Amazon introduced the Kindle Fire late last year, as a response to Apple’s dominance of the tablet computer market. On Thursday, the Seattle, Washington based company moved to introduce the new Kindle Fire HD LTE for the same $499 the iPad sells for.

A 32GB Kindle Fire HD LTE is available for the same price of a 16GB WiFi only iPad. However, the company took it one step further and tacked on a $50/year data plan, far less than Apple’s data plans for the WiFi+LTE iPads. All of Apple’s cellular iPads all carry a $130 premium charge for the 3G and 4G LTE technology built inside.

This may give the iPad some competition, particularly with Amazon’s wise choice to introduce the new device before the holiday season. Amazon also introduced an 8.9 inch WiFi only Kindle Fire HD for $299, a 7-inch Kindle Fire HD for $199 and dropped the price of the current Kindle Fire to $159. Each Kindle Fire HD LTE comes with a data cap of 250MB of data for $50/year, 20GB of cloud storage and a $10 credit to the Amazon app store.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made it a point to compare the Kindle Fire HD price points as well as the data plans to Apple’s iPad, noting that the average iPad owner with a data plan would pay over $959 in their first year of ownership. Amazon’s Kindle FIre HD LTE has the potential to make a rift in the tablet market, and is scheduled to arrive right before Thanksgiving and Christmas, on November 20.

{Via AppleInsider}

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) have been competing in the ereader and tablet market for over a year now, since the iPad was introduced. On Friday, a report from Bloomberg mentioned that Amazon is now looking to introduce its own smartphone to take on the iPhone and some of the leading Android devices in the market.

A smartphone would give Amazon a wider range of low-priced hardware devices that bolster its strategy of making money from digital books, songs and movies. It would help Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos — who made a foray into tablets with the Kindle Fire — carve out a slice of the market for advanced wireless handsets.

Amazon has one of the most popular ereaders out on the market, the Kindle and is also leading the industry with some of its other products, including its cloud services and tablet computer, the Kindle Fire. The report mentions that Amazon is set to acquire a portfolio of patents that would allow the company to take steps in competing directly with some of the top competitors.

The rumored smartphone would likely borrow certain aspects of the Kindle Fire, including features such as purchasing books, magazines, and newspapers from Amazon’s store as well as using Amazon’s Cloud Drive as external storage. Amazon currently operates services that control a considerable portion of the digital content available online. By introducing a smartphone alongside its tablet and pairing with its online content, Amazon could very well present the iPhone with a serious competitor in the smartphone market.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple Inc. (AAPL) recently updated its ‘investor relations’ webpage to announce that the company will conduct a conference to discuss  Q3 FY12 Earnings on July 24. The live conference call will be held at 2 PM Pacific / 5 PM Eastern time. The call will later be available for streaming via QuickTime through Apple’s website.

AAPL has been reporting record quarters each year with sales of iPhone on the rise and outstanding sales figures of its tablet computer. During last quarter Apple Inc. reported revenue of $39.2 billion and quarterly net profit of $11.6 billion. The company sold 35.1 million iPhones, 11.8 million iPads, 4 million Macs, and 7.7 million iPods in the quarter representing 88% growth for iPhone sales and 151 percent increase for the iPad.

Apple’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, during the end of the conference call added,  “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68.”

The third quarter revenue hasn’t seen introduction of any new hardware while on the other hand iPhone sales are expected to slow down as users anticipate the launch of next gen iPhone 5. However, the new iPad 3 has been added to a number of new countries and the Cupertino based company is expected to report impressive sales figures for its tablet computer.

Moving forward Apple is expected to see higher growth in its Mac hardware products as with the introduction of MacBook Pro with Retina Display the company has shown its commitment to remain aggressive in the notebook business. The availability of MacBook Pro with retina display on Apple’s online store moved up to 3-4 weeks shipping time shortly after its release suggesting fast adoption rate among users. Although, Apple hasn’t released any public sales figures for the next gen MacBook Pro.

Apple’s upcoming software releases for OS X and iOS are also worth mentioning as the OS of both the platforms continue to merge. Mountain Lion for OS X will be made available to users later this month exclusively from Mac App Store and iOS 6 is expected to be made available later this fall.

The next version of Apple’s iOS operating system, iOS 6, is expected to be released during the company’s WWDC 2012 conference starting on July 11. Various reports in the recent past have mentioned that the next software update will bring a number of features, including major updates to Siri, Apple’s personal assistant software.

Now that Siri is running on the iPhone 4S and the new iPad 3 has gotten voice dictation, there is every reason to believe that Siri might in fact be coming to Apple’s popular tablet computer. On Monday, a report from 9to5Mac mentioned that Apple may be bringing Siri over to the iPad 3 with iOS 6, allowing users to access all of the features by holding down the home button on the iPad, the same way it currently operates on the iPhone 4S (mock up of potential Siri design).

Siri on the iPad is activated by a quick hold of the home button, just like on the iPhone 4S. The interface slides up from below the display with a clever animation. Siri is built into the iPad as a small window on top of whatever interface the user is currently interacting with. This Siri window with rounded corners sits at the bottom center of the display, as you can see in our mockup above. The Siri iPad interface takes very little space over the iPad interface currently in use, and is designed with the same linen texture as on the iPhone 4S. Siri for iPad also works from the lock screen.

It is unclear if Apple will announce the feature during the company’s annual WWDC conference or hold off until the public release. During the conference, Apple generally provides developers with an early preview of the software and allows them to test out the new features prior to its release several months later. It is also unclear whether developers will get access to Siri on the iPad 3 prior to any public release.

{via MacRumors — Image Credit: 9to5 Mac}

Recently, the Chinese government approved the sale of the new iPad in the country, and the WiFi version of the popular tablet went on sale after being certified. In a report from MarketWatch, it was confirmed that the Cellular model of the new iPad, identified as such by the A1430 model number in the database, received its network access license early on Wednesday.

