iPad Galaxy: May 2010

Long Lines in Europe & Asia to Buy Apple's iPad

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Technophiles mobbed Apple Stores in Europe and Asia on Friday in a quest to snatch up the hottest gadget of the moment — the Apple iPad.

Long lines snaked down streets in London, Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo as eager buyers vied to wield their credit cards. Screams and cheers rose from the crowd in central London as students, professionals and self-proclaimed computer geeks clutched boxes containing the slim black device.

"If I was a music fan, it would be like the launch of a Lady GaGa album in the U.S.," said comedian Stephen Fry, known in Britain as a champion Tweeter.

Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, California, said earlier this month that it had sold 1 million of the devices in the United States in 28 days. The company started taking orders for the iPad abroad on May 10 after pushing back its international delivery target amid extreme demand at home.

In Britain, prices for the iPad range from 429 pounds to 699 pounds ($624 to $1,017).

But the rollout has not been without its problems. A string of suicides at a Chinese factory that churns out iPads and other high-tech items has raised concerns about conditions for workers who face tremendous time pressures and harsh discipline for mistakes.

In response, Apple issued a statement expressing commitment to ensuring that conditions "throughout our supply chain are safe and workers are treated with respect and dignity."

Read More...

The iPad and Velcro, a Match Made in Heaven

Two of mankind’s greatest inventions, together at last. Note: this is an exploration of what is possible, not necessarily what is practical. Tweet from the street at your own risk!

[via Jesse Rosten]

AT&T Wants to Know About Your iPad

About a month after the 3G iPad launched, it looks like AT&T wants to know how happy you are with your new purchase. AT&T began e-mailing surveys to select 3G customers late this afternoon, in order to "better understand your experience with the iPad." The surveys focus on the customer’s buying experience, their satisfaction with the iPad and how the device is used in daily life. Several of the survey questions focus on how customers are using their iPad’s built-in WiFi and AT&T’s 3G wireless service. The survey contains roughly 40+ questions, of which a third are WiFi and 3G wireless related.

AT&T has been dealing with large data consumption and growth on their network ever since Apple’s successful launch of the iPhone. In response, AT&T recently announced they would offer free WiFi to users in New York’s Times Square to help deal with increased congestion on their 3G network. The launch is part of a pilot program meant to help offload some of the data traffic when users surf the web or stream Internet media from sites such as YouTube. If successful, AT&T said they may expand the service to other cities experiencing high data usage.

AT&T is the exclusive carrier in the U.S. for the iPad and iPhone and is of course very interested in keeping this exclusivity intact with Apple. This results of this survey might help shape AT&T’s future WiFi plans, gauge how iPad usage will impact their network and determine how best to deal with the deluge of new customers surfing the web and using the Internet.

[via Pad Gadget]

Do iPad Owners Read More News?

Thursday, May 27, 2010

After Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad earlier this year, many analysts and reporters said it was the ideal device to consume content. With its large screen, long battery life and great portability many publishers were quick to embrace the iPad, with many heralding it as the savior for the publishing industry. So has the iPad lived up to the hype? Now that the iPad has been on the market for almost two months, we decided to do a little digging to see if the iPad was indeed a leading content consumption device.

First stop, the iTunes App Store. The App Store is buzzing with new apps and content apps are one of the most popular categories. If you take a look at the PadGadget Apps Tracker, you’ll find that over 20% of the Top 100 iPad apps are content related (news, information, movies, etc.) and include hits like; Wired, Vanity Fair, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Kindle and Marvel Comics. So it’s clear that people like their news and content apps, but are they really using them?

Simply looking at it from an app demand side, it seems that iPad owners do use their device to consume news at a higher rate, but let’s dig a little deeper. We looked at our PadGadet website stats to check the browsing behavior of iPad users versus the rest of our visitors using computers or mobile phones. Our iPad readers are definitely more engaged, with the average iPad user consuming 18% more web pages than their non-iPad peers. Not only did our iPad readers consume more content, they also stayed about 15% longer on our site. Our iPad numbers are higher, but certainly not an exponential increase over non-iPad visitors.

