Tag: apple

By The Numbers: Phablets On The Rise

Posted on by Richard Yao

With the announcement of 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus yesterday, Apple is officially jumping on the bandwagon of “phablets”—phones with big, tablet-like screen—after years of resistance. Why the change? Because the tide has changed and phablets have gained considerable momentum in popularity, as the following infographics from Flurry illustrate.

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Android phone-makers such as Samsung and HTC have led the movement towards bigger screens. There is little doubt that the phablets’ 11% annual increase among all Android devices signals growing consumer demand for larger phones.

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Furthermore, in the past year the phablets have almost quadrupled their share of app sessions, an indicator of actual device usage that are crucial to app developers and mobile marketers.

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Looking deeper into the behavior data of the phablet users reveals that they are more likely to fall into the affluent and influential demo that brands covet. Now with Apple finally on board, we can only expect this trend to continue.

 

3 Implications Of Apple’s New Health Apps

Posted on by Richard Yao

Part dev kit and part health app, the HealthKit announced back in June marked Apple’s official foray into the field of health care. But today the company fully revealed its grand plan with two separate health-centric apps—Activity and Workout. These new developments will affect consumers in three key areas:

1. They will boost the wearable fitness trend

Since constant data gathering is crucial to the HealthKit’s success, it makes sense that Apple is releasing the Apple Watch. As the phones get bigger, it’s especially important to have an unobtrusive device assisting the health monitoring.

2. They will usher in a new era of the “quantified self 

Apple’s push for self-monitoring will certainly further the current trend towards “quantified self”, in which people use technology to collect data in order to improve their own lives.  We’ve seen a number of wearables and apps measure fitness, sleep, and more, but Apple’s ecosystem will undoubtedly make the biggest splash.

3. They will help Apple to become the hub for health data

Apple was reportedly in serious talks with major healthcare providers to convince them to adopt HealthKit, which would in turn make Apple a central “hub of health data”. Judging by Apple’s wording today, it seems like they are still in deep negotiation with the health care industry for further infiltration. Just as the iPod revolutionized the music industry a decade ago, there is little doubt that that Apple is looking to repeat its success in the healthcare field.

 

6 Things You Need To Know About The New “Apple Pay”

Posted on by Richard Yao

Back at the beginning of the year, reports suggested that Apple would enter the mobile payments space, which were paid off today: Apple officially revealed the NFC-based mobile payment function along with the new iPhone 6. To get ready for this imminent shift in the payment field, here are six things you need to know about Apple’s bid for mobile payment:

1. It’s integrated into the Passbook App and iWatch 

The updated Passbook App acts as the hub for Apple Pay. By adding your credit card information with the iSight camera and pulling from the various third-party apps that support mobile payment and centralizing the function, Apple’s “ticket stub” app just become the de facto mobile wallet. Meanwhile, the iWatch can act as an extra payment option.

2. Major credit card companies have signed up

To make the new payment function easier for users to adopt, Apple has been working with all major U.S. credit card companies, including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. In addition, Apple already has payment credentials for some 800 million people globally through iTunes accounts, which will no doubt make the transition from credit card to mobile payment much easier.

3. Many big-name businesses have also signed up

Apple has been signing up volume merchants to familiarize people with paying via mobile. Disney is reportedly outfitting its retail stores with new point-of-sale devices that support NFC. Other retailers, such as Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, McDonald’s, Subway, Whole Food, Walgreens, CVS, and Duane Reade are also among the first wave of businesses getting on board with Apple.

4. It works for online payment as well

By teaming up with online and mobile retailers like Target, GroupOn, Uber, and Open Table, Apple Pay will be seamlessly integrated into ecommerce.

5. It uses Touch ID and tokenization for extra security

Apple is address security concerns with “tokenization”, which uses one-time codes to secure the transfer of payment information. However, not all NFC payment terminals can accept this type of payment, which means all merchants currently using the non-token model of NFC payment will need to update their end devices to get on board with Apple’s security standard.

6. It will lead to mass adoption of NFC in the US

NFC-based payment has been around on selected Android devices for a while, and has been doing well in some emerging markets, such as China. But with Apple finally getting on the NFC wagon, mass adaptation of the NFC mobile payment seems practically inevitable. In fact, the NFC payment market is estimated to grow to $100 billion in 2016, so it’s time to either get on board, or get left behind.

 

 

What You Need To Know About The New Apple Watch

Posted on by Richard Yao

One smartwatch to rule them all? Thanks to its innovative “digital crown” UI, biometric data capturing abilities, embedded NFC chip, and integration with other Apple devices, the Apple Watch could just be the one product to bring wearable tech into mainstream.

