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Archive for July, 2010

Study Pegs iPad Owners as Selfish Elitists

July 30, 2010 by Chris Chester

In one of the more bizarre pieces of research to surface about Apple’s iPad, a psychology survey by a company called MyType casts an interesting psychological and demographic profile about iPad owners. According to their research, which comes from a survey of more than 20,000 respondents on Facebook, iPad owners are reported to be more wealthy, highly-educated, and sophisticated, placing a high value on power and achievement. Before you go patting yourself on the back though, MyType also assigns to iPad owners attributes like selfishness, an absence of kindness, over-indulgence, and lust. Ouch!

Standing opposite iPad owners in MyType’s manufactured polemic are so-called “independent geeks.” This group (who, truth be told, seem to be the target audience of this report) are the leading critics of Apple’s iPad.  These independent geeks are non-conformists, with special areas of interest in games, computers, electronics, and science. They’re more likely to be young, they’re more likely to harbor a preference for the Linux operating system, and interestingly, are more likely to be early adopters of technology. Just so they wouldn’t be excluded from the broad-stroked mud-slinging, MyType also notes that critics lack imagination, enthusiasm, and extroversion.

While the back and forth between the greedy iPad owners and the geeky iPad critics makes for an interesting headline and excuse for MyType to promote their product, there is some more interesting demographic information buried in the report.

The relationship between iPad ownership and age is one example. While the Apple brand is traditionally associated with youth, reported iPad ownership is much more prevalent amongst the older demographic. Perhaps this is skewed by the fact that Facebook-toting 45-year-olds are more likely to be in-touch with technology, whereas every teenager under the sun has a Facebook account, but it’s hard to say.

The survey also indicates that Apple has a lot of work to do when it comes to promoting the iPad to women. Women were almost five times more likely than men to be unaware of what an iPad was, though women reported similar ratios of ownership to criticism compared to the men sampled.

Magazine Publishers Can’t Figure Out iPad Subscriptions

July 29, 2010 by Chris Chester


One of the big pitches for the iPad from the beginning was the way that it was going to revolutionize readers’ experience with magazines. Right from the start, the digital edition of Wired blew consumer expectations out of the water with interactive elements that seemed more Minority Report than reality. The honeymoon has continued for months now, with an AdWeek report indicating that readers are more deeply engaged with Conde Nast’s magazine apps than they were when the content was in print. By all accounts, it looked like a coup.

All good things must come to end, however, as a report by trade website FolioMag indicates that Apple ruffled some feathers by rejecting the subscription model that publisher Time proposed for its Sports Illustrated magazine. SI was going to offer the iPad version to print subscribers free for the year, with new readers having to purchase it copy by copy. Apple reportedly rejected this system, saying that readers would have to purchase it one issue at a time and that they would continue to reject subscriptions through their iTunes Store.

While the FolioMag article is interesting, it betrays a lack of understanding both on their part and Sports Illustrated’s part that is a really telling sign about the Wild West nature of iPad app development at present. Publishers would have consumers believe that Apple is simply being autocratic in their approval process. This is true to a certain extent, as the FolioMag article points out, because Apple wants to be very careful about protecting the data of its users.

Simply suggesting that Apple doesn’t allow subscriptions of any sort, however, is patently ridiculous. There is, for instance, the Zinio Magazine Newsstand & Reader. Available for free on the app store, users can subscribe to magazines like The Economist and The Hockey News through Zinio’s system, and access their magazine subscriptions easily on the iPad. They may not have all the interactive elements that make Wired and Popular Mechanics so popular, but it’s a perfectly functional subscription model.

Instead, publishers like Time are making the mistake of releasing each issue of their magazine as a separate app on Apple’s iTunes Store. This is self-defeating on two levels. First, it gives Apple a 30% cut of every sale they make. Second, Apple doesn’t allow subscriptions in the iTunes store, so consumers are left holding the bag.

If publishers want access to the lucrative iTunes ecosystem, they have to pay for it. If they want to provide a valuable service to their customer, they’re going to have to be happy developing their own platform. The fact that nobody at these big companies has figured this out yet is just one more reminder that we’re still dealing with a burgeoning technological ecosystem with plenty of kinks to be worked out.

Apple Sued for Overheating iPads

July 28, 2010 by Chris Chester

Apple found themselves in hot water on Tuesday after a class action lawsuit was filed in California on behalf of disgruntled iPad owners Jacob Baltazar, Claudia Keller, and John R. Browning, who claim that the iPad does not live up to Apple’s promises by virtue of overheating issues when used outdoors in direct sunlight.

