ImaginativePRO Blog

STRATEGY ANALYTICS: GLOBAL ANDROID TABLET SHIPMENTS UP TO 65.8% IN Q1 2014, iOS FELL TO 28.4%, WINDOWS REACHED 5.8%

Global tablet shipments in Q1 2014 reached 57.6 million units, up 19 percent from 48.3 million in Q1 2013. Breaking those numbers down, Android secured 65.8 percent global share, iOS grabbed 28.4 percent, and Windows secured 5.8 percent.

Here’s the full breakdown:

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The latest figures are from Strategy Analytics, which says Google is making steady progress as it now commands two thirds of the tablet market share. Apple, meanwhile, has changed its product release cycle to the holiday timeframe, so iPad losing share is to be expected until the final months of the calendar year.

In short, the Android-iOS war is far from over, but ever since Google surpassed Apple, it doesn’t look likely to lose its lead. Yet much more interesting will be watching to see how Microsoft’s numbers change in the next few quarters.

Here’s what Strategy Analytics believes is likely:

There may be an uptick in Windows following Microsoft’s decision to offer Windows for free for sub 9-inch devices. We may see a new batch of 8-inch Windows based Tablets with reduced prices; they will still not be as inexpensive as Android, but it will enable them to be more competitive and appealing to a wider audience. The shortage of apps continues to be a problem, with seemingly little incentive for developers to work on the platform.

Frankly, we don’t think there will be much growth for Windows tablets in 2014. Microsoft is making another long-term play, and until the company’s Windows Phone and Windows RT strategy is solidified, most of the market won’t be considering anything aside from Android or iOS. Google’s and Apple’s duopoly is likely to continue for quite some time.

Courtesy of an article dated April 28, 2014 appearing in TheNextWeb

JAWBONE, THE MAKER OF JAMBOX, IS NOW THE STARTUP APPLE SHOULD FEAR MOST

Jawbone is ascending into the top echelon of tech startups, joining the likes of Uber, Dropbox, and Square. But unlike these other rising stars, which are redefining digital services, Jawbone is redefining our gadgets themselves.

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The maker of the Jambox wireless speaker and the Up fitness band — not to mention the least nerdy cell phone headsets — is reportedly about to close a quarter-billion-dollar investment. This funding round would set the company up for a high profile IPO. And it should give pause to the world’s leading gadget maker, Apple. New money for Jawbone generally means a move into an entirely new product category — a move Apple has struggled to make in recent years.

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As first reported by Recode, Jawbone’s latest investment round brings the company’s total financing to around $600 million. That might seem like a lot for a decade-old company with Jawbone’s limited product line. But as with Google’s $3 billion purchase of Nest — which makes internet-connected thermostats and smoke alarms but is sure to move into other areas — investors aren’t just buying into Jawbone’s products. They’re buying into its promise.

The market for personal electronics is quickly moving beyond the world of smartphones and tablets to the realm of wearables, home automation, and robotics. Hardware is becoming less about screens and more about objects you interact with directly in the physical world. This is Jawbone’s expertise, which puts it squarely in Apple’s rear view. The question is whether Apple — and Google, now that it has made its own hardware gambit with Nest — will simply watch Jawbone gain ground, or snap it up before it gets too close.

Electronics in Your Clothes

Jawbone’s ascension has been a long time coming. Founded in 2002, it’s ancient in startup terms. That a company this old is still taking venture capital funding shows that its products aren’t yet making enough money on their own to sustain the business.

At the same time, this latest investment — led by low-profile Twitter backer Suhail Rizvi — shows that Silicon Valley still expects great things from Jawbone. Generally, each new round has subsidized a Jawbone foray into an entirely new product category, such as the Up. This new infusion of cash suggests the company is looking to branch out yet again.

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Jawbone might be looking at a more substantial gadget for your wrist. After all, the smartwatch category is still wide open. Or it might be ambitious enough to embed its electronics into clothing, an even newer trend. Of all the hardware companies working today, Jawbone’s approach to design might make it the best candidate to move smart clothes forward.

In one respect, Jawbone’s devices are a lot like Apple’s. The company admires minimalism. The Jambox has just three big buttons, and the Up only has one. But Apple’s minimalism is cold — all brushed metal and glass — while Jawbone’s is warm, squishy, and textured. The human quality of Jawbone’s design will work to its advantage as we move from gadgets with screens to more direct, tactile interactions. If you’re going to wear a gadget on your body, it’s nice if it feels more like part of your body, and less like a robotic add-on.

The New Ideas Apple Needs

Yves Béhar, the famed industrial designer and Jawbone’s chief creative officer, told Kara Swisher in a recent Vanity Fair profile.

“Good design accelerates the adoption of new ideas.”  

As a master of design, Jawbone may beat Apple to those new ideas. And that’s what makes the startup such a threat.

Apple’s stock price has fallen in recent months amid concerns that the company isn’t moving fast enough into entirely new areas beyond phones and tablets. The rumors of an Apple smartwatch have swirled for so long without the arrival of a real product, the company looks like it can’t make decisive advances without Steve Jobs to lead it. Meanwhile, Jawbone is already pushing deep into wearables.

Google Plus Jawbone

To be sure, Jawbone is a small company that’s still plowing through venture capital. But for Apple, Jawbone ceases to be small if it’s purchased by Google. With its acquisition of Nest, Google has signaled its intent to move into the so-called internet of things.  It also bought itself a major infusion of Apple DNA in the person of Nest CEO Tony Fadell, the designer of the original iPod.

Though there’s no indication Google has Jawbone on its shopping list, it certainly has the resources to pull off such an acquisition. A Google with both Nest and Jawbone would put two all-stars of personal tech on its roster. At least before the Nest acquisition, Apple hasn’t had to worry much about competing directly with Google as a hardware maker. If Google bought Jawbone too, Apple would have even more reason to be anxious.

Designed Into a Corner

One way out for Apple is to buy Jawbone itself. But that would be a big leap for the company. After this latest funding round, Jawbone is valued at more than $3 billion. That’s far more than Apple has ever paid for an acquisition. But that would be a small price to pay to inspire investors — and it would be way less boring than a stock buyback.

Even then, it’s hard to see how Jawbone would fit into Apple’s tightly controlled design ecosystem as defined by its chief designer, Jony Ive. The design of Apple products since Jobs returned to the company in the late 1990s has followed an evolutionary path. Change comes incrementally, not radically. Jawbone’s philosophy — embodied in its bright, punchy aesthetic — would be a sudden and dramatic departure for Apple. It could even undermine the brand by exposing possible weaknesses in its sleek approach.

There’s a chance Apple has designed itself into a corner. But for Jawbone, the future is full of possibility.

COMMENTARY:   For more than a decade, Jawbone has developed products and services for the mobile lifestyle unparalleled in their innovation, ease-of-use and sophistication of design.

The company is the creator of the award-winning and best-selling premium ICON Bluetooth headset; the inventor of NoiseAssassin® technology, the world’s first and only military-grade noise eliminating technology; JAMBOX, the first intelligent wireless speaker and speakerphone; as well as THOUGHTS, a free mobile service that allows users to utilize their voice in a new way.

A 2010 IDSA Design of the Decade winner, Jawbone is committed to delivering innovative products that improve the mobile lifestyle through ever-changing software and wearability.

