PBT Consulting

HOW 'GAMESALAD' ALLOWS AMATEURS TO CREATE MOBILE GAME APPS WITHOUT CODE USING JUST SIMPLE PICTURES AND FLOWCHARTS

Ever wanted to create a game or app, but don't know how to program?

You aren't entirely out of luck: GameSalad is here for you.

Instead of using complicated programming languages, you can build a game within GameSalad using a bunch of pictures and flow charts that describe what you want to do with the app.

You could even make Angry Birds without ever having to crack open a command line.

Steve Felter is CEO and co-founder of GameSalad (Click Image To Enlarge)

We caught up with Steve Felter, CEO of GameSalad, to find out what the company is doing. Here's what we learned.

• GameSalad has more than 300,000 developers already building games. You can build apps, too, but the platform is currently intended to just work with games.
• Some of the most popular games on the App Store have come from GameSalad. It's a favorite among designers that don't have the coding chops to make a game.
• Eventually it could go beyond games. The co-founders simply decided that games were the most difficult use case, and if they could do that, they could do anything.

Checkout how easy it is to create a game using GameSalad:

 

 

Here's a lightly edited transcript of the full conversation:

BUSINESS INSIDER: What exactly is GameSalad? What do you guys do?

STEVE FELTER:  GameSalad is a game creation platform, it's a visual-based system that requires no coding. We're accessible to a much larger audience that has the potential to develop games but doesn't build them because they don't have the skills. We started with iOS, that's where we had the bulk of our success, and we recently expanded into Android and HTML5.  We're now at over 300,000 developers that have build over 60,000 games, 10,000 of them on the iOS app store. Last year, a little more than 15 percent of games in the iOS App Store were built using GameSalad. We've seen 60 games reach the top 100 in the US App Store. 10 have reached the top 20 ranking.

BI:  Where did the idea come from? 

SF: The company was started officially in 2009, three founders had come from an engineering background. A lot of the technology had been commercialized at Carnegie Mellon, initially it was how to develop tools for "rapid prototyping" in the gaming industry. Our cofounder thought, "what if we created a tool set that extracted the most common features in a game." If he could abstract that into tool sets, it would help studios develop games quickly. What he noticed was he had come up with a tool that was accessible to non-programmers. He ended up democratizing game development and making it useful to users that don't have a CS background.

BI: Why did you guys start with games? What about streamlining the process for apps in general? 

SF: It's because games are the hardest things to do. If we can do games, we can do anything. In terms of focus, if we can get games, we can do anything. We've already seen people use the platform for eBooks and visual comments, so we'll probably stick with the content and digital media space now. But utility apps are something we'll consider in the future.

BI: What does a typical GameSalad user look like? A coder or a designer? 

SF: We get a pretty wide spectrum of users, historically the biggest resonance has been with design-oriented folks. People that know their way around Adobe Creative Suite, they have a sense for design but not the coding skills.  Over the recent months as we've been supporting more platforms, we're starting to attract more traditional developers too. They're seeing us as a way to speed up their development cycles, so they can publish to Android and iOS and HTML5. The sheer effort required to code can be reduced as well. Lots more users are using us for speed-to-market and cross-platform.

BI: Does it work across all mobile platforms? Apple and Android simultaneously? 

SF: The interface allows you to create all those game mechanics, we've extracted the platform you're publishing to. When publishing, you just pick the platforms you want to target. You can choose Android, which puts it in the Nook Store, Amazon store, Google Play, for iOS it goes on the App Store.

BI: Where do you guys go from here? Are you guys just sticking with games? 

SF: We want to go to a future of flow charts and make the nuts and bolts of programming much more accessible. You shouldn't have to spend all your time to focus on syntax. In the 80s, everyone used the command line and with the advent of the GUI, we don't even think of a command line. I can foresee a future where people can get to the bulk of what they want to get done through a visual interface. In terms of more sophisticated developers comfortable with coding, the speed to market with not actually having to recode for each platform, we think it's become a much more appealing option.

We have a lot of interest in the education sector, it helps a lot and teaches people basic game design. As a company, we're trying to push more toward sophisticated developers. We want to prime the platform for those folks and allow them to create successful games. We want to embrace the social, mobile feature sets. Things that allow for deeper integration for social and multiplayer.

COMMENTARY: If you do not have any programming or coding experience, but are interested in developing your own mobile games for the iPhone or iPad or the Apple iMac, Android-based mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), then GameSalad is the all-inclusive solution. 

GameSalad Overview

GameSalad Creator is an authoring tool developed by GameSalad, Inc. aimed primarily at non-programmers  for creating mobile games in a drag-and-drop fashion, utilizing visual editors and a behavior-based logic system.   It is used by consumers and creative profesionals such as graphic designers, animators, and game developers for rapid prototyping, building and self-publishing cross-platform games and interactive media. The application runs on Mac OS X, iOS  (iPhone and iPad), Kindle Fire tablet, web browser-based content in HTML 5, Android (smartphones and tablets), and Mac applications.

• Designed for designers - There's no faster or easier way to get started building a game than with GameSalad Creator. Its visual, drag & drop based style requires absolutely no coding whatsoever. Avoid spending hours poring over code, and spend more time finding the fun.
• "Rapid Prototyping" is an understatement - GameSalad's wide variety of complex behaviors provide almost limitless freedom for varied game genres, styles, and mechanics. On top of its incredible versatility, GameSalad brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "rapid prototyping".  Game development cycles shortened from weeks to  hours and days. 
• No coding -- Ever - GameSalad aims to open the doors of game design to anyone who wants to create. With GameSalad's complete set of tools and editors, bring your game to market faster and easier than with any other development platform; and without coding a single line. That's development in days and weeks - not months. That's the democratization of game creation.
• Build Your Own Studio Empire - Take advantage of the GameSalad's ease and speed - accelerate your game design career by proving your chops on GameSalad Arcade and Apple’s App Store.
• Start creating now - Don't waste thousands of dollars on software. GameSalad is free to download and use, with extra monetization features available at a great price! A low barrier for entry means a much faster return on investment.
• Testing is Key - Play-test on all devices to make your game the best. With the new GameSalad Viewer, you can iterate faster. That means making your awesome game even better with more time to improve gameplay and polish the overall gaming experience. Also, testing on multiple devices couldn't be easier.  Testing is key for making a good game into a great game. And there's nothing better than testing on your actual target device. We've done everything we can to make our In-app preview player mimic iOS device performance, but there's no substitute for testing your game on an actual iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.  The new GameSalad Viewer is a universal application, and works perfectly on any iOS device. No more need for multiple versions.
• Managing Your Portfolio - Sharing your new mobile games with the world, at the press of a button.  It's not just about getting a binary. Use the GameSalad's new dashboard and portfolio management system to establish your presence as a top-notch independent game developer.  GameSalad already offers the fastest way to build a game. Now get your game to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac App Stores with incredible speed -- or publish your game instantly to GameSalad Arcade, powered by HTML5 technologies. Make your game accessible to more than a billion people in seconds.  GameSalad's portfolio management system employs the same design philosophy used in GameSalad's Creator and Viewer. Just follow the intuitive process and take your games to market with unimaginable ease.  With the new GameSalad Arcade, it's now possible to push updates to your web games with the push of a button, no matter where people are playing them. When you update a GameSalad Arcade title, that update will automatically stream out to anywhere your game is embedded. By providing updates to embedded games, you can add life to your title significantly beyond it's initial release.

