Can the iPad help finance, wealth management, and corporate banking companies rebuild a sense of trust with their customers after the global financial crisis? According to the analysts at Ovum, the answer is yes.
Analysts at the research firm released a note this week noting that the iPad (and tablets in general) is a perfect tool for the industries, which are often dominated by in-person “face-time” meetings.
How do you like the idea of a solar-powered iPad keyboard case? Sounds pretty neat, right? What’s even better is that it comes from Logitech, a company that already makes some great iPad keyboards, so at least we know that the keyboard itself won’t be marred by mushiness.
The world’s first iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, is no longer an iPad-only newspaper after making its debut on the iPhone today. Launched back in February 2011, the publication is optimized for the digital age, and provides the latest breaking news for a whole host of topics, including business, the arts, technology, and sports.
Penultimate, one of the two best pen-and-paper apps for the iPad, has gotten a Retina upgrade. This is a pretty big deal, as the feel and look of the ink, plus the responsiveness of the app, are what make it so great. Now, with super-smooth, hi-res graphics, can it keep its crown?
Saving up for that widely-rumored Apple television set? Well, according to one analyst, you have plenty of time. J.P. Morgan’s Mark Moskowitz issued a note to investors this week in which he states there is no indication Apple’s TV will make its debut during 2012, and that the current economic climate just isn’t suitable.
Moskowitz believes we’ll be waiting until 2014 instead, but suggests we could see an exciting new Apple TV set-top box before then.
May is Mobile Management Month at Cult of Mac,
AirWatch provides a full range of mobile management features and implements all of the iOS 4 and iOS 5 management and monitoring capabilities. The software integrates with a range of enterprise technologies including directory services. The service works with a wide range of clients including small and mid-size businesses, large and enterprise organizations as well as government agencies.
Spigen’s all-glass iPhone and iPad screen protectors use some special kind of silicone gloop to stick them in place, but that same gloop can be found in one of Spigen’s cases. It’s called the Diary, and as it consists of just one sheet of folded leather, it’s about as minimal as you can get. It’s also pretty classy, and has one huge, glaring omission.
Parallels released an update to the company’s mobile access app for iPhone and iPad. The app offers an array features, particularly for iPad users. The current update adds iPad and iOS 5 optimization, international keyboard support, retina graphics on the new iPad, along with several bug fixes including Mac and Windows scrolling fixes.
The BYOD movement has transformed the relationship between IT staffers and other employees in a wide range of companies. While there are benefits to BYOD, there are also headaches – and securing data on personal devices and/or securing the devices themselves is one of the biggest. While there’s an ongoing discussion about whether to manage data, apps, or devices, right now most companies are developing a strategy that has a mix of approaches.
All that could change if the mobile management industry unfolds the way Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney expects. Dulaney is an advocate of creating what he calls “beneficial viruses” that companies can layer into apps and data itself – the idea being that the data could delete itself if it becomes compromised.
Amazon’s lineup of Kindle e-readers and tablets have been fairly successful devices for U.S. retailer Target, with the Kindle Fire becoming its best-selling tablet on Black Friday last year. However, a leaked memo has revealed that the company is about to cease carrying all Amazon devices due to a “conflict of interest.” Many believe it’s simply a ploy to boost its sales of Apple devices.
It’s been a long time coming, but Spotify has finally arrived fully optimized for iPad. But if you’re a newcomer to Spotify on iOS, be warned: you need a Premium account to really get the most out of this app.
Scott Forstall, Apple’s Senior Vice President of iOS Software, has sold 65,151 shares of his Apple stock — the equivalent of 95% of his stake in the company — for a staggering $38.7 million. He now owns just 2,988 Apple shares, worth around $1.8 million, but if he sticks around, there’s plenty more where they came from.
Despite steady demand since the device made its debut back in March, Apple has still been able to maintain a speedy international rollout for its latest iPad. The new device is now available in 57 countries around the world, and what’s more, its shipping delay in the U.S. has now dropped to just 3-5 days.
Merely two years after the launch of the iPad, Spotify has finally released a big-screen edition of everybody’s favorite music-streaming app. In short, it works a lot like Twitter for the iPad, and it doesn’t have Spotify apps. The app is Universal, so when it hits the store (it’s still not showing up in some places), it will do so as an update, and while it is free, you’ll need to be a paid Spotify subscriber to use it.
