Tag: ipad

Apple Announces New iOS, iPods, iTunes, Ping Social Network, Apple TV

Apple held its big event today, and showed off several things. At the event, Steve Jobs said that Apple now has 300 retail stores, and will soon open one in Spain making it 11 countries. He said that Apple has shipped 120 million iOS devices, and that there are 230,000 new iOS activations per day. He also said they’ve had 6.5 billion app downloads and get 200 app downloads every second.

The New iOS

Jobs introduced iOS 4.1, which features bug fixes, High Dynamic Range photos, HD video upload over WiFi, TV show rentals, and Game Center.

With HDR photos, it takes 3 photos in rapid succession, and combines them to make a better picture.

Game Center includes features for multi-player games, challenging friends, auto matching, comparing scores and discovering new games. There is an API, which is its own app on the phone.

iOS 4.1 will be available next week in iTunes for the iPhone and iPod Touch. 4.2 will come in November for the iPad. This will include multitasking, Game Center, HDR photos, and wireless printing, and something called AirPlay.

AirPlay is the new name of AirTunes, and extends the service from music-only to all kinds of media. You can stream audio, video, and photos over Wi-Fi.

The New iPods

Jobs said the company has sold 275 million iPods. He then announced what he says is the biggest change to the iPod lineup "ever". The new version of the Shuffle comes with buttons, VoiceOver, playlists, and "Genius mixes." It holds 15 hours of music, comes in five colors, and costs $49.

The new version of the Nano eliminates the click wheel and adds multi-touch. It also now has a clip. It’s 46% smaller and 42% lighter than the last version. It has hard volume buttons, VoiceOver, FM Radio, Nike+, pedometer, and comes in 29 languages. The screen can be rotated. It costs $149 for the 8GB version and $179 for the 16GB version.

Jobs says they’ve had 1.5 billion game and entertainment downloads. He says the iPod Touch is the most popular portable game player in the world with over 50% market share worldwide.

The new version is thinner, and comes with retina display, the A4 chip, 3-axis Gyro, iOS 4.1 with Game Center, FaceTime with a front camera, and a rear camera with HD video recording. It costs $229 for the 8GB version, $299 for the 32GB version, and $399 for the 64GB version.

The iPods are all available starting next week, and are available for pre-order.

The New iTunes and Social Network

Jobs says iTunes has 11.7 billion songs, 450 million TV episodes, 100 million movies, 35 million books, and 160 million accounts with credit cards and 1-click shopping in 23 countries.

He then announced the launch of iTunes 10, with a new logo (without a CD, noting that iTunes is about to bypass CDs in sales). The new version has a hybrid view with five or more songs from the same list view and album artwork. There is also a new "ping" feature, which is a social network based on music. Jobs says its like Twitter and Facebook meets iTunes. This is for users and artists.

Ping comes with privacy settings, social music discovery, follow features, a circle of friends feature, the ability to post thoughts/opinions, custom song/album charts, concert listings, and 160 million iTunes users. Ping will be an app store app.

The New Apple TV

Jobs says in four years they’ve sold a lot of Apple TVs but the product hasn’t been "a huge hit". He introduced the second generation, and it comes in the form of a device that fits in the palm of your hand. It has a built-n power supply, one HDMI connector, built-in ethernet, and built-in WiFi.

It features HD content, with no purchases. There is no storage because everything is by rental. You can also stream from your computer. You can view movies, TV shows, and music. TV shows are 99 cents (in HD). You can rent first-run HD movies for $4.99 the day the come out on DVD. They have deals with ABC and FOX, abut think the other studios ill get onboard. It comes with Netflix access (for subscribers) as expected, and supports YouTube, Flickr, and MobileMe. You can stream content from an iOS device to an Apple TV. It costs $99 as expected. It will be available in four weeks with pre-orders today.

Update: We received the following statement from Disney/ABC: “When we put our shows on iTunes five years ago, it was revolutionary,” said Anne Sweeney, co-chair Disney Media Networks and president, Disney-ABC Television Group. “Since then, we’ve continued to provide viewers with innovative new ways to access our programming, and today we’re proud to team with Apple on a rental option for fans of our shows.”

(Hat tip to GdGt for its live coverage)

September 1, 2010
Google Makes it Easier to Monetize iPad Apps

Google has launched a new feature for its Mobile for AdSense apps, which lets developers in the U.S. and Canada, who are participating in the beta program, to monetize their iPad apps.