As a result, Apple will now be able to sell the Cellular model in addition to the WiFi models in China and will be able to begin shipping to Apple Stores in the country. Apple has been continuously adding to the list of countries receiving the new iPad, and is now beginning to introduce its products in new markets across Asia, which is also a large source of Apple’s international revenue.

According to China’s Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center, an Apple device with third-generation, high-speed wireless data capabilities has been issued the license needed for the company to begin sales in China.

The device, listed as “model number A1430″ is compatible with the 3G standard wide band code division multiple access, or WCDMA. The language used by the regulator suggests the device is the new iPad, which has yet to launch in China. Vendors often begin selling new devices within weeks of network access licenses being granted.

Apple is continuously adding to their country selection page; last week, the Philippines and Guam, and most recently Honduras and Paraguay. Apple’s new iPad is continuing to dominate the tablet computer market and will continue to help the company’s revenue increase as they enter new and emerging markets overseas.

{Via MacRumors}

Earlier this month, Apple launched the new iPad in over 30 new countries and is now looking to continue to add to its list of countries. Apple is bringing the new iPad to Guam and the Philippines on May 29. Apple did not make an official announcement for the addition of the two countries and instead silently updated its Where to Buy page, allowing users to select their country of purchase.

Under Guam and the Philippines, a message indicates that it will be released there on May 29. Asia is one of Apple’s new emerging markets and is a large part of Apple’s quarterly revenue, with new Retail Stores opening in China, Japan, and Authorized Resellers in other countries.

The new iPad, in Guam and the Philippines will be available via Authorized Resellers as well as Apple’s Online Store and the cell carrier in the region, Global Telecom. The new iPad launched earlier this year, in March and has sold over 30 million units, and continues to sell as the most popular tablet computer in the market.

{via AppleInsider}

With just less than two hours left for Apple’s iPad 3 media event to go live we are hearing about new features that could be included in the third-gen tablet. The latest rumor which has hit the web suggests that iPad 3 will feature Senseg’s technology to deliver ‘tactile sensations’ when the screen is touched.

When Pocket-Lint contacted Senseg to inquire about their technology being used in iPad 3 a company spokesperson responded saying, “We won’t be making any statements until after Apple’s announcement,”. While this does not confirm anything however, if we keep in mind that Apple’s iPad invite had words which read, “We have something you really have to see. And touch.” it’s not difficult to speculate that the word “touch” may have something to do with the haptic feedback technology.

Senseg’s technology will allow Apple’s iPad to “come alive with textures, contours and edges that users can feel.”

Using Senseg technology, makers of tablet computers, smart phones, and any touch interface device can deliver revolutionary user experiences with high fidelity tactile sensations. Your customers will Feel the Difference with Senseg,

The technology if featured in Apple’s iPad could open new possibilities for application developers and would certainly add the “wow” factor to the new iPad. With haptic feedback users will be able to feel different textures being displayed on their device and thus making tasks like typing, playing games or using navigation apps while driving a whole lot more fun and easier.

Apple has used accelerometer and gyroscope in iOS devices to open new possibilities. For example, in GarageBand for iPad 2 when playing the keyboard the pitch of the sound varied depending on how hard you press your finger. So, it won’t be surprising for Apple to add yet another technology to enhance the overall experience and make it feel like “magic”.

iOS accounts for the largest share of the connected devices – which includes smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices – with a 43.1 percent share. Android has the highest share of the smartphone market with 43.7 percent, but the iPad pushes the iOS platform into the lead overall.

When using traffic to measure the impact of the iOS platform, the market share jumps to 58.5 percent. Android is second with a 31.9 percent share of non-computer browser-based page views. This would indicate that iOS users are heavier users of Internet content than Android folks.

The iOS platform also accounts for the largest share of Internet traffic, measured in terms of browser-based page views, in the U.S. at present. When measuring market share of Internet traffic by platform, iOS accounted for more than half (58.5 percent) of the share of total non-computer traffic in the U.S. Android OS ranked second, delivering 31.9 percent of overall non-computer traffic in August.

The iPad, however, really dominates. Of all tablet traffic in the U.S., iPads account for 97.2 percent. iPad traffic has even topped iPhones, with a 46.8 percent share compared to a 42.6 share. And what’s even more interesting for content developers, half of iPad users have made a purchase from the device.

While non-computer traffic is still a small share of all digital traffic around the world, it’s growing quickly and iOS and iPads are leading the way.

Digitimes recently reported that Apple is looking to add a second manufacturer for its tablet computer in order to meet demand for the rumoured iPad 3 / HD, this fall. Media outlets across the web have been abuzz about a rumoured iPad 3 to be released this fall, although many are led to believe that such an early release is very “un-Apple like”.

Digitimes is confirming this claim of another tablet to be released in 2011 by mentioning that Apple is bringing a second manufacturer on board.

The latest market rumors also indicated that the new iPad may be named iPad 2 plus and will be thinner than its predecessors yet with upgraded display.

The new iPads will be launched at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter, noted the sources. Total shipments of iPad tablet PCs are expected to top 13 million units in the third quarter, estimated the sources.

Digitimes goes on to say that Pegatron may be the latest company to receive rights to iPad manufacturing and may be working closely with Apple in order to release the iPad 3 on time. Pegatron currently manufactures the iPhone 4 and may also receive the iPhone 5 come next year.

In the past, Apple has struggled to keep up with consumer demand and has extended shipping times in several cases. Adding on a second manufacturer may ease pressure on Apple to produced more iPad and iPhone units and may decrease shipping times drastically.

Does this affect you? Will you buy an iPad 3 if Apple releases one this fall?

