AllThingsD » iPad

Yahoo Folds Up Livestand, Its Would-Be Flipboard Killer

Peter Kafka — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:46:58 +0000

Yahoo has pulled the plug on Livestand, its iPad/tablet news app. Yahoo rolled out the app last fall, and positioned it as competitor to apps like Flipboard and Zite. But the app never got any traction, and has been on the chopping block for much of 2012.

Good Lord, I Might Now Want to Use Yahoo Search Again -- Product Dudes Talk About New Axis Browser (Video)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 24 May 2012 03:14:03 +0000

Yahoo introduced its new Axis browser tonight, with versions for the Apple iPad and iPhone, as well as plugins for the top desktop browsers.

The company briefed a media army on the product and the consensus is that it’s very good. My favorite headline from Gizmodo: “Yahoo Came Out With Its Own Web Browser and It Actually Doesn’t Suck.”

No, it’s even — dare I say it — innovative!

That it was done while Yahoo has been in such crisis is a minor miracle, I would add.

It’s a slick offering, which essentially eliminates the texty link-filled search page for one of pretty visual tiles and pull-downs and more. Think Pinterest of search and you have the general idea.

But let’s hear from the dudes who pulled it off (though please allow me to customize or hide the giant klutzy search bar at the bottom).

Here’s an interview I did with Ethan Batraski, who runs product for Yahoo’s Search Innovation Group, as well as Shashi Seth, who heads its Connections unit, about Axis (which I might note was the name of the group that lost World War II).

But better luck at winning the browser war here, since — in this case, at least — Yahoo deserves it.

[ See post to watch video ]

And here’s the Yahoo press release on Axis:

Navigating a New Course In Search — Introducing Yahoo! Axis

Seamless Across Multiple Devices, Axis Re-defines Searching and Browsing

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 23, 2012 – Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today announced the availability of Yahoo! Axis, a new experience that re-imagines how people search and browse on the web. Axis offers the only search experience that allows you to enter your search, see and interact with visual results, all without ever leaving the page you are on. Axis seamlessly integrates with your favorite desktop browser and automatically connects your online experiences across multiple devices. Axis is available today for download across iOS devices and as a desktop plug-in for HTML5-enabled browsers.

“Our search strategy is predicated on two core belief — one, that people want answers, not links and two, that consumer-facing search is ripe for innovative disruption,” said Shashi Seth, senior vice president, Connections, Yahoo! Inc. “With Axis, we have re-defined and re-architected the search and browse experience from the ground up.”

Visually rich, Axis provides an easy and efficient cross-device experience that today’s connected consumers want:

· Smarter, Faster Search with Rich Design: Axis gives people instant answers and visual previews so they can continuously discover and explore content without interruption. Encased in a sleek design, Axis keeps people moving forward rather than constantly returning to a page of endless blue links. Once on a search results site, Axis also lets people simply swipe or click to the next result.

· Connected Experience: Axis allows people to move seamlessly across devices. Upon downloading Axis, people can start a search on their computer, flip through the results while out on their iPhone, and finish the search at home on their iPad. Content can be easily shared by email, Pinterest and Twitter.

· Personalized Home Page: After signing in with Yahoo!, Google or Facebook credentials, Axis centralizes online lives with a customizable Home Page that provides direct access to their favorite sites, saved articles and bookmarks across all devices where Axis has been downloaded.

· Standalone Mobile Browser, DesktopPlug-In: On iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Axis serves as a standalone mobile browser app. On the desktop,Axis is a browser plug-in that works with Firefox 7+, Safari v5+, Internet Explorer 9 and all versions of Chrome.

· Innovative Technology Backbone: Axis is built upon the Yahoo! Cocktails mobile development platform, which is designed for creating deeply personalized products that are built for connected devices first. Comprised of Mojito, an open source JavaScript MVC framework and Manhattan, a cloud-based hosted environment, Cocktails is a blend of open, standard web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and Node.JS.

To learn more about Yahoo! Axis and download the desktop plug-in, visit the Axis microsite and our company blog, Yodel Anecdotal. The new Yahoo! Axis App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.iTunes.com/appstore/.

Vend Rings Up $2 Million for Point-of-Sale Technology

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:19:43 +0000

Vend, a start-up with offices in San Francisco and New Zealand, has raised $2 million to develop point-of-sale software that runs on any device, including iPads and legacy hardware found at the register. The round was led by Point Nine Capital in Europe. Vend, which has raised $3 million to date, says it has signed up 11,000 users in 80 countries and is processing one million transactions a month.

So Much for the Big Apple-Samsung Summit

John Paczkowski — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:49:48 +0000

Image by Joy of Tech

Looks like the big Apple-Samsung summit was a total rout. Two days of court-mediated settlement talks between the warring companies ended without a truce, setting the stage for their global patent battle to head to trial in the States.

Samsung officials tell the Korea Times that the two companies were unable to come to a clear agreement resolving their differences. Sources close to Samsung confirmed to AllThingsD that this was indeed the case.

Evidently the talks — which ran for about 16 hours over Monday and Tuesday — began and ended at an impasse, with Apple continuing to insist that Samsung “slavishly” copied the design of its iPhone and iPad, and Samsung demanding that Apple pay royalties on the wireless patents it believes the company infringed.

Given the level of animosity between the two companies at this point, it was really hard to imagine any other outcome. Locking Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung into a room for two days and hoping they’d emerge bosom buddies brandishing a settlement was always a bit of a pipe dream. Note that Apple last Friday filed a motion for injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, angling to have the device yanked from U.S. shelves as soon as early June. And the week before that, it accused Samsung of destroying email evidence.

