Since tablets became popular the iPad has dominated the space. No other tablet has even come close to its massive sales numbers. Even now, with a collection of other tablets options taking a bite of sales, the iPad is still the top selling tablet by far. From GigaOm:

Apple is still the world’s largest tablet seller; it shipped 19.5 million in the last quarter, up from 11.8 million the same quarter a year ago, according to IDC and its own numbers released earlier this month. That’s an increase of 64 percent. Its No. 1 mobile competitor, Samsung, saw its shipments grow even faster, from 2.3 million tablets a year ago to 8.8 million in the latest quarter. Rounding out the Top 5, Asus and Amazon also more than doubled their tablet shipments from a year ago. Microsoft, which did not start selling tablets until October 2012, shipped 900,000 Surface units between January and March.

But if you look at the top five tablet manufactures closely, you’ll notice something important: three of the five top tablet providers run the Android OS. And that doesn’t account for the other popular Android-based tablets that didn’t make the top 5 – like Barnes & Noble’s Nook. According to the IDC report, “Other” tablets made up 31.5% of the market share in Q1. That large number, plus the sales of Samsung, Asus and Amazon means Android has taken over as the most common tablet operating system. From GigaOm:

The overall growth in tablets means Android is now the most popular mobile OS in tablets shipped during the quarter; a year ago it was on 8 million of tablets shipped worldwide, compared to the 11.8 million iPads. This past quarter saw Android shipped on 27.8 million tablets that were shipped and 19.5 million iPads and iPad minis.

So while one, individual tablet or manufacturer has a long way to go to catch up with the iPad, Android as a whole is overtaking iOS. With Apple keeping its operating system all to itself, this development was only a matter of time once other makers started putting out tempting tablets.

The take away: Even though we continuously hear about the iPad crushing the competition, don’t neglect Android tablet apps – they have a pretty far reach.

The title of the post says it all:

Gartner predicts that 821 million mobile devices will be sold this year, and that mobile sales will top 1.2 billion by the end of 2013. Now IDC is predicting that tablets will be making up more of that number than previously thought.

The Journal is reporting that IDC has upped its tablet sales predictions.

By IDC’s new reckoning, tablet shipments in 2012 will hit 122.3 million units, up from the previous forecast of 117.1 million for the year. The firm also revised its 2013 forecast upward, from the previous estimate of 165.9 million units to the new figure of 172.4 million units. That growth will continue snowballing through 2016, when unit shipments are now forecast to hit 282.7 million (up significantly from the previous 2016 forecast of 261.4 million).

These increased predictions aren’t that surprising when you take a look at the tablet market. This year alone Kindle Fire and Nook both launched HD versions. The Microsoft Surface reached consumers. And Apple released three (yes, three) new versions of the iPad. IDC sees this boom of tablet manufacturing – and the market competition it creates – as a sign that tablet sales won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

“The breadth and depth of Android has taken full effect on the tablet market as it has for the smartphone space,” said Ryan Reith, program manager for IDC’s Mobile Device Trackers, also in a prepared statement. “Android tablet shipments will certainly act as the catalyst for growth in the low-cost segment in emerging markets given the platform’s low barrier to entry on manufacturing. At the same time, top-tier companies like Samsung, Lenovo, and ASUS are all launching Android tablets with comparable specs, but offered at much lower price points.”

Read more about IDC’s revised tablet sales expectations on The Journal >>>

With consumers embracing tablets so wholeheartedly, you better make sure your website or native app is optimized for tablets.

The holiday shopping season is getting close to the end, so let’s take a look back at how it started this year.

IBM analyzed Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping as part of its 2012 Holiday Benchmark Report. Here’s a few stats about Black Friday the mobile crowd will find interesting:

• Mobile Shopping: Mobile purchases soared with 24 percent of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 14.3 percent in 2011. Mobile sales exceeded 16 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2011.

• The iPad Factor: The iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smart phone, reaching nearly 10 percent of online shopping. This was followed by iPhone at 8.7 percent and Android 5.5 percent. The iPad dominated tablet traffic at 88.3 percent followed by the Barnes and Noble Nook at 3.1 percent, Amazon Kindle at 2.4 percent and the Samsung Galaxy at 1.8 percent.

• Multiscreen Shopping: Consumers shopped in store, online and on mobile devices simultaneously to get the best bargains. Overall 58 percent of consumers used smartphones compared to 41 percent who used tablets to surf for bargains on Black Friday.

See the rest of the report from IBM >>>

And here’s a snippet of a helpful infographic IBM put together about Cyber Monday:

Download the full IBM infographic >>>

Despite smartphones being five years old and fairly widely adopted at this point, app sales still surge every time a hot new device hits the market. Whether it’s new adopters making the switch or people upgrading and adding to their app collection, the iOS App Store saw a surge in downloads right after the iPhone 5 reached consumers.

Fiksu, a mobile app marketer, saw the rise in October. Interestingly, the bump was mostly due to organic app searches (rather than paid-promoted apps). Here’s Venture Beat with the report:

The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index, which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free U.S. iPhone apps, rose to 5.4 million daily downloads in October, up 33 percent from September. The Index saw a similar gain following the availability of the iPhone 4S in October 2011, when traffic also surged by a proportional 29 percent.

Read the full article at Venture Beat >>>

I find it interesting that most of the spike was based on organic search. To me, this suggests that the majority of downloads came from people who were already familiar with iOS devices and the App Store.

It just goes to show that app developers need to consider a lot more than just how their app works. They need to extend testing to more outside, superficial aspects such as icon design and app name and description.

