Following my earlier blogs regarding the Flash controversy between Apple and Adobe, here are some related information. According to a study done by Mefeedia, a company that monitors online video on the Web, 26% of Web video is already compatible with the iPad. This means that 74% is still encoded in Flash or platforms other than HTML5 or H.264. The report also states that most new online video is created using HTML5 and not Flash. It was also mentioned that just a few months ago, the percentage of iPad-ready online video is only 10%. The fast increase shows that HTML5 is fast becoming the platform of choice for individual content providers and apps developers.
I posted a few days back a blog on Apple’s reasons why Flash is not supported on the iPod, iPhone and iPad devices. Mr. Jobs himself said that their reasons are purely technical and not based on business issues. Adobe does not accept this and issued a number of statements to refute Apple’s claims. They said they believe in an open market that lets both consumers and developers decide what technology to use for their contents – CSS, HTML4, HTML5, Flash and any other available platform. Adobe published an open letter from its founders that says Apple is actually taking a step that could undermine the mobile era of the web, wherein any individual could publish his own content, which can be accesses anywhere at any time. They also boldly said that nobody, and certainly not a single company controls the web. Word war!
Here’s an interesting app for the iPhone and the iPad that can be considred both a game or a tool for designing your home. Home 3D is an architectural design software that you can enjoy while modeling your home. With this app, you can arrange the interior of your house by adding sofa chairs in the living room, replacing your dining table, repainting the walls or simply rearranging the position of your furnitures. All of these planned changes can be previewed first before you tear down anything or already buy those expensive furnitures. You can also add doors and windows to your home’s floor plan, almost similar to what can be done in a professional design software. But Home 3D is a lot less expensive at only $3.99 for the iPhone and $4.99 for the iPad.
Ever wondered why Adobe’s Flash is not supported on the iPod, iPhone and iPad? Critics are saying it is because of business reasons but Apple claims it is purely because of technology issues. There is no one who can explain Apple’s stand better than the man himself, Mr. Steve Jobs. He issued a statement on this dated April 29, 2010 in Apple’s website. The highlight of that statement is that Flash was created during the era of the desktop (stationary) PC. Today is now the mobile era where we have all sorts of portable devices that require touch interfaces, open web standards, and most of all low power consumption. Flash is weak in all these areas and there is now an ever-growing number of media outlets that provide their content to Apple mobile devices, using open standards like the HTML5. Mr. Jobs’ final word is for Adobe to lessen on criticizing Apple for not using Flash and instead focus on developing HTML5 tools.
WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) 2010 is just around the corner and will be held from June 7 to 11 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. But if you haven’t signed up yet, sorry because there are no more slots available. This shows how important the conference and have gained the status of some sort of a mecca for Apple software developers. It is expected that the highlights of the 2010 event will be on the iPhone OS4 and iPhone and iPad apps. New iPhone OS4 features will be hot on the floor especially multitasking and the iAd. There will also be Core OS sessions that will touch on topics on security, networking, low-level graphics layer, and hardware level services. Developer tools like the Xcode will also be discussed while development techniques for animation, graphics, gaming, audio, and video will be tackled in the Graphics and Media Lab sessions. WWDC 2010 will also focus on the HTML5, which has become an important tool for delivering audio and video to the Web. These are but some of the many things that will be taken up in one of the most important Apple gatherings and expect new developments that will be announced right after the event.
Are you one of those who want to get hold of an iPad but cannot do it now because you are on a tight budget? Well my friend, there may be a solution to this problem, which could be just a few clicks away through your keyboard. Do you know that there are early iPad adaptors who are planning to resell their Wi-Fi only iPads because they want to replace them with the more advanced (as far as connectivity is concerned) 3G-capable models? You can check this out by yourselves by looking at buy and sell online stores like eBay where you can find slightly-used or even never opened boxes of the Wi-Fi only iPad.
Apple just announced that its one millionth iPad was sold last Friday, April 30. It’s barely 28 days after its release in the market on April 3 and this is remarkable considering the iPhone achieved the same sales status longer in 74 days. It was also reported that iPad apps download from the App Store has already reached a staggering 12 million while sales from the iBookstore is now over 1.5 million. However, there was no detail provided on how many Wi-Fi only or 3G capable models were sold. What is very clear here is that Apple has already generated an outstandingly good revenue from the iPad – from a conservative 500 million to somewhere around 700 million dollars? Who knows!
Apple is shutting down on May 31 Lala, the streaming music service provider it just acquired last December. This is no new story. We’ve seen start-up acts get big, get acquired by bigger companies and are eventually dumped. The reason could either be of one of these – 1) the big company wants to get rid of new players and 2) the big company needs the smaller company’s service or product and just improves it to gain more revenue. Which of these could be Apple’s reason? Rumors are the Cupertino company will add streaming service to the iTunes to enable users to stream their purchased content to multiple play-out devices of their choice. Whether this is true or not, Lala will surely be missed by its long-time loyal users.
The much-awaited iPad Wi-Fi + 3G model will be delivered on Friday, April 30 to US customers who have pre-ordered the gadget. We’ve heard from many of these early adapters that they are constantly checking online the delivery tracking status of their orders. We even heard that some had sleepless nights in anticipation of the arrival of their orders. For those who did not pre-order the 3G capable model, they can buy the unit from stores starting at 5:00 PM that same day (according to the Apple website). But some sites are saying it could be days or even at least a week before the Wi-Fi + 3G model will be available for purchase in stores.
There has been so much excitement when early adopters got their hands on their new iPads. As they expected, the new gadget can do almost everything what their iPhones or iPods are capable of, plus a lot more other tasks that the iPad offers. But there are also some complaints that initially came out, the most prominent of which is the alledged weak Wi-Fi performance of the device. Most feedbacks from Apple users discussion forums say that the iPad receives a weaker signal compared to iPhones and other Wi-Fi capable devices, with all of the devices located at the same distance from the access points. There are speculations that the poor Wi-Fi performance could be due to the shell structure of the iPad, which has an aluminum rear enclosure that somehow could have affected the effectivity of the built-in antenna. Another possible cause, according to some, is the power-saving scheme of the new device has reduced supply of power to the Wi-Fi module, thus affecting its performance. Whether the Wi-Fi problem is valid or not and regardless of the cause, there is no comment yet from Apple (maybe too early).
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May 18, 2010 6:27 am | 
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