Just as the iPhone snatched the lion’s share of profits in the smartphone market amidst competition from many well-established smartphone makers, Apple’s iPad is likely to do the same, according to research conducted by Goldman Sachs. One of the main reasons cited for why this is likely is the fact that the iPad shares the same app store that made the iPhone and iPod touch famous, which even after all these years of existence, still has no real competitor from other mobile app makers, not even Android and especially not Symbian. The iPad’s instant-on functionality is also being counted as a huge benefit as opposed to the usual startup time needed for most notebooks and netbooks, which can take anywhere from 10 seconds to a full minute. The research finding might hold true if the current situation persists, but with the advent of new Android-based tablets from several different manufacturers, it would be interesting to find out how things will change in the course of the next few months.

Via Apple Insider

Apple iPad to follow footsteps of iPhone in taking up biggest share of tablet PC market is a post from: Eee PC

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If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod touch and are thinking about running Ubuntu some time in the near future, you’ll be glad to know that either device can be plugged in via USB without much fanfare as Lucid Lynx, the latest version of this famously user-friendly distro offers out-of-the-box support whether Apple likes it or not. That’s right, the iPhone “just works” with Ubuntu, and so does the iPod touch. The only thing left now is for there to be a Linux version of iTunes. And for Apple to not work against this built-in feature by issuing a software update or something similar. Enjoy it while you can, anyway.

webupd8 via Download Squad

Ubuntu 10.04 offers support for iPhone and iPod touch is a post from: Eee PC

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Upon the official announcement of the iPad from Apple, not only did we learn that the price will be much cheaper than expected but, it will also double as an eBook reader, competing against the Kindle. We can now confirm that the iPad will also run all iPhone Apps. Yes that’s right, all of the apps. Admittedly the apps will be floating in the 9.7 inch display as it they won’t fit the full screen. Developers may work on the apps however, enabling them to take full advantage of the larger screen but, initially, they will be in the current size ratio.

iWork has also been shown off on the iPad. iWork may not be the first program you think of running on the iPad, when it can double as a larger iPhone and eBook reader but, iWork has been redesigned for the iPad. Navigating through pages is very easy and new versions of Keynote, Pages and Numbers integrate well on the iPad.

via

iWork and iPhone apps for the iPad is a post from: Eee PC

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While a lot of people seem to be perfectly content with using the iPhone’s on-screen virtual keyboard for typing duties, there are still those who would like to see a physical QWERTY keyboard attached for versatility. A company named Ion, which usually makes USB turntables and cassette decks, has now acted to turn this dream of many into a reality.

A new product of theirs called iType can accommodate any iPhone in its special dock and function as a near full-sized physical QWERTY keyboard. And it doesn’t suck off power from the phone’s batteries. In fact, it may even charge the iPhone via the docking solution it uses to connect to it.

Two prototypes of the iType were present at CES 2010, according to Register Hardware, and the company has mentioned that it sees a rough Q2 release date with a £70 (about $112 USD) price tag.

Via Reg Hardware

Ion’s iType turns iPhone into full-sized tablet PC on the fly is a post from: Eee PC

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While every day typing may be easier on a netbook than an iPhone, the folks over at Crave have performed a rather unusual test. They’ve pitted an Asus Eee PC up against Apple’s iPhone for a typing competition with a twist. The typing competition takes place in a Rally car drive by Kenneth Hansen, 14 time European Rallycross champion.

The sentance that was attempted was “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”, which contains every letter of the alphabet. A simple sentance and a simple task? Not in a rallycar. The netbook came back out with “THISn QUICC BDE4 FROCCDX HJUNOE OV4E3DR TTHJREV N V DOGTG” and the iPhone “The quick fox jumps over the lazy dog”. While on the iPhone ‘brown’ wasn’t attempted, it’s clear to see which is the easier device to type on, while travelling at high speed.

The netbook appears to have been the 7″ Eee PC 701, so perhaps a 10″ netbook would fare better, but the iPhone also had the auto correction feature switched on.

iPhone trumps Eee PC for ‘fast’ typing is a post from: Eee PC

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Fortunately or unfortunately (no matter which side you’re on), Steve Jobs said that releasing an Apple netbook is not in his company’s plan. According to Steve Jobs:

“We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that,” Jobs said.

However, Jobs referred to the iPhone as their product which could possible match with most netbooks in the market today. If netbooks fulfill the purpose of browsing the Internet, mobile email, connectivity to cellular network, then there’s no need for Apple to release their own netbook.

Jobs did mention though, that they are still observing the netbook market and awaiting how this so called, “nascent” netbook market would evolve, before Apple do some game-changing moves.

So, what do you think? Will Apple manage to trim down the cost of their MacBooks to come up with an Apple netbook which will carry the same functionality and sophisticated quality of their MacBook machines?

Apple’s Steve Jobs: Our iPhone is as Powerful as Netbooks is a post from: Eee PC

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Ok, this maybe a ridiculous idea to some, while iPhone fanboys will definitely find this a desecration of our beloved iPhone. But it could be interesting concept as well. OLO-Computer is a netbook sized computer with one very distinctly rare feature – it’s got the iPhone embedded to serve as a multi-touch trackpad. How cool? absurd is that?

What isn’t clear though is whether this computer would be using the iPhone’s OS and mobile system to power-up the notebook itself. Something like making the iPhone screen as big as an ordinary netbook. Or whether the iPhone which just be use for the multi-touch trackpad. But that would be a waste for the iPhone’s capability on the other hand.

Unfortunately, the OLO-Computer site doesn’t offer much information. But the site is saying something like “Your PC is OUT, Coming Soon”. So we might be looking for a future announcement from them soon. That is if they got a permission to use the iPhone as such from Apple. Or do they have to?

Olo Computer, Is it a Phone or a Netbook? is a post from: Eee PC

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