A year back on April 29, 2011 – Apple released the iPad 2 in India and we saw people lining up outside Apple stores to get one early in the morning. Stocks were in short supply for several months and given the reception the iPad 2 got in India, there is little surprise that Apple has announced the 3rd generation iPad in India. [click to continue…]
Ankur
Zuckerberg has shared a message on his Facebook wall and Kevin writes his feelings on the Instagram blog. Facebook has acquired Instagram. The popular photo sharing app / network was always seen as a parallel network to Facebook that is dedicated to photo sharing, however with Facebook deciding to acquire Instagram, the first thing on our mind is, will Instagram be merged into Facebook? And the answer is No. Both Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Kevin of Instagram have confirmed that Instagram would stay as it is and would keep growing independently. [click to continue…]
The tablet market has come up literally in the last 2 years. That’s impressive for a space that didn’t exist for most manufacturers before 2010. Apple has by far taken the bulk of the market share but competition is catching up. Given that smartphone OSes are used to power tablets, it has been relatively easy for many to push out a tablet. However not many have spent the time that Amazon took to build the Kindle Fire. [click to continue…]
As always, Apple keynote began with numbers. Lots of sales figures and pat on the back for Apple. Tim Cook began with the post PC world and claiming Apple’s dominance with three blockbuster products, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Of course, on the eve of the iPad 3 launch he had to share these numbers.
So here we go: [click to continue…]
Apple is about to announce the iPad 3 tomorrow and the rumor mills are running in full force. Lots of analysis, comparison and the buzz is understandable, but let’s get back to the basics. Last year, Google showed Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb at CES, it took several months for tablets to hit the market. Apps even more. It didn’t get that traction. Google again showed ICS several months back and we are yet to see tablets, apps and updates flow. Part of it is due to the friction between OS maker and manufacturer. The Google model is different from Apple. Agreed. But there is more to this. Microsoft has a similar model and they are managing well with Windows Phone 7 (at least till the Mango release).
It is the architecture of iOS that gives Apple the advantage. Apple did a wonderful upgrade to the iPhone in 2010 with the Retina Display. The pixels quadrupled, from 480×320 to 960×640. And you still had 225,000 apps to choose from. You had an iOS upgrade for the 3GS and the iPhone 4 had an upgraded resolution. How did Apple do this? Well, given that the pixel’s increased in the same proportion (480×2 and 320×2), Apple simply rendered the app that way. They added some beauty by automatically adjusting the fonts (text) and controls (keyboard, navigation). Not a very deep technical solution, but a very well planned architecture. [click to continue…]
I have always been very intrigued by smartphone sales numbers. They can be misleading. A $100 Android and a $299 Android can be very different in terms of customer profile and apps / internet usage. So while we may ignore sales numbers of Android devices and look at the apps ecosystem of iOS in smartphone wars, here is an interesting piece of stat from Statcounter. But before we begin, hey, this is based on stats by Statcounter, which wouldn’t be 100% accurate, but it still gives a very good idea of where the market is headed.
In US, Android commands over 36% mobile browser marketshare. The figure has surged significantly over the last one year. iPhone follows at 29%. Blackberry at around 13% and iPod touch backs up at 10.5%. Now if we of course compare iOS vs Android, Apple still leads, but in the smartphone space, it is clear that Android has taken a decent lead. We should not expect this to change, Android has more numbers. Period. [click to continue…]
Google’s entry into the mobile market has been immensely successful when it comes to numbers. Android is the flavor of the season and while Google has burnt some bridges going to Cupertino, they probably have got a large enough market in exchange. Android and iOS would keep fighting for supremacy and performance and we would continue to talk about it, but whats interesting is the fact that the competition is not just by releasing products, but also creating hype around it, floating comments about each other and some twisted court room fights. [click to continue…]
The Blackberry Playbook is perhaps the best case study in the tech industry where an old giant makes a big swing and falls. I have been very critical of RIM and its tablet hype that ended with millions in losses for the Canadian company. But RIM is making its moves, a bit late, but they are. The Playbook has received its OS 2.0 upgrade and honestly, given the tablet market, nothing except the iPad 2 has really got traction, in such a scenario, the Playbook with a decent OS upgrade and steep price cut does become lucrative. I have been recommending the to friends and family at the price of Rs 12,500 in India. [click to continue…]
Apple has sent out the invites and we know the drill. A teaser, a large event and unveiling of an all new iPad. Tim Cook and co would be out there on 7th March giving us the low down on the new iPad. But we can’t help analyzing what Apple would have in store for us. iPad is an interesting market segment for Apple. Unlike the iPhone, iPad has held its ground (though it is only 2 years old) and maintains a healthy lead over Android tablets. In fact from a usability perspective, the iPad is far ahead of any Android tablet out there. Apple would sure want to maintain that lead and in fact try its best to build upon it. What they are saying is “something you really have to see. And touch.” – that’s interesting. So what could the next iPad bring to the table?
How often does it happen that you attend a conference or an event, collect business cards and then for months you don’t event start a conversation with the folks you met? It is a real problem that Quintro targets. Collecting business cards is a practice that seems to have a good feel and we haven’t gone digital yet, but how about quickly starting an email conversation with someone you just met at an event? Could be a lady whom you would otherwise find it difficult to email casually after the event, so Quintro comes in and does the intro for you and it has a good formal feel to start that informal conversation. [click to continue…]
iPhone / iPod touch downloads