Steve Jobs with Apple iPad Tablet PC 2010

The iPad was received by a fervent (almost fanatical) response! However, the device has much left to be desired. Also, what’s new about the iPad anyway?

You may like to read the earlier post to get intimate with Apple’s iPad Tablet PC, before reading about the drawbacks of iPad.

Difference between the iPad and iTouch

I have been asking, “What is the difference between the iPad and the iTouch?” The only answer I’ve got so far is size. Of course, I understand that this increases the utility of the device. The Apple iPad will not cannibalize the iTouch, since the former is meant to replace the laptop and the latter is a more capable version of the iPod.

What You Should Know Before Buying The iPad

So here are some factors you should consider before investing into an iPad:
Size: The iTouch has the same capabilities as the iPad, except that the tablet is BIGGER and EXTREMELY HEAVIER.

Keyboard: The iPad’s touch keyboard is NOT responsive enough.

Screen: Widescreen formatted movies appear DISTORTED on the iPad’s screen.

Hardware: Although the hardware is unlocked, allowing you to choose your service provider, the “micro SIM” chips supported by the iPad do not leave you with much choice. This SIM is provided ONLY by AT&T.

Camera: NO CAMERA means that it leaves you scurrying to find a laptop if you wish to hold a video chat.

SD or USB ports: In the high tech world, where users are accustomed to plug-in devices, the iPad DOES NOT feature SD or USB ports. You will NEED TO BUY ADAPTORS to be able to use any plug-in device.

Multitasking: While the iPad processes your commands FASTER, it does not give you the ability to multitask. This can prove to be a major DEAL BREAKER.

Although the Apple iPad Tablet device looks like an excellent surfing, emailing and ebook reading machine, the first-generation Apple iPad lacks certain essential features that may make buyers decide against it.

The author, Shalini Malik, is an industry expert in the content writing services department with the organization.

Astounding? NO…
Amazing? NO…
It’s simply… unbelievable!

“So much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smartphone,” Steve Jobs said at Apple’s biggest product launch since the iPhone three years ago.

Why iPad Will Become An iFad

What looks like a bigger iPhone, the iPad packs in contacts, a calendar, maps, music, email, photos, games, videos and ebooks. You have access to iTunes and high-definition YouTube, a virtual keyboard and unbelievable browsing experience. It’s a great way to watch TV or movies and store your favorite music albums.

Apple iPad Tablet PC Device

Some iStatistics on the iPad

• Half-inch THIN
• WEIGHS 1.5 pounds
• BIGGER than an iPhone
• THINNER than any netbook
• 9.7 inch IPS DISPLAY
• SSD STORAGE of 16, 32, or 64 GB
• 10 hours BATTERY life
• 1 MONTH of STANDBY time on the BATTERY

Apps for the iPad

The iPad can run almost any app in its unmodified form from the App Store. Among the apps exhibited was Brushes. Of course, you can scroll to view the entire width of the painting. There are popup windows for you to pick brushes, colors and other tools. Once you’re done with your work of art, you can send it to Twitter or Facebook or simply email it.

Also, iBooks lets you choose books from what looks like a bookshelf. You can download books onto the iPad. You would be able to read bestsellers as well as textbooks shortly on the iPad. iWork allows you to make presentations with touch input. All iPads have Wi-Fi.

iPad iPrice

Well, its $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB. With 3G, the price increases by $130. So, it would be $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64 GB.

Would have given Jobs a standing ovation… except that I have to be seated to type this !

You may also want to read Apple iPad Drawbacks: 7 Things You Need To Know Before Purchasing The iPad

The author, Priya Nigam, is the Chief Content Development strategist in the organization.

Apple Tablet: The Middle Path?

With Apple guarding the secret well so far, speculations are rampant. The blogosphere is abuzz with speculations of the device being something between the iPhone and the 13-inch MacBook. Most tech savvy folks expect this device to feature the iPhone OS, have a seven-to-ten-inch screen (of course, that would have to be a touchscreen), have a 3G connection and have the capability of displaying a gamut of media content, including magazines, newspapers and videos.

