story first appeared on usatoday.com
Science fiction version: Mad scientists inside Apple's ultra-secretive lab plunge a recent iPad into boiling stew. What emerges is a near identical but considerably smaller and lighter tablet.
Figure Apple relied on more conventional (if no less secret) lab behavior in designing the iPad Mini that reaches stores Friday. But no matter how the downsized tablet came to be, the natural question is how it differs from its bigger sibling and rival tablets with similar-size small screens, such as the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, Barnes & Noble Nook HD, and Google Nexus 7.
The smaller form changes the way you approach the tablet. I've never hesitated to travel with the bigger iPad. It's terrific for reading, watching movies and playing games on an airplane — but given a choice, before a road trip I would now more likely grab the little guy. It's the right size for immersing yourself in a novel. Held sideways, it's simple to bang out an email with your fingers. Battery life is excellent
A tour of the Mini reveals the usual home button on the bottom front, power button and headphone jack on the top, and volume controls on the side. Front and rear cameras are on either side, just like on the bigger iPad. You're greeted by the customary home screen layout with icons for Safari, Mail, Videos and Music parked at the bottom of the display.
You can even exploit the Siri voice assistant. And the Mini runs iOS 6, the latest iteration of Apple's mobile operating system software.
But it is the multitude of apps — 275,000 optimized for the tablet are available in the Apple App store— coupled with Apple's formidable iTunes ecosystem for music, movies and TV shows that represents a major reason why the iPad, big or small, is still the tablet to beat.
That is not to say that the Kindle Fire HD, Nook HD, and Nexus 7 don't pose strong alternatives to the iPad Mini. Those tablets have starting prices of $199 that undercut the $329 starting price of the Mini that has Wi-Fi only and 16 gigabytes of storage.
Amazon, for one, already is running ads comparing Kindle Fire HD with the Mini — bragging about the Fire's impressive high-definition screen and its stereo speakers. The speakers on the Mini are mono. And its screen, though nice, does not afford the beautiful, super-crisp "retina displays" on the latest larger iPads, iPhones or Macintosh computers. But the Kindle is heavier and has fewer apps.
(Update on Wednesday: Amazon is no longer running the ad. Apple confirms that the Mini does indeed have stereo.)
Prices for the Wi-Fi-only Mini climb to $429 for 32GB and $529 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + Cellular models, available later in the U.S. from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless, command $459, $559 and $659, respectively. (The unit I've been testing for a week is Wi-Fi only.)
To be sure, the 7.9 inch display on the Mini, vs. 9.7-inches for full-size iPads, gives you a lot less screen real estate to play with. But at a shade under 0.7 pounds and 0.28-inches thick, the paperback-size Mini is 53% lighter and 23% thinner than the newest iPad. It is just wide enough that I was not able to stash it in one inside sport jacket pocket but was able to slip it into another. Compared with the 7-inch screens on some of Kindle, Nook and Nexus devices, though, the iPad Mini is 35% roomier.
Sitting in a cramped airline seat, or lying in bed, I found reading on the Mini to be a generally a more pleasurable experience than reading on the full-size iPad. But though you can now more easily hold a Mini with one hand, I still tended to use two.
Speed: Inside, the iPad Mini has an Apple-designed dual core A5 processor, a version of which powered the iPad 2. But I did detect some sluggishness. At the same time that I was downloading some content in the background, it took several seconds for the screen shots I captured on the device to land in the Photos app. I've never experienced the delay on a bigger iPad.
Cameras: The iPad Mini has two good cameras, including one on the front for doing FaceTime video calls, and a rear 5-megapixel camera that can capture 1080p high-definition video. The quality of FaceTime is related to your network connection, so even in a Wi-Fi environment, I sometimes lost sight of the person at the other end of the call.
Battery life: On the Wi-Fi model, Apple claims 10 hours of battery life while surfing the Web, watching video or listening to music. I was well on my way to confirming that. Nine hours into my test with Wi-Fi on, brightness at 75% and a video playing, I still had about 25% of juice left. But I cut my test short because of a power outage caused by Hurricane Sandy. Apple promises about an hour less battery life on the cellular models.
Connectors: Like the new iPhone 5, and fourth generation iPad announced last week, the Mini makes use of Apple's new Lightning connector. Unless you purchase adapters, you may not be able to use the Mini on some older accessories. Speaking of accessories, Apple has designed a handsome $39 iPad Mini Smart Cover (in one of 6 colors) that magnetically aligns itself to the tablet. It's made with a microfiber lining that Apple says keeps the screen clean.
But in the absence of a USB connector or SD card slot, you'll need pricey $29 Lightning adapter accessories to connect the Mini to a digital camera or to insert a memory card from your camera into the tablet. On older iPads with a 30-pin dock connector camera kit, you got both connectors for $29.
