HP has had some tough times in the past year – after their then-CEO Leo Apotheker announced that HP would be stepping out of the PC game, their sales figures took a small dive, but luckily he got ousted before such rash moves. HP is now once again back in the number one spot when it comes to overall PC sales worldwide.

Canalis’s research now starts to include tablet devices under PC sales, and Apple’s iPad sales has contributed significantly to Apple’s sales numbers, but even so, HP’s sales was slightly higher overall. So Apple was in second place, Lenovo in third (with big increases in sales) and Acer and Dell taking the fourth and fifth spots.

What is clear however, is that tablet devices has started to eat away at the previously very popular netbook market:

“The total client PC market grew by 21% to 107 million units. Importantly, while the pad category exhibited the highest growth – more than 200% year on year – notebook and desktop PC shipments were up too, rising 11% and 8% respectively. Netbook shipments, however, were down 34% on the year-ago quarter – the sixth such fall in succession.”

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Good news to all the Apple fans who have been holding out to get the new Retina display sporting iPad 3rd generation. In a few short weeks it will officially be available in SA.

On Friday, April 27, the new iPad will also become available in Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa, and Thailand.

However, be aware, that even though “the new iPad” will have 4G capable radios, it will only reach 3G speeds on South African networks. We recently posted our review of the “resolutionary” tablet, and we are still confident in recommending it as the best tablet on the market. The major upgrade is of course the incredible new high resolution display, which even in its 10 inch size, has a million more pixels than your large screen Full HD display TV! Magazines look especially good.

Apple is also marketing the older iPad 2 in a cheaper $399 model, but we do not know whether Core will be bringing in this more affordable model.

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It is now 3 years later, and Apple has just released its 3^rd generation iPad, or just simply called “The new iPad”. Confusing as it might be for many people, the latest iPad is the biggest jump so far for Apple’s tablet. Whereas the iPad 2 was perhaps a refinement of the original iPad with an extra core for processing, and a thinner case, the new iPad is a massive upgrade in terms of graphics, power and overall usability.

But the thing is – the iPad 2 is now a year old, still a very good tablet device, and arguably the best tablet out there. While the Android tablets have been catching up fast, the sales of Apple’s device still dominate. But this time around the competition is stiffer than ever, especially with launch of high end tablets like the Asus Transformer Prime. So what have the worker bees in Cupertino been up to in the last year?

Design and Build

First off – if you already have an iPad 2, it will be very tough to spot the differences with the new iPad. In fact, the only giveaway is a slightly thicker case (which we will get to later), a slightly bigger lens on the back, and a slightly heavier weight (yes,  all “slight” changes). So if you wanted someone to spot your 3^rd generation iPad across a boardroom table – sorry.

But the build is still first rate – all steel and glass. It is still the best looking tablet out there, and the stark minimalism means that it will be instantly identified as the iPad. In terms of buttons it is exactly the same as before. On the front there is the Home button to take you back to the springboard, a sleep/wake button on top, and a volume rocker on the right hand side. Oh, and a mute switch. Simple.

But it is not all good news – even though the average user will not notice the new iPad being slightly thicker,  it does make finding a decent case for the iPad very tough. While loose fitting sleeves and cases still fit fine, tight fitting or rigid cases just do not fit at all. My favourite case, a Speck Fitfolio, just does not fit properly. So, here is one little problem for early adopters – your existing iPad 2 case might not fit.

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It looks like the Angry Birds franchise really is unstoppable. After only 3 days, the latest version of Angry Birds has hit the 10 million downloads mark. To put that in context, the wildly popular original version of Angry Birds “only” did that in 10 days. It should be pointed out that this time round Rovio somehow managed to rollout Angry Birds Space to a whole bunch of platforms at once – iPhone, iPad, Android, PC and Mac.

If you have not yet tried Angry Birds Space, it is pretty easy to find it on whatever platform you are using, and Rovio makes it pretty easy to find with free versions available as well. The game follows up from the existing Angry Birds game, but this time round things like gravitational forces around planets make the game a whole lot more challenging.

Apple Appstore: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

Google Play: Android devices

Have you tried Angry Birds Space?

The rumours were off the charts once again, but as always, we can only be sure once the official launch happens. So what did Apple actually announce? Were we off target in our predictions?

• iOS 5.1 should roll out today. It should be easy enough to update – simply go to Settings – General – Software Update. Be warned though – its a 260MB download, and you need 1GB free on your device.
• iCloud now supporst Movies in the Cloud. US Only of course.

• New Apple TV announced by Eddy Cue. Finally 1080p support. Much more “app-like” interface. New Apple TV has better iCloud integration. No talk on whether these features will come to the previous AppleTV. Same price as before, $99.
• iPad – 15.4 mil sold in Q4 2011. Tim Cook shows how app experience on other tablets are sub-par compared to iPad.

Before the iPhone there was not much talk of “apps” (rather applications), but now it is a very common term for small applications which many of us install on our phones. Apple’s App store concept was so successful that other manufacturers quickly copied it for their own platforms, some more successful than others.

This past weekend the Apple App store just crossed the 25 billion mark for apps downloaded. Apple gave a $10,000 App store gift certificate to the person who downloaded that magic number, and we really wonder how you can spend $10,000 in the App store. Hopefully it is the entire Apple ecosystem.

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“OK – lets start off with a tip. If you are planning to buy an iPad, you might want to wait a few weeks.”

Looks like our advice, and the rumours were accurate – Apple will indeed announce the next iPad, or at least hold an iPad focussed event on the 7th of March.

The invite is pretty sparse, and was sent out to select people in the media, simply stating:

“We have something you really have to see. And touch.”

All the rumours seem to suggest a new Retina class display for the iPad 3, and that statement seems to suggest the rumours might be correct. The accompanying image also seems to have a higher resolution Calendar icon, but maybe we are just imagining things.

Seeing as the iPad 2 was not a massive update from the iPad 1 (slightly faster, thinner and cameras added, see our review here), the iPad 3 might be a bigger update than expected. Also, Apple does not seem to increase prices with new models, so it might be well worth your while.

We already did a full rundown of what to expect in the iPad 3 – see it here.

Apple is really trying its best to make it as easy as possible for developers to get into the iOS development game – until now their developer resources needed the user to access the developer portal. Now anyone can get an idea of what is involved in iOS development by just accessing “Start Developing iOS Apps Today”, without signing up for anything. Google also recently improved their Android design guidelines that is available online, through their Android Design page, so it is good to see Apple also doing the same.

The guide is particularly great for anyone who has no idea of what goes into developing a mobile app, including the programming languages used, tools that need to be downloaded, and of course the dreaded vetting process by Apple to decide whether your app is up to standard for the iPhone, iPad or iPod.

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