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Survey Reveals 37% Of Teens Will Soon Buy An iPhone, 22% Of Them Have “A Tablet”

When I was a kid, having an iPod meant you wanted to be different and you cared about the quality of your music. At least in my town, most kids bought MP3 players from a variety of popular / unknown brands at the local electronics store or mall, and they didn’t really care about the functionalities of the device as long as they could “put MP3s” into them. I know the situation was different in the States and, perhaps, in other towns of Italy too, but that’s what I remember.

The scenario nowadays, of course, is completely different. Every teenager knows what the iPod is, they have iPhones and, when they really want to go Apple all-the-way, they also have Macs. Apple’s sales numbers and popularity have dramatically changed (for the better) over the past decade, and with 100 million iPhones and 15 million iPads out there the company has surely created a new market for smartphones and tablets. Yet there’s still a huge room for growth, and according to Piper Jaffray’s latest bi-annual survey of high school students in the US, the numbers for Apple are promising. Among the 4,500 surveyed kids, 37% of them plan on buying an iPhone in the next six months, and 17% of them already have one. That’s up from 31% and 14% in Spring 2010. What about tablets? 22% of high school kids said they own one (and I guess they’re talking about the iPad here), whilst 20% plan on buying one in the next six months.

As for MP3 players, 86% of the kids who have one are using an Apple iPod. Other devices from Microsoft, Sony and Dell follow in the chart with incredibly lower numbers. But the MP3 player is clearly decreasing in popularity as kids prefer to listen to music on their phones rather than a dedicated device: in Fall 2010, 90% of surveyed kids had an MP3 player; in Spring 2011 “only” 80% of them have said they own a standalone device for playing music. And of course the iTunes Store has a 95% share among the “legal ways” of downloading music online; on the other hand, 65% of kids still use P2P services to illegally download music from the Internet.

So this survey leaves us with an interesting question: what will the popularity of tablets be like in 12 months? What’s going to happen to the iPod and, most of all, will Apple reboot the entire line to make sure it still makes sense for a kid to have an MP3 player alongside an iPhone? We know the iPod touch makes for a great gaming device, but I can see how having an all-in-one device (phone+music+games) can be a more attractive option. Check out the full survey here.

Suppliers Reporting 2.4 Million iPad 2s Shipped in March

Despite shortages, Apple aggressively sold the iPad 2 at launch date, part suppliers said Wednesday. Roughly 2.4 - 2.6 million iPad 2’s are believed to have shipped in March. Digitimes also said that based on a conservative estimate, Apple is likely to ship 4 - 4.3 million units a month, or a total of over 12 million iPad 2s in the second quarter.

A limiting factor for Apple could be the cover lenses, suppliers said. Taiwan-based companies like Chunghwa, G-Tech, HannStar, TPK, and Wintek are all increasing their capacities this year. Apple usually only uses a handful of suppliers and will have to stay on their supplier’s toes to stay ahead of the demand to reach these numbers.

These unofficial March shipment figures suggest an explosive, and expected, start to iPad 2 sales. Apple took 28 days to ship the first million of the original iPad and likely reached that number twice as fast for the iPad 2. Sales accelerations were certainly helped by an international release only two weeks after the US. Apple had to push non-US availability out by several weeks in 2010 with the release of the original iPad.

Most competitors are feeling the pain from the iPad 2 sales, today TechCrunch has reported that Motorola Xoom and Atrix sales are disappointing. “If it don’t make dollars, then it don’t make sense.”

[via electronista]

 

iCushion Stand for iPhone

Is there anything better than keeping an iPhone 4 with its flush, shiny glass back on the flat surface of a desk that also hosts a variety of other Apple products? For some, it’s keeping the iPhone into a desktop stand like the Xtand. Others prefer the simplicity of a standard Apple dock. Last, some people keep their iPhones protected with a bumper, which also ensures the device won’t slide and fall off a flat surface like your office’s desk or coffee table. For these people, and for all those who hate how cables inevitably create a giant tangled mess on your desk, the iCushion for iPhone could be a great alternative to the usual DIY stand or protective case: designed by Fadtronics, the iCushion is a seat for the iPhone that a) also keeps the cables in place neatly organized and b) has a suction cup to prevent the device from slipping away. Plus, it’s cute.

The iCushion stand is likely just a design experiment, and we’re not sure the thing will ever be available for purchase. But it should. Check out more photos here.

Kickstarter Project - Tweet Land: Playing With Reality

I hope you don’t get tired of reading about Kickstarter projects because I enjoy writing posts about very cool ideas. A new project I found today is called Tweet Land. Tweet Land is the idea of six Costa Ricans that believe it’s “possible to reinvent the way video games are created. We believe in opportunity, that’s why we believe in Tweet Land.” Tweet Land is one of the world’s first video game platforms that plays with reality, or “Real Time Gaming.”

What would happen if people’s social networks effected what happens in a video game? If you like the idea of the twittersphere becoming a virtual universe, this is for you.

Video after the break. Read more

New Final Cut Pro to be Announced on April 12th?

The ProVideoCoalition reports this evening that the new Final Cut Pro isn’t just amazing, but that it’s slated for an April 12th launch date at the tenth annual SuperMeet at the Bally’s Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rumors are flying that Apple will be using the Vegas Supermeet to announce the next version of Final Cut Pro. Supposedly, Apple will be taking over the entire event for their announcement, canceling all other sponsors, including AJA, Avid, Canon, BlackMagic, Autodesk and others, who were set to give presentations.

So far, ProVideoCoalition has confirmed that Canon, Avid, and Autodesk will not be presenting on the 12th. Avid reported that Supermeet canceled their sponsorship for the event, while Canon cancelled speaker Philip Bloom’s stage appearance. However, Bloom may make a guest appearance at the event.