The big picture on the small iPad: Despite a few quibbles and strong competitors in the space, the Mini is a splendid choice for folks who held off buying an iPad because it was too large or too expensive.
Showing posts with label Apple Tablet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apple Tablet. Show all posts
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Education Use of Apple iPad Growing
Story first appeared on Bloomberg News
Julie Garcia handed Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPads to students in her seventh-grade pre-algebra class on a recent morning before showing the pupils how to use the tablet to graph data, hunt for correlations and record how-to videos.
A math instructor at Innovation Middle School, Garcia is one of the first to use some of the more than 25,000 iPads the San Diego Unified School District bought from Apple this year.
Garcia said it is the "cool factor" as she looks over the room of students tapping energetically on tablets.
For districts around the country, though, it’s the price as much as the cool quotient that could draw them to a new, smaller version of the iPad that Apple will unveil tomorrow at an event in San Jose, California. Apple has long been a leader in education, and schools began embracing the iPad soon after its 2010 debut. Yet as fiscal budget shortfalls crimp spending all the more, schools in growing numbers are warming to the handheld devices as an alternative to more expensive laptops.
Now schools, as well as consumers, are about to get another big price break: The smaller iPad may cost as little as $249, according to Barclays Plc. That compares with $499 to $829 for the current iPad.
Beyond the school market of course, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook will use the device to try to widen Apple’s lead over Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. and fend off a more recent threat from Microsoft Corp. in the market for tablets, which NPD DisplaySearch predicts will more than double to $162 billion by 2017. Cook will unveil an iPad with a 7.85-inch screen diagonally, people familiar with its development said in August. The current iPad has a 9.7-inch screen.
iPad Shift
Yet Apple executives plan to make a point of highlighting the iPad’s educational capabilities at tomorrow’s event, according to a person with knowledge of the planning. Little wonder. Education spending on information technology, including hardware, was about $19.7 billion in the 2010-2011 period, according to the Center for Digital Education.
Educators’ bet on tablets mirrors a trend in the broader consumer-electronics market, where consumers are buying iPads instead of traditional personal computers. PC sales in K-12 fell 8 percent in the U.S. last quarter, the third straight decline, Gartner said.
James Ponce, the superintendent of the McAllen Independent School District in Texas said they are moving away from desktops and laptops to tablet devices.
School Sales
The education push is part of a strategy put in place under co-Founder Steve Jobs, before the iPad was introduced in 2010. While Apple has a history of selling Mac computers to schools, the company realigned its education sales force to emphasize iPads, a person familiar with the changes said.
Innovation Middle School has traditionally used Lenovo Group Ltd. (992) computers because Macs are too expensive, said Harlan Klein, the school’s principal.
The new iPad comes at a critical time for Apple. Its shares have dropped 13 percent since reaching a record on Sept. 19, two days before the company released the iPhone 5. Sales of the smartphone have been constrained by supply constraints. Apple is also facing fresh competition in tablets from Microsoft (MSFT), which on Oct. 26 will release the Surface, its first foray into hardware. Apple had about 70 percent of the market in the second quarter, compared with Samsung Electronics Co., which had 9.2 percent, and Amazon’s 4.2 percent, according to IHS ISuppli.
Courting Educators
To woo educators, Apple’s sales staff meets regularly with school administrators and procurement officers across the U.S. The company has sales staff assigned to work with schools in particular regions of the U.S., and pays for district officials to visit Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, to learn about new products.
The company will need to set the new iPad’s price right to woo cash-strapped districts.
Vineet Madan, a senior vice president at McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP) education unit said there would be a real aggressive uptake in the K-12 market when tablets get into the $200-$300 range.
To save money, San Diego’s school district bought iPad 2s after Apple dropped the price of that model when the newest version was introduced earlier this year.
Training Teachers
Drawing on funds raised through a voter-approved bond measure, the district spent about $370 on each iPad, which comes pre-loaded with various educational applications, Browne said.
Besides budgetary constraints, a major challenge for schools is training teachers and managing all the new equipment and software. If a teacher wants to use an iPad math application, synchronizing a classroom of devices and monitoring all the students’ work can be time consuming. In San Diego, a team of eight employees helps train teachers and manage new technology.
Touch Screens
In southern Texas, Ponce of the McAllen Independent School District reached out to Apple soon after the district decided to get away from buying laptops and desktops, which he said were expensive to maintain and unappealing for many students. Apple was at the table helping craft the district’s strategy for integrating technology in classrooms, he said.
The work resulted in McAllen buying about 25,000 iPads, paying Apple about $3.5 million a year as part of a financing deal the district worked out with Apple. About half the district’s technology budget is now going to Apple, Ponce said. Students are using iPad applications to test for vocabulary, make presentations and compile class notes.