“Using the iPad is not ‘just like a reading book’ at all since books do not close when the reader is enjoying them in the sunlight or in other normal environmental environments,” the suit claims in part.  “The iPad overheats so quickly under common weather conditions that it does not function for prolonged use either indoors, or in many other warm conditions, for a variety of common uses such as, but not necessarily limited to, an e-reader, e-mail tool, Web browser and/or game/entertainment unit.”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that if you put a powerful piece of consumer electronics in high ambient heat and further subject it to direct sunlight, that there’s going to be issues with heat dissipation.  What appears to be at issue is Apple’s claim that the iPad reads “just like a book.” Books obviously aren’t known to shut down after a few minutes of use when exposed to direct sunlight.

One wonders, of course, whether these claims are truly legitimate, or if some enterprising lawyer just happened to notice the language used by Apple and saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. More than the heat issues even, the iPad is almost totally non-functional in direct sun because of the havoc that glare plays on its screen. Granted, there are third-party solutions in the form of screen covers to address that particular issue, but it’s clear after just minutes of use that the iPad is not a device that performs at its best out of doors.

If the suit is granted class status, it will mean that any iPad owner can seek part of the monetary remuneration if it is successful. It should be interesting to see how Apple handles this one.

This Week in iPad Episode 17 Preview: ComiXology

July 27, 2010 by iPad Weekly

Jacob Burch and Lon Harris will host episode 17 of This Week in iPad on Thursday, July 29th, at 4:00 PM PT on the ThisWeekIn Network. John Roberts, Cofounder and CTO of ComiXology will be the guest on the show.

About ComiXology

ComiXology began its business by, according to its website, “bringing Web 2.0 to the comic book market.” The company offers versions of popular comics online through its website and works with Marvel, DC Comics and more than 30 other publishers to deliver comics and graphic novels in an iPad friendly format through its “Comics” app and branded versions developer for the company’s partners. Last Week, DC Comics launched its offering for the iPad using technology from ComiXology.

Sponsors

“Print Magic” Wellala is the first sponsor of This Week in iPad. The application allows users to print to any Wi-Fi connected printer directly from an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Users can copy and paste text into the application for printing and users can also print images from the iOS photo library directly. Print Magic and Print Magic HD are available from the App Store. Host Lon Harris said on This Week in iPad that the app is “incredibly fast” and “works like a dream.”

Gazelle is a service which will purchase your old or gadgets, video games, cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, PDAs, gaming consoles and cell phones. Simply visit Gazelle’s website, tell Gazelle what you have and the company will offer you a price and ship you a box to send in your gadgets and Gazelle will send you cash.

Ustream.TV is the streaming partner for the ThisWeekIn Network.

The News

Apple unveiled a number of new products this week including a new Mac Pro desktop, a $69.00 magic trackpad, a new 27” LCD, and a new iMac line which makes use of the i3, i5 and i7 processors.

After a number of issues with accounts being compromised in the App Store, Apple has tightened restrictions to further protect users accounts.

Apple revealed that 500,000 iPad 3G units were activated during the first 2 months of sales.

The Library of Congress has added an exemption to the DMCA which makes it legal to jailbreak eth iPad and other iOS devices.

Apple launched the iPad in nine additional countries including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore.

A suit has been filed against Apple alleging that the iPad overheats in warm environments.

Rumors are circulating that Apple may soon offer engraving on the iPad.

Planet of the Apps

This week, the hosts will be reviewing note-taking apps. Send suggestions for apps to review to @lons and @jacobburch on twitter.

U.S. Copyright Office Officially Approves Jailbreaking

July 27, 2010 by Chris Chester

In a landmark ruling, the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office, which sets federal government rules for the fair use of copyrighted works, decided that jailbreaking Apple devices to run unauthorized software is perfectly legal according to the letter of the law.

In 1998, the government passed a law (the controversial Digital Millenium Copyright Act) that specifically prohibits the deliberate bypass of technical measures designed to protect copyrights. Part of the law, however, included a provision whereby the Copyright Office was granted the power to review possible exemptions for the purpose of non-infringing uses of copyrighted works.

Other exemptions to copyright law announced Monday seem to fall more directly under that umbrella. Educational institutions and non-profit filmmakers, for instance, are now allowed to circumvent copy-protection measures on DVDs for the purposes of instruction or criticism. The digital rights management code on eBooks, presumably including the ones in Apple’s iBookstore, are now open for breaking so that the blind can use them with software that reads eBooks aloud.

Jailbreaking one’s iPhone, or deliberately cracking the software to use unauthorized applications outside of Apple’s App Store, now explicitly falls under that protection as well. Though Apple is careful not to make a distinction, users don’t generally crack their iPhones for nefarious ends – usually it is just to enable features like Google Voice or wireless tethering, whereby users can turn their phones into wireless hotspots. While the ruling didn’t explicitly mention the iPad as well, it’s a fair bet that they will be treated the same way.