Not really the behavior of a company that’s looking for two days of easygoing mediation talks and an amicable resolution to the legal issues at hand.

As FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller recently told Reuters, “This dispute isn’t ripe for settlement. Under the present circumstances, the two companies’ delegations should spend a couple of fun days in Yosemite Park or Napa Valley, rather than meet in court only to pretend they’re being constructive.”

Apple declined comment on the outcome of the talks.

The case heads to trial on July 30.

(Image courtesy of Joy of Tech)

iPad Keeps Apple No. 1 in Mobile PC Sales

John Paczkowski — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:55:48 +0000

The mobile PC business is booming, and thanks to exploding iPad sales, Apple remains its undisputed leader.

According to NPD, Apple shipped 17.2 million mobile PCs* worldwide during the first quarter of 2012, enough to capture a 22.5 percent share of the market — more than double that of its closest rival, Hewlett-Packard. During the same period, HP shipped just 8.9 million mobile PCs for an 11.6 percent market share.

How did Apple manage to dominate PC leader HP in the mobile PC market? The iPad.

Of the 17.2 million “mobile PCs” Apple shipped, 13.6 million were iPads. And in that particular segment of the market — tablets — Apple’s domination is unrelenting. In the first quarter, Apple claimed a stunning 62.8 percent share of the tablet market, dwarfing every single one of its rivals. Samsung, its next closest rival, shipped just 1.6 million tablets during the quarter, for a share of 7.5 percent. Amazon followed with 900,000 tablets shipped and a 4 percent share. Bringing up the rear: Research In Motion and Asus, which sold 500,000 tablets each, for a 2.3 percent market share.

*NPD defines mobile PCs as tablets and laptops.

TV Everywhere's Counting Problem

Peter Kafka — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:30:21 +0000

“TV Everywhere” is supposed to let the traditional TV business hang on to the status quo, by promising viewers they can watch whatever they want, whenever they want it.

As long as they keep paying for TV.

But even if consumers go for that deal, the TV guys need to make sure that advertisers buy in, too.

And that won’t happen until the TV guys can get some basic stuff right. Like counting eyeballs, no matter where they watch a show.

That could still take a while. Witness Comcast’s announcement yesterday, made at the cable industry’s annual convention in Boston, that it has been working with Nielsen on a plan to count viewers when they watched video on an iPad*, using Comcast’s Xfinity app.

For various technical reasons, this is much harder than you’d think, and the two companies have already been beavering away at this for 18 months. Now they’re launching a trial, and Comcast executive Matt Strauss is optimistic that they can work the kinks out by 2013, and advertisers could have true “multiplatform measurement.”

But that only works if all of the big pay-TV providers sign on to the new technology. And the media-measurement business is full of different tests and initiatives, all shooting off in different directions.

Last week, for instance, Spanish-language powerhouse Univision announced a “video neutral” deal with media-buying agency Starcom, which is supposed to mean Univision gets credit for its stuff no matter where anyone watches it. But the announcement describing the deal doesn’t explain how Univision or Starcom will track those eyeballs.

Meanwhile, Nielsen’s rival eyeball-counter comScore recently announced that it had its own technology in place to measure mobile devices like phones and tablets. And earlier this year it announced its own “multiscreen research initiative,” where it paired up with AT&T.

But comScore isn’t tracking any traffic on connected devices, like Google TVs, Apple TVs or Microsoft Xboxes. So if any of that really is taking off, that’s yet another headache.

Shouldn’t this stuff be easier? After all, we’ve figured out how to get the video all of these places — why can’t we count it, too?

On the other hand, recall that the iPhone is still a mere five years old, and the iPad is only two. That’s a blink of an eye for the measurement guys, who move deliberately because there’s billions of ad dollars at stake, no matter what they do. But they may still have to speed things up.

*Or, theoretically, on another tablet.

(Image courtesy of Shutterstock/Liewluck)

One Small Keyboard for Logitech, One Giant Leap for iPad Productivity

Lauren Goode — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:00:08 +0000

With my column this week, I did something I’ve never done before: I typed the entire thing on my iPad.

That’s because I’ve been testing Logitech’s new Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad, which has changed the way I feel about productivity on the iPad.

You see, I’m not a huge fan of touchscreen keyboards. Many other consumers share this sentiment, as much as they might love their tablets.

Hardware makers have addressed this by offering a variety of accessory keyboard options. They range from Bluetooth-enabled wireless keyboards to tablet cases with built-in keyboards, like the $70 Belkin YourType Folio, and plastic overlays that create tactile keys on top of the iPad’s touchscreen. Companies have even tried experimenting with laser-projected keyboards — though those still won’t give you keys you can actually feel.

But some of these solutions are bulky, or add too much extra weight to the iPad. Not the $100 Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard. The successor to the Logitech Keyboard Case by Zagg, the Ultrathin is a sleek, super-slim Bluetooth keyboard that also works as an iPad cover. It works with both iPad 2 and the new iPad.

[ See post to watch video ]

I’ve been trying out the Ultrathin with an iPad 2 for over a week now, in part to determine whether it’s worth its $100 price tag. Despite the fact that it scratches easily and doesn’t firmly support the iPad when the tablet is in the vertical position, I would buy this device.

The Ultrathin Keyboard Case is 9.5 inches by 3.5 inches. It’s just .39 inches thick — thinner than all three of the iPads themselves. Made of aluminum, it mimics the look of the back of the iPad. When the keyboard isn’t in use and the case is being used as a cover, it looks very much like you’ve mashed two silver iPads together. On its own, it weighs roughly 12 ounces. The combined weight of the case with the Wi-Fi-only iPad 2 is 2.071 pounds; the case plus the new iPad weighs 2.185 pounds.

