It’s been less than two months since Apple’s newest mobile offering, the iPhone 5, was released, but new statistics from ad network Chitika have shown that the devices are already contribute up to 3% of all mobile web traffic – beating its nearest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S3, which accounts for 2% despite its earlier May release.

The research showed that it’s not the just the iPhone that is increasingly dominant – all of Apple’s iOS devices combined account for almost half (46%) of all mobile web traffic, whereas rival Samsung’s line accounts for just 17%, and a culmination of all other smartphone devices make up the remaining 37%.

These stats have a huge relevance for businesses, and not just in terms of the popularity of Apple products. The figures demonstrate the rapid growth of mobile search, and indicate the increasing importance of mobile optimisation for all websites.

An infographic from Microsoft Tag has even gone as far as to predict that, by 2014, mobile internet will actually overtake desktop internet usage – so in order to reach the majority of internet users, companies will need to ensure that their website looks just as good on a smartphone or tablet as it does on a desktop screen.

Tech behemoth Apple appear to have taken another step towards the release of the much-anticipated iPad Mini, a smaller version of their extremely successful iPad tablet. Earlier today, the company sent out digital card invitations reading “We’ve got a little more to show you” – and with a big Apple event planned at the California Theatre in San Jose for October 23^rd, the launch of the reduced size tablet seems to be imminent.

Interestingly, the late head of Apple, Steve Jobs, has previously criticised the idea of creating a smaller tablet. “There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touchscreen before users cannot reliably tap, flick, or pinch them,” he commented in October 2010. However, snippets from the rumour mill indicate that Apple have reviewed his declaration, and managed to produce a product that will enable users to perform all the functions of a regular iPad, on a smaller, more affordable version.

The iPad Mini is believed by tech speculators to have a 7.85in screen, half the area of the full size 9.7in version, with a resolution of 1024 x 768 – meaning that app developers wouldn’t have to rewrite their offerings to size correctly on the new screen.  It seems that Apple are doing everything they can to make the transition as smooth as possible for users, but with the astounding popularity of every product they’ve launched over the last few years, if a new iPad is on the cards, it’s bound to be successful regardless.

Will you be picking up an iPad Mini on launch day?

The way a website looks is of paramount importance to any web designer, but the introduction of high resolution screens has caused web design professionals several issues in the area of appearance over the last few months – predominantly due to blurry upscaled images.

Instapaper creator Marco Arment recently stated that if you’re a web designer, “you really, really need to get a Retina MacBook Pro so you can see how bad your site looks on it, and fix it.” Arment’s comment draws attention to one of the rising debates in the current industry – whether high-res displays will soon become the norm, and the effect that this will have on web design.

Although high-res screens are currently only used on a major scale in Apple products, such as the iPad and Macbook, Arment is adamant that high-res screens will become commonplace. “Even though it’s a small market today … it’s inevitably going to increase substantially in the future. Don’t you want to get ahead of that? Do you want your site to be ready the first time someone views it on a retina screen, or are you okay with it looking like garbage for a few years until you happen to buy high-DPI hardware?”

The case for the relationship between web design and high-res screens is still open for debate, but popular opinion seems to follow Arment’s conviction. What do you think – will you be preparing your pages? What effect do you think high-res displays will have on the future of web design?

On 18^th June, software giant Microsoft made a major announcement introducing its new tablet offering – known as Surface. The new device will have a 10.6 inch screen and run on Microsoft’s most recent operating system, Windows 8.

Surface will also come with a ‘Touch Cover’, a combination of a protective cover and a keyboard – a feature which seems designed to provide an edge over Apple’s renowned tablet, the iPad, as many users find extensive typing difficult on this device.

However, critics have suggested that although Surface has impressive features, it is unlikely to make the same impact as the iPad. This is an opinion which stems from Surface’s inferior display and likely high price – even though Microsoft has hinted at a ‘competitive’ price, no figures have been released, sparking suspicion that the price will not be competitive enough to detract attention from Apple’s offering, or alternative options like a notebook or cheaper Android tablet.

Ezra Gottheil, of Technology Business Research, asserted, “[The Surface] will have some legs in the enterprise – it will be a lot easier of a sell there with compatibility through Office, it’s probably more manageable, and it comes from a vendor that IT is more comfortable with. But it won’t be a major impact on the iPad … If the Surface is going head-to-head with the iPad, why not just buy an iPad?”

Only time will tell how consumers respond to Microsoft’s invention, but with the public increasingly turning to mobile devices for web browsing, any technology companies hoping to maintain a positive reputation in the market will need to focus on offering a range of products with a competitive edge.

Apple’s latest iPad is truly a revolutionary product, and one of things that make it so is its ability to connect to the superfast 4G mobile network.

