Proof: The iPad Is Affecting Consumer PC Sales

In my recent post, The iPad is becoming The Only ‘PC’ That Matters, I postulated that the computers that we have used since 1978 are becoming less and less relevant, due to the introduction of smaller form-factor computers that we have today.  These new devices, Smartphone’s, tablets and the like, are really cutting into traditional computer sales and use.

In a recent article in Business Insider, Proof The iPad Is Affecting Consumer PC Sales , my prediction appears to be validated.

Please take a look to follow the conversation!

When will you add a tablet to your digital inventory?  I know that I can effectively write stories and chapters on my iPhone 3GS.  I have read entire books on my phone.  They are viable and a starting to become pervasive.

Yes, I still own a laptop and a home PC.   They still have their place but they don’t integrate well into my current lifestyle.  ‘Choices’ aren’t they wonderful!

The iPad Tsunami: Does it Matter? and how is it Used?

Image via Wikipedia

The iPad is becoming The Only “PC” That Matters

As I have stated on this blog and to my friends, Business Insider has become one of my favorite resources.  I am a struggling author who needs to spend my money very carefully.  To do so I lean on technology and business authorities such as CNET, BI, Consumer Reports, and sources of their ilk.

As a writer, I am dearly in love with tablet computers.  I bought my iPhone 3GS on sale when the iPhone 4 was introduces.  As a ‘tool’ it is probably the most important device that I use for all manner of things useful.  Using its 287 Apps, I have been exceptionally empowered – and I LOVE it!  So, (I) imagine how much better I could operate with an iPad.  How significant is the iPad and how are people using them?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Recently Business Insider published two very interesting charts, which I am referring to today.  The first that I’ll talk about is “The iPad Is Becoming The Only “PC” That Matters”.  I refer to the links provided for the discussion content and background of these charts.

The first element that I notice in this chart spanning the time from November, 2010 and May, 2011, is that the iPad is used a higher percentage of the time than all the other devices.  We can conclude that it is the device of choice, and is only NOT used because of a lack of functionality that the other devices additionally provide, e.g. phone calls, printer services and enhanced computing with applications.

From my personal experience, I have written chapters of my books on my iPhone.  It was not easy given the ration of my finger size to the keyboard, but it was certainly more convenient as I could work when I felt like, regardless of my surroundings.

Further, not being content to jot down a few keywords of an idea, that occurs sporadically, with the iPhone I can jot down a quick paragraph that ensures that I don’t lose elements of content that I might with ‘keywords only’.

OK, we have learned that the iPad is increasing its lead over the other devices, particularly laptops, and is the most popular platform.  How do people actually use the iPad today?

 How People Actually Use iPads

What can we learn from this chart?  First and foremost, we seen that the iPad is primarily a consumer of information, with over 59% of its ‘time’ used for Web Browsing and watching videos, plus game playing.  This is contrasted by the uses of Email and Other Applications (40.7%) – creators of information.  It is the former, consuming information, which clearly drives its use because it is so much more convenient, given its form-factor.

So, since November, 2010 when the iPad was introduced, it has become the dominant and preferred form factor, and I can now certainly understand my growing longing.  The iPhone 3GS became affordable because I bought it when the iPhone 4 came out.  Unfortunately, there was no large price decline when the iPad 2 was introduced. 

Until a miracle happens, I’ll just have to continue to save my pennies.  I also urge you to purchase my second book, Views from Sandhausen: Experiences from a Foreign Service Assignment, available from the following points of purchase:

• Amazon – United States:  http://tiny.cc/oogpc
• Amazon – Germany:  http://tiny.cc/lxwz4
• Barnes & Noble:  http://tiny.cc/ldf8f

It is a fun, informative, engaging, interesting and useful view of what lies on the other side of ‘The Pond’.

Love each other!

Cliff

 Author: Jay Yarow:  http://www.businessinsider.com/author/jay-yarow

Use iPads:  http://tiny.cc/nykcw

Only PC:  http://tiny.cc/ts6jq

What’s behind ATT Purchase of T-Mobile

Bandwidth-hungry customers line up outside an AT&T store

Today’s post is short but very interesting, particularly to those of us who own and use iPhones and iPads.  Yesterday, in an excellent article titled “AT&T Admits It Can’t Handle The iPhone” by Matt Rosoff, in one of my favorite publications, Business Insider, he uncovered the real reason behind the T-Mobile acquisition.