One of the best usage indicators might be to compare reader behavior on a news website vs that same content delivered using an iPad app. MoccoNews recently interviewed Alisa Bowen, SVP for Thomson Reuters’ Consumer Publishing Division, and found that their app "NewsPro, with news and basic market data, has clocked over 75,000 downloads and is showing triple the user session time of Reuters.com". The iPad, according to Bowen, is "the perfect platform to engage with C-level executives." A 300% increase in session time over the same content available on the Reuters website definitely shows that iPad readers do consume more content from certain publishers. It clearly demonstrates how a rich media application can help publishers increase reader engagement and interact with readers in new ways.

Based on our informal research, it definitely looks like the iPad is becoming the premier portable news and information consumption device for many people. We expect we’ll be hearing more news directly from Apple and publishers on the iPad around Apple’s upcoming Worldwide developers Conference.

[via Pad Gadget]

Mercedes-Benz Financial Expands Mobile Strategy With the Apple iPad

Mercedes-Benz Financial, which has received more than $5 million in lease and loan payments from customers via their mobile phone devices since becoming the first auto finance company to establish that payment channel late last year, is now taking its mobile strategy to the showroom floor to benefit dealers and customers.

According to a report from Mercedes-Benz Financial yesterday, they will be putting the Apple iPad into the hands of its dealers, becoming the first automotive finance company to give dealers mobile access to its proprietary point-of-sale dealer system called MB Advantage. In doing so, Mercedes-Benz Financial is one of the first companies to adapt the consumer-oriented iPad as a mobile business tool.

MB Advantage on the iPad will give dealership sales personnel instant access to marketing programs for specific models, quicker turn time on the credit application process, and increase speed and efficiency on the return of lease vehicles.

"We see the iPad providing wireless mobility, information and flexibility on the showroom floor," said Andreas Hinrichs, Vice President of Marketing for Mercedes-Benz Financial. "The iPad will provide a competitive advantage to our dealers by increasing their service levels through a more flexible financing process."

Hinrichs said the size and versatility of the iPad makes it compatible to access MB Advantage via the mobile device and to take the dealer system from the finance & leasing office to the showroom floor.

Mercedes-Benz Financial will distribute iPads to 40 selected dealers throughout the United States to test iPad as a business tool. The company will monitor iPad usage and collect feedback from dealers and field sales staff over the summer.

Read More...

Jailbreaking the iPad: What You Need to Know

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

As reported earlier today by PCWorld, a jailbreak has recently occurred on the Apple iPad. For those who have yet to jailbreak your other iPhone OS devices, a substantially faster hardware and difficult-to-define "3rd device" role make the iPad the best case yet for jailbreaking. A user and developer updated compatibility list will help you see what's safe to install on your iPad.

Apple's App Store has become notorious for its restrictive and often arbitrary decisions about what does and doesn't make it into the store. Many pieces of quality software get denied or kicked out of the App Store, sometimes for unclear or unknown reasons.

However, many of these have subsequently made their way into Cydia, the jailbroken app installer (note that the App Store works just fine on jailbroken devices, too). GV Mobile, a great interface for Google Voice, Dashboard, a clone of Mac OS X's Dashboard for iPad, and Wifi Sync, a paid application for performing iTunes syncs over Wi-Fi, are just a few examples. And there are plenty more programs and extensions that are available in Cydia that have never even been submitted to the App Store.

Aside from these examples of nixed software, jailbreaking also offers a multitude of tweaks that aren't available to the user on a normal device. This includes changing system sounds or interface elements. While a much higher proportion of the software available through Cydia is free compared to what you'll find on the App Store, it does also contain paid software.

Read More...

Features of the Apple iPad Case

Monday, May 24, 2010

Details:

Soft microfiber interior
Reinforced panels for structure
Lightweight enough to carry anywhere
Folds horizontally or vertically to hold iPad at an angle for viewing video or typing on the onscreen keyboard
Holes for headphone jack, dock connector port, and on/off and volume buttons

With a soft microfiber interior and reinforced panels to provide structure, the iPad Case is the perfect way to carry around your iPad. And it does double duty. It folds in just the right places to act as a stand that holds iPad at an ideal angle for watching videos and slideshows or for typing on the onscreen keyboard.

Purchase: Apple iPad Case [Price: $69.69]

iPad vs. Kindle: 3 Key Differences

One thing is for certain about Apple, that they're one of the most innovative companies on the planet. You can be sure that every Apple device will contain features that you've probably never seen before, and this remains true to all new products from Apple. Even if the technology for each device has been created by another company, they always find a way to improve on the original invention. A perfect example of this is when they released the iPod during the time when other MP3 manufactures were releasing their products and blew them completely out of the water. They've also done this more recently against rival mobile phone manufacturers with the very popular iPhone.

