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The Thrifty Apple Holiday Gift Guide
Have an Apple-lover on your Christmas list? Unless it’s someone you love very dearly, you probably aren’t going to go out and buy the new MacBook Air or iPad the Mac fan in your life has been drooling over. Here are some suggestions for Apple-related gifts that won’t break the bank.

Decent Headphones

This is an upgrade for that person in your life who loves music and is making do with the iPod or iPhone headphones that came in the box. You don’t have to spend too much to get good results, and if you’re willing to go a little bit beyond $100, the field opens up considerably. Here are two great options:

Klipsch Image S4i ($99.95). These in-ear headphones offer much better sound and durability than Apple’s own variety, and do so for not much more money (Apple’s in-ears cost $79.00). They now come in white and black, and sport an inline remote and mic combo that provides all the same functionality of the Apple in-ear headset.

Sennheiser Adidas PMX 680i ($69.95). If anyone on your list likes to use their headphones while working out, these are a great option. They won’t break down if you sweat while wearing them; they feature a comfortable wraparound design; and they have an inline remote with mic so you can take calls while you’re sweating it out.

Accessories

There are a few accessories that will never go unused, even if they don’t seem like the most glamorous gifts you could possibly buy. Here’s a few suggestions for different Apple products:

Apple MagSafe Adapter ($79.00). This is something every Mac notebook owner probably already has, but the spare power cord makes a great gift. Forgetting your MagSafe somewhere while travelling, or at home before you go somewhere else, is a virtual death sentence for your notebook. Providing an extra on hand to keep in your travel bag or somewhere where you’ll always have it is a great gift with real value for the travelling Mac addict in your circle.

Spare sync/charge cables (price varies, usually around $20). My sync cables tend to break around where the 30-pin dock connector meets the actual cable. It sucks, but it’s also the point that endures the most stress, so it makes sense that it’s the first to go. Having spares around is a great way to reduce the wear on any one, and you get the added benefit of always having one close at hand. You can get these from any accessory maker, and from Apple itself, but buyer beware: Make sure the brand you’re looking at has a lot of positive reviews before picking it up.

Apps

Now that you can gift apps, they make for a great little virtual stocking stuffer that doesn’t cost very much at all, and many won’t think to buy for themselves. I know so many people who exclusively download free apps, and that’s exactly who would benefit most from some gifted paid iOS content.

Reeder for iPhone/iPad ($2.99/$4.99 respectively). The Mac version just hit beta, but the iOS versions are still must-haves for portable device owners who like their web news. Grab it for your news junkie friends, but make sure they’re comfortable setting up the required Google Reader account.

Angry Birds ($0.99 iPhone, $4.99 iPad). If your friends aren’t willing to buy apps, then they probably shy away from paying for games, too, which is a shame, because that probably means they’re missing out on Angry Birds. Bring them under your wing this holiday.

TuneIn Radio ($1.99). An Internet radio app is a great thing to have on either an iPhone or an iPad now that iOS 4.2 is here, with background audio capabilities. TuneIn Radio is probably the best out there, with an exhaustive database, and it provides some nice extra features like the ability to record your streams.

Wrapping It Up

A new MacBook Air costs at least $999 from Apple. There are very few people on my Christmas list I’d be willing to spend that much cash on, even if I did have it to spend. But a little bit can go a long way, especially if you think about what people will get the most use of that they wouldn’t buy for themselves, such as the items we’ve listed here. What are your suggestions?

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iPad Closes on Kindle, Google Looms Over Both

A new ChangeWave survey of some 2,800 consumers suggests single-purpose e-readers are doomed, which isn’t surprising. However, the fact that it’s happening so quickly certainly is. The iPad was launched in April of this year, more than two years after the Kindle. That’s a considerable length of time to establish customer loyalty, and for a while, it looked like the Kindle had that in spades. As August, the Kindle accounted for more than 60 percent of e-reader ownership, compared to 16 percent for the iPad. However, by November, that had changed drastically, with the Kindle at 47 percent and the iPad at 32 percent.

Looking forward, not even prices as low as $89 (the price of the Kindle 2 during a promotion last week) appear enough to keep the Kindle in its position of preference among e-readers. The iPad is now the choice of 42 percent of prospective buyers, versus 32 percent for the Kindle. If there’s any good news for the Kindle, it’s that the iPad is its only real competition among e-readers. The Barnes & Noble Nook and the Sony Reader barely register at 4 percent and 1 percent, respectively. More people prefer using software on their smartphone than either of those devices.

