One man gets an iPad before all the rest

Tonight’s episode of Modern Family had a very special guest star: the iPad. I can’t find any pictures that aren’t ridiculously blurry.

The iPad doesn’t come out until Saturday, but ever since the tablet was announced two months ago there have been reference of the iPad all over the place. There was Steven Colbert at the Grammys and Daniel Tosh on Tosh.0. Now, mere days before the official release (but if you haven’t already ordered one then it doesn’t matter because you won’t get it for another week), Apple is pushing some great product placement on a popular show.

Sure, it’s a little gimmicky but the character on the show who is getting the iPad loves technology. In past episodes he’s used high-end,  sound-cancelling headphones and tried to teach his wife to use the extreme movie theater he installed.

So what does it mean for the iPad to be on Modern Family? Probably nothing. If you didn’t want one before, odds are you aren’t going to want one now. Product placement these days doesn’t mean the same thing to me that it once did. We’ve become a little (or a lot) desensitized to it. Truth is, I find it more noticeable when the can is clearly supposed to be a Coke but it’s a generic name.

The one thing I can’t figure out is why they would put the iPad into Modern Family when the show uses Apple desktops and laptops but usually covers up the Apple logo.

Want an iPad? Pick your university wisely

When you go to the homepage for Seton Hill University you might think you’ve gone to the wrong address. That’s because going here will automatically direct you to a page that touts the university’s program that will place an iPad in the hands of first-year, full-time students this fall.

Seton Hill is a small university, with less than 1,000 living on campus and just over 2,000 total enrollment. The Web site says that not only will students get an iPad, but they’ll also have a 13-inch MacBook. After two years, your MacBook will be replaced. The site says you get to keep the new MacBook you receive, but says nothing about the iPad. This may be the catch. Perhaps the way the program works is that you get the iPad, you get hooked on the iPad, then after four years, you get it taken away from you? Ouch. Of course I could be paranoid and it goes unstated that you keep the iPad too.

The point of the program is so students can download their textbooks onto the iPad. This is nice for the students. I hated when I had two classes and I knew there would be no time to get back to my dorm and switch out books. Usually I compromised by just not taking the book for one class and hoping it wouldn’t get used. Now you only need one device to read your text and take your notes.

You know who probably doesn’t love this program? Textbook publishers. As it is, they’re probably feeling the sting from Amazon, Half.com, ecampus.com and all the other sites that sell textbooks for cheaper and then buy them back (at better deals than universities). Now, students won’t even be buying the hard copy, and the school is encouraging it. That e-textbook is cheaper and people will undoubtedly figure out a way to send the text to their friends at other colleges. It will no longer be that you buy a book and next semester you hand it off to your roommate. Now, you buy the text and when your roommate and cousin and best friend across the country all need the same book, they can all get it.

After all, students are incredibly creative when it comes to getting something free that they should be paying for.

More iPhone rumors with no hard facts

People love rumors and gossip. Even though the newspapers are honestly supposed to stay away from rumors and conjecture, the Wall Street Journal must feel strongly enough that its anonymous sources are trustworthy enough for the major story the Journal ran.

Of course, I’m alluding to the supposed iPhone that goes into production at the end of the year and will be released for Verizon. The one catch is that no one is officially talking: Verizon, Apple, the Taiwanese manufacturer of iPhones and the company that will allegedly be making the Verizon iPhone have all declined to comment on the matter. AT&T is talking, but it’s the equivalent to a “no comment.”

Still, it’s not just the Journal buying into iPhone-Verizon fervor, there are plenty of others reporting as well. The idea is that Apple is making an iPhone for CDMA networks, aka the network that Verizon (and a few others) are on. The current iPhone is a GSM network because that’s what AT&T is on.

Never fear, AT&T will still have the iPhone. In fact, there is supposed to be a new one coming out this summer — the same time a new one has been released for the last three years. But partnering with Verizon just makes more sense for Apple. The network is better and far larger, with at least 6 million more wireless customers, according to Reuters.

Just the mere speculation had Verizon’s and Apple’s shares rising while AT&T’s dropped.