Now they are aiming to try it once again with the iPad. Although their intent for the iPad is to be more of a general purpose computing device, there is no denying that one of their main targets is the Amazon's Kindle. There are a multitude of differences between the two products, but let's note the key differences and see how they stack up against each other.

Touch Screen functionality - Even though both screens are roughly the same size, the iPad has a touch screen functionality that is sure to please the users of the device. Since most of the early adopters of the platform will be former iPhone users, a similar interface is a huge advantage. And consumers who are not using an iPhone now will surely be more impressed by the touch features than the normal hard button navigation presented by the Kindle.

Device Functionality - The Kindle was meant to be an ebook reader and nothing more. They focused on giving people a similar experience to when they would sit down and read a paperback book. The iPad is going to try and give those same users something more. Apple wants to give them the same ebook functionality, but wrap it in a device that will function as a mini computer as well.

Color Screen - The Kindle is in black and white. The iPad is in color. That advantage definitely goes to the iPad. Since most people are used to color devices, I would have to say that the iPad will be looked upon more favorably by the average user. While the kindle creators claimed that they decided to go with a black and white screen so that users could feel as if they were reading a real book, people are going to see the kindle side by side with the iPad and ultimately choose the color device.

These are three key differences between the iPad and the Kindle. All of these factors will make a huge difference in someone who is deciding which device that they want.

[via iPad Covers Blog]

iLounge Announces New iPads Around the World Gallery and Giveaway

Sunday, May 23, 2010

iLounge is pleased to announce the launch of its new iPads Around the World Gallery. Joining the current iPod and iPhone galleries, which are the largest single collection of people and their iDevices, the new iPad gallery aims to expand the collection with images of Apple’s newest device at both well-known and not-so-well-known locations around the world. So get out there with your new iPad and show everyone where you’ve been traveling!

In celebration of the iPads Around the World Gallery launch they are giving away a $150 iTunes Gift Card. All you have to do is re-tweet their message and submit one or more photos of your iPad in front of a landmark and be entered for a chance to win the $150 iTunes Gift Card. The winner will be picked in a random drawing on June 1, 2010.

Keynote Themes for iPad Looks to Alleviate Formatting Issues

Importing a Keynote presentation from Mac to iPad can lead to a number of formatting headaches, and while Apple has addressed these problems with a support document and software update, iPresentee has a solution of its own: Keynote Themes for iPad.

As the name would imply, Keynote Themes for iPad is a set of 33 themes specifically tailored for the iPad. The themes make it easier for you to create entire presentations from your iPad without the need of a computer—a useful ability for the business user on the go—and since the templates are also compatible with Keynote '09, they should make importing presentations to the iPad far less of a hassle.

The Keynote Themes collection includes a variety of presentation styles with coordinated fonts, colors, backgrounds, bullets and frames. They range from the professional looking "Blue Style" and "Tones of Grey" to the artsier "Chinese Symbols" and "Bamboo Theme". Each theme is available in 1024x768 and 800x600 resolution and work on your Mac the same way as regular themes. You can add, edit, and format text; add photos or movies; and use Keynote's transitions and special effects.

Read More...

1-in-5 U.S. consumers plan to buy Apple's iPad

Positive press and word of mouth from very satisfied owners has convinced one-in-five U.S. consumers to buy an Apple iPad, a survey published today said.

In a poll of nearly 3,400 consumers, ChangeWave Research found that 7% are "very likely," and 13% "somewhat likely" to buy an iPad at some point. Those numbers, noted Paul Carton, ChangeWave's research director, are significantly higher than the 4% and 9% who answered the same way in a February survey taken after Apple CEO Steve Jobs had unveiled the media tablet, but before it went on sale in early April.

While 19% of those who plan to purchase an iPad said that they would do so in the next 90 days, the majority of consumers who want an Apple tablet will buy one in six months or more. And that has to make Apple happy this holiday season.

"Apple's going to have an iPad holiday," said Carton. "We'll see a holiday spending wave on the iPad."

Of the consumers who said they plan to buy an iPad, 24% said they would do so in 6 to 12 months, with another 24% saying they would pull the buying trigger in 12 to 24 months.

Read More...

