Tag: ipad

Online Holiday Shoppers Plan To Spend More This Year

Online shoppers plan to spend more on holiday gifts this year, with 66 percent indicating they will spend over $500, according to a new report from PriceGrabber.

Last year, more than half (59%) of shoppers spent $500 or more on gifts. This year, the average amount that holiday shoppers plan to spend on gifts is $845.

According to survey data, the average 2010 holiday shopper will make 57 percent of their holiday purchases online, 40 percent in brick-and-mortar stores and 3 percent from a mobile phone.

Last year, competition among retailers for the lowest prices on the most popular products sparked "price wars." This year, 80 percent of consumers revealed they are planning to monitor price wars on their favorite products to ensure they are getting the best deal. Twenty percent of consumers are not planning to monitor price wars.

"Last year, we saw large-scale price wars between major retailers, which resulted in deeply discounted products. This year, we expect especially competitive price wars beginning early in the season," said Laura Conrad, president of PriceGrabber.

"Shoppers need to evaluate the benefit of monitoring price wars for the lowest price versus potentially missing out on the most popular products of the season."

In PriceGrabber’s holiday survey, consumers were asked which smartphone they would prefer to receive as a gift this holiday season. The Apple iPhone 4 took the lead, with 47 percent of consumers choosing the iPhone 4 over other smartphones. Twenty-two percent of shoppers prefer the Motorola Droid, and 13 percent choose the RIM Blackberry Torch.

When it comes to devices that consumers prefer for e-reading, 59 percent of consumers selected the Apple iPad as their device of choice. Twenty-one percent of consumers pick the Amazon Kindle. Five percent selected the Barnes & Noble Nook, and 3 percent choose the Dell Streak.

Tablet PCs are forecast to be one of the most popular technology gadget gifts this holiday season. The number of searches performed on PriceGrabber for the keyword "tablet" has already more than tripled (330 percent), compared to the same period last year (Oct. 1 to 27, 2009, versus Oct. 1 to 27, 2010). The keyword "tablet pc" has increased in popularity by 76 percent.

November 3, 2010
Nexus Two Rumored To Be Coming In Less Than 2 Weeks

Rumor has it that the Nexus Two will be announced at a press conference on November 8th in New York. The announcement would come from Google and Samsung together, and the device would be he first to ship with the next version of Android – version 2.3 aka: Gingerbread. It would also be available on more than one carrier.

Again, this is all rumor, coming from Taylor Wimberly at Android and Me, who says he has spoken with "multiple, trusted sources familiar with the project who have shared the same story with me. They wish to remain anonymous."

Today, Verizon Wireless and Apple began selling iPads at over 2,000 Verizon stores. Verizon is offering three bundles, all featuring an iPad Wi-Fi model and a Verizon MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, for a suggested retail price of $629.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 16GB + MiFi, $729.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 32GB + MiFi and $829.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 64GB + MiFi. Verizon is offering a monthly access plan to iPad customers of up to 1GB of data for $20 a month. In addition, Verizon is offering all three iPad Wi-Fi models on a stand-alone basis.

AT&T is trying out direct carrier billing with Zong, BilltoMobile and Boku, according to GigaOm. "This could be a major turning point in helping accelerate the growth of mobile payments, a market that could be worth an estimated $633.4 billion by 2014," says Ryan Kim.

According to Stacey Higginbotham, also at GigaOm, sources inside European carriers say that Apple has been working with SIM-card manufacturer Gemalto to create a special SIM card that would let people in Europe buy a phone no the web or at an Apple Store and get phones working using Apple’s App Store.

Roku will reportedly start licensing its software, and NetGear will be the first partner to take advantage. According to Silicon Alley Insider, Roku was forced into this strategy, but it could ultimately mean more people using Roku’s service.

Gawker’s Valleywag reports that Google is providing "servants" to its employees. Actually, Google is providing "runners" to help employees with errands. Employees get credits on TaskRabbit, which brokers odd jobs.

Oracle has already had a lawsuit against Google for Java code used in Android. Now, the company has reportedly updated the suit, saying that Google "directly copied" code.

A company called Proview has threatened to sue Apple over the iPad name. The company tried to market a tablet computer called the I-Pad over a decade ago, according to Financial Times.

Mozilla announced that Firefox 4 won’t be available until next year, according to ComputerWorld.

