There seems to be a common thread in the PR stories spun recently by the tech industry big boys. Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple and virtually all manufacturers of 3D TVs have all come out saying how well their products are selling. It’s strange considering the world economy is only just recovering (slowly) from the crisis we have been experiencing. Consumers still don’t have that disposable income they once did, yet the stories on the wire from the brands behind the latest innovations tell a different story – their products are selling… big time.

The theory here is that of the sheep. People follow. If you tell people everyone is buying something – no one wants to get left behind so they go out an purchase.

Like this blog post! The title suggests this is the most viewed blog post in the world, or at least it will point you to it. That’s probably the reason your reading this now. If it’s good enough for everyone else to read, it’s good enough for you as well.

Let’s have a look at a couple of these stories,

Microsoft has apparently sold more than 10 million Kinect systems for the Xbox 360 to retailers. This was announced by Microsoft on Wednesday and with many of the Kinect units being sold in the first three months of it’s launch it has become the fastest selling consumer device ever. Pretty impressive.
If we disect this story however, we can see this is the number of units sold to retailers not customers. So while the title fastest selling consumer device is true – it’s a tad misleading as in many cases it’s not in consumers hands.
Many people would say that they will be otherwise the retailers wouldn’t have stocked them? But wouldn’t they? Considering how it’s virtually common practice now-days for supply of devices such as the Kinect to be intentionally limited so consumers get the impression of a sought-after-hard-to-get device, making the “want” factor outweigh the “need”.
It appears Microsoft’s approach in this case has been different. They have allowed retailers access to the units, which they have obviously taken up and therefore been able to spin the story of the fastest selling consumer device in history. The result – consumers saying “blimey this Kinect thing must be good… better get one!”.

The next story to hit the press with massive sales figures was from the the closest competitor to Kinect – the Wii.
Nintendo this time – who were masters of limiting supply when they launched the Wii – came out with their PR wizardry stating sales of the Wii have passed 50 million. This makes the Wii the fastest selling games console in history by beating the PS2.
The fact that the Wii has now been around for almost 5 years for it to reach this figure is obviously not mentioned. Neither is the fact that it took the Nintendo Wii about two years to pass the 10 million sales mark recently touted by the Kinect. But it’s interesting how Nintendo are coming out with this story at the same time as Microsoft’s Kinect release. Although I would say, Microsoft owe a lot to the fact Nintendo opened up the console market to such a wider demographic. This is the real reason so many of these devices are being sold. Ask a serious gamer and they wouldn’t touch the Wii. Although many people would think it immerses the gamer more through the fact they control the game-play through movement, in reality there’s only a couple of good games that really achieve this, one being wii sports which was released with the console.

While you cannot take away the success of the Wii and Kinect, you have to wonder if they really are the “game changers” people are making them out to be.  Or are we being spoon fed a very clever dose of Marketing.

The two inventions have certainly opened up the console market to a new demographic and I think that should be noted as the no.1 achievement of these inventions – not the fact they are selling so many million and this is the reason why they must be good!

Oh, and incase you landed on here thinking this was the most viewed blog post in the world – or it was going to point you to it, then I’m sorry.

It’s March 2nd and any Apple fan will tell you that today the iPad2 will be announced. What they can’t tell you is what the latest gadget from the Apple development team will include. There have been rumours of what the second generation iPad will bring to the now over-crowded tablet computer Market since the first iPad was released last year, but until today nobody outside of the apple offices have known for sure.

While many Apple fan-boys will say Apple is cutting edge – leading the way in technology, it’s unlikely this next-gen iPad will bring any major surprises. 3D? No way, front and back interface… Doubt it. But what is for certain is whatever apple announce today, they will tell us it is revolutionary!

I’m writing this blog as the event happens. It’s now 18:20 in the uk and the first big surprise is that steve jobs, after all his health problems, is giving the presentation. It’s good to see. No apple presentation is the same without “The Jobs” at the helm!

There is no denying the iPad has been a massive success and Apple are hammering this message home. This “post-PC” device has caught the imagination of both consumer and business around the world and they are taking advantage of it.

So, here we go with the new features…

Dual core CPU – A new A5 chip. No surprise here. The iPad would have been left behind if it hadn’t included a dual core processor. With multitasking incorporated in iOS 4.2 the iPad began to lag. A much needed feature.

Video cameras – front and rear cameras. Again no surprise. With the development of FaceTime it was inevitable these would be included.

Gyroscope – As it’s included in the iPhone 4 it was expected in the iPad. Some new apps may take advantage of it in a tablet, but as yet nothing has rocked the world in the smaller devices for us to be able to say this will happen anytime soon.

The design – Thinner (8.8mm) and lighter (1.3 pounds) Aesthetically not that different though – apart from the cameras there are no great design differences. Obviously being thinner does make it look slightly more attractive, it’s now thinner than an iphone 4! and the iPad 2 is going to be available in White… From day one! Also Apple have pulled off a master stroke to keep the battery life to 10hours with these new changes.

The main new feature here though, is with the new case (smart covers) which uses magnets to hook onto the iPad. Pretty clever. This covers the iPad and even wakes it up when opened. It also has a micro-fibre cloth on the inside to clean the screen.

So – here’s two issues with the original iPad Apple have addressed. The weight. For reading books the first iPad was just too heavy. The smudges from greasy fingers! Not totally solved, but the new case may help.

Mirrored video output – this is a peripheral, but through a new cable we can now mirror the output onto a tv using a hdmi connection. At the moment I’m guessing this will only be activated in certain apps, like keynote (presentation software) or when playing videos or photo slideshows. I doubt this will mirror all activity on the iPad… Which would have been great!

IOS 4.3 – due march 11th, improvements have been made to safari and airplay in the new iOS. I’ve got an apple tv and do find airplay a tad clunky at the moment, which is unusual for apple, so this will be interesting. Also airplay only works on a few websites when browsing in safari so hopefully this has been addressed.

IMovie – a movie app for the iPad. With the integration of the cameras this made sense. It will allow you to simply put together and edit movies on the iPad. Again, with the introduction of the A5 dual core processor, this should run like a dream.

GarageBand – A music composing app that also includes instrument simulators such as guitar and keyboard. This will integrate with iMovie really well I should imagine.
The app looks really good and is available for just £4.99 the same as iMovie.
With how the iPad has been adopted by the music industry, especially with some fantastic dj apps, it’s a clever move by apple to make their own.

looks like that’s it unless they have something else clever at the end of the presentation.

The iPad 2 will hit the uk shelves on March 25th and it looks like it will be priced the same as the original.

I would say overall, as I guessed, there was no major surprises. Unfortunately the roomer-mill, ever since the first iPad, has been in overdrive and has probably increased peoples expectations. That said, it would have been good if apple had a few surprises up their sleeve. The biggest one tonight has been Steve Jobs delivering the presentation rather than the iPad 2 including something revolutionary.

No doubt we will therefore have to wait a couple of years for the 3D iPad. Maybe that will be the iPad 4. But rest assured when apple do announce it, they will make out they have invented 3D!

One thing Apple do emphasise at the end of their presentation is that this is a Post-PC device. They reinforce the fact that it is both the hardware and software that make the experience. Some will say this is a bit of a cop-out and it’s because there are no giant leaps forward with the iPad 2 in terms of technology. I would say there wasn’t any giant leaps forward in terms if technology with the first iPad, but it’s still one of the best devices I have ever used in terms of the experience when browsing online or utilising one of the thousands of apps. I would also say with the fact that Apple owns over 90% of this market (tablet) they know what they’re talking about.