Interesting New Products At The Apple Store

Yesterday, I spent some time at my local Apple Store. I never tire of taking a look at the most recent crop of products that they have available. It's amazing how a product can become seemingly more useful when it can be connected to mobile technology. This genre of products has seen tremendous growth in the last several years, and there are several companies that design and offer only products that are functionally tied directly to the Apple iOS devices.

Of particular interest to me is the rapidly increasing array of products that can be connected to Apple iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Below you will find three products that caught my eye.

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IHealth Blood Pressure Dock 

(Available for iPhone4, iPod Touch 4th Gen, and iPad)

This device claims to be able to measure and track your blood pressure, as well as help you to identify relationships between your blood pressure and your daily life.

Included inside the package you will find: the iHealth Blood Pressure Dock, cuff, cable, manual, and quick start guide.

The system is priced at $99.95, which is not inexpensive, but if it is accurate and provides functionality for those that need to keep track of their blood pressure on a regular basis, it may be worth it!

Manufacturer listed product highlights incude:

• Simple, attractive, elegant interface
• Visualize measurement process
• Record your systolic/diastolic numbers, heart rate, pulse wave, and measurement time
• Flick up and down, right or left, to check your test results, pulse wave graph, and WHO classification
• Check your results and changes in blood pressure in a beautiful history graph
• Generate your own graph by time, date, or systolic/diastolic numbers
• Calculate averages based on time, date, or systolic/diastolic numbers
• Instantly see systolic/diastolic numbers, heart rate, and time for all the measurements in visible part of the graph
• Smart WHO classification tool
• Easily add or edit measurement results using slide-in controls
• Share your results by e-mail
• Comprehensive database of frequently asked questions regarding blood pressure
• Dock battery management

For more information and to purchase the iHealth Blood Pressure Dock, please view the product here on the Apple Online  Store. Currently the device is selling for $99.95 USD.

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AmpliTube iRig

(Available for iPhone4,3GS,3, all iPod Touch models, and iPad)

This looks like a pretty cool device that would be useful to musicians. With this device, you can plug a guitar, bass, keyboard, microphone, or other line level musical instrument into your iOS device and use it to play along with your itunes library. For example, you could hook up your guitar and pay utilizing an expandable collection of effects and amplifiers. It features a stereo output that can be connected to headphones, amps, or speakers. Looks like a pretty innovative way to experiment with different musical sounds.

Priced at $39.95, the iRig is fairly inexpensive and looks like it could be fun and useful for musicians.

Manufacturer listed product highlights include:

• 1/4-inch mono input designed for electric guitar and bass, but also works with keyboards, hand-held microphones, mixers
• 1/8-inch stereo output can connec to headphones, amplifiers, speakers or stereos
• 1/8-inch connector jack plugs into to your Apple device's headphone input for future-proof operation
• Works with AmpliTube FREE for the iPhone/iPad app, letting you play, practice and record through famous guitar amps and effects right on your phone
• Compatible with other iPhone/iPad apps: Tuners, metronomes, recording apps, amp sims

For more information and to purchase AmpliTube iRig, please view the product here on the Apple Online Store. Currently the device is selling for $39.95 USD.

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IGrill Grilling/Cooking Thermometer
(Available for iPhone4,3GS,3, iPod Touch 2nd Gen+ models, and iPad)

I love to grill. I've had electronic grill thermometers before, but they haven't lasted very long. This device really caught my eye. Since its Bluetooth enabled, you can keep your iOS devices safe and far away from the grill heat source. It also offers cooking timer functionality, so not only can you monitor the grilling temperature of your food, but the time it has been cooking as well.

At $99.95 USD, the price seems a bit steep for a grill thermometer, but the added connectivity and functionality may be worth it.

Manufacturer listed product highlights include:

• Device
• iPod touch, iPhone and iPad compatible
• Blutooth enabled
• Multi-probe capacity
• Integrated probe storage
• Works as a stand-alone thermometer
• App
• iGrill Device connectability
• Multiple view options
• Kitchen timer
• Time-remaining feature
• Recipes and resources

For more information and to purchase the iGrill Grilling/Cooking Thermometer, please view the product here on the Apple Online Store. Currently the device is selling for $99.95 USD.