I think it’s a great move, and not just because I’m a Verizon customer. The fact of the matter is that AT&T drops far more calls and can’t handle so many iPhones. Now, Verizon can also take some of the burden and that might even lead to AT&T having a more reliable network.

What slipped between the cracks, 3/22 to 3/28

I unfortunately missed two weeks of the weekly round-up, but, luckily, this week there was some really interesting stories to sink your teeth into.

The future of Sprint is a different type of billing. With people using phones for more than just making calls, the company believes it makes more sense to bill based on amount of data used and not minutes.

By the end of 2010 one-third of the U.S. will be covered by Verizon’s LTE network. Another projection Verizon made is that its 4G coverage will be at least equal to its 3G covered by 2013. Sure, that’s not exactly any time soon, but the company also assured customers that while it expands 4G coverage, it will also continue working on expanding 3G coverage.

AT&T was also busy this week with an announcement on the roll out of its 3G MicroCell. Basically, if you are on AT&T and are sick of it’s dropped calls and shoddy coverage, you plunk down $150 for what amounts to a mini-tower and coverage for up to 10 AT&T phones, while in range (5,000 square feet), is better.

Google had an interesting bug to fix when some of its corporate site was in Chinese. Some immediately assumed that the site had been hacked because of Google’s recent issues with China, but the company denied that and said the issue was a bug, not a hack.

Google's site resulting from a bug.

Want an iPad? You’re definitely not alone. Even if people don’t know the exact figures of pre-sales, one thing is for sure: there were enough that any new orders placed wouldn’t be received until the second week, April 12. Also, in-store pick up isn’t an option any more.

Now that my semester is half over, I’ll (hopefully) be a bit more regular with updates.

The phone market gets smarter

Although the majority of Americans still have regular “feature” cell phones (i.e. not a smartphone), Nielsen Wire is reporting that the number of smartphone users is growing so much so that by the end of 2011, half of the country will be smartphone users.

This probably isn’t a surprise to anyone. Smartphones are a newer a better technology and the longer it’s around, the more people are going to buy. What Nielsen doesn’t report on is how many smartphones are being made. After all, 21 percent have smartphones right now compared to 14 percent a year earlier. But how many more different types of smartphones are available now as compared to a year ago?

Not only is quantity contributing to the ever-increasing rise of smartphone users, but price is a huge factor. I’m a Verizon customer (thus, no iPhone for me), and if I’m going to buy a smartphone I can get the Samsung Omnia from as low as $9.99. The Droid Eris is $79.99 and the BlackBerry Storm 2 is $99.99. Overall there are 14 Verizon phones for under $100 (all of these prices include two-year contracts).

My next phone (when I get the money for it)

And other carriers aren’t skimping on smartphones for under $100: Sprint and AT&T both have nine each. The more inexpensive smartphones get, the more people who are going to buy them. The option is basically buying a smartphone for, say, $49.99 where you have the option of downloading apps and browsing the Web, or spending the same amount of money and not being able to do that.

Yes, smartphones do cost more per month. That’s where they get people. I’ve seen it happen to myself and my friends. What happens is that you get hooked on using those extra features.

While smartphone growth has been steadily increasing, Nielsen is showing that the country is getting hooked on smartphones. It’s expected that the amount of smartphone users will start growing more rapidly.

By 2012 there will be more smartphone in the market than feature phones.

What constitutes changing the world?

If you Google “the iPad will change the world” you’ll get all sorts of articles by people who truly believe the new iPad will herald the end of computers as we know them. People clearly have very high hopes for the iPad. After all, it hasn’t even been officially released and it has sold hundreds of thousands. But will the iPad really “change the world?”

The iPhone is popular, there’s no denying that. But when people say things like the “popular embrace of iPhones has reached staggering proportions” I’m skeptical and hesitant. iPhone sales worldwide to date equal roughly 42.5 million. That’s impressive. Of course that’s less impressive when you realize that number includes people who have bought multiple iPhones and therefore that number doesn’t represent unique individuals who own the phone.