October 28, 2010
Newspapers and Magazines Come to Kobo eReader, iPhone and iPad Apps

Kobo announced that it is now offering newspapers and magazines for the Kobo Wireless eReader and its iPhone and iPad apps. The selection includes "dozens of top U.S. and Canadian publications". As an added bonus, the company is offering a two-week free trial period.

Kobo is backed by Indigo Books & Music, Borders, REDgroup Retail, Cheung Kong Holdings, and others. In July, Borders launched its own branded eBook store powered by Kobo. At that time, Border CEO Mike Edwards said, "The race to emerge as a retail leader within the digital category is just starting."

Since then, Samsung has unveiled its Android-powered Galaxy Tab, and Kobo announced that it would be supplying the e-reader technology for it. Kobo has apps for the iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android, and Palm Pre.

Today’s announcement, however, only applies to the reader, the iPhone and iPad apps at this point. Publications include: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Scientist, The Seattle Times, Wilson Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, American Scholar, China International Business, Columbus Dispatch , Guideposts, Harvard Business Review, National Review, New York Observer, PC Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Reason, The Christian Science Monitor Daily Briefing, The Nation, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Regina Leader-Post, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Vancouver Province, Vancouver Sun, Victoria Times-Colonist, and The Globe & Mail.

The company says it will continue to expand its offerings in this area. The newspapers’ and magazines’ formats are emulated on Kobo’s offerings. Still, readers can customize text sizes.

"Kobo continues to build on our commitment of making sure that consumers have the best reading experience on any device with the largest selection of content worldwide," said Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis. "We’ve had tremendous success with eBooks and we’re very excited to expand the Kobo offering to include newspapers and magazines with a two-week free trial, allowing consumers to try first without any obligation. We continue to bring on top publishers to ensure that Kobo’s newspaper and magazine offering meets our customers’ highest expectations."

After the two-week trial, monthly subscription prices start at $13.99 for newspapers and $2.99 for magazines. Kobo also claims to have over 2.2 million eBooks available.

October 27, 2010
Kodak Gallery Launches iPad App

Online photo service, Kodak Gallery has released a new free application for the iPad.

The Gallery HD iPad App for Kodak Gallery is aimed at helping users upload, browse and share photos stored on the Kodak Gallery directly on the iPad.

“Kodak Gallery continues to leverage technology for customers to view, store and share their photos through this innovative new app," said Victor Cho, General Manager of KODAK Gallery, Eastman Kodak Company.

“Kodak Gallery consumers will be amazed at how great their Kodak moments look on the Apple iPad’s vivid backlit display screen.”

The app features full iPad accelerometer support so users can rotate landscape and portrait photos. Slideshow Mode shows all the photos in an album and automatically uses seamless transitions to create a unique photo viewing experience.

October 27, 2010
Amazon Launches Windowshop App For iPad

Amazon.com has introduced a free app for iPad called Amazon Windowshop, which the company describes as a complete “rewrite” of its website for iPad.

Amazon says Windowshop takes advantage of the iPad’s responsive, multi-touch user interface and offers a fluid user interaction.

“Amazon Windowshop is a top-to-bottom rewrite of Amazon.com – designed and built without compromise just for iPad," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

"Try it. I think you’ll find it’s an amazing new way to shop Amazon’s millions of items. Same selection, same low prices, same fast delivery, same benefits of your Amazon Prime membership – just a completely new, fluid interface designed specifically for lean-back, touch screen tablets.”

Key features of Amazon Windowshop include:

*Discover more products within a category by touching the category (column) heading and be presented with all of the subcategories with hundreds of additional, related products.

*Explore the Amazon catalog by selecting the Browse button and picking the list type desired (Best Sellers, New Releases, Recommendations, etc…) then browse the categories and subcategories to find the products you are looking for.

*Learn more about the products by selecting the product from the grid of product images and be presented with the detailed product screen including the pictures and videos related to that product (which includes 30 second samples for the music items). Included are tabs for product details and description, user reviews, and related products.

*Share items you have discovered via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.

October 26, 2010
PBS Introduces New Website

PBS has introduced a beta version of a new PBS.org with a focus on local content from member stations, full TV episodes and auto-localization features.

The new PBS.org features member station and partner content along with national productions as part of the home page, topic pages, special features and series sites.

PBS.org is automatically localized so visitors can view video, TV schedule information and content that is specific to their community.

