Don't Listen to Them! iPad Sales Don't Disappoint!

MG Siegler is concise and right on. iPad sales this quarter was only disappointing to those who thought that Apple would sell more than 19 million units. Seriously though, think about it… Apple still sold 16 million iPads... in 3 months! The fact that this product category is only 4 years old and in total have sold over 210 million, that's quite a feat!

As a standalone business, just based on the last 12 months of revenue, the iPad would be in the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500. Think about that for a second. The iPad alone is bigger than almost all Fortune 500 companies.

For a full breakdown of sales, head over to 9to5mac.

Clear for iOS is FREE! *TODAY ONLY*

If you like free premium paid apps for iOS, then today and today only, it's your lucky day! Realmac has re-released its award winning task list / to-do app Clear making it free for the next 24 hours. Take advantage of this today! I paid for it when it was initially released and I'm telling you now, take advantage of this!

Paper and now Pencil for iPads

Introducing the latest in writing technology, Pencil. An amazing tool for not only graphic artists but for those who already love Fifty Three's FREE app, Paper for iPad. I'm excited, are you? If you are, then I highly recommend you take advantage of the limited introductory pricing starting at $49.95 for the graphite brushed aluminum Pencil or $59.95 for walnut. If you're still not excited, watch the video down below. If you're worried about being able to convert your notes or drawings into real paper format, look no further as Moleskin and Fifty Three teamed up to print your books straight from the app!

With Erase, Blend, and adaptive Palm Rejection, Pencil puts creative possibility in your hands.

• Eraser tip - A unique sensor lets you flip Pencil to erase when connected to Paper, without switching tools.

• Bluetooth Smart - Pencil’s certified Bluetooth Smart wireless delivers a fast, stable connection with industry-leading power conservation.

• Seamless body - Each Pencil is milled from a single, solid piece of material. Graphite brushed aluminum and also available in Walnut.

• Lasting power - Pencil’s battery charges off any USB port in under 90 minutes and delivers power for up to a month of normal use on a single charge.

• Accurate sensing - Pencil’s tip and eraser sensors are plated in 14kt gold for lightning fast, accurate reaction.

• Tapered tip - Pencil’s durable tip has been carefully friction-tuned to feel great on a screen. Use the broad side of the tip to fill in larger sections. Extra tip and eraser included.

Minimally Minimal Goes with the iPad Air

Andrew Kim on the iPad Air.

Honestly, for most people, the biggest debate with tablets right now isn’t if you should get an iPad or a competing product. The debate is if you should get the iPad mini with Retina display or the iPad Air. You could argue that the iPad mini now offers the same functionality for a lower price in a more condensed package. However, I would argue that the iPad Air offers the benefits of a larger display without the weight/size disadvantages it once had.

photo by Andrew Kim

I'm receiving my iPad mini with Retina Display in a week or two and will post insights then. Only until I've come to grasp the productivity and consumption aspects within my daily life as a pilot will you see my post. Stay tuned.

T-Mobile's iPad Air Selling Out!

Already out of stock in one of San Diego's Apple's Stores (UTC), the iPad Air Wi-Fi+LTE running on T-Mobile is quickly becoming the choice of new iPad users due to their ability to download and access 200MB of data completely FREE! No overages either!!! Here's a screenshot of T-Mobile's pricing on their website for checkout. Once again, if you ask me, I'm grabbing the Space Gray 32GB Wi-Fi+LTE on T-Mobile. Also, in other news, if you only want the plain jane model iPad Air 16GB Wi-Fi, then make sure you get Apple and Best Buy or Staples to price match WalMart's Roll back pricing at $479!

What's in Your Pockets?

Now this is an amazing jacket. I've been seriously considering a Scottevest for quite sometime and this might be the winner. Watch the video below. http://youtu.be/oY7elyTHWMk

You can hide both an iPad and a MacBook Air 13" and not have to bring cases makes this the ultimate coffee shop tech vest. Co-designed with #1 New York Times Best Selling author Brad Thor, it's set to debut next month in September. I was on a Mitch Rapp kick for a while but I'll have to start-up his series too when I'm finally done with Game of Thrones!

