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每日观察:关注苹果研发iPhone和iPad的相关内幕(8.6)

发布时间:2012-08-06 10:59:09 Tags:,,

1)Chitika Insights最新数据显示,尽管新iPad销量持续创下纪录,但iPad 2仍然十分抢手。Chitika通过其美国广告网络搜集数据发现,新iPad网络流量在所有iPad中占比18%,而iPad 2所占份额仍然高达60%。

ipad2(from cultofmac.com)

ipad2(from cultofmac.com)

Chitika认为iPad 2与新iPad之间的细微差别可能是用户不愿意升级至新设备的主要原因。苹果上一季度出售1700万部iPad,其首席执行官Tim Cook曾称新iPad是最畅销的iPad设备(游戏邦注:Chitika数据仅反映美国市场情况,而Cook所指的是全球销量)。

观察者则认为,iPad 2从3月份开始的降价出售才是这一设备大受欢迎的原因。

2)据gigaom报道,在苹果最近与三星对簿公堂的过程中,苹果iOS软件高级副总裁Scott Forstall当众宣读了一份由苹果高管Eddy Cue于2011年1月发送给Tim Cook等人的邮件内容:

ipad-mini(from ipadhacks.com)

ipad-mini(from ipadhacks.com)

“我认为市场将会出现7英寸平板电脑,我们需要推出这种设备”。而据CNBC报道,当时出庭作证的John Fortt也曾通过Twitter表示,乔布斯在世时“似乎接受了”7英寸平板电脑这一理念(游戏邦注:外界一向认为乔布斯极反对7英寸平板电脑“)。

观察者据此推测,彭博社、《华尔街日报》等媒体所报道的苹果将推出更小型iPad一事确有根据,该设备可能于下个月面世。

3)据mobile-ent报道,苹果与三星的诉讼案所浮出的另一新闻是,乔布斯本人也曾一度不确定iPhone的未来。

苹果设计师Chris Stringer在出庭作证时指出,iPhone是一个风险和挑战性很大的产品,即使是“乔布斯本人也对此抱有疑虑”。他称苹果致力于研发前所未有的智能手机,但这些设备更像小型计算机。苹果iPhone的问世非常激动人心,但这种产品难以大量生产和制造,所以当时有人认为“苹果疯了”。

steve-jobs-iphone(from theiphonespot.net)

steve-jobs-iphone(from theiphonespot.net)

4)gigaom网站最近总结了苹果成员在三星诉讼案陈述证词过程中所透露的一些有趣的苹果内部信息,其中包括:

*在决定研发iPhone和iPad之前,苹果曾考虑推出汽车和照相机之类的产品;

*iPhone曾经的代号是“Purple项目”;

*iOS软件高级副总裁Scott Forstall组建iPhone团队时,乔布斯要求他“不准引进非苹果人员”;

*成立iPhone团队之后,苹果总部大楼特意腾出一层楼供该团队使用,配备额外保安人员,并在其外张贴了Fight Club海报,并且要求他们不要讨论Purple项目;

*尽管iPhone面世后人气大涨,苹果还是持续加大针对该设备的营销投入。2008年苹果在美国iPhone广告投入为9750万美元,2009年为1.496亿美元,2010年则是1.733亿美元,2010年针对iPad的广告投入也高达1.495亿美元;

*为78%用户为iPhone购买手机套。

观察者称即使苹果在此案中胜讼,该公司仍然有所损失,即丧失对其至关重要的“神秘感”。苹果素来不愿自己的管理模式公之于众,它对产品研发过程的严格保密为其成功色彩添上了重要的一笔。苹果并不希望自己的竞争对手以及用户了解这些幕后内容。

5)据Techcrunch报道,Zynga产品开发副总裁Sean Kelly在最近的Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp座谈会中表示,他相信公司大笔收购OMGPOP的举措终会获得回报。

sean-kelly(from businessinsider.com)

sean-kelly(from businessinsider.com)

OMGPOP旗下热门游戏《Draw Something》流量从三月底就开始一路下滑,但Kelly认为公司已经从这一过程中了解了许多情况和经验。他指出刚开始有许多用户几乎一整个下午都在乐此不疲地涂鸦,并向好友发送自己的“杰作”,但这种毫无节制的方式可能降低游戏机制的趣味。他认为如果Zynga当初植入一些限制设置,就不会导致用户这么快就厌倦游戏。

Zynga收购该公司之前《Draw Something》仍有超过1400万的日活跃用户,但据AppData数据显示,目前该游戏DAU已降至300万左右,仅占Zynga所有移动DAU的9%左右。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

1)iPad 2 still going strong: Makes up 60 percent of iPad web traffic in the U.S.By Erica Ogg

This Is it a sign that people are holding back on upgrading to the new iPad? Or a measure of the success the discounted iPad 2 is seeing here in the U.S.? Schools purchasing iPads were a key driver of Apple’s record-breaking iPad sales last quarter.

