A look at gadget, game and geek happenings in the week ahead.
Still no word of when Ireland will be getting the iPad, but interestingly, it is not flying off the shelves as quickly as analysts had hoped: selling more than 300,000 units within 24 hours of going on sale seems pretty impressive, but this includes the pre-order sales and units shipped to channel partners, plus analysts had predicted sales in the region of 400,000 to 700,000.
You can almost hear the cha-ching and see the dollar signs in their eyes as accessory manufacturers roll out the various covers, sleeves, bags and carry cases for the Apple iPad, but what about clothing manufacturers? I mean, the iPad is a pretty hefty piece of technology in comparison to the average smart phone.
An iPad travel vest
Not to worry: US company Scottevest has come out with a travel vest for both men and women that is “compatible” with the iPad. Its patented TabPocket is big enough to slip in the “magical” Apple device without causing an unsightly bulge.
Finally in iPad-land: there are more iPad app announcements than you can shake a stick at. Some of the highlights include Resident Evil 4, Top Gun (the iPad is a highway to the dangerzone!), Plants vs Zombies HD and Smule’s Magic Piano.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is planning on shaking up the smart-phone market a little more. Not only has it dropped the ‘Series’ bit of the lengthy Windows Phone 7 Series, but it also reportedly plans to target the younger phone market with the a range of social-networking oriented handsets codenamed ‘Pink’.
It is expected to make an announcement about this on Monday. according to the Wall Street Journal.
Google’s marketshare in the smart-phone sector is growing: data released yesterday by ComScore shows that although it only captures 9pc of the smart-phone market in the US, over the past three months it has had the fastest growth of any smart-phone platform.
It’s all about mobile this week: Apple is holding an invite-only event 8 April where the future iPhone OS 4.0 will be previewed, but the actual update will not be available until later this year, probably sometime around June/July.
Will Flash support be part of the update? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow!
By Marie Boran
Photo: Plants vs Zombies HD for the iPad