Jawbone was founded in 1999, has approximately 475 employees, is privately-held and headquartered in San Francisco.   The co-founder and CEO is Hosain Rahman.

Hosain Rahman, Cofounder and CEO, Jawbone (Click Image To Enlarge)

Courtesy of an article dated February 14, 2014 appearing in Wired

GOOGLE GLASS' SHORTCOMINGS, AND WHY MOTOROLA'S MOTO 360 SMARTWATCH WILL KILL GOOGLE GLASS

In November of 2013, I became a Google Glass Explorer. Part of this endeavor involved forking over $1,500 and tax for a technology device that was still in beta. The hardware was beyond prototype, but not in the mass production scale that would be necessary for worldwide distribution.

 

Just a few years ago, smart watches such as those made by Sony and Pebble were very limited in their functionality, battery life and technical specifications. When Project Glass was announced in 2012, it was seen as a revolutionary technology. It was wearable computing to the next level. Google Glass enabled people to have the information they “needed” in the corner of their eye and gave them instant access to the world wide web with just a simple voice command.

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In theory, the technology is great. However, in practice, it’s a different story.

I have been a Glass Explorer for just shy of six months and I have to admit that I (like many other Glass Explorers) use the technology much less than I ever thought I would and here’s why:

Battery Life:

Most of the applications for Google Glass can be a battery hog. However, with “regular” use throughout the day, I can usually squeeze a good 6-8 hours of casual use before the battery is depleted. Many of the augmented reality applications such as World Lens, require a lot of battery use because they involve the use of the camera, display, wireless data and heavy processor use. Doing something as simple as taking a video can deplete the device’s battery in just 20-30 minutes. Granted, Glass isn’t designed or intended to record long form content, but more or less “moments” which is why the device records 10 second video clips by default.

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Security “Issues”:

Many workplaces will not allow the use of Google Glass because of exposure to sensitive information and PII (Personally Identifiable Information). I would not be surprised to see if the PCI standards change to ban the use of wearable cameras in areas where employees are able to see credit card numbers. Sadly, most of the concerns about Glass are around it’s camera, which brings me to my next point.

Social Acceptance:

Wearing a computer on your face is about as acceptable as riding a Segway around your office. The simple truth is that we aren’t there yet. The fact that we recently learned about the largest government surveillance scandal in recorded history doesn’t help either. People feel that their privacy has been invaded enough by companies reading their e-mail, governments listening to their phone calls and more surveillance cameras than we realize. Until these fears are settled, wearing around a camera on your face will remain a faux pas in many settings.

Google Glass' facial recognition capabilities presents controversial privacy invasion issues (Click Image To Enlarge)

Reliability:

Google Glass is not reliable. Plain and simple. Switching between Bluetooth and Wifi data is never seamless. The device is incapable of connecting to Wifi networks that require TOS agreements or have any sort of splash page login method. If you leave the device turned off and unplugged for a period of time, the battery mysteriously depletes itself. The most frustrating reliability issue is related to connectivity. You can have Google Glass successfully paired to an LTE device with great signal strength and still see the dreaded “can’t reach Google right now” message.

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Moto 360 Won’t Have These Problems

The most exciting thing about the Moto 360 is that it won’t have most of the problems that I encounter on a daily basis with Google Glass. First of all, it’s on my wrist, so it’s much less conspicuous than a face-mounted computer. This definitely helps us in the social acceptance arena, and makes it a wearable that I’m comfortable wearing everywhere (except maybe not the shower). Battery life may be a problem, but not in a way that it is for Glass. I expect overnight charging for my smart watch and would love to see wireless Qi charging integration to make that process just a little bit easier.

 

Better App Development

I don’t think I’m alone in assuming that there will be more and better apps designed for wrist-mounted wearables. Although the Android Wear platform may look completely analogous to Glassware, it’s a much more practical form factor which means more users and more potential for success of any certain app. Also, apps can be designed to work on a number of devices, not just Motorola’s upcoming offering. Developing for a multi-device platform is a no-brainer when compared to developing for a single device on a different framework.

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Sex Appeal

Men love watches. It’s really the only jewelry that most guys wear, and a lot can be inferred by the watch someone wears. For example, during the work week, I wear a Seiko stainless steel watch with a black face and very minimalist design. It shows that I am polished, responsible and punctual. On the weekends I like to wear a leather-banded “easy read” by Timex that is reminiscent of a standard GI watch from decades before.

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With the ability to instantly change the face of your watch and select a stylish band, this wearable becomes less of a computer and more of an accessory.

Safety

With Moto 360, you don’t have to brag to the world that you’re wearing a computer. A fringe benefit of this design is safety, as we recently learned from the woman wearing Google Glass that was allegedly mugged inside of a San Francisco bar.

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Affordability & Luxury

$1,500 was a lot of money to thrown down on a prototype. Especially something that won’t get daily wear. I don’t expect that Google Glass will dip below $800 any time soon, either. Moto 360, on the other hand, is likely to come to the market with a sub-$500 price tag. The competition in the market will surely help keep prices down as other manufacturers continue to innovate.

However, as in the world of watches, history tells us that consumers will spend thousands of dollars for a rare timepiece. If any of the major watch makers join the game, we might see an emergency of luxury smart watches which will only drive more consumers in the middle class to pick up a lower priced model.

I wanted Glass when it was announced. It was new, it was fresh and it was unexplored territory in the real world. Now that I’ve seen Moto 360, I see elements some elements of Glass that I love that will fit much better into my daily life.

COMMENTARY:   I always thought that Google Glass was a cool wearable android device,  but upon reading McDermott's comments about Google Glass' shortcomings, and Moto 360's strengths, I have come to the realization that Google should rethink the design of Google Glass. I knew that battery life was a serious problem with Google Glass if you constantly use it to video things you see or run online queries constantly.  There should definitely be a "sleep" feature built into wearable devices.  Wireless power sources are now within reach, and Google should consider acquiring one of three or four startups that are innovating in the wireless power source space. This could be a possible solution to the problem. 

Peter G McDermott is a technology enthusiast and community builder dedicated to helping small businesses connect with their customers online.

Courtesy of an article dated March 20, 2014 appearing in Mashable 

LOGBAR'S BLUETOOTH RING IS LIKE A MAGIC WAND ON YOUR FINGER, RAISES $772,000 ON KICKSTARTER

We've seen interactive rings that receive alerts from your smartphone and even rings that will give you the current time in a unique way, but a new ring leapfrogs the rest by acting as a full-on control mechanism.

On its exterior, Logbar's Ring device looks like nothing more than a silver ring, but packed inside the device are electronics that allow it to recognize your finger gestures and control any number of devices.

Logbar CEO Takuro Yoshida gave a detailed demonstration of the silver interactive device last year in San Francisco, and now Ring is available for purchase through a Kickstarter campaign.

Click Image To View Kickstarter Project Page

By recognizing finger gestures, Ring allows the wearer to write text messages by simply drawing in the air. The same dynamic allows the wearer to access apps by drawing designated shapes in the air. For example, drawing a music note could access your music player, while drawing an envelope shape would allow you to access your email.

More advanced functions depicted in the company's Kickstarter video (see above) include using the Bluetooth device for mobile payments via GPS or iBeacon, and as a controller for televisions and lights in smart homes. The company also says that it has tested Ring with devices spanning a wide spectrum of currently available, bleeding-edge hardware, including the Pebble watch, quadcopter drones and even Google Glass.