Like Apple’s own cover for the iPad, the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover comes with magnetic grips that firmly latch onto the long edge of the iPad.

To get started using the Ultrathin, I powered on the keyboard, then turned on the iPad’s Bluetooth. The iPad quickly recognized the device, and I paired the two by selecting the keyboard from the iPad’s list of recognized devices.

Next, I tested the keyboard. I positioned the iPad horizontally in a thin, white trough that runs across the top of the keyboard. The magnetic pull was so strong that the iPad snapped into place. This propped the iPad up at an angle in front of me, and I was ready to begin typing.

Set in a smooth, black, recessed tray, the keys are black, Chiclet-shaped and made of etched plastic with slightly raised lettering. Despite the shallowness of the tray, the keys have a nice spring to them.

Alternating between the touchscreen and the keys took some getting used to, but typing on the iPad using the Ultrathin was fluid and easy. I answered emails, jotted down some thoughts in the Notes app, filed a short blog post and wrote this column.

I also used some of the shortcuts available through the function keys at the top of the keyboard: There’s a home key for returning to the iPad’s home screen, while the function key plus the “1” key launches spotlight search. Function and the “3″ key makes the iPad’s virtual keyboard pop up, and function plus 6, 7 and 8 allow users to cut, copy and paste.

Logitech says the keyboard’s battery life is expected to last six months with two hours of daily usage. The keyboard also goes into sleep mode when it’s not in use for 20 minutes, thus conserving battery life. Charging it requires a micro-USB cord, which goes into a small port on the keyboard and a regular-sized USB port on your laptop or computer. Unfortunately, the $100 you’ll pay for this won’t cover the cost of a wall adapter.

There are some less-desirable aspects of this product. For one, it only works with the iPad. Logitech does make a $70 Bluetooth keyboard that works with Android tablets, but it’s a separate wireless keyboard.

Another drawback: The “delete” key is way too small — one of the downsides of cramming an entire keyboard into such small physical real estate. It sometimes took me three tries to make contact with the delete key while typing.

The Ultrathin only covers the iPad display screen, and not the backside of the iPad, which is prone to scratching. As it turns out, the cover side of the Ultrathin is also prone to scratching, as I discovered after a week of throwing it in my bag and toting it around.

Users that don’t want to deal with scuffs or that are looking for more iPad coverage will likely want to consider something like the Belkin I mentioned earlier, the $100 Zaggfolio iPad 3 keyboard case, or Logitech’s $130 Solar Keyboard Folio.

The magnetic clips that hold the tablet in place are super strong, but that’s only when it’s propped up horizontally. While, technically, the iPad can rest in a vertical position in the keyboard’s tray, it doesn’t feel like it’s firmly in place.

Also, though I love how thin and lightweight this thing is, it’s so light that it sometimes creates an awkward balance between the keyboard and the iPad. When I was sitting on my couch, with my feet up and my iPad and its keyboard on my lap, it was fine. But when I was sitting upright in my desk chair with the iPad and Ultrathin on my lap, it felt a little unsteady.

However, the benefits outweigh the downsides of this keyboard and case. I didn’t get to try out the Ultrathin on an airplane, but I did test it during a train ride. It was the perfect travel accessory, and now I can’t imagine traveling without it.

iSwifter's New App Brings All Flash-Based Facebook Games to the iPad

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:55:01 +0000

Most games on Facebook are built using Adobe Flash, and therefore don’t work on the iPad.

While Facebook is slowly working out the kinks to bring more games to mobile, there’s a small company in Menlo Park, Calif., that has beat them to it.

ISwifter is announcing a new iPad app today called theWorx for Facebook, which gives users the full Facebook experience — social games and all.

That means users can check their crops, maintain their cities and feed their fish without having to boot up their computer.

A small company of 20 employees, iSwifter is almost entirely bootstrapped, having generated $10 million in revenue last year.

As my colleague Ina Fried wrote, the previous iPad app allowed users to access any Flash-based content on the Web by running a browsing session on its servers and streaming the results to the iPad. What iSwifter quickly realized was that “one of the major use cases is Facebook games,” said the company’s co-founder Rohan Relan.

TheWorx will work similarly to the old app, except that it is tailored specifically for Facebook. ISwifter will host the content on its servers and then stream the games to the user on the iPad, with little latency. By taking this approach, users will have access to all games on Facebook without developers having to lift a finger.

Additionally, all of the original ways to monetize the applications will be in place, including advertising and Facebook Credits. TheWorx will be free for a short trial period, and then users will pay for additional access. The app will come out later this month or in early June. At that time, Relan said, the company will figure out how much it will charge. The iSwifter app currently costs $5.

“Our plan is if we do everything that the Facebook app does, then we can charge for that functionality,” Relan said.

The biggest threat to iSwifter is if Facebook starts bringing more content to mobile. “That would be pretty devastating to us,” Relan admits. However, he said there’s not an easy way for all developers to bring their content to mobile. Currently, some of the largest game developers, like Zynga, have created content specifically for Facebook’s app, but it has been a slow process.

“Some of the big apps have made native versions, but it will take time for the Long Tail to migrate over,” he said.

Here’s how the app works:

ESPN Retools Radio App, Launches on iPad

Lauren Goode — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:39 +0000

Rabid sports fans are about to get even less productive at work.