Still, let’s assume when a person buys an iPhone, they never buy another one and the 42.5 million represents unique sales. If those sales were only in the U.S. alone 42.5 million sales means only 14 percent of the country has an iPhone. Not a shabby number but not exactly what I would call “staggering proportions.” Worldwide the number is even less impressive. Of course worldwide includes the population of countries where the iPhone isn’t even available. So let’s make this fair. I did a rough count of the population of all the countries iPhones are currently sold.

iPhone sales worldwide only account for 0.7 percent of the population. Not even a full 1 percent of the world has an iPhone. iPhones are popular, sure, but they’re a very small percentage of the world. Therefore I can’t label them as “staggeringly” popular.

Even if the iPad has as much success as the iPhone, that is not nearly what I would call “changing the world.” I don’t believe that the iPad will ship out and suddenly everyone will want a tablet computer. In fact, I think a lot of people are going to continue to use their laptops, netbooks and (gasp!) desktops.

The very first iPod

Apple is popular, but look at the last decade. When you think mp3 odds are you think iPod. It’s hard not too. But when the iPod was first released in 2001 it took almost two years for the iPod to sell a million devices. It wasn’t until 2005 that the sale of iPods really began to increase by a lot. Over the last three years 20 million iPods were sold in each year’s first quarter. Just the first quarter. That doesn’t include the 9 million-plus sold in each of the next three quarters of each year.

The iPod could arguably be a game-changer, a world-changer. But it took 5 years for that and the CD industry is still around. No, the industry isn’t doing well, and yes, they just cut prices of CDs, but it took 9 years after the release of the iPod for the industry to respond as such.

The truth is that the iPad might change the world, but not right now it won’t. For technophiles and Apple enthusiasts, sure the iPad is revolutionary, it’s the future, it’s going to change everything. But for average people (who makes up a much larger portion of the population) the iPad is cool and new but not worth it, or something they don’t understand. So while people go on about the half million sold by the release date and the 1 million sold the week after April 3, keep it in perspective. That great 1 million is only .3 percent of the U.S., nevermind the world.

Even if in five years, half of the people in the United States own the iPad or some sort of very similar tablet computer, that proves that it’s a great piece of technology and popular. But when you remember how small that population is in comparison to the world, that means only 2.5 percent of the world owns a tablet.

When people throw around the phrase “change the world,” just keep in mind how big the world is. The U.S. and western Europe don’t constitute the world. You have to remember Africa, where people can’t even pay for medicine. Also, it will be almost impossible to find any Apple product in a Middle Eastern country. Those countries account for at least 6 percent of the world.

I believe the iPad and tablets are the future, which is, you know, not right now.

3D gaming without the dorky glasses

It’s funny how fast a technology can evolve once people become used to it. Computers went from clunky desktops and brick-like laptops to flat-screen desktops and netbooks and now tablets. All in about 10 years. Phones went from giant cell phones to small flip phones and then they added e-mail and the next thing you knew you could do just about everything: Internet, movies, songs, apps, books, etc.

For a long time, 3D technology was relegated to theme parks. Disney’s Muppet*Vision 3D and Honey I Shrunk the Audience have been around since the early ’90s. Universal has a Shrek ride and a Spider-man ride. In movie theaters, 3D films were hard to find at first until more and more theaters began including at least one 3D screen. This past year or two has seen multiple 3D movies and many large blockbusters are planned to be in 3D – this week’s How to Train Your Dragon, Clash of the Titans, Shrek Forever After, Toy Story 3 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (there are at least 12 other, smaller movies that will be released in 3D).

Just two months ago 3D TVs were announced by big companies (LG, Sony, Panasonic, etc). And now 3D has shrunk: get ready for the Nintendo 3DS.

I was so skeptical. I always think of 3D as having to put on glasses and screens that look blurry without the glasses on. And this new handheld gaming device is supposed to be without glasses. And then I saw the video. Seriously. Watch it. Part of me insists that it cannot be real. The other part of me has been squealing “That’s so cool!” in my mind for the last 30 minutes.

You have to hand it to the minds at Nintendo. Whenever the company is getting into some serious trouble, they haul out some crazy idea that changes everything. Take the regular game console. Before the Wii, Nintendo struggled with the GameCube. The Playstation 2 was the market leader and the Xbox offered great online access. The Gamecube mostly had family games and a low price. And then they unveiled the Wii.