While some teachers have resisted the new technology, many are adapting because they see students are increasingly fluent with touch-screen-based technology, said Courtney Browne, a technology resource teacher at San Diego Unified School District.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Holiday Sales Didn't Help Microsoft
First appeared in NY Times
Weak sales of personal computers made for a tough holiday selling season for Microsoft.
The results, released Thursday after the markets closed, are a sign of the challenges that Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., faces as it tries to adapt to deep changes in the technology industry. While Microsoft continues to reap profits from products like Windows and Office, growth is shifting away from the personal computer industry on which those two software franchises rest toward mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.
The company said net income in its second quarter, which ended Dec. 31, declined slightly to $6.62 billion, or 78 cents a share, from $6.63 billion in the year-earlier period. The company said revenue was up 5 percent at $20.89 billion.
The earnings exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who had predicted 76 cents a share, though Microsoft fell short of their revenue forecast of $20.93 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
The PC market is looking increasingly shaky. Microsoft said revenue from Windows, one of the pillars of its profits, fell 6 percent, to $4.74 billion, in the quarter.
Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said that most analysts had braced for poor Windows sales but that the actual numbers were worse than most had expected.
“We were negative 4 percent, and they still missed,” he said.
In an interview, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, Peter S. Klein, said the decline in Windows sales was the result of problems in the consumer market, not purchases of PCs by businesses, which continued to grow during the quarter. He said the sales of the inexpensive laptops known as netbooks were especially bad, falling to 2 percent of worldwide consumer PC shipments in the quarter, from 8 percent a year earlier.
Worldwide shipments of PCs fell 0.2 percent during the fourth quarter from the year-earlier period, while PC shipments in the United States fell 5 percent for all of 2011, the worst showing since 2001, according to the International Data Corporation. IDC attributed the anemic results to weak economic conditions and shortages of hard disks caused by flooding in Thailand, a manufacturing center for those devices.
The weakness in Microsoft’s report also reflects competition from cellphones and tablets like Apple’s iPad.
After stumbling in mobile phones and tablets in recent years, Microsoft finally has software products for these devices that are winning positive early reviews. But Microsoft’s tablet and cellphone plans have not yet begun to produce big sales.
The company released its redesigned mobile operating system, Windows Phone, in fall 2010, but the first smartphones that used the software were lackluster and had tepid support from wireless carriers. Microsoft is betting that a partnership with Nokia, the Finnish cellphone maker, will help turn around its mobile business. The first devices from their collaboration went on sale only recently.
Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone and smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system are devouring most of the market. During the fourth quarter, Android phones accounted for 51.7 percent of the smartphones acquired by United States consumers within three months, while the iPhone accounted for 37 percent, according to estimates by Nielsen. Phones running Microsoft software, including an older operating system it is no longer developing, accounted for 3.8 percent, Nielsen said.
Microsoft is also developing a new version of its flagship operating system, Windows 8, to run tablet computers. Early test versions of the software have been praised by developers and technophiles. The software is not expected to go on sale until late this year, though.
Other parts of Microsoft’s business are performing well, especially its entertainment and devices division, dominated by sales of the Xbox video game system and related products. Revenue from that division grew 15 percent to $4.24 billion from the year-earlier period, reflecting strong sales of the Xbox 360 console, the Kinect game sensor and the Xbox Live online game service.
Another standout was Microsoft’s server and tools division, which sells databases and other software to businesses. That division’s sales rose 11 percent, to $4.77 billion.
Weak sales of personal computers made for a tough holiday selling season for Microsoft.
The results, released Thursday after the markets closed, are a sign of the challenges that Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., faces as it tries to adapt to deep changes in the technology industry. While Microsoft continues to reap profits from products like Windows and Office, growth is shifting away from the personal computer industry on which those two software franchises rest toward mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.
The company said net income in its second quarter, which ended Dec. 31, declined slightly to $6.62 billion, or 78 cents a share, from $6.63 billion in the year-earlier period. The company said revenue was up 5 percent at $20.89 billion.
The earnings exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who had predicted 76 cents a share, though Microsoft fell short of their revenue forecast of $20.93 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
The PC market is looking increasingly shaky. Microsoft said revenue from Windows, one of the pillars of its profits, fell 6 percent, to $4.74 billion, in the quarter.
Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said that most analysts had braced for poor Windows sales but that the actual numbers were worse than most had expected.
“We were negative 4 percent, and they still missed,” he said.
In an interview, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, Peter S. Klein, said the decline in Windows sales was the result of problems in the consumer market, not purchases of PCs by businesses, which continued to grow during the quarter. He said the sales of the inexpensive laptops known as netbooks were especially bad, falling to 2 percent of worldwide consumer PC shipments in the quarter, from 8 percent a year earlier.