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Ring's associated app also allows you to program original shape gesture commands. This option could be particularly useful for disabled or visually impaired users with somewhat unconventional finger gesture patterns.

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To activate the device, you simply press the side button on the Ring, and to receive alerts you can either receive a vibration or view the discreet little LED pinpoints near the button port. According to the device's developers, Ring can perform up to 1,000 gestures before its battery needs to be recharged.

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The only obvious shortcoming of the device at this point is that fact that it's not waterproof. That could turn into a problem for those attempting to use Ring in mobile environments during bad weather, or even inside the home, say, if you forget you have Ring on when you go to wash your hands.

Also, Ring's rechargeable battery is not replaceable. Once it stops charging, the fun is over, and you'll have to pony up for a brand new Ring. That might not be as bad as it sounds. The cheapest early bird version of the device sold for $145, and during Yoshida's presentation last year he mentioned hopes of getting the device down to the $100 range.

At launch, the Ring app will only be available for iOS and Android devices, but the company has plans to release a Windows Phone version.

The device blew past its original Kickstarter goal of $250,000 in just its first five days of availability and, as of this writing, Ring had reached over $772,000 in funding, with 15 days left for new signups.

COMMENTARY:   I can definitely see a lot of potential for Logbar's Ring as a device to control any number of consumer electronics like TV's, cable TV controller boxes, gameplayers, and household appliances from toasters to washer and dryers.  It's a no-brainer, but requires rapid adoption by consumer electronics and appliance makers if it is to become an industry standard for controlling their products.  Smartphones and tablets are alreay being used to control consumer electronics devices and household appliances, and those devices would provide Ring with competition and are based on a graphics user interface that is already familiar with consumers. Whether consumers will switch to a totally unique device like Ring and have to learn a whole new GUI remains to be seen.  It means shelling out another $145 for a controlling device that many would consider an expensive novelty.  

Courtesy of an article dated March 3, 2014 appearing in Mashable

GARTNER REPORTS THAT ANDROID TABLETS DETHRONED APPLE iOS IN 2013 WITH A 62% MARKET SHARE

Android extended its dominance from smartphones to tablets in 2013, ending the year with a 62% share of the market, according to new research from Gartner.

This marks a big shift from a year ago, when the iPad still held sway with 53% of worldwide tablet sales to 46% for Android-based competitors.

The Apple tablet’s share has since fallen to 36% as more people turn to a range of Android devices as an alternative to the iPad.

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Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner stated.

"In 2013, tablets became a mainstream phenomenon, with a vast choice of Android-based tablets being within the budget of mainstream consumers, while still offering adequate specifications."

Emerging markets in particular helped drive sales of low-cost Android tablets, with growth in those areas up 145% last year.

Apple has tried to keep pace with the shift to smaller, less expensive tablets with its rollout of the 7-inch iPad Mini two years ago and updated version last fall. But the iPad is still mainly the preserve of high-end users in mature markets, where tablets sales grew just 31% in 2013.

With its Windows-based Surface tablets, Microsoft last year doubled its market share—but only to 2.1% from 1%. That’s hardly enough to throw a scare into Apple or Google.  Cozza said.  

"To compete, Microsoft needs to create a compelling ecosystem proposition for consumers and developers across all mobile devices, as tablets and smartphones become key devices for delivering applications and services to users beyond the PC."

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Among tablet manufacturers, Apple managed to stay on top in 2013, though its market share despite its market share slipping to 36%. That’s thanks in part to a strong fourth quarter, when it sold 26 million iPads. The expansion of Samsung’s Galaxy tablet line helped the Korean electronics giant capture 19.1% of the market, nearly tripling its 7.4% share in 2012.

Asus, Amazon and Lenovo rounded out the top five tablet makers.  

• Amazon saw its share shrink from 6.6% to 4.8%.
• Lenovo, by contrast, jumped from 1.9% to 3.3%, on the strength of sales for its Yoga model and Windows tablets. The company, however, has yet to establish a strong brand outside China.

Worldwide tablet sales overall increased 68% in 2013 to 195.4 million. Gartner said the broader market for “ultramobiles”—tablets, hybrid tablet/PC devices, and clamshell notebooks—grew by the same rate, reaching 216 million units. The research firm said the hybrid was the fastest-growing category because the keyboard allows better use of productivity apps, while providing the portability of a tablet.

That suggests more people who no longer want to deal with multiple devices will upgrade to hybrids in 2014, according to Cozza. Research firm IDC has separately projected growth in tablet shipments will slow to 22% this year from 50.6% in 2013. 

Courtesy of an article dated March 3, 2014 appearing in MediaPost Publications Mobile Marketing Daily

WHY MICROSOFT'S WINDOWS 8 IS THE PERFECT OPERATING SYSTEM THAT NOBODY WANTS

WINDOWS 8 LOOKS PERFECT. BUT NEW UPDATES MAY REVERT ITS DESIGN TO APPEASE CONSUMERS. WHAT IS GOING ON?

With Windows 8, Microsoft did the unthinkable: The company designed a groundbreaking interface of boxes called Metro that could scale from laptops, to tablets, to phones, to Xboxes--meaning any Microsoft device in any context would always be equally familiar. Not even Apple has been bold enough to merge Mac OS and iOS, which is why it seemed that with Windows 8, the nerds at Microsoft had somehow won the design war.

But the Metro interface hasn’t brought a new golden age for Microsoft. Adoption of Windows 8 PCs has been slow, while Microsoft's Surface tablets have proven a $900 million-plus flop. And nowhere is consumer response more apparent than in how Microsoft has backpedaled, reinstating the Start button in Windows 8.1. This one button drove the Windows interface for almost 20 years. Removing it in Windows 8 marked a paradigm shift of the company's UI. And bringing the Start button back signifies that consumers never wanted something new in the first place.

Adding fuel to the flames, new rumors suggest that Microsoft will revert its design even further, adding more options to run Windows 8 far more like a traditional Windows machine, complete with a full Start Menu and Metro apps that happily run on an old school desktop.

Microsoft added the START button (far left) to the Windows 8 desktop startup bar. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Microsoft paid the Rolling Stones millions for “Start Me Up” to be the theme song to the campaign, as clicking this tiny button unfurled all of the information hiding within the computer.

 

Metro’s most important mantras was “content not chrome.” It meant that rather than wrapping your files in symbolism and filigree, an interface should present content in as unfettered a way as possible.

Whereas most operating systems would present an icon for your photos--maybe a Polaroid or a roll of film--Metro would just make those actual photos into a slide show within its interface.

As Windows 8 completely shifted UI paradigms with Metro, Microsoft ditched its iconic Start button. That move made sense. The Windows interface had completely changed, and the Start button lost its old significance. Philosophically, the Start button was pure chrome--it hid your files behind something. Metro was about transparency. Metro just had your files there for your eyes to see. Why hide them behind a button?

HIGH DESIGN VS. EVERYDAY USE

At Co.Design, we’ve been particularly bullish about Windows 8. First and foremost, it’s just a beautiful interface, balancing color, typography, and photography. But beneath the surface, philosophically, it has a certain perfection to it.