{via TiPb}

White iPad 2

Consumer Reports, the same outlet that refused to recommend the iPhone 4, but still rated it as the best smartphone on the market, has announced that Apple’s iPad 2 is the best option on the market – at the moment.

Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports had this to say: “So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced. However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.”

Consumer Reports also concluded that the Motorola Xoom is the iPad 2’s biggest rival; offering features such as a memory card slot and Flash support, that the iPad 2 does not. But overall out of Motorola’s offering, and those of Archos, Dell, Samsung and Viewsonic – and Apple’s original iPad – they concluded that the iPad 2 in its WiFi plus 3G form factor topped all the ratings, scoring “Excellent” in nearly every category.

The iPad 2, as one would expect, was far and away the best tablet on usability and battery life. Where as the Motorola Xoom only managed a tie with Apple’s original iPad overall – despite offering some serious second gen. tablet features.

The full report is available over at Consumer Reports. But it seems that once again Apple are leaps and bounds ahead of the competition (perhaps an entire generation ahead of most of their competitors) at this point in 2011.

Consumer Reports did note that Apple should expect fierce competition later this year, when other manufacturers start to play catch up in earnest. We’ll be here watching closely, and hope that is the case – as competition can only mean that we get faster, lighter and more fun toys in the future.

Do you think Apple will rule the roost until the iPad 3 hits, and beyond? Or should we expect things to get much closer in the tablet market towards the end of 2011? Have your say in the comments…

That’s right folks, you read that correctly.

This little tidbit came when Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci was asked what Acer’s plans were when it came to tablets, what vendors feel is different about tablets now when compared to the past, and what their goals were.

Lanci replied:

The differences are, firstly there is no standard platform for tablet PCs; secondly the integration of platforms with content is essential, and this is the reason Acer will keep expanding our software R&D staff, and why we have announced our “alive” online content platform which will improve the user experience and increase loyalty to Acer. Because content should be localized, we will have teams responsible for providing localized content services in each country. Compared with competitors, Acer has the advantage that our annual shipments of 40-50 million PCs are large enough to attract content providers into negotiations. We hope our tablet PCs can reach a global market share of 10-20% initially, and become the market leader in 2-3 years

Lanci goes on to say that he sees Acer’s R&D department as key to achieving this goal, which is no great surprise at all.

Another point worth mentioning is that Acer sees Samsung as its main rival in the tablet arena, and not Apple. Does he know something we don’t?

Head on over to digitimes.com for the full transcript – it’s well worth a read.

iPad 2

As we get closer to the first anniversary of the iPad’s release, it’s inevitable that rumors surrounding the second-generation device will begin to surface, with many guessing how the iPad 2 update will look, what it will be made from, and what it will do. Here’s Touch Reviews roundup of some of the rumors so far, and what we can expect from the upcoming update for Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad.

Cameras

With Facetime now on the Mac, the iPhone, and the iPod Touch, the iPad’s beginning to feel a little left out. I’m guessing out of all the rumors so far, this one’s probably one of the most likely to become a reality. Facetime, of course, means a front-facing camera, however, some reports have also suggested that the device may also include a 5-megapixel camera on the rear.

I’m not sure the latter is all that likely; although it would be handy at times, how many people are going to pull out their iPad to take a few snaps? I know that many rival tablet devices have a camera on the rear, however, Apple doesn’t often do something just because competitors are doing it.

GSM-CDMA Radio

A recent report from AppleInsider talks about the predictions of Wedge Partner analyst Brian Blair, who says that the next-gen iPad will be a “world mode” device with both GSM and CDMA radios. The chip would mean that one iPad model would be compatible with various wireless carriers using different wireless technology. The device has recently been made available through carriers AT&T and Verizon, however, because the 3G model isn’t compatible with Verizon’s CDMA network, a mobile hotspot device is needed to allow for a connection over Wi-Fi.

I’d say a GSM-CDMA chip isn’t too unlikely – many would-be iPad users may be put off by the thought of having to carry around a mobile hotspot accessory to use data from the carrier of their choice.

Thinner, Lighter Design

Analyst Brian Blair who predicts the rumor above also indicated that the next iPad will be thinner and made from one piece of metal, with a similar manufacturing process to that of the unibody aluminum MacBooks.

Now this one seems very likely. Apple always strives to improve upon its products, and often that means thinner, lighter, streamlined designs. Many critics already complain that the device is too heavy and too bulky, and I’m sure it’s safe to say Apple has been hard at work to make it the most desirable tablet on the market.

However, it’s unlikely that we’ll see an iPad with a smaller screen – Steve Jobs already quashed rumors of a 7-inch device  during a quarterly earnings conference call, saying, “The reason we [won’t] make a 7-inch tablet isn’t because we don’t want to hit that price point, it’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software.”

Better Availability

When the current iPad was first released it sold out in many stores incredibly quickly, and countless users went home empty handed having to wait until more stock was available. With “iPad 2,” this may not be the case.

A report says that there will be several suppliers for the new iPad allowing Apple to “ramp up” shipments of the device upon its release. Three companies are rumored to have already received certification from Apple and will begin shipping parts for the device in December.

This one’s a no-brainer. The current iPad was a nightmare to get hold of for many when it was first released, especially for those of us in the U.K. Apple will surely work hard to ensure there are more of the 2nd-gen devices to go around next time.

Carbon Fibre Housing

One rumor suggests that the next iPad will not be made from aluminum, and that instead, the device will sport an ultra-strong carbon fibre housing. Cult of Mac recently reported on a new patent application for a “Reinforced Device Housing” filed by Apple that details “an outer casing for an electronic device composed of “layered fiber-in-matrix type material,” i.e. carbon fiber re-inforced polymer.”

