Thursday, July 28, 2011

Today's Headlines

Kindle and Nook Positioned for Back-to-School Purchases
PaidContent
As e-reader prices fall and the devices inch closer to being impulse buys, more retailers are interested in stocking them. A new National Retail Federation survey shows that 51.9 percent of families with school-age kids plan to buy electronics this year, down from an all-time high of 63.7 percent last year.

China's #1 Tablet Remains the iPad
MacWorld
Apple's iPad continues to reign as the top-selling tablet in China while rival Android devices from Motorola, Lenovo, and Asus struggle to gain a sizeable presence in the country's market, according to a Beijing-based Analysis International.

An E-Reader Devotee Ponders Taking Print Books as He Moves West
The New York Times
Reporter Nik Bilton ponders the wisdom of taking his hard copy books as he moves to California to cover the technology industry:  "Although I love my print books, e-readers, in one form or another, have become my primary reading device over the last few years. I barely touch my print books, although they are still beautiful and important to me."

iPad Becomes Fastest-Growing Platform for Electronic Arts
Industry Gamer
EA CEO John Riccitiello:  "Consoles today are 40% of the game industry...Our fastest growing platform is the iPad right now and that didn’t exist 18 months ago."

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Today's Headlines

Amazon, B&N Change Sales of E-Books on iPads and iPhones
The Wall Street Journal
Amazon.com Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. informed their customers that they had removed the "buy" links from their Apple apps on Monday. Kobo Inc., the Canadian e-book retailer, did the same over the weekend.

RIM Has Shipped Only 500,000 Playbook Tablets
The New York Times (8th paragraph down)
RIM has shipped only 500,000 PlayBooks but has not disclosed how many of them have been purchased by consumers and businesses.  Apple sold 9.25 million iPads during the last quarter. 

Consumers Eager for Amazon's Tablet
Retrevo
Retrevo, the consumer electronics shopping site, polled consumer about tablets and found that an Amazon tablet was what consumers wanted.  Price was critical as well.  Every time Retrevo asks consumers what would get them to buy a tablet, low price comes out on top of the list. In the most recent study, almost half (48%) of respondents said that $300 was the price point that would get them to consider an Android tablet over an iPad.

Why iPads Lead Sales of Android Tablets 24 to 1
MSNBC
The current buzz is that iPad sales may be 24 times as great as sales of Android tablets. According to this report, it's because Android tablets lack many features including a price advantage (see Retrevo poll in above item).  

Monday, July 25, 2011

Today's Headlines

LA Angels Rent Tablets at Home Games
Everything Android
For a very affordable $10, patrons can rent either a Samsung Galaxy Tab   or a T-Mobile G Slate. The tablets come pre-loaded with game day information as well as content from Zinio’s magazine library. On the G Slate only, Angel Stadium patrons can view T-Mobile TV as well, including some free content.

U.S. Government May Start Using RIM's Playbook
Tom's Guide
RIM's Playbook got a boost this week as it received the federal stamp of approval for government use. RIM has revealed that its device has just been awarded Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification, something that's required if a device is to be used in any government department or the White House.

3 Conde Nast Magazines Sell Ads in Flipboard Feeds
Advertising Age
Wired, The New York and Bon Appetit have started selling ads into the Flipboard iPad app in a bid to tap bigger tablet audiences and revenue

Tablets Help Businesses Shine and Improve Customer Relationships
PCWorld
The rise of consumer tablets--the iPad and Android competitors--is changing how workers at small businesses tackle their jobs and interact with customers, clients, vendors, and each other.