Looking into why the Kindle is losing ground so quickly, the ChangeWave survey suggests content is the answer. When asked what types of content owners use their device for, the Kindle was more popular than the iPad for books — 93 percent to 76 percent — but for magazines, newspapers, and other reading, the iPad won handily.

If there’s any downside for the iPad, it’s probably that iBooks has failed as a competitor to the Kindle Store for book buying. Apple has yet to challenge Amazon in book sales or catalog size. For that matter, the iBooks software is, in my opinion, fatally flawed without wireless bookmarking across multiple devices like the Kindle App provides.

Another competitor for both stores looms on the horizon. The Wall Street Journal reports Google is preparing to launch the company’s long-delayed e-bookstore by the end of the year. Unlike Amazon and Apple with their proprietary stores, formats, and applications, Google Editions will be much more open. Consumers will be able to buy books from multiple online retailers, storing books in an online library through an account with Google. Books can be read online using a web browser on a traditional computer, tablet, or handheld device, and will also be available offline. Details of the format are not yet known, but I expect we’ll see an app for that, too.

For Amazon, this is more trouble. Having lost the ability to set book prices because of Apple and iBooks, the online book retailer is now facing in Google a competitor selling books everywhere on any device. For Apple, lets just say it: iBooks is doomed. What possible reason would there be for buying books from Apple now? Google Editions will let you shop around for the best price from many retailers, read your books on any device with a web browser, and bookmark without having to sync to iTunes.

If Apple keeps gaining ground on Amazon at this rate in the hardware battle, it’s bound to come out as the clear winner. Amazon looks to be doing fairly well in the short term in the fight between digital storefronts, but Google Editions will definitely give it a run for its money. No matter which angle you approach it from, Amazon looks to be in for one heck of a fight.

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Verizon LTE Launches Without Mac Support
Verizon today unveiled its first LTE modems, but they won’t work with your Mac. Not if you’re using OS X, at least. The LG VL600, Verizon’s LTE launch USB modem device, is only compatible with Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. Another modem, the Pantech UML290, will be available soon after launch, but it doesn’t appear to be Mac-compatible either, according to early reports.

If you run Windows using Boot Camp on your Mac, or use virtualization software like Parallels or VMware Fusion, then you might be able to take advantage of the new Verizon LTE service. But if you’re a Mac user, chances are you don’t want to have to depend on a Windows crutch to get you network access. Way to drop the ball, Verizon.

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Apple Takes the Anonymity Out of Game Center
Apple pushed out an update to its Game Center achievement tracking and global ranking application for iOS devices on Tuesday, including a new requirement that users reveal their full name when making and accepting friend requests. Apple changed the Game Center terms and conditions to reflect the new policy.

So far, friend requests and acceptances are the only place your real name will appear when dealing with Game Center. In all other locations (leader boards, friends list, etc.) a user’s display name is still the only identifier being used. The reason behind putting real names next to your username in friend alerts might be related to preventing spammers or other undesirables from abusing the system.

It may seem like a small thing, but in the past, gamers haven’t taken lightly to having their online anonymity toyed with. Remember when Blizzard tried to implement Real ID on its forums, which would essentially mean members had to share their real names? It didn’t go so well, and Blizzard reversed its decision only days later, keeping Real ID but making it an option instead of a requirement for participation.

Gamers playing on iOS devices aren’t the same crowd as those spending 40+ hours a week in Blizzard’s World of Warcraft MMO, and with Apple’s Game Center, there’s far less of a community aspect for users to be concerned about (no forums or message boards). But whether or not that means they’ll take Apple’s new identification requirements in stride remains to be seen.

I accepted the new terms without trepidation, since Game Center for me is more useful as a personal stat tracker than for its social features anyway. Anyone else have different feelings about the new change?

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Hands-On With the Reeder for Mac Beta
Reeder for Mac, the desktop version of the popular RSS reader application for iOS devices, has officially entered public beta. We ran the free Draft 1 version of Reeder through its paces to see how it ranks as a means of aggregating your RSS world.

Remember that Reeder for Mac is tied directly to your Google Reader account, just like its iOS counterparts, so you’ll have to have an account there to use it. At startup, it asks you for your credentials, and as of this release, it doesn’t clue you in to the fact that it’s your Google Reader info it’s looking for, something which might confuse users who’ve never tried Reeder before. So why not just use Google Reader in your browser and skip the download? Three reasons: look, usability, and sharing. I’ll touch on each below.