Free Apps on iTunes Store today!

A bunch of apps on the iTunes store have gone free! Both The Verge and 9to5mac have listed them all but here are my favorites.  

Day One - a beautiful journaling app for iOS also available for $9.99 on Mac.  

Over - add text with a beautiful selection of fonts and artwork to your pictures then and only then do they become Facebook worthy =) 

Barefoot World Atlas - a great map with animations and world facts just like what we could have used in 7th grade geography joust! 

and of course the $19.99 app Traktor DJ either the iPhone or iPad for free!  

Shift in Computing

Bob O'Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, on the IDC Quarterly report.

"At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market..."

It's a bad time to be a vendor of PCs or Windows 8 for that matter.

IDC PC Shipments Steepest Decline

Touching for Toddlers

How do you manage your children's touch time?

A “rattle on steroids,” is what Buckleitner calls it. “All of a sudden a finger could move a bus or smush an insect or turn into a big wet gloopy paintbrush.” To a toddler, this is less magic than intuition.

via The Atlantic The Touch-Screen Generation

Playing Offense and Defense

Farhad Manjoo on the iPad mini.

Launching the iPad mini may be purely a reactive, defensive move for Apple. But when you’re as big as Apple is now, you can play offense and defense at the same time.

I whole heartedly believed that the 7" market was going to fail but with the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire's selling at $199, those devices captured an audience. Heck, I even bought the Nexus 7 but I'll admit, it'll be up for sale when my iPad mini comes in. Is the $129 premium worth the ecosystem of apps to you?

Universal vs. iPhone / iPod Only

Where do you draw the line between supporting the iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad Universally in one app or creating two separate apps charging a little less for the "inferior" iPhone / iPod Touch only version? One way to alienate a crowd is to immediately update your universal version of the app for the iPhone 5 in releasing v1.07 but skipping out on the iPhone / iPod Touch "Micro" version.  Reviews have already tarnished the ratings of the "micro edition."

So, does the iPhone 5 suggest a different game when it comes to developers wanting to support it?  Straight from the developers website, apparently those that chose the "micro edition" are second class citizens.

With the Autumn Solstice fast approaching, there’s lots of big #sworcery news to share: As we’ve been known to do, the iPhone & iPad versions of the game are on sale for limited time. What’s more, the Universal iOS edition has been updated for the new iPhone 5 and is available to download now. The Micro edition update will follow in a few days.

Exposure & the Point

All I wanted for my "2012 iPad Story" was exposure.  It wasn't about self fulfillment, or advertising or anything of a self-centered nature.  I guess, all I wanted was for something good to come out of what happened to my wife and I.  (Is that self-centered) It still really hasn't hit me; that I'll be iPad-less for 2012 & ~$1700 more in debt with nothing to show.  I've had various responses ranging from a "ha-ha" to condolences.  Kind of a weird day all in all.  I mean, did I want sympathy?  Maybe just a touch, but more or less, it has made me really bitter and has gotten me to feel more negative about Miami and the world as a whole. I thought that I would get a lot of responses from blasting people on twitter, and I did get some good retweets, but nothing of fruition has come up.  Am I looking for a hand from the Apple God to replace what I purchased?!  Of course!  That might be a little self-centered, but it is just a drop in the bucket from their marketing department right?  Reading all the news about the new iPad and people's' experiences really just gets me more down and the commercials on television just really hit home that I don't have one.  I can't stand to watch one anymore nor am I excited to see it.  I haven't stepped foot in an Apple store since.

Things I have learned though: insurance companies depend on only other insurance companies pointing the finger to each other on who covers what.  Visa Signature doesn't cover theft from vehicle who then told me to call my car insurance.  Geico doesn't cover personal items who then told me to call my home owners, renters insurance and they are still "working" on it.

