As I was out of the game for a few days at the start of the week, I haven’t yet had a chance to look at anything to do with the Apple iPad. I’ve heard people talk about it, unless you have been living under a rock for the last week (and I pretty much nearly have) then you can’t miss all of the reaction to this new device……and I can honestly say that nothing I have heard has been positive in the slightest. This is a big change for an Apple device, which is usually met with the sort of mass hysteria you would expect would be reserved for the Second Coming.

Now as of yet, 2 days after the announcement (and with everyone talking about it, it feels like a week or so!) I have no idea about what the iPad is or what it does. Though my opinion is somewhat tainted by hearing all of this negative reaction, I am going to blog in real time my reactions as I visit some news sites and find out exactly what this new toy is all about.

Right, Yahoo News is the first port of call. My first reaction  is that its big….it looks, as people have said, like a large iPhone or iPod touch. The idea is for them to create a new “category”. Currently we have Smartphones, Netbooks and Laptops, with a little bit of a price gap between good netbooks and good laptops. This is where the iPad comes in it seems, defined as a “tablet”.

It sits perfectly in the middle – it is like a big iPhone, but you can’t make phone calls. The menu’s etc look like an iPhone, except bigger so it does not fit into your pocket. You can use all iPhone existing apps, however there is no multi-tasking yet so you can only use one app at a time.

One of the things that strikes me as being very strange is that in the USA there is a specified price for 2g and 3g iPads. This essentially means that you have to pay as much for a 3g iPad as a medium to decent laptop. THEN you’ll have to buy top-ups for data usage, though it will be unlocked for all networks on the 3g iPads.

Everything that you can do in an iPhone or iPod Touch you can do on an iPad, except it is bigger. I can see that anybody with no desire for an iPhone, or a portable music player, will be interested in one of these when they upgrade their laptops, and Steve Jobs himself has said that it will take a while before tablets catch on, as far away as 2015. At least he’s a realistic man.

As an iPhone user myself who also owns a laptop (a non-Apple laptop), I can honestly say I have no interest whatsoever in the iPad as anything it can do, my current devices do much better. I’m sure they’ll sell loads, and it will of course be seen as a fashion accessory because it is Apple, but I do not envisage this setting the world alight in the same way as the iPhone and iPod. Still, it shows some creativity and makes amazing business sense (literally CREATE yourself a new niche in the market) as Apple prove they are good at this time and time again.

Over the years so many games consoles have come and gone, but in the past they used to appeal to a specific audience. Usually called “gamers”, these people would shut themselves away for days on end playing their favourite new games on their respective consoles, be it Mario, Sonic or Space Invaders. The age ranges were varied from the under 10s to the over 30s, however they all seemed to share a certain passion for video games.

The early days of home consoles included several duds such as the ZS Spectrum, Commodore 64 etc that were purely the domain of the “geeks” or “techies”. This evolved to include consoles such as the Sega Mega Drive, Super Nintendo and the Game Boy. Sure people were loyal to their own specific console, but you didn’t really have an “adults” console or a “kids” console, it was gamers choosing their loyalties in the same way football fans choose their teams. You became a Sega “fan” or a Super Nintendo “supporter”. People rarely had both, and there were vast sections of society that had no interest in computer games. It was never a family activity or something that you do at parties. It would be a massive knock to street cred if you ever admitted to playing computer games. People would look down on you.

The balance started shifting in the “middle era” of games as I call it, when consoles such as Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64s pulled in a few more “normal” people, especially teens and young adults who would previously have looked down on gaming, due to their more general marketing campaigns.

But it was the advent of the PC in many homes that bought gaming to the wider world. Parents who didn’t get gaming when their kids were playing them bought a PC and found some pre-loaded games. The Mums and Daughters got into The Sims, the Dad’s and Son’s into Championship Manager and FIFA, and the balance towards family-friendly gaming started to tip.

The new generation of games consoles have smashed down the walls between the “gamers” and “non gamers”. This is due to both quantity and choice on the market and VERY clever marketing of these consoles. The companies have targeted specific demographics for their consoles. Rather than just targeting it at gamers and competing with each other, they are consolidating their own market share as well as trying to steal others. The balance seems to have shifted so much, to the point that almost everyone has access to a games console.

