Ok, I’ll be honest. I’m pretty excited about the new Amazon Kindle Fire.
No, it’s not an iPad. It’s $199. It’s a glorified e-reader. It lets me plays games. It lets me e-mail. It lets me browse the Web. It lets me play videos.
Well, I’m not even exactly sure why you would need the power that an iPad offers. I don’t think I could ever justify a $499 iPad purchase when I could purchase a cheap $299 laptop. But, a $199 version that’s not a big joke?
It’s pretty game-changing exciting. Maybe it’s just me. But unless any big red flags come up, I’m getting one come Christmastime.
Have you seen these commercials on TV lately? PC Laptops being advertised as ultrathin, that are laughable for any of us familiar with the Mac Airbook? Why don’t they just say, “It’s a slightly worse version of the Mac Airbook“? It’s just weird. These artful images of this laptop that’s slightly thinner than traditional PC monstrosities, but outright obese compared to the Mac offering.
But apparently, “ultrabooks” are going to be the new big thing in laptops. Think of the convenience of an iPad with a fold out keyboard for people who don’t like touchscreen functionality and require a lot of typing. In fact, Intel believes that these thin laptops will make up 40% of the notebook market by the end of 2012.
Again, it’s the same complaint I had with the iPad competition. If you’re going to be worse, at least be cheaper. But, we’re not there yet.
If you watch the sidelines during an NFL game this season, you might see a whole lot of iPads. Especially if you’re watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have traded in their massive playbook binders for the convenient and compact alternative from Apple.
The tablet specifically opens up the possibilities for this digital move. In the past, carrying around a laptop would have been silly. Today, it’s easier and faster to use an iPad.
If the Buccaneers win more than 10 games this year, expect an ad campaign to come out of this.
It used to be cool to have an iPad. Now, for a lot of professions, it doesn’t make sense not to.
For so long, e-books have been a waste of their technology. Sure, it’s a far less cheaper distribution model than traditional publishing. But, within an electronic format, we weren’t taking advantage of any of the possibilities of this format. Until now.
Now, a new line of college e-books is incorporating links to videos by Khan Academy, the free educational institution offering more than 2,400 free online videos.
Right now, these videos can be accessed through links. In the future, it will be exciting to see embedded video and animation within an e-book itself. Imagine Alice in Wonderland, the audio/visual/literary adventure for children via iPad. Oh man, the possibilities!
At Windy City Strategies, we lamented the fact that competitive tablet manufacturers weren’t trying to low-ball the iPad. Rather, they were producing similarly-priced or even higher-priced models. Their touted differentiation? Being business ready. Compatible with business applications and software used by companies worldwide.
They didn’t sell. At least not well. No iPad competitor has. Until today, when HP decided to discontinue their HP TouchPad tablet and sell off their remaining inventory for $99 each.
At this price, the tablet became the best-selling tablet in the world today. And that’s what it takes. People will buy a very cheap version of an iPad. They won’t buy a similarly priced version that’s not nearly as cool.
There’s a new Apple rumor out there concerning the iPad 3. The rumor is that it’s not. That next on the blocks is the iPad HD.
Umm…HD? Like an HD TV? Is that what people are looking for in a mobile tablet? Apparently, this “pro” device will be aimed at a higher end market. Professionals who work in video and photo editing will be able to use production-level applications and view their work in HD quality. But, do professionals really want to do that? Won’t that make work more difficult, albeit more convenient?
But, maybe the same rich kids who bought the iPad and the iPad 2 will convince their parents that the new HD retina display will change their lives? I’m only partly kidding. Apple’s way smarter than my cynicism.
You’ve probably heard of TED talks by now. You’ve probably even seen one. Perhaps you’re a raving fan.
But, did you know today’s online accessibility of TED talks was largely an accident? Originally, Director of TED Media June Cohen sought to turn TED talks into a television show. But “lacking mainstream appeal” (read: too smart for network television), TED put their talks online instead.
5 years later, the site videos have reached 500 million views, the site has received 1 million Facebook followers, and there have been 1 million iPad app downloads.
If not mainstream, TED talks sure are popular. Why? Because they’re the greatest secular sermons out there. <18 minute online presentations from thought leaders across the world. They’re intoxicatingly good, and incredibly helpful learning tools. Could one receive a higher education online simply by going to free TED school from the convenience of their home? Not yet. But, I think we’ve found the model.
At this point, we shouldn’t even be calling them tablets. They’re iPads. Apple makes them. And everyone else makes copies.
So, we’re not going to try and get you overly excited about Amazon’s new venture into this space. Although, it is intriguing. Rumors are that Amazon will launch its own tablet as soon as this August, anticipating up to 4 million units sold by the end of the year.
Just like the Kindle is a natural product for Amazon as the world’s leading e-book seller, as Amazon ventures further into online streaming, a tablet PC makes sense. The question is, will Amazon become one of the leaders in online streaming purchasing? Perhaps that’s their real goal, and this product is just designed in support of that larger goal?
But, as long as the iPad stays awesome, it’s hard to see this Amazon tablet happening like Amazon hopes.
When technology blogs used to write about Apple, they risked angering the majority of their readership by writing about such a “niche toy market”. Today, Apple is leading the technological evolution and industry titans from both sides of the PC-Mac aisle eagerly awaited Steve Jobs’ keynote address to learn what’s next for the tech giant.
Well, no new toys this year. With the iPhone and the iPad holding media and consumer interest alike for the past several years, we almost expect to hear about a new toy every time Jobs speaks. But instead, we learned about iOS5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud.
Mac OS X Lion will be released in July exclusively through the Mac App Store (a perfect opportunity to instantly mainstream this still evolving downloadable marketplace.) Many of the new features, including Multi-Touch gestures and app interaction are designed only for touchscreen devices. The new Resume feature allows you to bring back apps to exactly how you left them when you restart or relaunch the app. This seemingly small feature will be extraordinarily helpful, and Apps auto-save as you work. In short, Mac OS X Lion was designed for the iPad, and designed for the app world.
I’ve got a number for you that’s going to surprise even those among you aware of the iPad’s tablet market dominance. Now, the 2nd most popular tablet competitor is the Samsung Galaxy Tab. And the iPad’s browser market share is 53 times greater than the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
53 times. Yes, 53 times. I can’t get over that number. It’s simply ridiculous. Now, to be fair, they invented the product. But, 53 times the #2 product out there? Sorry, I’m being redundant now. But, where are the competitors? It’s ridiculous.
Now, remember, the iPhone had, not quite, but a similar lead in the smartphone wars just a couple years ago, and now Android has finally taken the lead. So, maybe two years from now, we’ll start to see some real competition in this market. Until then, buy an iPad.
