901am

New Media News Every Morning

Netflix for iPad Lets You Stream Movies and TV Shows on iPad

By

Right now if you take a look at Techmeme.com, half of the news aggregators page is occupied by news items about the iPad, most specifically about iPad applications. Even Internet giants such as Google is announcing something about their mobile services for the iPad.

For us here in 901am, one of the apps that caught our interest since we used to cover news items about it is – Netflix which also released its own native app for the iPad. Available now from the iTunes iPad App Store, Netflix for iPad lets you instantly watch an unlimited number of TV episodes and moviews streamed directly from Netflix to iPad. Streaming is free of charge for Netflix members on plans starting at $8.99/mo.

The Netflix App for iPad will deliver high-quality viewing experience of a broad array of movie and TV choices through a clean and intuitive interface. TV episodes and movies are organized into a various categories based on personal preferences, popular genres, new arrivals and members’ invidivual instant Queues.

Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings said that his company is very excited about the Netflix app for iPad.

“The innovation and consumer appeal of iPad make it a perfect device for instantly watching TV episodes and movies streamed from Netflix,” said Reed Hastings.

If you’re a Netflix member and you bought the iPad, you may want to download the Netflix App for iPad from the iTunes iPad App Store. But wait since you don’t have your iPad yet, just take note of this app.  It’s a free app by the way.

Originally posted on April 2, 2010 @ 5:33 pm

It’s Officially the iPad Week, What Did You Miss So Far?

By

If you’re like me who have been monitoring Techmeme and other tech news aggregator, you’d probably noticed that iPad news and rumors starting propagating on the Internet starting last Saturday. Well, what do you expect? It’s one week before the iPads reach the doors of those those so called “idiots”, that includes me who pre-ordered Apple’s magical device since two weeks ago.

Let’s see, Apple has sold out the first wave of its iPad stocks, prompting the iPad Store to indicate that new orders of iPads won’t ship until April 12. Then there are various leaked screenshots of the iPad stores and the cool applications that will be released on launch day. Some of these apps are games, while some are useful productivity tools. These are just some of the iPad-related headlines that went out last weekend.

And today, exactly five days before the iPad arrives to those who pre-ordered it, the hype is even building up some more.

First, according to an official PR, the iPad will be available in Best Buy on April 3. Now, there’s a catch however. Reports say that only 15 units of iPad will arrive on each of the hundreds of Best Buy brick and mortar stores.

What’s interesting is the fact that Apple is no longer accepting on-store pick-up for new orders of the iPad and prefers to ship them out instead.

Oh, in case you’ve pre-ordered your iPad, you should have received a notification on your email stating that Apple has started shipping your  iPad. Just in time for the promised April 3 delivery date. Isn’t that exciting?

So, how are you psyching up yourself for the arrival of your iPad? What apps are you planning to purchase from the iPad Apps Store?

Originally posted on March 29, 2010 @ 9:51 am

Introducing the iPad’s Latest Challenger, Samsung Slate PC

By

Whether we all like it or not, the Apple iPad has already marked its niche into the electronics industry. Despite the fact that it hasn’t even arrived on any user’s lap yet, the iPad, despite the many flaws and shortcomings thrown at it by critics is now becoming a benchmark for all other tablet PCs that are to be released by other manufacturers.

Take the case of Samsung which is reportedly preparing their own slate-like tablet PC. According to Philip Newton – Samsung Australia’s director of  IT Division, Samsung’s planned slate PC will boast of PC-grade processor and connectivity. It will be powerful enough that will drive users to make it as their primary computing devices. Incidentally, in case you’re not aware this is one feature that the iPad won’t probably achieved with any of its soon-to-be-released units.

Speaking at the Samsung Forum in Singapore, Mr. Newton even hits on the iPad saying that it lacks the processing power and connectivity features that slate-type platforms should have to spark interests among users.  Mr. Newton even said that those Atom-powered devices even have more potential than the iPad has.

Is this a hint that the Samsung slate PC will be running on Android? Unfortunately, that remains to be seen, since details and information about the Samsung slate PC are not yet known.

The good news is, we only have to wait until the second half of this year as Samsung promises to deliver the said device by then. In case you’re doubting Samsung’s capabilities to come with mini-computing device, just take a look at the picture above which is actually the Samsung Q1 UMPC  released sometime in 2006.  Unfortunately that UMPC didn’t reap much success for Samsung. But hey, who knows, with the interest on tablet-like devices today, Samsung might actually become successful with this one.

Originally posted on March 16, 2010 @ 6:01 pm

Amazon Preps Up Kindle for iPad, Will Apple Approve It?

By

If you were Steve Jobs running Apple which is about to release a magical and revolutionary product that has one of its features going up against the Amazon Kindle, will you allow the Kindle application on the iPad apps store? I mean knowing pretty well that this will compete with the iPads iBooks application?

Well, it seems Amazon is hoping that Apple will not mind this at all. After all, the Kindle for iPhone and recently Kindle for Mac were approved. But the thing is the iPad iBooks is not yet fully operational and full operation will commence only as soon as the iPad is released to consumers.  Publishers are expected to get into the iPad frenzy, making sure that their e-book catalogs make it through the iBooks app store.

Still, there’s no harm in trying. After all Amazon was clever enough to market its upcoming Kindle app  not as specific to the iPad but for other tablets as well. Hence calling its Kindle Apps for Tablet.

Kindle Apps for Tablet will have the same features as the other iteration of the Kindle app. Be it for the iPhone, BlackBerry, PC or Mac. Specific for Tablets are some enhancement in the user interface including:

  • Tailored to the size, look, and feel of your tablet computer
  • Customize background color and font size to ease eye strain
  • Adjust screen brightness from within the app to make reading easier
  • Page turn animation replicates the look of turning a page in a book. Or choose Basic Reading Mode for a simpler and unadorned reading experience

So there, will you be getting your e-books from the Kindle Store once you get your iPad or will you stick to the plan and get it from the iBooks app store instead?

Originally posted on March 22, 2010 @ 5:25 pm

iPad e-Books Pricing to Compete Competitively Against Kindle

By

When the issue on the e-books pricing of those who will be in the iPad’s iBookstore started spreading, many are saying that it will be to Amazon’s advantage.  The Kindle Store’s average price for an e-book is pegged at $9.99 and Amazon is even sacrificing some sales just to maintain this pricing even at a loss for them.

Analysts are saying that the iBookstore will not be able to compete against this pricing and that e-books to be sold will be priced higher than the e-books sold in the Kindle Store.

That may not be necessarily true at all.  The blog AppAdvice got hold of a preview that shows otherwise. It seems that most e-books that will be sold in the iBookstore  are also priced at $9.99. In fact, out of the 32 e-books that were on the New York Time’s Bestsellers, 27 titles have $9.99 price tag.

In fact 4 of  the top 5 bestsellers will be sold in the iBookstore for $9.99.

If the iBookstore will be able maintain this price ceilings for most of the books that will be made available once the iPad is launched, Amazon is definitely facing a stiff challenge to their well established and widely accepted e-book business.  Indeed Amazon has all the reason to be worried and should start working on various enhancements to the Kindle store as well possibly on the Kindle device as well.  But except for the lack of color display and other computing functionalities, I think Amazon may have already exhausted all possible features that it could probably include in the Kindle.

So, will you be buying the iPad and use it as an e-book reader and purchase your e-books from the iBookstore? Or will you use the Kindle App for Tablets which will also run in the iPad and purchase your e-books from the Amazon Kindle Store still?

Originally posted on March 24, 2010 @ 8:22 pm