E-Textbook Rentals Available Today From Amazon
Tulsa World (AP)
In an effort and capture a bigger portion of the college textbook market, Amazon has starting renting textbooks on it Kindle e-reader.   Beginning today, the leading online retailer said students can rent textbooks from its online Kindle Store, which Kindle users can access on the e-reader. Amazon said rental prices are as much as 80 percent lower than list prices for the books.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Today's Headlines

Apple Loses Tablet OS Market Share to Android
PC World
Apple's iOS mobile operating system, which runs its iPad and iPad 2 tablets, iPhones, and other mobile devices, owned 94.3 percent of global tablet OS market a year ago, according to Strategy Analytics. But that figure fell to just 61.3 percent of the worldwide market in the second quarter of 2011, the research firm reported this week.  Google's Android OS was, unsurprisingly, the biggest climber both in terms of global tablet OS units shipped worldwide and tablet OS market share.

Uh Oh.  RIM's Playbook Loses Key Executive
The Wall Street Journal
Ryan Bidan, formerly senior product manager for RIM's PlayBook tablet, left the company to join Samsung Telecommunications America, Samsung confirmed in an email. Mr. Bidan was particularly visible early this year as he assisted with demonstrations and briefings to the media ahead of the PlayBook's April launch.

Three Unconfirmed Rumors About iPad 3
Business Insider
There may be an iPad HD this fall; iPad 3 will launch with iPhone 5 this fall; and iPad 3 will be ready for the holidays. 

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Today's Headlines

Apple's Lion Pushes PCs Into Tablet Territory
The Wall Street Journal
Tech critic Walt Mossberg on why Lion is a giant step in the merger of the personal computer and post-PC devices like tablets and smartphones.He says it's a big change and a harbinger of things to come (especially from Microsoft). 

Pogue on the Lion:  It's Like Embracing the iPad
The New York Times
Tech critic David Pogue:  "In Lion, there are iPad-like multitouch gestures. Pinch four fingers to open Launchpad. Twist two to rotate. Swipe up with three fingers to open Mission Control, a clickable constellation of thumbnails that show all open programs and windows. And so on."

iPad Sales Soar to 11% of the PC Market
The San Francisco Chronicle
In January, the Chroncile estimated that the iPad cornered about seven percent of the PC market.  
Now, it's at 11%.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Today's Headlines

iPad Sales Surge in Quarter and Help Boost Apple Profit
The New York Times
Strong sales to shoppers in emerging markets and to business customers helped Apple extend its lengthy streak of stellar performance in its earnings report on Tuesday.  Sales of iPads nearly tripled to 9.25 million worldwide as Apple increased production and started clearing a backlog of orders dating from the March introduction of the new version, the iPad 2.

iPad Popularity Cutting into Sales of Apple Computers
AllThingsD
Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said on Tuesday the company believes that some of the millions of customers that bought an iPad last quarter did so instead of buying a new Mac.
“It’s clear that some customers chose to purchase an iPad instead of a new Mac,” Cook said on a conference call with analysts.

"While I'll Never Buy an iPad"
PC World
Critic Eric Mack cites five reasons including price.  "...(M)y suspicion is that all tablets are overpriced, and prices will start dropping soon, but it will take a real serious competitor to the iPad to make that happen."

Key to Barnes & Noble Survival Will Be E-Reading
The Wall Street Journal
As reading moves ever faster from hardcovers and paperbacks to electronic gadgets, the retailer is attempting to reinvent itself as a seller of book downloads, reading devices and apps.  Good-bye bookworm staff.  Hello technologists. 

Lenovo to Offer 3 New Tablets
The Wall Street Journal
Chinese computer-maker Lenovo Group Ltd. on Wednesday unveiled three tablet devices it will sell globally, expanding its tablet push beyond China and intensifying competition in a device category led by Apple Inc.'s iPad.The tablets will run on either Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 7 software or Google Inc.'s Android operating system, and their starting prices will be similar to the iPad.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Today's Headlines

Is Samsung Developing a Device That Is a Cross Between a Tablet and a Smartphone?
SlashGear
Leaked details claim Samsung will be showing off a new device at the IFA Show in Berlin that skirts the gap between a traditional smartphone and a tablet. The leaked details are rather vague and confusing and come from Yahoo Korea.

iPad Sales Help Make Apple Profits Soars This Quarter
Bloomberg
Apple is set to post a 69 percent jump in quarterly profit when it reports results today, after record buying of the iPad and Mac computer made up for weaker demand for its aging iPhone 4.
 