In a new filing explaining why it wants to buy T-Mobile, AT&T essentially admits that its network wasn’t ready for the iPhone, and won’t be able to handle new Smartphone’s and tablets as they come on board.

The filing says:

A Smartphone generates 24 times the mobile data traffic of a conventional wireless phone, and the explosively popular iPad and similar tablet devices can generate traffic comparable to or even greater than a Smartphone. AT&T’s mobile data volumes surged by a staggering 8,000% from 2007 to 2010, and as a result, AT&T faces network capacity constraints more severe than those of any other wireless provider.

Please read the full post HERE.

Spring Cleaning and the Tablet Explosion

 

Explosion in ‘Gadget’ Growth – 5 Years

I’m sorry that I’ve been missing in action the last two days; I’m in the throes of that dreaded annual event, Spring Cleaning.  I’ve been power washing the Lanai deck and pool area.  As we are in the middle of pollen season, the green goop is everywhere!  By the time I wheeled away my 2,000 PSI power washer, the only survivors were a silk palm tree, the stainless steel grill, the cat and assorted reconstituted earthworms…  The carnage was very satisfying.

OK, back to the real world.  The proof copy of the hardcover Views from Sandhausen has arrived, as well as the company seal.  Now that I have my TB test behind me, the only mission is to get the two print books proofread and accepted on the Lightening Source site.  They should be available by this weekend.

The physical books are a little smaller in size that I wanted.  As a result, I’m lowering the price on all formats.  I had in mind a Nelson DeMille-sized book.  The final versions of “Views’ are slightly smaller.

The eBooks are available here: Kindle and Nook

On this “Announcement Tuesday” (iPad2) I thought that I’d take a look at the portable devices landscape.  While you and I think about Kindles, and Nooks, and iPads and Xoom’s, businesses are seeking competitive advantage without compromising security.  This corporate move onto these devices is both inevitable and HUGE, in terms of numbers of devices purchased and deployed.

“Morgan Stanley released a major report on the tablet market earlier this week. Its essential message — the tablet market is going to be a lot bigger than anyone thinks.  There are a series of charts that graphically demonstrate my assertion, one of which is today/s graphic.

In an optimistic case, Morgan Stanley thinks hardware makers will ship 100 million tablets in 2012, up from 16 million in 2010. Considering Apple has a lock on touch screen displays this is pretty good news for the Apple bulls.” If you take a look at the “Being Adopted in Companies” chart you begin to get a feel for how really big tablet devices are!  In any measure, table devices will be a Huge part of the 2011-2013 IT spend, along with support staff and application development to ‘incorporate’ these devices into the corporation.

Adoption by 2/3 of Large Firms in 2011

We will incorporate tablets into our lives, just as we did cell phones, and then smart phones.  Just as the smart phone is replacing land-line phones in our homes, tablets will replace notebooks (for light use) and net books.  Whether we like it or not, and many don’t, just as the river pushes the rafter, this technological trend will push this migration.  Today, as 32MB Wi-Fi & 3G iPad is $729 at my local Walmart.  This is too rich for my blood but I’m looking forward to today’s Apple announcement, and the subsequent price drop of that tablet!

What does this mean for you and I?  As authors and publishers, the impact will be an epiphany to the paradigm that Books = Paper.  As stated in a previous post, physical books will endure.  We like the portability, the heft, and the smells of paper and glue.  We will always value a (physical) book as an object; it just won’t be the media of choice, as tablets and like devices become ubiquitous.  Do you agree with me?  Post a comment and let’s get a conversation going…

Read more: http://tiny.cc/ugg3e

Photo Credits: http://tiny.cc/iy949 http://tiny.cc/i9ydx

 

Digital Book World: Book-Buying Behavior in 2010 – Extract

Image via Wikipedia

Recently, Verso Advertising, the industry leader in book advertising, published the results of a very interesting survey.  It is called, BEA Survey of Book-buying Behavior.  This study highlighted, presented last month at Digital Book World, current trends in book buying behavior today.  I am re-publishing the findings to illustrate the growing acceptance of eBooks.