Early in January, Hardmac proposed that Apple was testing a beta version of Final Cut Pro, and that it was slated for a late March or early April release date. In February, Techcrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis reported that video editors were visiting the Apple campus to get a preview of the new software.

Apparently Apple is still putting the finishing touches on “the biggest overhaul to Final Cut Pro since the original version was created over 10 years ago”and wanted pro user feedback. Emphasis on “pro.”

MacRumors quotes Final Cut author Larry Jordan, who writes on his blog:

I’ve Seen The New Version of Final Cut Pro… and it’s a jaw-dropper. Last week, Apple invited a few folks, including me, to a short meeting in Cupertino where they previewed the up-coming version of Final Cut Pro. While I am under NDA and can’t talk about what I saw, I CAN tell you the meeting happened and that it showcased the new Final Cut Pro.

Ripe with rumors pointing to an April launch, I’d expect the next iteration of Final Cut Pro to launch this month. The last time we saw any activity with Final Cut Pro was in 2009, and many are expecting dramatic interface changes to coincide with 64-bit support and the launch of Lion.

[via MacRumors]

 

 

Fring To Introduce Group Video Calling For iPhone

In its continuous effort to develop the best mobile video calling app for iOS and Android devices, popular service fring has announced that they’ll soon launch a private beta to pilot a group video calling feature that will be available on fring later this year. The beta program is open to Android and iOS users, and it’s been demoed in a video published by the developers in a blog post.

The new fring will allow you to easily browse the buddy list and pick a contact to add to a group call. The functionality apparently supports up to 4 simultaneous conversations and works both on WiFi and 3G. Once a person has been added to the group call, you can go back to the main screen and keep adding buddies until the limit is reached. As soon as you tap on a contact’s name, fring will initiate the call – meaning you don’t have to wait for all connections to go through at the same time. You can see how it works in the video below.

The dev team is putting the finishing touches on a super cool new service: free, mobile Group Video Calls. We are having too much fun with it already, and want to get some feedback from users ahead of public launch on Android & iPhone.

Of course, this is super-exciting as it’s the 1st time the world will get to enjoy free Group Video calls.

Fring for iPhone was recently updated to include the possibility to switch between cameras, buy credit through in-app purchases and enjoy fullscreen video calling with a “Dynamic Video Quality” the company has heavily promoted on mobile devices. Fring for iPhone is available for free in the App Store.

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Decline, plateau, decline: New data on The Daily suggests a social media decline and a tough road ahead→

Decline, plateau, decline: New data on The Daily suggests a social media decline and a tough road ahead

The data doesn’t look good for The Daily. Its activity on Twitter seems to match my own perceptions of how they’re doing — an early rush of excitement; a decline as people lost interest and the app struggled with technical problems; a plateau once the tech got sorted out; and then another decline once the app started charging users.

The data here only takes tweets into account, and not the actual number of The Daily subscribers. While there has been a general decline in tweets with occasional upticks depending on the content being promoted for that day, I ask whether this is a fair assessment of the number of people using The Daily versus how people use The Daily. I know for a fact that I would share articles I found interesting on Twitter, but would somebody like my parents who’re switching to a digital format even bother? Once I tweet an article on Twitter, what return am I getting out of it? As MacStories writers, our whole audience is interested in tech (specifically Apple news), thus I don’t know if I’m going to see a lot of retweets if I share a sports article. Too, the social implementation in The Daily isn’t as user friendly as it could be, and without the flow that apps like Flipboard have, you’ll certainly see a decline in interest over time. The next thing to look at would be whether Facebook sharing declined and how many people are utilizing The Daily’s comments section (and audio tool).

I don’t argue that The Daily isn’t seeing a decline in readership, but I want to see (though probably impossible) heat maps of how customers are interacting with articles, complaints on Twitter about usability, and most importantly subscriber numbers. The Daily certainly got its fair share of promotion in the media, but are people prepared to move from finding free content on the Internet into a dedicated news source that they have to pay for? We’ll save these ideas for another time, but Joshua Benton has shown that social interactions with The Daily have seen a substantial decline.

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Giveaway: Be Distraction Free With Byword for Mac

You wouldn’t want your fingers to glide across the keyboard to type in just any regular text-editor. Ladies and gentlemen, you deserve nothing but class and a distraction free environment that helps you focus on the text and nothing more, or nothing less. Byword for the Mac from the folks @metaclassy is a bite-sized text editor that packs a big punch in the downright-beautiful department. In your choice of a shell white for an afternoon scrawl or an alternate dark theme for evening pondering, Byword contains five typography presets for plain or rich text editing that when combined with contextual formatting presets create a pleasurable typing experience for your sensitive neural inputs. Out of love for writing, Byword helps improve text legibility by implementing text substitutions for Smart Quotes, Smart Dashes, and a user friendly interface that simply disappears as your fingers strike the keys. Reviewed at the onset of March and now at version 1.1 in the App Store, Byword is available for a small expense of $4.99.

We’re giving away five copies of Byword to our MacStorian authors who frequent our site for the latest in Mac apps, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t offer you the opportunity to put away your thoughts in this beautiful text writer. The giveaway rules can be had after the break.

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Official TED iPad App Now Supports AirPlay

We’re big fans of the official TED app for the iPad, and we’re also huge fans of Apple’s AirPlay streaming technology and the second-gen Apple TV – entirely based on streaming content from iTunes or your local network. The latest update to the TED app doesn’t introduce several new features and optimizations (the app was initially released in October 2010), but it adds one key functionality: AirPlay support for all talks and playlists.

Version 1.3 doesn’t add anything else, but it’s okay. AirPlay support for TED talks was our most requested feature, and it’s finally available. Go get the app here.