"The new iOS SDK supports ad serving in iPad apps using three of the most common online ad formats, instantly making it easier for developers to grow their businesses and for advertisers to expand their presence to the iPad," says Dan Waylonis, Software Engineer for Google’s AdSense for Mobile Applications. "Advertisers whose campaigns run on the Google Display Network and include text or image ads in the above sizes can now show ads within iPad applications – provided their campaigns are targeting mobile devices or specifically the iPad."

Those who are participating in Google’s AdSense for Mobile Apps beta will automatically have access to the new feature in their latest iOS SDK build. Those who are not participating can apply by signing up to become an AdSense partner or logging into their existing account, and selecting AdSense for Mobile Applications in the setup tab.

Release notes for the latest AdSense for Mobile Applications SDK release can be found here.

August 20, 2010
Gmail Gets “Stacked Card” Look on iPad

Google has released a new "stacked card" interface for Gmail on the iPad. What this does is allow for selecting and managing multiple conversations.

"In the past, performing actions on selected conversations was awkward," says Google Mobile software engineering intern Liam Asher Segel-Brown. "There were two similar toolbars on the screen: one on the bottom left and the other on the top right. The former affected the selected conversations, while the latter affected the currently open conversation. Since the toolbars’ buttons looked similar, it was easy to mistakenly use the wrong toolbar. Sound confusing? It was."

"In the new interface, selected conversations are displayed stacked on the right panel for easy organizing, archiving or deleting," he says. "The second toolbar is gone so it’s always clear which conversations you’re working with."

Google utilizes CSS3 transitions and transforms in this new interface. This is all described in a post on Google’s Code Blog.

August 19, 2010
The G2 to Deliver “Tight Integration” with Google Services

A teaser page for G2 from T-Mobile was discovered. It says, "The T-Mobile G2 will deliver tight integration with Google services and break new ground as the first smartphone designed to run at 4G speeds on our new HSPA+ network. In the coming weeks, we’ll share more details about the G2 and offer exclusive first access to current T-Mobile customers."

The G1 was of course the first Android phone, which launched 2 years ago.

9to5Mac points to Microsoft talking about its compatibility efforts in Office 2011 for Mac:

Speaking of Microsoft, Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7 will feature Bing Maps. Bing’s Chris Pendleton writes:

With the impending release of Windows Phone 7, I’ve been working with both the Windows Phone and XNA teams on creating experiences that will involve Bing Maps. As a preview, Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst is the first game to be shown and announced to use an XNA control with Bing Maps for Windows Phone 7. Hot. The game uses Bing Maps as a backdrop for an attack and tank-like game for blowing stuff up (or protecting stuff). Here are a couple screenshots used from within the game.

Speaking of Bing, it’s still in third place in the U.S. search market according to data released by Hitwise today. However, Yahoo has begun putting Bing into its search results this week, so that should be significantly different next month.

NewTeeVee reports that Verizon has unveiled a series of new video apps to bring Live TV to the iPad.

August 18, 2010
PayPal Adds Donation Feature to iPhone, iPad App

PayPal has launched an update to its mobile app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. It now has a donation feature that lets users donate to over 23,000 charities in the U.S., UK. and Canada.

"We hope the new application will simplify the donation process and help charities reach more donors," says PayPal Mobile Senior Director Laura Chambers. "We know most people want to contribute to causes near and dear to their heart, but many times the ins and outs associated with donating can get in the way of peoples’ good nature. I think Bill Gates said it best recently: The barrier to giving is not too little caring, it’s that giving is too complex. Today, we are a step closer to solving that barrier."

"As adoption of smartphones increases, donating via the mobile is also becoming more popular," she adds. "According to a study by Pew Research Center in July 2010, 11 percent of Americans have made a charitable donation via text. By adding donations to PayPal’s iPhone app, we’re hoping to increase that percentage even more. With great new features like searching for nearby charities and the ability to post your donation to Facebook, we think it’s going to be a great boon to both local and international charities."

Sharing donations on Facebook could certainly help for spreading the word, creating a viral effect for donations. That’s great for charities.

Among the charities the app supports are: the American Cancer Society, Autism Speaks, Save the Children, UNICEF, BBC Children in Need, Cancer Research UK, and Canadian Red Cross.