ESPN has reengineered its streaming radio app to offer improved sound quality, push alerts for when a favorite program is going live and content-caching for listening to podcasts without an Internet connection.

It’s also launching the app for the first time on iPad. The app is already available for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry; the updated version will hit Android in June, and a Windows phone app will be available this summer.

If you vaguely recall ESPN having just updated its radio app, you would be correct: The company retooled it less than 18 months ago to include new search and personalization features, as AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka reported here.

Marc Horine, ESPN’s vice president of digital and print media, says that with the newest version, the network is trying to refocus on what’s most important with a radio app — the listening experience. Files have been compressed for faster streaming and downloading, and the sound quality has been enhanced, Horine says. And the app includes DVR — which allows users to skip ads, by the way, though I doubt ESPN would encourage that — and the ability to download full podcasts for listening offline.

Most of the content on the app is commentary, though there are some live play-by-play game options, and there’s a SportsCenter update available every 20 minutes (for the really, really rabid sports fans). To lure listeners to the app, ESPN has mixed up its app offerings to include original, app-only programming with stuff that’s already broadcast on terrestrial radio, like “BS Report with Bill Simmons,” “Pardon the Interruption” and “Fantasy Focus.”

At $4.99, the new ESPN Radio costs two dollars more to download than the old version, and runs in-app ads as well as commercials throughout the podcasts.

Horine says the mobile radio app has been downloaded more than 740,000 times since it first launched two-and-a-half years ago. That’s actually a pretty small percentage of the 24 million weekly radio listeners ESPN claims across all platforms.

And the majority of listeners — 90 percent, Horine says — listen to radio while at work Monday through Friday. But now, with the ability to stop and start radio podcasts on your desktop and pick up right where you left off on the mobile app, ESPN envisions mobile will become a growing fraction of those listeners.

(Full disclosure: I worked as a non-Disney employee for ESPN from 2003 to 2006. I was not involved with network’s radio programming.)

Going on Vacation? Ditch the Paper Guidebook and Try These Apps.

Lauren Goode — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:00:02 +0000

The restless mind only rests when the body is in transit — that’s what I tell myself when my feet are feeling particularly itchy.

Fortunately, the summer travel season is upon us, and vacation isn’t too far away. So, over the past week, I tested a couple of iPad apps for travel. To be clear, these apps aren’t geared toward finding deals on flights or hotels, but are digital guides that offer written and visual information about various destinations.

The first one I tested is Stuck on Earth, a free, iPad-only app from photo blog Stuck in Customs that takes a different approach to travel planning, with crowdsourced photos and suggestions based on your personality type. I compared this app to one of the new day-by-day apps from the trusted travel authority Frommer’s. The Frommer’s guides, which range in price from $10 to $15, are available for iPad and iPhone. With the HTML version, coming out shortly, users will be able to access travel info from any Web browser or use on an Android device.

There are many more travel apps in the App Store beyond these, including Lonely Planet’s $6 to $10 apps for iPhone and Android, offering seven country guides and 83 city guide apps for iOS. And if you’re taking a more social approach to your travel planning, Gogobot combines trip recommendations from friends with Instagram-like photo filters to create postcards.

[ See post to watch video ]

Stuck on Earth featured some inspiring, exotic photos, but after testing it, I found it was better for brainstorming trip ideas than it was for firm planning. The Frommer’s guide was more comprehensive, and is the one I’m more likely to use on a trip. However, Frommer’s and Inkling, its publishing partner, have put out only seven digital guides to date, spanning just a few states and a handful of countries.

First I tried Stuck on Earth. That app uses a narrator named “Karen,” whose suggestive tone might raise some eyebrows in a public place. “Well, hello there,” Karen said, her voice dripping like syrup on the iPad. She then asked me which personality type I am: Daydreamer, Explorer or Photographer; or a combination of the three.

From there, the Stuck on Earth app guided me to a main page divided into sections: One featured a world map and a local map; another was dedicated to My Saved Trips and Top Lists of destinations, selected for me by a Stuck on Earth curator.

I created a few folders for My Saved Trips: One was for France, one for Barcelona, and one for India. (A girl can daydream, right?) Then I went to the world map, where “pins” in the form of photo albums appeared in locations around the world. It was easy to get lost in the app’s photo albums. When I saw a photo of a monument, street fair or cafe that looked interesting, I added it to one of my trips; I could also share it via email, Facebook and Twitter.

All of the photos in Stuck on Earth are first posted to Flickr by users who are visiting or have visited that location. You might think this would mean that some photos are shoddy, but I found many of the images to be beautiful and unique. The creator of Stuck on Earth, Trey Ratcliff, says that the photos are chosen from a pool of 25 million photos on Flickr, and the app’s curators pick and choose which ones will be added to the albums. If I wanted to upload my photos to the app, I would have to join the Stuck on Earth community on Flickr and send them there first.

As much as I liked it, it’s not likely that I’d use Stuck on Earth as my main travel app. While the long photo captions are interesting and, in some instances, even include great personal anecdotes from the photographer, they didn’t offer enough information to really plan a trip. Also, the app is iPad-only, and I might not want to carry my iPad everywhere while traveling.

While testing Frommer’s iPad apps, I decided to focus on France. I downloaded the day-by-day guide for iPad for $9.99; Frommer’s also has guides for Alaska, California, Costa Rica, Great Britain, Japan and Spain.

The app has a whopping 18 chapters. Thumbing through the digital pages required a combination of swiping up and down and left to right, but it’s all pretty intuitive. The chapters offer both one-week and two-week tours, and itineraries for day trips, with static maps. There are photo slideshows, too.