GameSalad Major Features

• Apple-Platform publishing - GameSalad has one common dialog-based interface for publishing to multiple platforms such as the iPhone, iPad or Mac.  
• Android-Platform publishing - GameSalad can also publish to Android based devices including smartphones and tablets like the B&N Nook and Kindle Fire. 
• Web-Platform publishing - GameSalad can also publish to web-based apps using their HTML5 widget. 
• Tables/Arrays -- Users can use tables to access mass amounts data efficiently. These tables are readable, but not writable. This means you can access data, but you cannot change or create new data within the app.
• Real-time editing -- Users can edit a scene while the game is running. The initial state of actors can be toggled to be displayed translucently to show their original orientation when the scene started playing.
• Game preview -- GameSalad has a specific preview mode for debugging and testing the performance and memory usage of games on the desktop and the iPhone. A viewer application can be installed separately onto an iPhone so that users can click a toolbar button in GameSalad to upload games onto the iPhone over a wireless network.
• Scene editor -- Users can place and manipulate actors in a scene. Actors are added to the scene by dragging and dropping. Actors in a scene can be organized into different layers to change how actors are visualized (rendering order, parallax scrolling, etc.).
• Dashboard -- With the dashboard, users can browse uploaded games, run tutorials, message other GameSalad members, and download shared templates upload by other GameSalad members.
• Integrated physics -- GameSalad is utilizes a rigid-body physics simulator for handling realistic motion and collision. Users can manage and optimize how objects collide by organizing actors with tags. Users can choose to have an actor collide with a group of many other types of actors.
• Expressions -- For advanced users, GameSalad has an expression editor to define complex behavior and state changes with mathematical expressions and a library of functions.
• GameSalad Website - The gamesalad website, http://gamesalad.com, has a marketplace for users to buy and sell sprites, graphics, and more content that appears in the bottom left hand corner of the creator. The forums are a place to ask for help, answer people's questions, announce your game, etc. The cookbook is a site to look up a question if it is already asked or ask a question if the question is not asked. The Marketplace is a page to sell and/or buy electronic files such as GameSalad Project Files, graphics, audio, etc.

GameSalad Pricing

• GameSalad Creator Basic - FREE (Includes GameSalad Creator, GameSalad Viewer*, Web Publishing, Mac Publishing, iOS publishing*, Custom Splash Screens and Standard Technical Support.  *Requires iOS Developer Account for iOS 
• GameSalad Creator Pro - $299 (Reduced from $499).
• GameSalad Add-Ons - GameSalad users can also upgrade by purchasing the following add-ons: 
  • Twitter TweetSheet - It's easier than ever for players to share experiences from your game with everyone around the world with Twitter TweetSheet. Create your own custom messages at select points of gameplay, or let your players decide where and what to tweet. Also, each tweet will automatically generate a link to your game in the App Store. (iOS 5+ only)
  • Apple Game Center - Take advantage of Apple's global leaderboard and achievement system with the Game Center pro behaviors within GameSalad. Engage your players on a higher level by rewarding them for continued play, outstanding resourcefulness and skill, or just plain awesome luck - giving them more reasons to play your game again and again.
  • Innovative Monetization - Through GameSalad's partnerships like Kiip and PlayHaven, Professional developers have access to innovative methods of monetizing their apps, allowing them to capitalize on the wave of Free-to-Play game popularity. Kiip's real world reward program encourages players to stay engaged, and provides them with tangible benefits for playing your game. PlayHaven provides developers with a fast "check-box" way to introduce lucrative ads in your game, with no intrusion to gameplay.
  • iOS In-App Publishing - With the power of iOS In-App Purchase, Professional GameSalad developers can engage in the free-to-play model that is taking mobile gaming by storm. No more need for Premium and Lite versions -- harness the power of unlockable content!
  • Android Publishing - Professional GameSalad developers have access to export their games for Android publishing. This option includes support for most major Android marketplaces, as well as the most popular Android devices, including Amazon Kindle Fire, B&N Nook Color, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
  • External Links - Using the Open URL pro behavior, draw players to your other titles for increased sales, entice them to leave a review on the App Store, or direct them to nearly any destination on the web. Just apply the behavior to an actor and enter in your link.
  • iAds - Everyone knows free apps get way more downloads than paid ones. But that doesn’t mean all that work gets you nothing. With GameSalad “Show iAd” pro behavior, you can integrate an entire revenue channel into your game in seconds.
  • Priority Technical Support - As a Professional GameSalad Developer, you also receive priority technical support. Priority technical support requests will receive an initial response within 24 hours on business days, and additional assistance troubleshooting projects.

GameSalad Reviews

 

Courtesy of an article dated April 27, 2012 appearing in Business Insider 

THE SMARTPHONE VOICE ENABLED 'HUGVIE' ROBOTIC PILLOW ADDS PHYSICAL SENSATION TO LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS VIA PHONE

The Hugvie robotic pillow allows people who are fr apart to feel like they are together (Click Image To Enlarge)

As more families rely on technology to provide methods of communication when separated, a roboticist in Japan is attempting to replicate the human connection lost in a long distance relationship.