It’s not clear whether the carbon fibre housing is indeed for the iPad, however, the illustration on the patent looks very much like the rear shell of Apple’s tablet.

A carbon fibre iPad certainly sounds very desirable, but I’m not sure it’s all that likely just yet – maybe later on down the line.

Retina Display

Now that many of us are used to the luxury of a Retina display in our iPhones and iPod Touches, we’re anticipating a nice large Retina display in the next iPad. Slash Gear reported back in October on the prospect of this one, and I’d like to think we can expect this with the new device next year.

As an iPhone 4 user, switching to the iPad can often be a little disappointing when I stare at its slightly ugly display – it’s just seems outdated now – and I for one am keeping my fingers crossed for a Retina display iPad next year.

Bigger Storage

Another typical Apple move for new devices is often increased storage, and many reports have claimed the iPad will be available with larger storage options next time around. The new MacBook Airs have also fueled this rumor, as they use the same flash storage chips found in their tablet siblings.

Apple is already using 128GB flash chips in its new MacBook Airs, so it wouldn’t be too much trouble to stick them in the iPad. This is another rumor that I’d say we can safely expect.

What Do You Want?

So there’s a few of the features that are rumored to be introduced in the second-generation iPad. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a Retina display and a thinner, lighter design – these are high up on my wish-list for iPad 2, and will be deciding factors when I’m thinking about whether or not to upgrade.

We’d love to hear what you want from Apple’s next tablet device. Please leave us a comment and let us know!

DSG International, the group responsible for UK chain PC World, amongst others, has so many Folios returned by unhappy customers that they’ve jacked the 10″ tablet’s price up to a whopping £999 ($1612) in order to DISCOURAGE sales. Considering the original price was just £350 ($560), it’s fairly clear they REALLY don’t want to sell any of Toshiba’s Folio. Coming just days after the hardware’s official launch. Ouch!

A post over on Engadget highlights issues such as an unusually poor screen, lack of Android market and general poor build-quality.

Be sure to check out Engadget’s video below, and ask yourself this question: what happens if someone DOES spend a grand on it!?

Have you bought or used a Toshiba Folio 100? How did you find it? Let us know in the comments!

When BlackBerry announced its business class tablet called the PlayBook, one of the stand-out points was the shear power the little 7″ device was supposed to be packing. I say supposed, as nobody had actually seen one up close and personal. Until now.

Over on BlackBerry’s YouTube channel, there’s an interesting video comparing the PlayBook’s webpage rendering speed and accuracy with that of Apple’s iPad. Various sites are tested, and both machines have had their caches cleared beforehand. The results are quite stunning.

In all speed tests, the little tablet could outpace the iPad pretty comprehensively, with pages nearly completing their loading on the PlayBook before the iPad has really gotten going. But that’s not the only test the video shows. Next up, BlackBerry show off how the adidas.com website displays on both tablets, with the PlayBook loading a fully Flash-enabled page with the iPad kicking out an error, along with a poorly formatted web 1.0-looking affair. Interesting stuff indeed.

To really drive the point home, the web standards’ ACID3 test is also performed. Perhaps predictably by this point, the iPad once again comes in 2nd, with the test not displaying 100% pixel perfect rendering. PlayBook suffers no such problems.

So what is the reason behind the stellar performance from PlayBook? Well, there’s that 1GHz dual-core CPU for starters, and when married to the 1GB of onboard RAM, the hardware performance of BlackBerry’s answer to the iPad and Galaxy Tab really could be the hardware platform of choice for more CPU-intensive apps and users.

So there we have it. Finally some real hands-on video of real-world use of the BlackBerry PlayBook, even if it is in the hands of a BlackBerry engineer.

Time for iPad 2 methinks!

BlackBerry PlayBook and iPad Comparison: Web Fidelity

One of the main complaints about Samsung’s Galaxy tab is that it just isn’t big enough. Weighing in at 7″, a full 2.7″ fewer than Apple’s iPad, many feel the screen just doesn’t provide enough real estate for anything other than blown-up phone apps. But how about a 10.1″ version?

Over at the FPD International Trade Show in Japan, Samsung has been showing off it’s next generation LCD displays, and it’s enough to make your mouth water.

Featuring a 1024×600 resolution, the screen boasts a 1,000:1 contrast ratio and is just 1.8mm thick. The stats really don’t do this thing justice, but the photos certainly go some way to giving us an idea of just how gorgeous a potential Galaxy Tab XL could be. Unfortunately that isn’t quite around the corner; the panel isn’t expected to be ready for mass-production for a couple of years according to Engadget, and they’re usually pretty accurate!

Of course, if Apple’s announces a Retina Display equipped iPad Mk2 next year, the ante will well and truly, be upped!

Are we going to see an iPad bump before Christmas? I think so. You can call it an iPad 1.5 if you like. As the real iPad 2 will come later in 2011.

Here is why I think this is so…

iOS “unification” is set to happen in November. What that means is that all of our iOS Devices will be running the same version of iOS from that date forwards, with swanky new features like AirPrint and AirPlay that Apple announced at their iOS 4.2 sneak peek just a short while ago.

Facetime has been around in iPhone OS for quite a while now, and hints about cameras on the iPad have been popping up from manufacturers (which we reported on last week), and also in iOS 4.2 leaks from some developers.

One of the key features of iOS is Facetime. And yet the iPad has no cameras at all. Facetime is an incredibly important technology for Apple, and is already available on every device they make, except the iPad. Despite the hooks for it on the iPad being in iOS 4.2 already.

We already know that Apple has confirmed a November release for iOS 4.2. Quite obviously they have not listed Facetime on the iPad page, as that would seriously hamper current iPad sales because many people would then simply wait for the newer iPad version to show up.