A helpful spotlight tool searches for key phrases — like “red wine.” My favorite part of the Frommer’s guide was the ability to highlight content and make notes.

I browsed through a two-day tour of Paris, and explored the best tours for outdoor activity and dining. When I pressed my finger on the text for the Musée du Louvre, I had the option to highlight it, which would add it to my personal notebook, or to leave a public note for other app users to see. After a couple days into my virtual tour, I had left a few public notes (“So romantic!” near the Eiffel Tower), highlighted the Loire as a cycling route, and remarked in my notebook that I loved the Salers beefsteak at Le Baillage. Since the app is so new, I didn’t see any public notes from others yet.

The Frommer’s France app comes with voice dictation for language translation, though this feature is buried within the app. When I touched words or phrases in the glossary, I could hear the proper pronunciation of “Le plein, s’il vous plait?” (this translates to “Fill the gas tank, please?” in English).

The last chapter also included a ton of information about different types of accommodations, currency exchange, ATM locations, etiquette and customs, pharmacies, hospitals and other fast facts.

With international travel, there’s always the possibility that you might not have cellular service or an Internet connection on your mobile device, depending on your carrier and whether you’ve opted into international service. To test how these apps worked without service, I put my devices into airplane mode.

When I opened Stuck on Earth, Karen immediately told me that I didn’t have an Internet connection, but that I could look at my saved trips. She also thanked me for not turning off her voice. Using Frommer’s on the iPad in airplane mode, I was still able to see the full guide, maps and notes, as well as links to other content within the guide.

Frommer’s also offers the same apps for iPhone — which is great if you don’t want to lug your iPad around — but the apps currently don’t sync between iPad and iPhone. So if you’ve created a day’s itinerary on your iPad app, the iPhone version won’t show all of your notes. Inkling CEO Matt MacInnis says that a solution for this is coming soon.

If you’d rather just carry your smartphone while traveling, you may want to make all of your notes within the Frommer’s iPhone app from the start.

Fortunately, Frommer’s and Inkling are planning on introducing more app titles this summer. If you’re planning on traveling to one of those destinations, I’d recommend checking out the app.

Microsoft's Sneaky Success: The Xbox Is the Most Popular Video Player in the U.S.

Peter Kafka — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:41:24 +0000

More evidence that Microsoft is increasing its lead in the digital living room race: Data that shows its Xbox gaming console is the most popular non-PC device to watch Web video.

That is, more people are watching Web stuff on Microsoft’s machine than on the iPad, iPhone or any Android machine, anywhere. And when it comes to home viewing, competitors like Apple TV, Google TV and Roku are so far behind they’re not even competitors.

This data comes from Freewheel, an online video ad company, and it comes with caveats. We’ll get to those below. But first, take a look:

Now the asterisks: Freewheel is only measuring “professional content” that runs with ads, because that’s how it makes its living. So that means it’s counting stuff from companies like NBC, CBS, ESPN and Vevo, but not YouTube cat videos. It’s also not measuring Netflix usage. On the other hand, this isn’t a poll or sample, but data compiled by the company’s own ad servers.

So it’s possible there’s some variance here with the larger Web video world, but it seems reasonable to assume that this is at least directionally correct. At the very least, it gives credence to Microsoft’s claim that Xbox users are spending more time watching videos on the machines than playing games, and that its deals with conventional TV programmers may be bearing fruit.

And it shows you how much ground Google will need to make up as it gets ready to relaunch its Google TV. Ditto for Apple, if and when it ever gets serious about transforming Apple TV into something other than a “hobby.”

With No Apple or Amazon at CTIA, iPad Rivals Free to Sling Arrows

Ina Fried — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:14:00 +0000

Although the iPad is still the dominant force in tablets, its chief rivals see plenty of room for competition.

Nick DiCarlo, VP of product planning for Samsung Mobile, noted that the market has shown that, despite Apple’s pronouncements, there is a demand for a range of tablets, including smaller, 7-inch models. DiCarlo also noted that the company knows how to quickly come from behind. It wasn’t that long ago that his company had only a tiny part of the phone market and it is now a serious player. He said he sees the same thing happening in the tablet space.

“I think it is very, very early days,” DiCarlo said in a CTIA panel moderated by AllThingsD co-Executive Editor Walt Mossberg.

Taking aim at his main rival, Jamie Iannone, president of digital products for Barnes & Noble, said that the Nook Tablet clearly outshines the Kindle Fire in a head-to-head comparison.

Iannone noted that its color tablet is a second-generation product designed specifically for reading, while Amazon used another manufacturer’s design.

“As you know, the Fire was built off a reference-design product to get it out quickly,” Iannone said, adding that the product suffered as a result.

As for Apple, Iannone noted that many iPad owners also have one of its E-Ink Nook devices because the iPad isn’t ideal for long-form reading.

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Apple's New iPad Hits 30 More Countries This Weekend

John Paczkowski — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:31:01 +0000

Whatever supply constraints Apple once faced with the new iPad, it appears to have resolved them. The company will launch the device in an additional 30 countries including Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan. Noticeably absent from this latest rollout list: China. With the addition of those nations, the total number of countries in which the new iPad is available for purchase will be almost 90.

What's Behind the Drop in Kindle Fire Shipments?

John Paczkowski — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:00:48 +0000

Once hailed as the first true rival to the iPad, Amazon’s Kindle Fire no longer seems to be much of a threat to Apple’s tablet. The Fire had no impact on Apple’s March-quarter iPad sales. Indeed, during the company’s second-quarter earnings call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said Apple is selling new iPads “as fast as we can make them.” And, according to the latest data from IDC, global Fire shipments dropped from 4.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 to less than 750,000 units last quarter.

