Make the iPad your complete mobile office

The most popular put down for the iPad seems to be something along the lines of “Yes, but what if you want to work on proper documents – create baffling spreadsheets or tweak that presentation you’re going to be give to the board tomorrow. What then? For that, you don’t need a lightweight, frothy gadget (it’s always a ‘gadget’ to the cynics where gadget = toy) like an iPad, you need a serious computer like a netbook running proper applications. … Continue Reading

iPad Apps – First Sales Analysis

App store analyst, Distimo has released some interesting data based on the first week of sales from the Apple App Store.  The major findings of their report are as follows:

• There are 2,385 apps available exclusively for the iPad.
• The largest category is Games with 833 titles (35%), followed by Entertainment (260) and Education (205)
• 83% of apps on the iPad are paid (versus 73% on the iPhone)
• The average price of all apps that are solely compatible with the iPad is $3.61 versus $3.55 for hybrid apps that also work on the iPhone
• Medical and Fitness apps are the most expensive for the iPad ($9.39)

You can download the full Distimo report into Apple iPad Apps for free from here.

Positively seething – but Jeremy Laird is wrong

Among the many millions of column inches that have been devoted to the iPad launch, a fair percentage of these have been devoted to explaining why the new device is doomed to failure.  Typical of the naysayers is UK PC Plus magazine’s Jeremy Laird who has condemned the iPad as just another mobile internet device that is doomed to fail.

Jeremy, it is fair to say, doesn’t like the iPad.  He doesn’t like the screen (“bloated”).  He doesn’t like the lack of support for Flash (“utterly bonkers”).  He doesn’t like the platform (“Mickey Mouse smartphone operating system”).  He doesn’t like the lack of expansion ports and card reader sockets (“smacks of control freakery”). … Continue Reading

The Power of Possibility

Paradigm shift.  How many times have you heard that expression used to describe new ideas that ultimately proved to be anything but?  I know of one technology magazine editor who outlawed any mention of the term in his publication (along with that other old chestnut, the zeitgeist) to encourage contributors to focus on the true potential of products and technologies and ignore the wildly speculative claims of manufacturers’ press releases.

Most of the time, the beauty of the paradigm shift is that you can’t predict it; it’s a magic that occurs when you reach a point when you can’t imagine life being any other way.  It’s something that just “happens”. … Continue Reading