The current iPad is already considered to be weak in terms of on-board RAM. It has 256MB vs the iPhone 4’s 512MB. And the iPhone 4 is already almost half way through its life cycle.

Updating the iPad sometime next year, but putting the same CPU in it as the current iPad and iPhone 4 would be seen as a lacklustre update. It is very likely that the iPhone 5 will sport a new faster ARM SoC (and probably even more onboard RAM and Flash storage), and that same updated PCB will also go into future iPad updates, as well as iPod Touch updates later in 2011. But that new iDevice circuit board is most likely not ready for prime time yet. And unlikely to be ready until later next year either.

We have long suspected an iPad bump might come before Christmas this year. And Apple is only really in a position to bump the spec of the iPad right now. Not reinvent it with a new PCB, new GPU and new CPU.

However, Apple are overdue to bring the iPad into line with competing tablets which already have slightly more powerful CPUs, more Flash storage, more RAM, and not one but two cameras.

We already know that the iPad PCB is basically the same as the iPhone 4’s, and consequently can support the iPhone 4’s cameras. And we know too that it is all but confirmed that we will see those cameras in the next iPad update.

Holding off updating the iPad until 2011, when everybody knows that a version with a camera is coming will hurt sales of the current iPad model, which are already slightly lower than both Apple and Stock Market analysts hoped (albeit by a very small margin). That is not to say that the iPad has not sold in staggering numbers anyway. It has. But Apple will be keen to consolidate, not stagnate in the new tablet market they created.

A new iPad just before Christmas, at the same price as the current iPad, with cameras and double the RAM might upset a few early adopters. But Apple has never been worried about doing that. What it will do is destroy any advantage that Samsung hope to gain in the marketplace with their Galaxy Tab offering. And skyrocket sales for Apple at a crucial time.

I have no inside information on this. I am simply applying what I currently know, and extrapolating what I think would be an obvious and smart move for Apple at the moment.

I could be completely wrong.

What do you think? iPad 1.5 (with cameras) before Christmas? Or a slightly longer wait for a lacklustre iPad 2 update in the first quarter of 2011? Have your say in the comments…

Those with long memories will remember way back in the time before iPad, that the initial announcement showed hardware that included a handy-dandy mute switch ala iPhone. Fast forward to the iPad launch and this switch magically transformed into a rotation lock. It was universally agreed that this new lock was a stroke of genius on a device you are constantly moving, waving and holding at strange angles to read with. Random rotations are not fun!

All was well until the iOS 4.2 betas started to appear. Now, the switch once again mutes all audio with rotation locking handled by the multitasking tray just as it is on an iPhone running iOS 4.x. This change is causing much constellation in the iPad world, which led to one inquisitive gentleman asking Apple CEO Steve Jobs whats going on.

When asked whether the switch will continue to function as a mute switch, Jobs gave a characteristically terse ‘yep’ in reply.

The next, inevitable question was whether users would be allowed to select what the switch does via software. The answer? ‘Nope’.

So there we have it. We’re stuck with the mute switch. I say ‘we’, but personally I prefer the new way of doing things, if only because it provides parity with my iPhone. I’m fully aware I’m on my own there though.

But Apple’s talismanic CEO and co-founder didn’t stop there. Jobs claims that upcoming 7″ tablets will be ‘dead on arrival’ and are just too small – around 45% of the iPad’s 9.7″ screen size. Jobs goes on, saying that Apple believes that if a touch interface is to work in tablet form (obviously iPhones are a different matter) then anything smaller than an iPad causes various UI elements to be too close together, causing issues with touch recognition and responsiveness. Now I’m no engineer, so I’m going to have to stake his Steve-liness’ word on that.

Steve-o even goes so far as to say that all competitors putting out 7″ tablets should also include a sheet of sand-paper. Why? Well, to file down your fingers of course.

The upshot of all this is, we can finally put all the rumours of a 7-inch iPad to bed, which is surely a good thing!

There have been a wealth of articles, and pretty comparison tables produced recently in most major publications to show us just how the upcoming crop of “iPad Killers” will shape up against their nemesis.

Breaking them down the differences between the Apple iPad, Samsung’s Tab, Dell’s Streak and the BlackBerry PlayBook (I’ll come back to that name in a while) come down to four key statistics.

1. The size of the screen, and consequently the entire tablet.
2. The processor.
3. Camera, cameras or no camera.
4. Price.

And an honourable mention for Flash!

Apple’s iPad is the heaviest and the biggest of the three, it certainly doesn’t sport the fastest silicon of the three, doesn’t support Flash and has no cameras. Seems like a slam-dunk for the competition, right?

Not really. I’ll explain why…

All of the iPad’s rivals have smaller screens, and also have lower resolution display panels. None of which are 720p, including the iPad. But the iPad is the closest of the three. It’s also the perfect form factor for the kind of stuff people want to do on a tablet. Apple get that. No-one else quite does yet. Android are probably the closest of the three or four mobile operating systems to iOS to “get” touch interfaces and the ergonomics of the devices associated with that kind of workflow. And even Android has a ways to go yet. Luckily its developer community is growing in experience and we are seeing some cool things coming down the Android pipe. The Samsung Tab’s OS is a good example of that.

With the noticeable exception of the Dell Streak, which with a 5 inch screen is too big to put in your pocket, seems like a podgy iPod Touch rather than a tablet, and seems confused about whether it is a big phone or a remote control, the other two tablets are also uncomfortably placed between the size of the iPad and the iPod Touch. Their size and their proposed functionality are slightly at odds.

Being hyper critical it would be easy to say that Dell, Samsung and BlackBerry have fallen at the first hurdle. Because they don’t seem to get what using a tablet is all about. Yet, it’s all about something in your hands that feels like an electronic magazine, and is comfortable to use as such. For that kind of application the iPad is the correct size. Which is presumably why Apple made it that way.