PayPal says it submitted the app to the Apple App Store today, and expects to see it become available in the next few days.

August 18, 2010
Yahoo Launches iPad-Optimized Yahoo Mail
Yahoo has revealed a new iPad-optimized version of Yahoo Mail.

"On the heels of our recently launched HTML5 mobile web mail for iPhone you’ll feel right at home with this experience," says Yahoo Mail Product Manager Lee Parry. "We’re keeping all the things users love about our new mobile Web mail, while optimizing it for the gorgeous large screen of the iPad."

Yahoo lists the following features of the iPad version:
- Faster and more reliable: If you’re offline, Yahoo! Mail uses local caching capabilities to help you access and search your messages even without an internet connection.
- Smart: You can find and organize your messages using Full Search, personal folders and Smart Folders with messages from your most important contacts and optimized views for photos and file attachments.
- Feature Rich: View rich photo attachments in their full form, or as previews directly in the inbox view. Also includes a dual-pane view to make reading and organizing a breeze.
The iPad version of Yahoo Mail is available globally (even if iPads aren’t). To access, you only need to go to mail.yahoo.com from your iPad. Yahoo says to expect more improvements and features for this version.
August 18, 2010
HBO to iPad? An iPad 2? More Storage for PS3?

Ryan Lawler at NewTeeVee points to a Bloomberg interview with HBO co-president Eric Kessler, who mentioned plans to make HBO on-demand content available on more devices like the iPad, but not for Netflix streaming, because its loyalties are with cable companies. Of course Netflix does offer HBO shows after they arrive on DVD.

PCWorld points to a Taiwanese newspaper, which says Apple is readying another tablet device similar to the iPad, but with a 7-inch touchscreen. PCWorld notes that the publication the report stems from also correctly reported that Apple had been working on a tablet (the iPad) when others were reporting it would be a netbook.

Google announced that Google Calendar Sync now supports Outlook 2010. "Making sure that your calendar is available to you whenever and wherever you need it is important. That’s why Google Calendar works with a number of desktop applications and mobile devices including iCal, iPhone and iPad, Blackberry, Android, Nokia/Symbian, and Windows Mobile phones," says Google’s Alice Brown.

Sony announced that the Playstation 3 will get higher capacity hard drives in North America this fall. 160GB and 320GB Hard drives will be offered.

Microsoft has released a new Windows Live Essentials beta with geotagging with Bing Maps. "This provides location context to a photo such as where the photo was taken or the ability to sort your photos by location. You can tag the photos to the fidelity of your choosing," says Bing’s Chris Pendleton.

There is an interesting article from Wired that is getting a lot of attention, which proclaims that "the Web is dead." It’s a very interesting read, and I have my own thoughts on this subject, which I will be covering in an upcoming article.

Microsoft and Yahoo announced today that Yahoo is starting the transition of showing Bing results for U.S. and Canadian searches this week. Yahoo also announced that it will shut down SearchMonkey in October, but will keep BOSS around.

Facebook is expected to announce its long-awaited location feature tomorrow, and Foursquare had the good sense to tweak its own privacy settings ahead of the media firestorm that is sure to head Facebook’s (and the entire space’s) way regardless of whether or not Facebook handles it the right way.

August 17, 2010
TV Guide Launches iPad App

TV Guide has introduced its free TV Guide App for iPad, sponsored by Showtime and featuring social TV listings, entertainment news, and its fall TV preview coverage.

The TV Guide App for iPad features share buttons for Facebook and Twitter allowing users to share what TV shows they plan to watch via their social networks.

"Our iPad app makes it easier than ever for entertainment fans to share what they’re watching – and when it’s on – with their friends," said Christy Tanner, General Manager, TV Guide Digital.

Showtime will be the first network to run a full-length episode on the TVGuide.com iPad app with their new show, "The Big C," starring Laura Linney. The full episode is featured within the fall preview section of the app, along with interviews and preview videos for new and returning shows.

The TV Guide app also will allow users to keep lists of their favorite TV channels and shows on their iPad. Users can browse listings by time to see what’s on now or up to 14 days in advance, or can search by show name, cast member, episode title and episode or program description. The app also features breaking entertainment news, a day-by-day primetime schedule, photo galleries and original videos from TVGuide.com.

August 17, 2010
Vimeo Launches Player For iPhone And iPad

Video sharing site Vimeo, a division of IAC, said today it will release a universal player that allows people to watch embedded videos on mobile devices such as the iPhone or iPad using HTML5.

