Is Apple's 12-month Product Lifecycle Still Good for Business?

It's that time of year again. No, not when Valentine's Day chocolate is still on sale as Cadbury mini-eggs come back. Even though that is happening right now, too. I'm talking about the annual product lifecycle for Apple, namely the new iPhone and iPad 2.

Steve Jobs is a master of supply and demand - creating hysteria over new product launches for years. And making it last to some degree for a full 12 months. Even now, people can't wait to get their hands on an iPhone 4...even though it's old news as far as new products go.

This makes me wonder if Apple's strategy has worked too well. If they stick to their guns and launch iPhone 5 an their annual cycle, we should be seeing it soon. With this strategy, we should also be getting a real glimpse of iPad 2. In fact, there is a strong suspicion that Apple will unveil the iPad 2 tomorrow (March 2). But, as with iPhone 4, the original iPad is still flying off the shelves. With this in mind, my first question is 1) Are they not cutting into their own product market share by releasing a new product when demand is still high for the current version? 2) Does Apple need to continue to release new products on a 12-month cycle, or has their dominance with innovation given them enough breathing room to essentially dictate how and when new innovations should hit the market? As a consumer who is waiting for iPad 2, I hope not. But I guess that's the power of a company that's now worth $100 billion more than Microsoft.

Knowing that the traditional timeline for new Apple products is quickly approaching, the rumors surrounding those products have also ramped up. There is a growing list that you can read here. The ones that stick out to me are the much larger screen for the iPhone 5, including a slide-out keyboard, and a camera between 8 and 12 megapixels. The larger screen and better camera sound right in-line with Apple's innovation style - but the slide-out keyboard would be a big surprise to many users if it happened. I can only assume this feature would open up the market for business consumers - trying to steal that domain from RIM's Blackberry.

The other no -brainer for me is the back and front facing camera for the iPad 2. Apple's Facetime application has the potential to indirectly create customer loyalty that's as strong as RIM's Blackberry Messenger. I know that's one of the only reasons I am still on a Blackberry, and the same goes for most of my friends. The camera on the iPad 2 is also one of the driving reasons I do not currently have an iPad 1...I'm waiting to for this feature and application to change my life.

With Tablets starting to flood the market, this indeed looks like it will be the year of the Tablet. As a consumer, I look forward to watching the market evolve and unfold, and see who is leading the pack when December holiday shopping comes around. My money will be on the iPad...but maybe RIM's Playbook has a game plan up their sleeve. ~ p

Is the Playbook everything I want iPad 2 to be?

I got an iPad for Christmas. I took it back. My reason was obvious and logical: I am waiting for the next one. This mythical next one is supposedly launching March 15th. But that is completely unofficial and just based on the cycle of other Apple products. Still, it was good enough for me. I want a camera. I want to use FaceTime. I want a better screen and more storage in a lighter, more powerful package. Too much to ask for iPad 2? Maybe. But it is right on par with Blackberry's first edition of the Playbook.

This isn't the first time I've seen a demo on the Playbook. But it is the first time I've seen a product demo so close to launch with what I describe as 'in-the-moment' testing. Who knows how many takes this Jeff guy took, but it looks unedited and real, and so does the 'bar stamp' on his hand as he takes us through the features. Nice touch.

So as I wait and wait and wait for iPad 2 to come and out almost certainly let down my high expectations, I get closer and closer and closer to getting everything I want right now in the Playbook.

What do you think? Should I wait or buy a Playbook? ~ p

What's the game plan for Blackberry's Playbook?

The world as I know it has been split into three types of people: Blackberry users, iPhone-ers, and everyone else. I am a hybrid of groups 1 and 2. I use a Blackberry but still have a MacBook, iPod, and an Apple email. With my loyalty of two companies, I’ve been asking myself, what am I going to do once Blackberry’s tablet is in market? That question became a bit more real yesterday.

If you didn’t hear, the Blackberry tablet was officially announced. It will be called Playbook. I’d like to say here that I’m really glad it wasn’t named the often-rumored ‘BlackPad’. With that name, they might as well have called it ‘Our version of the iPad’. Playbook makes me think of a 'game plan'...never a bad thing. Anyway, with little to no true information leaked, it was hard to know what RIM’s, ahem, Playbook was for their new device. Would they go after the business market? Would it have a camera? Why would I want this thing?

That, too, became clearer yesterday. The Playbook seems to have taken all the negative press about the iPad and used it to develop their features. It is 0.4 inches (9.7 mm) thick, making it thinner than the iPad’s 0.5 inches. It will have two cameras, a 5-megapixel one at the back, and a 3-megapixel one at the front. It has a video-recording function. It’s half the weight of iPad, at just 0.9 lbs. It’s flash-friendly, provides multitasking capabilities, and supports 1080p HD video, giving users a ‘full Internet experience’. It also includes an HDMI video output and USB port. To top it off, it’s on a very cool new OS from QNX that promises to be way faster than anything out there. Playbook also adds credibility by targeting the business crowd, as shown in the video below. I mean, if it’s reliable enough to run a presentation, I can count on it to surf the web, right?

The way I see it, this could go two ways. 1) I get excited about all the features iPad doesn’t have and get the new Playbook and be totally happy with the decision, 2) I wait for Stevie Jobs to put his counter move in market with the 2nd generation iPad next year. Not that’s he’s announced his plan to do so…yet. ~ p

(Source: www.wired.com)