Both the Tab and the Streak offer similar core silicon for their devices as the Apple iPad does. They all basically have the same 1Ghz ARM SoC, albeit with a few tweaks to each manufacturers specifications. But Dell and Samsung’s offerings are barely on sale yet, whereas Apple’s iPad has been kicking around in the market place now for quite a few months. And their silicon has been tweaked to work with iOS from inception. It’s a small but very important differentiation when it comes to that super secret Apple sauce that just makes thing work.

BlackBerry have gone another way altogether and have slapped a dual core ARM SoC in their PlayBook tablet, which is similar in many ways to what we would expect Apple to put in its next processor revision (The Apple A5) for the next iPad and iPhone refresh. The iPad refresh coming quite significantly sometime around the launch date of BlackBerry’s tablet. The difference is that Apple know how much power their A5 chip will need, because they will have designed it to work within the bounds of their tight (and maturing) Tablet design. A design based on an already proven model which has fantastic battery performance. BlackBerry are still working through that, most likely with an off the shelf ARM core which is much more power hungry than Apple’s A5 will be. To be honest it is quite worrying that the PlayBook’s User Interface is still only visible as PR CG mock ups. It is also worrying that they are allowing full multitasking and Flash on their mobile device. Something we know does not work well even on up to date Android hardware; from either a performance or battery life perspective.

As an aside BlackBerry have gone the same disastrous route that Palm did with their initial approach to their SDK and prospective developers. As it stands right now there is no native SDK for writing apps which use OpenGL or run native code on the PlayBook. Sure, Apple made the same mistake, but they remedied it quickly. Palm didn’t and it killed their developer program out of the gate. Having seen both Apple and Palm make this mistake BlackBerry can only have made it again because they were forced to (or are superbly ignorant). I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they were forced to. The only reason for that would be that their tools are not mature enough (or even in existence yet) to allow developers to program for the platform in the way they’ll want to and that is a bad sign at this stage.

Apple has stuck cameras, both front and rear facing, into its iPhone and the recent iPod Touch update. At the same time they have been making us all realise how much we want Facetime video calling on all our devices, which is an industry standard for video communication that they are hoping to license to other manufacturers. Facetime is a defacto video communications standard which costs Apple nothing to run. The onus being on network providers and eventually mobile data packages to provide bandwidth. And in the next iPad refresh it is a no brainer that we will see front and rear facing cameras if for nothing else than Facetime calling.

Apple’s current tablet offering, the iPad, ranges in price from around $500 up to $850. A price that it doesn’t seem that BlackBerry, Samsung or Dell are able to undercut.

And when Apple rolls out the iPad 2 it will most likely stay at the pricing levels of the current iPad model, while that first generation model will disappear or drop in price further.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Samsung’s Tab will sell. It’s a nice piece of kit. And Android is perfectly suited to it. The version it runs fitting the tablet almost as well as iOS fits the iPad. But it will sell to a different market, and it’s certainly not going to stand up to Apple’s iPad revision, due out in a few short months.

The Dell streak it is best to forget I think. Enough said.

Finally the fire-breathing, dual core monster that is BlackBerry’s PlayBook will probably be hitting the market about the time we are all talking about the new iPad. And if it wobbles just once in any area.. Say battery life, or the stability of its untested OS, or problems getting Flash to play nice, or heaven forbid because of BlackBerry’s legendary manufacturing problems then the new iPad will crush it.

If Apple stick an HD Retina style display in the new iPad then that really is game over for BlackBerry and Samsung also, until they rush something else out of the door. And here we see the problem. All the other manufacturers are still following Apple’s lead. Reacting to Apple rather than out thinking them. And the only places they are thinking independently (like with device and screen size decisions) they seem to have gone the wrong way altogether.

Sure Apple’s iPad is not expandable, has proprietary connections, no Flash and is getting on for a year old. But it’s that year of the iPad in the market, and several years of developing iOS and iDevice manufacturing, as well as building custom silicon that means that anything that Apple does from now on in is going to continue to excel, and make any other manufacturer look like it is playing catch up for at least another round of hardware revisions in the mobile market place.

So about the time that the Galaxy Tab is starting to sell in good numbers, the Dell Streak has been discontinued and the BlackBerry PlayBook hits the market the new iPad killer will be Apple’s 2011 iPad revision.

One final thought. BlackBerry need to change the name of their tablet. Outside of the US “PlayBook” sounds like a kids coloring book.

And here’s one of those comparison charts for you:

*Battery life as specified by the manufacturer

Do you think Apple has got the Tablet market in its pocket for the foreseeable future? Have your say in the comments…

Comparison Chart Source: Wired

BlackBerry DevCon is going on right now in San Francisco and the smartphone manufacturer just dropped the biggest bombshell of all – it’s entering the tablet market with what the Canadian firm is calling the BlackBerry PlayBook.

We knew it was coming, but the BlackBerry BlackPad has been announced and now it’s got an even worse name – PlayBook!

BlackBerry PlayBook appears to be a primarily business-focused machine, though the official webpage does show EA Mobile’s popular racing game for iPhone called Need for Speed Shift!

First off, let’s get the specs out of the way:

• 7″ LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Ultra thin and portable:
• Measures 5.1″x7.6″x0.4″ (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.

* RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

A couple of things stand out straight away.

Firstly there’s the screen. At 7” the PlayBook is nearly 3” smaller than the Apple iPad, though curiously it’s the same size as the upcoming Galaxy Tab from Samsung. The resolution of 1024×600 is more than reasonable. Obviously the usual multi-touch and gestures are there.

