Posts Tagged ‘iPad’
The Web as we know it have been born and matured on computers, but as it turns out now, computers no longer have dominance in it. According to a recent report by analyst Mary Meeker, mobile devices running iOS and Android now account for 45 percent of browsing, compared to just 35 percent for Windows machines. Moreover, Android and iOS have essentially achieved their share in just five years and their share is getting tremendously larger.
According to some forecasts their worldwide number of mobile devices users should overtake the worldwide number of PC users next year. If forecasts come true, this shift will not only continue, but accelerate. Based on data from Morgan Stanley, Meeker estimates roughly 2.9 billion people around the world will be using smartphones and tablets by 2015.
What does it mean now that more people are accessing the Web through tablets and smartphones rather than laptops and desktops? And is it really a big deal? Anyway, Internet is intended to be accessed from anywhere and thus from any device. Well, it is quite a change at least in terms most people consider the Web and how it gradually adapts to be used on mobile devices.
Apps-like sites
As mobile devices take over, the use of today’s desktop browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari will decline. Mobile browsers are already very capable and will increasingly adopt HTML5 and leading-edge Web technologies. As mobile devices naturally have less screen area, the sites need to function more like mobile apps and less like collections of links. So the sites are likely to look like apps.
Apps may rule
Native apps for smartphones and tablets almost always surpass websites designed for mobile devices because they can tap into devices’ native capabilities for a more responsive and seamless experience. This is most likely to change in the nearest future – most experts agree HTML5 is eventually the way of the future. This is already the status quo in social gaming: for example Angry Birds and Words with Friends. Some services won’t be available at all to traditional PCs — they won’t be worth developers’ time.
Less information at once
Web sites and publishers will no longer be able to display everything new for users and hoping something will catch the user’s eye. Smaller screens and lower information density means sites will need to adjust to user preferences and profiles to customize the information they present. Increasingly, the Internet will become unusable unless sites believe they know who you are. Some services will handle these tasks themselves, but the most likely contenders for supplying digital identity credentials are Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Twitter, and mobile carriers.
Sharing by default
In a mobile-focused Internet, anonymity becomes rare. Virtually every mobile device can be definitively associated with a single person (or small group of people). Defaults to share information and experiences with social circles and followers will be increasingly common, along with increasing reliance on disclosure of personal information (like location, status, and activities, and social connections) to drive key functionality. As the Internet re-orients around mobile, opting out of sharing will increasingly mean opting out of the Internet.
Emphasis on destination
Internet-based sites and services will increasingly function as a combination of content and functionality reluctant to link out to other sites or drive traffic (and potential advertising revenue) elsewhere. These have long been factors in many sites’ designs but mobile devices amplify these considerations by making traditional Web navigation awkward and difficult. Still URLs are not going to die – people will still send links to their friends and Web search will remain most users primary means of finding information online.
Going light weight
As people rely on mobile, cloud, and broadband services, the necessity to do things like commute, store large volumes of records or media, or patronize physical businesses will decline. Businesses won’t need to save years of invoices, statements, and paperwork in file boxes and storage facilities – cloud storage comes as their rescue. Banks will become purely virtual institutions consumers deal with online via their phones. Distance learning and collaborative tools will let students take their coursework with them anywhere — and eliminate the need to worry about reselling enormous textbooks.
Going mobile is an obvious trend today. Experts envisage that nearly every service, business, and person who wants to use the Internet will be thinking mobile first and PC second, if they think about PCs at all. Do you agree? And what other related changes can you imagine?
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts 
Kind regards,
Aliona Kavalevich – Business Development Manager (LI page)
Aliona.Kavalevich@altabel.com
Altabel Group – Professional Software Development
- In: Apple | Mobile
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Steve Jobs wasn’t a fan of Android. He thought it was a rip-off of the iPhone. He saw the iPhone as a ground-breaker and Android as an attempt by Google and a consortium of device manufacturers to bring a similar product to a wider market. He famously told his biographer Walter Isaacson that he would “spend my last dying breath if I need to” and “every penny of Apple’s $40bn in the bank” to right the perceived wrong done to Apple by Google. “I’m going to destroy Android,” he pronounced, “because it’s a stolen product…” Jobs’ quest led indirectly to the decision of a US court to award Apple $1bn in damages, and to place an injunction on Samsung distributing some of its product in the US.
