Here.
Also, Dell stated that their performance was hurt by “alternative mobile computing devices.” That strained description could have been replaced by one word: iPad.
Disclosure: I am long AAPL.
Peter Kafka: You’ve complained publicly before about the difficulty in supporting multiple flavors of Android for your apps. But this year you’ve expanded the number of Android handsets you’re supporting from 6 to 11. Did you ever consider not working with Android at all?
Bob Bowman: The short answer is no. But what we have done is that we don’t support every Android phone. Because at some point, it’s diminishing returns. The Android user typically is less likely to buy, and therefore the ROI on developing for Android is different than it is for Apple.
Peter Kafka: Why do you think an Android owner behaves differently than an iPhone owner?
Bob Bowman: The iPhone and iPad user is interested in buying content–that’s one of the reasons they bought the device. The Android buyer is different.
It’s a great phone–make no mistake about it. But if you really want first rate digital content on a device, your first look will probably be an iPhone. And on the tablet, an iPad.
– Bob Bowman runs Major League Baseball Advanced Media, including MLB.com and its subscription services.
The answer to the question, at least regarding web usage, is that only the iPad has a significant web browser usage, according to Chitika. According to their analysis, for every 100 iPads browsing the web, only 1.3 of the next largest competitor (Samsung Galaxy) is browsing.
Going forward the competition is going to be hard pressed to find a way to overthrow the seemingly omnipotent Apple. Not only do they offer a great product they have the undying devotion of their enthusiasts. Thus far Apple’s iPad offering has been able to thwart any attempt by competitors to develop a rival (or even equivalent product). Apple produces a product that is both aesthetically pleasing and technologically robust.
So, who is that is winning again?
Disclosure: I am long AAPL.
Apple Inc.’s iPad widened its lead in the tablet market to 68 percent in the first quarter, while most devices running Google Inc.’s Android software saw sales slump, according to IDC.
Apple’s market share climbed from 55 percent in the previous three months, the Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm said. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) (AMZN)’s Kindle Fire, which runs on Android, saw its share tumble to about 4 percent, from 17 percent in the previous quarter.
Yup, Android is winning.
(via The Loop)
82% of the users of the new iPad are “very satisfied.” This is even higher than for the users of the prior iPad 2.
Disclosure: I am long AAPL.
The new iPad is released tomorrow, Friday. And the embargo on full reviews of the product those testing it seems to have lifted. Here is a sampling:
… because the new iPad looks largely the same at the iPad 2 from an industrial design perspective, many were lulled into believing that Apple was getting complacent. Let me be clear: the new iPad is a huge technological leap forward. It has by far the best screen I’ve ever seen anywhere and it’s something I can hold in my hand and touch and use for 10 hours at a time.
Remember a few years ago when everyone was using CRT monitors with resolutions of 800-by-600? They needed to be plugged in and to sit on a desk with plenty of room behind it. And they weighed upwards of 30 pounds. Think about that when you hold this new iPad.
And think about the days — again, just a few years ago — when most people connected to the Internet via dial-up connections. Speeds were 14.4 kbps or 56 kbps and required a phone landline. This new iPad will connect to the Internet all over the United States at speeds faster than my current broadband connection. And it can do that for about 9 hours without being recharged.
Technology is amazing, and this new iPad is amazing. Also amazing: the only company competing with Apple right now in this particular space is Apple.
Apple’s iPad could be described as a personal display through which you see and manipulate text, graphics, photos and videos often delivered via the Internet. So, how has the company chosen to improve its wildly popular tablet? By making that display dramatically better and making the delivery of content dramatically faster.
There are other changes in the new, third-generation iPad — called simply “iPad,” with no number, which goes on sale on Friday at the same base price as its predecessor, $499. But the key upgrades are to those core features — the 9.7-inch screen and the data speed over cellular networks. These upgrades are massive. Using the new display is like getting a new eyeglasses prescription — you suddenly realize what you thought looked sharp before wasn’t nearly as sharp as it could be.
The Verge has a written review and a video review:
Q: What are your goals when setting out to build a new product?
A: Our goals are very simple – to design and make better products. If we can’t make something that is better, we won’t do it.
Q: Why has Apple’s competition struggled to do that?
A: That’s quite unusual, most of our competitors are interesting [sic] in doing something different, or want to appear new – I think those are completely the wrong goals. A product has to be genuinely better. This requires real discipline, and that’s what drives us – a sincere, genuine appetite to do something that is better. Committees just don’t work, and it’s not about price, schedule or a bizarre marketing goal to appear different – they are corporate goals with scant regard for people who use the product.
– Sir Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President, Industrial Design at Apple, in an interview at the London Evening Standard.
Statement from Apple, Inc.:
Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts and the quantity available for pre-order has been purchased. Customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date.
Disclosure: I am long AAPL.
I have been playing around with the new iPhoto for iOS app for a couple of days now. It is very, very powerful and yet easy to use. Note: it does not run on the original iPad.
Ars Technica has a thorough review here. Excerpt:
The app has a lot more photo tweaking capability than you might expect from first blush, including fully non-destructive editing that can be selectively undone. It also improves a bit on the standard Photos app’s organization, and greatly enhances sharing options. More importantly, for $4.99 you get a photo editing tool that can, in many ways, out-Photoshop Adobe’s own Photoshop Touch.