Though the new iPad continues to break tablet sales records for Apple, some new data from Chitika Insights shows that here in the U.S., last year’s iPad model remains incredibly popular.

In a report shared with GigaOM on Friday, Chitika says that based on data gathered from its extensive ad network in the U.S., web traffic coming from the new iPad accounts for about 18 percent of all iPad traffic, while 60 percent still comes from the iPad 2.

Chitika think that’s a sign that people are holding back on upgrading to the new iPad, and points to “the perceived minute differences between the iPad 2 and iPad 3, discouraging users of older iPads to upgrade.”

But, Apple sold 17 million iPads this past quarter, a record for the company, and Apple CEO Tim Cook specifically said that the most popular iPad sold was the lastest, third-generation iPad. There is a data discrepancy here, however: Chitika is talking about web traffic from iPads in the U.S. only, and Cook is talking about global sales.

I think this can also be explained by how important the iPad 2′s discount, starting in March, has been to that model’s success here in the U.S. Discounting the iPad 2 by $100 to $399 was smart for a couple of reasons. Yes, it put the iPad in the hands of more consumers who weren’t excited about spending $500 on an iPad, but it’s also opened the floodgates for schools to be able to buy them for students. (And that coincided with a bigger push from Apple in general toward education apps and books.)

Apple said last week that between April and June this year, it sold 1 million iPads to schools — a quarterly record for the company. It has had a record-breaking quarter for Mac sales to schools, yet it sold twice as many iPads as it did Macs.

On the company’s earnings call with investors, Cook said pricing was a big part of the iPad 2′s success last quarter: ”We priced the iPad 2  to $399 and did very well but, the most popular iPad is the new iPad. But iPad 2 was key in the K-12 area. We have been very aggressive in this space and I don’t see changing that.”

Apple’s very savvy about how it prices its products and simultaneously squeezes profits out of them. Its success with the iPad 2 even since the introduction of the brand new iPad shows that. That’s why this fall is going to be so very interesting in the tablet world. With Google, Microsoft and Amazon undercutting or trying to undercut the iPad on price with smaller but compelling tablets, Apple’s decision on how to price the still-rumored smaller iPad is going to have a significant impact. Not only on its competitors, but on its own profits as well.(source:gigaom

2)Apple exec: We should do a 7-inch tabletBy Erica Ogg

By Erica Ogg

This Apple executive Scott Forstall was asked to read an email in court Friday sent to him, CEO Tim Cook and others by fellow Apple executive Eddy Cue in January 2011 in which Cue said he believed there was a market for a 7-inch iPad.

The courtroom drama surrounding the Apple-Samsung trial going on right now has resulted in a lot of legal theatrics and offered an interesting view into Apple’s product development of the original iPhone and iPad. Not much that has been said on the witness stand by Apple employees called to testify has been particularly revealing about Apple’s future plans. Until this afternoon. Apple’s SVP of iOS Software, Scott Forstall, just gave testimony that seemed to back up the recent reports that Apple is prepping a smaller iPad for sale.

Eddy Cue, Apple SVP of internet software and services

On the stand Forstall was asked to read an email sent to him, as well as CEO Tim Cook and others, by fellow Apple executive Eddy Cue in January 2011. AllThingsD, reporting from inside the San Jose, Calif. courtroom, recorded Forstall’s reading of the email:

“I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one,” Cue wrote in the e-mail, which forwarded an article written by a reporter that switched from the iPad to a 7-inch Samsung tablet. “I tend to agree with man of the comments below,” Cue wrote.

Turns out that “article” in question was this one, by our own Kevin Tofel.

CNBC reporter John Fortt, who was also present for the testimony, reports on Twitter that Steve Jobs (who was famously anti-7-inch tablets) “seemed receptive” to the idea.

This is obviously going to add to the speculation — backed up reports from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal and others — that Apple is set to introduce a smaller iPad perhaps as early as next month.(source:gigaom

3)Even Steve Jobs thought the iPhone was risky

by Mike Shaw

Apple designer testifies at patent case against Samsung.

Another interesting detail that has surfaced during Apple and Samsung’s court case is how even Steve Jobs was uncertain about the iPhone.

One has the impression that Jobs always knew his own mind and pursued ideas relentlessly, but Apple designer Chris Stringer testified yesterday that the iPhone was risky and challenging and that “Steve Jobs himself had doubts”.