Developed by Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, the “Hugvie” is a brightly-colored pillow in an extremely generic shape of a person. Within the large cushion, there is a pocket that’s designed to house a smartphone or regular cell phone during a call. According to Ishiguro, the Hugvie uses a micro-controller and two vibrating discs to “translate” the emotions of the caller’s voice into physical form. The two vibrators act in conjunction to replicate a human heartbeat. The speed as well as the intensity of the heartbeat is completely dependent on the volume and mood of the calle

The Hugvie robotic pillow works with your cellphone to produce a huggy-feelie sensation (Click Image To Enlarge)

The current iteration of the product is being targeted at seniors and children. For instance, a parent on an out-of-town business trip could speak to their child while the youngster was wrapped around the Hugvie. The elderly could use it when speaking to a distant family member or primary caregiver over the phone. Future iterations of the design may be specifically targeted to people in a long distance relationship.

When explaining a design that offers a higher level of interactivity, Ishiguro stated:

“We’d like to develop this into a robot with an internal frame. We could build in lots of vibrators and special sensors, so that when you hug it, the other person’s robot moves as well. So far, I don’t think there has been a really soft robot. If we make this one a bit more complex, we could create something that really feels like a person while you’re hugging it.”

 

The Hugvie costs approximately $60 and is currently on display at the Vstone Robot Center in Tokyo. Osaka University’s Professor Ishiguro is also responsible for the development of the Telenoid, a portable teleoperated android robot that simulates a physical presence for someone in another location. The built-in speakers within the Telenoid play the voice of the caller and the human-like face replicates the emotional state of the caller as the caller’s face is being watched through a webcam.

COMMENTARY:   The first time that I saw the Hugvie robotic pillow I thought it was a bit creepy, but upon reflection, I think it's a fantastic novel idea that I think is going to catch on.  It would be an ideal gift for couples and a neat way to pacify young children.  Both would get a big charge out of feeling Hugvie do its vibration magic.   

Courtesy of an article dated April 28, 2012 appearing in Digital Trends 

SAMSUNG TOPS NOKIA AS THE "WORLD'S BIGGEST HANDSET MAKER" FOR Q1 2012, APPLE RANKS NO 3, BUT NO 1 IN SMARTPHONES

Samsung Galaxy S-II

One of the big ironies about Nokia is that while it has struggled to beat off competition from Samsung and Apple, the company has for 14 years reigned as “world’s biggest handset maker” thanks more recently to it reach into emerging markets with cheap, feature phones.

Not any more.

Today, two research companies report that Samsung has finally unseated Nokia as the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, based on shipments in the first three months of 2012.

Samsung shipped 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter of 2012, compared to the 82.7 million units shipped by Nokia, according to Strategy Analytics.

IHS iSuppli puts the numbers at 92 million for Samsung and 83 million for Nokia.

Nokia recently released a range of high-end smartphones that run on Windows Phone, following a 14-month partnership with Microsoft, but offerings like the Lumia 800 have failed to get the traction needed to keep apace with the sales-decline of phones that use Nokia’s older, Symbian operating system.

Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics said. 

“Samsung and Apple are outcompeting most of their major rivals and the smartphone market is at risk of becoming a two-horse race.”

A “two-horse race” is precisely what Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said he wanted to prevent when he announced his company’s partnership with Microsoft in February 2011.

Samsung and Apple’s combined global market share for smartphone shipments stood at 30.3% this time last year; now it’s at 54.8%, according to Strategy Analytics.

Shares of Nokia were down by 0.7% to 2.74 euros in Helsinki on Friday afternoon. They’ve fallend by 54% since the start of the year, and currently give the Finnish company a market cap of 10.3 billion euros ($13.6 billion).

Samsung meanwhile reported its highest quarterly profits since 2008. The South Korean company earned $4.5 billion in the three months to March 31, up from the $2.5 billion it made in the first quarter last year.

COMMENTARY:   This is obviously very bad news for Nokia.   Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston said of the new figures. 

”Nokia was the world’s largest handset vendor between 1998 and 2011, for 14 years, before finally yielding top position to rival Samsung this quarter.” 

According to IHS iSuppli, Nokia is also being left in the dust by Apple and Samsung when it comes to unit sales of smartphones.  

Smartphone quarterly unit sales were down across the board between Q4 2011 and Q1 2012:

• Apple dropped 5% 
• Samsung dropped 11. 
• Nokia dropped  39%. 
• RIM dropped 21%.
• LG struggled with a 19-percent drop. 

Courtesy of an article dated April 27, 2012 appearing in Forbes and an article dated April 27, 2012 appearing in SlashGear

APPLE REPORTS STELLAR Q2 2012 REVENUES AND EARNINGS, iPHONE AND IPAD UNIT SALES SET NEW RECORDS, CHINA IS HUGE

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 second quarter ended March 31, 2012, and the results were in one word:  INCREDIBLE.  

Apple posted quarterly revenue of $39.2 billion and quarterly net profit of $11.6 billion, or $12.30 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $24.7 billion and net profit of $6.0 billion, or $6.40 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 47.4 percent compared to 41.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The Company announced the following unit sales of iPhones, iPads, Macs and iPods:

•  35.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.  

•  11.8 million iPads during the quarter, a 151 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

•  4 million Macs during the quarter, a 7 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

•  7.7 million iPods, a 15 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO said. 

“We’re thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter.  The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.”

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO said. 

“Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations.  Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68.” 

Apple Earnings Call for Q2 2012

Below is the full transcript of Apple's Earnings Call for Q2 2012 (March 31, 2012) courtesy of Seeking Alpha.

Apple Earnings Call for Q2 2012

View more documents from turk5555. 

Catalyst For Apple's Stock Price 

Bears have been beating the stock up for a week, with the shares tumbling from $644 to $556 earlier today.   Investors need to keep their eyes on the ball and invest for long-term with Apple, and take the stock dips as gifts and buy the stock.  This may be the last time we see Apple in the $500s.  Herein I highlight points from Apple’s earnings outside the usual earnings reports.

Earnings expectations were $10.07 per share, and Apple outdelivered with $12.30 in earnings on $39.2B in revenues.   Please note that this Q2 is Apple’s seasonally worst quarter, yet Apple delivered its second best quarter in history (with last quarter being the best).   Apple’s first quarter this year (December 31, 2011) raised the bar on results both in terms of revenue levels and gross margin.  Q1 FY12 was the highest gross margin quarter at 44.7% only to be bested this quarter by a gross margin of 47.4%.  How can Apple continue to deliver outsized margins?  Apple does so by focusing relentlessly on its supply chain and, for the last couple of product releases, by keeping its form factors consistent so that it can continue to improve manufacturing efficiencies.