But Android had been under development since 2003 and was purchased by Google in 2005, two years before the advent of the iPhone. Granted, its later development was undoubtedly influenced by the range of features incorporated in the iPhone, and the potential and scope of Nokia’s Maemo project.
Theft is an emotional concept and technology is a complex proving ground. The iPhone is an elegant synthesis of intricate ideas and technologies that had gone before, many of them originally developed, patented and supplied by companies such as Samsung and Motorola – now owned by Google. Smartphones and touchpads existed before the iPhone.
Samsung says it has spent billions on research into mobile technologies over the past 25 years and noted in its own submissions to the court that “the flash memory, main memory, and application processor for the iPhone” are supplied by Samsung. It said “also manufactures Apple’s A5X processor and is the sole supplier of the Retina display used in the new iPad”. It also initiated many of the wireless standards and technologies that make it possible for an iPhone to talk to other phones.
Apple’s distinctive contribution has been collation and design, derived from an understanding of why and how a Smartphone could and would be useful and attractive to an end user, and which features would enhance that effect. The iPod, iPhone and iPad are instantly recognizable for their cleanliness and simplicity – and the software is focused on simplifying the tasks of the end user.
Apple’s talent has been to transform utility into an art form, to reduce apparent complexity and anticipate the wants of the user. By collating the possibilities of the Smartphone, and pulling together the virtues of design and utility, Apple has lifted the concept of smart devices to browse the web from geek heaven into user space, which makes it all the more surprising how little attention other device and computer manufacturers have paid to the role of design in selling hardware.
But the bigger issue isn’t copying, or imitation, but the broken nature of the patent and so-called intellectual property industries. In an industry where last year’s must-have is already out of date, there is something obscene about a court case that involves, among other things, a dispute about patents and design registrations such as the one “for overall design of the product, including the rectangular shape, the rounded corners, the silver edges, the black face, and the display of 16 colorful icons”. Or the one “for the configuration of a rectangular handheld mobile digital electronic device with rounded corners”. These are not technological or design innovations.
The decision of the court to punish Samsung for its intrusion into the markets Apple considers its own, and in the words of Samsung’s press release “to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies” is symptomatic of the ongoing crisis in the creative and technological industries.
The decision against Samsung is just the latest event in the war. It is bad news for everybody, not least the users and developers of Android and the iPhone, as each of these companies scrambles to buy up the ownership of patents. As Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, put it last year: “A Smartphone might involve as many as 250,000 largely questionable patent claims, and our competitors want to impose a tax for these dubious patents that makes Android devices more expensive for consumers. They want to make it harder for manufacturers to sell Android devices. Instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation.”
And what do you think? Are you on Apple side or Samsung?
Kind Regards,
Lina Deveikyte
Altabel Group – Professional Software Development
- In: iPhone | Mobile
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While there are some cool new flourishes and features, there are some problems too. Here’s what you need to know before downloading the new OS on your device.
iOS is polished. For instance, notice that the music app received a visual overhaul and some tiny but amazing new touches. Try tilting the app in multiple directions while listening to a song and you’ll see the details (the new volume and track knobs will animate). Or turn on Do Not Disturb and watch the animated crescent moon icon appear next to the time. It’s these small and subtle additions that have made using iOS 6 such a pleasure.
Check the features that will work on your Apple device
So the question stands, is it a worthy upgrade? Without a doubt if you are on an iPhone 4 or 4S, then yes. But let’s talk about what you don’t get and what really didn’t feel polished this time around. Apple provides a list of features on their iOS 6 page found here: http://www.apple.com/ios/whats-new/.
If you scroll to the bottom of the page, Apple lists the features that are available and for which devices. It may help you avoid some headaches if you know exactly what will work on the device that you own. Here is the list:
1. Turn-by-turn navigation is available only on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPad 2 or later with cellular data capability. Flyover is available only on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 2 or later, and iPod touch (5th generation). Cellular data charges may apply.
2. Siri is available on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad (3rd generation), and iPod touch (5th generation) and requires Internet access. Cellular data charges may apply.
3. FaceTime video calling requires a FaceTime-enabled device for the caller and recipient and a Wi-Fi connection. FaceTime over a cellular network requires iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, or iPad (3rd generation) with cellular data capability. Availability over a cellular network depends on carrier policies; data charges may apply.