I guess people don't click on links on twitter either.  I got more hits from Facebook than anything else.  With URL shortening, I guess my link just looked like spam.  Thanks for the hits, the messages and comments.

My 2012 iPad Story (updated)

Last Wednesday I was working during the event but throughout the day, I followed the news through gdgt's awesome feed. Eager as always, I wanted to know when (Mar 16th), what the specifications were and if I should do Wifi only or add 4G cellular capability. After a 20 hour day, I arrived home and my wife and I made our pre-order. It would my wife's delayed Christmas gift to me.  I told her that I chose a Black 32GB Wifi-4G version.  Surprisingly, she asked why I didn't get 64GB and I told her that I didn't want to spend her money but I also didn't want to change it just in case I lost my spot. The last detail in the order was that I wanted to do a store pickup in Miami (I live in San Diego) because that's where I'd be the morning of iPad Day. You see, there's a bunch of us in Miami celebrating one of my best friend's Match Day. It's a time to celebrate right? I swear it was the longest week and half of waiting. I skipped the iPad 2 after selling my iPad 1 prematurely and this was it. I woke up, dropped of my friend at his breakfast ceremony and proceed to Lincoln Road Apple Store. I found some easy parking, arrived at the store and got right in. The sales representative was more than helpful and the whole process was one of the best purchasing experiences I ever had. Interaction and everything, A++. My order was easily modified exchanging my previous pre-order to the Black 64GB Wifi+4G Verizon LTE (with the wife's permission) and I even added a Black 16GB Wifi-4G Verizon LTE for my loving wife as a surprise AND an Apple TV for the Match Day celebrant. It was to be his gift for finishing an awesome 4 years at the University of Miami Medical School.

I checked out while making a new friend, grabbed a Cuban coffee + 8 guava pastilitos and even gave my 2 hour parking ticket to a guy who parked in front of me who was looking for his wallet. Paying it forward right? I'm in a GREAT mood!

I received a request from my wife to buy some Tylenol and on the way to the pharmacy, I passed multiple gas stations but ultimately made the decision to go to a CVS. It took almost 15 minutes to find parking, and the machine also didn't want to spit out my ticket after inserting $1.00 cash. I used my credit card and ran into CVS. I bought two bottles of Tylenol (buy one get one free) and picked up some Visine too.

I got back to the car, started the engine, and curiously turned around because I was hearing the car's exhaust louder than normal. Low and behold, both iPads and the Apple TV were stolen! Not even my friend's brand new Macy's Long Sleeve Shirt was grabbed or anything else but the Apple bag full of the latest goodness.

I called 911, they directed me to a local police station, they came, wrote up the report, which I have to pay $1 for a copy in 10 days, and took off. Someone was going to come and take fingerprints but it started raining so they canceled that. All this was happening around 10:30am off of 3rd and Biscayne in Miami. I needed to be at the Match Ceremony by 11:45am. Now my friends' Toyota Tacoma has a broken rear passenger window ($150 part + $100 labor) and I have no iPads or Apple TV to give him.

The emotions that I'm feeling: Hate, forgiveness, frustration, stupidity...I really don't know what to do. I can't afford to buy all that again and the saddest part is that my wife doesn't feel like having one now. That's what makes me cry. In the end, it was about her joy, my friend's joy and now I'm nowhere but in $1900 in debt w/ nothing to play with.

64GB // DLXH96K5DNQV 16GB // LXH60L7DNQR aTV // DY5HC843DRHN

Answering some questions:

1. Yes the bag was covered
2. There was a Macy's bag that was exposed with a long sleeve dress shirt that was left behind
3. I live in San Diego and it's my own ignorance perhaps that I feel safe
4. Visa Signature will NOT cover stolen items in an automobile
5. GEICO will NOT covert stolen personal items in a vehicle
6. The perpetrators only stole the Apple Bag
7. The police are saying that I might have been followed or targeted
8. My wife's NEEDS comes first so the Tylenol was necessary before coming home but maybe I could have dropped the items off first?