Apple apparently expects to sell more iPad minis than iPads this year

TabTimes reporting:

DisplaySearch says that Apple is expecting to sell more iPad minis than iPads this year, something the research firm puts down to increasing consumer demand for smaller tablets.

The market research firm’s latest Monthly TFT LCD Shipment Database indicates that tablet PC panel shipments “shifted dramatically” towards smaller screen sizes in January of this year, another sure sign of the iPad mini’s continued success.
In fact, DisplaySearch notes that smaller tablets have been in such demand that this trend is having an adverse effect on larger models. The firm says that while shipments of 9.7-inch tablet panels dropped from 7.4 million to a paltry 1.3 million units last month, 7-inch and 7.9-inch panels increased from 12 million to 14 million. 10.1-inch tablet panel shipments grew but only “slightly”.
This beginning of a shift to smaller tablets also looks to have been noted by Apple with DisplaySearch claiming that Tim Cook’s company now expects to sell more iPad minis than iPads in 2013.
“Apple had planned to sell 40 million iPad minis and 60 million iPads in 2013,” said DisplaySearch analyst David Hsieh on the company’s blog.
“However, the reality seems to be the reverse, as the iPad mini has been more popular than the iPad. We now understand that Apple may be planning to sell 55 million iPad minis and 33 million iPads in 2013.”
However, while the rise of these smaller tablets is seemingly having a knock-on effect larger models, DisplaySearch does still expect tablet panel shipments to rise significantly from 160 million in 2012 to 254 million this year.
Of that figure, the research firm anticipates that 5-inch to 8.9-inch panels will account for 136 million units, with 9-10-inch models hitting 118 million.
This isn’t the first time DisplaySearch or other researchers have noted inclining demand for smaller tablets, a sector which has been led not only by the iPad mini but also by Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7.
http://tabtimes.com/news/ittech-stats-research/2013/02/28/apple-apparently-expects-sell-more-ipad-minis-ipads-year

Surprise: Android tops iOS for device satisfaction and brand loyalty

TabTimes reporting:

If you think the iPad and the iPhone are the undisputed champions of the tablet and smartphone, it’s time to think again. In the space of a week, two new studies claim that it is Android which now attracts greater user satisfaction and brain loyalty.

The first of these reports came from media brand researcher Brand Keys, which indicated that Samsung and Amazon are now beginning to overhaul Apple for brand loyalty in both the smartphone and tablet markets.
The firm even spelled out in its 2013 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index how Apple’s brand loyalty is slipping, paying particularly close attention to Samsung’s increasing market share in the smartphone space.
 “It is an enormous switch-over,” Robert Passikoff, president of the New York-based Brand Keys, told Mobile Marketer. “The more personal aspects beyond just connectivity are becoming the important emotional engagement factors and that, generally speaking, brands that cannot do that are not going to be at the top of the list...
...On Device Research carried out a study of 93,825 U.S. mobile users between July of last year and January 2013 and discovered that Apple’s iPhone 5 only ranked as the fifth best smartphone, a result which led the iOS device trailing four Android-powered models.

Users were asked to rank their smartphone between 1 ( “very unsatisfied” ) and 10 (“very satisfied”), and while the iPhone 5 scored respectively (8.23), it was still leapfrogged by the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (8.26), the HTC Rebound 4G (8.32), the Motorola Droid Razr (8.5) and Motorola Atrix HD (8.57).
Announcing the results in London today, the researcher also highlighted that 4G smartphone owners are more likely to be satisfied with their device, and told TabTimes that the iPhone 5's relatively poor showing was down to the battery life, maps on iOS 6 and -- more surprisingly -- the size of the device, a sign perhaps of increasing demand for bigger smartphones....
http://tabtimes.com/news/ittech-stats-research/2013/02/08/surprise-android-tops-ios-device-satisfaction-and-brand