From 16.8 percent to about 4 percent worldwide market share in a single quarter. That is a swift and ugly decline. What’s causing it?

Kindle Fire demand could be dropping off as customers postpone their purchases in anticipation of a new version of the device. Or it could be declining because the Fire was a really well-executed holiday play whose novelty has since worn off.

Or it could be that the iPad 2, which Apple continues to sell alongside the new iPad at a lower price, is winning over some of the same consumers that Amazon has been targeting with the Fire.

Or, because the number of units shipped isn’t the same as units sold, the dropoff in shipments in the Fire’s latest quarter could primarily be the result of a large inventory buildup in the product’s first months on the market.

At $399, the iPad 2 is still twice the price of the Fire. But it’s also $100 cheaper than the new iPad, and comes accompanied by the same vast app and content ecosystem, iCloud, Facetime and other slick features. And that may be discount enough to command the attention of budget-conscious consumers. Indeed, during Apple’s last earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said the iPad 2′s new lower price point was unlocking demand among price-sensitive customers.

If that’s the case, perhaps it’s unlocking demand among potential Kindle Fire buyers as well. It’s worth noting that during the same period, IDC claims that while the Fire’s share of the market fell to 4 percent from nearly 17 percent, the iPad’s share rose to 68 percent from 54.7 percent.

Could there be a correlation there?

Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes thinks there might be.

“The lower priced iPad 2 has seemed to offset some of the original threat of the lower priced Fire,” he says. “Many consumers seem willing to pay $399 for a feature packed tablet with a strong and developed ecosystem rather than $199 for a relatively underpowered tablet.”

Certainly plausible. Anecdotally, I know a few folks who had planned to buy the Fire, only to balk later and cough up the extra money for an iPad 2. Perhaps there are lots more of them out there. Your thoughts?

Judge: Proview Can't Sue Apple in California in iPad Trademark Battle

Jessica E. Vascellaro — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:30:21 +0000

A California judge threw out Proview Electronics Co.’s lawsuit against Apple Inc. over the iPad trademark in China, the latest twist in the legal fight over the rightful owner of the tablet’s name.

Judge Mark Pierce in the Superior Court of the State of California in Santa Clara County on May 4 approved Apple’s motion to dismiss the suit, which was first filed in February. The order wasn’t previously disclosed.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Paid Newspaper Aggregator Ongo Shuts Down

Peter Kafka — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:12:26 +0000

Ongo, a newspaper-backed startup that tried to sell digital subscriptions to a variety of publications, is shuttering after less than two years. The New York Times, the Washington Post and Gannett each put a reported $4 million into the company, but it never got traction with subscribers. Nieman Journalism Lab has a good exit interview with CEO Dan Haarmann, who blames Apple’s subscription policy, among other factors, for the company’s failure.

Four Reasons Why Andreessen Horowitz Is Investing $10 Million in Belly

Tricia Duryee — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:30:51 +0000

Andreessen Horowitz has invested $10 million in Belly, a Chicago-based company that is building a loyalty network for retailers that will replace punch cards with a mobile rewards program.

Since launching in August, Belly has signed up 1,400 merchants in eight markets, and is adding an average of 100 more merchants each week. Additionally, it has more than 200,000 active users, who have checked into business more than 800,000 times.

The business draws a little bit from Foursquare, because it requires users to check in to earn points; and also draws a little bit from Groupon, because of its focus on local commerce.

But Jeff Jordan, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, argued that Belly is not at all like Groupon. “It’s the anti-Groupon,” he said. “Groupon is doing lead generation through discounting. … What Belly is trying to do is loyalty.”

The difference, Jordan said, is that Belly doesn’t require merchants to offer discounts to get consumers to come back.

For example, a Chicago comic book store owner is letting shoppers punch him in the stomach; a Washington, D.C., Ben & Jerry shop is giving away a chance to eat ice cream with Jerry after 200 visits; and a barber is handing over the clippers to frequent customers, who will shave off his own beard.

Jordan, the former chairman and CEO of OpenTable and former president of PayPal, said there are four reasons why he was attracted to the start-up:

The management team: Founder and CEO Logan LaHive previously worked at Redbox, and before that, Pay By Touch, the biometrics payments company that raised $350 million in capital before failing.
Product execution: Jordan said both merchants and customers like the product. Merchants must install an iPad at the register, where consumers can check in to earn points by scanning a bar code from their phone or a loyalty card.
DNA of the investors: Before Andreessen Horowitz got involved, LaHive incubated the company in the offices of Lightbank, the VC fund created by Groupon founders in Chicago. Jordan believes that the one who gets to market fastest will win in this market. Belly has that in its DNA.
Connected retailers: Once retailers have an iPad in every store, there will be additional opportunities for Belly to roll out other services.

LaHive said the capital will be used to fuel expansion into new markets and to develop new services. To date, the company has raised $13 million.

Belly charges merchants $50 to $100 a month for the service, which includes an iPad, a case and lock for the iPad, marketing materials, and data and analytics to manage their business better.

Belly @ Berry Austin from Bellycard.com on Vimeo.

Flipboard CEO McCue Likely to Step Down From Twitter Board Over Potential Future Conflicts (Or Closer Cooperation)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:37:24 +0000

According to sources close to the situation, Flipboard co-founder and CEO Mike McCue has approached Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and co-founder Jack Dorsey about moving off the board of Twitter.

It is not clear when McCue — who became a director of the San Francisco social communications company in late 2010 — will step down, but it could come soon.