Apple iPad: Confirmed Success Already?

Saturday, May 22, 2010

"One million iPads in 28 days--that's less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs on May 3, only three days after the 3G version had hit the market.

It may be too soon to call the iPad a "game-changing" tech success story, but the reality of that coming true gets closer by the week. With soaring sales, huge gains as an e-reader, deep cuts into a flourishing netbook market, and sky-high customer satisfaction rates, living up to all the pre-launch hype has been the biggest challenge for the iPad.

According to RBC Capital Markets, the iPad is currently selling approximately 200,000 units per week. The high demand and extreme popularity of the device has pushed it to the number two position in Apple sales, ahead of Mac sales at about 110,000 units sold per week, and just below iPhone sales which are still going strong at a rate of 246,000 units sold per week.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster recently checked in with 50 U.S. Apple retail stores and found that the iPad had sold out or is in limited supply at many of them, reports AllThingsD. Various other analyst's are predicting a range of five million to six million iPad units sold to be sold in its first year alone. [via PCWorld.com]

Top iPad Weather Apps

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Unlike the iPhone and iPod touch, the iPad doesn’t come with its own weather app. Fortunately, third-party developers are ready to fill the gap, offering a number of weather-focused offerings for your downloading pleasure. But which one deserves your attention—and your dollars? Macworld author Jeff Merron took a look at a handful of iPad weather apps, and discovered that one in particular stood out from the rest.

WeatherBug Elite
WeatherBug Elite for iPad employs the power of the WeatherBug network (the world's largest weather network) to provide iPad users with the latest weather information including local current conditions, extended forecast, severe weather alerts, animated Doppler radar, live weather camera images and much more! Available free for a limited time.

Uniquely designed for the iPad interface, WeatherBug Elite for iPad enables users to truly personalize their own weather experience.

Download WeatherBug Elite

AccuWeather
The only weather application you'll ever need for your iPad! Get detailed current conditions, a 15-day forecast, hourly weather details, radar, AccuWeather's exclusive lifestyle forecasts, and weather videos. There are two versions, one is brought to you at no charge with ad support, and for just $0.99 you can choose an ad-free version.

Download AccuWeather

The Weather Channel Max
The Weather Channel Max for iPad is brought to you at no charge, courtesy of Toyota. It delivers in-depth weather, innovative maps, a robust video library, customizable weather maps, in-motion radar, local, regional and national forecast video, storm footage, real-time twitter feeds from popular TWC on-air personalities, and local traffic cams in select cities.

Download The Weather Channel Max

The Solid Gold iPad Supreme Edition by Katherine Hughes

For the most elite individual, here is the world's first solid gold and diamond Apple iPad. Encrusted with 25.5cts of ‘I'F' Flawless diamonds, a magnificent total of 53 individually set sparkling gems dwell beautifully in their solid 22ct Apple logo. The rear and screen surround are made from a single piece of solid 22ct gold, weighing an immense 2,100 grams. This most luxurious iPad appearance is outstanding even down to the precise polishing to reveal its most beautiful harmonious appearance. A magnificent combination of top of the industry technology and unrivaled craftsmanship was involved in creating this masterpiece.

The solid Gold iPad is available in the 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G version, and with a limited edition of only 10 units to be made, this unit is set at a very steep price of £129,995.00. More luxury designs of this product can be seen at http://www.goldstriker.co.uk.

Apple iPad: The Best Way to Experience the Web, Email, Photos, and Video

The best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video.
Page through websites, write an email, flick through photos, or watch a movie with just the touch of a finger.

A design that’s thin, light, and brilliant.
iPad has a 9.7-inch, high-resolution LED-backlit IPS display and incredible Multi-Touch capability. Yet it’s thin and light enough to take anywhere.

Thousands of apps made just for iPad. With more coming every day.
Right now you can discover over a thousand apps on the App Store made just for iPad — with more coming every day. And if that’s not enough, you can also run almost 150,000 iPhone apps.

Introducing iBooks. A new way to read and buy books.
Download the free iBooks app from the App Store. More than a great ebook reader, it’s also an amazing place to browse and shop for books.

Technical Support and the iPad Warranty
Every iPad comes with complimentary telephone technical support within 90 days of your iPad purchase. In addition, your iPad, its rechargeable battery, and all included accessories are covered against defects for one year from the original purchase date by a limited hardware warranty.

Purchase:

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