"With the latest generation of browsers and devices, we’ve had huge demand for an embeddable player that works with HTML5 and on devices like iPad and iPhone," said Andrew Pile, Vice President of Product and Development for Vimeo.

The embeddable player works by the detecting the capabilities of the browser and will offer a player version (Flash, HTML5, or native) with the corresponding video definition (HD, SD, mobile).

"The new embeddable code is highly scalable and allows us to continue to add support as new browsers and devices are released, for example serving HTML5 to IE9 and our Flash mobile player to Android phones running Flash 10.1," said Pile.

Vimeo has also added a watch later feature into all versions of its players that allows users to mark a video for later viewing. People can access their watch later videos by going to the watch later album on Vimeo, the Vimeo channel on their Roku box or the Vimeo mobile site.

August 17, 2010
Barnes & Noble Enhances Nook for iPhone, iPad, PC

Barnes & Noble announced some enhancements to it its Nook e-reading software for the PC, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. There is a completely new app for the iphone and iPod.

"Completely new, the next-generation NOOK for iPhone application delivers the most personalized and easy-to-use eReading experience for iPhone and iPod touch owners," the company says. "NOOK for iPad adds customer-requested, in-app content rating and other improvements to the company’s popular iPad app, and NOOK for PC brings new branding to the company’s desktop software.

"We are committed to offering an easy-to-use, comfortable, and fun NOOK eReading experience across multiple platforms. NOOK for iPhone users can shop Barnes & Noble’s vast catalog of eBooks, while enjoying new, customization features and sharing their favorite eBooks with friends for free," said Douglas Gottlieb, VP, Digital Products for Barnes & Noble.com. "NOOK for iPhone puts thousands of eBooks in your pocket, and the reading experience is fantastic. It’s another way that Barnes & Noble’s NOOK offering makes it truly easy to read what you love, anywhere you like."

Barnes & Noble has been making a lot of moves to advance the Nook’s position in the e-reader competition (particularly with Amazon’s Kindle). In the last month alone, the company has launched NookStudy, an Android app, and perhaps most significantly it announced plans to install Nook boutiques in all of its brick and mortar stores across the country.

Earlier this summer, Barnes & Noble and Amazon got into a bit of a price war, in which both lowered the prices on their respective e-readers. Amazon has since announced a new generation of Kindle.

August 17, 2010
iPhone and iPad Apps About To Get More Integrated with Facebook

Facebook has launched a new software development kit (SDK) for Apple’s iOS operating system, which powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. This is an update from the previous SDK launched for the iPhone last March.

"With today’s update we’ll have SDKs for both iOS and Android devices that provide an even easier way for mobile app developers to go social," a Facebook representative tells WebProNews.

The two main features that make the new SDK a step up from the previous iPhone OS SDK are use of the Graph API, which lets developers integrate Facebook’s Open Graph into their apps, and authentication with OAuth 2.0.

"With more than 150 million people actively using Facebook from mobile devices, we have a commitment to not only developing our own mobile sites and apps, but ensuring that developers can also build similar social experiences," says Facebook engineer Yujuan Bao. "Since we first launched our first mobile SDK for the iPhone, the Facebook iPhone SDK, in March 2009, we’ve worked with some of the leading mobile app developers to provide easy-to-use SDKs. These include some of the most popular app developers in the iTunes store: Electronic Arts, foursquare, PopCap, SGN, Tapulous, Zynga, and Booyah, who have worked with the SDKs to build fun, social mobile apps and increase app distribution and user engagement."

Facebook has expressed an increased focus on its mobile strategy lately, and this launch certainly plays into that. It also shows that while CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be an Android user now, iOS is still very much on the company’s mind, and the inclusion of the Graph API in the SDK should go a long way for connecting iPhone/iPad apps to the "Open Graph" the way Facebook has already been connecting the web.

August 12, 2010
Are You Ready for Some (iPad) Football?

NFL Football officially gets underway tonight, as the Hall of Fame game between the Cincinnati Bengals (featuring Twitter legends Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco) and the Dallas Cowboys (Owens’) former team kicks off. While only the beginning of the preseason, football fans are excited for the return of their favorite sport.

Another reason fans might be excited is that Madden 11 is coming to the iPad on Tuesday. The wildly popular franchise will get some new and interesting features that only an iPad-like device could accommodate.

TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid got a sneak peek at the game, showing off these features, which include touch screen-based, hot route creation:

Last year, Madden was available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. If for nothing else, the larger size of the iPad has got to be a step up.

August 8, 2010
IBM Looks Into Accessible Mobile Interfaces, Google Giving up on Wave?

IBM has partnered with the Industrial Design Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay on mobile web research. The initiative will focus on development of new designs of mobile device interfaces that can be used by people who are semiliterate or illiterate, as well as individuals who have limited or no access to information technology.

Google appears to have somewhat given up on Wave, at least as a standalone product. The company posts to the Official Google Blog:

We were equally jazzed about Google Wave internally, even though we weren’t quite sure how users would respond to this radically different kind of communication. The use cases we’ve seen show the power of this technology: sharing images and other media in real time; improving spell-checking by understanding not just an individual word, but also the context of each word; and enabling third-party developers to build new tools like consumer gadgets for travel, or robots to check code.

But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users can easily “liberate” their content from Wave.

Nielsen reports that the mobile Internet is more popular in China that it is in the U.S. "Widespread ownership of mobiles is only a fairly recent development in China, but consumers there have fully embraced the technology and in some ways are using it more robustly than their American and European counterparts," says Shan Phillips, Vice President, Greater China, Telecom Practice, The Nielsen Company.

Nielsen also has another interesting report looking at who is buying the iPad, and asking if they will also buy an iPhone.

WordPress has introduced its own "like" buttons. Now readers can "like" posts, although I’d say for publishers, the Facebook "like" buttons will be a lot more effective for driving traffic. Still, it’s nice to provide as many gateways for engagement as possible (without getting too cluttered, anyway).

According to the Financial Times, Motorola and Verizon have teamed up on a "TV Tablet." This is a device with a 10-inch screen that users will be able to watch television on.

Reuters reports that Sharp intends to launch a 3D smartphone this year. This would feature a 3D panel that can be viewed without special glasses and would have a 3D capable camera.

According to Unwired Review, Samsung is considering puting touchscreen functionality on the back of a tablet. This is based on a patent application for a "mobile terminal having dual touch screen and method of controlling content therein".

Meanwhile, as Engadget writes, Microsoft has been teasing an as-of-yet unannounced product via Twitter, saying, ""Don’t be so touchy…flat is where it’s at," and offering a small partial image of some object. This may or may not be a trackpad.

August 4, 2010
Groupon Working Too Well For Some Businesses

Groupon may be working a little too well for some businesses. As Mark D. Carlson and Emily Fredrix explore in an article, some local shops around the country are struggling to handle the customer loads that deals from Groupon are bringing in.

Last week Groupon announced Personalized Deals, which will make the service all the more attractive to both businesses and consumers, so businesses better be prepared when they get involved with that.

TechCrunch Europe reports that Wikileaks has joined Flattr, which allows people to leave donations for content they like. According to this, The Afghanistan War Diary has 756 "Flattrs".

The New York Times is offering a platform for producing iPad and iPhone apps to other publishers, according to AdAge. It’s called the Press Engine, and the Telegraph Media Group, Dallas Morning News, Providence Journal, and Press-Enterprise have already signed on.

Christopher Null at Yahoo News points to a story about the FTC exploring a "do not call list" type list for online tracking. Unfortunately for the FTC, it doesn’t have all of the powers of e-commerce that it would need to do so…yet.

Appolicious (in association with Yahoo Finance) says that the United Arab Emirates ban of certain BlackBerry functions could give BlackBerry makers RIM a marketing boost, highlighting the device’s security features.

Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked a little bit about the company’s strategy for competing with the iPad, expressing concern about how well the iPad has sold. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley has her own take on what Microsoft may or may not have in store.

August 2, 2010
News “Game Changers” Coming Out of the Woodwork

News Corp. is reportedly considering working on some new app-based news product that would be separate from any of its existing print or web publications. An experiment in the future of news? Perhaps. A game changer? We’ll see. CNBC seems to think it might be.

Given how few details are known about this alleged product, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There have been a lot of so called "game changers" in the news industry recently, and I’m not sure how much the game has actually changed as a result of them. Julia Boorstin reports:

Sources close to the company tell me that the company is considering creating a new purely digital news play that would be designed for the app world and would be available through subscription on devices like the iPad.

