Written on 7:55 AM by Mujtaba
Apple’s forthcoming tablet will shift 70 percent more units than Apple TV did in its first full year, adding a cool $1.2 billion of revenue, estimates the research firm Piper Jaffray. The web/email/multimedia/gaming device might include a 3G cellular modem, it’ll multitask, run existing App Store programs, and compete in the netbook category even though it won’t be a netbook.
Market research firm Piper Jaffray has issued a new research note speculating on features of the rumored Apple tablet. The document cites insider sources who claim the device will launch in early 2010, as opposed to and targets suggested by Chinese sources and entertainment industry execs, respectively. ’s what Piper Jaffray’s senior research analyst Gene Munster wrote in the note:
Last week we spoke with an Asian component supplier that has received orders from Apple for a touch-screen device to be fulfilled by late CY09. This data point underscores our thesis that a tablet will likely launch in early CY10.
Munster expects the tablet to sell 2 million units in its first full year, at $600 each, creating an additional revenue stream worth $1.2 billion, or approximately three percent of Apple’s estimated revenue in the calendar year 2010. The analyst warned that the Street has yet to bake in the tablet factor into forecast models for Apple.
Although Apple’s tablet most likely won’t have enough oomph to rival the Mac, iPhone, and iPod businesses, it’ll beat a niche product that is the Apple TV, which sold 1.2 million units in the first 12 months on the market. If anything, the tablet business should offset the shrinking iPod sales that Apple has seen in past few quarters. Munster even provided a of what he thinks the tablet will look like that’s closely aligned with of the product.
A new mockup of an alleged $600 Apple tablet (credit: Piper Jaffray).
Here are from Munster’s report:
- Basically a huge iPod touch, the tablet will offer at least four times the resolution of the iPhone’s 480×320 display.
- It’ll be primarily focused on email, web surfing, digital media, and games.
- It won’t be a netbook and it won’t be marketed as a netbook, but it’ll compete in the netbook category.
- The tablet will add an additional $1.2 billion in annual revenue (about three percent of Apple’s estimated revenue in calendar 2010) by selling 2 million units, at $600 each, in the first 12 months.
- It’ll sell better than the Apple TV, which moved 1.2 million units in its first full year.
- Developers will be able to create and distribute apps through the App Store that are optimized for the tablet’s bigger screen.
- The tablet will run the vast majority of the 70,000 App Store programs created for the iPhone platform.
- It might come with a 3G modem for on the go connectivity through cellular networks.
- It’ll fill a gap between a high-end iPhone and a low-end MacBook, costing between $500-$700.
- AT&T or Verizon might subsidize the device by requiring you to subscribe to a data-only plan.
Backwards compatible with the App Store offering
Munster’s early 2010 estimate falls in line with AppleInsider’s derived from “sources familiar with the project.” On the other hand, the entertainment industry is allegedly pushing for a Christmas launch in order to benefit from holiday season by selling tablet owners entertainment content through the iTunes Store. Although I’m just speculating here, there should be no doubt about backwards compatibility because the device will be allegedly built around a variant of the iPhone OS. However, I doubt the tablet will feature the so-called premium App Store or a new section inside the existing App Store that will carry only tablet-optimized apps.
App Store programs should run across all iPhone OS-powered devices because Apple won’t risk fragmenting the platform. Backwards compatibility stems from the fact that the iPhone SDK requires developers to write resolution-independent apps that depend on APIs of the iPhone OS, not the hardware. User interface in iPhone apps is constructed in relative terms, using percentages, so the iPhone OS can scale it to whatever output resolution is available. When it comes to games, the tablet’s GPU could enlarge the hard-coded 480×320 output to a higher resolution.
It won’t be OS X device
With a beefier CPU/GPU, more RAM, and a longer battery life stemming from a larger form factor, the tablet might easily run multiple apps at once. However, since Apple disabled multitasking on the user level on the iPhone, citing security reasons, don’t hold your breath for a multitasking-enabled tablet. While we’re speculating, I’m convinced that the tablet will feature an entirely new apps manager, a cross between iPhone’s springboard and OS X’s Finder.
