As we published PIND 26 last week the latest edition of PrintWeek was popping through UK letterboxes, and what a lot of similarities there were between the two publications, with the PrintWeek team putting focus on iOS products. iPad and iPhone products were very much to the fore, with TimeHarvest taking the “Me & My” page, and iPad the “Product of the Week” slot. The lead feature, “Taking the Tablets” focused on how such products could interface with the world of print. All in all, a good read, especially for those used to this focus from PIND.Our friends in the finishing world have been having a less exciting time of late, and this was highlighted during a week when more closures and company purchases were announced, along with poor financials from other players.
In the US, Print Production Professional has told us this week about an excellent new suite of labels on a beer bottle brand. An exciting new literary release will soon be appearing on a beer bottle near you, with a “who-dunnit” being serialised over a set of 12 different labels. I would wager that if you moved too swiftly through the bottles to read the whole story you might be a little too pickled to solve the mystery!On the look-out already for that unusual print-related Christmas present? Saltwatersongs Tweeted this week about the delights of a bespoke letterpress print. Take a look: it’s a novlty!
Karen Charlesworth’s editorial for PrintSpeak.co.uk this week begins with a bit of a survey bash, as Ipsos came out with a result that most readers prefer a printed paper over the online equivalent. Karen suggests that the sample might have been a little skewed, and I too see such surveys as almost Canute-like in their findings. As was recently highlighted in PIND, the New York Times even recognises that the printed edition of its publication will disappear; it’s just a matter of working out when that will be!On a more positive note, The Wall delivered an exciting summary featuring 13 ideas which could help print survive. One of its conclusions, however, is that “news” is not the future for print, which makes a whole lot of sense when you think about it. Our friends at Mashable then pose the question: “Is the iPad Really the Saviour of the Newspaper Industry?” Plenty to think about and consider here!
As one interesting note to the above question, News Corporation announced this week that it has been forced to abandon plans for its eagerly anticipated digital news platform, part of the company’s so called “Project Alesia” initiative, citing runaway costs. It is reported that they have currently "run away" to the tune of £20 million by the way!All of this coming in the same week that we are told that the number of Internet users will surpass 2 billion before the end of 2010.
Apple was back on its soap box this week with announcements about a new MacBook Air, which some have suggested is like an iPad with a keyboard. Mmm, not too sure about that one! Meanwhile, the tablet news itself kicks-off with an excellent executive summary of the situation to date courtesy of The Telegraph, the technology section of which continues to improve almost by the day. The same team are responsible for giving another accurate insight into the tablet format, with the seven inch format (as has been mentioned in several posts here before) still taking a bit of a battering.On the apps front, just a quick shout for the new Jot Agent. This neat little app allows you to make a quick typed note on your iPhone or iPad which is then immediately sync’d with your DropBox account, making it available to any platform that you have installed DropBox on. Neat. Nothing fancy, but something that you always wanted! I do love apps that work across different products; they are what I call “real world”.
The new Kindle gets a favourable review as it nears UK release, where it will be available for a keen £109.Browser news is headed by Opera, whose version 11 (currently Beta) is going to follow the trend of adding extensions into the mix; a must really! You can’t keep up with the likes of Firefox and Chrome without them.
Phone news of the week is all neatly charted in this excellent piece of graphics work detailing how Android phones are set to dominate the market. No arguments on that one from PIND; it probably will. Apple has always led the segments of a market that it works in with technology, without seeking to dominate over time. There will always be cheaper product that is more suited to the mass market; for PC read Android phone. There will be a cheap mass market equivalent for the tablet market too eventually.The most staggering statistic to PIND staff from the above chart is the uptake on smart phones by country: currently the USA totally dominates with some 66% of units; China represents 13% of the sector; whilst dear old UK actually represents only 4% (but is still third in the world!).
Other news: Microsoft unveiled a cloud based Office suite.
Interesting piece to finish on: a great little video suggesting how we make connections to come up with great ideas. Have a look; it’s entertaining.
PIND027
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