 

Digital Book World: Book-Buying Behavior in 2010

Verso Digital’s 2010 Survey of Book-Buying Behavior, presented last week at Digital Book World, the new version of the same survey that Jack McKeown presented at the Winter Institute a year ago in San Jose, Calif., is available online in a “mini-slide show” version. This survey was conducted last November and December and focuses on e-readers and e-books. Among the findings:E-reader ownership has nearly tripled in a year, to almost 8%, and is likely to reach 13%-15% this year.There is huge chunk of readers who don’t want to use e-readers: 49% of respondents said it was unlikely they would buy an e-reader.Some 90% of e-reader owners will continue to buy print books.E-reader owners are splitting purchases almost evenly between e-books and print books, with an average of 7.2 a year. 80.7% of respondents said they were very likely or somewhat likely to buy e-books from independent booksellers if titles are priced competitively. Some conclusions: A “robust, hybrid (print and e-book) market will endure for many years.” Predictions of 50% e-book penetration by 2014 are “highly inflated and ignore the persistence of consumer preferences for print.” (I put it at 25%) Predictions for the demise of 90% of bricks-and-mortar bookstores within 10 years are “grossly misleading.” (I personally disagree with this finding) Independent bookstores have “a significant opportunity to convert mind share to market share in the e-book space.”

I am planning to bundle my book on:  Views from Sandhausen.com.  I will offer a hardcopy version and an eBook (in Kindle and ePub formats), for a discounted price.  Now I just have to get the website done!

From my Designer Walt, at Five Rainbows Services:

In terms of shutting off your book endorsements, “I will extract what I think are the best bits from the endorsements and send those along for your review by Feb 4. I might send two versions, since we will have room for longer ones on the hardcover’s jacket. Then I will work those into the cover layouts and send proofs of them to you. I will also add the full text of the endorsements to the interior by adding two pages ahead of the half-title.

We can hold off on finalizing the printer files until 18 February, no problem. If you get any new endorsements that you like better, we can substitute extracts on the covers up to Feb 16.

Jumping on LSI’s free setup promo is definitely the way to go.  You can set up the title right now up to the point of uploading the files, as long as you place at least a 50-book order so that it can ship before March 17.

You’re getting close to having actual printed books in your hands. I still find it exciting when we have a new book of our own hot of the press and almost as exciting when a client does!

Hope your eBook sales are meeting your expectations!”

Tip of the Day

I have signed up with Backupify.com.  They provide a back-up solution that you can use to recover most of your Social Media Channels (SMC) that may become corrupted.  The content of most of my SMC’s is rather banal, but I’m building a Fan Page on Facebook for Views from Sandhausen that I would hate to lose.  The other element is all of my contact and friends; losing them would really Hurt me.  Due to life’s events and our many moves, I have few enough friends to risk losing any of them.  I like it because it is free, it is automatic, and it has the potential to save this old fool’s butt, for actions taken while I am in the ‘ether’.

How often have you heard, or (worse) said to yourself, “Yes, I clicked the delete button. Yes, I regret it now. Yes, I belatedly realized why the Backupify service makes sense.” Backupify is an all-in-one archiving, search and restore service for the most popular online services including Google Apps, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

PostAWeek 2011

I committed to posting a blog post at least once a week to an ongoing blogging movement started at the beginning of 2011.  There is a PostaWeek2011, and a PostaDay2011 contest.  I did not feel that I could keep up the pace for PostaDay2011.  So far I have published 21 blog posts this year.  I guess I can sit back and do nothing until the third week of May, but that kind of defeats the purpose.  So, I blog on – getting very excited that I’ll actually hold a book soon!

A handy beginner’s guide to e-book formats, apps and devices

Originally Posted by: Piotr Kowalczyk

Date January 23, 2011

With credit to Piotr Kowalczyk, the first poster of this chart, originally presented by BookBee.net, and to Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn for reposting this essential guide for all eBook authors,.  When you have time, please take a look at Joanna’s soon-to-be-released novel, Pentecost, available on February 7, 2011.  I have read all of her excerpts so far and the book is just Brilliant!