Yesterday, in a somewhat surprising announcement, Microsoft and Barnes & Noble agreed to a deal that resolved their ongoing patent dispute, spun off the bookstore’s Nook business as a subsidiary into which Microsoft invested $300 million, and ensured that a Nook app will be available for Windows 8 when it launches later this year.
Although rumors have been floating around for months that Barnes & Noble was planning to spin of the Nook as a separate company or subsidiary, Microsoft’s involvement came as a surprise – one that raises interesting questions about what the two companies have in mind for their new joint business.
The iPhone and iPad are revolutionizing business as we know it, causing companies to throw out old playbooks that mandated strict control over every piece of technology in the workplace. That revolution is liberating workers everywhere to choose their own devices, pick the best apps, and enjoy using technology in the office for the first time since… well ever.
All this month, we’re going to spend time highlighting the businesses helping to power that revolution: companies that take iPhones and iPads into the office and let them drive and control all the enterprise systems in place in your workplace.
Do you carry a backup battery, a camera connection kit and a charger with you in your man-sack? Yeah, me too, and it’s really no big deal as even together they weight almost nothing. But if you’d rather combine these items into one easy-to-lose box, then the Cellink I is just the thing for you.
I can’t be sure, as I was a brainless, sieve-memoried child at the time, but I’m pretty sure that our family’s first portable (B&W) TV had a screen that wasn’t much bigger than the screen of my iPad. Still, the crappy picture and bulbous, almost circular screen didn’t stop my brother and I laying belly-down on the end of our parent’s bed and watching Monkey roll up the screen in a fuzz of snow and bad reception.
Now I can relive those dark days by putting my iPad into the Handmade Natural Stained Wood Retro TV iPad Dock, an Etsy product whose name is as good as a description.
When asked about Microsoft’s attempt to converge its mobile and desktop platforms into a single Windows 8 release, Tim Cook responded with an analogy of trying to converge a toaster and a refrigerator. If interest in Microsoft’s Consumer Preview release of Windows 8 is any guide, it seems that the public might agree with him.
According to Net Applications, a web analytics company, only a very small fraction of devices connecting to the Internet were running the preview – just 0.11% (or 11 out of every 10,000).
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has promised to investigate Apple’s claims of 4G connectivity for the new iPad in the United Kingdom after the Cupertino company failed to remove all references to ‘4G’ from its U.K. online store. Although the device boasts 4G capabilities, they are not available in the U.K. where there are currently no 4G networks.
The iPad has a pretty slick feature that you can access when it’s in the locked state. If you look to the bottom right of the lock screen, you’ll see an icon that looks like a picture of a little flower. Tap that and your iPad will start a slideshow of all the photos it has onboard. The default slideshow is fun, especially if you have your iPad up on display, but you don’t have to settle for the default settings. Today’s tip shows you how to change them to your heart’s content.
There’s an unforeseen cost for companies as workers become more mobile and trends like BYOD become ever more common. It isn’t the cost of a mobile management solution, deploying iOS apps, or even supporting iPads and iPhones that users want to use to connect to the work email and other business resources.
What is this hidden cost? Wi-Fi.
Popular iOS Twitter client Tweetbot has been updated with several new features and improvements in the App Store. Version 2.3 for iPhone and iPad is available now with more gestures, added timeline thumbnail support, and more. Storify and Droplr integration has also been included for sharing Twitter conversations and media/links with followers.
While it will be six months or longer before Microsoft releases Windows 8 and its companion products, the company has been putting out a lot of information about its plans lately. One big Windows 8 mystery to date is Windows for ARM based tablets. Formerly known as Windows on ARM (or WOA), the company recently settled on Windows RT as the official name for Windows 8 on low-cost ARM-based tablets.
Microsoft is very clearly positioning Windows RT tablets as iPad competitors for both the home and business markets. Until recently, there wasn’t much solid information about them beyond that they would include a touch optimized full version of Office. With the information released recently, however, there’s enough detail to speculate how Windows RT tablets will stack up to the iPad in business.
The jailbreakers among you will undoubtedly already be familiar with DreamBoard, an awesome tweak that quickly applies custom themes to an iOS device. It’s probably the easiest way to give your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch a nice new look, and therefore it’s extremely popular.
One shameless iOS developer is attempting to cash in on that popularity by creating a DreamBoard knockoff that is now available in the App Store for $2.99.