Why iBooks Author is a big deal for publishers

MacWorld reporting: Never before has an announcement about textbooks been the subject of so much conversation. But that’s what happens when Apple holds a media event: People talk, even if the subject might otherwise seem obscure or uninteresting.
One of the biggest misconceptions I run into is the assumption that developing iOS apps is easy. It’s not. It’s hard, and good iOS developers are extremely hard to find. Especially (take it from me) if you’re a publishing company with little or no experience with (or focus on) app development. The bottom line is, finding talented iOS developers is hard and developing iOS apps is expensive.
Somewhere along the way, I think Apple got a little blinded by the sheer flashiness of some of the earliest media apps for the iPad. On the magazine side, it was Popular Mechanics. On the book side, amazing books-as-apps like The Elements. There are some really remarkable book and magazine apps out there, ones that are truly a merging of world-class content with innovative, cutting-edge software development.
But most publishing companies are not going to be able to match those sterling examples. For every blindingly awesome media-company iPad app, there are a few dozen low-to-average quality apps. The content may still be great, but they just don’t have the knowledge or expertise or budget to build their own apps.
...
iBooks Author is Apple’s attempt to make it easier for publishers to create great, interactive iPad books without having to build their own apps. But it’s not a tool for all ebook publishers, nor is it a tool that will generate books for devices other than the iPad.
If you’re someone who has been frustrated by the lack of good ebook publishing software (and I am) that’s disappointing. But here’s the thing: Thursday was Day 1 of iBooks Author. There are any number of directions Apple could go with this software next. Clearly the company’s first priority was to build a tool so that interactive iPad books, specifically textbooks, could be built as easily as possible. That’s what iBooks Author is for today. Any other uses are purely coincidental.
http://www.macworld.com/article/164907/2012/01/why_ibooks_author_is_a_big_deal_for_publishers.html#lsrc.rss_main

Newsstand’s Few Early Adopters Have Stolen A March On Laggards

paidcontent reporting:

Magazine and news publishers who have not yet joined iOS Newsstand have lost out to the system’s early adopters, according to research data.

“As of the end of October, 8% of apps tracked had migrated to the Newsstand,” says McPheters & Company‘s The State Of The App, a monthly digest compiled from its iMonitor, a premium database which tracks 4,000 tablet and mobile news apps in English-speaking and western European countries.
“It has without question contributed to substantial increases in volume for those publishers who have chosen to migrate. Publications heavily promoted on the Newsstand have reported sales 2.5 to 10 times higher than previous levels.
“Those who have not moved – such as Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX) titles in the U.S. – have seen declines in downloads relative to other publishers.”

Company founder Rebecca McPheters explained to paidContent:

“In the U.S. app store, the number of publications among the top 200 highest grossing apps overall increased substantially. But the Time Inc. apps, which are not in the Newsstamd, lost position to those that had migrated to the Newsstand.
“Since only about 8% had moved at the end of October, there was considerably less competition in the Newsstand, affording greater visibility to those who were there.”

Here are the early publisher gains we have reported at paidContent:

• Exact Editions: Downloads of freemium sample editions jumped by 14x in just a few days, whilst some titles’ actual sales more than doubled.
• Future: Free taster mag apps (previously unavailable as iOS apps) downloaded more than two million times in three days, “consumer spending well in excess of normal monthly revenues”.  Digital magazine sales +750 percent because Future added 55 new iOS apps to iTunes.
• Guardian: 145,880 week-one downloads for its debut iPad app through Newsstand.
• Metro: 155,000 downloads in first 11 days for new app, 800,000 to 1 million daily page views.
• Condé Nast:  Weekly subscription sales across all nine digital editions +268 percent compared with previous eight weeks, single-copy sales +142 percent.
• Condé Nast Britain: GQ +94%, Wired +169% and Vanity Fair +245% in October compared to September’s daily average sales pre-iOS 5.
• New York Times: New weekly iPad downloads up from 27,000 to 189,000 in week after Newsstand launch. iPhone downloads up 85x from 21,000 to 1.8 million.
• Zinio CEO:  “If you measure by revenue, (Newsstand) hasn’t had any impact. In fact, it’s gone up.”
• http://paidcontent.org/article/419-newsstands-few-early-adopters-have-stolen-a-march-on-laggards/

Apple’s Newsstand Is Already Booming For Some Magazine Publishers

Early indications are that Apple’s new iOS features for publishers have had an immediate beneficial impact.

• Exact Editions, which says it made about 10 percent of the Newsstand app titles on iTunes Store, says downloads of freemium sample editions jumped by 14x in just a few days, whilst some titles’ actual sales have more than doubled.
• Consumer magazine publisher Future says free container apps for its titles were downloaded two million times in three days and reports “consumer spending well in excess of normal monthly revenues”. “Future has sold more digital editions in the past four days through Apple’s Newsstand than in a normal month,” says UK CEO Mark Wood...

• “Apple seem to have got this just right,” says Exact Editions co-founder Daryl Rayner. “In July they introduced the new in-app purchasing and auto-renewal system. This has worked a treat with high renewals (over 80 percent). We saw sales more than doubling between June and August, and it looks as though Apple have now pushed the Newsstand into the foreground and this will provide further sales uplift.
  “Magazines with a strong visual impact are doing particularly well (The Wire, Selvedge) and, interestingly, the literary magazines are equally strong (The Spectator and Le Monde Diplomatique).
  “It’s all about the iPad. iPad owners are buying digital magazines (85-plus percent of our customers are buying titles for their iPad) and publishers need to get their magazines into the iTunes mix before the holiday season.”

  http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-apples-newsstand-is-already-booming-for-magazine-publishers/
  

Will New Apple Chief Mean Shift for Publishers?