Farhad Manjoo believes that the iPad is unbeatable by any of its competitors.
The other potential scenario, though, is far less optimistic for Apple’s competitors. It’s the iPod model. In this story, Apple begins by releasing a novel, category-defining product. Then, as rivals scramble for some way to respond, Apple relentlessly puts out slightly better versions every year, each time remaining just out of reach of the competition. Meanwhile it lowers its prices and expands its product lineup, making its devices more accessible to a wider audience. Then, to finish the game, it finds a way to boost its position through network effects and customer lock-in. (In the iPod’s case, it accomplished this through the iTunes software and built-in music store.) Put it all together and you have a device that’s unbeatable. In 2011, 10 years after its release, the iPod still represented a whopping 78 percent of the market share in music players.
It’s been two years since Apple’s tablet went on sale. Rivals have released dozens of alternatives, but the iPad still represents more than 60 percent of market share. Worse, the rest of the market is dominated by two devices that are being sold at a loss—Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. At yesterday’s launch event, Apple did everything it needed to do to repeat the iPod story. First, the iPad’s new “Retina” display and 4G networking will improve the device just enough to make it difficult to match, let alone beat. More importantly, Cook expanded his product lineup and lowered his prices. The new iPad starts at $499, as the iPad 2 originally did, but the older version is now selling for $399. See how this shaping up? The iPad market is looking more and more like a sequel to what happened with the iPod. Like most sequels, this one will be bigger and way scarier for everyone involved.
Disclosure: I am long AAPL.
The new iPad (3rd generation) was launched this week at one of Apple’s always-effective marketing events. The new iPad looks great, has some powerful improvements, and will attract huge sales. But the new iPad hardware and software is only a part of Apple’s plan for 2012.
The last words spoken by Tim Cook at the launch event were as follows:
Only Apple could deliver this kind of innovation, in such a beautiful, integrated, and easy-to-use way. It’s what we love to do. It’s what we stand for. And across the year, you’re going to see a lot more of this kind of innovation. We are just getting started.
I take Tim Cook at his word when he says Apple is just getting started. The rest of the plan will be executed by early fall. Apple will roll-out iOS 6 (already in field testing) and Mountain Lion (available to developers now). iCloud will be improved and stabilized by then as well. Read the Tim Cook quotation above once more and you can see that all of these developments clearly are headed in one direction: complete, elegant, and easy to use integration of all Apple hardware devices, including computers, iPad (and iPad’s most important accessory, Apple TV), and iPhone.
Apple is building the integration one piece at a time. An example of the integration already completed is iPhoto for the iPad. Coupled with the iPad hardware, iPhoto is a sleek touch-based application for creating beautiful photos using powerful effects and easily sharing them via photo presentations (called Photo Journals) that display the photos and related data and which are shared with friends via iCloud with the touch of a button.
Further evidence is the newly added ability to re-download movies previously purchased in the iTunes store that Apple rolled out Wednesday. It is actually not completely rolled out because two movie studios (20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures) are not yet included in this feature. But you can bet they will be soon. And the goal here is to allow customers to purchase movies once and access them anywhere anytime forever without having to manage where the data is stored or how to back up the media. Nice.
But gaps in complete integration remain. An example is today’s absence of AirPlay on Macs. AirPlay (coupled with iCloud) is and will be the core feature that actually provides the integration and it must be on all Apple devices to complete the process. And, sure enough, a key feature of this summer’s Mountain Lion release is that it will add AirPlay to the Mac, eliminating this critical gap in the overall integration plan.
All of this integration and software development is, I think, the foundation for an even bigger breakthrough for Apple. Apple’s goal is to deliver to customers, by the end of this calendar year, an always-available media stream including TV, movies, music, and books. Customers will be able to purchase media once and access it anywhere anytime on any (Apple) screen they own without having to manage where the data is stored or how to back up the media. Imagine being able to tell Siri to show Hugo on the TV in the den for the kids, and the Red Wings hockey game on the TV in the living room for dad and his friends. No remote control, no TV channel searching, just speak your wish. And customers will be able to create, edit and publish their own media as well from any device, anywhere.
I believe that this effort will be huge a success for Apple this year, even though it won’t be completed immediately. Apple’s huge cash hoard will allow it to succeed in getting the media deals it will need, once all the Apple technology is in place and deployed. And Apple is the poster child of disruptive businesses. Finally, I think that only Apple has the financial and technical chops to pull something like this off. Simple, elegant software that “just works” is the key and no company on earth does that as well as Apple.
And that is what Tim Cook was saying at the iPad launch event this week.
2012 might be a bad year on the Mayan calendar. But 2012 will be a huge year for Apple.
Update: According to the Wall Street Journal, Fox and Universal movies will be made available shortly in iCloud due to agreements, in process but likely to occur, with HBO. It seems that things are beginning to fall into place.
Disclosure: I am long AAPL.
If you read nothing else about Apple and the new iPad today, read this.
Disclosure: I am long AAPL.
The Apple eco-system’s power, as depicted by The Onion.