Now, Xbox and Playstation are playing catch up to the Wii. Xbox is releasing Project Natal — which, like the Wii, is based on motion sensor technology but there’s no controller — and the Playstation has Move, which also uses motion sensor technology and a controller.

And now, when Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch are stealing away gamers from the DS, Nintendo comes out with this really cool looking 3D model. Sure, people are going to say it’s a gimmick to get back customers. But isn’t that the point of a business? To create something so cool people want to buy it?

I’m pumped for the Nintendo 3DS, especially since it does 3D in a way I’ve never seen before.

Apple, the iPhone and the future

Multiple sites have reported the fact that Apple is selling contract-free iPhones. Unfortunately, these phones are still locked to AT&T. The original information was that the phones were unlocked and for a few hours, people rejoiced. Then it became apparent that what Apple is doing right now, is exactly what it did this time last year.

Using common sense, TechCrunch reported that the most likely reason for Apple selling contract-free iPhones to move the inventory. The company wants to sell as many iPhones as possible right now because there will likely be a new iPhone in June or July.

We can only hope the new iPhone looks really cool like some of the concept sketches from fans or this really professional-looking video. My only concern is the network.

AT&T said its new 4G network won’t be ready until 2011. If the new iPhone is a 4G phone (which would most likely be), then it would be a full year until the capabilities are all there in the U.S. Elsewhere in the world (I hear Scandinavia) the capabilities are there. Of course, in some places in Europe people can also buy the iPhone unlocked, meaning they aren’t stuck with AT&T.

Ads that stalk you

Despite the ads littering the top, sides and bottoms of your browser, ads crawling across the screen and ones that force you to see them before the page loads, people have become immune to advertising on the Internet. The simple reason for this is that we can easily ignore them. We click close or let our minds wander or click to a separate tab to avoid ads.

The other reason we ignore ads is that what they sell just doesn’t interest us. Even the sometimes specific Google ads are usually about nothing I care about. So advertisers are looking for something new, someway to make you care and their solution: use that location-based thing people like. The software on your phone will know where you are and be able to give you advertisements based on that.

The idea is that these ads will help you discover “that a store nearby stocks the TV you’re looking for, or that a certain grocery on the way home has the cut of meat you need,” according to AdAge.

It’s awesome! It’s like the ads know you so well that all you’ll see are ads specific to you. Theoretically at least.

Let’s face it, though. At first this won’t work perfectly because there will be glitches. Then it won’t work perfectly because people will want to exploit it. Suddenly those specific ads are no longer specific to you because it might not be fiscally smart. Companies will just start unloading a lot of ads, even ones you don’t want.

So what happens at that point? Easy. We start ignoring ads and we’re right back where we started.

The phone company worth $0

Things aren’t looking too good for Palm. Things are looking so grim, that two analysts have actually lowered the target price for Palm’s shares to $0. Ouch. The problem with Palm is that major carriers, like Verizon, just can’t get Palm’s phones off the shelves. No one is buying them.

According to Engadget, Palm made a number of missteps that led from the company’s bright future in 2009 to probably a year left. Palm has said that marketing needs to be better. The reason why Verizon and Sprint can’t sell Palm phones is because the salespeople aren’t trained well enough with Palm phones.

If marketing is so important, then Engadget would like to know what was up with Palm’s odd commercials. Remember the eery, washed out woman, talking softly and dreamily with elevator music in the background? Snore. Or the Valentine’s Day commercials with moms from the ’80s going on about the tacky gifts they loved back then (by the way, people still love boxes of chocolate).

Engadget has a simple piece of advice: show commercials that actually show how the phone works and why it’s good.

Also, another issue that would drive me up the wall is when there are hardware issues “with no outward acknowledgment or rush to correct.” That right there will kill a company. In the age of Twitter, where Kevin Smith can tweet angrily about an airline and thousands immediately see it, companies are doing all sorts of quick damage control when something goes wrong. The company that doesn’t is stuck in the past and will get passed over for companies that do listen and correct issues.

So what’s up with Palm? Unless the reboot their company, their image and some of the phones, it won’t be around in a year, which means more iPhone domination and less competition, unfortunately.