This new digital news venture would incorporate text, photo and video, tailored for the iTunes app format … neither a newspaper nor a news website — it would not be based on any of News Corp’s existing papers.

There are some new and interesting products surfacing. There’s no question about that, but without widespread adoption, how much of a game changer can any one product truly be? Google? That was a game changer. Blogging platforms? Yep. Facebook? Absolutely. Twitter? Yes. It even caused changes in Facebook (and search engines with realtime search).

This new project from News Corp. will have text, photo, and video elements though. Sounds like a game changer!

Again, based on the small amount of details, it’s hard to form a real opinion on this, but is app-exclusive content the answer? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it’ll be in the content itself. If the content is exclusive, and unique enough from what’s on the web, an app like this could succeed. But apart from that, I really don’t see how this would be much different than offering a print publication with exclusive-to-issue content, other than the fact that less people will have access to it, though it might be able to build on this initial, ongoing novelty that comes with a new generation of tablet devices. Remember, you can still access the web from these too.

There is a lot of excitement around the iPad and similar forthcoming products right now, especially from the news industry. However, it still remains to be seen if these tablets can truly "change the game" in terms of news. People are still overwhelmingly going to choose free content over paid.

Thoughts?

July 31, 2010
RIM Reportedly to Have iPad Competitor Ready Before Holidays

Everybody’s scrambling to get their iPad competitors out. Most recently, we heard what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had to say about his comany’s plans. Research in Motion (RIM) will apparently have its iPad competitor out in a few short months.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports the BlackBerry maker intends to have one out in November. Hugo Miller writes:

The device will have roughly the same dimensions as the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch diagonal screen, said the two people who wouldn’t be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. The device will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology that will allow people to connect to the Internet through their BlackBerry smartphones, the two people said.

Will it be called the BlackPad? As Mobile Crunch pointed out this week, RIM has purchased the BlackPad.com domain.

iPad sales have been impressive, to say the least. However, it has yet to really be faced with competition, and that will soon change. The iPad-like tablet market is going to get flooded with new products and choices for consumers, and there is no doubt that some of them will be much more competitive with pricing. This is one thing that has helped Android grow (which is powering its own iPad competitors).

As the holiday season arrives, it looks like the iPad isn’t going to be the only one getting looked at by consumers.

July 30, 2010
Microsoft Will Have Answers to the iPad. Will They Be the Right Answers?

Microsoft feels threatened by the iPad. That was made clear by the words of CEO Steve Ballmer at Microsoft’s financial analysts meeting. Microsoft intends to come out swinging with Windows-based iPad rivals. It’s just a matter of when, and if customers will have anywhere near the same enthusiasm they have had for the ipad.

Of course, Microsoft isn’t the only company that has to worry about winning that enthusiasm. Any other player in the tablet market has a lot to live up to after the iPad’s phenomenal sales. However, whereas Google, for example, may be able to ride on some of the building enthusiasm for the Android operating system, Microsoft is hoping familiarity with Windows will be the ticket.

Here are some of the things that Ballmer said (based on a transcript provided by Fortune). "There is a category that we’ve had Windows on for actually a long time. We’ve had Windows 7 on, tablets and slate machines now for a number of years, and Apple has done an interesting job of putting together a synthesis and putting a product out, and in which they’ve — they sold certainly more than I’d like them to sell, let me just be clear about that. We think about that. We think about that in competitive sense."

"Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we’ve got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates. And we are in the process of doing that as we speak. We’re working with our hardware partners, we’re tuning Windows 7 to new slate hardware designs that they’re bringing them to market. And, yeah, you’re going to get a lot of cacophony. There will be people who do things with other operating systems. But we’ve got the application base, we’ve got the user familiarity. We’ve got everything on our side if we do things really right."

Microsoft also appears to be relying on Intel to help boost consumer enthusiasm for whatever products it launches. "We’ll get a boost sometime after the new year when Intel brings its new Oak Trail processor to market," Ballmer said. "Oak Trail is designed to be lower power. Lower power is good in a lot of ways. It leads to longer battery life, no fan, lower kind of noise levels, a lot of less weight — a lot of things that people like."

It will be interesting to see how Windows Phone 7 does, and if it is able to drum up further enthusiasm as well. Either way, look for Microsoft to bring Windows to a variety of new mobile computing devices.