Other features of the new PBS.org include:

*A media bar across the top and bottom of every page, which is refreshed daily with upcoming programs and special promotional features.

*An expanded video section with access to full-length video on the site, including original programming.

*opic pages, including Arts & Entertainment, Culture & Society, Health, History, Home & How-To, News & Public Affairs, Parents, Science & Nature, and Technology.

The launch coincides with the release of PBS for iPad, and the upcoming introduction of the PBS App for the iPhone and iPod touch. PBS for iPad is available for free from the App Store. The PBS App for iPhone and iPod touch will be available in early November.

October 25, 2010

Apple vs. Google: Who Wins This One?

The bickering between Apple and Google continues. It’s gotten to the point where at just about every event where one of these companies has an announcement (at least within the mobile space), they take not so subtle jabs at one another.

Which mobile operating system will win out in the end? Apple’s iOs? Google’s Android? Share your thoughts here.

Nicholas Carlson at Silicon Alley Insider pulled out a few quotes from Steve Jobs’ speech from the company’s earnings call (in which it posted record revenue and iPhone/iPad sales):

"Many Android OEMs install proprietary user-interfaces to differentiate themselves from the commodity Android experience. The user is left to figure it all out. Compare this with iPhone where every handset works the same."

"We think the open vs. closed is just a smokescreen to try and hide the real issue, which is: What’s best for the customer? Fragmented vs. integrated. We think Android is very very fragmented and becoming more fragmented by the day."

MG Siegler at TechCrunch points to a tweeted response from Android lead Andy Rubin:

the definition of open: "mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make"Tue Oct 19 06:21:18 via webAndy Rubin
Arubin

Siegler also refers to the "activation pissing match" between Apple and Google. Jobs said that Apple’s activating 275,000 iOS devices a day, and 300,000 on good days. In a recent Newsweek interview, Rubin said Android gets 250,000 activations on some days.

A new report out today from ad network Millennial Media has Android revenue surpassing iOS for the first time across its network.

Apple has reaped the benefits of a new iPhone model and of course the iPad this year. We’re going to start seeing a lot of Android tablets very soon (much as we have phones in the past). It’s going to be very interesting to see how it all plays out.

Of course mobile isn’t the only area of competition between Apple and Google. It’s now TV time, and it won’t end there. Wait until Google releases its music service (expected later this year).

Peter Kafka at All Things D says Apple has a $51 billion shopping list, and asks if another major Google competitor (Facebook) is on it. It’s an interesting discussion, and it would certainly make the media narrative of Google vs. Apple more interesting and convenient, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, although Jobs and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have been talking, according to reports, that is probably more in relation to Apple’s Ping service or maybe other partnership opportunities. Facebook is not likekly to sell to anyone. Zuckerberg wouldn’t even sell a small program to Microsoft for a million dollars when he was in high school. I seriously doubt he’s going to sell one of the most important companies on the web that he’s created from the ground up.

That doesn’t mean that it’s entirely out of the realm of possibility for Facebook to have a role in Apple’s competition with Google, however. Faceboook has already given Bing an edge in search, when it comes to harvesting Facebook data, something that Google says it will get one way or another.

Still, I don’t think Facebook is going to be incredibly significant in Apple’s battle with Android in particular. Facebook is going to do what’s good for Facebook, and Zuckerberg recently discussed the company’s mobile strategy extensively in an interview with TechCrunch. Essentially, the plan is to be on every device. It’s not as if Facebook is going to start cutting off Android and go iOS-exclusive.

It’s fun to look at the competition between Google and Apple, but really, they are both winners. They’re both gaining customers left and right. Consumers win too, as technology gets better and we have more devices to choose from.

In which areas do you give the edge to Google? Apple? Tell us what you think.

October 25, 2010

New York Times Launches Full Content For iPad App

The New York Times today introduced its NYTimes App for iPad, which replaces its Editors’ Choice App.

The new app has more than 25 sections of Times content, including more videos and photos; breaking news alerts; and improved section and article navigation.

The NYTimes is free for now and available in the App Store, but that will change when the Times launches its pay model next year, requring an iPad app subscription.

Four sections of the app are available at download including Top News, Most E-Mailed, Business and Video. To access all other sections, users log in with their existing account or register within the app to create an account.

“More and more, our readers are connecting with The Times across a variety of platforms, and we are developing products that allow them to engage with our content in a meaningful way," said Yasmin Namini, senior vice president, marketing and circulation, The New York Times Media Group, and general manager, reader applications.

