Tag: apple

Barnes and Noble to Close 1/3 of Stores

Posted on by Lab Team

Recognizing competition from digital competitors Amazon and Apple, bookseller Barnes & Noble has announced it will close 1/3 of its stores at a rate of 20 stores a year for the next decade.  This hardly comes as a surprise as tablets and e-readers like the Apple iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire become increasingly ubiquitous, and digital continues to encroach on print markets.  The strategy is expected to increase demand for Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-readers, which saw shrinking sales last quarter.

Google Maps For iOS Hands-On

Posted on by Lab Team

Apple continued its mapping walk of shame yesterday as Google Maps rocketed to the top free app spot in the app store on its first night.  The lesson to be learned here is that while you may want to crush your competitors and limit their real estate on your device, you better be able to back that up with a great equivalent product.  If you don’t, it’s bound to backfire.  

iPhone’s Lack Of NFC Slows Growth Forecast

Posted on by Lab Team

NFC has tremendous application for mobile payments and marketing but Apple’s decision to not include NFC functionality has slowed it’s predicted growth. Because NFC chips must be embedded into handsets, adoption relies on manufacturers like Samsung and Apple to incorporate the technology in their hardware. With the exclusion of NFC in iPhone 5, Juniper Research predicts NFC to be a $110 billion industry in 2017, down from it’s prior $180 billion estimation.