Worldwide shipments of PCs fell 0.2 percent during the fourth quarter from the year-earlier period, while PC shipments in the United States fell 5 percent for all of 2011, the worst showing since 2001, according to the International Data Corporation. IDC attributed the anemic results to weak economic conditions and shortages of hard disks caused by flooding in Thailand, a manufacturing center for those devices.
The weakness in Microsoft’s report also reflects competition from cellphones and tablets like Apple’s iPad.
After stumbling in mobile phones and tablets in recent years, Microsoft finally has software products for these devices that are winning positive early reviews. But Microsoft’s tablet and cellphone plans have not yet begun to produce big sales.
The company released its redesigned mobile operating system, Windows Phone, in fall 2010, but the first smartphones that used the software were lackluster and had tepid support from wireless carriers. Microsoft is betting that a partnership with Nokia, the Finnish cellphone maker, will help turn around its mobile business. The first devices from their collaboration went on sale only recently.
Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone and smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system are devouring most of the market. During the fourth quarter, Android phones accounted for 51.7 percent of the smartphones acquired by United States consumers within three months, while the iPhone accounted for 37 percent, according to estimates by Nielsen. Phones running Microsoft software, including an older operating system it is no longer developing, accounted for 3.8 percent, Nielsen said.
Microsoft is also developing a new version of its flagship operating system, Windows 8, to run tablet computers. Early test versions of the software have been praised by developers and technophiles. The software is not expected to go on sale until late this year, though.
Other parts of Microsoft’s business are performing well, especially its entertainment and devices division, dominated by sales of the Xbox video game system and related products. Revenue from that division grew 15 percent to $4.24 billion from the year-earlier period, reflecting strong sales of the Xbox 360 console, the Kinect game sensor and the Xbox Live online game service.
Another standout was Microsoft’s server and tools division, which sells databases and other software to businesses. That division’s sales rose 11 percent, to $4.77 billion.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Apple Tablet Said to Lure Publishers With Features Kindle Lacks
Bloomberg
Apple Inc.’s planned tablet computer is luring publishers with features that Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle and Sony Corp.’s electronic readers lack, such as color photos, video and author interviews, analysts said.
Hearst Corp., McGraw-Hill Cos. and Hachette Book Group have held talks about featuring their content on Apple’s tablet, expected to be unveiled this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The device will allow publishers to create more interactive content, said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Apple is in a killer position,” McQuivey said. “The majority of reading we do cannot be done on current e-readers. The Apple tablet will be first to make the claim that you can read everything from Sesame Street to Dan Brown to the Atlantic to the Denver Post, all on the same device.”
Amazon.com’s Kindle and Sony’s e-readers, which dominate the market today, have black-and-white screens and can’t display video.
Apple’s device will let publishers tap new sources of revenue by offering premium features to an audience that is deserting print publications for the Internet, said Rich Maggiotto, chief executive officer of Zinio LLC, a San Francisco-based distributor of digital books and magazines.
Coming Tomorrow
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said yesterday that the company will introduce “a major new product that we’re really excited about.” The company is holding the event tomorrow in San Francisco.
Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, declined to discuss unannounced products, saying the company doesn’t comment on rumors and speculation.
Apple rose $5.33, or 2.7 percent, to $203.08 yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Amazon.com dropped $1.12 to $120.31.
Plastic Logic Ltd. and Skiff LLC, a startup backed by Hearst, plan to sell e-readers this year that are designed for newspapers, magazines and professional documents. So far, many devices on the market have fallen short of what those publishers want, Maggiotto said.
Newspapers lost an average 11 percent of daily circulation in the six months ended in September, according to data compiled by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Advertising revenue for U.S. newspapers fell 28 percent in the third quarter, according to the Arlington, Virginia-based Newspaper Association of America.
Small Market
“One day there will be very little newsprint,” said Sandy Schwartz, president of Cox Enterprises Inc.’s Cox Media Group, which oversees the operations of four daily newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “My hope is that someday soon there will be a tablet that can do everything: GPS, telephone, advertising.”
While the e-reader market isn’t large enough yet to significantly boost publishers’ revenue, the Apple tablet may increase the popularity of e-readers over the longer term, said Randy Bennett, senior vice president of public policy for the Newspaper Association of America.
About 6 million e-readers will be sold this year, up from 3 million last year, Forrester estimates. Amazon.com’s Kindle has about 60 percent of the market, while Sony’s products have 35 percent, Forrester says.
Drew Herdener, a spokesman for Seattle-based Amazon.com, declined to comment, as did Kyle Austin, a spokesman for Tokyo- based Sony.
Reinventing Content
It’s unrealistic to think that new devices alone will transform the industry, Maggiotto said. Publishers will also have to invest in creating content that is unique for these devices, he said.
