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- iWork for the iPad: Productivity On-the-Go
Well, I am sold. There is now a real reason to buy the iPad. As if all of the other functions weren’t enough (e-reader, iPod, photo viewer, browser, and more), I can now work on documents with complete ease.
The iPad appears to be a real productivity tool with the launch of iWork for the iPad. This is a completely new version of iWork according to Phil Schiller, designed specifically for the iPad. Each application has a gorgeous user interface designed to make it easy to either create slides, documents or spreadsheets. Further, each App also integrates the Media inspector for easy access to your photos and music.
Keynote
From what we could see during Apple’s presentation, you can rearrange slides by pressing on each and then move them accordingly. In addition, there is a unique slide management feature in that you can tap multiple slides, and with a gesture, it moves the slides into a bundle. This should definitely be a timesaver for many folks. Lastly, we learned that the iPad also has an optional cable for connecting with a projector, making it easy to use the device as your primary presentation tool.
Pages
Like its desktop counterpart, you can create publications with standard text and images. However, you can also use gestures (pinch for example) to move images around the publications and more. What’s interesting about this feature is that it could make placement possibly easier than using a mouse with the desktop version, as long as the proximity “drop” is accurate.
Numbers
From what was demonstrated at the Apple Event, the iPad version of Numbers automatically displays fields and sums (which then infers what the output will be). Otherwise, this version seems relatively comparable to its desktop partner.
What is the bottom line (price and more)?
Interestingly enough, Apple is pricing the Apps individually at $9.99, instead of in a bundle like the desktop suite. This might change by launch time, although it’s a pretty reasonable price for each app, given the richness in functionality. Further, each app shares the desktop file format, so you can be sure not to lose any fidelity in your documents. And you can import Microsoft Office documents too. Lastly, these versions will allow you to email them in iWork '09 and PDF formats.
As a sidebar, this is an interesting tactic for Apple given that on the iPhone, they’ve ceded document creation/editing to both Documents2Go and QuickOffice (which both only support Microsoft Office file formats). This is a bold step for them to broaden the availability of the iWork suite at such a reasonable price. I wonder if Microsoft is taking notice, and more importantly, I wonder if we’ll see versions for the iPhone too…
Переслать - iBooks App & iBook Store
The new Apple iPad, as widely anticipated, will have an e-book reader built-in to the device. The iBooks app displays a bookshelf of all your titles alá Delicious Library or the Classics iPhone app. When you tap a book to read, you can tap on the right or left edge to flip the page or drag the page manually. When looking at your bookshelf, there is also a button to the iBook Store to purchase books.
The iBook Store will allow for browsing and purchasing books on the iPad. What is exciting is that this new feature will rely on the ePub standard rather than some proprietary Apple format. ePub was developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum and works on several devices and platforms like the Sony Reader and Adobe Digital Editions for your desktop computer. You can think of it as the “MP3″ of e-book formats.
Five large publishers (Penguin, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Hachette Book Group, and Simon & Schuster) announced support today and the store will be open to other publishers soon. Not surprisingly, McGraw-Hill was not on the list of large publishers today.
So is the iPad a Kindle Killer? I think the biggest advantage that Apple will bring to the e-book reader market is a reading experience that is on par with the Amazon Kindle, but on a multi-purpose device that will have wider appeal. Apple has absolutely nailed the relationship between devices and content stores in the past with the iPod / iTunes Music Store and the iPhone / App Store and I expect that the iPad will nail the e-book experience on both the device and the store.
Sure the iPad starts at $499 and the Kindle starts at $259 and the “E Ink” display is nicer to use outside, but I think a lot of people will consider the extra $240 well spent to get all the extra features of the iPad. When you consider that the iPad offers a full-color LCD screen that can also support video embedded in the iBooks app, I think the iPad will be the biggest e-reader device yet. It will just appeal to a wider audience. The Amazon Kindle is dead.
I am looking forward to curling up with one of these to see what the experience is like. I wonder if the Apple Store will stock the Maxell Blown Away chair that Steve was using on stage to go with it as an accessory?
Переслать - Third Parties Already Developing for Apple's iPad
While the iPad will run all current iPhone and iPod touch applications (either in 1x or 2x sizes), the newest SDK (available today) supports iPad specific development. Below are a handful of apps from developers who were given a head start of about two weeks to show what they could do for the iPad.
Nova
One of (if not the) largest game developers in the App Store, Gameloft demo’d their first person shooter, Nova. Multitouch interaction with full screen first-person shooting glory — from the sounds of it, not bad for only a couple weeks of lead time.
The New York Times
In an extremely short time frame, the 150 year old newspaper has brought a beautiful digital rendition of its publication to the iPad. Full screen perusal of the newspaper looks incredible (also demo’d earlier by Steve), and may be the closest I get to reading the morning news with a plate of chocolate chip cookies (as my dad used to do).
Brushes
An art browser and sketch pad that allows you to paint. Reminds me of the Caricature artist’s drawing pads you find at county fairs. It looks a lot deeper in capability than just caricatures of course , and I’m betting that this app will be somewhat of a defining demo for this type of device. Artists will likely love the marriage of iPad and Brushes.