Adweek reporting:
Apple, its products adored by consumers all over, has nonetheless had a complicated relationship with publishers, who have battled with the tech giant over its intractable position involving the sale of content on its devices. But those who have railed against Apple's hard-headedness are unlikely to see any satisfaction immediately from Steve Jobs’ transfer of power to Tim Cook, at least for now.
Cook, Apple’s COO, who filled in as acting CEO twice when Jobs took medical leaves of absence, has been described as the mild, soft-spoken counterpart to the passionate but autocratic Jobs, but no less competitive.

“Cook is a very competent manager, so it is unlikely that he would change what is working so well for them,” said one publisher who requested anonymity, citing ongoing talks with the Cupertino, Calif.-based company. “Later, he is likely to be more accommodating than Jobs since he doesn't have (no one could have) Jobs credentials as a genius.”

Back when Apple released the iPad in the spring of 2010, it was quickly hailed as an antidote to the publishing industry’s waning advertising revenue and its circulation woes. But those hopes quickly faded as Apple, under the direction of iTunes boss Eddy Cue, proved itself unmovable on two main issues key to publishers. Publishers hoping to sell subscriptions and single copies through Apple’s iTunes store had to cede control over information about their customers—data they consider critical to renewing and upselling their readers. A secondary objection was the 30 percent cut Apple took of each sale.
“I don't get the impression that Steve Jobs and Tim Cook disagree on this issue,” Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer Inc., said in an email. “Even if Jobs is no longer able to participate in Apple's decision-making process, Cook will execute on Jobs' vision, which is to take as large a cut of revenue and control as much of the subscription experience as publishers will allow.”
http://www.adweek.com/news/press/will-new-apple-chief-mean-shift-publishers-134455

How Publishers Are Dealing With Apple’s In-App Subscription Policies

paidcontent reporting:

Apple’s deadline for app owners to run content subscriptions through iTunes or not at all may have passed on June 30, but compliance is emerging unevenly - or not at all.

A month after the deadline elapsed, e-book vendors and The Wall Street Journal (NSDQ: NWS) last week became compliant by sending subscription transactions within their own apps or through links to web-based sign-ups and, in Google Books’ case, by exiting the App Store entirely before returning with a compliant app. Publishers on iOS are no longer allowed to sell subscriptions within their apps using the in-app purchasing technology unless they give Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) a 30 percent cut of the transaction, and they also have to allow Apple control the personal data of subscribers.

But others remain in breach and, in one case we heard, have not even yet been asked directly to comply. It all suggests ongoing negotiations between operators and Apple over the thorny issue.
Here’s a brief list of how some major publishers have dealt with the deadline:

• Spotify removed its link to web sign-ups in a July 21 update - “Compliance with new rules for subscription-based apps.”
   
• New York Times apparently fell in to line with a July 5 update - “Subscribing is quick easy with your iTunes account.”
   
• WSJ is ending all transactions inside iOS apps, saying: “We remain concerned that Apple’s own subscription would create a poor experience for our readers, who would not be able to directly manage their WSJ account or to easily access our content across multiple platforms.” But it hasn’t updated its iPad app since June 10th, and continues to promote a link at the bottom of the app to a subscription Web page...
• http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-how-publishers-are-dealing-with-apples-in-app-subscription-policies

Why Apple Backed Down in Fight With Publishers

AdWeek reporting:
Maybe Apple isn’t so untouchable after all. The device maker, which has been locked in a battle with publishers, made a surprise concession recently, dropping a pricing requirement for its App Store that irked publishers. Before, publishers couldn't undercut the subscription price they offered in the App Store—the new guidelines do away with that requirement.
The previous guidelines, issued in February, seemed aimed at ensuring Apple had a pricing advantage. They also presented a complication for publishers who are used to testing various price points to hook new subscribers and reward existing ones.

Apple doesn’t say a lot about why it does what it does. But while it had gotten a few big publishers to agree to its subscription terms, it’s had pushback from companies over its terms, including the 30 percent it skims off App Store purchases and its refusal to share customer data, and it's likely this move is related to that. Other devices are coming to market, presenting new competition for Apple, and loosening the stranglehold that the company has had over content producers to this point. Plus, publishers are exploring browser-based apps that would skirt the App Store altogether. This week, The Financial Times made waves when it did just that after having rejected Apple’s subscription terms.

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/why-apple-backed-down-fight-publishers-132408

Apple makes its subscription rules more friendly to news organizations; but were they really the target?