What's your opinion on the potential functionality these devices can offer. Do the products add value, or will they end up fading into obscurity. I'd love to get your take in the comments below.

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Will Tablets Kill Newspapers Or Help Them?

Long before the spring 2010 debut of Apple's iPad, we have seen a decline in traditional print media. The delivery of information on the world wide web and to a lesser extent email newsletters has given people alternate ways of being notified about things that they care about.

Several print publications have gone out of business or have ceased publishing print editions. Today, there are hundreds of newspapers that no longer publish print editions, and have moved strictly to electronic formats of distribution. The new format seems to be popular among those that have embraced technology, while many consumers miss their papers in their old traditional tangible format.

In a time where we find many companies wrestling with how to successfully move front print to digital revenue models, USA Today, the second largest newspaper in terms of circulation behind The Wall Street Journel as of September 30, 2010 has come forward and said that it is doing very well on the iPad. As reported in The Telegraph today, Gannett Company (the publisher of USA Today) COO Gracia Martore stated that "the iPad has been a real positive for USA Today," and added, "we expect this will translate into a much more significant improvement," regarding revenues.

After cutting more than a hundred staff members last fall, USA Today decided to devote a large amount of its remaining resources to the evolution and support of the iPad application. Since April of 2010, there have been more than 1.4 million downloads of the app. It seems that they have made a wise choice in embracing the new digital tablet format.

As more tablets come onto the market, there will be more and more publishers seeking to stake their claim to tablet screen real estate. The News Corporation will be debuting their news application The Daily on the iPad tomorrow. The application features an in-app subscription process that improves upon the models other print media have used on the iPad by not requiring consumers to buy issues individually. The individual purchase model has hurt magazines that saw some initial success on the iPad platform. Perhaps they will move to an in-app extended subscription model as well.

How do you consume your news? Do you have an iPad or tablet? Could you imagine using one as a primary source for news and textual media consumption? Please leave a comment below!

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iPhone 4 On Verizon - Do You Care?

At a special press event in New York City, NY yesterday, Verizon Wireless executives revealed that Apple iPhones for the Verizon wireless network would be available in stores on February 10, 2011. Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook revealed that the deal with Verizon was possible as AT&T's exclusivity contract to carry the phone expired "recently."

This deal opens up a huge portion of the US mobile phone market to Apple. Since Verizon is the largest wireless carrier in the US, more users will be able to purchase and use the iPhone. There is also the possibility that many current iPhone users, unhappy with AT&T service, will switch to Verizon and get the new Verizon version of the iPhone.

Cost
The cost of the Verizon iPhone will be the same price at which AT&T currently offers it (2 year contract pricing will be $199 for 16 GB, $299 for 32 GB).

Changes?
The phone is pretty much identical to the version of the iPhone 4 that is currently available at AT&T. There has been a modication of the internal antenna configuration in the Verizon version, as well as a slight modifcation to the volume and mute areas on the phone.

This version of the iPhone being released for Verizon will not support simultaneous voice and data, so facetime over the cellular data network will not work. The phone uses 3G (Verizon EV-DO), and not 4G or LTE. It is not a world phone. It  will only work on Verizon's network.

Impact
How much impact will this new market sector have on Apple? Will Verizon users turn out in droves to pick up iPhones for use on their carrier? There are a couple of areas I think we need to watch:

• Businesses - Business and corporate Verizon customers with multiple users may have stuck with RIM Blackberry, or picked up Android phones simply because those were the choices available to them, not because they preferred them. IT departments may start deploying iPhones rather than Blackberry devices, as they require no licensing for enterprise email.
• Users unhappy with AT&T - There are many AT&T users that have had many usage and data connectivity problems with their iPhones. Many if these users love the devices, but would jump to Verizon in a minute if the iPhone was available there.

Now that Verizon has ended months of speculation and will have Apple's iPhone, what does it mean? Do you care? Will you buy one? Will you be switching carriers to get one?

Verizon press release