The Real Mac GeniusWe hear the words “virtual reality” thrown around alot these days. From commercials about ostridges to your elderly neighbors saying that kids these days are socially introverted, untalented disgraces to the human race, virtual reality is a vibrant topic of discussion.
So what really is virtual reality?
According to a report released by the research firm Canalys on February 6th, one in six PCs shipped in Q4 2012 was an iPad. iPads make up a third of worldwide PC shipments in Q4 2012. The worldwide PC shipments also increased to 134 million units, a 12% year-to-year increase.
Apple, like before, continued to lead the PC market, shipping 27 million units and holding a 20% share of the PC market. Apple is followed by HP, which shipped 15 million PCs and took an 11% share of the PC market. Lenovo also shipped about 15 million PCs and also took an 11% share as well. Samsung shipped 11.7 million PCs and took a 9% share. Dell is in fifth place, shipping only 9.7 million PCs. Dell is declining but the potential buyout may change things.
Apple showed strong demand for the iPad mini, but Apple’s pad share dipped to 49% in Q4. Amazon’s worldwide pad shipments grew 18% to 4.6 million along with Samsung’s shipment increasing 226% to 7.6 million pads. With Amazon and Samsung’s increase in popularity, 46% of the pad share is Android-based pads.
With Android increasing it’s tablet market share, Apple has more to worry about in terms of competitors. Nonetheless, Apple’s iPad mini has helped Apple remain competitive and not lose its popularity in the tablet market.
Feel free to leave questions or comments!
On October 23, 2012, Apple released the new iPad mini. It is said to be 23% thinner and 53% lighter than the previous iPad. It starts at $329 for a 16 GB Wi-Fi model. It is also available in 32GB and 64GB and in Wi-Fi + Cellular models. There are two color choices: Black & Slate and White & Silver. The iPad mini is very similar to the iPad, except that it is a lot lighter and can easily be held in the palm of your hand, like other tablets in the market, mostly those running Android OS. Can the iPad mini compete?
Some of the features of the iPad mini are nothing new to those who have seen or used an iPad before. It has the standard built-in apps such as FaceTime, Email, and Message, and it also has access to the App Store, which houses over 275,000 iPad apps. In terms of tech specs, it uses the fast A5 chip that provides speed and fluidity to the tablet screen. It is stated to have a 10-hour battery life as well.
One feature specific to Apple products is FaceTime. It is a built-in app and can be used over Wi-Fi or cellular data. While using the iPad mini, you can take advantage of the front-facing FaceTime HD camera or the iSight camera on the rear. The iSight camera even lets you capture videos in 1080p HD and takes full advantage of the 5-megapixels to capture photos.
The iPad mini features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, which means faster Internet connection with download speeds up to 150 Mbps. If you do get the Wi-Fi + Cellular model, you also have access to LTE, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPDA, and cellular and wireless networks.
The iPad mini also comes with Siri: the intelligent assistant, iCloud: Apple’s cloud service, and iOS 6: the most recent and advanced of Apple’s operating systems. However, the most recent iPad contains these features, so the iPad mini is essentially only a miniature third generation iPad. It has the same resolution as the previous iPad, 1024×768, but has a smaller screen to pack all those pixels. On the downside, it doesn’t have the Retina Display that most iPads have. It does have the same front and rear camera as the iPad with Retina Display, but lacks the Dual-core A6X with quad-core graphics, meaning slightly slower performance.
For approximately $170 cheaper, you can get a miniature version of the newest iPad with slightly less advanced tech specs. Whether it can compete against the iPad with Retina Display or other similar tablets, has yet to be determined. Your best bet is to go to the nearest Apple Store and try it out yourself. Who knows, you may end up walking out with a brand new iPad mini.
How do you know that Apple is the #1 Most Admired Company? Well, FORTUNE magazine runs a yearly survey by asking businesspeople to vote for the companies that they admire the most. They compile the votes and create a list called Top 50 Most Admired Companies. So what did FORTUNE magazine find this time? Apple is #1, for the fourth year in a row. There is good reason for why Apple was picked as #1. They make so many great products that are admired by many. The company introduced the iPad last year and opened the world to an entirely new idea. Google, the #2 most admired company, was also following closely behind Apple. The following are the Top Ten Most Admired Companies:
As for my own opinion, I also admire Apple the most. What do you think? Leave a comment.
Apple has just released new App Store policies for in-app subscription sales. With the coming release of iOS 4.3, your iOS device will now be able to support in-app subscription sales, but there is a catch, Apple is asking for in-app subscription companies to pay a 30% fee, just like other in-app purchases. Any titles that involve subscriptions or purchasable content will have to offer an in-app option that cannot be more expensive than anywhere else. This will pose a problem for developers and vendors. They aren’t allowed to provide a link to an outside market for things that can be purchased within an app. In general, that means if I was a developer, I wouldn’t be able to sell an app that directs users to my own website to buy a subscription to my content. I would still be able to sell my subscriptions to customers I found on my own. It is also mandatory to make it possible for users of my app to purchase my subscription content through iTunes if I want to put my app on iTunes. There is also some reason why this is not a bad idea. Apple actually acts as a newsstand when it provides subscription. Apple provides the subscription service, manages the delivery of the content, and acts as a tollbooth by taking 30% of the revenue.
There is also an alternative called the Google Way, which makes content free when it’s placed next to ads. The downside is that the content generator gets a tiny fraction of the minimal ad revenue generated.
A big issue about this is that Apple thinks it is simple that if Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple should receive 30% of the revenue, but if a publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publishers keeps all 100% of the revenue. But can you really say that Apple brought a person to the app if the person decides to search up the app for a subscription because they already knew ahead of time that they wanted to subscribe to that certain company? You can’t really say that Apple brought the customer to that app. Another big issue is that maybe companies will decide to not make an app to begin with anymore. Big companies may decide that they don’t need to provide their service on iOS devices. What will we do now? There are many issues that will arise from this and it would be best to avoid it. I think Apple should rethink their ideas.
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