However, the claims that the tablet is compatible with 4G are now being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority, on the grounds that they are misleading. Not only is the 4G network not yet available in Britain, when it does eventually arrive, the iPad’s current setup will be incompatible with the signal, as it will be on a different frequency to the US and Canadian networks that the iPad connection is modelled on.

As a result of the investigation, Apple have already agreed to remove references to 4G on their UK website and re-edit a promotional video which sparked 40 complaints about its ‘potentially misleading’ claims. However, more complaints are still being generated by consumers, who say that the claims are still appearing.

In a statement, the ASA confirmed: “We are currently assessing these new complaints. If it appears that the problem claims we asked Apple to remove are still appearing, we will investigate these new complaints.”

This news comes following a recent, similar dispute with iPad users in Australia, who also felt they had been misled by advertising suggesting that they could connect to a 4G network. Apple, which has refused so far to comment on the ASA investigation, offered refunds to Australian customers who felt that the claims were deceptive.

Apple appears to have poached Yahoo’s head of data operations – just months after making its last hire.

Scott Noteboom, formerly vice-president of data centre engineering and operations at Yahoo, now lists his occupation as “distinguished gentleman” at Apple on his LinkedIn biography.

The updated biography has caused a flurry in the web hosting industry and in the industry press.

Apple has instigated a lot of activity in the data centre space this year. This activity includes the building of its new $1bn, 500,000 square foot data centre operations hub in North Carolina, USA, and the start of its iCloud file storage cloud.

Noteboom worked at Yahoo from 2005, during which time he launched a number of data centre initiatives. Before this, he worked as senior director of data centre operations at data centre company AboveNet.  The company had the second-largest data centre collocation footprint in the world at the time, according to Noteboom’s LinkedIn profile.

The news will come as a surprise to many, not least because Apple made its last data centre hire quite recently. It poached Kevin Timmons from his role as head of Microsoft’s data centre in April. Timmons is now reported to have moved on to US data storage company CyrusOne.

On Wednesday I’ll be speaking to a group of marketing students at Napier University. They want to discuss how marketing is being done through social media.

In our training workshops we quote a misconception about social media. “A lot of people think it’s another channel for marketing. It isn’t”. And then we explain the importance of “a conversation” and a fundamental shift in the way you interact with customers and get your message across.

It strikes me that as soon as you think of social media as a form of marketing, you’re doing it wrong. Social media at its best is an attitude, an ethos, a way of life right through the core of the company – like the writing through a stick of rock, where you’re engaging with your customers on instinct.

Of course, you have aims and objectives. But good social media keeps these hidden. The consumer should never be able to see your intentions, your marketing fingerprints shouldn’t be visible.

Apple is a great example. They opened a new store at Braehead recently. Most companies would have promoted this heavily and discounted on price. They didn’t. I received an e-mail from Apple telling me the store was opening. The mainstream media covered this. On the day Apple employees at the store held a ceilidh in full view of everyone before the doors opened.

What did they do on social media?

Nothing.

What did the crowds who turned up do on social media?

Everything. They wrote blogs, tweeted, shared pictures and video and discussed the whole experience.

It strikes me that most businesses’ marketing objectives for the opening of a new store would look like this…

i) Get the person to come to the store

ii) Get them to buy something

I reckon Apple’s objective would have been something like this…

i) Get the person to tell someone else about the store opening

Who’s doing the better job of marketing?

Even if the traditional company achieves big footfall and shifts products..at what cost has this been achieved? There’s the costs of the campaign leading up to launch, then the cost of discounting.

The Apple approach doesn’t cost anything. It gets more people into the store and more people paying full price for the products.

The ceilidh and chanting the Apple employees took part in before the opening of their Braehead store wasn’t the intense “team bonding” session I originally through it was. Instead, it’s extremely subtle marketing. It’s not about what they’re doing..it’s carefully designed to make me, as a consumer do something for them. In this case, the blog I wrote and the video I shot of all the staff coming out to meet the customers.

It’s me telling other people about the store opening via social media and I was convinced I was doing this because I wanted to.

Now I realise Apple made me want to.

And I’ve got another piece of insight because of my role as Gadget Guru on STV’s “The Hour”. We’d contacted Apple’s PR team several times over the years asking for product demos we could use on the show – iPods, iPhones, iPads etc. They never played ball. I thought maybe our show wasn’t big enough for them but it turns out they hardly ever let anyone preview their products. I thought they’d forgotten all about us but just before the Apple store opened at Braehead I received an e-mail from their PR team.

Would the STV cameras like to attend the opening of the new store “and speak to the crowds who’ve turned out about why they’ve queued through the night and how excited they are”?