Next up is the inclusion of a 1GHz dual-core CPU and 1GB of RAM. Two words spring to mind here: fast and blazing. If the OS is up to the standard we’d expect then this should be one of the fastest tablet machines going. I’m looking for plenty of fading transitions and 3D jiggery-pokery. From the looks of the video below, we’re not going to be disappointed.

3rd on my list (yes, it’s more than a couple!) is the 1080p video recording provided by one of the two (count ‘em) cameras. You don’t need that kind of multimedia capability for a business tablet – hopefully this points to more than just a corporate workhorse.

Of course all this spangly new hardware will be useless if the OS isn’t up to the mark. Having watched the video I have to say I’m intrigued. The multitasking (did I not mention the multitasking?) looks gorgeous and does tend to remind of the way Palm had things working on its Pre smartphone. Just bigger!

An interesting feature not mentioned in the tech specs is BlackBerry Integration. Here, PlayBook owners who also use a BlackBerry smartphone will be able to pair the devices (does the Folio ring any bells here?) over bluetooth. The funky news here though, is that the user will be able to ‘…. opt to use the larger tablet display to seamlessly and securely view any of the email, BBMTM, calendar, tasks, documents and other content that resides on (or is accessible through) their smartphone.’

I NEED that on my iPad/iPhone!

I can type all I want, but all I really want to say is check out the video – it’s the only way to judge for yourself. It does look stunning.

Now I know I’m starting to gush here, and it’s not quite what you’d expect from a post on an iOS blog. So what gives?

Well, I think competition is good*. The better the competition, the better the next iPad. The better the next iPad, the better the competition and so on.

When can we get our hands on a PlayBook I hear you scream! Not for a while actually. Release is expected to be around ‘early 2011’ which is interesting in itself. Is this not when we expect to start hearing rumors and potential specs for the next iPad? Will the PlayBook have lost before it’s released?

Looking at the pictures and video, I’m not sure it will!

BlackBerry PlayBook – Preview

*I still think the name sucks!

Chad Garrett is a self-confessed Apple fan (aren’t we all?), so perhaps take that into account when reading his thoughts on HP’s prototype.

So what did Chad think? In short, he wasn’t blown away. Things that put him off included a thicker body (2 to 3 times thicker) and a potential heat issue. Running a full-fledged OS on mobile hardware’s got to take its toll!

Initial experience of the onboard camera was limited, but ‘The camera seemed to work well based on the fluorescently lit cubical environment’ and it’s worth noting the shutter is apparently controlled via software with no hardware option – just like the iPhone. HP’s skin, used to give a more mobile feel to the Slate seemed to go down well too.

As Chad mentions in his post, it’s important to remember both his experience, and the video we’ve all seen are of a prototype device. Was the Apple iPad the polished, sleek device we know now when it was sat on a work bench in Cupertino? Probably not.

Until we see a final production version of HP’s latest tablet hardware it’s going to be hard to judge. It’s also worth remembering that just because the form-factor is the same, not all tablet devices are aimed at the same market. Apple has taken the consumer approach but Tablet PCs have historically done well in the enterprise.

Perhaps HP is looking to continue that trend.

The video starts off well, showing the slate’s 2 (count ‘em) cameras, SD card slot and USB port. The most interesting, and without doubt ludicrous button ever placed on a consumer device is a CTRL-ALT-DEL key! That’s right folks, when your shiny new HP Slate crashes you just need press one button to kill it. Terrific!

Is it real? Engadget seems to think so. If I hadn’t seen the thing power on (which happens in a spritely manner) I’d be shouting ‘FAKE’ from the highest mountain I could find, but considering you see the hardware running Windows 7 as HP initially planned – and Endgadget’s belief it’s legit – it might just be real.

Watch the video and let us know what you think – could this have been an iPad killer?

To answer my own question… No

The issue I see with all the ‘iPad killers’ (I do hate that phrase!) is that they seem to be aiming for a different market. Apple’s focus is to get the iPad into as many hands as possible, which is borne out by its competitive price. This means making it as user friendly as possible, sometimes at the expense of losing some of the bells and whistles other manufacturers seem desperate to include.

Take the HP offering as an example. Putting a full-fledged desktop OS on there may give the device more possibilities than Apple’s offering, but could this cause confusion? Possibly. What about that USB port? Can you plug a printer into it? What about a USB 3G dongle? Will the device have drivers for these or will they need to be downloaded? Will they even work at all?

These are all questions Apple doesn’t want the user to have to ask. In Apple’s eyes at least, choice feature bloat equals user confusion and that’s a bad thing.

Asus have predicted lower sales. Global RAM producers are predicting a drop in RAM prices for PCs because they have overproduced, as predicted netbook orders have not panned out.

Electronista are reporting today that UBS analyst Maynard Um is advising investors that the entire lower-end of the PC market is coming under pressure from iPads as consumers and businesses either put off buying new PCs and get an iPad as a convenient stop gap. Or simply replace their PC with an iPad.

At the moment Samsung, who are also one of the RAM producers mentioned above, are pinning their hopes of stymying Apple’s impressive run with the iPad with their own mid-sized “Galaxy Tab” Tablet.

In recent weeks Apple’s shares dipped slightly. But in the week since the 1st of September they have gained $10 to sit at around $257.

Apple is under a lot of pressure from Google, Samsung and the prospect of a cash crazy spend by Microsoft as they try to establish their own late entry to the mobile device market with Windows Phone 7. But at the same time they are upping iPad production through 2 million units per month to 3 million in the fourth quarter of this year. And cannot ship iPhone 4s fast enough.

On the promise of Apple’s latest bunch of iPods, and the promise of iPhones on other networks in coming months, growing Apple Mac sales, and future iDevices many analysts are still predicting AAPL will hit $300 by year end, and $350 within 12 months.

Basically, if you have shares, hang onto them..