Windows 8's reconfigurable blocks could scale to any shape or sized screen we could imagine--it also has to work for several different inputs, including tapping with one’s fingers, clicking with a mouse, waving one’s hands through Kinect, or responding to vocal commands.

Compare Microsoft to Apple in this respect--purely academically. Apple falls back on a different interface for laptops, phones, and AppleTV. The company's attempt to build iOS controls into Mac OS, through Launchpad, was an embarrassing failure. (What Mac user do you know who actively decides to leave their normal desktop to scroll through an iPhone interface shoehorned within OS X?) Meanwhile, Metro can perform equally well on a laptop, phone, tablet, or television, because Microsoft figured the design problem out.

SO WHY DON'T PEOPLE LIKE IT?

I’ve written a dozen articles championing the design philosophy of Metro, but at the end of the day, I don’t use Windows 8. I still own a Mac, iPhone, and an iPad. And if you look at Windows 8 sales figures, it appears I’m not alone in that regard. (In fact, one analyst firm points directly at Windows 8 for stalling PC sales, rather than driving growth.)

So if Windows 8/Metro is really the better designed solution, why isn’t it thriving? Why is Microsoft backtracking from its groundbreaking interface? With Metro, Microsoft made incredible art and bad design.

Windows 8 Metro screen design (Click Image To Enlarge)

It begs the question, "Can you map the same interface to disparate devices?” Okay. But is that a real problem for consumers? I don’t think so. I think that’s a design philosophy problem.

The consumer design problem is, “How do I make this device as intuitive as possible?” or “How can I streamline the process of getting someone the file he wants?” People care about speed, efficiency, clarity, and delight. But a phone interface matching a laptop interface is about as important as socks matching underwear.  It’s nice, but on most days, probably the last priority on your mind.

The entire “content not chrome” idea is downright poetic--when someone taps a square in Metro, they’re literally touching the information they want. But showing people their vacation photos in a tiny box is not necessarily faster or clearer than showing them an icon of a photo book. 

Case in point is the Metro interface running on Xbox One. Any given box could contain a photo link to Xbox music, Xbox movies, or Xbox games, or downloadable content for Call of Duty, the latest episode of a particular TV show, a link to Netflix, a limited time coupon for 99-cent action movies, etc.  It can be extremely disorienting to navigate to any particular preconceived destination. In this regard, Metro pushes exploration and discovery, but when you actually want to play a certain game or load a certain app? You'll really want to bypass Metro altogether and just tell the system where to go.

Multitasking photos and mail in Windows 8.1.  (Click Image To Enlarge)

If you multitask while keeping up with Twitter, IM, a word processor, and a dozen browser tabs--well, when you consider the problem, you start to realize why Mac OS still looks so clunky in comparison to Windows 8 and iOS, because that clunkiness is, in some paradoxical way, very good for multitasking.  And again, the design of Windows 8 multitasking feels like art, presenting each app as beautifully as possible--when in reality, our digital workflows mandate balancing several scraps of information at once.

WHAT SHOULD MICROSOFT DO NEXT?

From the outside, it certainly appears that Microsoft is backpedaling by reinstating the functions of the Start button--that they’re tacitly admitting some level of mistake or regret with the brazen interface onslaught of Windows 8 and Metro.

And that’s okay.

The great thing about design is that it can always be redesigned. Windows 8 seemed like the perfectly designed solution to our complicated digital lives on paper. In practice, it’s an academic solution, not a practical one.

It's more than impressive that Microsoft rallied behind Windows 8. Sure, its ideas are a bit of a failure, but they’re moving the dialogue of interface forward. Now, let’s see if Microsoft can fix where the public clearly feels the company has gone wrong.

COMMENTARY:  Three months after its release, Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system was found on 2.26 percent of all the traditional PCs tracked by Net Applications, whose web measurement network is comprised of 40,000 websites that receive roughly 160 million unique visits each month. By comparison,Windows 7 claimed a 7.57 percent browser share at its three-month mark, while Windows Vista was sitting slightly less pretty with a 3.3 percent share three months in.

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Windows 8 gained 0.3 percent market share in July, bringing its share to 5.4 percent overall, according to figures from web analytics company Net Applications. Following the launch of the OS in October 2012, Windows 8 market share has been edging up by less than one percent each month, but last month's growth rate is down from June, when its share increased 0.83 percent.

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While Windows 8 has only been installed on just over one in 20 PCs and tablets according to the figures, some analysts believe adoption of the OS8 will grow following the release of Windows 8.1 in October 2013.

As you can readily see from the above graph, Windows 8 lags well behind both Windows 7 and Windows XP and all three versions of Apple's OSX.    By comparison, Windows 7 (released in October 2009) had sold 175 million copies by July 2010.  Windows 8 is reported to have sold 100 million copies during the six months after its release (October 2012).     As of July 9, 2012, over 630 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold; this number includes licenses sold to OEMs for new PCs.

Courtesy of an article dated December 16, 2013 appearing in Fast Company

THREE MARKETING TACTICS TO TAP INTO THE EMERGING APPLE DEMOGRAPHICS

Apple customers are emerging as an important new demographic, accounting for a massive 89% of mobile commerce sales.

When Orbitz admitted that it ranks products differently for Mac users, citing 20-30% higher average order values, much comment was made about the difference between Mac and PC customers.

But that is only half the story. When you factor in mobile devices, the new Apple demographic begins to have significant implications for marketers.

Apple mobile customers dominate mobile commerce, especially on tablets. Analysis of 21 million mobile ecommerce transactions by SeeWhy in February and March (2013) found that Apple customers are fundamentally different from Android customers: 89% of mobile ecommerce sales were on iOS, with 70% of total mobile sales coming from iPad alone.

Remember that there are significantly more Android devices than iOS devices, so if Android customers were the same as Apple ones, those figures shouldn't be so: In essence, Android should drive more mobile sales.

Digging into this in more detail by looking at Web traffic sources, it becomes clear that Android usage is higher than iOS over cellular, but iOS usage is much higher over Wi-Fi, suggesting that Android users have less access to WiFi—or aren't using it.

In fact, Android device usage patterns suggest they are used more as utilitarian devices, helping to achieve tasks when out of the home, such as finding stores and accessing the web using cellular. Those patterns are what we normally associate with smartphones—many fewer purchases with a much smaller average order value than tablets.

Tablets are used in a fundamentally different way from smartphones. Used primarily at home, on the couch and in bed, tablets are a recreational device with dramatically higher average order values than desktops or smartphones, generating three times more revenue for e-commerce merchants than phones.

Are Apple customers really different?

Apple was first to market with the iPad and has a larger market share. Could that account for the difference, or are Apple customers really different?

In a survey (SeeWhy, April 2013) of 1,500 US consumers, we found clear differences in the demographics of Apple phone owners. They tend to be younger, better educated, living in urban areas, and are more affluent than Android users: 60% of Apple phone users earn over $75,000 per year, compared with 44% of Android phone owners.

As for market share, 10.3% of US online consumers own an iPad, whereas 8.9% own an Android tablet. That means there are a lot of Android tablets out there not being used for shopping.