As I started down the journey of writing Views from Sandhausen, I knew in my gut that I wanted it to be released as soon as possible in eBook format.  My depth of knowledge about eBook formats was essentially the same as yours, nil.  Once I started work with my book’s designer, Walt at Five Rainbows Services, I soon started to see that this evolving standard was both complex and much in a state of flux.  Therefore, this chart is a snapshot in time, the status of eBook formats on this date.  Formats will come and go but all authors, and indeed customers that read on their shiny new eReaders, need this information.

The next Big Thing is Enhanced eBooks.  These books will be sold as applications for your Smartphone, or as eBooks that you either download to your computer/phone, or “lease”, as you do in the Kindle model.  I’m not as big fan of ‘leasing’ my books but it is the only way that company’s like Amazon and Kindle can guarantee that, “If you buy it once, you can read it on any of your devices”.  This can be compelling when you read part of the eBook on the bus or train, during your commute.  Then you can pick up your tablet or PC, and be at the exact same place in your book as you were when you closed your Smartphone on the way home.

Enhanced eBooks.  This is a whole topic in itself and will be the subject of a future post.

Lastly, Views from Sandhausen is receiving GREAT reviews and yesterday we saw the greatest audience that we have seen to date.  Thank you kind readers and I will be focusing on additional topics, in addition to my little project.

Stay warm, and Go Steelers!!!!

Cliff

More Signs of Success

This weekend we received our third positive book review, this time from a talented reviewer who reviews book for a living.  I am really excited about this one!

Lynnette Phillips, Avid Reader Book Reviews

http://www.blogtopsites.com/out/82038

January 2011 - Avid Book Review

897 Twitter Followers - @CliffordF2

On the Twitter side, I am a handful of followers away from 900.  This gives us a little more reach to help others with what we have learned on this odyssey.  Of course, it gives me a priceless audience for what I might want to say, and to receive feedback that always makes a person better at whatever they might want to try.

My account was finally created on Barnes & Noble and I hope to get the account, from which orders can be taken (Nook eReader), finalized ASAP.  The format of the Nook is ePub – which is the primary format for eBooks.  Thanks to Walt at Five Rainbows, his full-service book design process provides me with versions of the book in all formats!

The balance of next week will to offer the book on additional eBook retailers, in the USA and in Europe.  By blanketing the market, I trust that we will be able to get the book into print sooner!

It is 54.9 degrees outside with bright sunshine.  The golfers are out in force today – what an amazing breed.  Lastly, I purchased a ‘new’ car last week that should carry me forward for the next several years.  Love those 100,000 mile power train warranties!

Be well and stay warm!

Cliff

Views from Sandhausen Purchase Outlets

My Dear Friends and Family

After countless hours and a significant financial commitment, Views from Sandhausen: Experiences from a Foreign Service Assignment is finally available.  It can (first) be found on Amazon.com formatted for the family of Kindle eReaders.  Buy the eBook for Kindle here.  You can also leave your review of what you thought of our efforts, at the same location!

I am in the process of putting it up on Barnes and Noble for their Nook eReader, as well as other outlets. 

Within the next week I anticipate that it will be available for all current and future devices.  Of course, my favorite, the iPad, will be fully supported (including iPad 2’s enhanced features).  From the wings I can hear, “…but Cliff, I don’t have a Kindle eReader or a Nook, color or otherwise”.  Not to worry, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and others, have applications that are free and can be loaded on any PC or Mac, as well as most Smartphone’s out in the wild.  The nice thing about Kindle is that you buy the book once, and it is available on all Kindle devices, no matter the computer underneath.  It will even tell your various devices exactly where you were in the book when you last stopped reading.  Readers for various systems can be found here:

Amazon Kindle for all devices

Nook (B&N) for all devices

I have put up a page on http://FlaAuthor.WordPress.com that I will keep updating as new versions are available – as well as keep you posted (pun intended) on the two print books availability.  I anticipate that you will be able to hold a Hard or Soft cover book by the end of this quarter.