Do you think Apple are unstoppable? Or are Windows Phone 7, Android and the Samsung Tab going to slow them down? Have your say in the comments…

2010 may very well go down in history as the year Apple started to take over the mobile space. The year started with the Cupertino-based company revealing the much rumored and anticipated Apple tablet computer; the iPad. Who knew the iPad would come to dominate the tech industry in the first half of the year. Not to be outdone by even themselves, next up for Apple is the iPhone 4G / HD. Eagerly anticipated in its own right, the new iPhone should reestablish Apple’s mobile phone dominance.

As the iPhone 4G and iPad become publicly available, some may wonder whether these devices are competiting for the same consumer dollars in the same space. Should someone think of the iPad and iPhone as being in competition with each other or as complementary services? Could a consumer get away with buying one device and enjoying the benefits of either? Let’s look at what we can expect of both the iPad and the next iPhone and try to determine if they’re competitors with each other or complements to each other.

You could be excused for thinking the iPad and iPhone are two sides of the same coin. Both use the same operating system, operate on the same multitouch interface, and have many of the same design elements. Indeed, one of the primary criticisms of the iPad after it was first announced was that it was a “big iPod Touch”. The larger screen led many to believe the Apple iPad was simply a cynical attempt by Apple to cash in on the successful iPhone product line by jamming the iPhone innards into a larger device with a larger screen. What this criticism fails to recognize is the larger screen introduces a whole different dynamic to usage. Screens are larger, more easily touched, and applications have the space to become more complex. On the other end of the spectrum, the iPhone and its smaller screen leaves it well suited to perform other tasks. Sure you can watch video on it, send e-mails on it, and run apps on it just like the iPad. Could you imagine holding an iPad to your ear to make a phone call though? Or trying to tuck an iPad into your pants pocket? Despite the overlap in certain functional areas, the iPad and iPhone are really more complementary devices than competitive ones.

If Apple had wanted the iPad and iPhone to be competitive devices they would have aligned feature sets much more closely. Giving the iPad a five or seven inch screen like some of its competitors would have made it much more similar to an iPhone. You could almost imagine holding a five inch tablet device to your ear to make a call. It might look like Maxwell Smart’s shoephone but it isn’t totally outside the realm of possibility. There are a hundred different ways Apple could have aligned their two premier consumer electronics lines to more closely resemble each other. The fact they didn’t is an obvious indication they want these two devices to co-exist and not replace each other in different circumstances. Apple realizes the dream of convergent devices can only come so far and past that point product lines need to split into complementary areas. The iPhone represents Apple’s idea (be it ever evolving) of the converged, ultra portable device. You enjoy the iPhone in small doses of ultra functionality. The iPad lies at the other end of the continuum. It converges several jobs as well; content consumption, eReader, video display. Jobs the iPhone is capable of doing but doesn’t do very well for long periods of time. You can imagine yourself owning an iPhone for a finite set of circumstances and an iPad for a finite set of circumstances. Some of those circumstances may overlap but neither device will do all the jobs of the other well.

And in the end I think that’s part of Apple’s strategy. While its competitors trip over themselves trying to come up with something that doesn’t operate like an oversized phone or an undersized computer with a phone stuck to it, Apple has quietly developed useful technology for both ends of the spectrum. I would own both in a minute and be fully happy knowing each complements the other in a well designed fashion.

What do you think? Do the iPhone and iPad represent overlapping platforms? Would it be foolish to own both? Are the iPhone and iPad competitive products in your mind or complementary? Leave your thoughts in the comments section. I’m always interested in reading what you think.

The real news in the item isn’t that Google is working on a tablet computer. You could safely assume Microsoft and Google had been researching the area long before news of the Courier project or this Google tablet broke. What is interesting is how many of the items cited in the article, and attributed to the Google tablet, are barbs pointed directly at Apple.

The first such barb is Eric Schmidt’s revelation the tablet will run Android. This may not seem like big news considering the connection between Android and Google. What you do have to consider though is why Google would select Android over Chrome OS. Forgot about that didn’t you? Chrome OS of course was supposed to be Google’s answer to traditional operating systems, a simple Linux shell running a version of the Chrome browser as the main interface element. Everything a computing device running Chrome OS would need exists in the cloud. The ultimate lightweight (and inexpensive) OS. So why would Google abandon it? Apps. For better or worse people love apps and Android has an extensive library of them already. And why would that be so important? To mount a frontal assault on the iTunes App Store.

The second significant barb is Google’s endorsement of Flash. As the old saying goes, politics can make strange bedfellows, and the current union between Google and Adobe is the strangest. Google, like Apple, has long supported a standards-based web experience that disposes with third party plug-ins. Third party plug-ins like Adobe Flash. So why, as it says in the article, would Google make a point of saying their tablet would support Flash? Well as another attack on a perceived (but not necessarily real) shortcoming of the iPad.

Ultimately, you have to wonder how far Google will get by simply creating a device that “is” what the iPad isn’t. The iPad is an innovative and differentiated device not because it was created by committee in a boardroom from a wish list of their competitor’s shortcomings. As I’ve said in a couple of articles already, the real strength of the iPad is the experience. Apple didn’t chase the desires of users and tech journalists, it didn’t try to be everything to everyone. Instead, Apple made the iPad what they wanted it to be with the experience and strengths and weaknesses of what it is. If Google is serious about making a product that will sell even a tenth as well as the iPad, they would do well to focus not on the criticisms of competitors. Google should take a cue from Apple and make the device they want to make and let the market decide which is better.

What do you think? Is the Google tablet a cynical attempt to create a device that isn’t an iPad to make a few quick bucks? Does Google just want to profit from criticism instead of making a truly innovative device? Should Apple be worried about a successful Google tablet? Leave us your thoughts in the comment section.