Reeder for Mac already looks quite polished for a first beta release. The user interface is reminiscent of its iOS predecessors, from the lightly speckled, paper-like, background textures, to the story list on the left, content on the right, columnar navigation breakdown, which looks just like how the iPad app works in landscape view.
Of course, unlike the iPad app, Reeder for Mac has no shortage of screen real estate, you can see all elements at once, including the source tray on the left, where you can choose either all your unread feeds, or select one of your subcategories. You can drill down further using the little arrow icon in the box with four squares that represents each category, which will reveal the specific feeds you subscribe to within each subgroup. Your categories and sources are drawn directly from your Google Reader account, and can’t currently be changed from within the app. While there are “Add Subscription…” and “Manage Subscription…” menu items in the beta, they don’t seem to be active yet.

Switching between your starred (or favorited) items, your unread feed, and all items is a snap thanks to the three buttons at the top of the story list column. Scrolling through your stories can either be done with the arrow keys on your keyboard, which automatically loads them in the reading pane and marks them as read, or by scrolling using multi-touch gestures or your mouse wheel and clicking ones that catch your eye. A checkmark icon at the bottom of the story list lets you mark all stories as read.

The reading pane presents stories from your feeds in a simple, easy-to-read layout, complete with date, title, source and author, and any images that may be included with the feed. I find Reeder’s formatting a lot more visually pleasing than many blogs out there.

An easy-to-use interface and nicely formatted reading view are all well and good, but Reeder’s killer features are its various sharing and export options. You can, with either a right-click in the story list. or by clicking the sharing icon above the reading pane, copy the link, post a note to the story in Google Reader, send it to Instapaper or ReadItLater, save to Pinboard, Deliciousor Zootool, post to Twitter and more.

I like Reeder because it makes the web more readable, and it has various sharing features. Without the social aspect, I’d probably just stick to using Google Reader in a browser window, or even forget about RSS altogether and just go directly to the source. Reeder for the Mac, even at this early stage, makes it incredibly easy to show others what it is you’re currently checking out, and to shuffle off longer pieces to services like Instapaper. Even without a design and UI as great as the one Reeder boasts, this app would be a permanent fixture in the dock of each of my Macs.

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Android or Not, iPhone Is the Most Desired & Top Smartphone
While Android has come on like gangbusters, Apple’s iOS has pushed aside BlackBerry to become the top smartphone platform in the U.S. as of October, according to Nielsen Co., and the most desired smartphone for future purchases. Nielsen said Apple earned its place with a 27.9 percent share of the smartphone market, displacing former No. 1 BlackBerry, which has 27.4 percent while Android has 22.7 percent. Among all likely smartphone shoppers, 30 percent desire an iPhone, followed by Android (28 percent), RIM (13 percent) and Windows Mobile (6 percent). Nielsen said three out of 10 mobile phone owners (29.7 percent) now own a smartphone, up from 25 percent in the second quarter and 28 percent in the third quarter.

The figures indicate that even with the growth of Android, Apple’s iPhone is still the most coveted among smartphone shoppers. That Android has been eclipsing iOS in recent sales speaks more to the availability of Android devices and less to waning appeal of the iPhone. This is good news for Apple, which is expected to launch an iPhone on Verizon early next year, opening up distribution on the largest wireless network in the U.S.

Still, Android is poised for major growth, especially among new smartphone customers. Nielsen said among current feature phone owners interested in buying a smartphone, Android is their top choice at 28 percent followed by the iPhone at 25 percent and BlackBerry at 11 percent. The iPhone enjoys more support among current smartphone owners, with 35 percent interested in buying an iPhone, compared to 28 percent for Android.

While the iPhone remains the most desired smartphone among 18 – 34 year olds and 55-and-over users, Android is tops among 35 – 55 year olds. That suggests Android could be headed for solid growth, as first-time smartphone owners and older mobile subscribers turn to it as their first smartphone.

Interestingly, the iPhone is clearly more popular with women, with 30.9 percent saying they desire an Apple phone compared to 22.8 percent of women interested in an Android device. For men, the competition is closer, but tilted in favor of Android 32.6 percent over iOS 28.6 percent. RIM, meanwhile, has its work cut out for it. BlackBerry, which was the top smartphone in the third quarter, now trails iOS, and isn’t heavily desired by current feature phone owners. That spells trouble in a market that’s growing fast.

It may be confusing to hear the back and forth statistics on which is ahead: iOS or Android. But with 7 out of 10 cell phone owners yet to buy a smartphone, there’s a lot of runway ahead. That should be encouraging for Microsoft and HP, as they try to get back into the smartphone race and a warning to Apple and Google to stay on their game.

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