Unfortunately for those in the jailbreaking crowd, this ruling doesn’t make life any easier for the casual cracker.  Apple is not obligated to actively support the practice of jailbreaking. They are free to continue to exclude jailbreakers from service updates which improve the features and usability of their devices. Jailbreaking still clearly violates the user agreement signed when first using an Apple device, and thus will continue to constitute a void of warranty. And since Apple never actually pursued violators in the first place, nobody is really saving on legal fees.

It’s certainly a loss for Apple, but not as big of one as people may have originally hoped. What may end up having a bigger impact for iPad owners is a bookend to the Copyright Office ruling that said that breaking access controls to phones for the purposes of switching carriers is perfectly legal. Will we soon see iPads legally running on Sprint’s 3G network instead of AT&T? On that count, only time will tell.



App Reviews: Underworlds Ultimate Edition

July 26, 2010 by Chris Chester

Few gaming genres more ably capture the attention of gamers like the dungeon-crawler. Based on a prototype almost as old as games themselves, but made popular by Blizzard’s Diablo series, dungeon crawlers are the quintessential time-waster. Players guide their fictional heroes deeper and deeper into complex labyrinths to slay powerful foes and collect boatloads of loot. While Diablo has yet to make the transition to the iPad, Underworlds Ultimate Edition from Pixel Mine may prove an able substitute.

In Underworlds, you create your own pixelated hero and guide him or her through two full chapters’ worth of crypts, dungeons, and mountain mazes. The story is throw-away fantasy tripe, but it sets the stage for the action. You start off cutting down rats for the owner of a local tavern and quickly work your way up to hordes of demons and strange creatures. There isn’t too much thinking or decision-making involved; you basically go from townsperson to townsperson accepting missions and then slaughtering hordes of enemies until you get the item for which the person was looking.

Gameplay could scarcely be more simple or easy to navigate. The game is played from a high third-person perspective, and you just touch where on the screen you want your hero to go. Touching an enemy will cause you to attack it, touching a friendly person will cause you to speak to him, and touching an item will cause you to pick it up. As your character gains in strength, he or she gains abilities, which can be activated by simply pressing the corresponding button on the user interface. Pixel Mine also introduced a sort of virtual joystick, but the touch interface is much more precise and handy for use in most situations, though it might benefit from the use of a stylus for extra precision.

An extended version of the original Underworlds for the iPhone, Ultimate Edition for the iPad adds much more screen real estate, allowing for a better user interface and a much larger field of view for the character. Make no mistake; this game cannot compete visually with anything put out on the PC in the last fifteen years. Everything about the game is heavily pixelated, and having it on the iPad does not make it HD. You’ll quickly forget about what it looks like as you dig into the adventure, but don’t be surprised if it’s disappointing to look at first.

For gamers looking for something stunning to look at, deep in nuance, and ground-breaking from a gameplay perspective, Underworlds Ultimate Edition is not your game. If you can be happy with an extremely simple, mindless, pixelated point and click adventure, however, this game is going to tickle your fancy. While it originally released for $4.99, it can now be purchased in the App Store for free. Check it out.

AT&T Reports Business Interest in iPad

July 25, 2010 by Chris Chester

Since its launch in April, the iPad has made huge waves in the world of consumer computing. Pitched by Apple as a revolutionary device for traditional personal computing tasks like browsing the web, reading emails, and viewing pictures and photos, the assumption all along has been that the iPad’s primary demographic is people in their living rooms.

In an earnings call on Thursday, Apple’s wireless carrier AT&T revealed that a “surprising” number of its customers for the 3G model are businesses. The phone giant said that many companies are conducting iPad trials, where the tablets would be used as a replacement for traditional laptops in certain work environments. Further investigation to this end revealed that in Apple’s own earnings call earlier in the week, COO Tim Cook reported as many as 50% of the Fortune 100 were either using the iPad actively or undergoing pilot programs. This may well be an area of the market that Apple pursues in the near future with more apps aimed at productivity.

Of course, those weren’t all the beans AT&T had to spill. AT&T reported between 400,000 and 500,000 3G model iPads activated on its service during the second quarter of the year. Apple has shipped more than three million iPads to stores since the launch in late April, but precise calculations about the ratio of Wi-Fi to 3G models is impossible to discern from this data, because many of those iPads were shipped outside the United States, where AT&T does not hold the monopoly on 3G plans that they do domestically.

Another tidbit of information released by AT&T was that, on average, iPad users are consuming more data than their iPhone counterparts, but less than most laptop-card users. This makes sense, since iPad users are more inclined to use their iPads for longer periods in one sitting, but the closed architecture of the iPad plus the incompatibility with Flash means they’re less likely to pulling down bandwidth-heavy files like video. Even so, more than three in four 3G users are subscribed to the beefier $25/mo wireless package.

In the future, devices like the iPad are going to be an important part of AT&T’s bottom line. Cell phones are already approaching market saturation in certain places of the globe, so it will be interesting to see what strategies AT&T employs to continue to engage users in non-traditional markets.

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