Monday, July 18, 2011

Today's Headlines

Sony Kinda Reveals Tablet Plans
AllThingsD
Sony held a pair of events in San Francisco and New York this week designed to elaborate on its Android tablet plans, but the events raised more questions than they answered.The Japanese consumer electronics giant didn’t answer the main things people like to know about a product — when it will launch and how much it will cost. Sony also didn’t share most of the technical details.

MacWorld Reviews the iRiver E-Reader
MacWorld
Critic Melissa Perenson likes the clean interface and  high-resolution display.  She's not a fan of the sluggish navigation and stiff, poorly placed buttons.  Three out of 5 stars. 

Roundup of Alternative Tablets
TechCrunch
A look at the following tabs:  convertibles, dual-screens, gaming, rugged/field, and stylus-powered.  The conclusion:  "Demand isn’t great enough that you can make a successful niche product."

E-Readers Used at Textbooks at Midwestern University
The Courier Express
When nursing students at the University of Evansville reference texts while in the classroom or out in the field, they rarely use a book — at least in the traditional sense.  Instead, the program has for the last year used eBooks, both through computers and the iPod Touch, as a means of lowering prices, supporting sustainability and giving students an edge in the workplace.

Sears' Ad for $69 iPad Triggers Consumer Anger
Digi Life Today
A online Sears ad that mistakenly advertised the 16-gigabyte, Wi-Fi-only iPad 2 for $69 — and got shoppers' hopes up and orders placed — was retracted by the retail giant, which blamed a third-party seller of Apple's popular tablet for an advertising typo. That model iPad 2 is normally sold for $744.99 by the third-party seller, GSM On Sale.

Popularity of iPads and iPhones Cause iPod Sales to Tank
MyBroadbandMobile
iPod sales have decreased steadily since an all time high in 2008, with the iPhone and iPad making the iPod all but redundant.  According to Fortune analyst Philip Elmer-Dewitt, iPod sales will come in at 7.2% lower in Q3 of 2011 when compared to the same period last year. He also notes that for the first time since its introduction,

Friday, July 15, 2011

Today's Headlines

The Color Challenge for E-Readers
The Wall Street Journal
Manufacturers of e-readers say  they would like to have color screens to display images from books, magazines and newspapers.But there are many challenges to overcome.

Tablet Popularity Hurting PC Sales
The New York Times
Computer shipments rose more than two percent in the quarter, according to analyst estimates.  However, retailers appeared conservative in placing orders for computers because of the growing popularity of tablets. 

AllThingsD
Google may not have formally announced Android 3.2 yet, but Motorola has started rolling out the Honeycomb update to Xoom owners in the U.S.
 
MacWorld
Printing from the iPad can be easy if your needs are modest, but even if you require extensive printing control, there is, as they say, an app for that.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Today's Headlines

Tablet Gaming Not Hurting Consoles and Handhelds
GamePro (via MacWorld)
Research from Resolve Market Research obtained by Industry Gamers suggests that traditional gaming devices are not under threat from newer tablet devices such as the iPad—in fact, the opposite may well be true.  When surveyed in 2010, 38 percent of respondents said that they would not purchase a portable gaming device such as a PSP or DS after becoming a tablet owner. This year, that figure dropped significantly to 26 percent.

Dell May Be Ready to Launch Windows-Compatible Tablet
Austin American Statesman
Dell Inc. might be getting close to introducing a new Windows-compatible tablet computer, according to several tech websites that published photos of proposed prototype earlier this week.  Dell had no comment on the reports. although Jeff Clarke, Dell's vice chairman for global operations, said in an analyst meeting last week that the company intends to develop mobile Internet devices that are aimed at enterprise business users, but not necessarily consumers.