“It’s one thing to shovel print content onto a screen,” he said. “It’s another thing to think about how to reinvent your content for that medium. That’s the publisher’s responsibility.”
The Apple tablet will also have a back-lit screen, which will drain the battery more quickly than current electronic readers, and it may cost more, McQuivey said.
Still, Apple’s tablet is likely to boost demand for digital textbooks, said Frank Lyman, executive vice president at San Mateo, California-based CourseSmart LLC, an online marketplace started by five publishing companies to sell textbooks. By 2012, digital versions of textbooks may account for as much as 15 percent of total textbook sales, up from less than 3 percent today, according to data from members of the National Association of College Stores.
“Apple has a history of growing markets,” Lyman said. “They’ve grown the smartphone market. They’ve grown the personal-computer market. The tablet will capture that next group of students who haven’t yet had that light bulb go off.”
Older publishers are taking note. National Geographic Society said yesterday that its namesake magazine will be available on Zinio’s service. National Geographic, founded in 1888, plans to add audio and video to its digital magazine later this year.
“All the current e-reader devices will fall to the bottom of people’s Christmas lists this year when they see what a full- color reading device will do,” McQuivey said.
Hearst Corp., McGraw-Hill Cos. and Hachette Book Group have held talks about featuring their content on Apple’s tablet, expected to be unveiled this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The device will allow publishers to create more interactive content, said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Apple is in a killer position,” McQuivey said. “The majority of reading we do cannot be done on current e-readers. The Apple tablet will be first to make the claim that you can read everything from Sesame Street to Dan Brown to the Atlantic to the Denver Post, all on the same device.”
Amazon.com’s Kindle and Sony’s e-readers, which dominate the market today, have black-and-white screens and can’t display video.
Apple’s device will let publishers tap new sources of revenue by offering premium features to an audience that is deserting print publications for the Internet, said Rich Maggiotto, chief executive officer of Zinio LLC, a San Francisco-based distributor of digital books and magazines.
Coming Tomorrow
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said yesterday that the company will introduce “a major new product that we’re really excited about.” The company is holding the event tomorrow in San Francisco.
Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, declined to discuss unannounced products, saying the company doesn’t comment on rumors and speculation.
Apple rose $5.33, or 2.7 percent, to $203.08 yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Amazon.com dropped $1.12 to $120.31.
Plastic Logic Ltd. and Skiff LLC, a startup backed by Hearst, plan to sell e-readers this year that are designed for newspapers, magazines and professional documents. So far, many devices on the market have fallen short of what those publishers want, Maggiotto said.
Newspapers lost an average 11 percent of daily circulation in the six months ended in September, according to data compiled by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Advertising revenue for U.S. newspapers fell 28 percent in the third quarter, according to the Arlington, Virginia-based Newspaper Association of America.
Small Market
“One day there will be very little newsprint,” said Sandy Schwartz, president of Cox Enterprises Inc.’s Cox Media Group, which oversees the operations of four daily newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “My hope is that someday soon there will be a tablet that can do everything: GPS, telephone, advertising.”
While the e-reader market isn’t large enough yet to significantly boost publishers’ revenue, the Apple tablet may increase the popularity of e-readers over the longer term, said Randy Bennett, senior vice president of public policy for the Newspaper Association of America.
About 6 million e-readers will be sold this year, up from 3 million last year, Forrester estimates. Amazon.com’s Kindle has about 60 percent of the market, while Sony’s products have 35 percent, Forrester says.
Drew Herdener, a spokesman for Seattle-based Amazon.com, declined to comment, as did Kyle Austin, a spokesman for Tokyo- based Sony.
Reinventing Content
It’s unrealistic to think that new devices alone will transform the industry, Maggiotto said. Publishers will also have to invest in creating content that is unique for these devices, he said.
“It’s one thing to shovel print content onto a screen,” he said. “It’s another thing to think about how to reinvent your content for that medium. That’s the publisher’s responsibility.”
The Apple tablet will also have a back-lit screen, which will drain the battery more quickly than current electronic readers, and it may cost more, McQuivey said.
Still, Apple’s tablet is likely to boost demand for digital textbooks, said Frank Lyman, executive vice president at San Mateo, California-based CourseSmart LLC, an online marketplace started by five publishing companies to sell textbooks. By 2012, digital versions of textbooks may account for as much as 15 percent of total textbook sales, up from less than 3 percent today, according to data from members of the National Association of College Stores.
“Apple has a history of growing markets,” Lyman said. “They’ve grown the smartphone market. They’ve grown the personal-computer market. The tablet will capture that next group of students who haven’t yet had that light bulb go off.”
Older publishers are taking note. National Geographic Society said yesterday that its namesake magazine will be available on Zinio’s service. National Geographic, founded in 1888, plans to add audio and video to its digital magazine later this year.