The stock was hit over the past week for three reasons: 

1. Analysts read between the lines on earnings reports from Verizon and AT&T and extrapolated lower iPhones unit sales; Rumors are circulating that carriers will cut back on subsidies on the Apple iPhone thereby bringing down the gross margin, and Supply shortages emanating from Qualcomm will impact Apple.  First, Verizon and AT&T are not the only distribution channels for iPhones.  Analysts should not have extrapolated iPhone unit sales based upon the historical proportional contribution of AT&T and Verizon, given the breadth and expanding distribution network for iPhones.
2. Carriers would like to reduce subsidies, obviously, but they don’t have the power or incentive to do so.  The iPhone draws in customers (just recall the jump in AT&T subscriber numbers when AT&T exclusively introduced the iPhone in the US) and it draws in customers who use the higher margin data packages.  Over time, in theory, what carriers lose in subsidies they should make up in data margins.  Moreover, Apple claims that the iPhones are the most data efficient of the smartphones making it even more attractive to broadband-constrained carriers.    Carriers report to Apple that they have the lowest churn on the iPhones of the phones they offer.  Happy customers are loyal customers.  So while carriers would like to eke out more profits, it is doubtful that they are going to bite the hand that feeds them, or that brings them higher margin loyal customers.
3. Supply constraints at Qualcomm are an issue, but probably for Apple competitors.  As was previously reported when Apple was dipping down, it is most conceivable that Apple has locked up its required supply and, when demand for Apple products exceeds supply, customers simply wait creating pent-up demand for the successive quarter.

There are three other important points to highlight from the call, which are long-term catalysts to the stock.

1. Apple has historically been weak in the enterprise and has been considered a consumer technology, but that story has changed.   Apple has 95% support within the Fortune 500 and 75% support within the Global 500 for the iPad, released less than two years ago.  Moreover, Apple has an iOS enterprise developer program whereby in-house tech teams can develop to iOS devices.  This is important because development equates to adoption, usage and entrenchment.  On the call, Apple mentioned that the iPad had the strongest product adoption into the enterprise of any, ever.  The iPad’s features of mobility and screen size make it convenient and appropriate for sales tools (ie Bechtel) and for guides (the Air Force).
2. China is huge and will be even larger.  Revenues in this past quarter to China were $7.9B up over three-fold year over year.  It was the biggest quarter for China ever in Apple’s history, and over half of the $13.3B revenues of the entire last FY.  The enormous growth has been largely due to the iPhone and The New iPad has not yet been released there.  Apple only has four stores on mainland China plus one in Hong Kong.  The potential for China remains large, and I highlighted the interest in China for luxury goods such as Apple products.
3. Focus on the powerful distribution of Apple’s own stores.  The entire buying experience for an iPhone is much more pleasurable at an Apple store than at a carrier store or big-box retailer, given the displays of iPads, iMacs, headphones, etc and given the level of expertise on the Apple products by the sales people at an Apple store.  If you have bought an iPhone, you know what I mean.  Simply put, the best buying experience for an Apple product is at an Apple store.  And, clearly, consumers think so too.  Sales per store increased from $9.9M a year ago to $12.2M in this past quarter.  85M people visited an Apple store in the past quarter, up 19% from the year before.  And consistent with historical trends, over half of the Mac buyers were a first time Mac buyer.  Consider this:  Apple provides an excellent user experience, which is why people buy their products.  Apple also provides an excellent buying experience, which is why people come to their stores.

Apple continues to be an attractively valued stock.  It now has over $110B in cash, or $117 per share.  With today’s earnings factored into the earnings estimates for FY12 (meaning adding in the extra $2.30 in earning for the quarter to annual estimate), Apple, trading at $600 after hours, is 10.4x FY12 earnings of $46.53 (excluding cash) and 9.5x FY13 earnings of $50.94.  But expect earnings estimates to go up, making the stock an even more attractive buy for long-term investors.  Ignore the intermediary noise and focus on the results, the products, and the lack of competition on the landscape.  For now, Apple remains a long-term holding, and an attractive buy at these levels.

Apple Takes Larger Share of Smartphone Market

Android and Apple’s iOS platform both gained share of the North American smartphone market at the expense of BlackBerry, according to the latest data from mobile ad network InMobi. iOS maintained its narrow lead over Android in the first quarter, with as 36.8% share, up from 33.1% in the fourth quarter of 2011. Android came in at 34.1%, up from 32.5% in the prior quarter.

By contrast, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS dropped from a nearly 12% share in the fourth quarter to 7.3% in the first three months of 2012. The quarterly drop-off signals the troubled handset maker’s continuing decline as a result of Apple and Google’s growing dominance of smartphone operating systems.

RIM last month reported sales plummeted 25% in the fourth quarter. 

Globally, Android was the top smartphone platform in Q1, however, with 22.2% of impressions compared to 18.2% for iOS.

The iPhone, iPad and iPod alone accounted for 37% of impressions on InMobi’s network in North America, with the BlackBerry 8520 a distant third among individual devices, generating almost 2% of impressions. Among phone manufacturers, Nokia was second behind Apple, with 14% share of impressions, followed by Samsung and HTC (both 9%), RIM (7%), LG (6%) and Motorola (5%).

Ann Frisbie, vice president and managing director, North America, at InMobi said. 

"Apple maintained its lead over Android and further increased its share of impressions and handset dominance; the new iPad certainly helped its overall position.  However, we know that fierce competition is created across the operating systems when new devices enter the market and this time last year Android surpassed iOS globally.”

Sales of the Apple tablet during Q2 2012 won’t reflect the full impact of the new iPad model, which was only launched last month.  Frisbie suggested Apple could see heightened challenges in the U.S. market later this year with a rumored launch of an Android-based smartphone from Amazon and a 7-inch Google-branded tablet.

Microsoft is also expected to introduce a much-anticipated Windows 8 during the latter half of 2012.

InMobi’s North American network grew impressions 18% in the first quarter to 52.6 million, the vast majority of which (84%) came from smartphones.

COMMENTARY:    There was never any doubt in my mind that Apple's sales and earnings for Q2 2012 would not be spectacular.  The New iPad was impressive and the superior tablet of any introduced so far, bar none.   There, I said it, to satisfy all Apple evangelists.  

For those of you wondering what's with the Apple logo covered in blood, you'll just have to visit my blog more often and read what I say about Apple.   HINT:  Select my blog posts under the "Mobile" category and you will find out.