PC Gamers are now seen as the “geeky” ones as consoles are so accessible to everyone that the PC has been relegated to an “Internet, Music, Facebook and geeks” platform.  PC games sales have plummeted in recent years as the focus has shifted to consoles, and the only games still doing well are the subscription types like “World of Warcraft” where people can literally live a second life going on “quests”. These games are subject to some controversy due to their addictive qualities, and the amount of time spent on these can be excessive which definitely does not help the public image of PC games!

There are now 5 main consoles, all of whom are mainly targeted at different audiences:

The Playstation 3 is there still targeted at the “gamers”. The same people who would have wanted a Sega Megadrive in the past who think all this motion sensor stuff is rubbish and instead they want a traditional control pad console with state of the art graphics. It certainly offers that, with the best graphics system out there (still not even close to being utilised to full capacity), HD output and a Blu Ray Player included. The Blue Ray player is a feature unique to the PS3, which lets it encroach a little bit on the “regular” audience as it is a great USP and gives them the edge for anybody who wants a cheap BD player and a console while saving space in the living room.

The Xbox360 is a very similar console, with the focus pretty much the same, however the marketing targets a slightly different audience at times.

Nintendo’s Wii and their handheld console the DS are the most interesting when it comes to target audience, as they are going after all of the people who never used to play games consoles – the Wii is targeting whole families and all generations, including the children, parents and grandparents. It is being marketed mainly as a family friendly console, with the motion sensor controller being the USP (for now). The games have no flashy graphics, and most are aimed at “fun”. It is games such as Wii Sports, which is just simple games of golf, tennis etc that are most popular, for people to play at parties without having to think about it. It has become something of a fashion accessory, especially with the Wii Fit making further inroads into the general non-techie market by targeting young professional women, as it is a quick home exercise and yoga kit for those too busy to visit the gym.

The DS is aimed at the whole family for travel purposes. The games are either for very young children with games such as Barbie, or at the opposite extreme for adults such as Brain Training, which is an intelligence testing game. Nintendo seem to have cornered this part of the market brilliantly and there doesn’t seem to be anyone even trying to compete in this sector.
I foresee that there is just one more evolution in gaming marketing, and that is mobile. The few people who have not been sucked in yet, the businessmen and professionals that have no time to play games and who have not yet been sucked in by the limited scope of the DS will be playing their games on the move very soon thanks to their Smartphones. The iPhone, Google’s Android and the Blackberry all have the capability for games, and as these phones get more and more sophisticated and the gaming capability increases, games may actually manage to crack the final demographic that they are missing.

I thought that I would post something useful within the first few posts, and as I think my iPhone is the second best invention ever (after the iPod), it would make sense to review the apps that I find useful and use every day. Well, some that are useful, some that are just fun!

10. Numberstore iPhone app

It’s so annoying when “freephone” 0800 numbers are actually far from free when you try to dial them from a mobile phone. Luckily now with this Numberstore iPhone app you simply get a keypad on which you type your 0800 number and before dialling it converts the number so that you pay for it through your inclusive minutes rather than as an extra charge.

9. Shazam app

There are only two things that come ahead of my techie interests and one of them is music, so this iPhone app is perfect for me. It happens to everyone that you hear either a new song that you like or an old one you recognise but you don’t know who sings it. This could be on a night out, on the radio, on a tv show or in a shop and there isn’t usually a way to find out who is playing apart from asking everyone in sight. Enter Shazam – a cracking little app that listens to the songs that you are playing and then if it can pick up the sound properly it will tell you the track title and the name of the artist. I’ve personally discovered many songs since I got this app that I would have previously heard on a film or in passing and then never hear again, but now I can remember to download them off iTunes when I get the chance.

The app also saves a list of all the songs you have tagged (had identified), so there is no rush to write down the findings before you forget.

8.  My 02 app

The first of a couple of simple but very useful iPhone apps that I have chosen, it simply shows you how many minutes/texts etc you have left in a visual format, meaning that you can keep an eye on your monthly allocations at the touch of a button, rather than having to always send a text or call an automated service. You could of course go onto the web through Safari and check, however this is much quicker and more stylish

7. Sky Sports Football Score Centre app

The other thing that is up there with techie stuff for me is football, making this a really useful app for me, especially as I’m away most weekends so don’t get to go to the game as often as I used to. If I am out and about on a Saturday afternoon I can just switch this on and take a look at all of the scores as if I was watching Sky Sports News. It has live text commentary of the game which keeps you a little more in touch, along with team lineup and stats.