Apple customers are spending more on mobile for three fundamental reasons:

• Premium customers. Apple customers chose to buy the premium product in the market, attracted by style, fashion, and form. They are prepared to pay extra. Their demographic profile is different, and they are more affluent. This is a sophisticated market that chooses high-end products, and a market that most marketers will want to tap into.
• Tablets. Although there are slightly more Apple tablets in the market than Android ones—and, therefore, we should expect more Apple conversions—Android tablets are not being used for shopping at anything like the same rate. By comparison, Apple tablets are shopping machines, being used late into the night as part of an evening's recreation.
• Usability. Some evidence suggests that Apple tablets are easier to use and somehow more engaging. Easy Wi-Fi connections may be part of the story, coupled with more apps and a consistent app experience that encourages user engagement. If users spend more time on the device and are using Wi-Fi to surf recreationally on a big screen while sipping a glass of wine on the couch in the evening, then purchases follow.

How can marketers tap into the Apple demographic?

• Optimize for Apple tablets. E-commerce sites should focus on getting a full website experience (product range, product detail, functionality, etc.) optimized for tablets. Customers have shown that they prefer a tablet version of the full site over a shopping app. Accordingly, a priority for e-commerce businesses should be to optimize natively for iPad first; since the device alone accounts for 70% of mobile sales, that should not be a hard decision. Case studies show that where merchants have built device-optimized experiences, significant increases in conversions, average order values, and revenue have followed.
• Treat Apple customers differently. Orbitz has shown that presenting a different product mix, more suited to a particular segment, can drive incremental revenues. Just as you may already segment high value traffic sources and show different content, if you make it easier for your Apple customers to find the types of premium products they are more likely to buy, then sales will increase. Be wary, though, of offering differential pricing on different devices.
• Adapt (or implement) remarketing strategies. If you're not already remarketing with retargeted advertising and browse-based email campaigns, you need to. Now that you can recognize high-value customers easily, giving them a nudge will drive more to purchase. You should test adjusting your retargeting strategies to recognize the higher value of Apple customers and adapt your emails so that they display well on mobile devices (though Apple is very good in general with emails). Perhaps more important is to recognize that an iPhone shopper is unlikely to buy now but is probably a high value client. Remarketing can deliver great personalized service to bring them back on a different device to purchase.

We've reached a point now where, for the immediate future at least, tablet-based commerce is big and growing bigger fast, and it is dominated by Apple customers. It's time to apply this knowledge and accept that we now have a new demographic.

COMMENTARY:    I will be frank.  For the life of me I have never come to the point where I can honestly say to myself,

"It's time to switch to Apple.  Damn it, I have had it up to here with Microsoft Windows, Google Chrome, Samsung, LG or BlackBerry smartphones, HP printers, Android, McAfee, Kapersky, Google+, Hotmail, Yahoo Messenger, AOL, etc."   

I don't think I can rememeber ever hating any of those brands or their products.  

It was an Apple evangelist who introduced me to that term "Android Hell," after I told him that I thought he paid too much for his iPad Mini and that the Nexus 7 2nd generaton was a much better tablet.  He matter of factly told me that I was easy to please.  But that it was quite okay by him if I preferred to use "junk."   Dude, those are multi-billion dollar companies.  They don't make junky products, or as Steve Jobs once referred to the shoes Nike was producing as "crappy" stuff.  I am sure that Steve would've taught Nike CEO Mark Parker how to make great atheletic shoes.   

Needless to say, I looked into "Android Hell", and can say with true conviction and honesty that I have never personally experienced anything close to "Android Hell."   My non-Apple high-tech devices work just fine.  I own or have used the numerous Windows-compatable PC's and laptops, the new Nexus 7 2nd generation tablet,  LG Lumia 900 smartphone running the Windows 8 mobile OS, and Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone running Android and before them several BlackBerry phones.  If the BlackBerry is okay with the U.S. Secret Service and POTUS himself, it was good enough for me.  

Never once did I experience "Android Hell" or "Windows Hell," for that matter.  Did I experience perfection with those devices?  Of course, not.  There is no such thing as perfection.  But, you would think that from listening to several Apple evangelists, that they have attained Nirvana or a kind of state of holy grace approaching near perfection with their Apple devices.  And they talk about Steve Jobs like he was some kind of God.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, over 600 million iOS devices have been sold by Apple.  And some technology analysts believe that there may be 1 billion iOS devices by the end of 2018.   So HELL YES, if you are a marketer, you need to pay attention to the iOS device consumer market. As a marketer you must understand that they are different than Android device consumers in several ways.

• There are more iOS consumers that earn more than $75,000 than Android consumers.
• iOS consumers are more likely to have a college degree than Android consumers.
• Are ravenous early adopters of the latest in technology.
• More Americans own an iPhone than any other Android smartphone brand. 
• iOS consumers consume more online digital content than Android consumers.
• iOS consumers spend more money online than Android consumers.  

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And more importantly, marketers need to understand that Apple evangelists have been brainwashed into believing that Apple makes the greatest products on Earth, even if this is not entirely true.   If you mention to them that SIRI was not perfect, that Apple maps was a flop (even Apple CEO Tim Cook recommended Google Maps), that the iPhone 4 had a serious defect and crashed if you held it a certain way, and that the display easily cracked, Apple evangelists will not flinch. Apple products are still better.        

Click Image To Enlarge

Having said this, your marketing message, and your products, for that matter, better meet their high expectations, and reinforce their beliefs of what product perfection is.  You need to target them where they spend their most time--social networks, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter (thanks to Apple baking Twitter into iOS).  By all means, tell them how great Apple products are, even if you are an Android user.  Tell them and show them how much better their product experience will be if they buy your product.  That's how you grab their attention and make them your brand evangelists.  

Courtesy of an article dated November 25, 2013 appearing in MarketingProfs, and an article dated June 13, 2013 appearing in MarketingProfs,

APPLE'S NEW iPAD MINI 2 WITH RETINA DISPLAY AND A7 PROCESSOR EARNS HIGH MARKS BY 'THE VERGE'

Finally, the iPad Mini that Apple evangelists really wanted, and here's why.

Last year, the overwhelming message of the iPad mini was simple: the iPad mini was smaller, but it was still an iPad. Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Jony Ive all reminded us over and over that Apple had to make hard choices to make the iPad mini — it had a lower-resolution screen and a weaker processor — but said that the iPads’ commonalities trumped their differences.

In many ways, that was true: Apple’s experience has always mattered more than its specs, and the iPad mini converted buyers and fans alike despite the compromises. But even for those who bought Apple’s tablet, there was one feature noticeably missing: a bright, beautiful, high-resolution Retina display. Without one, the Apple experience feels obfuscated in ways both literal and figurative.

This year, the iPad mini with Retina display really is every inch an iPad. It’s no longer out of date, or worse in any way.  It comes with the same A7 processor as the new iPad Air, the same storage and connectivity options, the same battery life, and — most importantly — a Retina display with the same resolution. For $399 with 16GB of storage, it’s everything the iPad Air can be — only smaller and $100 cheaper. 

Last year, Apple needed to convince us that specs didn’t make the iPad. This year, equality isn’t just about offering the same look and the same apps – it’s about offering the exact same experience. Now, like the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air and like every TV you’ve ever purchased, there isn’t a better option and a cheaper option. There are just two options: iPad Air and iPad mini.