When Apple released their own Maps application, the complaints hit hard as users discovered misplaced landmarks, a falsely located Golden Gate Bridge and deformed rivers. While Apple has been improving the app, Nokia has released an alternative for users still upset with Apple’s mishap. The app is called “Here” and works on both the iPhone and iPad. Darrell Etherington in TechCrunch found the app a very capable, worthy alternative:

“The app is universal, so it works on both iPhone and iPad, and it’s free. Users of Nokia’s Windows Phone devices may find the experience familiar, as it includes similar features like nearby places discovery, but there are also crucial components like transit direction that aren’t present in Apple’s own pre-installed Maps app.

In fact, Here has a public transport view that handily shows nearby routes and stops overlaid on the map. It also provides driving and walking directions, and even lets you cycle through the days of the week when planning routes to see how traffic and other factors on different days might affect trip times and planning. Searching for locales brings up nearby interest points, too, in addition to routing options, as well as website and phone number info if they’re available.”

Read more…

This Thanksgiving it seems Americans are thankful for their mobile devices, as the holiday has now been dubbed by Internet marketer Digitas – “Mobile Thursday”. According to Seth Fiegerman of Mashable mobile shopping is expected to double on Thanksgiving day:

“Don’t be too surprised if you catch one of your relatives shopping on their smartphone during Thanksgiving dinner.

Twenty-eight percent of those who own a smartphone or tablet plan to shop from their mobile devices on Thursday, according to a Harris Interactive survey of more than 2,000 adults on behalf of Digitas. That’s nearly twice the percentage who said they would shop from a mobile device on Thanksgiving in a similar survey conducted last year.

Much of this increase in mobile shopping is being driven by students. Digitas found that nearly 40% of students plan to shop from their phones on Thanksgiving and more than 20% of students said they would actually forego going to a Thanksgiving meal if they knew in advance they couldn’t use their phones.”

This is a great opportunity for mobile retailers, but make sure your native and mobile web apps are tested. A minor bug or glitch could prove very costly. Check out the Digitas Infographic (featured on Mashable) below:

While the masses are hurling birds towards pigs on the the planet Hoth, a small minority in the country of Australia is in danger of losing their language. Lucky for them, a new mobile app has been launched with the aim of saving their Aboriginal language. Here’s CNN.com with this amazing story:

Its creators say the The Ma! Iwaidja free mobile phone app is the first phone app for an Australian indigenous language and aims to prevent the extinction of the Iwaidja language — one of Australia’s 100 endangered languages. It is spoken by less than 200 people on Croker Island, off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia.

The app contains a 1,500-entry Iwaidja-English dictionary and a 450-entry phrase book that users can update.

“There has been an enthusiastic uptake of mobile phone technology in indigenous communities in Australia, so the idea is to capitalize on that,” says linguist Bruce Birch, coordinator of the Minjilang Endangered Languages Publication project, which developed the app.

“People have their phones with them most of the time, the app is incredibly easy to use, and this allows data collection to happen spontaneously, opportunistically,” he says.

The school on Croker island has eight iPads with the app installed and the island’s community store sells smartphones.

Read the Rest >>>

So a miniature version of the iPad is joining the Mac family. As with each new device that hits the market, there’s going to be shake up in the mobile app world. From a technical development standpoint, it doesn’t look like the iPad Mini will present too many challenges (unlike the new iPad (#3) and the iPhone 5). But it might attract a different type of user, which will dictate which types of apps are most successful. James A. Martin, a blogger for CIO.com, came up with a few things everyone can expect from iPad Mini apps. Here are the three points most pertinent to the development and testing world:

* iPad mini apps won’t need to be updated. The iPad mini has a smaller screen than the iPad 2 or current-generation iPad, but developers won’t have to downscale their apps. That’s because the iPad mini has the same pixel resolution as the iPad 1 and 2. Even so, smaller in-app buttons might make tapping them more difficult.

* Gamers should be happy. Compared to the bigger iPads, the iPad mini is lighter and thinner and you can hold it in one hand. Translation: The mini should be a killer tablet for game apps. However, keep in mind the iPad mini uses Apple’s A5 processor, and the new fourth-generation iPad has the faster Apple A6X chip.

* Productivity won’t be a selling point. Let’s face it, the bigger iPads are only marginally viable as laptop replacements, because tablet apps simply aren’t as full-featured as their desktop software equivalents. … Throw in a smaller screen, and the iPad mini is even less attractive as a laptop alternative.

See what else James has to say about the iPad Mini at CIO.com >>>

Once upon a time, it might have been acceptable to just offer one (phone) sized app for use on both smartphones and tablets. Those days are long gone. Tablets have clearly caught on with the general public and developers have had plenty of time to create tablet-optimized apps. If you’re still struggling with this newer medium, check out the handy Tablet App Quality Checklist created by Google.

Focused on tablet-specific quality, feature set and UI, Google breaks the checklist down into 10 categories – each with its own mini checklist and set of considerations:

• Test for core app quality
• Optimize your layouts for larger screens
• Take advantage of extra screen area available on tablets
• Use icons and other assets that are designed for tablet screens
• Adjust font sizes and touch targets for tablet screens
• Adjust sizes of home screen widgets for tablet screens
• Offer the app’s full feature set to tablet users
• Don’t require hardware features that might not be available on tablets
• Declare support for tablet screen configurations
• Follow best practices for publishing

While the list is obviously geared toward Android tablets, its points are generic enough to be applied to apps for any tablet. So don’t just port your phone app to a bigger screen, take the time to read the Tablet App Quality Checklist and really optimize your tablet app.