4. Offline Reading List is available on iPhone 4 or later and iPad 2 or later.
5. Made for iPhone hearing aids require iPhone 4S or iPhone 5.
6. Panorama is available on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPod touch (5th generation).
7. Find My iPhone and Find My Friends enable you to locate iOS devices only when they are on and connected to a registered Wi-Fi network or have an active data plan.
iCloud requires iOS 5 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd generation or later), or iPad; a Mac computer with OS X Lion or later; or a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Outlook 2007 or 2010 or an up-to-date browser is required for accessing email, contacts, and calendars). Some features require iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. Some features require a Wi-Fi connection. Some features are not available in all countries. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices.
But some features may not be available for all countries or all areas.
Siri is available in Beta only on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad (3rd generation), and iPod touch (5th generation) and requires Internet access. Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas, and features may vary by area. Cellular data charges may apply.
What’s up with Maps?
Aside from all of the other new features, there are two new items that are getting a lot of coverage from other reviewers. The first is Maps. Maps is taking a beating due to the lack of transit information and missing data. I can’t imagine Apple not working aggressively to bring their map implementation up to speed with Google. This, however, may be a make or break issue for some, but also keep in mind that Google is working on a separate Maps app to take the place of the one Apple removed.
What’s else? You’re welcome with your comments.
Best Regards,
Kristina Kozlova
Altabel Group – Professional Software Development
- In: Tablets
- 3 Comments
Most tablets in use today are iPad-size. That’s because most tablets in use are iPads. But in my opinion iPad’s just too big (and expensive) to represent the future of tablets.
Recently I’ve asked LI professionals about this. Bellow you may find the most interesting of them.
«I think it is going to come down to lower cost and lower weight. Even as I “type” this answer on my iPad3, I feel the device is heavy. I will almost always grab my Kindle over my iPad with the Kindle app because the Kindle is so much lighter to hold when reading, and I do not want to hover over a table when reading.»
Michael Stella
Experienced Program Manager and Business Analyst
«The short answer is convenience, weight, and price. The iPad debuted as a consumer-friendly replacement for a laptop, so a larger screen felt familiar. With newer, smaller iterations of tablets on the market consumers are becoming more comfortable with smaller screens (helped along by the improved resolution and fidelity of the newer LCDs.) More efficient and powerful processors within the devices make them more useful tools, as well as more portable.
Depending on how you define “tablet market,” you can look to the absolute domination of Smartphones as proof of the convenience/weight/cost model winning out over screen-size. Smartphone sales dwarf tablet sales.
Generally, I think the sweet-spot for tablets will be Smartphones with a slightly larger screen than we see now, but still considerably smaller than the mid-size tablets (the 7″ screens.) They do virtually everything a tablet does now, but has the added benefit of easily fitting in a pocket or purse.»
Bill Begg
Experienced Entrepreneur and Consultant
«For the personal/consumer market the smaller format tablet may have an edge, but for corporate/office use the larger format tablet is already making the laptop and, in some cases, the desktop computer obsolete.
Tablet manufacturers, especially Apple, have done an excellent job at getting product placement in movies and on TV in very suitable uses for a tablet. It is difficult to watch a recent TV program that doesn’t have a tablet in use somewhere during an episode.
The larger format tablets work much better for showing something to someone standing next to you than does a small format tablet.»
Charles Caro
Executive Director at Rebounders United
«Dominate? No. But they are a welcome addition – I really want something not much larger than a paperback that I can slip in my pocket and use for ebooks, but is better functioned that a kindle or similar – and the new smaller tablets seem ideal.
I do think there is one improvement still needed – the size of the screen needs to use all the available space, right up to the edge of the device instead or a large margin around it.»
Bernard Gore
ICT Programmer Manager at Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
«I think each new device type encourages entirely new and differing behaviors from us. With a desktop, monitor, mouse and keyboard we’re like these information seeking insects, clicking and typing and mining the web. On a mobile device, we’re out and about, very task-driven, very mesmerized in a habitual way, smoking information like the new great American smoke break or something, transactional, but only in short strokes and flows. We love our mobile devices too, its something Freudian and deeply sexual with the touch screen, the gentle strokes, all the handholding and extremely intimate, personal relations with our data-driven posthumanic sojourns, all our connectedness just a touch away. And then there’s the tablet version 1.0, right? Big touch, big strokes and a much more browserly, relaxed pace that actually feels more like a walk through a catalog or magazine on interactive crack. About the size of a large analog notebook of paper, or a thin book, but a little trendy-cool and somewhere in-between a research instrument and a fast tasking tool. Smaller tablets create yet another in-between, a soon-to-be discovered mental terrain that will most likely encourage a new set of emotions and behaviors. I’m fascinated to see how all of these devices will start to work better together and how the smaller tablets will not necessarily dominate the market so much as inspire new design, interaction, business and technological challenges. Should be really fun stuff!»