Features of the NYTimes App include:

*Streamlined navigation – a popover section listing allows for smooth navigation between sections. On article pages, a navigation bar beneath the article allows users to swipe through and select other articles within the section.

*Share options – share articles, videos and multimedia with a full set of tools, including Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

*Share options – share articles, videos and multimedia with a full set of tools, including Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

October 15, 2010
Microsoft Tablets To Launch Before Christmas

Microsoft said today it would launch a tablet computer before the Christmas shopping season in an effort to take on Apple’s iPad.

"You’ll see new slates with Windows on them. You’ll see them this Christmas," he told an audience of students, staff and journalists at the London School of Economics.

"Certainly we have done work around the tablet as both a productivity device and a consumption device," he said.

Gartner estimates 10 million tablets PCs will be sold this year as people begin adopting such devices, which include Dell’s Streak and Asustek’s Eee Pad. Apple’s iPad has sold 3.3 million in its first quarter.

Microsoft’s Windows phone software had 8.7 percent of the smartphone market last year, but that is on track to fall to 3.9 percent by 2014, according to Gartner.

"The job right now is we’ve got to get back seriously into the game of phones," Ballmer said.

"We’ve got to have a comeback against the competition and I think with our new Windows phones we really have a beautiful product."

October 5, 2010
Study Finds iPads Aren’t Replacing PCs

New research from the NPD Group indicates that nearly 90% of initial iPad sales are incremental and are not cannibalizing the PC market.

"Contrary to popular belief, the iPad isn’t causing cannibalization in the PC market because iPad owners don’t exhibit the same buying and ownership patterns as the typical consumer electronics customer," the group says.

NPD found that only 13%t of iPad owners surveyed bought an iPad instead of a PC, while 24% replaced a planned e-reader purchase with an iPad.

An a more obvious note, the group also found that iPad owners tend to own more Apple products, and are early adopters of other new technologies.

"Early adopters, like iPad owners, follow a traditional pattern of consumer behavior; they purchase products because they want them, not because they need them," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. "However, as Apple increases iPad distribution and consumer interest peaks, the profile of an iPad owner is much more likely to mirror the overall tech population. When that does happen other tech products with similar usage profiles as the iPad, such as notebooks, netbooks, and e-readers will come under increased pressure from the iPad. Until then, however, most iPad sales are likely to be incremental additional technology devices in the home, rather than a one-for-one replacement of a planned purchase."

There’s no doubt that iPad sales will continue to climb, as will similar offerings from other manufacturers, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be replacing the PC anytime soon.

50% of the first wave of iPad sales came from people who own Apple computers. That number dropped to 45% among later sales, the group says.

October 1, 2010
Report: Android Continues Market Share Growth

Millennial Media has released its Mobile Marketing Mix report for the month of August. Among its findings are continued Android growth, as well as significant iPad growth. The firm points to the following as the highlights:

– The Android impression share increased 7% month-over-month, and now makes up 26% of the Millennial network.

– The iPhone remained the top mobile phone on the Millennial network (by a significant margin), and iPad requests increased by 76% month-over-month

– In breaking down usage of the mobile web by carrier-7 different carriers had at least a 9% market share

– 45% of Blackberry users are Women (more BB stats on page 4)

Here are the charts for the top manufacturers and devices in August, according to Millennial Media:

The report also looks at some interesting info regarding RIM’s BlackBerry platform and data regarding its users. For example, the average income of BlackBerry users is 13% higher than the smartphone average.

The entire report can be found here.

September 28, 2010
Is an Apple Store for Print Publications Really the Answer?

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple could announce a "print subscription" offering as early as the next month or two. The publication cites "people familiar with that matter", though one of these people said it may come early next year, alongside the next version of the iPad. That sounds more like Apple’s style to me.

Lots of people (and publications) seem to be under the impression that the iPad is just what the print industry needs to offset declines in revenue. Sorry, I’m still not convinced. That’s not to say they won’t sell some tablet issues, but the fundamental problem is still there. People don’t want to pay for content, and as long as they can still access the web (from the same device no less), people are going to find plenty of free content to suffice.

I’d go so far as to say, a lot of people will find the tablet versions of publications less appealing, particularly if prices remain comparable to print versions (which so far, they pretty much have). Why not just buy the print version if you’re going to fork out $5 for the issue?

