Apple Dominates Black Friday Sales With iOS Responsible For 80% Of Mobile Orders

Apple products were on many people’s must have list for Black Friday deals. While the general public may be interested in purchasing Apple products, analysts have been paying attention to how they are buying their products.

Apple products not only dominate the sales at many retail venues, but also the way people are making their purchases. According to IBM’s Digital Analytics Benchmark group, Apple products dominated 80 percent of the orders made online from mobile devices. The group is a "digital analytics platform that tracks millions of transactions and analyzes terabytes of raw data from approximately 800 retail sites nationwide.”

According to the report, the number of buyers who use mobile devices to make purchases online increased by 9 percent last year. Other numbers of not include that mobile devices now make up 37 percent of all shopping traffic, and a total of 21 percent of online sales.

Apple’s iOS led the charge with more than 80 percent of sales from mobile devices placed from an iOS based device. Apple also dominated traffic for the holiday, with 26 percent. Android, Google’s OS, only recorded 11 percent of the traffic. Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS, Blackberry, and other small mobile systems did not generate enough to make note of.

IBM’s researchers also noted that iOS users spent more money than those who purchased via an Android device. In fact, iOS users spent 18 percent more than Android users. The average purchase per order for iOS users was $131.34, while Android’s users spent only $11.35 on average.

Apple has become perhaps the single most powerful force in the mobile industry. With both its own OS and its own line of phones and tablets, Apple has more to offer than Google, Samsung, or any other competitor. The quality of Apple products is perhaps the biggest draw the company has. Owning an iPad or iPhone was once a status symbol; now it is quickly becoming status quo.

Apple Releasing iPhone Integrated Hearing Aids

Apple is rolling out a new product for the hearing impaired that just might make life a little easier for them. Apple has partnered with Copenhagen based GN ReSound to make the first Made for iPhone hearing aids.

According to Reuters, the LiNX hearing aids have been made available on the market, and what makes them extremely different from their predecessors is that they will link directly to an iPhone. Prior models of wireless hearing aids for cell phones were designed to connect to Bluetooth enabled phones via a “streamer” that acted as a portal for the devices.

Low Energy Technology

The hearing aids utilize the same Bluetooth technology that Apple uses to power its iBeacon micro-location devices. It operates on the 2.4 gigahertz band using Bluetooth’s low energy mode. The hearing aids serve as much more than a conversation helper for the hearing impaired. They can stream music as well as be used for calls. The adjustments for the devices are all handled through an iOS app that is specially designed for them.

Competition Heating Up

There are other companies in the mix who are all vying for a piece of Apple’s market, and similar products are being developed. Starkey Technologies of Minnesota, and William Demant of  Smørum, Denmark are also expected to release devices, although no official announcement has been made.

Apple Is Striving To Improve The World

Apple has dedicated a lot of resources to the project, trying to help hearing impaired people find a device that is useful for their lives in the iPhone. Both Apple and GNReSound personnel have made trips across the water to refine the devices and make them longer lasting in terms of battery usage.

Apple will be retailing the hearing aids at a cost of just more than $3,000.00 each. While this might seem like a premium price for hearing aids, to an iPhone owner who is hearing impaired, it just might be an answer to prayer.

Is The Deck Stacked Against Apple’s iPad?

We published a report yesterday explaining that iPad had finally been topped in terms of revenue in the tablet market by devices that are Android based. Today, while researching the topic further, I was pointed to an article published early this morning by Apple Insider. The article is titled “The curious case of IDC, Gartner & Strategy Analytics’ PC, phone & tablet data on Apple.”

Daniel Dilger, the author of this piece points out that market research firms have been biased against Apple Inc. for several years. He goes back as far as 2004 in his research to quote articles claiming doom and gloom for the Mac brand as Apple’s market share dropped to less than 2 percent in the global PC market.

Dilger is however, careful to point out that none of the people who thought that Apple was a dying company could see the value of the soon to be launched iPhone, nor did they realize that powerful device would carry Apple to the top of the smartphone market. These people also failed to see the coming of the iPad, a powerful mini-computer that offered everything a Mac offered – on the go.

He claims that research firms have been altering the way they gather data in order to skew public opinion of Apple Inc. By making the terms used to define tablet computers very broad, they can include devices that have no direct bearing on iPad sales. These devices are actually the furthest thing from being competition to Apple’s top notch tablets.

Check out the full article here.

Nvidia CEO Calls Android The Gaming Platform Of The Future: iOS Out In The Cold

Nvidia CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang recently told investors that Android is the next big thing in gaming, according to a report by ZDNet. Nvidia is the manufacturer of the Shield, which essentially is an Android based gaming tablet. Huang reinforced the belief that the Shield will be essential in growing the online gaming community through Android OS.

Huang told investors that the, “Shield is our initiative to cultivate the gaming marketplace for Android. We believe that Android is going to be a very important platform for gaming in the future, and to do so we have to create devices that enable great gaming to happen on Android.

A Look At The Shield

The Nvidia Shield is basically an Android tablet that has been meshed with a gaming controller. This gives Nvidia the power to go head to head with other mobile gamin consoles, such as those offered by Nintendo and Sony. The Shield was released earlier this year, and thanks to recent updates it now has the ability to send its gaming experience to the big screen. With the power to send its video and sound to both monitors and TVs, it is a viable option for gaming in the living room as well as on the go.

Android Is Booming

Developers have already begun to realize the value in the Android platform and new apps are being offered daily. Because of the rush to Android by app and game developers, there is a huge opportunity for companies like Nvidia to develop consoles aimed specifically at Android based games.

With consoles like the Shield, Android could prove to be a huge cash cow for Nividia. As gamers discover the tiny gaming computer and developers continue to offer the top games as Android apps, the money will keep flowing in.

What This Means For Google Inc.

Android OS is the baby of Google Inc., and anything that is good for Android is good for Google. As developers offer apps on Android and they’re snapped up by consumers, Google is raking in a pile of cash as well.

Not only is the cash flow good for Google, but the boom in Android’s popularity is also helping Google dominate the mobile OS world. This means that Apple’s iOS will not have the user base that Android has. Android phones and tablets are manufactured by many companies, including Samsung, Nokia, and HTC, while iOS devices come only from Apple. While this may be a nice source of revenue for the Cupertino company, it limits the audience to just Apple customers.

As Android grows, the gaming apps continue to be added and purchased. This means the community will be open to the idea of new gaming tablets for the OS and the Shield just might be the next big thing in mobile gaming.

What do you think? Will Android continue to dominate iOS in the global market, or will Apple find a way to make it relevant to non-Apple products?