iPhone Cruncher

The tablet market is going to continue to grow and expand, but that growth will largely belong to Apple’s iPad, according to one mobile analysis firm.

Gartner issued a four-year analysis forecast of the tablet market today, expecting that while the tablet market will increase from 17.6 million total sales in 2010 to 326.3 million by 2015, most of those tablet sales will be iPads. In fact, Gartner expects about 146 million iPad sales in 2015.

It’s not exactly a new position that Gartner is taking – the iPad dominates the market today, and is the front-runner that all other tablets are running to catch up with – but the number of sales certainly is. Other analysts have noted that they expect tablets running Google’s Android platform to eventually overtake the iPad, as device makers start to differentiate, expand into lower- and higher-priced options, and generally find ways to compete that don’t involve aping Apple’s concepts. But Gartner sees Apple finding ways to remain at the front of the pack until midway through the next decade, at least.

Meanwhile, Android tablets – that’s the entire field of Android tablets – will account for about 116 million sales in 2015, Gartner predicts. Tablets powered by QNX, from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, and Windows operating systems will account for 26 million and 34 million sales, respectively.

In the nearer term, Gartner doesn’t expect anybody in the market to bring anything out that will hold its own against the iPad. In 2012, Gartner predicts 66 million iPad sales and only about 26 million Android tablet sales. The firm also expects Apple to run away with sales this holiday season, which is a pretty fair bet as well.

But while Apple’s iPad is a juggernaut in the tablet sphere, Gartner’s prediction seems to discount another four years of Android device makers working hard to innovate and find a way to topple the iPad. Sure, the iPad had an 18-month lead on its competition and those competitors are still working

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BURLINGTON, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that the successful Waze social mapping and navigation apps for iPhone and Android are powered by Nuance’s text-to-speech to provide turn-by-turn directions and traffic alerts. Waze integrated Nuance’s Vocalizer Network, an innovative connected text-to-speech technology, through Nuance’s Vocalizer Studio.

The real-time traffic source of choice by more than five million drivers, Waze is a free social mobile application providing turn-by-turn navigation based on the live conditions of the road, and is completely powered by the Waze user community. By integrating Nuance’s Vocalizer Network cloud-based text-to-speech technology, Waze iPhone and Android app consumers are able to engage in a safer, smarter driving experience with upcoming traffic alerts and directions read aloud – enabling drivers to keep two hands on the wheel, and two eyes on the road.

“With millions around the world relying on Waze for up-to-the-minute traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation, we needed to ensure the best possible user experience behind the wheel. By integrating Nuance’s cloud-based text-to-speech technology, we were able to quickly update, enhance and customize our iPhone and Android applications with natural, humanlike voices that provide the guidance our consumers demand,” said Uri Levine, founder and president, Waze.

Vocalizer Network is Nuance’s robust cloud-based text-to-speech service leveraged by leading global enterprises that has now been optimized for HTTP-connected mobile devices to deliver the readback of street names, route numbers, city, towns, traffic alert details, and much more. And because it’s in the cloud, Vocalizer Network is device independent, enabling developers like Waze to quickly and easily voice-enable their applications.

Additionally, Waze quickly and easily integrated Vocalizer Network with Nuance’s Vocalizer Studio, a suite of easy-to-use graphical tools that delivers more control and customization over text-to-speech audio output. With Vocalizer Studio, developers like Waze are able to monitor and evaluate output, adjust text processing and pronunciations, and fine-tune speech output by customizing intonation and expressivity.

“Apps like Waze are incredibly dynamic, with lots of content and information being delivered to consumers all day, every day on multiple platforms, and giving them a voice can be challenging if the speech technology isn’t flexible or customizable,” said Matt Revis, Vice President of Product Marketing and Management, Nuance Mobile. “Vocalizer Network and Vocalizer Studio takes full advantage of the power of the cloud to bring our robust text-to-speech capabilities to a broad range of apps, devices and platforms in over 40 languages, faster and easier than ever before possible.”

Availability

The Waze app for iPhone and Android are currently available for download in the Apple App Store and Android Market respectively, with text-to-speech capabilities supporting US English. To learn more about Waze, visit www.waze.com/.

Nuance’s full portfolio of speech and predictive text solutions, which include the renowned Dragon Mobile Apps, are trusted by the world’s leading manufacturers and mobile operators, and are found in billions of phones and millions of automobiles and consumer electronic devices – making them among the most pervasive mobile solutions on the market today.

To learn more about developing with Nuance’s robust text-to-speech technology, visit www.nuance.com. To learn more about the Dragon Mobile Apps family, visit www.NuanceMobileLife.com.

Remember those days when Kazaa helped searched for your favorite artist through its file sharing site? Well, the most popular peer to peer music piracy service just announced its brand new iPhone app.

If you’re a musician out there, need not worry, because this app is far from what Kazaa used to represent. There isn’t any stealing going on here, instead there is an app which mimics Spotfiy’s $9.99 all-you-can-eat music subscription service, which lets you stream and download as much music as possible on your computer or mobile device. And just like Spotfiy, you get a seven day free trial included with the app to test out the service.

Also worth noting is how users can create and share playlists, as well as keep an eye on hot music topping the charts. Unfortunately, Kazaa’s app doesn’t have anything to differentiate it from the likes of Spotify, Rdio and Mog. With so much competition out there, it’s meant to be seen whether Kazaa survives or not.

