Google planning to compete with Apple’s iPad

Remember the Motorola Xoom tablet, Google’s first attempt to compete against Apple’s iPad? It was only a bad dream. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is now promising a purely Android tablet “of the highest quality” in six months.

Schmidt’s comments to the Italian newspaper Corrier della Sea (Slash Gear has a report in English) follows the 2010 release of Motorola’s Xoom tablet.

What’s different this time? The new tablet is in the “Nexus” category of devices using pure Android. The Motorola Xoom used Honeycomb, a tablet-centric version of Android. The Nexus tablet Google is forecasting will use “Ice Cream Sandwich,” a version of the mobile software combining both Honeycomb and Gingerbread. The Gingerbread variant of Android is aimed at Smartphones. Last month, the Galaxy Nexus smartphone was unveiled using Android “Ice Cream Sandwich.”

What’s behind the push for a Nexus tablet? Perhaps it is the success Amazon is experiencing with the Kindle Fire. The Amazon tablet is powered by a heavily modified version of Android which links to a number of services offered by the online retail giant. Google would likely prefer the first successful Android-based tablet be one that includes features tightly woven into the Mountain View, Calif. Company’s family of products, such as Gmail and others.

The Nexus tablet will become a litmus test for how well Android can transfer from Smartphones to tablets. There have been numerous flame-outs by Android tablets with HP’s defunct Touchpad likely the most spectacular. A key problem for iPad alternatives is that all tablets are measured against the Apple device. I’ll buy anything, as long as it operates and looks just like an iPad, is an often-heard response from consumers.

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Digitimes says Apple to begin producing 7.85 Inch iPads in Q2 2012

According to Digitimes, Apple will begin the production of a 7.85-Inch iPad in Q2 2012. Apple will reportedly begin selling the smaller iPads prior to Q4 2012, but will also sell another iPad in Q1 2012, presumably the iPad 3.

Digitimes had published that “Apple is likely to launch a 7.85-inch iPad prior to the fourth quarter of 2012 in addition to a new iPad scheduled to be released at the end of the first quarter, according to sources in the supply chain.

In order to compete with Amazon’s Kindle Fire-which has been selling very well, Digitimes says their sources say Apple has been persuaded to manufacture the 7.85 inch tablet to compete.

However, in order to cope with increasing market competition including the 7 inch Kindle Fire from Amazon and the launch of large –scale smart phones from handset venders, Apple has been persuaded into the development of 7.785 inch iPads, the sources indicated.

LG Display and AU Optronics will reportedly be the manufacturers for the 7.85 inch   panels and will hit the supply streams in Q2 2012. This isn’t first time that we have heard of smaller iPad, as it’s been in the rumor-mill for quite some time. More iPad 3 rumors have also been popping up over the last few months.

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Add today’s date to notification center

Notification Center is a useful little addition to iOS, but it’s very limited. As of now, you can’t customize it to show much more than Stocks and Weather. In this video, I’ll show you a little workaround that will allow you to display the current date in Notification Center.

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TouchFire: Is it the iPad’s Ultimate (Typing) Accessory?

If you have ever tried to type on an iPad then you can understand why TouchFire- a simple keyboard overlay that marks typing easier- has raised almost $100,000 on Kickstarter.

Rather than inserting a string of chatter into your style as usually occurs when your rest your fingers on iPad’s keyboard, TouchFire does not set off a single key when you rest you fingertips on the product. Its distinct keys make typing whereas looking away from the screen likely and its silicon body is an unusually thin and flexible solution to a problem that is probably solved with clunky plastic add-ons.

“When everyone else think about a keyboard, they usually try to replicate what a mechanical keyboard is.”, says TouchFire co-founder Steven Isaac.

Isaac is not actually from a mechanical engineering background. He worked on an operating system for one of the major tablet-like devices in the early 90s, helped develop Internet Explorer 1.0 and led the team that thrown MSN.com. But he was inspired to build his first piece of hardware when the iPad came out.

With the help of the co-founder Brad Melmon, he tried to make the keyboard more than twice as thin as a credit card and easily rollable to the side of the iPad when that is not in use. Magnets on the keyboard’s sides snap it into place to type and snap it to the iPad case for storage.

The secret patent-pending pulp is a group of small microstructures in each key that permit fingers to rest on them at any angle without touching the iPad. When the device does finally go to market (as of now, an undefined date), Isaac expects it to retail for about $45.

Not so bad for a prototype that had its first of 49 iterations created in a garage with an exacto knife.
“This really was just two guys in a garage,” Isaac says. “And who knows, it could end up changing the world.”

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Samsung Galaxy Tab ban in Australia, Apple granted stay

The federal court of Australia has overturned the preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It’s a new twist in Apple Vs Samsung legal proceedings, as the federal court of Australia lifted sales banned on Galaxy Tab.

The unanimous decision made by federal court justices ordered that the ruling made by Justice Annabelle Bennett be overturned, allowing the Samsung galaxy Tab 10.1 to be released in Australia, according to Hopewell report.       