Small Price Drop for HP TouchPad
Tablet Planet
The HP TouchPad Wi-Fi webOS tablet has taken a slight price hit, consumers can now get a 16GB Wi-Fi model for $489.99 (save $10.00) or a 32GB Wi-Fi model for $572.65 (save $27.34) on Amazon.  At Best Buy prices for Wi-Fi only models have dropped by $10 for 16GB models and $20 for 32GB across the US

 

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Today's Headlines

Google Making Android Phone Apps Look Better on Bigger Screens
AllThingsD
Google announced plans to improve the appearance of phone apps with the next version of Honeycomb. Specifically, Google plans to offer two options to tablet owners looking to display apps that have not been optimized for Honeycomb — either stretching the app to fit the larger screen or zooming in.

Google E-Reader Set to Hit Stores July 17
Official Google Blog
On July 17, the iriver Story HD e-reader will be available for sale in Target stores nationwide. The iriver Story HD is the first e-reader integrated with the open Google eBooks platform  through which users can buy and read Google eBooks over Wi-Fi.

Apple's Estimated App Store Profit:  Only $292 Million
Business Insider
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates that since the App Store launched, Apple has earned a net profit of $538 million on paid it 15 billion app sales. It has spent an additional $246 million on storing and delivering free apps, says Munster, suggesting that Apple's true profit is just $292 million. 

Philly Papers Sell Androids with Their Content
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
The owner of the city's two major newspapers planned to announce Monday that it will begin selling Android tablet computers preloaded with their content in a digital venture.  The pilot project slated to be launched in late August will distribute about 2,000 tablets to customers who buy subscriptions to The Philadelphia Inquirer or Philadelphia Daily News, according to Mark Block, spokesman for Philadelphia Media Network.

New Report Details iPad Usage
The Los Angeles Times
Most owners (51%) spent more quality with their Apple iPads in the comfort of a couch or easy chair than in their office (only 6%), at work (7%), in the bedroom (17%) or in the kitchen (6%), according to a recent survey of 561 iPad owners conducted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri.



Monday, July 11, 2011

Today's Headlines

Apple Tells GetJar to Stop Using "App Store"
The Wall Street Journal
In Apple Inc.'s latest effort to control its U.S. trademark for the term "App Store," a law firm representing the company sent a cease-and-desist letter to wireless-application store operator GetJar.

iPad #1 Tablet for Android Smartphone Users
AllThingsD
IPads are currently selling better than Android tablets to Android smartphone users. So claims Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley, who expects Apple to dominate the tablet market for some time to come.

First Lessons Learned from the French Digital Kiosk
PaidContent.org
The  French consortium ePresse opened its digital kiosk June 30.  ePresse brought up eight titles: five dailies (Le Figaro, Le Parisien and its national edition, LibĂ©ration, the sports daily l’Equipe and the business paper Les Echos), and three newsweeklies (L’Express, Le Point, Le Nouvel Observateur).

Are Tablets a Fad?
International Business Times
Media tablet shipments plummeted 28 percent sequentially during first quarter, says IDC. Even  iPadmissed earlier expectations

Friday, July 8, 2011

Today's Headlines

Two Firms Offer More Storage Space for Tablets
The Wall Street Journal
Hitachi and Seagate are coming out with small, portable, companion hard disks that massively increase the storage capacity of tablets. And because most tablets lack USB connectors, these external hard disks stream their content to the tablets over a special, local Wi-Fi network they create. No Internet access is required.

Downloads from Apple's App Store Top 15 Billion
The New York Times
iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch owners are now downloading hundreds of millions of apps a month.  Yesterday, Apple said that customers had downloaded more than 15 billion mobile applications from the iTunes App Store. This is a jump from January, when Apple said it had passed the 3 billion mark for the number of apps downloaded.

Toshiba's Tablet Coming to Best Buy July 10
PCWorld.com
The new Android tablet has a 10.1-inch display with 1280-by-800 resolution. By comparison, the iPad 2's 9.7-inch screen is 1024 by 768.   The Thrive is priced competitively with the iPad, too. The $480 model has 16GB of storage, runs Android 3.1 (Honeycomb), and has an NVidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

Comparing Five Tablets That Are Taking on the iPad
Consumer Reports
CR reviews HP's TouchPad, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, RIM's Playbook, the HTC Flyer, and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer. 

