Posts tagged with 'apple'

I have read a lot about different tablet form factors since the iPad was first announced. Yes, Apple got the iPad almost certainly spot on. The iPad 2 that has been just as, if not more, successfull.

Samsung, as well as HTC, Motorola and almost every other tablet manufacturer has tried to release a variety of tablet sizes to help match Apples incredible output and sales. Hoping that demand catches up with devices on offer, rather than trying to fullfill demand. A dangerous game to play in what I would class as a, admittedly large, niche market.

Habit

Unfortunately, it seems that, especially in Samsung's case, releasing a number of different sizes has become a habit of what might be seen as their core business. The humble TV.

For decades now, television manufacturers have released any number of sets with almost identical features (if not identical), just in different sizes. Walk into any electrical or department store and you now see walls of the things. Gone are the CRT offerings, but now you have plasma, LCD and LED. 22, 32, 36, 42, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 55, 58, 59, 60 inch and beyond in terms of diagonal screen size. This is one crowded market space.

Just take a look at Samsung's current D range sets which come in 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 series configurations, each a slight step above each other, then the different types of technology powering within each series. The range is further widened with the multitude of screen sizes available. On their website, you have the choice of 148 televisions. 148. An insane number of devices to have on offer.

If this is your common approach to selling your devices, it is probably a natural step to take into new spaces. Their mobile and tablet offerings don't offer as many choices, but compared to Apple's solitary device, it looks like a lot.

Apple were not always the experts at just giving users one choice, take the iBook (5 different colour options) as an example. Or the iPod Mini (5 colour options) or iPod Nano (4th and 5th generations had 9 colour options). Admittedly, colour options are less serious than different screen resolutions, but then their iMac and MacBook ranges also give a multitude of options... the difference? Configurability. Whether that's space, screen size, RAM or the type of input devices, Apple makes their devices either personal or configurable. One thing their iPad competitiors do is give too much choice.

This past week, Apple announced a few new products. Every one of them got the fanboys into a highly excitable state, and rightly so. Apple's products are gorgeous, well built and most importantly, despite annual refreshes, they last.

One thing that reared it's ugly head again, as it has done at almost every one of Apple's Keynotes over the years was Apple Tax.

Apple Tax is what I like to call the undeniable difference in price between US and UK products. I'm sure all countries suffer from the same problem, but it doesn't make it any less fair. On a low cost product, like an iPod Shuffle, the AT doesn't matter so much. $49 equating to £39 isn't a bad reflection on the current exchange rate, but then you have to allow for the addition of VAT (I've used 20% as the VAT figure in this article, rather than the current 17.5%) in the UK. In fact, £39 is bang on what you'd expect to pay for an iPod Shuffle. This is all on the reasonable assumption that Apple's profit is surely built into the original $49.

AT becomes a bit of a nuisance when Apple’s pricing is applied to a device like the Apple TV. $99 is an amazing price for a decent set-top box that combines the luxuries of the vast iTunes catalogue along with an easy to use remote and small physical footprint.

This same device costs £99 in the UK. With the current exchange rate, that’s just £66. Add 20% VAT and $99 still doesn't translates into £99. When you've done the maths, you actually get £79.20. Almost £20 less than they're currently charging. Again, surely the profit is built in the dollar price? Maybe the price allows for the adjustment of the USD vs the GBP?

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The App store continues to go from strength to strength and the number of apps just refuses to slow it's growth. There seems to be an App for that in every situation (almost), which is no mean feat and just goes to show how well Apple has the phone and music market firmly in it’s grasps.

Here's a top 10 for the apps you should download from the App Store (apps that run on all iOS devices):

My top 10 Apps

Facebook for iPhone (free)

Facebook is possibly the most popular social network around and having the iPhone app makes it even easier to keep in touch. I don't think there’s a feature from the website missing, so if you're a member of Facebook, you should have this on your iOS device. No excuses!

Twitter (free)

Twitter may not be as popular as Facebook, but it's popular product in it's own right. Twitter's official app is the evolution of a third party product that was bought in-house early/mid 2010. It's much improved and has some nice touches. Twitteriffic was my first choice before, but now that has had some real love and attention from the guys at Twitter, it's a must have app!

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When it comes to Apple, I don’t really take the time to speculate but I thought now would be a great time with the imminent launch of the 4th generation iPod Touch, it seems like a great time to start.

My iPod history

The launch of the original iPod saw a new era for music. It’s taken an extremely long time for record companies to come around to the idea of music being digital and I feel that consumers are still being ripped of. Ripped of quite a lot since the introduction of Apple’s 3-tier price structure in iTunes.

With the release of the iPod Mini, I found my own way into the iPod market as I needed an affordable storage device but wanted a small factor MP3 player too. The Mini fit perfectly, although it’s 4Gb capacity wasn’t ideal for the video editing projects I embarked on in University.

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