Courtesy of Apple's press release of April 24, 2012, an article dated April 24, 2012 appearing in Forbes and an article dated April 23, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily and an article dated April 24, 2012 appearing in Seeking Alpha

 

GLOBAL ONLINE ADS HIT $85 BILLION IN 2011, UP 16% OVER 2010, U.S. HIT $32.2 BILLION, GLOBAL ONLINE ADS TO HIT $98.2 BILLION IN 2012

Online advertising hit $84.8 billion in 2011, representing a 16% year-over-year increase, and accounting for more than 17% of all global measured ad expenditures, according to GroupM. Across global regions, North America led in terms of overall digital ad spending with an estimated $34.5 billion.

The Asia-Pacific region came in second with $24.8 billion, followed by Western Europe with $21 billion, according to the study “This Year, Next Year: Interaction 2012.”

This year, GroupM predicts digital ad spending to reach $98.2 billion globally, representing a nearly 16% increase year-over-year, while the figure represents almost 19% of all measured advertising investment. 

In the 2012 forecast, North America once again ranks first with an estimated $38 billion in digital ad spend, followed by the Asia-Pacific region with $31.4 billion, and Western Europe with $23 billion.

In the U.S., digital ad spending hit $32.2 billion in 2011 -- representing a 22% share of the overall domestic market, and a 12% increase over the previous year, according to the study. This year, those figures are expected to reach $35.4 billion for a 23% share and a 10% increase over 2011.

According to Rob Norman, GroupM Interaction Global CEO, it’s less about the new than what marketers are doing with existing resources. “It seems that less is brand new and that a combination of scale of usage of an increasingly social and mobile Web, the penetration of devices supported by it, and the continued atomization of audiences and content, in both their creation and distribution combine to tell the story of the year.”

GroupM also found that digital advertising’s share of total ad investment rose from 4.4% worldwide in 2004 to a projected 18.8% in 2012. 

Also of note, the average percentage of consumers’ “media time” spent online increased from 11% in 2006 to 19% in 2011, while the absolute number of broadband homes worldwide has nearly tripled in this period to reach 500 million, and the typical country has seen broadband penetration grow by half.

Aside from general monetary inflation, ad investment growth has two main vectors: aggregate audience hours and advertising intensity per individual, according to GroupM.

Average online advertising investment per online user doubled between 2006 and 2011, while for the year, Norway had the highest per-capita online ad investment in the study’s sample: $200.

GroupM points out that e-commerce now accounts for about 5% of global retail sales, with instant-on devices, secure and simple payment, vouchering, and the optimization of retail for mobile serving as catalysts for growth.

COMMENTARY:   Mobile devices are a key driver in the phenomenal growth on online advertising.   With tablets poised to hit 118.9 million units, and smartphone sales expected to reach 630 million units in 2012, and exceeding PC unit sales, no wonder online ad spending his growing so rapidly.

Courtesy of an article dated April 9, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily

GARTNER: TABLET SALES TO REACH 118.9 MILLION UNITS IN 2012, UP 98% FROM THE 60 MILLION UNITS SOLD IN 2011, IPAD TO DOMINATE

Worldwide media tablet sales to end users are forecast to total 118.9 million units in 2012, a 98 percent increase from 2011 sales of 60 million units, according to Gartner, Inc.

Apple's iOS continues to be the dominant media tablet operating system (OS), as it is projected to account for 61.4 percent of worldwide media tablet sales to end users in 2012 (see Table 1). Despite the arrival of Microsoft-based devices to this market, and the expected international rollout of the Kindle Fire, Apple will continue to be the market leader through the forecast period.

Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner said.

"Despite PC vendors and phone manufacturers wanting a piece of the pie and launching themselves into the media tablet market, so far, we have seen very limited success outside of Apple with its iPad.  As vendors struggled to compete on price and differentiate enough on either the hardware or ecosystem, inventories were built and only 60 million units actually reached the hands of consumers across the world. The situation has not improved in early 2012, when the arrival of the new iPad has reset the benchmark for the product to beat."

"It appears that this year competitors have waited to see what Apple would bring out — because there were very few announcements of new media tablets at either the Consumer Electronics Show or Mobile World Congress. Many vendors will wait for Windows 8 to be ready and will try to enter the market with a dual-platform approach, hoping that the Microsoft brand could help them in both the enterprise and consumer markets."

Click Image To Enlarge

Microsoft tablets are projected to account for 4.1 percent of media tablet sales this year, and grow to 11.8 percent of sales by the end of 2016. Windows 8 is Microsoft's official entrance into the media tablet market.

Ms. Milanesi said.

"IT departments will see Windows 8 as the opportunity to deploy tablets on an OS that is familiar to them and with devices offered by many enterprise-class suppliers.  This means that we see Windows 8 as a strong IT-supplied offering more so than an OS with a strong consumer appeal."

Gartner analysts said enterprise sales of media tablets will account for about 35 percent of total tablet sales sold in 2015. These sales will not be clearly defined as enterprise purchases. Gartner expects enterprises to allow tablets as part of their buy your own device (BYOD) program. More of these tablets will be owned by consumers who use them at work.

Ms. Milanesi said. 

"This poses a big threat to vendors that thought about focusing on the enterprise market who will now have to become appealing to consumers as well.  This is exactly the same trend that vendors such as RIM had to face in the smartphone market. The difference here is that tablets have been created for consumers first and then relied on an ecosystem of apps and services that make them more manageable in the enterprise. When the deployment will come from the IT department we believe that operating systems such as Windows 8 will have an advantage as long as they are not seen as a compromise in usability for the users."

Android tablets are forecast to account for 31.9 percent of media tablet sales in 2012. Gartner analysts said the main issue with Android tablets has been the lack of applications that are dedicated to tablets and therefore take advantage of their capabilities. Gartner's consumer survey data shows that consumers are running many of their apps on their mobile phones and their tablets.

Gartner's detailed market forecast data is available in the report, "Forecast: Media Tablets by Operating System, Worldwide, 2010-2016, 1Q12 Update."  The report can be downloaded from Gartner's website by clicking HERE. 

Gartner's Special Report, "iPad and Beyond: The Future of the Tablet Market," provides insight into what consumers, enterprises and vendors can expect as the market continues to unfold. More than 20 reports examine the tablet marketplace, as well as video commentary. The Special Report is available HERE.