Stringer continued: “We were doing something unprecedented. Smartphones existed, but they are more like little computers.”

The iPhone design Apple came up with, Stringer said, was “something breathtaking.”  However, it was also hard to polish, difficult to manufacture and hard to produce in volume.

“People thought we were crazy,” said Stringer.(source:mobile-ent

4)Things you never knew about the iPhoneBy Erica Ogg

This Thanks to the testimony of top Apple executives this week, we know more about how the iPhone came to be. However, the revelation of these details means that even if Apple ends up winning this case, it’s still lost something: a little bit of mystery.

A stream of Apple executives and employees called as witnesses in the Samsung trial this week has forced them to give up some interesting bits of information that the famously secretive company would no doubt like to be kept private. Much of what we’ve heard has to do with Apple’s vaunted product design and development process. But we’ve also gotten some concrete detail about how the iPhone, in particular, came to fruition.

Here’s some of the most interesting facts learned this week about the iPhone.

◦Before deciding to build the iPhone and iPad, Apple considered other product categories, including “crazy stuff” like a car or a camera. (Wired)

◦The iPhone was code-named “Project Purple.”

◦When Scott Forstall, SVP of iOS software, started hiring what would become the iPhone team, he was told by Steve Jobs he couldn’t bring in anyone from outside Apple. (AllThingsD)

◦Once the team was in place, they took over a floor in a building at Apple HQ, added extra security, and hung a Fight Club poster outside. As in, don’t talk about Project Purple. (CNET)

◦Even as the iPhone’s popularity has soared, Apple has continued to lavish more millions on campaigns advertising the device. It spent $97.5 million in 2008 on iPhone ads in the U.S., $149.6 million in 2009, and $173.3 million in 2010. It spent almost that much, $149.5 million, on iPad ads in 2010. (AllThingsD)

◦Because it lost a bid to keep a customer survey secret, we know more about iPhone owners’ buying habits. Like that they are a cautious bunch: 78 percent of them buy a case for their device. (WSJ)

The revelation of details like this show us that even if Apple ends up winning this case, it’s still lost something: mystery. Everything about the way Apple conducts itself as a business makes clear that it absolutely hates giving up this kind of information outside of a very small group within the company. As innocuous as these details may seem to some, Apple’s ability to keep its product development process under wraps is part of what adds to the company’s aura of success. Apple doesn’t want the competition — and especially its customers — to know what goes on behind the curtain.(source:gigaom

5)Could Zynga Make Back The Money It Spent Acquiring OMGPOP?

Chris Velazco

Peter Deng was joined on our Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp stage by Zynga product development VP Sean Kelly, Bump CEO David Lieb, and Xyologic co-founder Matthaus Krzykowski to tackle the prospect of creating and nurturing “modern” mobile applications.

One of the juicier tidbits that came to light during the panel came courtesy of Zynga’s Kelly, who noted he believed that the company would make its money back on its multi-million dollar OMGPOP acquisition.

“It’s been a good contributor to our numbers,” Kelly said to moderator Kim-Mai Cutler.

Fine, it may not be the most shocking revelation considering how vehemently the social gaming company has defended its purchase of the Draw Something creator since it all went down back in late March, but Kelly did note that the company learned quite a bit from the process. He notes that towards the beginning, popularity was so high that users would spend whole afternoons crafting doodles and shooting them to friends — a process that could potentially sour an otherwise fun gameplay mechanic. In hindsight, he says it would have been better if Zynga had implemented some sort of limit to prevent the game from becoming too much of a chore as users sought to keep their streaks going.

That said, there’s no question that Draw Something’s subsequent traffic dips have been a real bummer for Zynga.

“We acquired Draw Something pretty close to the peak of their traffic,” he said. “It’s disappointing to see the traffic dip, and I think it was a testament to how viral word of mouth can be.”

Kelly wasn’t kidding — shortly after the acquisition was announced, Draw Something still played host to over 14 million daily users. Now, according to figures from AppData, the social guessing game is down to a mere (relatively speaking) 3 million active users per day, or roughly 9% of the company’s overall daily mobile userbase. It may seem as though interest in the game is drying up at an alarming rate, but the current state of affairs is still nothing to sneeze at. Rumblings of a Draw Something television show continue unabated for one, and Zynga recently revealed it had partnered up with Hasbro to create (what else?) a Draw Something board game.

“We still feel like it’s a really valuable thing for us,” Kelly noted. “Both from the standpoint of acquiring the team and acquiring a brand we think is going to live a long lifespan.”(source:techcrunch


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