“All the current e-reader devices will fall to the bottom of people’s Christmas lists this year when they see what a full- color reading device will do,” McQuivey said.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
HP Joins Tablet-Computer Frenzy
USA Today
There's another contender in the emerging tablet-computer war.
Several weeks before Apple is expected to weigh in with a multimedia device with 10-inch touch display, Hewlett-Packard unveiled the prototype of a slate-type computer during Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's evening address at the Consumer Electronics Show here.
The HP device, also touted as a multimedia device with video player, e-reader and multitouch, should be available this year. No name or price were announced.
It's "a beautiful little product," Ballmer said. He showed a demo of the slate PC running Kindle software for the PC, which made the slate look much like a Kindle but in full color.
Earlier, Lenovo introduced what it claims is the first hybrid PC for consumers with a detachable screen that can function as a multitouch slate tablet or a clamshell laptop.
"We are seeing the next wave of technology — the convergence of the Internet, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, and its impact on everything from smartphones to netbooks to slate computers," says Rory Read, president of Lenovo.
Both had better be good, analysts caution, because Apple's tablet is expected to make a big splash. Apple has declined to comment on its plans .
The new entries should invigorate the middling $950 million U.S. market for tablets, says David Daoud, an analyst at IDC. Sales declined 25% in 2008, and were expected to drop again in 2009. "Apple could do for the tablet market what it did for smartphones with iPhone," Daoud says.
Indeed, Apple could help define a decade-old market interpreted as anything from a large phone to a Kindle or slate device, says Mike Stinson, vice president of marketing at tablet manufacturer Motion Computing.
"With this market awash in products, customer confusion is what we have for certain," says Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle.
Ballmer's second address as Microsoft CEO focused on new PCs, software and product momentum, most of it tied to Windows 7. He said PC sales jumped 50% the week of the Windows 7 launch on Oct. 22. Holiday PC sales surged 50%, year-over-year, largely due to Windows 7, according to market research firm NPD.
Ballmer was joined onstage by Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft's entertainment division. Project Natal, Microsoft's controller-free gaming and entertainment system for the Xbox 360, will be ready for the holidays in 2010. It lets gamers play through spoken commands and gestures.
Ballmer said that Xbox 360 is nearing 40 million units shipped worldwide. Since its debut in 2001, the popular Xbox platform has helped sell 500 million games, equal to about $20 billion in retail sales, he said.
Microsoft also touched on a new in-car communications system for the Kia Sorento, called Uvo.
Several weeks before Apple is expected to weigh in with a multimedia device with 10-inch touch display, Hewlett-Packard unveiled the prototype of a slate-type computer during Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's evening address at the Consumer Electronics Show here.
The HP device, also touted as a multimedia device with video player, e-reader and multitouch, should be available this year. No name or price were announced.
It's "a beautiful little product," Ballmer said. He showed a demo of the slate PC running Kindle software for the PC, which made the slate look much like a Kindle but in full color.
Earlier, Lenovo introduced what it claims is the first hybrid PC for consumers with a detachable screen that can function as a multitouch slate tablet or a clamshell laptop.
"We are seeing the next wave of technology — the convergence of the Internet, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, and its impact on everything from smartphones to netbooks to slate computers," says Rory Read, president of Lenovo.
Both had better be good, analysts caution, because Apple's tablet is expected to make a big splash. Apple has declined to comment on its plans .
The new entries should invigorate the middling $950 million U.S. market for tablets, says David Daoud, an analyst at IDC. Sales declined 25% in 2008, and were expected to drop again in 2009. "Apple could do for the tablet market what it did for smartphones with iPhone," Daoud says.
Indeed, Apple could help define a decade-old market interpreted as anything from a large phone to a Kindle or slate device, says Mike Stinson, vice president of marketing at tablet manufacturer Motion Computing.
"With this market awash in products, customer confusion is what we have for certain," says Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle.
Ballmer's second address as Microsoft CEO focused on new PCs, software and product momentum, most of it tied to Windows 7. He said PC sales jumped 50% the week of the Windows 7 launch on Oct. 22. Holiday PC sales surged 50%, year-over-year, largely due to Windows 7, according to market research firm NPD.
Ballmer was joined onstage by Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft's entertainment division. Project Natal, Microsoft's controller-free gaming and entertainment system for the Xbox 360, will be ready for the holidays in 2010. It lets gamers play through spoken commands and gestures.
Ballmer said that Xbox 360 is nearing 40 million units shipped worldwide. Since its debut in 2001, the popular Xbox platform has helped sell 500 million games, equal to about $20 billion in retail sales, he said.