July 30, 2010
iPhone 4 Expands into More Countries, iPad May Have to Wait

Apple announced today that the iPhone 4 will be available in 17 more countries this Friday (July 30). Countries include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The device will be available through Apple’s retail and online stores and through authorized resellers. It’s currently available in France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US.

Meanwhile, there might be a hiccup in the international expansion of Apple’s other big product launch of the year – the iPad.

Reuters quotes Kwon Young-soo, CEO of LG Display, a display supplier for the iPad (via Mashable):

"Demand (from Apple) keeps growing and we can’t meet it all. Apple may have to delay launches of the iPad for some countries due to tight component supplies and strong demand.

"We are considering increasing production lines for iPad products but overall supply is likely to remain tight until early next year."

On Friday, Apple announced a delay in the white version of the iPhone 4, while also launching its Case Program in which iPhone 4 owners can get free cases or bumpers.

Last week, the company also announced that it had sold 8.4 million iPhones and 3.27 million iPads in its third quarter.

July 26, 2010
Apple Posts Record Quarter at $15.7 Billion

Apple has released its third quarter financial results. This reflects fiscal 2010 third quarter ended June 26, 2010.

The company boasted record revenue of $15.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion. This compares to a year ago, when Apple reported revenue of $9.73 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.83 billion.

Obviously Apple has had some big product launches this year that largely contributed to revenue. The company sold 3.47 million Macs during the quarter (which was a record in itself), as well as 8.4 million iPhones 9.41 million iPods, and 3.27 million iPads (which were only launched during the quarter).

"It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year."

"We’re really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter," added Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer. "Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44"

Apple’s gross margin was 39.1% compared to 40.9% a year ago. International sales accounted for 52% of the quarter’s revenue.

The entire release can be found here, and Apple is streaming a conference call here.

July 20, 2010
Adobe Soon to Enable Any Publisher to Easily Create Digital Magazines for Tablets

Content publishers are excited about the iPad and other tablet devices. Such devices provide readers with a new way of interacting with content. Print publishers, in particular, are hopeful that this kind of publishing can make up for some of the losses they have experienced on the print side.

As Adobe notes, WIRED launched its digital edition earlier this year and sold more issues than the newsstand version without cannibalizing print sales). That was created with Adobe’s InDesign CS5, along with some other technologies, which the company said today will be available on Adobe Labs later this summer. This means more publishers will be able to use them and create their own digital magazines.

Adobe refers to the set of technologies as The Adobe Digital Magazine Workflow.

"Using this Digital Magazine Solution, these publishers can create immersive content without having to hire additional developers or invest in extensive retraining for staff," says Adobe’s Dave Dickson. "Publishers can add interactivity without writing code via InDesign and create monetizable digital magazines for the Apple iPad – with other platforms and devices expected in the future."

Adobe says it will be posting the publishing technologies involved in the magazine workflow, including the tools for adding advanced interactivity and bundling content, on Adobe Labs in late summer. This will come with the appropriate documentation.

July 19, 2010
Baidu to Compete with Google in the Mobile OS Space Too?

InformationWeek is reporting that Baidu may be looking at developing a mobile operating system, citing Chinese media reports. The project would be led by former Google employees. Meanwhile, TechCrunch says Android is poised to dominate in China.

Nokia Siemens and Motorola jointly announced that Nokia Siemens will acquire the majority of Motorola’s wireless network infrastructure assets for $1.2 billion. This is pending regulatory approval, but the deal is expected to close before year’s end.

Apple announced today that the iPad will be available in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore starting Friday. Currently, the iPad is available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US. The company says it will be available in many more countries later this year.

According to Fortune, Apple is closing in on Microsoft in revenue. "Though Apple still has a ways to go to compete with Microsoft in terms of net income due to Microsoft’s untouchable operating margin, many will be surprised to discover that Apple’s revenues are close to surpassing Microsoft’s," writes Andy M. Zaky. "If it doesn’t happen this week, it will almost certainly come in the next quarterly announcement." Apple’s earnings announcement is tomorrow, and Microsoft’s is Thursday.

Speaking of Apple’s announcement, it’s possible that the company could announce its "Magic Trackpad" (which may or may not go by that name). This is a bluetooth device for the desktop, that has just gained FCC approval, as Engadget points out. Engadget also has a very in-depth preview of Windows Phone 7 worth checking out.

July 19, 2010