 

Miniaturized

The iPad mini with Retina display looks like the iPad Air, which looks like last year’s iPad mini — Apple overhauled the larger model to look like the smaller, and left the mini mostly untouched. The new mini is actually slightly thicker and heavier than last year’s model — the same thing happened when the iPad 3 first adopted the Retina display — but even though you do notice the slight extra heft as you hold them both in your hands, it makes little practical difference. This is still a light (0.73 pounds), thin (7.5mm) tablet that feels comfortable in my hands and looks great on my desk.

It’s wider than most tablets its size, and I found it hard to hold and use in one hand; grabbing the iPad mini in either orientation by both its bottom corners and using my thumbs on the screen has always been my go-to way of holding it. That’s why I miss TouchID here more than on the Air — I pick up the mini the same way I pick up my phone, and laying my finger on the home button now feels so natural.

iPad Mini 2 has two stereo speakers located on bottom on both sides of the Lightning connector. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Two stereo speakers sit on either side of the Lightning connector on the bottom — they sound pretty good, but they’re all too easy to cover when you hold the mini sideways. There’s a 5-megapixel camera on the back — I still shake my head judgmentally at anyone taking a picture with their tablet, but at least the mini’s not quite as ridiculous as the larger Air, and pictures don’t look so bad either. The FaceTime HD camera on the front, along with the noise-canceling dual-mic setup, makes for a potent tablet Snapchat combination.

The iPad Mini 2's camera lens, power on-ff and camera button are located on the top left corner of the device (Click Image To Enlarge)

The mini comes in Apple’s two favorite colors, silver and space gray, neither of which I like as much as the dark, dangerous black of last year’s model. Both models are beautifully made and virtually seamless save for the radio module on the LTE model, though they’re the sort of cold machinery that sits in stark contrast to the warm, soft, inviting feel of the Nexus 7. There’s no question that the mini is more impressive and more beautiful, but actual comfort lies in the eye of the beholder.

Save for the colors, you’d likely never notice the difference between last year’s iPad mini and the new model. But as soon as you press the tablet’s single circular button and turn the screen on, you can’t help but see it.

Backside of the new iPad Mini 2 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Retina dreams

The biggest difference between the two iPad models, for me, was never about consumption versus creation. It was time. The iPad mini was perfect for short bursts of attention: small enough to hold in one hand or use in a crowded subway, portable enough to go everywhere with me all the time. But the larger iPad was where I found myself lost for hours, spending an entire afternoon reading a book or binge-watching an entire season of Scandal. It was bigger, brighter, higher-res, and ultimately just more immersive.

"THE MINI'S SCREEN IS SMALLER, BUT IT'S EVERY BIT AS GOOD"

That may still be true — there’s just something more inviting about a big screen — but the gap has narrowed considerably. The iPad mini with Retina display now has a 7.9-inch display with the same 2048 x 1536 resolution as the iPad Air, and thanks to its smaller size has even higher pixel density.

It’s gorgeous. Text looks like it’s printed on paper, details in photos come through crisp and clean, and everything about the mini justlooks better. Side by side with this year’s model, the old mini appears to be covered in a thin layer of grit; it feels horrifically blurry next to the crystal clarity of the Retina display. I never really had a problem with last year’s model, honestly, but after an hour of looking at the new display it’s all but impossible to go back.

The iPad Mini 2's retina display offers excellent resolutionfor both images, videos and text (Click Image To Enlarge)

Suddenly I found myself wrapped up in Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge, reading for hours on the iPad mini. I found myself, if not able to work comfortably, at least able to get things done in a pinch thanks to the new, free iWork apps on the device. I started editing photos and video on the device, something I’ve only ever done on the larger iPad, because it works just as well here. Last year’s model was incredibly convenient, so I used it a lot; this one I use because it offers everything I’ve ever appreciated and expected from any iPad. That, and because it’s still incredibly convenient.

GREAT SCREENS AREN'T HARD TO COME BY ANYMORE

Here again, however, the Nexus 7 puts up a remarkable fight.  Its 7-inch, 1920 x 1200 display is almost exactly as pixel-dense as the iPad mini (323ppi for Google’s tablet, 324ppi for Apple’s), and I actually prefer its narrower form-factor for reading. But the iPad’s 4:3 aspect ratio is much more amenable to being used in both orientations — the 16:10 Nexus 7 is perfect for watching movies in landscape mode, but much too short for browsing the web or using most apps — and as a result the iPad’s a more versatile tablet.

That versatility isn’t just about the hardware, either. It’s about the software.

475,000 Tablet-Optimized iOS Apps

Four hundred seventy five thousand. That’s how many tablet-optimized apps are in the iOS App Store, a number Tim Cook said loudly and proudly as he announced the new iPads a few weeks ago. The message at that event was clear: tablets are as tablets do. And Apple’s tablets do more.

Android and iOS each offer hundreds of thousands of apps for smartphones, and with fewer and fewer exceptions, nearly any app anyone would want is available on both platforms. On tablets, it’s another story entirely; Apple likes to talk about how much more its tablets are used than anything running Android, because it illustrates the simple fact that there’s no equivalent tablet experience to the iPad’s. Paper, Star Walk HD, Ridiculous Fishing, and Byword are all apps I use often that simply don’t exist on Android tablets. There are dozens of other examples. Many apps thatare available on Android — even Facebook and Twitter – come only in clunkier, blown-up-phone-app form.

"ANDROID IS CATCHING UP TO IOS IN SMARTPHONES, BUT TABLETS ARE ANOTHER STORY"

Magazines look far better on the iPad’s Newsstand than on any Android tablet (though Google’s catching up in that regard), and AirPlay compatibility plus apps like Amazon Instant Video turn the iPad mini into a media machine the Nexus 7 can’t equal. The basics do exist on both platforms: if all you need is Netflix and Hulu and Kindle and Flipboard, keep your $170 and buy the $229 Nexus 7. But you won’t be getting the full tablet experience, the gamut from DJ tools to recipe app that only the iPad can offer.

All 475,000 apps work on both iPads, at the same Retina resolution. Because both tablets come with Apple’s new A7 processor, they even run the apps the same way. That’s almost always a good thing — the A7 is capable of running everything from a 1080p video to a hair-raising game of Infinity Blade III without signs of cracking. The new model scored more than five times higher than the old in GeekBench (2516 vs. 497), and scored basically identically to the iPhone 5S and iPad Air. Simply put: it’s really fast.

The iPad Mini 2's screen resolution is excellent (Click Image To Enlarge)

Pixels versus processors

Doing everything on such a high-res screen does take its toll — the mini dropped frames and stuttered while I played Asphalt 8: Airborne, and even occasionally hiccuped while playing a high-res video. It’s never a problem, but it’s there. The A7 also powers the iPhone 5S , which it does much more easily; it’s clear that more pixels simply mean more strain. The tablet also has a propensity for warming up during gameplay or heavy multitasking, too. It never gets worryingly hot, but my fingertips would occasionally start to sweat as I held the iPad in them.

In everyday use, the iPad mini feels fast, smooth, and solid. Except when iOS 7 gets in the way, as it has a tendency to do in a variety of small but annoying ways. When you pinch with five fingers to close an app, the icons jitter and jerk into place. When you tap on the 123 to switch from letters to numbers in the keyboard, it can take a second. Swiping down on the screen to search your device brings out similar stutters, and even multitasking can be imprecise. My review unit also had a tendency to simply reboot about once every 48 hours, an oddity without rhyme or reason that I’ve noticed in the iPhone 5S as well.

