iPad – Tales from the bits

Tablet Shipments Slow in the Second Quarter of 2013

George Bagropoulos — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 16:11:35 +0000

According to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide tablet shipment growth slowed in the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13). The slowdown is compared with the first quarter of 2013. The 45.1 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2013 were up 59.6% from the same quarter in 2012, when tablet vendors shipped 28.3 million devices.

In the top five we have Lenovo and Acer tablet reappearing.

Top Five Tablet Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Second Quarter 2013 (Shipments in millions)

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	Year-over-Year Growth
1. Apple	14.6	32.4%	17.0	60.3%	-14.1%
2. Samsung	8.1	18.0%	2.1	7.6%	277.0%
3. ASUS	2.0	4.5%	0.9	3.3%	120.3%
4. Lenovo	1.5	3.3%	0.4	1.3%	313.9%
5. Acer	1.4	3.1%	0.4	1.4%	247.9%
Others	17.5	38.8%	7.4	26.2%	136.6%
Total	45.1	100.0%	28.3	100.0%	59.6%

Source: IDC Worldwide Tablet Tracker, August 5, 2013

I am expecting to see some serious new models comming up on the third quarted to warm up the market. Let’s see what will launch Apple for the next quarter to close the gap.

iOS 6: The battle begins?

George Bagropoulos — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Apple posted the new iOs 6 preview. Among the new features is the new Maps application. This is a new Apple application designed from the bottom up. The new Maps will offer turn-by-turn spoken directions, interactive 3D views, and the stunning Flyover feature where available. By creating a new Maps application it means that Apple will stop using Google maps. As The New York Times reports Apple decision to enter the digital mapping world is not a surprise. If Apple fails then a lot of customers will run to Android or other mobile operating systems but if Apple succeeds then Google will be under pressure. At the end of its last fiscal quarter Apple had $110 billion in cash and securities, so it can afford the battle.

Other exciting features are:

Siri. You can ask Siri about sports scores and stats, where to eat, what movies to see — even ask to make Facebook posts. Siri understands more languages and works in more countries. Siri will also work with the new iPad.

facebook. Is now integrated thought iOS. A totally new user experience.

FaceTime. FaceTime now works over cellular networks as well as Wi-Fi, so you can make and receive FaceTime calls wherever you happen to be.

There are also other new and exciting features such as an improved Safari, Mail, Passbook, new capabilities for the iPhone and many more.

I am looking forward to start using the new iOS.

Why did I choose iPad 2 over other tablets?

George Bagropoulos — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 10:04:14 +0000

For long time I was resisting the temptation of owning a tablet. Recently I quite resisting and I bought an ipad 2. It took me sometime to make that choice because I wanted to be 100% sure that I am purchasing the correct tablet according to my needs.

Before making my final choice I wrote down my needs along with devices that allowed me to do so:

To be able to read books and articles

For this functionality I considered the Kindle Fire. It has a 7″ display 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors. It also has 8GB enough to store movies and books.

To connect to the Internet and receive/send emails

Both Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy offer this

To be able to connect remotely to work

VPN is a common feature for all tablets.

To replace the need to carry all the times my notebook(laptop)
To have big screen so I can watch videos

This feature puzzled me a lot. Ipad 2 is not supporting flash. I decided to follow down the HTML 5 path.

To be able to connect with other devices – computers, projectors etc
To have both 3G and wifi.

I want to be connected all time.

To be able to take pictures or video.

This option erased Kindle Fire from my list.

Although almost all tablets meet my requirements, I choose iPad 2, mainly for its stability and ease of use.

I found only one annoying thing. It has a strange limit on 3G, you cannot download files greater than 20MB. I have no download limit from my carrier, so it is strange that the iPad has this limit. I hope Apple to remove this barrier in the near future.

Apple – iPad

George Bagropoulos — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:39:12 +0000

The newiPad from Apple is simply fantastic. It has a multi-touch high resolution screen which makes surfing on the Internet, reading emails, browsing photos, watching videos a new experience.

Some technical specifications:

Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm) — extremely slim!!
Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model;: 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

The display is a 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-back-lit glossy wide-screen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology. The resolution is 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi).

The storage capacity:16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive.

The sensors: Accelerometer and Ambient light sensor.

More technical details can be found on the Apple’s web site.

After viewing the presentation videos I just wanted to have an iPad.