Apple introduces iOS 4.1; iTunes 10 and Ping Are Here; New Apple TV

Apple introduces iOS 4.1

·         First major release after iPhone 4 release.

·         There are bug fixes for some of the user reported problems related to the proximity sensor, Bluetooth and iPhone 3G users upgrading to iOs 4. 

·         Premiers Gamecenter, announced at the WWDC 

·         New feature called HDR for the iPhone 4 camera. HDR essentially takes three pictures, an overexposed an underexposed and mid range and combines them so that highlights are captured properly. 

·         Upgrade will be available next week and the price is free for all supported devices. 

Apple also announced iOS 4.2 that will bring iOS to the iPad in November along with new features for printing as well as a new media sharing feature called AirPlay.

The 4.2 release will also be available for the iPhone and iPod touch along with iPad.

New iPods

·         Continuing its tradition, this fall event on sept 1 announced new iPod Shuffle, Nano and Touch.

·         iPod shuffle combines the features of last two generations. Buttons plus VoiceOver and playlist features. 

·         iPod nano - now in generation six is really new! A tiny Multi-Touch screen without click wheel, still no video, camera or games. It looks like as if using the iOS like iTouch but one of the blogger who has actually spoken to reps onsite said that its not on iOS. But i think in near future we shall start having some apps for it too.

·         iPod touch – It now has a retina display like the iPhone 4 along with the Gyroscope, the A4 and two cameras front and back. There’s FaceTime support. The rear camera will do 720p HD video but it’s not a multi-mega pixel for stills.

New iTunes 10 

·         Apple has built a social networking service called Ping as part of the iTunes app, centered around music. More like fusion of twitter and Facebook. Users can follow other users and as well as artists. 

·         The new Ping will be available in iOS. 

·         It’s an important direction for Apple and it sets the stage for a whole new set of services and functions down the road. 

·         This might be one of the most important pieces of news longterm from today’s announcements.

New Apple TV

·         4 times thinner and smaller than existing TV has no storage and completely internet based.

·         Can connect over WiFi or direct cable and has Netflix and Youtube support in built. 

·         It’s totally built around a rental model, not a purchase model although you can still connect to your computer and your iTunes library and stream any content that’s there. 

·         First TV networks to join for renting the shows are ABC and FOX

·         Ports include Ethernet, HDMI, USB, optical audio and no power brick. 

·         By not attempting to include DVR functionality Apple sidesteps the battle for input one on the TV set. It’s a very different approach that Google is taking. 

·         The bloggers expect there’s going to be some questions of a TV device with no apps. The app eco system for TVs can make sense, like the iPhone before it, Apple needs to educate the market on a paradigm shift. 

·         This Apple TV is a reset in many ways and the TV a device with very entrenched habits and behaviors. Before consumers can make a shift to that model, Apple needs to establish a position in the living room. 

·         There’s also a lot of issues in terms of user experience, command and control and content rights that need to be figured out.

Print Media reinventing itself on iPad

iPad has a rather Dickensian position: It changes nothing and it changes everything. For content producers, everything. It promises to strengthen the fractured visual narrative – so weakened by the constraints of limited form factors – and thus the narrative will enjoy a renaissance of sorts in that now it can be integrated. For application developers, nothing. The challenges of monetization, development, promotion are exactly the same. Yet the most interesting opportunity is for the media companies - the print industry in particular.


Sports Illustrated - Tablet Demo
How Sports Illustrated is using the iPad to provide a better experience to its audience.


Bonnier R&D concept Video
Good concepts for bringing a Magazine to life on the iPad. 


New Digital Magazine experience by Adobe and Wired 
The concept of the De constructed magazine favoring scrolling down instead of flipping sideways.. In addition, they show some new possibilities for advertisers.



“The iPad evolution can take several forms. I expect it to become the publishing platform for digital content, and I expect media companies to make the fast leap onto getting paid subscriptions. I also think Apple is going after the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook to ensure we get the next generation of ebook readers to offer paid subscription for books, newspapers. I expect it to be a consumer device before it becomes an enterprise device. I also think you will see accessories built that will help the iPad connect to the home, whether to an entertainment system, home pictures or video. Adoption in the enterprise will come as a second wave, when more applications that use the iPad instead of a netbook are seen.” − Jayaraman Raghuraman, Vice President, Endeavour


Disclaimer
Endeavour Software Technologies - The Mobility Company - is working on iPad - iPhone - Blackberry- Android applications and concepts. We can be reached at www.techendeavour.com or info@techendeavour.com for the coolest ideas in Mobility.

The iPad Factor – Impact on Consumer and Enterprise Mobility

Vinay Shukla analyses the impact of iPad

Anyone would fall in love with iPad, Apple’s new innovation, when it was announced on Jan 27^th. I was even more excited to see that Steve Jobs chose one of our partner application ("Seven Wonders") for demonstration while launch. Endeavour is New7Wonders mobility partner and assists N7W in enhancing its mobile digital marketing space.

Steve Jobs has been dreaming about tablet device for long time now and I think this is the right time to launch it because the entire ecosystem for this device is ready. Why? According to Tal Kerret Group, 65 percent of the 2 billion apps downloaded from Appstore are games. Due to high retention rate of gaming applications on iPhone and seemingly demand for e-books applications on Appstore and Kindle, iPad becomes just icing on the cake for already popular iPhone and iPod Touch devices. There is already an infrastructure available for all the 3 powerful features highlighted by Apple e.g. e-books, games (thanks to its LED powered screen!) and rich media. Launch of iBooks opens new opportunities for developers to mobilize rich digital content on iPad. This would drive a demand for music, rich media (audio/video) and messaging applications.

In short, iPad as iPod Touch and iPhone would also be driven by “applications”.

With 10 hours of battery life (good but is that enough as compared to other mobile gadgets in the market?), I see a huge demand among the youth specially students as it provides iWorks, internet, a user friendly keypad.

On enterprise side, everyone was expecting an announcement for new OS release (v4.0) with multitasking capabilities from Apple. Apple wants us to wait! The good thing is that iPad is powered by iPhone OS so any future updates on iPhone would also apply to iPad. This makes enterprises to adapt new device without much hassle from maintenance point of view. Enterprises would have to deal with supporting iPad any way as when it is shipped in 60 days people will start bringing iPad to corporate networks and this would open up demand for its support in corporate infrastructure e.g. mobile device and user management, integration with mobile middleware platforms etc. Boxtone, MobileIron, Good may be rushing to grab the opportunity to become forerunner in this space.

The GPS feature and user friendly bigger interface of iPad particularly opens adaptability in verticals like CPG, healthcare supply chain, retail, inspection and audit, compliance for mobile staff to use this platform as sales force automation tool. Apple has made this simple by announcing accessories e.g. casing, keyboard, dock etc along with iPad.

Apple claims to ship 10m devices by end of this year 2010. How much they succeed we would see in due course!