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How to succeed at marketing the iPad

Steve Jobs insists on calling the iPad "magical" and "revolutionary," but it's a device whose purpose has mystified many so far.

So how will Apple explain the touch-screen e-reader/Web tablet that's being described, and in some cases derided, as "an iPod Touch on steroids," albeit one that will cost between $499 and $829? Experts who've made their careers teaching and working in high-tech marketing say it will come down to the very basics of marketing: Focus on how a product will make the proud new owner of this device happier, … Read more

Before the iPad, there was the ThinkPad

The ThinkPad came long before the Apple iPad. Lenovo makes this clear in a video showing the genesis of the ThinkPad brand name, though the clip raises some pesky questions.

As some quick background--and as many readers probably know--a line of laptops using the same ThinkPad brand name ultimately became a hit for IBM, though the PC business overall didn't pan out financially for Big Blue, which sold it to Lenovo in 2004.

IBM was first: In the video, the Lenovo marketing executive (originally an IBM employee) talks about how IBM, in 1990, designed the ThinkPad 700T slate computer … Read more

CNET TV Apple Byte: MacWorld 2010

Brian Tong discusses the latest news in the world of Apple. This week, iSuppli has a cost estimate of the iPad, Hulu may soon be available on the iPhone OS, and Brian takes a tour of the MacWorld show floor.

Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums. Do you have questions, issues, or stories you would like to see on MacFixIt? Email Us.

These tablets do what the 'iPad don't'

With apologies to Sega's classic "Genesis does what Nintendon't" ad campaign, there are many tablet and touch-screen PCs that do things the upcoming Apple iPad simply can't. While Apple's tablet runs a version of the company's iPhone operating system, most of these tablets run different flavors of Windows, and (at least in theory) are capable of performing any task a standard laptop can.

The benefits of having a full computer operating system are many, from running your choice of Web browsers, such as Firefox or Chrome, to streaming Flash video from Hulu and … Read more

Report: Surge in iPhone app development due to iPad

If the iPad's early success could be measured by the number of new applications that will support the platform, it should do just fine, according to a new report from research company Flurry.

Flurry is an analytics company for mobile-app developers, helping to track industry trends. Based on the number of developers that have integrated Flurry's tracking code into their apps, the latest shift in the market shows new application starts for the iPhone surged in January, reaching unprecedented levels.

According to the data, January's iPhone application starts almost tripled those recorded for December. This, says Flurry, is the largest spike in its tracking history on any mobile platform, with over 1,600 app starts.

Google's Android mobile platform was closing the gap on Apple's iPhone OS, but the renewed interest in developing apps for the iPhone OS, pulled Apple into the lead again. Flurry said the reason for the surge is clear: it's the iPad. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1165: Kindles for all? The future is cloudy.

The rumor mill has it that Amazon wants to give its Prime subscribers a free Kindle. Like, all of them. We think that fails the sniff test, but we might be hypersensitive because of the ridiculous rumor mill that briefly killed off the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi this week. Oh, and Google's working on fixing Buzz. Thanks, Google. --Molly

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1165

Wi-Fi rides to wireless networks' rescue

Good old Wi-Fi could be the fix to an impending explosion of data on wireless networks.

Nearly three years after Apple introduced the game-changing iPhone, wireless operators around the globe are feeling the effects of the wireless data tsunami that is well under way. Even networks that don't support the iPhone are feeling the pinch as a generation of new wireless devices offering bandwidth-hungry Web applications are hitting networks.

The result, as many iPhone users in New York City and San Francisco will tell you, is a network that drops calls and offers wireless Net surfing at the speed of a turtle.… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1164: Facebook login

We think, due to the magic of search-engine optimization, that this episode is about to become our highest-rated ever. P.S. Attention, visitors from Google: this is not the Facebook login page. Sorry about that. In other news today, we tear down Google Buzz's privacy options, Bill Gates can barely be bothered to diss the iPad, and some guy plans to be pooping in a box for 30 days. Sometimes we hate the Internet. --Molly

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1164

Is Apple the new Microsoft?

Is Apple becoming more concerned with strategy than technology?

That's the question (and accusation, really) leveled at Apple by the Wall Street Journal's Holman Jenkins Jr., who decries Apple's strategy as little more than "zero-sum maneuvering versus hated rivals."

He has a point. But is it valid?

Jenkins argues that Apple's decision to ship the iPad without Flash support amounts to an attempt to lock consumers into iTunes-only content:

Apple may be succumbing to the seductive temptations of "network effects," in which the all-consuming goal becomes getting its mobile devices into more … Read more

iPad accessory roundup: Tons already out there

Everybody has an opinion about the Apple iPad. For better or worse, it's one of those viral products that just seem to get under your skin. People in my life who would normally never talk to me about tech are coming out of the woodwork to ping me for an opinion on the iPad, unsure if they should bite.

But in spite of all the fence-sitters out there wondering which way the wind will blow, there is one group of people who share nothing but undiluted joy at the prospect of the iPad. I'm talking, of course, about … Read more