Need for Speed: Shift
Need for Speed: Shift demo’d in full-screen glory. An amazing driver-seat view of racing goodness, where you can touch the rear view mirror to get a better view of the competition fast approaching from behind. The graphics and clarity look amazing! Apple is definitely going to hit the gaming industry hard with this device.
MLB
One of the early demos when third party apps came about was the MLB application for tracking game scores and live action. Well they’re back, and this looks cooler than ever. If you’re a MLB fan, this will be a no-brainer for you. Using a live feed of data, the game data is modeled in realtime, complete with actual inline video feed of the game itself. Oh, and Boxscores across the top to keep tabs on all the happenings around the league.
So in just about two weeks, five developers have turned out some seriously impressive apps to run natively in full screen on the iPad. Imagine what some of those hundreds of developers will do with this device and a month! We’ll get a chance to find out in just 60 days. Until then, save your pennies.
Переслать - iPad Development Made Easy
Alongside the army of consumers and tech pundits waiting for a peek of the aptly named iPad, the over 25,000 strong development community have been patiently standing on the sidelines too.
Taking several leaps forward in terms of its processing power and onboard hardware, the device includes Apple’s own chip, said Jobs, “It’s called the A4, and it screams.” Most exciting for developers with iPhone apps already on sale is that Apple has made the transition up to iPad as smooth as possible.
Since the device’s Home Screen is essentially a facsimile of the iPhone Home Screen, developers won’t have to worry about creating new icons or other assets in order to port the app across. In fact, as stated by Apple themselves, the iPad can run all iPhone apps unmodified out of the box.
The big announcement for the dev community is that Apple are releasing the new SDK today. Just like the user experience is somewhat like a big iPhone, development will take place within the iPhone SDK and — thanks to the device's app scaling feature — developers won't even have to worry about creating content in the larger device's resolution.
It's unclear whether Apple will also take steps to update its Developer Connection site, that unusually clunky web-based tool-set and administration area for App Store developers.
Most interesting though will be seeing how developers leverage the additional processing power that the iPad includes. Developers can grab the new SDK from Apple.com today.
Переслать - Apple Introduces the iPad
Looking dapper in jeans and a black mock turtle-neck, Steve Jobs took the stage today and officially introduced his iPad to the world. As we’ve been seeing and hearing from so many rumors as of late, it appears as if the iPhone got the super-size treatment, complete with a home button.
At only half an inch thin, and sporting a 9.7″ screen, the iPad weighs in at only one and a half pounds. It’s powered by Apple’s very own chip – the A4 – ans “screams” at 1GHz. Available with 16, 32, or 64GB flash storage, and has 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. Oh, and you can run it for 10 hours (a month in standby!) while watching videos. Wow! So far, no mention of any cellular carrier connectivity. UPDATE: Carrier details below!
If you’re a current iPhone user, much of the interaction with the iPad looks to be very familiar. For instance, tilting the iPad gives you portrait or landscape viewing — both orientations support a lovely full screen keyboard. It also appears that the app icons on the “home screen” change orientation too.
The software — assumed to be iPhone version 4.0, SDK available now — appears quite familiar, but has been blown-up to support the larger screen. It appears also to allow custom background wallpaper, and sports a very OS X-like dock at the bottom of the screen. And of course, it runs iPhone Apps using “pixel doubling” for full screen mode, or sports a black frame in regular sized mode. As an aside, this looks sick for viewing the likes of New York Times and other ‘print media’ type web content.
We have yet to hear the price, but watch this space and we’ll updated as soon as we know.
UPDATE: We’re now finding out that there will be a 3G-capable version of the iPad, with service from AT&T starting at $14.99 for 250MB per month, and $29.99 for unlimited monthly usage. It’s pre-paid and there is no contract to deal with. International deals are projected to be worked out by June. All 3G models are unlocked, though and will work anywhere globally with new GSM micro SIMs.
As for pricing of the device itself, it starts at $499, which is a very low cost of entry. It will get you the 16GB base model without 3G. $599 will get you the 32GB Wi-Fi only model, and $699 will bump you up to 64GB. With 3G, the prices are $629, $729 and $829 respectively for the different storage capacities.
Shipping will take place within about 90 days for the 3G models, 60 days for those with Wi-Fi only.
Переслать - Today: Live Coverage of Apple's "Latest Creation" Media Event
Quick reminder that today at 10AM PST Apple will be holding its “Latest Creation” Media Event. TheAppleBlog will be there providing you a steady stream of updates on everything announced.
You can get your live coverage fix via two methods tomorrow.
TheAppleBlog Live — This is the fastest way to get updates and the most interactive. In addition to our own updates (with text and photos), you can send in a comment/thought/observation and if we feel it's relevant, we'll post it for the thousands of others reading the updates. Our coverage will start around an hour before the event begins.
TheAppleBlog Twitter — We'll be tweeting updates here, so be sure to follow @theappleblog.
