Tablet war heats up as Asia challenges iconic iPad

Source: AFP

SINGAPORE: A tablet war is heating up in Asia as companies from China, South Korea and Taiwan challenge the dominance of Apple's iPad on features and price, analysts said.

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Google delays open access to new Android software

Source: Reuters

Google Inc is delaying widespread access to the new version of its Android software, saying it has more work to do before the product is ready for certain types of devices.

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Apple called on to pull 'gay cure' app from iTunes

Source: AFP

Apple on Monday was under pressure to yank a so-called "gay cure" application from its iTunes shop for software for iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices.

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Why Android Tablets Can't Compete with the iPad 2

Source: YCN

Dozens of new tablets were unveiled at CES this year, most of them running Android -- Google's "organic," open-source operating system, that people and corporations can use without paying a license fee. It gives them a head start in creating devices you'd want to use, whether they're hot new toys in the spotlight (like the Motorola Xoom) or relatively obscure cult favorites (like the Notion Ink Adam).

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Samsung sees iPad 2 thinness, price as challenge

Source: AFP

South Korean giant Samsung Electronics on Friday admitted it faced a tough challenge to compete with Apple's new slimmer and cheaper iPad, saying "inadequate" parts had to be improved.

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In surprise appearance, Jobs unveils iPad 2

Source: AFP

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs emerged from medical leave on Wednesday to unveil a new version of the iPad designed to tighten the company's grip on the booming tablet computer market.

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Analysis: Apple iPad sequel less of a stock splash

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK - The launch of the second version of the iPad should help Apple Inc's shares, but don't expect a repeat of the surge that came after the first version was released last year.

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Xoom sales 'off to good start': Motorola CEO

Source: AFP

Motorola Mobility chairman and chief executive Sanjay Jha said Monday that the US telecom maker is pleased with early sales of the Xoom, its rival to Apple's iPad.

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Second-generation iPad in production

Source: AFP

Apple has started production of a thinner, more powerful version of its popular iPad tablet computers, according to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The second-generation iPad will have more memory and a front-facing camera for capabilities such as a Face Time video-conferencing feature on Apple iPhone 4 smartphones, according to the Journal.

Cupertino, California-based Apple said in its latest earnings release that it sold nearly 15 million iPads in the eight months after the tablet computers were introduced in April of last year.

The device has spawned countless new apps as well as digital versions of books, magazines and newspapers.

News Corp's Rupert Murdoch who is an enthusiastic fan of the iPad recently launched "The Daily," a digital newspaper created for the Apple device.

In the latest move in a drive to get consumers to pay for news online the 79-year-old News Corp. chairman said "New times demand new journalism" as he unveiled the hotly awaited publication in New York.

Murdoch said there will be no print version of The Daily and it will only be available on Apple's touchscreen tablet computer for at least this year.

Since the arrival of the iPad, competition in tablet computing has grown.

Google which is set to provide a strong challenge, recently showed off a Honeycomb version of its Android operating system that will debut on the upcoming Motorola Xoom tablet that won rave reviews at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

"Honeycomb is tailored for the new generation of tablet-sized computers," Google mobile products director Hugo Barra said while demonstrating software features at the Internet titan's headquarters in Mountain View, California.

With the free, open-source operating system which is expected to quickly be built into an array of touchscreen tablets, Google is also intent on wooing app developers.

One of the most popular Apple apps, "Tap Tap Revenge" has been released on Android as Google announced the launch of an Android Market webstore where people can get work or play applications for devices running on the mobile operating software.

Disney's most successful mobile game, "Tap Tap" has been downloaded more than 50 million times.

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Apple's iPad enters Singapore classrooms

Source: Reuters

SINGAPORE - If Oprah can do it, so can schools in Singapore.

Two schools in the wealthy city-state have begun handing out Apple iPads to students, relieving them of the need to carry satchels full of bulging text books and notes.

Nanyang Girls High School has spent S$135,000 to buy 150 iPads for 140 students and 10 teachers in a pilot project. Users connect to the Internet using the tablet, and download books and course material.

They can take notes on the iPad, and use worksheets.

"It's much more convenient," said 14-year-old Chloe Chen, sitting in a classroom with her iPad in front of her. "Teachers can just tell us to go a website, and we can immediately go and do our work."

Last year billionaire talk show host Oprah Winfrey gave staff at her magazine an iPad and a check for $10,000 each.

Seah Hui Yong, dean of curriculum at Nanyang Girls school, said the iPad was chosen because it complemented a new method of teaching under which students are given more freedom to learn themselves, instead of relying solely on the teacher in traditional classrooms.

"It's not so much about the iPad," she said, adding that if some other better device comes along, the school could switch.

"If you talk to the girls you will realize that they practically don't need training. I think if anything, the joke is the teachers are probably taking a little bit longer time in getting used to it."

Safeguards are being put in place as well.

"There will be some concerns - making sure that the girls are going to appropriate websites, also making sure that the girls don't get addicted to the device and use it too much," said Physics and Information Technology teacher Mark Shone.

Nanyang Girls is a secondary school, which means the youngest students are 12. Other schools in Singapore using the tablet include Tampines Secondary School and teachers at Nanhua Primary School. A fourth, Dunman Secondary School, will use iPads in project work in the future, a teacher said.

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