Apple Tablet: My 2 Cents on Content

Content is really going to be King this time. Expectations are for Apple to unveil new formats of print media along with its tablet. Anticipations mount in the publishing industry and speculations are for Apple to deliver the new forms of content via the iTunes Store. What about other devices? Will content be restricted to Apple’s tablet?

Too many unanswered questions for now… let’s just wait for Jobs to make our job of guessing simpler!

UPDATE:

The new Apple’s Tablet PC - The iPAD has been released, check out the next post to get intimate with iPad’s Major features, you may be interested to know!

The author, Priya Nigam, is the Chief Content Development strategist in the organization.

Interactive Marketing - reaching to the user communities

Do you remember the last time you reached for the Yellow Pages to search for a particular company? Well, as customers, we have become environmentally conscious, paper-free and don’t prefer catalog marketing either. We usually toss away direct mailers into the trash can. Similarly, no one wants to attend a call on one’s mobile without permission. In fact, telemarketing has never been really effective. Print and television are here to stay, however more and more companies are opting for interactive marketing mediums that are not only affordable but surely effective.

The last three quarters of 2009 saw 18.1% and 9.2% growth in mobile and internet respectively. On the other hand, advertising through TV declined by -10.1%, newspapers by -18.7% and radio by -11.7%. The coming decade will see closer integration of television and print with the internet for marketing purposes.

Interactive Marketing Strategies: 2010

Interactive Marketing - Customer Engagement

In the new decade two-way communication with consumers is going to replace one-way marketing methods. Therefore businesses need to focus on relationship marketing. They need to interact closely with customers and get to know their exact demands. It is the need of the hour that businesses introspect on their brand presence and reputation online. Your new marketing strategy for 2010 should involve more than just interacting with consumers. In fact, you need to engage with them and create relationships to grow your business.

Here are some interactive marketing strategies that you can implement in 2010:

Social Media Marketing:

Social media marketing is not all about broadcasting. It is mainly based on interaction with customers on social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Your social media marketing strategy should aim at cultivating relationships. This includes social media optimizing (SMO), which aims at bringing more traffic to your website through various mediums.

Mobile Marketing:

In 2009, we saw it as the new buzzword. In reality, we’ve just stared at it. Mobile marketing is an effective medium for serving advertisements, invitations and reminders, as well as creating applications to entertain and build brand awareness. Mobile marketing is more likely to be effective if it is permission-based. A growing degree of irritation with cell phone spam is the fall out of mobile marketing misuse in the past few years.

Neuromarketing:

It is important to know how your target audience perceives your business. Neuromarketing deals with the working of human brain other than pure metrics or click behavior. Neuromarketing uses technology to track the reactions of the human brain to certain marketing inputs. This kind of study can give you the up-front factors that caused a campaign to fail.

Loyalty Marketing:

Loyalty programs have always proved worthy marketing campaigns. Customers feel important and connected to your business. They can relate to your products and services through rewards that are on offer. Loyalty programs can bring you lifetime customers as well.

Behavior Marketing:

Enough of nonsense adverting bombardment. 2010 is the time for some critical thinking and relevancy in campaigns. Modern consumers are lifestyle-conscious and want to learn new things and new experiences. A creative approach with sensitivity to their lifestyle choices will be more effective in 2010. For example, the growing trend towards green products.

Internet optimization company Veda Informatics is engaged in promoting its clients by offering Strategic interactive marketing services along with web design and development, web content writing and online marketing services. So, if you are aiming at reaching and increasing the right target audience Contact us.

The author, Ranjit Kaur, is a member of content writing team with Veda Informatics.

NOIDA, India, January 2, 2010: Recognizing Veda Informatics Pvt. Ltd. as one of the best Social Media Optimization (SMO) companies in India, TOPSEOs has ranked Veda No. 2 in its list of the Top 30 Indian SMO companies. In 2009, Veda Informatics was in the fifth position in the TopSEOs monthly ranking. With the onset of 2010, Veda has made a big leap towards becoming the leading SMO services provider in the nation.