The reason, sources said, is McCue’s growing feeling that the companies are on a product collision course, with a possible troubled or perhaps more attractive result.

In other words, Flipboard will either face increasing rivalry from Twitter or will end up as a possible acquisition target for it or other companies.

“How users consume and use Twitter is a key part of its future, and that is what Flipboard does well already,” said one person with knowledge of the situation. “There is going to be an inevitable crossroads for the two companies.”

Indeed, Twitter has bought several companies that help users read and discover, such as Summify.

The goal has been to better make sense of the massive amount of data that the service produces daily; to that end, Twitter has pushed to improve its user interface design on a number of devices.

And Twitter is a big part of Flipboard’s app, which is very dependent on the tweet feed and accounts for 70 percent of its links, sources said.

Flipboard is also more of a “mobile first” company, which is where Twitter is also headed even more aggressively.

Already popular on the Apple iPad, Flipboard launched its iPhone app late last year and it is prepping a version for Google Android soon.

That’s why, in addition to being a rival, it is also an obvious acquisition target for Twitter, as well as others such as Yahoo and Microsoft.

In fact, Google already tried to buy it last year, before Flipboard did a massive $50 million fundraising round that valued it at $200 million.

Its investors include Insight Venture Partners, Comcast’s venture arm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures and a spate of well known angels, such as Dorsey, Facebook co-founder and Asana dude Dustin Moskovitz, Ron Conway, actor Ashton Kutcher and the investment company of former News Corp. exec Peter Chernin.

Co-founded by longtime entrepreneur McCue (Netscape, Tellme) and former Apple iPhone engineer Evan Doll, Flipboard launched to much attention in mid 2010.

Its innovative social magazine concept is attempting to make the social networking universe more accessible, consumable and, perhaps most importantly, visually arresting via its rich app.

Essentially, Flipboard pulls information from media RSS feeds and sites such as Twitter and Facebook data streams and then reassembles it in an easy-to-navigate personalized format.

Google has mounted a competitor, called Currents, as has Yahoo with its Livestand offering, neither of which have gotten much traction. In fact, sources said, Yahoo is likely to shut Livestand down completely.

There have also been a spate of other similar readers, such as Pulse and Zite.

Spokespersons for both Flipboard and Twitter politely declined comment.

Apple, Proview Talking Settlement in iPad Trademark Spat

John Paczkowski — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:37:06 +0000

Apple’s battle with Proview over the rights to the iPad trademark in China may end up in a settlement after all.

According to Proview attorney Xie Xianghui, mediation talks between the two companies are progressing, albeit slowly. “We feel that the attitude of Apple has changed,” Xie told China’s government newswire. “Although they expressed that they were willing to negotiate, they have never taken any action before. But now, they are having conversations with us, and we have begun to consult on the case.”

And, evidently, Apple is looking to close the complaint. Xie says the company has already proposed a sum to end the litigation, though it’s not high enough for Proview. “Right now, there is still a big gap between the two sides on the settlement amount,” he said.

Which isn’t at all surprising. Apple has maintained throughout this battle that it legally owns the iPad mark across Asia, and that Proview is doing nothing more than squeezing it for additional money to use the trademark in China — despite the fact that it has already purchased those rights.

“We bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told AllThingsD earlier this year. “Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China, and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter.”

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Funzio's Big Exit to Gree Fueled by Only Three Hit Game Titles

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 04 May 2012 23:42:46 +0000

Funzio’s $210 million sale to Tokyo-based Gree this week makes it the second mobile game company with a relatively short operating history to be snapped up recently.

In an interview, co-founder and President Anil Dharni said the company was founded two and a half years ago, but it didn’t make its first mobile game until nine months ago. Since then, it has launched three titles, including Crime City, Modern War and Kingdom Age, all of which have generated more than 20 million downloads.

The quick multimillion dollar sale is reminiscent of Zynga’s recent $180 million purchase of OMGPOP, which had been around for awhile but only recently catapulted to the top of the iPhone charts with its overnight hit Draw Something.

Dharni said the two back-to-back sales are not necessarily an indication of a trend in mobile games.

“We tend to hear only about the successes,” he said. “If you look at some of the other mobile gaming companies, some have gained traction but there’s others struggling that have fallen off the charts. … I think the downward trend is also happening.”

All three of the company’s games are free to play and monetized through in-game items. Both Kingdom Age and Modern War are among the top 25 grossing apps on the iPad. Crime City is the company’s oldest title. Neither Funzio nor Gree disclosed how much the apps are grossing, but Dharni said what makes its games stand out from the rest of the pack is player retention. And generally, the longer players engage with the games, the more likely they are to make purchases.

Funzio, which previously raised $20 million in capital, is expecting to be completely integrated into Gree’s San Francisco operations, relocating all of its 125 employees to Gree’s offices, where the two will have more than 300 employees all told.

“From day one, the thing we proposed was that we didn’t want to be an independent studio. We want to be integrated as much as possible in Gree,” he said.

Gree, which is a mobile-gaming powerhouse in Japan, is aggressively trying to build a worldwide social network for games on mobile devices. Rivals include DeNA’s Mobage network, which came to market through the acquisition of San Francisco-based Ngmoco, and Apple’s Game Center.

Funzio will now begin developing games for Gree’s mobile social platform, although they will not necessarily be exclusive.

Dharni said both he and the company’s co-founder and CEO Ken Chiu started talking with Gree a few months back, and since then had discussions with a number of other suitors, whom Dharni characterized as the “usual suspects.”

