Author: JT

Tablet commerce is doing very well in the Philippines

| June 23, 2014

Some of the data most recently released by the IDC has shown that the country is holding strong in shipments.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has now released its Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker report, which has shown that the Philippines is experiencing extremely strong tablet commerce in terms of the number of those devices that were shipped to the country during the first quarter of this year.

This indicates that the Philippines is an extremely important market among emerging countries.

The IDC data points directly at the Philippines in terms of being highly important for tablet commerce sales. When all is said and done, there were 598,375 of these mobile devices shipped during this year’s first quarter. This represents a massive growth when compared to the same quarter, in 2013. The year over year increase is estimated to be 110 percent, which represents the highest growth among all Southeast Asian countries.

There are certain players that have stood out among the rest in terms of tablet commerce sales.

tablet commerce - Mobile shoppingAt the moment, in the Philippines, it is Apple and Samsung that are holding the lead in terms of tablet sales in the country. The largest number of sales was achieved by Samsung, with Apple holding the second place. That said, those international players continue to face a growing level of competition from local manufacturers.

Vendors from the Philippines are starting to build a considerable amount of strength within their own country. Among the strongest, two that are currently standing out include Starmobile and Cherry Mobile. These two companies have managed to make quite the name for themselves by using powerful mobile marketing campaigns that include endorsements from some of the top celebrities in that part of the world.

According to IDC Philippines associate market analyst, Jerome Dominguez, who made a statement about the tablet commerce achievements in the country, “Backed by cash-rich marketing and A-list celebrity endorsements, Cherry Mobile and Starmobile continue to feed the appetite of Filipino consumers for budget-friendly tablets. The rising demand for tablets from these homegrown players will keep the Philippines tablet market on a growth trajectory in 2014.”

Augmented reality glasses apps sought by Epson in Israel

| June 19, 2014

The company is hoping that Tel Aviv will provide applications for its AR wearables.

Epson, a company that is best known for its printer tech, has now started an Israel based marketing campaign for its augmented reality glasses only one week after those wearable devices experienced their European and American debuts.

These AR based wearable technology devices are somewhat similar in idea to Google Glass.

Their augmented reality glasses are called the Epson Moverio BT-200. They include sensors, cameras, projects, as well as Bluetooth connection, which allows an Android smartphone or tablet to be displayed and projected onto the glasses so it can be seen by the wearer. Elements of the device’s software were originally developed in Israel, according to the executive vice president in charge of marketing the Movero BT-200, from Epson Europe, Valerie Riffaud-Cangelos.

These augmented reality glasses now need a broader range of apps and Epson is turning back to Israel for them.

The wearables weigh only 88 grams and are filled with various sensor and imaging components that allow wearers to be able to view what they would otherwise see on the screen of the Android device. In this, they are comparable to the idea behind Google Glass. They can see their emails on the glasses or check out the latest social media posts. It is even possible to watch YouTube videos or browse through web content.

Riffaud-Cangelos explained that the whole idea of the Moverio is that it should be used with augmented reality apps. “For example, you could have an app where a person would see an overlay of how to change a tire while they are actually doing it.” In theory, they would be able to save time, frustration, and money because they could follow a pattern that was being shown to them over top of their view of the real world jack and bolts.

Equally, the augmented reality glasses could also be used for fitness activities and for entertainment games. It could demonstrate the right moves for a specific type of physical activity, such as yoga, or show students how something would have looked if they were seeing it hundreds of years ago.