Product Specs 

Apple geared up for the Apple Watch launch by hiring several fashion executives, and it shows. As sleek and chic as any other Apple product, all three collections of the Apple Watch—Watch, Sport, and Edition—feature a beautiful “flexible” screen protected by sapphire glass. By using designer fashion for elevated product design, Apple clearly intends to capture the high-end of the nascent wearable market.

From a technical perspective, battery life is still a challenge, but the Apple Watch does offer a cool inductive charging feature. Starbucks started installing Powermat’s wireless charging stations at its coffee stores earlier this year, and we suspect this is hardly a coincidence.

Key Benefits

  • Health and Fitness: With its advanced sensors and wearable attachment, the Apple Watch is the focal device for health monitoring and data acquisition. Combined with new Fitness App and Workout apps, the Watch is truly a comprehensive health and fitness device.
  • Extension of the iPhone: With wireless phone call, iMessages and the support of a myriad of Apps, the Apple Watch works well as an extension of Apple’s handsets.
  • Seamless integration: Handoff, a new iOS feature that allows users to push content between their iPhones, ensures data sync-up across devices.
  • Supports Apple Pay: Thanks to its embedded NFC chip, the Watch will support Apple Pay, making it even easier to use Apple’s mobile payment system.

What Larger Screens, Better Cameras Mean for Marketers

Posted on by Lab Team

Apple’s release of iPhones with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens proves what consumers have known all along: bigger screens are better for browsing. The larger size and corresponding increased resolution (the 6 Plus has 185% more pixels than the 5S) show just how central images have become to smartphones. This can only be considered a boon to mobile marketers, as it gives them more display space and opportunities to engage with the consumer, whether through larger commercials or simply by creating a less intrusive advertising experience.

Also notable is the inclusion of the 8-megapixel camera with all-new sensors, Focus Pixel, and optical image stabilization (iPhone 6 Plus only), indicating how important taking pictures—selfies and otherwise—has become to consumers. Savvy marketers can take advantage of this trend by encouraging and sharing user-generated content.

 

Why Apple Restricted Health Data For Medical Purpose Only

Posted on by Lab Team

With the introduction of its HealthKit, Apple is set to become the “centralized hub of health data”. But marketers shouldn’t get too excited: Apple’s updated app store guidelines restrict the data gathered from HealthKit API to medical, fitness, or research proposes only, and prohibits it from being used for advertising or other data-mining purposes. This move is understandable due to patient privacy concerns.

Creative Emmy Round-Up: 7 Netflix Wins & Apple Ad Awarded

Posted on by Lab Team

The Creative Emmy 2014 was announced on Sunday, and among the long list of new winners, Netflix and Apple stand out from the crowd.

Netflix continues to disrupt the entertainment content market by reaping a whopping total of seven awards with its original content. Three awards went to its hit prison dramedy Orange Is The New Black, which solidifies the show’s frontrunner status in the race for this year’s Best Comedy Series. It is worth noting that all of its award-winning shows and documentaries could never have been made if not for Netflix’s subscription-based business model, as they are evidently too edgy for ad-supported broadcasters and basic cable.

Meanwhile, Apple beats out strong competitors like Budweiser and Nike to take home the award for Best Commercial with its acclaimed holiday spot “Misunderstood” from last year, once again showcasing the tech giant’s incredible marketing flair.

Apple Reports High R&D Intensity, Indicates iWatch Launch

Posted on by Lab Team

Apple released a new earning report last week, and everything seems pretty normal. But our friends over at Statista noticed that Apple reported a R&D intensity–the ratio between the company’s revenue and R&D expenditure–of 4.28%, the highest in 8 years for the company. Interestingly, the last time Apple hit a R&D intensity of more than 4% was back in 2006, right before it launched the revolutionary iPhone. If anything, this statistic firmly points to a new product line extension, most likely the impending launch of Apple wearable. Beacon technology and DRM are among other likely candidates that cut into Apple’s research fund, but recent reports seem all but confirmed that Apple is betting big on iWatch. Would the wearable market blow up like the tablet market did when Apple introduced iPad? The big spender seems pretty confident on that.

Apple To Release OS X Yosemite Public Beta Tomorrow

Posted on by Lab Team

The time has come. The perfectionists at Apple (except for the Map team, obviously) are finally ready to reveal its newest operating system to the public eyes, with a limited one-million spots for non-developers on the public beta set to be released tomorrow at 1 PM, ET. So, avid Apple fanboys who can’t wait to worship the next-gen OS and curious Android developers who just want to check out the competition, now it’s your chance to get your hands on the new features of Yosemite. Other cautious folks who are perfectly content with their current OS, however, should just wait until the official release later this fall. After all, it’s called “beta test” for a reason.

Update: Apple will reportedly release OS X Yosemite in October alongside 4K desktop and 12-inch Retina MacBook