Just don’t expect this gizmo to run fully-featured Mac software built for desktop OS X, regardless of the fact that at least four times higher resolution than iPhone’s 480×320 is enough to make most Mac apps look good on the device. If you want a Mac, you’ll buy a Mac - but the tablet will remain in the iPhone OS domain.
|
Written on 7:53 AM by Mujtaba
The folks at Wondershare have sent word that they’re offering their Wondershare Video to iPhone Converter for Mac for free until September 10th. The software will convert MPEG, MP4, 3GP, WMV, FLV, AVCHD, and more.
Even though I have more than my share of video software tools, I figured I’d give it a quick try since it’s currently free. To my surprise it was pretty full featured and in minutes I was converting, trimming, and resaving a file. I also really like the long list of video formats that it can convert to and from. I did have a one-time crash, but a quick restart of the program and I was in business.
|
Written on 7:51 AM by Mujtaba
One of the more annoying functionality deficiencies of the iPod and iPhone is the inability to slurp music off the drive and to your computer. You can do the opposite, of course, but the former is a functionality gimped not through technological impossibility, but because of the absurd demands of the music industry.
There’s software to get around the issue, of course, and it works fairly well. But if you’re looking for a hardware solution, the recently announced Clickfree Transformer will allow you to slurp down music, videos or photos from your iPod with no software installation necessary.
It works just like a regular sync cable. Hell, it is a sync cable. All you do is plug it into your USB port, connect your iPhone or iPod and then boot up iTunes. Not only will your music files be updated on your iPod, but you’ll also have the option to suck down any files you want to, to backup on your hard drive.
Where it gets a bit more confusing is how the backup is accomplished. According to the press release, the Clickfree transformer will automatically backup when an iPod is plugged in, with no software to install or setup and no manual to read.
That sounds a lot to me like you have no choice but to backup your full iPod every time you sync it with the Clickfree Transformer, which is, charitably, crap. And so is the price: the plain white Clickfree Transformer costs $50, while the black SE version works with regular USB drives as well. That’s a lot of money to spend on something you can do with software for free.
|
Written on 8:26 PM by Mujtaba
Apple has enhanced the App Store with the keyword-based search, resulting in an improved app discovery. The change arrives amid frequent complaints from developers and analysts requiring better organization of over 65,000 apps found in the App Store.
Apple is asking developers to provide up to 255 characters of keywords in order to make finding iPhone apps in the App Store easier. Previously, the mobile App Store client would check queries against titles and descriptions, yielding a mixed bag of results.
For example, searching for all Electronic Arts games by typing in the “EA” would’ve also populated the resulting list with non-EA apps that carry the “EA” term in their description. Equally, typing in “Apple” would’ve returned all apps whose description mentions the company. From now on, developers can post custom keywords, alongside binaries, via the iTunes Connect service and update the keywords with the submission of a new binary.
A quick check in the App Store reveals many developers have already done so. For example, searching for “Electronic Arts” now produces EA games first. Equally, typing “Apple” in the search field puts Apple-made programs at the top of the list.
The long-overdue change arrives just days following harsh criticism that Apple’s op-chief Timothy Cook had to endure during earnings call with investors, when Charles Wolf of Needham & Co. said the following:
In some respects, the App Store has taken its place alongside YouTube, where poor taste is the defining metric. More ominously, it has led to a deterioration of the entire pricing structure for iPhone applications. The risk is that developers who hope to build quality applications that have a long shelf life may be discouraged from doing so because prospective development costs exceed the revenues they expect to earn on the applications. In short, this race to the bottom has the potential to degrade the overall equality of the applications sold at the App Store.
Cook rebuffed Wolf’s suggestion that the , hinting that the company is “always looking for ways to categories apps differently,” adding that Apple has “some ideas” in that respect. The rumor-mill has been buzzing about the so-called premium App Store section that would apparently carry only high-quality apps. More that such a store could be built into Apple’s rumored tablet device.
Christian’s Opinion
There’s so much more that Apple can do to make finding apps via the App Store client on the device easier. There’s a notable difference in the filtering features of desktop iTunes and mobile App Store client. For example, desktop iTunes lets you filter apps released by specific publishers or similar items that other people have bought. These filters are found in the bottom right section of the app description page or via a clickable publisher field bellow the app title.
App filters in the App Store section of desktop iTunes.