COMMENTARY:   Rumormongers have been spreading tales of a miniature, 7-inch Apple tablet since before Apple even released its first iPad in 2010.  The first rumor hit in September 2009, and now — some 17 individual rumors later — the speculation refuses to die.

A Chinese site called NetEase reported Monday that a pint-size Apple tablet will land in the third quarter of this year to “counter attack” upcoming Windows 8 tablets. The device will cost between $250 and $300, and Foxconn and Pegatron will be manufacturing the tablet for Apple.

I can hardly wait to see Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system and its new tablets when they come out.  I am a Windows user through and through.  

Courtesy of an article dated April 10, 2012 appearing in Gartner

A HILARIOUS TWO-MINUTE ANIMATION OF THE CAREER OF FORMER APPLE CEO STEVE JOBS

Next Media Animation takes a look back and the life and career of Apple co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs, who resigned that position late on Wednesday.

 

Our tale begins with Steve Jobs dabbling in LSD and spiritual enlightenment, which Jobs describes as the "one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life".  Man, look at all
the colors. Hey, that gives me an idea for a company logo.

Jobs would then found Apple with Steve Wozniak and a third guy who cashed out his shares way too early, so we didn't bother to animate him. In 1984, Jobs unveiled the Macintosh and forever revolutionized personal computing.

But the good times wouldn't last. John Sculley, the executive Jobs hired away from Pepsi, bounced Jobs from the company he founded.

Jobs would get his revenge by starting another company, Pixar. He produced 'Toy Story' and sold the animation company to Disney for a fat profit.

Jobs finally returned to Apple and defeated arch nemesis Bill Gates to become the baddest mofo in tech. Jobs was then diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and required a live-saving liver transplant.

Apple now faces a threat from Google Android.   Thankfully, Jobs passed the baton to chief operating officer Tim Cook.   

COMMENTARY:  I must admit that I don't like Steve Jobs for personal reasons, many of which I have expressed in previous blog posts.  Don't get me wrong, I have great respect for Steve Jobs because he is a brilliant entrepreneur, visionary and eminent technology icon of his era.  His "1984" TV commercial for the Mac portrayed IBM as "Big Brother," and was simply brilliant.   I actually rallied around Apple because I loved the Mac, but the company where I worked was deeply rooted in IBM hardware and mainframes.  The iPod became the first "spoke" in the Digital Hub Strategy, which I have always considered the driving vision and master plan behind Apple. Since Steve Jobs' return to Apple in 1995, the company has become the largest and most valuable (by market value) consumer electronics company in the World.  Hope you enjoyed this post.

Courtesy of an article dated August 26, 2011 appearing in Mashable

 

JUKEY: A SOCIAL NETWORK MUSIC JUKEBOX THAT ONLY PLAYS CROWD FAVORITES IN A REAL WORLD ENVIRONMENT

A SIMPLE, INGENIOUS SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF HOW ISOLATED MUSIC-LISTENING HAS BECOME.

The biggest problem in social media right now isn’t getting people engaged online, it’s getting people engaged in person. Check-in apps like Foursquare and photo apps like Instagram definitely interact with the real world, but they tend to appeal to friends online more than the friends you’re actually, physically hanging out with.

Jukey hardware and controls (Click Image To Enlarge)

Vim & Vigor Design, who you’d best know for creating the accessories and finish of the Nook, has developed a concept that addresses this problem of (anti)social network behavior. It’s called Jukey, and it’s a new take on the jukebox, networked to accept requests from in-person smartphone users. The idea is that people at a party can pool their music collections, and the device’s intelligence will automatically create smart playlists composed of the favorite songs of everyone who contributed. No more being a slave to one person’s tastes; no more violent lurches in the music as different would-be DJs commandeer the laptop.

Partner Irina Kozlovskaya explains to Co.Design.

"Our team noticed that more and more music listening is becoming a solitary experience. This is part of a larger trend of minimizing social interaction in lieu of digital experiences, especially for younger generations.  We set out to create a device that would combine all the best elements of services like Spotify and Last.fm, but in a real-world environment.”

The idea has actually been done before to a limited capacity. Services like Grooveshark have long supported custom APIs for code junkies that would allow party participants to vote on playlists.

What Vim & Vigor does differently is that they’ve taken an idea we all know can be possible and they’ve packaged it in an enticing consumer product. Jukey itself is a very neat little music player. The simple Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-connected speaker has no buttons. To turn the device on, you simply lay Jukey on its side. To change the volume, you swipe left or right on Jukey’s case. And you can even rewind and fast forward by rotating Jukey like a big jog wheel.

Jukey sound cones (Click Image To Enlarge)

Everything else is digital. An auto mode can play music by filters like genre, or DJs can trade off tracks in a voting-based arena (much like Turntable.fm). And what’s exceptionally neat is that, even those who can’t make the physical party can join in digitally online, sharing their tracks and voting with everyone else.

So rather than losing party-goers to their musings on Facebook, Jukey constantly pulls the cloud back to the real world--in fact, Jukey pulls anyone on a social network into a good old fashioned analog celebration.

As of right now, Jukey is purely a concept. But Vim & Vigor is open to partnering with a company interested in producing it. To me, it seems like, not a necessary replacement for, but a killer extension to an existing social network. Why not have Spotify jukeboxes pumping at every party? It’d sure beat the awkward, fumbling silence of swapping users on an iPod dock.

COMMENTARY:  The problem that I see is with Jukey is that it is too dependent on a single device for social networking crowd music listening.  Jukey has a cool design, but the concept should've consisted of an app that runs on your desktop or laptop and interfaces with your social network crowd that could then be connected to your home entertainment system to playback the music.  

Courtesy of an article dated April 9, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design 

 

FOUR PROBLEMS GOOGLE NEEDS TO OVERCOME IN DESIGNING THEIR NEW AUGMENTED REALITY HEADSUP DISPLAY (HUD) GLASSES

Google HUD glasses

GOOGLE IS PLANNING TO AUGMENT REALITY, AND IT’S A DESIGN PROBLEM THAT WILL REQUIRE MORE THAN MERE ALGORITHMS TO SOLVE.

Google has never been a design-forward company, revolutionizing our lives through interface design. Instead, they’ve taken over the world building products with raw intellectual horsepower--brilliant artificial intelligence to fuel search, wise mapping systems to take us from point A to point B, and clever cloud-syncing apps that allow us to collaborate on projects from around the globe. Google never had to be pretty. It’s always been smart.