Sydney Morning Hearld quoted the judgment:

Samsung will be permitted to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia provided it keeps accounts of all transactions involving that device in Australia.

Samsung’s Australian Subsidiary says “it is pleased with today’s unanimous decision”. Reacting to that Apple plans on appealing to the High court. The federal court also honored Apple’s request that its ruling remain in effect until Friday at 4 pm, to allow the company time to prepare on appeal. March 2012 is set to a full hearing on copycat accusations, which may result in enduring injunction.

Apple is also seeking to ban on Samsung Galaxy 10.1N, it is a revised version with an added metal frame around the edges. Samsung engineered the Galaxy tab 10.1 with two many similarities to Apple’s iPad, after a district court Dusseldorf blocked the sales of it. A hearing in this case is scheduled for December 2012.

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HP CEO Whitman acknowledges that Apple could exceed HP in 2012

According to Canalys status, HP’s new CEO Meg Whitman has agreed that Apple makes a great job. We need to improve our game and our products to take over the leadership position. Apple could go past HP in 2012. We will try to become the champion in 2013. It takes time for the products on which I have come to influence the market. 

Hp is less profitable compared to Apple and IBM but its biggest revenue (127.2 billion dollars). She stated that “We were the champion for many years. We lost that position because of our growing weakness in the very large servers, used for critical operations in business. We are renewing our range Superdome.”

Whitman also noted that she dedicated two teams of 100 employees in total to study whether or not to spin off or sell HP’s personal systems group that build PC’s. HP announcing eventually resulted decision that it would keep the PSG in place.

Asked if tablet computers were comparable to PCs, Whitman answered that they weren't yet, noting that tablets are mainly used to "consume media and emails," and that they cannot run "productivity software such as Microsoft."

"Our studies show that this is an additional purchase that does not encroach on the PC market," Whitman said, refuting the iPad's until now uncontroversial impact on the PC market. "This is an important area on which we want to go," she added.

Interestingly, HP beat Apple's iPad to market last year with its Slate PC running Windows 7, a device that could run Microsoft's Office software. However, the market largely ignored the HP Slate PC (and other tablet devices running Windows 7) and HP abandoned the product as it shifted its development resources toward building this year's webOS-powered Touchpad, which also failed to find interest in the market.

Whitman has since indicated that HP's future tablet strategy will return to using Microsoft's Windows 8, which is expected to be available at the end of next year. Microsoft is also rumored to be hedging its tablet bets by bringing its Office software to the iPad, where Apple's own iWork apps exist as top selling productivity software in the App Store. 

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Microsoft plans to get its Office suite to Apple’s iPad

According to The Daily report Microsoft is planning to bring its Office software suite to Apple’s iPad. It is now working on a version of Microsoft Office for the iPad. With this new approach, Microsoft would be wandering away from desktop computers and might be compete with the Apple’s iWork products which includes pages, numbers and keynote.

In addition to iPad version, Microsoft releases a new version of Office for OS X Lion which is expected next year. Usually the current desktop version, Office 2011, officially supports iOS version up to Snow leopard.       

When the iPad was first introduced many users complained about it that it does not contain any reliable word processing program and the pages application from Apple was only restricted to the iOS platform, very difficult to transfer to other platforms. With Microsoft working on a solution for the iPad, the $ 499 device may actually become a possible option for Laptop replacement for users still dependent on MS Office.

Microsoft already has numerous popular — and some not so popular — apps available for the iPad. They include Bing, MSN Onit and MSN OnPoint. There are even more available for iPhone, including Microsoft Tag, Windows Live Messenger and Wonderwall.

Office is one Microsoft’s biggest sellers, second only to Windows. In 2011, the software suite should earn more than $15 billion in revenue, according to Business Insider. By branching out to new platforms - like the iPad, that number should only grow.

Besides Office, Microsoft is betting heavily on the next version of its flagship product, Windows 8, which, with its graphically focused Metro interface, has proven controversial. If it flops, the company’s fiscal future could rest on the performance of Office. Spreading Office to new platforms therefore makes a lot of sense for Microsoft.

The full versions of Office for Mac and Windows 8 are expected to launch near the end of 2012, though the iPad version could come well ahead of that date.

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Apple passes on new CTIA and ESRB mobile app ratings

The CTIA has released a new five-point mobile app rating system and charitable program functioned by the ESRB who have been swiping identical “everybody” and “adult only” ratings on video games since from the 90s. As per expectation, the biggest and second biggest players in the mobile app space, Apple and Google are not supportive the program. Bloomberg reports:

“The app program is targeted at helping parents monitor children’s accumulative use of wireless technology, a concern drawing lawmakers’ attention this year… Apple, maker of the iPhone and iPad, and Google, whose Android software is the most widely used mobile operating software in the U.S., are not taking part in the program and have their own ratings systems”.

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