Established in 2001 under the name of Pinig Systems, Veda Informatics is an internet marketing company that provides consultancy, technology and content related services. With over 50 highly accomplished and experienced writers and developers, Veda focuses completely on quality work and the success of its clients. This search engine optimization company has established a reputation of successfully partnering with long-terms clients from all across the globe. Veda Informatics has offices in countries including India, Germany and New Jersey.

Best Social Media Optimization Companies in India (Click on image to see the enlarged view)

A fast-growing, internet visibility optimization firm, Veda Informatics has been working with clients from the US and Europe for over six years. The SMO services of the firm include creating communities for clients by using blogs, forums, social media sites and vital promotion material. Veda’s work scope also involves managing the communities in order to increase their visibility, the main emphasis being on consistent quality work and maintaining good client relations.

With the purpose of enabling firms to decide on vendor services that would meet their requirements, TopSEOs sends out questionnaires to selected clients. The questionnaire consists of general and project-specific queries. The survey results are based on the responses TOPSEOs receives on important factors including timeliness, consultation, methodology and reach. The SMO companies are accorded their ranks after an in-depth assessment of the way they operate and the methods they adopt to achieve their objectives.

TOPSEOs‘ reviews approximately 3,000 internet marketing firms from over 130 countries. It is an autonomous authority that rates SMO companies on their web marketing products and services, including pay-per-click management tools and SEO. Since 2009, none of the other SMO firms on TOPSEOs‘ list have shown any positive changes except for Veda Informatics.

Below are the last 3 months ranking for Veda Informatics as mentioned at http://www.topseos.in/vedainformatics-pvt.-ltd.  :

Rankings (awarded in last 3 months)

• #2 - Best Social Media Optimization Company (India), January 2010.
• #5 - Best Social Media Optimization Company (India), December 2009.
• #5 - Best Social Media Optimization Company (India), November 2009.

Veda Informatics retained its position in top five SMO Firms since Aug 09.

Video Ga-Gadada-Da-Vida!

Think about it, already we have gone through two vast cycles. The lessons from the first were added to those of the second to form the basis of a new sensibility that was tagged as Web 2.0. People suddenly found expression and herded to the great cloud source in the sky; where each one of them was introduced to increasingly enticing and increasingly succinct methods of expression.

While they re-connected online with everyone in their lives, they also connected with new people. Trouble is, besides the fun and games offered by online social networking sites, most of it was still the same - words, messages, notes, comments, photos, links and videos.

Companies Contemplating Visual Frontiers

While the world watches Google negotiate between Murdoch’s anger and public outcry over their intentions to digitize as much of the world’s libraries they can, albeit with plans on the side for instant sale-delivery-and-printing retail outlets grafted into a typical bookshop the action is heating up on the video front. After all, we really are still searching for the ‘next big thing

Facing the wall are existing ideas such as YouTube. They have long since admitted they do not have what it takes to vet all of the user-generated clips on their site. Meanwhile, only about 10% of their content attracts advertising or carry ads. To get more, they would have to assure their advertisers that ads won’t appear near copyright-violating videos and adult content. Despite the fact that 81.9 % of all videos embedded or mentioned in blog posts are hosted on YouTube. They are pushing numbers to the tune of 19 billion videos currently.

Demand Manages Supply - An American Case Study

Searching for a new niche is US-based Demand Studios. One of the largest suppliers to YouTube, they are uploading hundreds of videos on a daily basis to YouTube. Needless to say, these videos are largely ‘How-To’ videos commissioned, edited and vetted to attract advertisers and mass-produced on a scale that manages to profit from Google’s revenue sharing model. Their ‘keywords’ are generated by an algorithm based on traffic patters and keyword rates that figures out what people are looking for.

No more commissioning editors, well-versed in all manner of topics. Writers do up to 10 articles and videographers do up to 40. They get about $15 for the articles and $20 for a video. Demand expects to earn revenue about $200 million this year and is valued at $1 billion by investors. Their payouts to writers and videographers have been a fraction of what newspapers and television companies shell out - $17 million. Do the math; obviously, someone has decided that volume, like size, does matter and is fast climbing up the ladder.