Granted, app-based issues can do more. They can be more interactive and provide video and rich content (and ads). Still, users can get such experiences from the web one way or another.

Another potential obstacle is how this will work across platforms. Apple’s rumored store would be one thing, but publications are going to have to create versions that are compatible with Android and other platforms for every issue – probably a great deal more time consuming and resource-using than a single app, at least if enough is going to be put into these issues to make them stand out from the print versions (i.e. that rich content).

The biggest obstacle is that few people in the grand scheme of things own an iPad. Yes, they’ve sold well, but it’s not like the cell phone. Not everyone in the room has one. The apps will never sell like the print versions for this very reason. You don’t need any device to pick up a magazine or newspaper and read it.

Tablet use will grow greatly. There’s no doubt about that, but as phones continue to get smarter, I don’t know that tablets will ever reach the cell phone or PC level of usage.

Now, I can see giving complimentary access to iPad content for subscribers of the print version. Or vice versa. Probably still not the answer, but it would be a nice touch (some already offer the app access to subscribers).

September 20, 2010
New MySpace Coming Next Month? CNN Still Using AP Reporting?

According to Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, the new MySpace (aka: Project Futura) is coming to some users on October 15, though that is subject to change. According to his sources, it will include a lot of white space and focus on the activity stream. Sounds like another familiar social network.

Michael Calderone, in an article at Yahoo News, talks about the Associated Press monitoring CNN, and claiming that the netowrk is routinely using its reporting, even since CNN announced it was dropping the AP’s service.

According to Jennifer Van Grove at Mahable, McDonalds experienced a 33% increase in "foot traffic" to stores with a Foursquare campaign. The company’s head of social media says the 33% increase was in check-ins, and they consider check-ins the same as a person entering the restaurant.

Danny Sullivan talked to Eric Schmidt this week about Google’s ranking factors. Watch the amusing response from Schmidt in this video Sullivan posted:

Google is doing a lot with predictions these days. At Google I/O earlier this year, Google announced the Prediction API. More recently, it launched Google Instant, with the goal of giving you your results before you even finish typing the query. Today, Google is talking about some research its doing in trying to predict when searchers are frustrated with their results. The company also launched some new features to the Prediction API.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune reports that notebook sales growth has gone negative, suggesting that the iPad might have something to do with that.

September 17, 2010
Disney/ABC and Nielsen Partner on Innovative TV Show iPad App

Disney/ABC and Nielsen have announced a new iPad app. The app is the first to be built on Nielsen’s new Media-Sync Platform, and uses audio watermarks to sync mobile devices to TV Programming.

The app is for the show "My Generation", and provides synced, interactive content, as well as social media functionality on the iPad. Users of the app will be able to automatically synce to any episode (live or time-shifted) of the series and access exclusive interactive content produced by ABC as a companion to that specific point in the episode.

Companion content will include things like polls, trivia, behind-the-scenes insights, production details and social networking features. The app will also allow consumers to interact with companion messages from sponsors.

Clearly there is a lot of potential for this kind of thing moving forward, outside of this one app.

"In the ever-evolving television landscape, we are constantly looking to create immersive viewing experiences around our shows," says Albert Cheng, executive vice president, digital media, Disney/ABC Television Group. "Together with Nielsen, we’ve created a sync-to-broadcast app that appeals to both fans and advertisers, and holds an array of possibilities for deeper engagement with our content and our advertisers’ brands."

"The Media-Sync Platform was born out of Nielsen’s continuous investment in leading-edge audience measurement technologies and we believe it paves the way to fundamentally change the way consumers interact with TV programs and TV advertisements," says Sid Gorham, Nielsen’s EVP, Strategy and Business Development. "We are thrilled to collaborate with the innovative team at Disney/ABC to develop the first Media-Sync app and look forward to a broader industry wide launch in early 2011."

The show itself starts Thursday, September 23, and the App is available in the App Store.

September 16, 2010
Print from the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch with Apple’s Airprint

Apple announced that its releasing a beta version of Airprint wireless printing for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch as part of the iOS Develope Program. The service will be included in the iOS 4.2 software update in November.

What AirPrint does, is automatically find printers on local networks and print text, photos and graphics to them wirelessly over Wi-Fi. There is no need to install drivers or download software.