Microsoft also touched on a new in-car communications system for the Kia Sorento, called Uvo.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
5 Ways Apple's Tablet Could Change Everything
Business Week
The iPad is on the way, and it just might reduce calling costs, cut your commute, and, to the delight of journalists everywhere, pull print media back from the brink
Business writers love hyperbole. The ground will swell. The paradigm will shift. But what if occasionally a new tech gadget comes along that really does shake up society? Apple's (AAPL) planned tablet may just be such a device.
Speculation about Apple's one-device-to-rule-them-all iPad reached fever pitch this month when Yair Reiner, an analyst at Oppenheimer (OPY), dug through Steve Jobs' production pipeline and found evidence that the tablet was being readied for an April 2010 launch.
The timing makes sense. The iPhone is three years old, the U.S. economy is rebounding, and gadget demand is pent up among Americans who held off on toy upgrades during the recession. By spring we'll no doubt be past the holiday sales of the black-and-white e-readers that still look vaguely like medical prostate screening devices.
The world is recovering from its Wall Street hangover, and it's looking for a new tech party invitation. An Apple tablet would be the guest of honor. Laura DiDio, an analyst at Information Technology Intelligence, has predicted the Apple tablet will be "the next big thing," complete with 10- to 12-inch high-res screen, Web connection, and a video cam. Other manufacturers such as Dell (DELL) are preparing tablets, too, but Apple is the one to watch—because Apple is best at making radical new hardware formats undeniably cool.
Print Media Comeback
So yes, the Jesus Tablet will appear. And yes, you'll buy one with an artificially high price of, say, $800 as penance for being an early adopter. Within two years the price will fall to $199 until everyone including your 6-year-old has a gleaming, do-anything, interactive pane of glass on his or her desk.
As that happens, the iPad will change the world in at least five ways.
• Magazine and newspaper publishing will bounce back as consumers rediscover paid subscriptions. Sorry, Chris Anderson, but not everything will revert to free. It's no mistake Time Inc.'s (TWX) Sports Illustrated invested in a sexy tablet magazine demo that's also due to hit the market next year.
Publishers realize they have a very narrow window to recapture the paid subscribers they lost to the Web, and they'll do anything to grab you with the Apple gizmo. Expect to see publishers launch visually stunning versions of their magazines with swooping typography, video insets, CNN iReporter-style news uploads, social media overlays—whatever it takes to make you think you're seeing a magazine or newspaper like never before, so much so you'll even want to pay for it.
• Television and radio ratings will continue to fall. Unlike print, TV and radio won't fit easily into the Apple tablet's format. Sure, U.S. consumers still watch 5 hours and 9 minutes of live television a day, but the problem is ratings don't hold when commercials actually air. Certainly, Apple will try to push TV shows and movies through the tablet via iTunes, but we're betting they don't sit well in your hand. Rather than being a device to watch television, the Apple tablet is more likely to be an interactive distraction when real TV ads come on your basement set.
Nielsen noted this trend of "concurrent media usage" this spring, in a $3.5 million study that recorded what hundreds of people actually do when commercials air. When TV spots came on, people picked up laptops, magazines, or cell phones and did something other than watch the screen. Expect that trend to accelerate when you have an Apple tablet in your lap.
• Augmented-reality views of the world will increase. If you missed this trend, it's simple: Augmented reality puts computer graphics on top of live video feeds, similar to the yellow line you see on the field in NFL games.IPhone users now can download applications that overlay a video feed from their iPhone camera—providing floating arrows on the screen showing you, say, the distance to the nearest New York City subway station.
With a larger tablet, such video overlays on reality will become even more compelling. Expect app makers to leap ahead by giving construction workers 3D instructions at a job site, providing consumers with product reviews that float over items on sale at the mall, or serving daters a visual display of the job history, FICO score, and criminal record of that cute guy or gal they meet at a bar.
• Two-way video on tablets will push communication costs even lower. Yes, technically you can do portable video today, if you're willing to walk around town with a laptop flipped open near a Wi-Fi zone. But by and large, our infrastructure still can't accommodate simple two-way video on the go. Add a tablet with built-in Webcam, and suddenly video calls are as easy as holding up a mirror. You better believe AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ) are sweating about the advent of Skype video in subway trains or on Hawaiian beaches. (Perhaps Apple will throw its partner AT&T a bone by holding off on tablet Webcams for a few generations. Or it will throw AT&T under the bus by cutting a tablet deal with Verizon Wireless, a scenario at least under consideration earlier this year.
• Telecommuting may finally take off. If you hate your commute and care remotely about the environment, then why do you still sit in traffic for two hours each day? Because society has decreed face time is better than phone time. But when Apple tablets make portable video truly accessible, plane tickets and poor coffee in cars may become things of the past.
We could be wrong. Perhaps it's too much to hope for: a world where Apple provides low-cost, two-way video anywhere that saves print journalism while reducing phone costs, augments reality while cutting your commute, heck, even brings humanity closer together while stopping traffic jams and pollution.
