Monday, February 1, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Killer App: iPad Board Games
From I4U News -
Actual board games take up way too much space and are a pain to clean up. With the iPad, the board game may have found an ideal platform. Imagine loading up digital copies of all your favorites games into just one tablet. Just as the Kindle does away with physical bookshelves, the iPad can do away with physical boxes. Moreover, it allows playing in a moving car. In a nutshell: the iPad is a potential goldmine for family entertainment.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Apple iPad may take away netbook demand
From Digitimes -
Per Paul Peng, executive VP of AU Optronics' global business unit, the Apple iPad may take away some demand from the netbook market because of the same price point.
iPad's US$499 starting price is very competitive and should provide Apple a chance to achieve annual sales of 10 million units, which is a significant since the current tablet PC market size is only about three million units a year. However, sales may be impacted by component shortages.
Unexpectedly low Apple iPad price forces notebook vendors to re-evaluate their tablet PC strategies
From Digitimes -
After the launch of Apple's iPad, which came in starting at way under the expected $1,000 pricepoint, leading netbook makers Asus and MSI are now forced to re-evaluate their strategies for the tablet PC market. The companies originally planned to offer their competing products at 20-30% lower than the Apple iPad. But the $499 entry-level price has caught them by surprise. But since they are used to, in fact, they tend to focus on price wars, we can expect the emerging tablet market to be fought on low prices.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Rest easy, iPad roamers: O2 and Orange have micro SIM orders, too
An anonymous tipster has informed Engadget that there are actually a couple of international mobile carriers will soon be using the same microSIM card used by the iPad. Apparently SIM card supplier Gemalto has revealed both O2 and Orange have micro SIM orders in the pipeline. While that doesn't necessarily mean that Apple is going to be partners with them, at least users can opt to use their microSIM cards since the built-in modem is unlocked.
Apple's iPad -- a broken link?
The Adobe Blog's Adrian Ludwig posted his thoughts on the iPad, or rather the lack of Flash on the iPad -
"It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple's DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers. And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.
If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab -- not to mention the millions of other sites on the web -- I'll be out of luck.
Adobe and more than 50 of our partners in the Open Screen Project are working to enable developers and content publishers to deliver to any device, so that consumers have open access to their favorite interactive media, content, and applications across platform, regardless of the device that people choose to use."
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
iPad, Funny Name
And the name jokes have started...
These are from a thread in Tsikot.com, a Philippine-based automotive oriented forum.
PS The Amazon ad is intentional. :)
Apple iPad's 'Micro SIM' explained
One of the surprises of the iPad is its use of a microSIM card card instead of the more common SIM. The SIM card is a special type of Smart Card, 15 x 25mm in size, that is used to hold both account info and sometimes contact info and messages in GSM handsets. The newer microSIM, aka 3FF SIM, is smaller at 12 x 15mm, about 52% smaller. Obviously it's not physically compatible with current phones as it is intended for even smaller units.
The iPad is not exactly tiny so it is quite difficult to understand why Apple chose the newer format since every new phone carriers offer it at this time and neither is there an aggressive push for conversion. So unless you are the type who knows how to format SIM cards and transfer data from one to another (i.e. standard SIM to microSIM), the move to the smaller format has almost the same effect as locking the 3G modem to AT&T only. Thankfully though T-Mobile has announced it will make the microSIM available in the US this year. At least it expands the available choices for carriers.
More iPad photos and details
Size and weight
* Height x Width x Thickness: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm) x 7.47 inches (189.7 mm) x 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
* Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model
Display
* 9.7" (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
* 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch
* Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
* Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Wi-Fi model
* Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
Wi-Fi + 3G model
* UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
* GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz)
* Data only
* Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
* Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
Location
* Wi-Fi
* Digital compass
* Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
* Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
Other features:
* 30-pin Dock connector (same as iPod and iPhone)
* 10-hours of battery life (Over one month standby time)'
* Full capacitive multi-touch interface
* 16-64GB of Flash memory storage
* 1 GHz Apple-branded A4 chip (developed in-house)
* Built-in Mic and Speaker
In the Box:
* iPad
* Dock connector to USB cable
* 10W Power Adapter
* Documentation
What the Apple iPad is really all about and its effect
Of the countless blogs and posts about Apple's new i product, the iPad, I think the most accurate is the one offered by Joystiq's Chris Grant as quoted in Engadget's editiorial - "this is simply Cupertino's answer to the smartbook executed with typical Apple spit and polish, and whether anyone really needs the world's slickest smartbook remains to be seen."
As for me, I think I shall never look at a certain women's hygiene product the same way again when I see it on the shelves in stores.
iPad can run all iPhone apps unmodified, new iPhone SDK out today lets developers tweak apps for iPad use
The iPad can run traditional iPhone apps completely unmodified, and can even zoom them up to full screen. In addtion a new iPhone SDK is out today to allow developers to tweak their apps for the iPad.