Doesn’t that speak volumes about this company’s approach?! Anyone else would have promised behind the scenes access, an interview with the management, maybe even an exclusive free gift. Not Apple. All they’ll do is let the media speak to some of their biggest fans! And although STV stayed away on the day, several other outlets did turn up and that’s exactly the coverage they got.

Fascinating.

No other business is like Apple. But we can learn from them. And this demonstrates that if a business has got things right at its core, then they’ll have success on social media without typing a single word.

Apple is being sued over the use of the name iCloud for its new cloud storage service.

An American company called iCloud Communications, LLC filed a lawsuit this week in the US District Court of Arizona, claiming trademark infringements against Apple.

The company claims that Apple’s choice to use and promoted the name iCloud is detrimental to its business, removing the branding from it and placing it almost entirely onto Apple.

The lawsuit also alleges that Apple’s services are identical to those being offered by iCloud Communications.

Although the legal papers – which can be viewed on various sites around the internet – do not request a specific amount of money, the lawsuit does ask for “all profits, gains and advantages” along with “all monetary damages sustained”.

The lawsuit also asks Apple to stop using the iCloud name to “deliver for destruction all labels, signs, prints, insignia, letterhead, brochures, business cards, invoices and any other written or recorded material” with the iCloud name.

This is not the first time that Apple has come under fire in the law courts regarding a trademark issue. In fact, this lawsuit alludes to that too, mentioning that Apple has been “wilful” in trademark infringement in the past, citing The Beatles, McIntosh Labs stereo equipment and the cartoon character Mighty Mouse as those who have had an issue with the technology giant.

Apple’s representatives have yet to comment on the issue.

iPad-loving web designers could be in for an Apple-shaped treat, according to industry news leaked this week.

According to wide-spread rumours in the blogosphere, Apple has filed a patent for its web design tool, iWeb, especially for the iPad.

This would make it the latest in a long line of well-loved Mac applications to feature on the iPad, with Garageband, iMovie and Photobooth already proving popular amongst owners of the iPad.

Website designers hoping to showcase their skills on the iPad may have a long wait ahead of them before the app is launched, however. Apple is still to announce exactly when iWeb for iPad will be ready for market, in the same way it chose not to give launch dates for other sought-after iPad versions of Mac apps at the iPad 2 US launch in New York on March 11th.

Whatever the release date, the move is good news for web designers wanting more flexibility. Working on the move is both easy and efficient thanks to the iPad and it’s great to think that web designers may soon be able to benefit from this as well.

Could this spell the start of a move towards iPads over laptops and desktops for web designers?

Earlier this week, I remembered why I try not to visit the Apple Store very often…  having gone in for “just a wee look”, and walked out with the new AppleTV2 and having upgraded my iPhone!

Ok – being honest, I did actually plan to do these things at some point, but the Apple Store (and it’s brilliant staff) have a habit of encouraging you into these things..  that and the products are so seductively sexy you just need to have them.  There was also another very good reason for me simply having to upgrade my iPhone 3G to iPhone 4 – my wife got one before me, and being the true geek in the family I couldn’t be outdone for too long

So… here’s just a very short review of both these new toys:

Apple TV

The new Apple TV is tiny, and the box it comes in is tiny, and (having played with the old Apple TV) you can’t not be impressed by how tiny (and sleek) it really is.  That is until you realise that the tiny box doesn’t contain an HDMI cable to plug the thing into the telly!  Bit of a failure on Apple’s part to not make this clearer on the box, or for them not to mention this when selling it to me…  However, a quick steal from the SKY HD Box, and it was up and running.  Configuration was easy, and now have all my music, films, podcasts etc all streaming to the HD TV in the living room.  Add to that the “Remote” app that allows you to control the appleTV (and Itunes on your computer) and it all works very well indeed!

Apple iPhone 4

Not that I really needed the new iPhone (my iPhone 3G has been doing me just fine), but my reasoning behind buying it was as follows:

1. I was out of contract (with O2) so I *could* upgrade
2. I was nearly using up all my 16GB storage on current phone
3. My wife got one last week and that annoyed me

The truth is – other than it being far prettier than the old one, the new apple iPhone isn’t a massive improvment in my opinion.  Yes, it’s got new things like “facetime” (apple’s version of skype video), and includes a little compass so I know which direction I’m going in, as well as a much improved camera and new video camera (HD quality)..  but apart from that – if you’ve already updated your software to V4 on the older 3G (or 3GS), then there’s not a great deal to benefit from.  The battery (not that I’ve had time yet to fully test this) is supposedly a lot better (which wouldn’t be difficult!) which will be a bonus!

Did I really need to upgrade, probably not, do I regret paying £299 – no, especially when I’ll sell my existing iPhone 3G for approx £160.  Have I restored my position of King-Geek in my household..  (was there ever any chance of losing it?)….  Now who want’s facetime!