"THE A7 IS FAST, BUT HIGH-RES SCREENS ARE DEMANDING"

I’m getting used to the core tenets of iOS 7. I still don’t like the slow animations or the often-needless representations of layers and transparency, but I’ve come to understand the OS for what it is. As we discovered with the iPad Air, though, iOS 7 isn’t finished or polished on the iPad, not by a long shot. And in places it just feels wrong: the huge, overgrown Siri interface, or the sharing menus that pop up in odd, hard-to-reach corners. On the iPad mini with Retina display, where there are few real problems to divert your attention, the little things start to stand out.

More powerful processors and higher-density displays aren’t typically good news for battery life, but on the iPad mini at least they’re not a problem. The mini with Retina display easily gets the 10 hours of battery life Apple advertises, and that’s with heavy, constant use; in most cases the battery should easily last three or four days. There is one notable exception: with brightness all the way up, longevity plummets to only about four hours. But maximum brightness was too bright for me anyway, and at about 50 or 60 percent it’s a seriously long-lasting tablet.

The iPad Mini 2 with Retina display easily gets the 10 hours of battery life Apple advertises, and that’s with heavy, constant use (Click Image To Enlarge)

Wrap-up

The iPad mini with Retina display is a fantastic tablet, but one that defies categorization. On one hand, it’s most competitive with the Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX, other high-resolution small tablets. But those are $229, fully $170 less than the $399 iPad mini, and they’re much smaller as well. (The difference between a 7-inch, 16:9 or 16:10 screen and a 7.9-inch, 4:3 screen is much more significant than it sounds — there are more than 33 percent more pixels on the iPad mini than the Nexus 7.) For some users, saving money might be the right idea, too: the Nexus 7 is a fantastic device for reading and watching movies, and as long as Google’s Play Store has the apps you need it’s absolutely worth considering.

The Apple iPad Mini 2 with Retina display (WIFI) earned an overall score of 9.3 Verge Score. (Click Image To Enlarge)

If you’re buying a tablet to keep, though, one to explore and grow into, the App Store becomes an absolute trump card. You’re paying $170 for access to 475,000 apps, including virtually all of the best options designed for a larger screen. Android can’t touch the iOS ecosystem on tablets. When you’re deciding whether to buy a Nexus 7 or iPad mini, you have to decide how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go — because the basics are covered beautifully in both cases, but there’s much more depth in Apple’s world.

The Breakdown - Apple iPad Mini 2 (Click Image To Enlarge)

On the other hand, what if you want to buy an iPad? Which one do you buy? Tim Cook might say both, but the real answer is it doesn’t matter. In talking to people about the new iPads, I’ve found everyone has an instinctive reaction — some people like the portability and smaller package of the mini, others appreciate the large screen of the Air. Some are price-conscious, others weight-conscious, others space-conscious, but everyone seems to lean one way or the other.

To those people, I say: go for it. You can’t lose. I’d buy a mini for myself, because I love having something that doesn’t take up much space in my bag and that I can wield even on a crowded subway. But the mini is now so beautiful and so immersive that you’ll never want to look away from the screen, and the Air now so portable and usable that you’ll rarely need to put it down. The mini used to be the lesser one, the reductive one, the one you bought if you couldn’t fit or afford the iPad. Now it’s just the smaller one.

Photography by Michael Shane

COMMENTARY:   Excellent review and overall high grade for the new iPad Mini 2, but the question that I would like to know is whether the iPad Mini 2 will hurt sales of the iPad Air.   Offering a smaller version of the iPad Air, which is essentially what the iPad Mini 2 is, could definitely cannabolize sales of the iPad Air because of the lower entry price.  

In any event, for my money the Google Nexus 7 2 is every bit as good as the iPad Mini 2.  I have yet to experience "Android Hell."   And it's $200 cheaper for the 16gb version.  So why spend more?!!   In my opinion, there are more than sufficient apps to satisfy the needs of most users.  

Courtesy of an article dated November 14, 2013 appearing in The Verge

APPLE CONFIRMS IT SOLD OVER 9 MIL iPHONE 5S and 5C DURING THE FIRST THREE DAYS AFTER LAUNCH, BUT OVERESTIMATED SALES OF 5C

Reports on Appleinsider.com over the weekend suggest Apple sold out of the launch shipments of the brand-new iPhone 5S in under two days. By Saturday evening, Apple's digital stores in the U.S., U.K., China, and other launch countries were reporting no availability for all nine different variants of the new iPhone 5S, and delivery dates slipped to October.

Now Apple's confirmed the news: In the first three launch days the iPhone 5S and 5C have sold in total over 9 million units. That's nearly twice last year's iPhone 5 launch total of 5 million units, and tops even the most enthusiastic analyst expectations. The new iPhones have broken a sales record, Apple says, and it also notes that over 200 million devices are already running its brand new iOS 7 operating system. That is, so Apple says, "the fastest software upgrade in history."

The iPhone 5C has a polycarbonate wrap-around back.  It will come in five colors -- green, white, blue, red, and yellow. The screen wallpaper will match the exterior of the phone.  

 

iPhone 5C (Click Image To Enlarge)

Separately a report from analytics firm Localytics places the sales figure in context. Localytics has been looking at telltale signature data from the new iPhone 5S and 5C and has concluded the two phones are already accounting for close to 1.5% of all U.S. iPhones in use. Globally, the firm estimates the new phones, which are only on sale in 10 nations, make up 1% of all iPhones in use. The 5S is outselling the 5C, the company thinks.

Apple's iPhone sales are so strong that the company has taken the unusual step of issuing updated financial guidance, noting in an SEC filing that,

"Apple expects total company revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter to be near the high end of the previously provided range of $34 billion to $37 billion, and expects gross margin to be near the high end of the previously provided range of 36% to 37%."

What Apple's felt the need to do is to alert its investors of the iPhone success so that they aren't caught on the hop when the company reports its next financial data to be much higher than expected. This could imply that even Apple has been surprised by the scale of the iPhone sales.

COMMENTARY:    

Strong iPhone 5S Sales Predicted For Q4 Predicted

According to mobile analyst Michael Walkley of Canaccord Genuity, Apple could sell as many as 51.5 million iPhones during the holiday quarter.

In an investors note out Tuesday, Walkley said he expects strong sales of the iPhone 5S through December as Apple bumps up supply to meet the heavy demand. The more expensive 5S is currently outselling the 5C by a ratio of 2.5 to 1, according to the analyst.

Apple reported total iPhone sales of 33.8 million iPhones last quarter and 47.8 million in the final quarter of 2012.

iPhone 5C Sales Over-Estimated

Was Steve Jobs right about not selling iPhones to the low-end of the market, and was Tim Cook wrong in pursuing that market with the lower-priced iPhone 5C? 

Bloomberg’s Adam Satariano after pointing out the Apple co-founder famously “emphasized high-end consumer gadgets over cheaper ones,” writes: 

“Last month, [Apple CEO] Tim Cook introduced the colorful iPhone 5c, a less-expensive version of Apple’s smartphone, to ‘serve even more customers’ around the world. It turns out people so far are more interested in its pricier, feature-rich cousin, the 5s.” 

Satariano is following up on a report by the Wall Street Journal’s Lorraine Luk, Eva Dou and Ian Sheer (among others), earlier this week that Apple reportedly reduced orders for the 5c device from its suppliers and that “retailers and telecom operators report tepid demand for the device, prompting some to cut prices.”

This despite heavy advertising for the 5c, which retails for roughly $100 less than 5s models, although specifics vary by market.

Satariano writes.  

“A recent Consumer Intelligence Research Partners survey reported that '64% of U.S. iPhone customers were buying the iPhone 5s, which sports a better camera, faster processor chip and fingerprint-reading security features and starts at $199 with a carrier contract.'"

The iPhone 5c has been bought by 27% of buyers, according to the survey. Earlier versions of the phone are also available.

In fairness to CEO Cook, who said during an earnings call, as AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski  reported earlier this week. 

“I don’t subscribe to the common view that the higher end, if you will, of the smartphone market is at its peak.”

Cook said for emphasis.

“I don’t believe that.” 

CNN Tech’s Doug Gross, in a piece that asks, “Is Apple’s iPhone 5c a Flop?,” advances the argument that the price may still be too much in emerging markets but that the differential between the new models may not be enough in markets like the U.S.

Gross reports.  

“In China, where phones aren't subsidized by mobile carriers, the 5c is selling for 3,500 yuan, or about $560.”  

Gross also says.  

"But in the U.S., where it’s available for $99 as long as consumers sign a contract, the 5C doesn't sport features significantly upgraded from the iPhone 5, which can be had for as low as $199. The two-year-old iPhone 4s can be had for free with a data plan.”

Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps tells Gross.

"Apple needs new customers to keep growing, and the 5C was supposed to appeal to a new, more price-conscious consumer.  Turns out that acquisition is a lot harder than retention."

Reuters’ Clare Jim and Paul Carsten point out.  

"At least in the short term, the decision by consumers to spend more on the pricier 5s benefits Apple. The company's shares rose on Wednesday, touching a one-month high above $502.”

And they also pass along a caution by analysts and Apple executives about “reading too much into supply chain adjustments, which are common in the fast-moving electronics industry.”

Meanwhile, critics are also buffeting Apple’s new mobile-device operating system.

Raluca Budiu, senior researcher Nielsen Norman Group tells USA Today’s Scott Martin and Alistair Barr.

“It's Apple's most problematic operating system launch so far."  

The consultancy’s recent report about the “move away from the skeuomorphic design that characterized earlier versions of iOS” finds “some of the new features are welcome usability improvements, whereas others are likely to cause pain.”

Among the discomforting features, Martin and Barr report, are “buttons that used to stand out now blend with the background, and links that used to be visible may now be mistaken for plain text, the consulting firm said.”

Functionally, text messaging via the built-in iMessage app apparently isn’t what it used to be on the new OS, leaving “users fuming,” and “some users of Apple's new flagship iPhone 5s have even experienced a so-called blue screen of death, familiar to many who have seen a Windows computer screen freeze and turn blue.” Not to mention “flawed results” from the motion sensors — you may know them as the accelerometer, inclinometer and gyroscope.

Defenders say Apple is a victim of its past success in making things so easy to use and expect that the bugs will be fixed in due course.

iPhone 5C and 5S Specifications

For those readers interested in the iPhone 5C and 5S technical specifications, check this out.

Click Image To Enlarge

For more detailed iPhone 5S and 5C technical specifications refer to GDGT1 and GDGT2.  

Conclusion

d

The soft sales of the iPhone 5C clearly demonstrates that Tim Cook doesn't understand who Apple's customers really are or how to market mobile devices to the low-end of the market.  

d

Even though the lowest priced iPhone 5C sells for $100 less than the lowest priced iPhone 5S (see above), even at the lower price point, the price of the iPhone 5C is still too high for many foreigners, and the switching costs maybe too much for many Americans who are perfectly happy with their Android phones.

d

Another issue:  The iPhone 5C is really not a "new" iPhone, but a cosmetically enhanced iPhone 5, by virtue of the five color choices and covers being offered in six different colors.  I think as a low-end buyer, I would feel somewhat cheated.  Consumers are just too smart to be taken in by this camouflage. Besides, offering mobile phones in a multitude of colors is nothing new, LG and Nokia have been doing this for at least a year with their mobile phones. 

Courtesy of an article dated September 23, 2013 appearing in Fast Company and an article dated October 29, 2013 appearing in C|NET and an article dated October 18, 2013 appearing in MediaPost Publications Marketing Daily

APPLE SOLD 14.1 MIL iPADS DURING 12 MOS ENDING Q3 2013, BUT ASUS (GOOGLE NEXUS) AND SAMSUNG MAKING MAJOR GAINS

Samsung and other Android-based device makers grabbed more share in the global tablet market in the third quarter as Apple held back release of the latest iPad models until November.
 
With a slight dip in iPad shipments from a year ago to 14.1 million, Apple saw its once dominant share in the category fall to 29.6% from 40.2% in the year-earlier period, according to a new IDC report. Sales were clearly affected by consumers awaiting the arrival of the fifth-generation iPad and iPad Mini 2, which begin rolling out Nov. 1.

Click Image To Enlarge

Apple decided in late 2012 to move its product launches from earlier in the year to the fourth quarter, giving competitors an opening to gain more ground in the tablet race.
 
Samsung took full advantage, with its tablet shipments more than doubling in the quarter to 9.7 million units, or 20.4% of the market. That’s up from 12.4% a year ago. Asus, which makes Google’s Nexus 7 tablet, claimed 7.4% share on shipments of 7.4 million devices. L
 
Lenovo increased its share fourfold from a year ago to 4.8%, with 2.3 million shipments, while Acer rounded out the top five with 1.2 million units, and a 2.5% share. Other vendors including Microsoft, Amazon and Dell accounted for more than a third (35.3%) of the market.

Click Image To Enlarge

Even with iPad sales slowing in the quarter, overall tablet shipments grew 36.7% from a year ago, and 7% from the prior quarter. As in the smartphone market, demand for cheaper Android devices from lesser-known vendors like Kurio and Tabeo is helping to boost tablet sales worldwide.
 
By contrast, Windows-based tablets have yet to catch on with consumers. Microsoft hopes to turn things around with the latest versions of its Surface tablets launched earlier this month. But those will now compete directly with the new iPad Air and updated iPad Mini, which are expected to enjoy strong sales in the fourth quarter.

COMMENTARY:    iPad sales were soft last quarter, said Michael Walkley of Canaccord Genuity. Apple sold only 14.1 million tablets as buyers held off purchases in anticipation of the new models announced last week. But holiday shoppers should provide a hefty increase this quarter when Apple is projected to sell 24.2 million iPads. The analyst believes more consumers will opt for the iPad Air as a holiday gift.

Looking to 2014, Walkley expects an iPhone launch at China Mobile, the country's largest carrier, to boost Apple's March quarter sales amid the usual post-holiday slumber.

These numbers are well within reason, especially if you take into consideration Apple's expansion into China, where 45 million Chinese already own iPhones purchased on the open market. Although there are a number of iPad knockoffs being sold there, no exact numbers are available, but they could be comparable to those of the iPhone, and a rising middle class and affluent market of well over 100 million Chinese presents a very attractive market for Apple.

Courtesy of an article dated October 30, 2013 appearing in MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily and an article dated October 29, 2013 appearing in C|NET