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Today's Headlines

HP's TouchPad Recruits Hipster Russell Brand to Hawk Tablet
The New York Times
HP has enlisted the quirky British comedian Russell Brand and other youthful celebrities in an attempt to provide the pizazz younger buyers look for when they choose personal devices. HP's “Everybody On” campaign will make its debut July 7 with a 30-second commercial on cable and network television. It features Mr. Brand, the droll, shaggy-haired actor, multitasking with the aid of his “digital manservant,” the TouchPad. 

Seven-Inch HP TouchPad Coming Later This Year
Taiwan Economic News
As the world`s largest PC brand, HP is now in the tablet PC arena after introducing the 9.7-inch Touch Pad, has ordered from a supplier for 400,000 to 450,000 Touch Pad tablet PCs per month, and will sometime in August launch seven-inch tablet PCs. Inventec will supply HP these two tablet PC models.

Apple Losing the App Store Trademark Battle
AllThingsD
Apple best get used to the idea of seeing the term “app store” alongside Amazon’s brand, because it’s looking more and more like the battle it’s fighting to trademark the term is a losing one. A federal judge has rejected Apple's request for a preliminary injunction  that would prevent Amazon from using the “App Store” name to describe its Android apps storefront.

Politician's Son Sets World Record for iPad Typing
TUAW.com
Nimble-fingered 15-year-old, Eduard Saakashvili, has set the Guinness world record for the fastest typing on an iPad (who knew?)   Eduard isn't your average teenager; he's the son of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.  

Panasonic to Introduce Its Toughbook Tablet in Q4
TopComputerTablets.com
Joining the growing trend of PC makers making their own Android tablets, Panasonic has announced that it will launch the Panasonic Toughbook before the end of 2011.  The tablet will be geared towards enterprise users, and according to Panasonic, there’s a gap that needs to be filled in the market.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Today's Headlines

Tablet Sales Will Not Erode PC Sales Says Prominent Research Company
AllThingsD
Tablets aren’t cannibalizing notebooks; they’re converging with them. And fears that the post-PC era will see sales of PCs and notebooks eaten away by the iPad and its ilk are more than a bit overblown.  That’s the theory put forth by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi.

Next Version of iPad in the Works
International Business Times
It's not iPad 3.  "There are some indications from the supply chain that Apple may look to introduce an 'iPad 2 Plus' device as they put out request for quotes from various component suppliers for this marginally different device," FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger wrote in a note to clients.

The Five Missing Features That Hinder HP'sTouchPad
International Business Times
Among the problems:  clunky design, slow processor and a dearth of apps.

iPads Strengthen Ties Between Lawyers and Clients
USA Today
Two Phoenix personal-injury attorneys are using tablet computers to help solve an age-old complaint attorneys hear from clients: I can never reach my lawyer.  Marc Lamber and James Goodnow have given Apple iPads to 20 of their major clients. The tablet PCs — which are given back to the law firm when a case is over — are used as so-called "red phones" that allow clients to contact either attorney if they have a question or want more information about their case.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Today's Headlines

South Korea to Move All School Textbooks to Digital Platforms Within Four Years
Gadgets and Gizmos
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of South Korea is to invest $2 billion to move all the country’s school students to tablet PCs and digital textbooks by 2015. Tablet computers will be used to run these textbooks in digital form via cloud.

Touch Reviews
According to data from NetmarketShare,  the iPad now accounts for 1 percent of global web browsing. That’s quite incredible as the tablet computer was introduced just over a year ago.
eWeek
Many provocative questions are raised in this article including one about price.  The prediction:  sub-$300.  

PCMag.com
The HP TouchPad has nearly 400 apps at launch.  But thje fiove Google Android Honeycomb tablets that have come out since April only have 232 apps as of June 2, according to AndroidCentral.com.