to their Snapdragon line. Juniper Research expects more to come.

Quad-core processors offer improved performance and increased battery life. The performance boost comes from being able to multi-task more efficiently. It ensures that music will keep playing smoothly while the user is playing games or taking pictures. The power savings come from being able to keep those cores at a relatively low clock speed.

Quad-core processors will allow developers to add more realistic effects, getting ever closer to the elusive console-quality experience. The Tegra 3 even allows for controller support and mirroring to a 3D TV. Javascript and Flash will also run faster allowing web developers to create more graphics and script-heavy apps and pages.

Windows 8 OS to Fuel Nokia RevivalWindows 8 OS to Fuel Nokia Revival Disrupt Tablet Market.  Microsoft’s (MSFT) next OS will be compatible with both Intel and ARM architectures.  Windows 8 will run on both PC and mobile devices. The research firm believes Windows 8 will create a huge ecosystem of devices from smartphones to desktops for app developers to target. Juniper Research expects Microsoft to gain market share in the tablet space, as it replaces the non-tablet-optimized Windows 7. And, with Nokia (NOK) transitioning its existing (smartphone) and new products (likely to include a tablet) to Microsoft’s platform, the Finnish giant will be fighting back after spending several years losing market share to Google (GOOG) Android and Apple iOS devices.

High Profile Malware Attacks on Mobile Devices2012 to see High Profile Malware Attacks on Mobile Devices. There have been many malware attacks targeted at mobile devices. However, these attacks have been relatively small-scale. This is unlikely to continue. Cyber-criminals will not be able to pass up the opportunity that consumer smartphones and tablets will present. Juniper Research anticipates that 2012 will see several high-profile, international attacks on various mobile OSs. Consumers at large must bed aware of the pressing need to protect their smart devices by installing security software.

Cloud Mobility to Drive Collaborative CommunicationsCloud Mobility to Drive Collaborative Communications – The BYOD trend driven by the consumerization of enterprise IT will increase according to the research firm. Specifically, Juniper Research believes that 2012 will see a substantial increase in the number of enterprises moving to develop and deploy mobile-centric, social business strategies.

Other predictions from Juniper Research include:

  • The London 2012 Olympics will boost mobile advertising and M-Gambling, and kickstart NFC.
  • Mobile Coupons to drive the mCommerce market despite economic stagnation.
  • MEMsaccelerometers and gyroscopes to transform the sensor market for mobile devices.
  • Social Gaming will become a major mobile play with the introduction of synchronous gaming.
  • Online, Mobile and Physical will begin to fuse into one retail market.

 rb-

I’ll come back to these predictions at the end of the year and see which predictions were on target or off in space somewhere.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| January 24, 2012
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Tablet Info

The Tablet PC has long been a pet project for Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who showed the first Tablet PC prototype in 2000 at Comdex. Mr. Gates described the device, which featured input via stylus only, as an evolutionary step in PC functionality and usability. For the next ten years leading up to CEO Steve Ballmer‘s introduction of the new “slates”, which support Windows 7 touchscreen features, the company has tried to make the Tablet catch on but with little success according to PCWorld.

MSFT Office Coming To iPad Next Year – Report

Microsoft Office for the MacMicrosoft may be bringing Office to the iPad next year, according to a report in The Daily. The report cites unnamed sources and says that Microsoft (MSFT) will also update its version of Office for the Mac next year.

On a business level, it might make sense the Apple (AAPL) iPad is making inroads into the enterprise, and having some sort of Office client available for it would let Microsoft earn at least some money from these Apple invaders. It would also help make sure that Office 365 the company’s cloud-based business services would work on the iPad according to the BusinessInsider,

Microsoft might even do this at the risk of driving some enterprise customers to stick with iPads instead of adopting Windows 8 tablets. After all, Office and related back-end products have been driving Microsoft’s growth for the last year, while Windows sales have been pretty stagnant (I wrote about Office’s profitability here).

The BusinessInsider points out that Microsoft has NEVER released Office for the Mac in the same year (or before) Office for Windows. Microsoft is building Office 15 for Windows. It’s going to be a ton of work to revamp it to work with the Windows 8 tablet interface, or risk having it relegated to traditional PCs only (and having one less reason for customers to choose Windows 8 tablets). The Mac version of Office almost always comes a year after the Windows version. It COULD be different this time, but that would require a diversion of resources to a minority platform (the Mac still has less than 5% market share for personal computers).

Microsoft said through a spokesperson: “We already deliver Office on multiple platforms and devices and are committed to expanding in the future, but have nothing further to share today.”

BI says that expanding Office to the iPad is not crazy.

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Dell Streak Discontinued

DellThe Dell Streak 7 tablet won’t even get to turn one year old. The BusinessInsider noted that Dell (DELL) is pulling the plug on its unremarkable tablet, as indicated on its site.

This is only shortly after discontinuing the Dell Streak 5 as well.

BI recalled Walt Mossberg‘s February 2011 AllThingsD review of the tablet, he sums it all up with one sentence: “I found the compromises Dell made to get to that low price make it impossible for me to recommend the Streak 7.”

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I wrote about hardware companies abandoning the tablet market in 2012 here. Does this move make Dell a market leader?

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Proof That The PC Is Dying

Proof That The PC Is DyingThe BusinessInsider noted this excellent chart from Horace Dediu @asymco as proof that the PC is dying a slow, painful death. Mr. Dediu’s chart shows PC sales, including Google (GOOG) Android and Apple (AAPL) iOS devices, from the dawn of time to today.

As you can see, PC sales have started to go flat. Based on recent numbers from last quarter, they may have already hit their peak.

proof that the PC is dyingMeanwhile, Macs are gaining steady momentum while Android and iOS tablet devices are blowing up.

One thing BI thinks could break the trend is all those fancy new Ultrabooks displayed at CES. Those could give PC sales a major boost considering how cheap and efficient they are.

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Apple Sues Chinese Outfit for Heresy

Apple Sues Chinese Outfit for HeresyApple (AAPL) is suing a Chinese company for making graven idols of its founder Steve Jobs reports TechEye. Chinese company In Icons created an “eerily realistic” 12-inch action figure of Steve Jobs. TechEye says the model comes with the clothes and accessories such as the black faux turtleneck, blue jeans and sneakers. It was being sold in a box that looks like Walter Isaacson‘s “Steve Jobs” biography cover and comes with a chair, a “One More Thing…” backdrop, as well as two red apples, including one with a bite in it.

Apple sees this as an affront and has told In Icons that using Apple’s logo or products, or Jobs’ name or appearance, is a “criminal offense.” The article points out that the Pope and Elvis have similar deals on their merchandise.

But it is clear that its threat is going nowhere In Icons is not giving up.

Tandy Cheung, the entrepreneur behind In Icons told TechEye said that he was an Apple fanboy, and a lot of people like him want to have Jobs’ action figure. Cheung spoke with several lawyers from Hong Kong who told him that he wasn’t in violation unless he decided to brand any of his designs with Apple products or logos. He told IB Times that Steve Jobs was not an actor, he’s just a celebrity. There is no copyright protection for a normal person. Steve Jobs is not a product.

BuzzFeed updates that the promo pics from toy company In Icons might suggest that the late Apple co-founder comes with cool accessories, like an iPad tablet, but alas. For $99 all you get is the black turtleneck-clad 12” action figure, no assembly required. Due to U.S. release in late February.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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