Yesterday, Google officially revealed a project that will push them to their creative limits. It’s called Project Glass, and it’s a pair of glasses that layers digital information over the real world.

 

It’s your smartphone, right in your eyes. You can read text messages. You can take photos. You can listen to music (thanks to some built-in earbuds). You can even be told that the subway is closed as you walk up to it, and be redirected to your destination by foot.

But maybe most notably, nothing about what Google has presented is an actual product yet, or considered close to finalized.  A Google spokesperson told Co.Design. 

“We wanted to let people know about what we’re doing, and what we hope to achieve with it.  But in terms of the graphics, the visuals, the hardware setup, there’s a lot of experimentation going on. And a lot of rapid prototyping on the team.” 

The concept video Google has shared is meant to signify what the team feels “would be of most value to people,” and what they’re closest to actualizing. Now that this concept is public, Google will be entering what they called the “feedback gathering phase,” in which they’re looking for the community to chime in on what they want to see (and don’t want to see) in a fully realized product.

Click Image To Enlarge

So where does this leave us for now? What Google has shown is promising, but their design challenges are clear:

1. GOOGLE NEEDS TO AVOID "THE SEGWAY PROBLEM"

There’s a reason that video glasses haven’t taken off yet (and by that, I don’t mean augmented reality glasses like Google’s, but something more like Vuzix). And, for lack of a better term, we’ll call it The Segway Problem. Technology can be a symbol of your future-forwardness, or it can be the exact opposite: a sign of the future’s ridiculousness. The Segway flopped in part for its cost and in part for the fact that humanity isn’t quite that lazy, but there was a deeper, visceral reaction to the core of the product that signified a silly future rather than an inspiring one. So far, the actual glasses Google is showing off aren’t inspiring. To succeed, Google will need to sell us on either the stylishness, or the invisibility, of video glasses. And may we suggest copying the iPod in this approach? Make the technology as obscured on the user as possible, except for one trademark calling card (in the iPod’s case, white earbuds).

2. GOOGLE NEEDS TO NAVIGATE "THE ALWAYS ON PROBLEM"

As inspiring as moments in Google’s concept video may be--and the photo-taking moment is an aha moment if I’ve ever seen one--it’s also stuffed with notification, none of which is fundamentally different from what we could be checking on our cell phones less intrusively. The functions that Google blocks will be as integral to the platform’s success as those that are enabled. Finding the perfect level of obtrusiveness within an omnipresent Internet connection could be the largest challenge of human-device interaction the electronics industry has ever encountered. And as Google is paving new ground, they’re working outside their comfort zone: Google has no data to mine for how much notification is too much notification. If ever there’s been a product ripe for Google Labs field testing, it’s Project Glass.

3. GOOGLE NEEDS TO FIND A KILLER USE-CASE

People in the Valley used to talk all the time about finding "killer apps"--that is, the one, defining use of a technology that’ll spark its mass adoption. And no wonder: With technologies such as augmented reality and Project Glass, the possibilites seem to outstrip the actual need. As I suggested before, these glasses aren’t yet doing anything our phones can’t. So why do they need to be glasses?

A good counter-example is the iPad. Lots of people dismissed it when it first came out, saying,

"Sure, it’s cool, but what does anyone need another computer for?"

Well, it turns out, people didn’t need another computer so much as they wanted one--a computer that would make surfing the web from your bed or couch a lot less clunky and more fun. With Project Glass, I’m not sure that they have that use-case yet--that is, the perfect scenario where this just makes sense in people’s lives. There might be some set of features and interactions that makes it so, but these haven’t quite appeared just yet.

Click Image To Enlarge

4. GOOGLE NEEDS TO ATTENUATE "THE TOO MUCH FEEDBACK PROBLEM"

Where Project Glass is at now, what one spokesperson labeled “the feedback gathering phase” in our brief conversation today, is a tenuous spot to be in. Crowdsourcing can create great products, but when it comes to inventing something that no one has conceptualized before, we need bold visionaries, not naysaying Internet whiners. Not just anyone can design a user interface. And I’d posit that almost no one can design a usable interface that will sit in our eyeballs 24/7. Crowdsourcing user feedback at the invisible level--the advanced A/B testing Google does when they test the color blue without us even knowing it--could be integral to fine tuning Project Glass at a number of levels. But at heart, they will need to present us with a most singular vision if they expect any of us to don a pair of glasses, not a mishmash of suggestions from the peanut gallery.

The little things, the softest touches of design, will define Project Glass’s future in the marketplace.

• Is the interface loud or quiet?
• Do we use vocal commands with some functions or all functions?
• Are notifications really in the center of the screen, or can they be repositioned?
• Will images be opaque or partially transparent?
• What will the glasses show when I sit at my computer or when I drive?

All of these “how does it feel” components will matter even more than they do in a cell phone. But on top of all this, and maybe most importantly, we’ll need to know the one big reason that we’ll all want to wear our phones rather than keep them tucked away in our pockets. As of right now, I don’t think we’ve seen it. 

Most of us interact with at least one Google product every day.  Many of us use their products all day, every day. Whether or not you’ve been particularly inspired by their design, you can’t argue that their approach hasn’t worked well enough so far.

But it’s been a while since Google was the first to market in uncharted territory (and it begs the question, have they ever been, really?). Wearing a computer has the potential to redefine the human experience even more than PCs or smartphones did. With Project Glass, Google has the task of designing the interface of our lives, and I can’t imagine a greater challenge ahead of them.

COMMENTARY:   The more complicated advanced aircraft avionic and electronic systems became, pilots encountered more difficulty operating and flying their aircraft.  A better and more efficient system was needed to prevent information overload.  The whole purpose behind the original military-style headsup display (HUD) glasses was to make it possible for pilots to fly and view the operating controls of their helicopters and jet fighters  so they could fly their aircraft without constantly looking at their consoles.  At the speeds modern military combat aircraft fly, pilots needed immediate access to their aircraft's flight controls and other information. HUD filled that need because they could now see their electronic controls, everything from available fuel, speed, altitude, air pressure, CO2 levels, armaments available, and radar targets in the immediate vicinity, just to name a few.  