What stood out about Gree was its vast experience and knowledge about the mobile gaming space, he said.

“Mobile games in Japan make a ridiculous amount of money and we are just getting started in America. They are two to three years ahead of us in terms of understanding game mechanics and monetization. We can learn so much from them,” he said. “They are super smart and hungry folks and their vision matched ours. We had excellent alternative options, but we found the perfect partner.”

Study: iPad Accounts for Nearly 95 Percent of Tablet Web Traffic

Ina Fried — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:54:49 +0000

There’s no question that the iPad is the dominant force when it comes to tablet sales. But when it comes to usage, the iPad’s power is even more impressive.

Aiming to get a sense for how powerful the tablet is, online advertising network Chitika looked at what devices it was serving ads to and found that it was almost exclusively Apple tablets.

For every 100 iPad impressions, Chitika is serving slightly more than one ad to a Samsung Galaxy and Asus Transformer Prime and under one ad to the Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry PlayBook and Kindle Fire. The Nook Tablet share is even lower, though clearly both the Nook and Kindle are marketed less as Web browsing devices and more as media consumption tools.

In total, the iPad accounted for more than 94 percent of ads, Chitika said.

It shows that not only are iPads outselling their rivals, but each one that is sold is also more heavily used, at least when it comes to Web surfing.

“Going forward the competition is going to be hard pressed to find a way to overthrow the seemingly omnipotent Apple,” Chitika said. “Not only do they offer a great product, they have the undying devotion of their enthusiasts.”

Flipboard for Android Makes a Cameo at Samsung's Galaxy S III Launch

Ina Fried — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:58:46 +0000

The Galaxy S III wasn’t the only new thing shown at Samsung’s event on Thursday.

The company showed the device running an Android version of Flipboard, the popular iPad and iPhone reading app.

Flipboard confirmed the move, but offered scant details.

“Previewed on Samsung S III today, Flipboard is coming to Android phones soon,” the company said on Twitter, pointing users to a page where they could provide their email to get further updates.

That Web page indicated that Flipboard will be available first for “select” Android models.

“We plan to come to other Android phones this summer,” a Flipboard representative told AllThingsD, adding that “there’s no specific launch date at this time.”

Update: Here’s a shot of a Flipboard widget running on the new Galaxy.

Logitech Shines Light on Solar-Powered Keyboard for iPad

Bonnie Cha — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:22:33 +0000

If you love your iPad but don’t love its virtual keyboard, Logitech has a snappy new solution for you — and it’s environmentally friendly to boot.

The accessory maker today revealed its Solar Keyboard Folio, an iPad case with a built-in Bluetooth keyboard.

Add-on keyboards for the iPad certainly aren’t a new thing. What sets the Solar Keyboard Folio apart from the rest is that it doesn’t require a cable or battery for power or recharging. Instead, the case features integrated solar cells that draw juice from indoor and outdoor light.

Logitech says that when fully charged, the keyboard’s battery can last up to two years, based on two hours of usage per day.

When not in use, the Solar Keyboard Folio doubles as a protective case for your tablet, and like the Smart Cover, the iPad automatically wakes up when you open the case, and goes to sleep when in the closed position.

The book-style case can be positioned at two different angles, one that places the iPad in an upright position for full access to the keyboard, and one that’s better suited for viewing media.

The Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio works with the third-generation iPad and iPad 2, so unfortunately, if you have an original iPad, you’re out of luck. It will be available in the U.S. and Europe this month for $129.99.

Kindle Fire Shipments Fizzle

John Paczkowski — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:15:02 +0000

Amazon likes to tout the Kindle Fire as “the #1 bestselling, most gifted, and most wished for product” it peddles (without ever disclosing actual sales numbers). But evidently that doesn’t mean quite as much as you’d think. After an initial and impressive surge, sales of the device appear to be declining — precipitously.

According to IDC’s review of worldwide tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2012, Kindle Fire shipments dropped from 4.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 to less than 750,000 units last quarter.

From 16.8 percent to “just over 4 percent” global market share is a swift decline indeed, and enough to cost Amazon its second-place spot in IDC’s ranking of tablet vendors. Amazon is now in third place, behind Samsung.

In the first-place slot: Apple. While the company shipped 11.8 million iPads in the first quarter, down from 15.4 million units in the fourth, that was more than enough to maintain its dominant position and grow its market share to 68 percent from 55 percent.

One last detail worth noting: Worldwide tablet shipments for the quarter reached 17.4 million units, about 1.2 million units below IDC’s projections. That said, they were more than double the 7.9 million units shipped in the same period a year earlier.

(Image courtesy of Someecards)

The Shipping News: A Shorter Wait for the New iPad

John Paczkowski — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:21:40 +0000

Third-generation iPad supply and demand aren’t yet in balance, but they may be soon if estimated shipping times at Apple’s online store are any indication.

After falling to five to seven days from one to two weeks, ship times on the new iPad today dropped once more, this time to three to five business days. That’s a significant improvement over the wait time customers had to endure when the tablet first debuted in mid-March and a strong indication that Apple is working hard to ramp up production to meet demand, despite the supply constraints CEO Tim Cook mentioned during the company’s earnings call last week.

“The new iPad … was supply constrained last quarter for the full three weeks or so it was shipping,” Cook said. “And to give you a current view, we’re still supply constrained on the new iPad.”

But not nearly as much as it once was — in the United States, anyway. International shipping windows still aren’t as short as they are in the States. Apple’s online stores in the U.K. and other European nations still show iPad shipping estimates of one to two weeks.

[Image credit: Kominyetska/Flickr]