We believe there are people who are willing to pay to advertise on clean content. Just don’t expect a virtual mass media to centralize. We’re glad enough it’s converging. With so much video online, the problem of the future will be bandwidth.

* Which he actually never did; except perhaps for a brief while in ‘The Semi- Literate Shakespeare; Future Shock

The author, Arunesh Dogra, is a member of content writing team with Veda Informatics.

Three effective tips to consider are:

• Analyze where you have spent your money for marketing and determine the returns you have received from your spend.
• Consider that meta and search that are important areas to spend on in years to come.
• Offer useful website tools such as currency converter to engage customers on your website.

Here is a checklist for you to consider if you plan to grow your hotel’s visibility through smart online marketing strategies.

What are Your Hotel’s Distribution Channels?

• Does your hotel associate itself with major credit card companies?
• Are there some major airlines that support you to sell what’s on your inventory?
• How many online portals such as Google and Yahoo refer your products?
• Do you conduct analysis often enough to improve the way your products and services are currently distributed?
• What initiatives do you pursue to create a great deal of brand awareness?

How effectively do you check that your online hotel marketing expenses are paying off well?

• Online media spend is measurable but are you tracking yours regularly?
• Are your promotional offers clearly highlighted on your site or buried in oblivion?
• Is your inventory online or kept under wraps?
• How effectively do you calculate the click through rate and monitor whether its results show increase in the hotel’s annual sales?
• Is there an effective online content strategy that continues the already built online momentum?
• Have you devised a blog or any interactive content medium to ensure that your customers are aware about your hotel’s growth and new offerings?
• What strategies have helped you to coordinate more effectively with country-specific tourism boards to create a distinct destination experience that explores the best range of hotels, transportation options and tourist attractions?

Does Your Online Hotel Marketing Strategy Customize Content Rich Campaigns?

• Does your online hotel marketing strategy enable you to customize and target specific groups of customers?
• Do you feature proactive content-rich campaigns to help customers make informed choices?
• How effectively does your online marketing strategy enable you to creatively stimulate higher demand across your wide customer base?
• Does your online marketing strategy identify micro site offerings for its niche marketing segment?

How Effectively Do R&D Help You Innovate Your Hotel Marketing Strategy?

• Does your R&D serve the hospitality industry to innovate effectively?
• Are website tools used to simplify planning, booking and payment options for customers?
• Does it enable you to customize and target specific groups of customers?

Given the success of social media, it is clear that user generated ratings, reviews and contents are a huge high for those who love to travel, stay in hotels and enjoy a dynamic hospitality experience.

The key to success is to innovate by introducing attractive options like customized maps with virtual map pins that help customers to identify other attractions around a hotel. Such techniques will double the hotel’s conversion rates and bring in more traffic than before.

Just think differently in establishing your hotel marketing strategies and make things happen by being ahead of how the world is likely to think tomorrow.

The author, Swapna Raghu Sanand, is an industry expert in the content writing services department with the organization.

Google Wave's Tree Structure of Communication

The ocean of information needed it. Yes, a wave that can enfold messages across various media and serve them to multiple users for communicating live and collaboratively is here. Google Wave is the offspring of electronic mail and Web 2.0, brought up by Google. Communication has advanced from messages by individuals to shared conversations.

Communication through Google Wave

After starting a new wave, one can add more users who can share the message on the wave. When a new user joins an already shared wave, he can choose the playback option and see how the wave evolved to its present stage. Email does not facilitate this transparency of the history of a conversation.

Side Conversations within a Wave

One can reply to any particular section of the wave. This means that you can leave comments in the middle of a conversation, triggering side discussions within a wave.

A wave can be embedded on a webpage like we embed YouTube videos. This way, you can use waves as entries on your blog. People can reply on either of two platforms and the actions get transmitted real time on the other one.

Waves can be embedded on Google’s very own social networking site - Orkut, where you can communicate not only with your Google Wave contacts, but with your Orkut friends as well. Also, Google Wave can work in collaboration with other communication systems. So, those of you who are too busy tweeting can try twaving now.

