Tag: iOS

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Tablets will make up half of PC sales in 2014

As desktop and laptop sales decline, tablet shipments accounted for 40% of the PC market in the 3rd quarter of 2013.

Forecaster Canalys is predicting that tablets will outship all other form factors, with an estimated 50% of the market, by the end of 2014.

This prediction compresses similar forecasts from the spring, pointing towards a 2015 market overtake.

The cost-favorable Android OS is expected to lead sales, with 32% of the market. Microsoft seems to have the most ground to cover with 5% of the market.

A critical first step is to address the coexistence of Windows Phone and Windows RT. Having three different operating systems to address the smart device landscape is confusing to both developers and consumers alike.

Via: Canalys

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Shazam brings a passive approach to the second screen

Shazam’s latest iPad update includes a new “Auto-tagging” feature that allows the user to set up a more passive background tagging process, when watching TV.

Rather than having to remember that Shazam allows you to tag every program, or watch for the little Shazam icon on a commercial, the new feature allows constant listening. Identified items will be loaded onto an in-app carousel.

(Side note: Am I the only one who fumbles after seeing the Shazam icon during a 30 second commercial to pull out my phone, open Shazam, and tag a commercial?)

How I would explain this to my mom:

  • Your iPad will look up information from the show FOR you, that you can look through while you watch the show.
  • TV shows will create more experiences for this app, that accompany the show you are watching on TV. TV gets much more interactive.
  • Once this feature is turned on, it will keep listening, and cataloging for you.

Via: TechCrunch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKOowwejuAQ

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Mailbox goes to the iPad

Mailbox, the Gmail client for iOS, is designed as “Modern tech for an ancient medium”. It is designed to help the user get to the enviable “Inbox Zero” every day with the ability to easily archive or even “snooze” emails on your mobile device.

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This morning, it’s app is launching in the Apple App Store for iPad.

I always enjoy seeing how app designers differentiate between different experiences.

Mailbox founder Gentry Underwood talks about the design issues in this article.

“Constraint is the friend of design,” Underwood said. “It’s easier for us to create a simple mail experience [for the phone]. We have to resist the temptation to take all these pixels and put in all these bells and whistles.”

via Mailbox Takes Its Email App To iPad, With Android Waiting In The Wings – ReadWrite.

(Image: Mailbox)

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Smartphones overtake those other phones

Today Apple will announce the new iPhone. 

Yesterday, Google announced over 500 Million Android devices had been activated.

As all this happens, the Pew Internet and American Life Project has come out with new numbers on Smartphone usage.

  • 45% of American Adults own Smartphones
  • 55% of mobile subscribers own Smartphones (For the first time… more of us are using smart phones than feature phones)
  • Nearly 70% of those who make over $75,000 own Smartphones

In a similar report, Nielsen indcates that 74% of young adults (25-34) now own smartphones.

Here is the demographic breakdown from Pew Continue reading “Smartphones overtake those other phones”