Kazaa’s service is only accessible in the United States and the app isn’t yet optimized for use on the iPad. The company says support for more devices is in the works, according to Reuters.

Would you give Kazaa’s iPhone app a test run?

[via BI]

 

 

About The Author

Charles West

Charles has been a cannibal of all things handheld and gadgety for years. Originally from Hartford, CT, where he resides, he longs for great beer and even better technology. He considers himself a music snob and sports fanatic who loves to hang out (rage) with friends and family. Charles has written about the mobile industry for TMCnet, Androinica, and Unwired View. He also writes at his own blog, The Trendaholic

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Facebook is at it again. The social network is tweaking the home pages of its 750 million users, much to the chagrin of some very vocal folks.

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AMSTERDAM–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TomTom today announces that their recently launched iPhone application is now available in four more countries; Germany, Belgium, Portugal, and Denmark. The TomTom Places iPhone application has reached 75 000 downloads in the Netherlands alone in just the first few weeks after the launch. Read More

RICHMOND, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Snagajob today announced the launch of its new iPhone app for hourly employers, allowing them to make hiring decisions while on-the-go. Read More

Does Microsoft favor men when it considers promotions? According to one former UK executive and several additional sources speaking to Telegraph.uk, that may be the case. Natalie Ayres, the former general manager of Microsoft’s Small-Medium Enterprises and Partners group, said she expected a promotion to a managing director position after Alistair Baker moved on in 2006. However, Baker was succeeded by Gordon Frazer from Microsoft’s South Africa branch before she was even able to interview for the position. Microsoft paid Ayres more than £1 million ($1.5 million USD) when she decided to leave the firm as part of a “compromise agreement.” Read on for more.

Ayres’ is not alone in feeling that Microsoft hinders the upward progress of women. “[Management] does not follow procedure enough and if your face doesn’t fit, you suffer,” one source told Telegraph.uk. “It’s a boy’s club. The only way to progress beyond a certain point is to become a male in female clothing.” Reportedly, women working at Microsoft begin to hit a glass ceiling when they approach the employee level of 65 or above. Telegraph‘s report also detailed an outrageous party in Atlanta during which male Microsoft employees reportedly sexually harassed female staffers. “As is standard practice for any responsible company, Microsoft does not comment about individual employees, current or former,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Telegraph.uk. “However, Microsoft places great importance on the core values of diversity and inclusiveness, which is just one of many reasons why it is consistently ranked as one of the top 50 work places in the UK.”

Read

Tags: boys club, glass ceiling, microsoft, sexual harassment, Women

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I’m loving app Groovebug for iPad and that’s not just because I’m favorable to the fact it was created by a team of Chicago developers. Groovebug is billed as a “personalized rich media music magazine and discovery engine” and it provides exactly that in its smartly designed interface.

To get its information, Groovebug scans your iPod library, takes your artists and aggregates relevant information for your perusal. I don’t listen to music on my iPad, so my first step in testing the app was syncing iTunes. Once the songs were installed, I was seriously impressed with the speed at which Groovebug loaded the artist names and corresponding information.

Upon tapping artists names — they’re displayed in alpha-order, or you can search or use the random button — users will be treated to full-screen images and biography information pulled from Wikipedia, when available. Swiping through, users can play tracks via the app that are currently in their library or play previews of songs from iTunes. There’s also an option to purchase tracks from iTunes. The next screen offers YouTube videos that play embedded on the right of the screen. Users can still play these full-screen, but I really liked the seamlessness of the default view. Following the videos is a feed of the latest news on the artists, all of which opens in a pop-up browser window (results can be sent to Safari if you want). The last page of the artist section displays similar artists on a rotating turntable. Selecting one of these options will take you to their bio pages, where you can start the exploration process over for someone new. It makes getting wrapped up in Groovebug extremely easy.

Groovebug also offers a selection of featured content on its homepage, with percentage indicators denoting how well that content matches the taste displayed in your library. This is a great option for finding new artists or music options.

I suspect Groovebug will be a hit on iPad. Best of all, it and all of its features our free, so there’s absolutely no reason

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Analyst Mark Moskowitz of JP Morgan is putting his two-cents into all the rumors regarding the iPhone 5. He is fairly confident Apple will announce two new models. The big brother will be the iPhone 5 and the little brother will be something along the lines of an iPhone 4 Plus.

While he expects the iPhone 5 to be a completely redesigned model, the iPhone 4 Plus would just include some minor improvements over the iPhone 4. Perhaps an improved camera and antenna system could be some of the minor enhancements in the Plus. As for the iPhone 5?s drastic changes, Moskowitz expects a thinner and lighter form factor along with support for both GSM and CDMA built-in to the antenna system, essentially making it a world phone. On the downside, he does not foresee 4G speeds any time soon in any phones Apple makes. At the same time, this is a saving grace for those of us who cherish the iPhone 4?s tremendous battery life.

The name of “iPhone 4 Plus” is definitely odd, I must admit. I don’t think Apple would name any of their products this because I don’t recall a time where they used the “plus” suffix. If anything, a cheaper iPhone would get the rumored iPhone 4S title. Pricing is another point of concern. Apple’s original plans last year was for the 3GS to sell at $99 (it has since dropped to $49) and the iPhone 4 for $199. Many recent smartphones have been making the move to the $249 price tag, and Apple may want to take advantage of that. After all, we are talking about a company that sells 17-inch laptops for more than $2,000.

An announcement is rapidly approaching, so we’ll find out soon enough whether these rumors hold any water.

[via Barron's]

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