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Why Most Apps Are Free And Likely To Remain So
LG Poised To Ship Around 3 Million iPad Panels A Month In 3Q13; Expects No 2014 Delay For Retina iPad mini
What's Behind Microsoft's Surface Tablet Price Cut?
Microsoft Admits It's '18 Months Behind' With Windows 8 Tablets
Microsofts "iPad-Killer" Lost The Company $900 Million In Last Quarter
How To Print From An iPad/iPhone
Free Photospector Brings Unlimited Resolution Real-Time Image Editing to iPad
Free Bible Trivia Word Game Now Available for iPad
American Red Cross Launches New App to Recruit Volunteers
Cypress Accelerates Designs for Apple's All-Digital Lightning Connector With New Development Kit for iPhone, iPad and iPod Audio Accessories
Why Most Apps Are Free And Likely To Remain So
The Flurry Blog's Mary Ellen Gordon, PhD, says many consumer surveys point to an obvious conclusion: most people hate seeing ads on smartphones and tablets. But the truth isMay observes, that contrary to the desire for an ad-free experience, when faced with the choice between free apps with ads, or paying even $.99 for apps without ads, consumers overwhelmingly choose the free apps and tolerate the ads.
Dr. Gordon has explored that revealed preference for free content over content free of ads by examining four years worth of pricing information for the nearly 350,000 apps that use Flurry Analytics, and notes that if you truly can't stand to see ads in apps, you can usually pay $.99 or $1.99 to eliminate the ads, and possibly get some additional functionality too, but in real world practice - most people don't, however much they may declare themselves to be anti-ad. She points out that between 2010 and 2012 the percentage of apps on Apple's App Store using Flurry Analytics that were free varied between 80% and 84%, but by 2013, 90% of apps in use were free. Ergo: people want free content more than they want to avoid ads or to have the absolute highest quality content possible, and Android users tend to be less affluent and less willing to pay for things than iOS users.
Dr. Gordon reports that as of April 2013, the average price paid for Android apps was significantly less than for iPhone and iPad apps, suggesting that Android users want app content to be free even more than iOS device users do, and implying that Android users are more tolerant of in-app advertising to subsidize the cost of developing apps. Another finding is that iPad users tend to be bigger spenders than owners of other devices, including iPhone, with the average price of iPad apps in use as of April 2013 being more than 2.5 times that of iPhone apps and more than 8 times that of Android apps, which she says is likely to be at least partly attributable to average iPad owners having higher incomes than owners of other devices.
She concludes that while consumers may not like in-app advertising, their behavior makes it clear that they're willing to accept it in exchange for free content, just as we have in broadcast radio, TV and online for decades. Consequently she contends that the conversation about whether apps should have ads is largely over, and while developers of some specialized apps may be able to monetize through paid downloads, and game apps sometimes generate significant revenue through in-app purchases, with consumers are unwilling to pay for most apps, and most app developers needing to make money somehow, it seems clear that ads in apps are a sure thing for the foreseeable future, and that its time to shift the conversation away from whether there should be ads in apps at all, and instead determine how to make ads in apps as interesting and relevant as possible for consumers, and as efficient and effective as possible for advertisers and developers.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://goo.gl/mnZtI
LG Poised To Ship Around 3 Million iPad Panels A Month In 3Q13; Expects No 2014 Delay For Retina iPad mini
Digitimes' Julian Ho and Alex Wolfgram report that LG Display expects to ship 2.5-3 million 9.7-inch panels a month for the iPad in the third quarter of 2013, according to industry sources, who say that some 1-2 million of the panels will be for Apple's fifth-generation iPad, with the rest for previous iPad models.
Ho and Wolfgram's sources say the panels for the fifth-generation unit are expected to have a 2048 by 1536 resolution, and that the device will be lighter and thinner as well as having only one light tube in its backlight instead of two.
They also say that LG is reportedly making new headway in producing Retina panel technology for use in the next-generation iPad mini, and expects to ship about 2-3 million units a month in preparation for Apple's expected October release date.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130718PD211.html
What's Behind Microsoft's Surface Tablet Price Cut?
Last week Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced a reorganization of the company that shifts focus into the tablet and mobile sector. This week Microsoft announced a price cut for their Surface RT tablet, making it more accessible to consumers in order to penetrate a fiercely competitive tablet market. Microsoft expert Karl Volkman of Chicago's SRV Network, Inc., weighs in on the price cut and the management revamp.