Lou Susi
Accomplished designer focused on user experience, design education, curation, performance and dynamic media
In conclusion, big tablets like the current iPad will be popular. But they’ll always be the high-end minority. The future belongs to small tablets like the Nexus 7 and the upcoming mini iPad.
Best Regards,
Kristina Kozlova
Altabel Group – Professional Software Development
Past Monday introduction of another low-priced rival to the iPad won’t keep anyone at Apple’s California HQ up nights, analysts said. They state neither the Kindle Fire nor the Nook Tablet menace Apple’s dominance of the tablet market. Let’s see what LI members think on this point.
“If you are looking for the best e-reader and not the best tablet – stay away from the iPad – you can’t read it in the sun.”
Michael Greenberg
Corporate Recruiter at Clearwire
“If you want something just to use as an e-book reader, I’d go with the Kindle (not the Kindle Fire). It is, by far, the best of the three for reading. But that’s pretty much all you will be doing with it. On the plus, my Kindle has been in my coat pocket for a month without a recharge. Just turned it on and the battery is sitting at a quarter.”
Greg Henle
PHP Developer at Quotient
“Kindle designed to read the books. People who designed Kindle (at least Kindle Keyboard version) knew few things about books and kept in mind that this device will be used for reading. E Ink screen (no glare), large buttons to scroll pages on each side and month of battery juice makes it simply best piece of hardware for book reading. On top of this, 3G version offers free 3g wireless access to Amazon store at any time. And all this at $139.00.
IPad looks cool, it’s trendy but designed for people who don’t like or simply can’t read, especially something boring like a book. Perfect device to play Angry Birds though. And it cost $500.
And Nook. Well, nobody cares. Honestly, Barnes & Noble should stick to what they do the best – losing in everything to Amazon.
Bottom line: Buy Kindle Keyboard 3G if you need best book reader. For everything else – iPad or any other tablet will do the trick.”
Andrei Vesselovski
Directing e-commerce development and e-branding strategic planning
“I have the Kindle and also an iPad.
I believe that the Kindle is great for reading actual books published with a Kindle version but what it doesn’t do is have a large collection of magazines, newpapers, and RSS feeds that I personally like to follow.
When it comes to reading e-books, I’d recommend the Kindle for great visibility, durability, and it doesn’t strain your eyes. However, I’m quite the night owl myself so I’m disappointed that my Kindle does not have a back light (can’t read in dim lights and I don’t like those little light bulb clips).
The iPad is good for other things (especially with the Flipboard app) like magazines and news, but it does strain on your eyes after a while and is rather heavy without a stand. It does have a back light though and I love reading it at night. Also note that the iPad also has a Kindle app.”
Julie Mok
Experienced Game Flash Artist in Production, Assets, and UI | Game Marketing and Product Management Enthusiast
“Kindle Fire hands down. First of all the main reasons to buy a tablet in the first place are eBook capability, web browsing, multimedia and applications. Kindle Fire supports of all of those at a lesser price than the iPad. Additionally the price makes its accessible to nearly anyone. Add to that the free cloud drive account which means there is no need to have multiple versions with different hard drive sizes.
It’s more portable, the screen is very durable, and because of the size and cost less cumbersome as mobile device. Wi-Fi only is also not an issue because of all the Smartphones with Wi-Fi, why pay for another feature and another data plan?
Also it simplifies the nature of online shopping natively through the Amazon store, which offers music and video much like iTunes, but unlike them you can in the same place purchase other more common retail products also.
The Kindle Fire is the more practical tablet for everyday people and business folks in my opinion, based on capabilities, pricing, accessibility, and how seamlessly it integrates into your regular activities.”
Roberto Blake
Inbound Marketing, Web Design, Graphic Design
And what device do you prefer? Please share your thoughts in comments bellow.
Kind Regards,
Lina Deveikyte
Altabel Group – Professional Software Development