You can pick a list of games to add to “My Scores” which lets you just follow a select few games without having to cycle through all of the divisions.

All in all this is a great iPhone app for any football fan, and to be honest if I’m not sat in front of the tele I’d be lost without it now!

6. Everton FC App

Anyone who knows me would guess that this would be included – an app for my favourite team Everton FC. It is a great app though, it has pretty much all of the news, fixtures, profiles etc content that you would want, plus it lets you subscribe and download match highlights and interviews. It is basically the website in  an app, and as the website is a little bit hard to navigate sometimes it is probably better in an app.

5. The Trainline app

thetrainline.com is a great website that allows you to search timetables of multiple train companies and find the best prices, and this free app lets you do it on the move. It has an intuitive and simple interface that allows you to quickly and easily check train times. It is convenient right down to saving your recent journeys and giving you a “next train home” option that takes your current location, feeds it to the app and then when you specify your “home station” the app will look up train timetables and find your next train home. Very useful for someone like me who is always on the move.

4. Natwest Banking app

I was pleased to see that my bank were the first ones to bring out an iPhone app that lets you check your balance on the move. I can see recent transactions and how much money I have left without going to a cash machine or finding a computer. This can be very useful when you are on a budget and have to keep a close eye on your finances.

3. Facebook app

The official app from Facebook, so it had to be good….and it is. Very simple interface, quick loading times and pretty much lets you do everything within a couple of pages. Great for those who, like me, can’t be away from my social networking for too long.

Still a bit of work to be done though, groups aren’t supported, there seems to be no way to update your basic information on thea pp and Facebook chat should really be removed from the app until it actually works but generally it performs really well and is a great way of staying in touch on the move. Photos especially are well supported, bringing up high res iPhone optimised versions very quickly.

2. Around Me app

A brilliant little app that lets you either search by category (e.g. supermarket, cash machine, pub) or by specific destination name (e.g. Tesco, Natwest, Red Lion) and it will return the nearest results in order of distance from your current location, with a link through to Google Maps for directions. It has always found anything that I am looking for and can give you directions in as much detail as you want. You never need to be lost again!

1. Google Maps

Following on from Around Me, this is a pre loaded app that comes with every iPhone, and is Google’s brilliant maps service on the move. You can check out your current location, use the built in compass to see which direction you are going in and if you know the postcode to your destination you can set directions to that place. It tells you how long it’ll take by car or walking, exactly how far it is to your destination and it also allows you to zoom in and out using the iPhone’s brilliant touch screen to get maps of the area with different levels of detail.

This app has helped me when I’ve got myself lost quite a few times now, I’ve been lost in Stockport, London, Manchester, Liverpool and in places near where I’m from that I really should not have been getting lost in and it has helped me to find places I would have in the past had to print maps off the Internet or ask for directions.

I honestly don’t know what I would do without this app now. Well….I’d probably get lost…

There are rumours going around that Apple are about to announce their new operating system 4.0 at their “special event” on 27th January and that it will include multitasking, meaning that apps can run in the background. This is exactly what I wanted to hear as it is pretty much the only thing missing from the iPhone at the moment.

So far there aren’t that many details but it is sounding promising. The update will be available for those of us with 3g and 3gs iPhones.

It looks as though Bing might replace Google as the iPhone default search client. This is not a major surprise considering the Google Android phone has been launched and Apple will be very wary, however this might not go down too well with regular iPhone users, myself included!

Though there are no specifics on when/if this is actually going to happen, it will be interesting to see where this goes, as Google is the market leader in search will a foray into the iPhone market help Bing to grow and one day compete with the mighty Google? or will it simply irritate iPhone users and make them change over to Android when their 24 month contracts are up?

A partnership with Apple could give Bing a massive push in the market. It is all quite exciting and I’m sure this will go on for a while.

Welcome! this is the first of many posts I think, and while I currently have nobody reading this blog, I’m hoping that changes soon.

First off this is not a full time gig, I have a job and a life, however I have a big passion for all things technological. I have an iPhone, Playstation 3, good Laptop, Digital Radio, an old iPod  and am always on the lookout for new toys to play with.

There is a dual intention to this website – the first is to provide a platform for people to discuss and review all things techie. There will also be techie support where you can get support from people who know.

The other intention is to point people towards the best prices for a huge range of electronic items from iPhones to Laptops, Nintendo DSis to DVDs.

I want this to be a one stop place for all things techie!