"Microsofts price cut of the Surface tablet is a pretty clear indication they are trying to increase their share of the tablet market," says Volkman. "They are in direct competition with the iPad, and they need to gain some competitive advantage to keep up with Apple. Cutting the price was their best option and makes the Surface tablet more accessible to consumers trying to decide between the two products."
The least expensive of the Surface tablets, the Surface RT with 32 gigabytes of memory, was reduced to $349 from $499. The same tablet with a cover that is also used as a keyboard is now $449, down from $599. The new prices are comparable to the pricing model of the iPad, which starts at $329 with its mini version.
"When Microsoft first introduced the Surface RT, consumers were still unsure of the Windows 8 platform and there were concerns over a lack of apps," observes Volkman. "Now that they initiated the price cut, this will give Microsoft better competitive positioning in the market."
Karl Volkman, the Chief Technology Officer of SRV Network, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois, is an IT Professional with over 30 years of experience.
For more information, visit:
http://www.srvnetwork.com
Microsoft Admits It's '18 Months Behind' With Windows 8 Tablets
The Register's Paul Kunert reports that Microsoft's Surface tablet and the wider family of the Windows 8 and 8.1 OEM "ecosystem" are 18 months behind where it "wants them to be", but they will soon start to put the clamps on the iPad, a Microsoft UK director is claiming.
Kunert cites Janet Gibbons, Microsoft UK and Ireland director of partner strategy and programmes, saying that with the BYOD trend people want to be "productive at work, to be able to print and have a keyboard," and the answer to that is Surface and "all the different form factors, all the different sizes that the OEMs are bringing to market".
Windows tablets have a long way to go to catch up with iPad. Kunert notes that in Q1/13 they accounted for just 4.3 percent of global tablet sales with iOS and Android accounting for 46 and 43 percent, according to Canalys data, but that Tim Coulling, senior analyst at Canalys, says Microsoft was right to target Apple with respect to BYOD, claiming it was easier for enterprises to manage "out of the box," adding that "The iPad is a personal device with fewer options in the enterprise," and "Microsoft is picking the correct target by going after Apple because that is where the majority of enterprise tablet rollouts will be."
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/2EC6v
Microsofts "iPad-Killer" Lost The Company $900 Million In Last Quarter
Cult of Mac's Buster Heine reminds us that Microsoft claimed when it unveiled the Surface RT last year that the new device made the iPad and the MacBook Air obsolete. However, he observes that so far the Surface RT has been anything but an iPad-killer, and according to Microsoft's financial results for Q4 2013, it's losing them truckloads of money, the company taking a $900 million loss due to Surface RT inventory adjustments - the news coming on the heels of Surface RT prices being reduced significantly.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/zln0I
How To Print From An iPad/iPhone
Macworld UK's Karl Hodge explains how to print from your iPad/iPhone to virtually any printer, noting that Apple has introduced AirPrint across iOS and OS X, a technology that enables Apple devices to print over WiFi to suitably equipped printers.
But what if your printer doesn't support AirPrint? There are workarounds, such as sharing your printer with your iPad or iPhone and printing via AirPrint through your computer - the easiest way to do this is being FingerPrint (https://www.collobos.com).
You can check it out at:
http://goo.gl/0AqG6
Free Photospector Brings Unlimited Resolution Real-Time Image Editing to iPad
The 11ers, a team of ex-DreamWorks engineers with extensive expertise in film animation software, have released Photospector, a real-time photo-editing app for iPad that processes images at full camera resolution, no matter how many megapixels. While existing apps require several seconds to load a single adjustment to brightness, exposure, or color, Photospector makes all of these changes instantly in full screen as the user drags a finger across the controls.
"It's a truly 'wow' moment when you slide your finger across the screen and you see youre in complete control of every aspect of your photo," says the apps lead developer Daniel Wexler. "Photospector allows for much greater precision than has ever been possible on the iPad. You can take a 1,000 MP image and zoom in down to the pixel, making it truly a professional-grade experience for photographers."
The app includes a number of other features aimed at iPhoneographers and prosumer photographers who are storing large numbers of photos on the iPad. Photo libraries are automatically arranged into smart albums by keywords, similar to how hashtags are used on popular photo websites like Flickr. All of the metadata stored by the camera, including date, location, and camera type, can be used to sort photos and create smart albums instantly. Users can also add their own keywords, which makes organizing entire libraries simple and fast, particularly when uploading to photo storage and sharing sites.
The old way of moving photos into folders or albums manually just doesnt cut it when youve got 10,000 shots, Wexler points out. With Photospector you can create a gallery of all your photos taken in 2012 in Mexico in just a few taps, based solely on the data stored inside your photos.