NiemanJournalismLab reporting:
Interesting news on the Apple/news-biz front: Apple appears to have backed away from its requirement that subscriptions to content (such as a newspaper or magazine) be offered at the same price as in-app purchases as when they’re offered externally. In fact, Apple seems to have ended the requirement that such subscriptions be offered as in-app purchases at all. Kudos to MacRumors for spotting the change.
Confused? Here’s a hypothetical. Let’s say we decided to start charging a subscription for the Nieman Journalism Lab iPhone app — $19.99 a year. Under Apple’s previous rules, we would have been required to offer that subscription through Apple’s payment system — under which Apple gets a 30 percent cut of the revenue. Which means we’d end up with only $13.99. And those rules would have prevented us from offering differentiated pricing to make up the difference — say, $28.99 if you buy it through Apple, $19.99 if you buy through niemanlab.org.
Now, under these new rules, we could choose to differentiate our pricing if we wanted — or we could even only sell subscriptions through niemanlab.org and cut out Apple altogether.
This is, at least on the surface, a significant win for the news business (and other content industries).
http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/06/apple-makes-its-subscription-rules-more-friendly-to-news-organizations-but-were-they-really-the-target/?utm_source=Daily+Lab+email+list&utm_campaign=9d8c1f5b71-DAILY_EMAIL&utm_medium=email

Apple Finally Showed The Record Labels How To Make Money From Stolen Music

paidContent reporting:
Apple made a lot of small announcements at WWDC yesterday, but one has the potential to quietly change an industry.
iTunes Match will scan users' iTunes libraries, then find matches in the songs that Apple has for sale in the iTunes Store. Then, it will let users download those songs to any iOS device or computer running iTunes. The price is $25 per year.
For songs that iTunes can't recognize, users can still upload them to their personal iCloud service, which is free up to 5GB. Then they can get the files directly from iCloud to their other devices.
The key point: it doesn't matter where the song originally came from.
...

As CEO Jeff Price of Tunecore points out, Apple is paying royalties to record labels and publishers to cover this user behavior.
Amazon and Google introduced music lockers -- a similar concept, but they require users to upload every song manually -- but they're not paying the industry a dime.
In other words, Apple just built the service that lets the record industry FINALLY make money from pirated music.
This is something the record industry should have done itself 10 years ago when Napster emerged, instead of suing its customers to try and stop them from sharing music, it should have figured out how to make money off them.
It took Apple to show the labels that digital music downloads could be a good business. Now, it's going to take Apple to show them how to make money from digital files that users never paid for.
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-finally-showed-the-labels-how-to-make-money-from-stolen-content-2011-6?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=SAI%20Select&utm_campaign=SAI_Select_060811

Apple’s Free iCloud; Cloud Docs, iTunes In The Cloud

paidContent reporting:
—Synced on all devices: “Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy,” Jobs said. “We think this solution is our next big insight.” Apple will put the Mac and PC in a secondary role under the new iCloud service, connecting all of your devices (assuming they come from Apple, anyway) for file transfers and syncing. Files will be automatically uploaded to iCloud through a series of redesigned applications that have hooks into the online service, and Jobs promised it would work better than MobileMe, which he admitted was “not our finest hour.”
—It’s free: MobileMe and its much-maligned $99 a year fee are going away: iCloud will be free. Nine applications, including iTunes in the Cloud, will be available as part of iCloud, and 5GBs of storage will be provided for free. That may not sound like a lot, but Apple won’t count music, books, movies, or photos against that total. iTunes in the Cloud is going live today while developers are getting a preview of iCloud today. Consumers will see iCloud arrive with iOS 5 this fall.
—Like Google Docs: Apple also showed off a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Docs-like service that works with its Pages word-processing application, backing up a new document created on one Apple device and sending it to another. This will also work for Numbers and Keynote, Apple’s spreadsheet and presentation-creation software.
“A lot of us have been working for ten years to get rid of the file system,” Jobs said, explaining the new applications as ways to get around the complicated experience of managing one’s own files. Developers will have APIs (application programming interfaces) at their disposal for using the system within their own applications, he said.
—Photo Stream: Jobs said his favorite new iCloud-related announcement was something called Photo Stream, which is designed to move photos from the device on which they were taken and move them through the web to other devices. Photos imported into an iPhoto library on a Mac will also get synced to iOS devices. Apple TV will also get to play with Photo Stream.
In order to deal with storage concerns, Apple will store the last 1,000 photos on the iPhone or iPad, and it will store all your photos within the iCloud servers for 30 days. Since Macs and PCs have way more storage space than a phone or tablet, all photos synced through the Photo Stream service will stay there as long as you want.

http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-wwdc-2011-apples-jobs-introduces-icloud