Переслать - The New Subsidy
It didn’t really surprise me in December when I learned that Google was buying AdMob, the leading mobile advertising platform. I was surprised, however, to learn that Apple had been in the discussions and possibly even lost a competitive bidding process. Why? Apple doesn’t make many acquisitions, and when it does, they tend to be about core technologies or engineering teams. Plus, Apple’s primary business model is hardware sales, so an ad platform didn’t make much sense.
The first week of the new year brought definitive word that Apple has purchased Quattro Wireless, a competing platform, for what has been reported to be in the $300 million range. The rumor that Apple was interested in AdMob seems far more likely now. But the two factors that made me question Apple’s interest in AdMod remain relevant to the Quattro deal.
There are at least three possible reasons Apple might buy a mobile advertising company. First, mobile advertising is clearly a growing business, particularly on devices like the iPhone. Second, because Apple owns the iPhone and controls the app distribution process, it might make sense to build ad delivery capability right into the iPhone SDK and iTunes App Store, as a premium or value-added service to developers. Include the right code in your app, ads will be automatically embedded, and you’ll make 70 percent of all ad revenue just like you do from app sales. With app sales, in-app purchasing, and advertising, Apple can now offer a 360-degree mobile app monetization solution. Third, mobile analytics can provide tremendous insights to Apple and its developer community about usage data, trends, and demographics.
There are two other possibilities that are perhaps less obvious, but far more interesting. One relates to a new device, the other to a competitive threat.
It is now widely expected that Apple will release a tablet-style computer at its media event scheduled for January 27. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Apple will discuss “mobile products” at the event, which suggests the event is about more than the rumored iSlate. Clearly, a mobile ad network falls into the mobile products category. And Apple has been rumored to be courting book, magazine and newspaper publishers to produce content for the new device. It wouldn’t be surprising if, during a round of meetings with publishers, Apple learned that an advertising platform would be a key requirement for their participation. The new content wrapper I expect to be included in Apple’s mobile products event – sort of an iTunes LP for traditional print publications — might very well include an integrated Quattro Wireless ad platform as a major enticement for publishers.
That last possibility is really intriguing to me, and has the potential to have a major disruptive force on the wireless industry. As rumors of the Google Nexus One first arose, there was significant speculation that it would be sold as an unlocked device for something between $199-599. On January 5, we learned that the new Android phone would be available in the U.S. on T-mobile immediately for $179 with a two-year contract, and $529 unlocked, and that it would be available later this year on Verizon, likely for similar prices. This means that the business model employed by the carriers and device manufacturers — in which carriers subsidize the cost of the hardware in exchange for a two-year service contract — remains intact. For now.
In launching the Nexus One, Google announced that it could only be purchased through the new Google phone store on the web. Which means that Google is effectively an authorized reseller of the carriers and gets paid a bounty for every contract customer they deliver. Consumers cannot get the Nexus One directly through the carriers. When Apple launched the iPhone, conventional wisdom was that it had rewritten the rules, but Google has taken it several steps further. Like Apple, it controls the hardware and software, and while Apple exerted significant influence on AT&T, you can still go directly through AT&T to get the iPhone. Not so with Google, who now has even greater leverage with the carriers in dictating terms.
In no way is Google beholden to the carriers. It can sell an unlocked phone for any price it wants. Google isn’t likely to sell the phone for a loss, so the low carrier-subsidized and higher unlocked prices make perfect sense. But Google can subsidize the phone another way. Since they control the hardware, software, and consumer relationship, they could easily offer an unlocked version of the phone at a very low price — perhaps even lower than the carrier price — by selling a version that features advertising delivered via its new AdMob platform. There are likely many people who would rather endure ads on their mobile devices than commit to a two-year contract. Now that Google has AdMob and a phone they completely control, it can conduct extensive research on the potential profitability of such an approach, while still collecting carrier subsidies. If the ads perform – and the bet here is that they do — Google could release not just an unlocked phone, but one that doesn’t even need the wireless carriers. Google Voice and Wi-Fi will do just fine in many instances, and Google could pull a WhisperNet for off-net needs.
Which leads us back to Apple. If Google offered the Nexus One and other Android phones at 3 price points — unlocked with no ads (highest), carrier subsidized, and ad subsidized (lowest) — it would be a huge competitive advantage. At the very least, Apple may need a similar ability to go head-to-head, something that Quattro may offer, should sales or market share suffer. And in the competitive arena, now that Google is selling a mobile device in direct competition to Apple, should Apple be required to allow Google Voice on the iPhone?
Переслать - McGraw-Hill CEO Confirms Apple Tablet
Terry McGraw, the CEO of McGraw-Hill confirmed in an interview today with CNBC that he has seen the Apple “Major New Product” to be announced tomorrow and that it is in fact a tablet device based on the iPhone OS. You can watch the interview below. The Apple comments start at the 2:48 mark.
“Yeah, Very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now is we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format on that one. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.”
McGraw-Hill is a major publisher in the textbook market (they also own Standard & Poor’s, J.D. Power & Assoc. and other companies). The context of the interview was about how McGraw-Hill is poised to take advantage of growth in the education market with digital textbooks.I just wonder if Steve is going to refuse the next J.D. Powers award that Apple collects.
Переслать
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