I think cell phones may rapidly be reaching the point where a more responsive and user-friendly user interface is necessary to make life easier for users.  The two major weaknesses or disadvantages of cell phones are their small displays and keyboards.  Cell phone owners are spending entirely too much time watching the display and manually typing text messages and emails.  Typing mistakes are frequent and often.  This has always been one of my major rubs against cell phones.  I believe that Google realizes that a solution to this problem is needed.  If Google doesn't solve the problem, then Apple or another cell phone set maker will.  Sooner, rather than later, cell phone set makers must eliminate or substantially reduce our dependancy on manual cell phone controls and keys.  HUD display glasses appear to be the logical solution.  However, what do you do about "talking heads," those annoying individuals who use headphones to talk on their cell phones?   Will telephatic controls be far behind? 

Augmented Reality combined with HUD technology certainly has applications for location-based social networking and checkin services like foursquare, Loopt and Facebook Places.  Law enforcement will definitely be using this technology, and this is quite scary.   I see all of this happening sooner, rather than later.  Google+ will definitely benefit from this new exciting technology. Google+ users will be able to connect and engage with friends in real-time in the physical world no matter where they are.  Brands will be able to bring us deals no matter where we are.  Google has been working on object and face recognition for quite sometime, and I can see a point where Google+ users can immediately recognize their fans and followers in their Circles.  A Google+ user could recognize a Facebook user too.  The possibilities are quite endless as pointed out in the above article.   

I agree with the four problems identified by Fast Company's Mark Wilson, but I believe that they are secondary to the two major weaknesses or disadvantages of todays cell phones identified above.  Yes, design is important. Yes, its important to do a beta test and get customer feedback, but Steve Jobs said it better with his secrets to innovation, "Say no to a thousand things," "Make a dent in the universe," and "Design insanely great products that people will lust for."     

Courtesy of an article dated April 4, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design 

 

REVENUE FROM AMAZON'S APPSTORE IS NOW 89% OF iTUNES APP STORE REVENUE, ACCORDING TO MOBILE ANALYTICS FIRM FLURRY

Click Image To View the Amazon Appstore for Adroid 

Along with Apple and Google, a third player is competing for a major share of app-generated revenue.

Revenue from Amazon’s Appstore is now 89% of iTunes App Store revenue, according to mobile analytics firm Flurry, while revenue from Google’s app business -- recently rebranded as Google Play -- is now 23% of iTunes App Store revenue. 

In an effort to compare the ability of app developers to generate revenue across the major app stores, Flurry examined a basket of top-ranked apps -- each with a similar presence across iOS, Amazon and Android. 

According to Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at Flurry.

“Their primary business models are in-app purchase, which is the revenue type we compare for this analysis.” 

Another way to interpret the results is that for every $1.00 an app generates in the iTunes App Store, it generates $0.89 in the Amazon Appstore, and $0.23 in Google Play. 

These results mirror those of a similar analysis conducted by Flurry last December, which found that for every $1.00 generated in the iTunes App Store, developers generated $0.24 in the Android Market.

When Amazon debuted its Android-based Appstore last year, analysts questioned whether the company could break into the business. Amazon, however, now boasts over 31,000 apps in its store, while more developers are signing the company’s praises. Game maker Glu Mobile, for one, reported that its revenues from the Amazon Appstore increased 1000% four months after Amazon debuted it Kindle Fire tablet.

Click Image To View Amazon's Appstore for Andrioid

Farago believes. 

“Amazon's bet to fork Android in order to put consumers into their own shopping experience on Kindle Fire appears to be paying off.  Showing its commerce strength, Amazon already delivers more than three times the revenue in its app store compared to what Google generates for developers.”  

Looking ahead, he says that with "some of the lowest barriers to entry in the history of software development and distribution, apps are getting built and downloaded at breakneck speeds."

Earlier this month, Apple crossed a record 25 billion downloads from more than 550,000 available apps, while Google announced last December that it had crossed 10 billion downloads from 400,000 available apps.

COMMENTARY:    In a blog post dated January 24, 2012, I described in great deal how Amazon could create a very successful and profitable increasing returns business from sales of Kindle Fire apps and accessories.   If Flurry's research study is correct, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is nothing short of a marketing genius.   There were a lot of neysayers who truthfully believed that the Kindle Fire would be a flop because Amazon was by some estimates, selling the 7-inch Android-based tablet below its cost to produce.  For whatever it worth, I was not one of those neysayers, so I am absolutely overjoyed.

In a blog post dated January 9, 2012,  I reported that according to Anthony DiClemente, a Barclay's analyst, smaller, cheaper tablets were hot, and that he had forecasted Amazon would sell 5.5 million Kindle Fire tablets in Q4 2011 and would sell 18.4 million Kindle Fire tablets for the year 2012.  DiClemente also lowered Apple's iPad forecast from 16 million to 13 million in Q4 2011 because of rumors that the iPad 3 would be announced in early 2012.  In a blog post dated January 25, 2012, Apple CEO Tim Cook reported that Apple actually sold 15.4 million iPad 2's in Q4 2011 (Apple's Q1).    

In a blog post dated February 11, 2012, I reported that Apple commanded an 88% of the tablet ad traffic while Amazon had only 4%, but I also said that it was not fair to compare the Amazon Kindle Fire versus the Apple iPad at that point in time, because the iPad has been around now for nearly two years, while the Kindle Fire didn't begin shipping until November 14, 2011.  Most of the Kindle Fire tablets were sold during the period between Black Friday and Christmas.

In a blog post dated January 25, 2012, I reported that Apple had sold a total 40.1 million iPads through the end of 2011. The Apple iPad 2 began regular shipments on March 17, 2011.  It's no contest based on shear numbers of tablets sold.  Apple comes out on top, so it should be no surprise that the iPad wins the ad traffic clicking and revenue per click wars too.  In the end these numbers mean absolutely nothing. Let's compare the iPad and Kindle Fire a year from now.  Let's see who wins the ad clicking and revenue per click wars then.

I applaud the huge gamble that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took in launching the Kindle Fire.  Had it failed to sell, or resulted in poor sales of Android-based apps, it could've severely impacted the company's earnings in Q4 2011 and year 2012.   It now appears that his gamble has worked magnificently.  According to rumors, Amazon plans on unveiling a Kindle Fire 2 and a lower-priced 9-in tablet sometime after mid-2012 that will compete headon with "the new iPad."  The new iPad is an incredible tablet, so let's hope that Bezos can come close in matching it in terms of features and performance.  Maybe my dream of an iPad-killer is in the making.       

Courtesy of an article dated March 30, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily