Steve Jobs famously pooh-poohed the notion of a 7-inch iPad in 2010, doubting “the value of the product” and calling it “meaningless, unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size.” But the market has matured a bit since then. If nothing else, Amazon’s Kindle Fire has proven that there is indeed a market for a 7-inch tablet, but the question remains whether Apple will finally put an end to the rumors and release a so-called iPad mini this year.
The biggest sticking point on the iPad mini is, without question, the screen. Demand will be off the charts, so whichever company supplies the display will have to manufacture a boatload of them. There are enough similar-sized tablets out there to suggest it wouldn’t be a problem, so Apple seems to have options: Samsung all but confirmed Apple was exploring mass production of 7.85-inch AMOLED screens for the latter half of this year, and an official for the company reportedly told the Korean Times that Samsung’s contract “is expected to rise to billion by the end of this year as Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, probably with a 7.85-inch screen.” Plus, an earlier report by Economic Daily News had Apple in talks with LG for the same rumored 7.85-inch screen–so we’re pretty sure supply won’t be a problem (or, rather, any more of a problem than it is already).
What might cause trouble, however, is the resolution. Seven and 85-hundredths seems like an arbitrary number, but it’s not. A.T. Faust III of App Advice did the math, and it seems that a 7.85-inch iPad is pixel-perfect: “A 7.85-inch tablet with a resolution of 1024 x 768 works out to a PPI of 163. … That’s the exact same resolution as the pre-Retina iPhone/iPod touch display!”
What this means is iPhone apps will scale up and iPad apps will scale down without any headaches for developers. Of course, most will want to develop iPad mini-specific apps, but they won’t have to have them ready from day 1, an important selling point. (And if you’re thinking that iPad apps will be tough to use on a smaller screen, Faust dispelled that notion, too: “Whatever the size of a given menu option in a given iPad app, it cannot shrink beyond Apple’s pre-established minimum (163 PPI). It might take a bit more hand-eye coordination, but overall interaction should not be affected.”
No one knows when (or if) Apple will pull the trigger on its fabled iPad mini, but we do know two things: It’s sure to fit neatly into the iOS ecosystem, and it’ll sell at least as well as its big brother.
If you’re in any kind of business, you’re probably a LinkedIn user. Considered to be the Facebook of professional social networks, LinkedIn has more than 150 million members worldwide, and their iOS app got a substantial update on Thursday bringing native iPad support and more.
LinkedIn has released version 5.0 of the professional social network’s iOS app, and if you own an iPad, it’s likely one that you’ve been waiting for.
“Get on-the-go access to your professional network with LinkedIn for iPhone & iPad,” the app description reads. “Find and connect with more than 150M members worldwide, read the latest industry news, keep up-to-date with your groups, and share content with your network from anywhere.”
That’s right: The LinkedIn app is now universal, adding native support for the iPad, including optimized Retina Display graphics specifically for the new iPad. Many of those who frequently use the app have been frustrated by it being limited strictly to the iPhone and iPod touch, but that limitation has now been lifted.
LinkedIn 5.0 also adds a couple of other features, most notably a new calendar feature for connecting the people you’re meeting with to their LinkedIn profile so you can brush up on them ahead of time.
The free LinkedIn 5.0 update is now available from the App Store; the 15.6MB download works with any device running iOS 4.0 or later.
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Although it didn’t merit a press release from Apple, the new iPad continues winging its way around the globe on Friday, touching down in nine more countries where users won’t be able to enjoy 4G LTE.
The Next Web is reporting that Apple has released the new iPad in nine more countries on Friday, bringing its worldwide total to 57. It’s the fourth such wave of new iPad launches since the tablet debuted in March, continuing the company’s rapid rollout of new products.
The lucky countries are Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand — none of whom will be able to take advantage of those sweet 4G LTE data speeds, which are currently exclusive to the U.S. and Canada.
Curiously, China continues to be excluded from the new iPad launches, despite Apple getting an all-clear on the Wi-Fi only version. Electronic devices are “required to pass certification in order to access Chinese telecom networks,” and it appears the cellular version of the new iPad is still underway.
A potentially bigger problem in the Chinese market is Apple’s current trademark spat with Proview, who claims to still hold the trademark on the iPad name in that country. A negative outcome in court could have serious implications for Apple, including an outright import ban on the tablet unless they settle with Proview.
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It’s a big day for Apple all around the world, with the new iPad touching down in 12 more countries and the iPhone 4 and 4S expanding to five more regional carriers here in the United States.
9to5Mac reminds us that Friday, April 20 continues Apple’s worldwide domination, with the new iPad landing in 12 new countries while the existing iPhone expands it reach beyond the big three U.S. carriers into a handful of regional outlets as well.
As we reported on Monday, the new iPad is now available in 12 more countries around the world. Apple fans in Croatia, Brunei, Cyprus, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panama, South Korea, St. Maarten, Venezuela and Uruguay.
Sadly, none of these countries will be able to take advantage of the blazing fast 4G LTE data speeds currently enjoyed by U.S. and Canadian users, but hopefully that situation will change as time goes on.
Meanwhile, back on American shores, the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 continues its own expansion, hopping right over T-Mobile’s head to land with five new regional carriers: Alaska Communications, Appalachian Wireless, GCL, Cellcom and nTelos.
One of the advantages of going with a regional carrier is price: Many of these companies are offering the handset for less than AT&T, Verizon or Sprint, with more competitive voice and data plans as the icing on the cake.
Enjoy your gadgets today, folks!
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
That sweet little iPad app you see there in the corner could very well be Spotify, which currently tops our list of iOS apps that really need a tabletized update. As Premium members, we look forward to blasting a barrage of ‘80s one-hit wonders from our iPad, and doubling up the screen resolution of the existing iPhone/iPod touch app simply won’t do (although it does look quite clean on our new iPad, FWIW). While we are waiting for Spotify’s special event on Wednesday, let’s kick back and soak in the day’s news for this lazy Monday, April 16, 2012.
Last Thursday, Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Office 2011 for Mac, which at first glance was simply another bug-squashing update — that is, until we took a look at the the apps themselves. Much to our surprise, Word, Excel and PowerPoint now support full-screen mode on OS X Lion, as noted on the Office for Mac blog. The service pack also improves grammar checkers for Italian and German and beefs up SkyDrive document storage, in addition to a host of changes to Outlook, which is cited as “our top priority for this release.” If you like reading all the minutiae included with such releases, Microsoft has also posted a Knowledge Base article detailing the full list of changes.
What goes on behind the scenes at technology companies may not always make for newsworthy items, but when it impacts the ways we interact with the internet, it’s often worth a look. Such is the case with Iris, the new technology announced today by “read later” service Readability. The company’s “content normalization engine” went live earlier today and promises “improved results as you use Readability over the next few weeks.” So what does it do? “With Iris, we’ve built an engine that you might call abstract — inspired by IBM’s Watson, the machine that beat contestants on Jeopardy!, Iris’ first order of business is to figure what type of content source is at hand,” the Readability blog explains. “It analyzes a page, determines the likely context based on a number of factors and extracts what a human would expect as meaningful information from that source. Each context is fully malleable, and can be modified and improved upon individually.” The end result promises “a dramatically improved user experience across the myriad apps, services and tools built on Readability.” We look forward to giving it a spin!
The Spotify iOS app received yet another app today, but don’t go looking for native iPad support — it’s still not there. According to The Verge, it could be coming soon — and we mean, officially, rather than last week’s news about an unofficial app from designer Max Petriv. Turns out “a Swedish technology consultant” posted a purported beta version of the Spotify iPad app to Instagram with a mysterious caption, “It’s getting closer!” Ironically, Spotify has a special event planned for this Wednesday, April 18, so let’s all cross our fingers that the slick-looking iPad app in that Instagram photo might wind up landing in the App Store on the same day.
Still on the fence about Apple’s iWork productivity software or Aperture, the pro-level step up from iPhoto? Looks like you’ll be ponying up for the apps to find out if you like them now, with MacStories.net reporting that Apple has pulled the 30-day free trial versions of both from their website. No one is sure exactly why, and in the case of Aperture 3, the trial version may have been pulled up to two weeks ago without anyone really paying attention. Meanwhile, a trip to the iWork website now points you to the Mac App Store with the friendly reminder: “The trial version of iWork is no longer supported. But you can easily purchase Keynote, Pages, and Numbers from the Mac App Store to start creating beautiful presentations, documents, and spreadsheets today.” Does this mean one or both apps may soon see a refresh? Could the Mac App Store be adding a much-needed “try before you buy” feature? Beats us, but we’ll be keeping our eyes on this for further developments.
Does the world need yet another cloud storage system? Google seems to think so, with leaks quietly slipping out for the company’s forthcoming Google Drive service. And it appears closer than you might think: The Next Web is reporting the service may be launching next week, complete with client software for Mac and PC as well as iOS and Android. So how does Google plan to do Dropbox one better? The service is rumored to come with 5GB of cloud storage free, which beats the pants off Dropbox with only 2GB (and matches the 5GB offered free by competitor SugarSync). The service also promises to work “in desktop folders,” although no one is quite sure exactly what that means as yet. From the sound of it, Google Drive could launch by the middle of next week, followed by a flood of installations and likely the sound of crickets chirping, if Drive follows in the footsteps of Google+, for example…
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(Image courtesy of The Verge)