HP’s existing and upcoming ePrint enabled printers will be the first to support Airprint. Compatible printers include: the HP Photosmart, Officejet, Officejet Pro and LaserJet Pro series ePrint enabled printers.

"AirPrint is Apple’s powerful new printing architecture that matches the simplicity of iOS—no set up, no configuration, no printer drivers and no software to download," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing. "iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to an HP ePrint printer or to a printer shared on a Mac or PC."

"We’re pleased to work with Apple to bring Apple’s AirPrint to our fall lineup of ePrint printers in time for the holiday shopping season," said Vyomesh Joshi, HP executive VP, Imaging and Printing Group. "Making it easy for our customers to print anytime, anywhere, is a key priority for HP. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch customers are going to love how easy it is to print using our new range of ePrint printers, creating high-quality printed pages in an instant."

Apple says Airprint will support a wide range of inkjet and laser printers. iOS 4.2 devices can print to printers shared through Macs or PCs.

AirPrint will work with iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (second generation and later).

Google has a similar offering called CloudPrint, but it’s not yet available. It will be supported by web apps, Android apps, iPhone apps, Chrome OS, etc. – "any type of application" Google says.

September 15, 2010
iPad Coming to All U.S. Best Buy Stores September 26

Best Buy just announced it is expanding iPad availability to all U.S. stores September 26. That of course goes for the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi +3G models.

"Technology is becoming more and more personal, and our customers say they really value visiting a Best Buy store to touch and try the iPad for themselves," said Wendy Fritz, senior vice president of computing at Best Buy. "We’re delighted that we’ll soon make that opportunity available to everyone who’d like to come see us, and experience this device in any Best Buy store nationwide."

Best Buy has 1,093 locations across the U.S. The company is already selling the device online and through Apple Shop locations within stores.

Earlier this week, Apple announced that its Wi-Fi iPad models will be available in China at Apple Retail Stores this Friday (September 17). The company said in a statement:

Apple Retail Stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. Apple Retail Stores in China are also hosting special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about this magical new product.

It also looks like iPads might become available at Target in October, if a tip Engadget received is any indication.

September 14, 2010
Apple Continues to Expand iPad Availability

It looks like the iPad will continue making its way into more customers’ hands as availability continues to expand. Apple announced today that its Wi-Fi iPad models will be available in China at Apple Retail Stores this Friday (September 17). The company said in a statement:

Apple Retail Stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. Apple Retail Stores in China are also hosting special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about this magical new product.

iPad Wi-Fi models in China will be available for a suggested retail price of CNY3988 for 16GB, CNY4788 for 32GB and CNY5588 for 64GB. iPads will be sold in China through Apple’s Retail Stores, as well as select Apple Authorized Resellers.

Engadget received a tip that suggests iPads may soon be available at Target. They point to a list that shows a "mysteriously unnamed" product that will become available on October 3 in six different versions. The prices appear to line up with the iPad models.

While this is unconfirmed at this point, it would not be surprising to see Apple expand iPad retail availability before the holidays. It’s bound to be a popular item during the upcoming season.

September 13, 2010
Apple to Publish App Store Review Guidelines

Apple released a statement today regarding its App Store Review Guidelines. The company says:

The App Store has revolutionized the way mobile applications are developed and distributed. With over 250,000 apps and 6.5 billion downloads, the App Store has become the world’s largest mobile application platform and App Store developers have earned over one billion dollars from the sales of their apps.

We are continually trying to make the App Store even better. We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year.

In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need.

In addition to these changes, Apple will publish its App Store Review Guidelines so that developers can see what all is taken into consideration before submitting their apps. Apple says it hopes this will make it more transparent.

Apple has had a reputation for being pretty stingy with app acceptance. In fact, the company has caused a lot of controversy in this area, particularly around apps that it deemed to be adult-oriented, while still allowing other apps from bigger brands that appeared to be more adult-oriented than some of the ones rejected. More on that here.

September 9, 2010
Facebook in the Car, Turning an iPod into an iPhone

CrunchGear has an unconfirmed report that OnStar will begin including the ability to update your Facebook status. This would make sense, considering the recent launch of Facebook Places, which allows you to check in.

Google introduced its Google Instant feature today, which provides search results as Google users type their queries. Some search marketers are concerned about how they might be affected. More on this topic here.

TechCrunch reports that a company called Kno has raised $55 million, and will create what investor Marc Andreessen says will be "the most powerful tablet anyone has ever made." That should be interesting.