The introduction of the keyword-based search in App Store is first step in the right direction. That said, Apple should add filtering capabilities found in desktop iTunes, namely the aforementioned ability to list all apps by a given publisher and similar apps that others are buying. The ability to show similar apps matching the currently browsed app wouldn’t hurt either. Otherwise, sorting and browsing through tens of thousands of apps found in the App Store will become harder than finding needle in a haystack.
|
Written on 8:23 PM by Mujtaba
Check the Apple App Store, and amongst the glut of legitimately useful games and applications, you will quickly find an infestation of lazily repackaged public domain e-books. They are aimed by less ethical entrepreneurs looking to bilk iPhone newbies into paying $1.99 for a copy of a book they could be reading on the Stanza e-book app for free.
There’s a certain degree of shadiness to this practice, but that’s not to say the App Store can’t be a verdant publication platform for independent authors interested in releasing their own novels to the public. Which is why Apple’s latest in a long line of despicable App Store policies is so depressing: Apple has begun rejecting all e-book submissions because “this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing upon third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store.”
That’s ostensibly a reasonable position, except Apple is rejecting e-books even when the rights to publish them are public domain, or can be explicitly proven to belong to the e-books submitter. Worse, they are rejecting applications that function as media browsing tools, i.e. e-book readers and the like.
What that means is that favored e-book apps in the Apple App Store may soon be a thing of the past. Say good bye to the glorious Stanza app, or even Amazon’s Kindle application.
Apple’s arbitrary App Store policies are getting out of hand. It’s time for a strong alternative to the App Store, and if Cydia or Icy can bake in a payment system, they might be able to show Apple how it should be done.
|
Written on 8:22 PM by Mujtaba
Apple MacBook Pro Summer 2009 (Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB, 15-inch)
The good: Price cut from previous version; new SD card slot; keeps the same solid unibody construction and oversize trackpad.
The bad: Loses the ExpressCard slot; switching GPUs not as seamless as it should be.
The bottom line: Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro makes only minor tweaks to the previous version, but cutting prices and swapping the ExpressCard slot for an SD card slot are enough to make it a solid improvement over its predecessor.
Specifications: Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2800 MHz) ; RAM installed: 4096 MB DDR3 SDRAM ; Weight: 5.5 lbs ;
|
Written on 12:54 AM by Mujtaba
New research carried out by for the month of July has shown there is a very clear split between the type of paid-for and free apps being bought on the iPhone and Android handsets. The clear message right now is the iPhone is for games, while Android is for tools.
Above you can see the comparison between the top 15 paid-for apps on the two platforms. In the App Store 9 of the top 15 are games meaning they clearly dominate the marketplace at the moment for users. Google actually lists games separately from other apps, but tools and productivity apps still win out on the Android platform at the moment.
Free apps top 15 comparison (click to enlarge)
Looking at the top 15 free apps tables above you can see a similar trend with the App Store having 6 games in the Top 15 and Paper Toss featuring at number one. Android’s free apps are a bit more varied with lifestyle, reference, travel, shopping, and multimedia categories all featuring alongside tools.
Android does beat the App Store in one gaming category, however, and that’s in relation to classic games played through emulators. Distimo put that down to a clear difference between the App Store and Android, Apple regulate what goes on the App Store so emulators are not a feature like they are on the more open Android Market.
Other interesting findings in the report include:
- The price trend in the App Store is going down
- App Store and Android Market pricing is very similar except for the Reference category where Android apps are significantly more expensive
- Most popular games on Android are priced at $2.99 with the equivalent on App Store being just $0.99
You can download the full report for free from the .
Matthew’s Opinion
It’s tough to do a proper comparison between the two platforms due to the differences in compiling the top apps lists, but it is still clear that iPhone users are all gamers.
I think the big difference with regards to games is down to the user base of the different handsets. The iPhone is a very mainstream phone and is backed up by the consumer-friendly iPod touch. There are a lot more people with one of those two Apple devices that want to be entertained and therefore games are very popular.
Android on the other hand is still a relatively small and experimental market so attracts less consumer users. It is more of a business and developer platform still and therefore the popular apps suit those categories.
I’m sure things will start to even up as more Android phones hit the market and enter on to the consumer’s radar. Getting on equal terms with Apple is going to be very tough though, and I doubt we’ll see Android charts featuring more entertainment apps than tools for a long time.
|