Getting photos into the app is similarly easy, and does not require users to import or download images from cloud storage. Instead, Photospector is designed to work directly with full-resolution photos already loaded onto the iPad. It allows users to flag or rate photos, and incorporates sophisticated search features to get the most out of them. Photos or entire albums can be shared by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Dropbox, with a number of options meant to increase privacy and control. Groups of photos can be renamed, resized, or converted to different image formats and resolutions all at once before sharing. Author information and copyright can be added to every photo, or metadata can be stripped out entirely for added security.
Photographers want everyone to see their photos, but they also want to decide what information gets shared, notes Wexler. Photospector was designed to provide authors with total control.
This is not the first time the 11ers have made use of their 3D film animation background to revolutionize photography on the iPad. The teams Glaze app released last year, which turns any photo into an artful painting with texture and brushstrokes, has been downloaded over a 100,000 times and garnered rave reviews.
Device Requirements:
(*) Language Support: English
(*) Device Requirements: iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini
(*) Requires iOS 6.0 or later
(*) 10.7 MB
Photospector 1.3.0 is currently Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Photo & Video category. Batch editing is available as an in-app purchase for $1.99 (USD).
11ers:
http://www.the11ers.com
Photospector 1.3.0:
http://www.the11ers.com/photospector
Download from iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photospector/id605863372
Twitter Profile:
http://twitter.com/Photospector
Trackback URL:
http://goo.gl/AM6Ci
Free Bible Trivia Word Game Now Available for iPad
North Carolina based Saved Games, Inc has introduced Cross Words - A Bible Trivia Word Game 1.0, now available for iPad in the Apple App Store for free. Have fun while studying the Bible in this cross between a Christian trivia and word game. It's extremely fun and challenges your knowledge of the Bible while using simple drag and drop functionality to unscramble the letters to solve the biblical word clue.
Once the word is solved, the Bible verse that backs up the answer is displayed. Great sound effects and animations give you instant feedback for an all around enjoyable and fun user experience for the entire family.
(*) Solve clever clues that include biblical People, Places, Things, and Books of the Bible
(*) Integrates easy to use drag and drop functionality
(*) Earn coins with each word solved
(*) Use the hint button to place the next letter in the proper order
(*) Fun for all ages
Device Requirements:
(*) Compatible with iPad
(*) Requires iOS 6.0 or later
(*) 2.2 MB
Cross Words - A Bible Trivia Word Game 1.0 is Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.
Cross Words - A Bible Trivia Word Game 1.0:
http://www.savedgamesinc.com/crosswords
Download from iTunes:
http://goo.gl/Kjnpn
Trackback URL:
http://goo.gl/xhcpX
American Red Cross Launches New App to Recruit Volunteers
The American Red Cross has launched the Team Red Cross App, which allows people to sign up to help, get an overview on basic tasks and receive notifications about Red Cross disaster volunteer opportunities in their community.
"When people see the Red Cross responding to emergencies, they often want to help but don't know how," says Jim Starr, vice president of Volunteer Management for the American Red Cross. "The Team Red Cross App puts the power to help right in people's hands, by giving them an easy way to support their neighbors and the Red Cross."
Once users download the app, they create an account. Then they learn about different jobs, such as working in a warehouse, handing out supplies or assisting with feeding. When the Red Cross has a need for volunteers, the Team Red Cross App will notify users based on their location. Potential volunteers can instantly accept or decline the volunteer opportunity.
• The Red Cross is encouraging the public to download the app before a disaster strikes in their community so potential volunteers can help immediately.
• The app is free and designed for iPhone and Android smart phones and tablets. Features include:
• A quick orientation right on the mobile device.
• Ability for people to share notifications for volunteers with their social network.
• Earn digital "badges" by completing a job test, accepting a job, sharing the app, recruiting volunteers, etc. The "badges" can then be shared with their social network.
• Allows people to donate money to the Red Cross and sign up to donate blood.
• Offers emergency response information that people can share with their friends at the touch of a button.
The Team Red Cross App is the seventh in a series of highly successful Red Cross apps, which are now on more than 3 million mobile devices across the country. A recent Red Cross survey shows that apps are now tied with social media as the fourth most popular way to get information during emergenciesbehind TV, radio and online news sites. Nearly one-fifth of Americans say they've received some kind of emergency information from an app they've downloaded, making the Red Cross apps an important way for the public to get ready for disasters.