MG Siegler points to a humorous Twitter account from his personal blog, Parislemon. The account "translates" the tweets of rapper 50 cent into English, providing retweets of 50’s original post for context.

Jorgen Sundberg has an interesting post about how to make Google love your Twitter profile. I haven’t tested his tips, so I can’t vouch for the accuracy of his post, but it’s worth checking out.

Greg Sterling points to a speech from Eric Schmidt this week in which he says, "One in three queries from smartphones is about where I am."

MacDailyNews reports that Notre Dame has launched paperless iPad courses:

Geek.com reports that the Yosion Apple Peel 520, which lets you turn an iPod Touch into a smartphone that can send and receive calls and texts, is coming to the U.S. It’s apparently coming now that jailbreaking is legal.

According to comScore numbers, Gawker Media and the Huffington Post both get more monthly unique visitors than any major newspaper site, except for the New York times. That’s more than USAToday, The Washington Post, The LA Times, or the Wall Street Journal. More at The Awl.

MobileCrunch looks at the release of Yahoo’s open-source User Interface library,

According to Asymoco, app downloads on iTunes are on pace to surpass song downloads this year. On a related note, Cnet reports that Apple doesn’t have all of the licenses it needs to expand the length of iTunes song samples.

According to Gizmodo, Justin Bieber takes up 3% of Twitter resources at any moment, and Bieber (along with other big users) have dedicated Twitter servers.

The EFF weighed in on the topic of Craigslist censoring, talking specifically about what it means for free speech. Meanwhile, the Huffington Post has an article called "Thoughts From a Former Craigslist Sex Worker".

Bing launched a new site today called Redu, which was built "to help people come and get informed, involved, and connected to challenges, opportunities, and activities focused on improving education" in the U.S.

Microsoft Advertising announced that it is launching third-party ad serving for mobile in the U.S. "Our solution enables agencies and advertisers to use trusted third party ad servers such as Microsoft Atlas and Google’s DART to serve mobile display ads on all of our premium Microsoft Mobile Media properties including MSN Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Windows Live Hotmail and Messenger, MSNBC, FOX Sports, CNBC and Wonderwall," says Microsoft’s Raj Kapoor. "Advertisers and agencies will now be able to centrally manage their ad campaigns and reporting using trusted and proven third-party systems."

MySpace has introduced a new way to experience video in the stream. Users can watch videos instantly from their stream.

September 8, 2010
NASA Launches App HD For iPad

NASA has introduced a new free mobile application for the iPad called NASA App HD.

NASA App HD features live streaming video from NASA Television, an interactive map with links to all of its centers, quick links to feature stories and launch schedules, a scrolling “alerts banner,” and a NASA Featured” link.

The app’s landing page features the solar system, where users can learn more about it, the universe and NASA missions. The app also allows users to view and search updated, higher resolution NASA Image of the Day and Astronomy Picture of the Day collections and agency videos on demand.

“Our goal with the first NASA App was to deliver current mission information, images, videos and news updates in the best possible way for the iPhone and iPod touch," said Jerry Colen, NASA App project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

"Now we’ve enhanced and expanded the application to include even more content and really take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen."

September 2, 2010
Twitter Releases its iPad App with iPad-Specific Features

Twitter has launched its official iPad app. There’s a bit more to this than the standard mobile Twitter app.

"Twitter for iPad takes advantage of the iPad’s fluid touch interface, letting you move lots of information around smoothly and quickly – without needing to open and close windows or click buttons," says Twitter’s Leland Rechis.

When you tap a tweet in this app, it opens a pane, and depending on the content of that tweet, you can open videos, photos, articles, etc.

"When you tap a video link or open a web page with an embedded video, you can play that video inline," explains Rechis. "And, let’s be honest, video is great but sometimes it can take some time to load. The panes in Twitter for iPad let you look through your timeline while a video is loading, and then you can just swipe back to the video when it’s ready to play. You can also pinch on a video to watch it fullscreen."

There is also a gestures feature, which lets you pinch on a tweet to see details fo the author, reply, or retweet. You can put to fingers together and pull down on a tweet to see replies, showing the whole conversation. Now that’s useful.

iPad users can use the app without even signing into Twitter and still see good content. Twitter has hand-picked certain Twitter accounts that you can see in various categories without logging in. You can also search and find breaking news without logging in.

September 2, 2010