What Google Wave APIs are doing here is an aggregation of all information at one place – your Google Wave panel.

Collaboration through Google Wave

One can edit any entry on a wave – not only your own, but even messages authored by other users. Everybody who shares a wave can see which part of the wave was edited (showed as highlighted) and by whom. The playback button is back to help for the latecomers here.

Multiple users can edit different parts of the wave at the same time. This means that you communicate faster. Google Wave, thus, can be optimized as a document production tool and as a forum. While one can build on the original document more systematically in the former, people can create a forum topic collaboratively while working on different sections of the message simultaneously.

Collaborative editing makes all this more exciting. Be it noting down the minutes of a meeting, planning for a party over the weekend or working on the next issue of a newsletter, Google Wave will be fun to work on.

The author, Ankit Chadha, is a member of web content writing team with Veda Informatics.

Powerful Web Content Writing: Weapons in your Arms

Given below are a few web content writing techniques that can help you connect better with your target market:

• Club: It is one of the simplest, yet most powerful weapons. All of us tell stories. For stories to make sense to the audience, there must be linkages. So, while information should be mutually exclusive, it is the responsibility of a content writer to club different sequences into one collectively exhaustive piece of content. Also, this makes content writing more aggressive as you are consolidating what you have already captured and building up your strength on it. By doing this, you score much more than your competition, which loses out on its sales due to the absence of a thread in the story.

• Punch: Hit the nail on the head by placing your punch lines strategically. A customer who comes across your website may just want to know all you will be talking about before actually reading the article. So, a forceful introduction is a must to keep them hooked. Catchy sub-headings are weapons that are handy for this purpose. Under these sub-heads, meat hunted through extensive research will do the job for you. While your competitors may be selling a similar product, the way you talk about yours can give you an edge over them.

• Bullets: It is surprising how service providers always talk of web design to be necessarily user friendly, but rarely bring content into the same league. When you have too much to talk about, take the responsibility of ensuring that your customers absorb every bit of it. This is when bullets come into the picture. A bulleted point saves readers a considerable amount of effort, which they may need to invest to understand the content as a whole. By categorization, you can simplify concepts and add clarity to the thought.

Spearhead your campaign using the above mentioned tools and you are bound to be successful in communicating with your customers. At Veda Informatics, we do just this for our clients, partnering with them in their success.

The author, Ankit Chadha, is a member of web content writing team with Veda Informatics.

On the World Wide Web, content flows much like water, till it finds its own level. Content shares another tendency, just like water, it takes the shape of the container in which it is contained. Web development service providers usually begin by proverbially repackaging old wine (content) in new bottles. Content is typically added as an after-thought. Usually by stepping back after the website has been created, taking some rough measurements as to how much space it should fill and then casting around for a content development services company to fill in the blanks. Well, blanks are exactly what you draw when you treat content as an addendum to your site.

While Shopping For Content Development Services…

The visual aspects of a website might attract customers initially on sheer eye-candy effect. However, it is your content which actually contains your business proposition - the products or services you are offering and the information you wish to communicate about your organization. To make a potential customer reach for his or her check book, or at least fill up the Query Form on your website, you need to engage your website visitor in a meaningful conversation.

In developing content, the proof-of-effect is usually found in consumption. While website owners and developers might have the best of intentions, it is the end consumer of content, or the customer who testifies to the efficacy of content and actually responds to good content. As an example, think about the times you have been engrossed in a good book. Did you stop to complain about the boring, flat, black text on white page layout?

Invisible Vs Visible Content Development Services

The Internet brought its own rules into the content development domain. Like bikinis, the content that is visible is suggestive, while what is invisible is vital. Front-end content, such as articles, write-ups, organization info or product and services info, need to work in sync with page layout and certain crucial backend considerations, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Only then will the website stand head-and-shoulders above the crowd that is the Internet. For the right amalgamation of content development services and web development services, you need a company that is aware of the importance of ‘visibility’ as a production value built into the process from the start. A few good content writing service providers, such as Veda Informatics, do just that.

The author, Arunesh Dogra, is a member of content writing team with Veda Informatics.