Views from Sandhausen

978-0-9831283-0-4 Hardcover   Available Soon
978-0-9831283-1-1 Paperback   Available Soon
978-0-9831283-2-8 ePub           Available Soon 
978-0-9831283-3-5 Kindle          Available 1/19/11

I would like to thank you all for your endless support, as well as for several reviews that have been sent to me or posted.  Should you purchase an electronic copy, not only are your photographs in full color, but the various web links are ‘live’.  This means that as you come across a link in the electronic book, you can simply click on the link and be taken to the website mentioned.

Lastly (for now) I am toying with the idea of making a ‘Bundle’ option available for a discounted price, only on my http://www.ViewsfromSandhausen.com website.  That is the preferred point of purchase as my margins are better there.  It will be up just as soon as is possible. Those investments will come as soon as funds allow me to make it happen.

Thank you all and your co-authors, Cliff and Lynn, that you again!

Love Cliff

Views from Sandhausen available NOW

Views from Sandhausen cover

 The Book is Here! The Book is here!!!

Amazon has offered our eBook for Kindle here.  We will be activating on several other  sites over the next few days.  I will report to you when that happens.  My work is done, awaiting theirs! (You would have thought that, with all the BUZZ, they would have been Waiting for my files! 🙂

Print versions will be available during the first quarter of 2011.  Here is the link:  Kindle Edition

Another Sign of Moving to the Digital World

Good Day all…

How chapter frontpieces are formatted

EXTRA, EXTRA, the second draft of Views from Sandhausen’s interior has been received from Walt at Five Rainbows.  Here is the chapter start for the first chapter.  Please note that it incorporates the fountain stone from the fountain on the front cover of the book.  I can’t think of a better way to tie the book together!  Walt gets an Atta boy!

Tomorrow, I will send you an interior (text) page so that you can see how great the layout is.   Based on a thought from Matt Jacob, my Developmental Editor at EditmeFAST.com, we had the concept of an ‘email look’ in mind, given that it was in that format that Views were first written and distributed.  Other than a question that I’ve posed to Walt, this is our interior formatting.

 Yesterday and today, I wrote my second article for suite101.  The following is about that article.

Today I posted my second article to suite101.org under the subject line of this blog post.  Thus far, the suite101.com experience has been very satisfying, with my first article being accepted and posted immediately, and my second pots automatically posted upon receipt at suite101.org.

Here is a link to: Another Sign of Moving to the Digital World.  I hope you enjoy it! In less than 24 hours, 29 people have read my first piece Step by Step Self-Publishing: the Learning Revolution on Suite101.org.  As stated, revenue goes to suite 101 when a reader, drawn to my article, clicks on an ad, many of which ring the article.  Suite101 then gives me a cut of that commission.  I’m not going to get rich but at least I have some purpose.

To paraphrase from today’s article: “I believe that we are in the center of a digital “Perfect Storm”.  Today’s writer has an infinite workshop, stocked with word-processing, translation, and graphics tools.  The printing capability now commonly offered is amazing (I grew up with dot matrix).  The proofreader and/or Editor have Microsoft Word ‘track changes’, and can output in hundreds of document formats.  The Book Designer has Adobe ‘inDesign CSS’ or other high-end book interior design software, and, he has Photoshop to create cover images that require an expert to discern a difference from a real-life photograph.  The author, through his printing-house, can print one copy of his hard/soft cover book, or 10,000 to leverage (still existing) economies of scale.   Lastly, if you pick the correct Printing House, they will provide your interface to a global distribution network that includes your “Bricks and Mortar” book stores.  Your designer can also output your eBook, after additional formatting, into all of the standard eBook formats.

From a writer, design, printing and distribution standpoint, there are very few reasons why we writers in 2010 even need others at all.  Of course: The MAJOR exception is that we Need a good Developmental Editor and we Need a good Interior and Exterior Book Designer!  To not have either of these experts on your team is the most certain way to ruin!  If you want to be perceived as a Professional, you need to work with professionals.

 It is technically possible to write and eBook and have it for sale tomorrow, on Amazon and most of the other ‘bookstores’.  The independent bookstore of the past will not survive on the profits of (physical) books!  The Traditional Publishing House will not have the power they had even a few years ago.  This is nothing short of a Digital Renaissance!  The smart people connected to the literary community stand to make a very nice living going into the future.  Like the dinosaurs, the less smart will perish.”

Cliff