The Team Red Cross App can be found in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store by searching for American Red Cross or by going to:
http://redcross.org/mobileapps
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, visit:
http://redcross.org
Visit on Twitter at @RedCross.
Cypress Accelerates Designs for Apple's All-Digital Lightning Connector With New Development Kit for iPhone, iPad and iPod Audio Accessories
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has announced the availability of a new development kit that speeds design of digital audio accessories for Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod products. The CY8CKIT-033A PSoC 3 MFi Digital Audio Development Kit for Lightning includes license-free reference hardware, firmware, and iOS app software, providing the tools to develop MFi (Made for iPod / iPhone | iPad) digital audio accessories that are fully compatible with Apple's all-digital Lightning connector, which is used for iPhone 5, iPad mini and other new Apple products. The comprehensive reference design enables the quickest path for MFi program licensees to develop consumer products such as speaker docks, headphones and game controllers, as well as music creation devices such as keyboards, mixers, guitar interfaces, microphones, MIDI controllers, and DJ turntables.
The consumer and professional audio markets demand bit-perfect quality, and the Lightning connector advances this trend by upgrading audio from analog to digital. Additionally, accessory developers must design at a breakneck pace to keep up with Apple's product and software releases. Cypress's reference design connects PSoC 3 to Apple devices instantly to enable developers to bring concepts to production within a matter of months. The solution is compatible with both Apple's Lightning and 30-pin dock connectors, and with Cypress's patent-pending USB audio clock synchronization and recovery scheme, PSoC 3 ensures bit-perfect audio with minimal external components at multiple sample rates (at standard intervals up to 24-bit audio, 48-kHz or 96-kHz sampling rate).
"With the Cypress PSoC 3 MFi Digital Audio solution, Avid was able to bring our Fast Track Solo and Duo MFi products from a concept on paper to full production in less than six months," says Bruce Yaung, Vice President of Supply and Hardware Technologies at Avid Technology. "Not only was their development kit helpful from a time-to-market perspective, but it delivered the studio-grade digital audio quality our customers expect from Avid products."
"The PSoC 3 MFi Digital Audio solution is the de facto standard in the music industry, and the shift from analog to digital audio further strengthens PSoC's position in the consumer audio market," says Leon Tan, marketing manager for Cypress's MFi and consumer solutions. "With this new PSoC 3 development kit, our customers can quickly implement the Apple MFi protocol and bring bit-perfect digital audio quality to consumer audio applications at an affordable price. By accelerating development of accessories compatible with the new all-digital Lightning connector, we are enabling continued expansion of Apple's ever-growing and evolving ecosystem of iOS devices."
The CY8CKIT-033A kit works with any Core Audio or Core MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) iOS app, including Apple's GarageBand, and music streaming apps like Pandora and Spotify. To jumpstart development with the Apple External Accessory framework, the kit comes with Cypress's EA Console example iOS app, enabling bidirectional communication between apps and accessories attached to an Apple device. For example, EA Console can be used to deliver firmware upgrades from the Apple device to a connected accessory. The PSoC 3 MFi Digital Audio solution integrates Cypress's market-leading CapSense solution for capacitive touch-sensing buttons, sliders and proximity sensing to enhance the end products' user interface and aesthetic appeal. More information on the kit and a video demonstration are available at:
http://www.cypress.com/go/cy8ckit-033A
The CY8CKIT-033A PSoC 3 MFi Digital Audio Development Kit for Lightning is now available to licensees of Apple's MFi program through Apple's authorized MFi component distributor for $199. For more information on the MFi program, visit:
http://developer.apple.com/MFi
MCUs Can't. PSoC Can
PSoC devices employ a highly configurable system-on-chip architecture for embedded control design, offering a flash-based equivalent of a field-programmable ASIC without lead-time or NRE penalties. PSoC devices integrate configurable analog and digital circuits, controlled by an on-chip microcontroller, providing both enhanced design revision capability and component count savings. A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions saving customers design time, board space and power consumption while improving system quality and reducing system cost.
The flexible PSoC resources allow designers to future-proof their products by enabling firmware-based changes during design, validation, production, and even in the field. The unique PSoC flexibility shortens design cycle time and allows for late-breaking feature enhancements. All PSoC devices are also dynamically reconfigurable, enabling designers to morph internal resources on-the-fly, utilizing fewer components to perform a given task.
More information about PSoC products is available at:
http://www.cypress.com/psoc
Free online training is at:
http://www.cypress.com/psoctraining
Visit Cypress online at:
http://www.cypress.com
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