iPad Enters the Market Share Scene: Report

Web metrics firm Net Applications has been tracking the iPad since its launch, and after 10 days the trend is clear.

The iPad will soon account for one twentieth of one percent of the overall OS market. If that sounds infinitesimal, it is, and yet according to Net Applications the iPad now roughly equals the BlackBerry in market share.

However, it’s important to remember that Net Applications data is drawn from some 160 million visitors per month to a worldwide network of sites, rather than counting unit sales. That means it’s not market share so much as web share, which explains how the iPad caught the BlackBerry so quickly. Despite having sold tens of millions of more units, browsing the web on a BlackBerry is painful experience, while the iPad makes it sublime. Nonetheless, since the future is browsing the web on mobile devices, web share numbers today could very well be the market share of tomorrow.

For analysts and bloggers pondering what, exactly, the iPad is for, the above chart pretty much answers the question. It’s a new way to browse the web. With only 500,000 units sold, the iPad is already showing up against its rival siblings the iPod touch and iPhone, which have sold some 35 million and 50 million units respectively. Keep in mind too that both handheld devices are available worldwide, while the iPad will not see international release until May. Since Net Applications uses a worldwide network of web sites to determine market share, it’s quite possible that by the end of June the iPad may surpass the iPod touch in share.

Looking at estimated mobile device numbers for April, which tend to change very little from month to month, the iPad is indeed on par with the BlackBerry, and quickly closing on Android and moribund Windows Mobile. While that’s impressive for a new device sold only in the U.S., the combined iPhone OS share of the market is even more so. It will be around 37 percent, meaning by June at the latest expect iPhone OS to surpass the ubiquitous Java ME as the most used mobile OS, at least according to Net Applications.

Looking past the numbers, for those who purchased an iPad it appears your investment is safe. Just weeks after launch, the iPad is already solidifying its position as viable platform. For those who don’t own an iPad, expect Google and Microsoft to be scrambling to get a viable competitor in the marketplace as soon as possible. It looks like the tablet is here to stay at last.

 

http://theappleblog.com/2010/04/16/ipad-enters-the-market-share-scene-report/

Coming Soon: Multi-Tasking on the iPad with Many-Device Apps

Virtualization is a star - at least in the big stage of the iPad. Since the device launched, Citrix Receiver has been one of the top ranked business apps in the store.

Chris Fleck, mobility leader on the Citrix team shares this demonstration showing a Citrix Receiver application enabled with four applications running side by side on iPad. He goes further to show the same apps running on a host of other devices.

Born to Multitask

Citrix Receiver uses HDX, the name of the remoting technology Citrix has innovated based on the ICA Protocol (Independent Computing Architecture) the company has been developing on for over 15 years. Fleck tells us that HDX is conceptually similar to RDP/VNC but it includes significant optimizations for WAN performance, Multimedia, and user experience across multiple devices and OS's.

Here is a clip from the demonstration video showing four side-by-side apps running on iPad. Citrix Receiver is able to zoom on in each application to make it full screen, or display all four simultaneously.

Many Apps - Many Devices

The demonstration continues showing each device in this picture, from Mac to PC, iPhone to Android, all running the same applications.

At one point, Fleck goes on to demonstrate how to "flick" multiple applications on the iPhone. This demonstrates one app showing full screen and the four other applications are swipable, like photos in your photo library. This seems like a natural extension of the iPhone and really could be useful for building larger enterprise applications or portals.

This demonstration reminded us of one thing, the apps matter. When we see an iPhone application on Android, or Windows 7, it still looks pleasing to navigate. Perhaps there is room in the enterprise for a Apple's Mobile Human Interface Guidelines.

Enterprise designers, maybe it's your time to build insanely great apps for the enterprise that follow patterns of the iPhone and iPad. Whether new, or old, Citrix Receiver is breathing life into applications and iPad is getting down to business.

The company plans to release this capability with its partner SoftwareFX at the Citrix Synergy event next month.

Virtualization could become a default way to connect iPad in the enterprise - at least in year one.

 

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/04/multitasking-ipad.php

Lenovo: Mobile will be 10-20% of Revenue in 5 Years

PC maker Lenovo announced today that the company expects its mobile Internet products to account for 10%-20% of revenue in five years' time. This statement comes from President and COO, Rory Read, delivered at a media briefing that coincided with the launch of the newest Lenovo "LePhone" smartphone device in China. With the phone, a handset running the Google Android mobile OS, Lenovo hopes to grab a good-sized chunk of the still-emerging Chinese smartphone market.

Interestingly enough, Lenovo had, in early 2008, sold off its mobile phone unit to focus solely on its PC business. But as the financial crisis hit, companies delayed refreshing their corporate desktops and laptops in an effort to save money, a move which heavily impacted Lenovo's bottom line. Last year, the company decided to once again diversify their offerings by bringing back the mobile unit.

In January, Lenovo launched an improved "Ophone" device at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, its first smartphone since the $200 million reacquisition of the once-discarded mobile business, returned to the company in November of last year. At the time, Lenovo execs said the phone would be central to the company's mobile strategy.

Today, they're echoing that sentiment. According to Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing, mobile Internet devices will overtake traditional PCs in the next five years. And Read reminded everyone that the smartphone market in China was only now emerging. "It's just the beginning," he said.

PC Manufacturers Focused on Mobile

Lenovo isn't the only PC manufacturer making changes in this direction, with smartphone launches laser-focused on China especially. Dell, for example, announced in November they would launch an Android-based handset called the Dell Mini 3 that would be sold only in Brazil and China to start. The company is also hard at work on an Android tablet, a colorful consumer-targeted device apparently being called the "Dell Streak."

Acer, too, has a line of smartphones running both the Windows Mobile OS and Android, available outside the U.S. in parts of Europe and Asia.

HP, although still more focused on PCs, is set to launch its first "new-wave" tablet in the form of the HP Slate, a multi-touch lightweight device running Windows 7. 

As for Lenovo's claims about the timeframe to mobile's domination over the PC? Those figures may very well have been snagged from Morgan Stanley's Internet analyst, Mary Meeker. In her latest "state of the Internet" report, she predicted that the mobile Internet market will be bigger than the desktop Internet market within five years. She also noted in particular how fast mobile Internet has grown - even faster than its desktop counterpart ever did.

For those who like to segment the phases of the Internet's growth, the current era, aka this mobile surge, represents the fifth major technology cycle, she says. Previously, we had the mainframe era of the 1950s and 60s (counts for two), the mini-computer era of the 1970s and the desktop Internet era of the 80s. The new mobile cycle is being driven by the spread of 3G technology, now reaching 20% of the world's cellular users.

 

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/lenovo_mobile_will_be_10-20_of_revenue_in_5_years.php