But heck, Apple. Even if you can't solve the world's problems, we'll buy one anyway.
Speculation about Apple's one-device-to-rule-them-all iPad reached fever pitch this month when Yair Reiner, an analyst at Oppenheimer (OPY), dug through Steve Jobs' production pipeline and found evidence that the tablet was being readied for an April 2010 launch.
The timing makes sense. The iPhone is three years old, the U.S. economy is rebounding, and gadget demand is pent up among Americans who held off on toy upgrades during the recession. By spring we'll no doubt be past the holiday sales of the black-and-white e-readers that still look vaguely like medical prostate screening devices.
The world is recovering from its Wall Street hangover, and it's looking for a new tech party invitation. An Apple tablet would be the guest of honor. Laura DiDio, an analyst at Information Technology Intelligence, has predicted the Apple tablet will be "the next big thing," complete with 10- to 12-inch high-res screen, Web connection, and a video cam. Other manufacturers such as Dell (DELL) are preparing tablets, too, but Apple is the one to watch—because Apple is best at making radical new hardware formats undeniably cool.
Print Media Comeback
So yes, the Jesus Tablet will appear. And yes, you'll buy one with an artificially high price of, say, $800 as penance for being an early adopter. Within two years the price will fall to $199 until everyone including your 6-year-old has a gleaming, do-anything, interactive pane of glass on his or her desk.
As that happens, the iPad will change the world in at least five ways.
• Magazine and newspaper publishing will bounce back as consumers rediscover paid subscriptions. Sorry, Chris Anderson, but not everything will revert to free. It's no mistake Time Inc.'s (TWX) Sports Illustrated invested in a sexy tablet magazine demo that's also due to hit the market next year.
Publishers realize they have a very narrow window to recapture the paid subscribers they lost to the Web, and they'll do anything to grab you with the Apple gizmo. Expect to see publishers launch visually stunning versions of their magazines with swooping typography, video insets, CNN iReporter-style news uploads, social media overlays—whatever it takes to make you think you're seeing a magazine or newspaper like never before, so much so you'll even want to pay for it.
• Television and radio ratings will continue to fall. Unlike print, TV and radio won't fit easily into the Apple tablet's format. Sure, U.S. consumers still watch 5 hours and 9 minutes of live television a day, but the problem is ratings don't hold when commercials actually air. Certainly, Apple will try to push TV shows and movies through the tablet via iTunes, but we're betting they don't sit well in your hand. Rather than being a device to watch television, the Apple tablet is more likely to be an interactive distraction when real TV ads come on your basement set.
Nielsen noted this trend of "concurrent media usage" this spring, in a $3.5 million study that recorded what hundreds of people actually do when commercials air. When TV spots came on, people picked up laptops, magazines, or cell phones and did something other than watch the screen. Expect that trend to accelerate when you have an Apple tablet in your lap.
• Augmented-reality views of the world will increase. If you missed this trend, it's simple: Augmented reality puts computer graphics on top of live video feeds, similar to the yellow line you see on the field in NFL games.IPhone users now can download applications that overlay a video feed from their iPhone camera—providing floating arrows on the screen showing you, say, the distance to the nearest New York City subway station.
With a larger tablet, such video overlays on reality will become even more compelling. Expect app makers to leap ahead by giving construction workers 3D instructions at a job site, providing consumers with product reviews that float over items on sale at the mall, or serving daters a visual display of the job history, FICO score, and criminal record of that cute guy or gal they meet at a bar.
• Two-way video on tablets will push communication costs even lower. Yes, technically you can do portable video today, if you're willing to walk around town with a laptop flipped open near a Wi-Fi zone. But by and large, our infrastructure still can't accommodate simple two-way video on the go. Add a tablet with built-in Webcam, and suddenly video calls are as easy as holding up a mirror. You better believe AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ) are sweating about the advent of Skype video in subway trains or on Hawaiian beaches. (Perhaps Apple will throw its partner AT&T a bone by holding off on tablet Webcams for a few generations. Or it will throw AT&T under the bus by cutting a tablet deal with Verizon Wireless, a scenario at least under consideration earlier this year.
• Telecommuting may finally take off. If you hate your commute and care remotely about the environment, then why do you still sit in traffic for two hours each day? Because society has decreed face time is better than phone time. But when Apple tablets make portable video truly accessible, plane tickets and poor coffee in cars may become things of the past.
We could be wrong. Perhaps it's too much to hope for: a world where Apple provides low-cost, two-way video anywhere that saves print journalism while reducing phone costs, augments reality while cutting your commute, heck, even brings humanity closer together while stopping traffic jams and pollution.
But heck, Apple. Even if you can't solve the world's problems, we'll buy one anyway.
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