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Fujilfilm XM1 Review [and XA1/XE2 Thoughts]

06 Nov

A review of the Fujifilm XM1 by Ben Evans from www.EnglishPhotographer.com.

I knew mirrorless cameras were the future when Fujifilm launched their X-Pro1. Small and light like a Leica but with the practicality of autofocus, it had the image quality to live up to its name. When Fujifilm put the same innovative X-trans sensor in the X-E1 I recommended it over its bigger brother.

Fujilfilm XM1 Review 1

Well, they’ve just done it again; the new X-M1 has the same amazing sensor in a smaller, lighter, cheaper camera body. Don’t confuse it with the X-A1, which doesn’t have the X-trans sensor. Or with the X100s, which can’t change lenses. Or with the XE-2, which is better but more expensive. We’re paying less, so we get less. What’s missing; and what do we miss?

The X-Pro1 had a hybrid optical and electronic viewfinder and the screen. The X-E1 lost the optical viewfinder so action and low-light photography was trickier, but gave us an upgraded electronic viewfinder (apparently from Sony’s top-end RX1). The X-M1 has no viewfinder so you have to compose with the screen. In practice this means less battery life, shakier pictures and poor visibility in bright light. But now the screen tilts, which I like.

Fujilfilm XM1 Review 2

Gone also is the svelte metal toughness of the X-Pro1, replaced with pretty plastic. But gone too what little weight was there before. I carry too much, so lighter wins every time. If I wanted tough I’d get a Pentax.

The kit lens is back to being a kit lens; cheap and slow with a maximum aperture from f3.5 to f5.6. This also means slower focussing in low light. There’s no aperture control on the lens nor switches for manual focus or stabilization. It’s pretty small and image quality is okay. But better to buy a proper X mount lens; the 35mm f1.4 beats all of Leica’s (it has autofocus!) and Zeiss now supports the system too. Fuji have a sensible roadmap for new lenses, which makes building a kit viable.

With the same lens, the image quality of the X-M1 should match its pricier siblings. Reading around, it seems the different chip may diminish quality slightly, but this could be that the jpegs are tuned to the consumer’s taste for stronger noise reduction and more sharpening.

Fujilfilm XM1 Review 3

You also lose out with the controls. The X-M1 is a machined metal dial short of a immersive user experience. You’ll get used to it but its no X-Pro1. But for people who’ll just be using auto or program it’s really excellent and the quick menu is very helpful.

Technology gets faster, and technology gets smaller. The X-M1 is as small as we’d want to go. Some manufacturers have made the mistake mobile phone makers made a few years ago; sacrificing usability for diminutive size.

Fujilfilm XM1 Review 4

This points to a characteristic of Fujifilm; they seem to understand what photographers want. Why? They listen. The XE1 had slow autofocus; the XE2 addresses this. The X Series cameras were a bit pricey for many people; the XM1 and XA1 were launched. It’s a pleasure to see a tiltable LCD screen on both.

But there’s a flaw in that clichéd Capitalist aphorism, ‘give the people what they want’ – as Steve Jobs made a billion proving, often they don’t know until you show them. And so it is; the rush to flesh out the X system has led Fujifilm to launch too many cameras, too quickly.

Fujilfilm XM1 Review 5

Looking at the images, for the bodies are almost identical, the XM1 has only a small advantage over the XA1. So why pay more? Looking at the XM1, it’s difficult to ignore the similarly priced XE1s rendered obsolete by the XE2. They’re all great cameras, but what’s to choose between them?

It comes down to how you’ll use it. Photographing an international event for charity that required social media engagement, the XM1 with its built-in wifi was the right choice; it’s simple enough to edit the images on a phone using Snapseed them upload them. The wifi is useful then; but surely it would be worth hiring an app developer to enable proper remote control of the camera too.

Fujilfilm XM1 Review 6

If you’re able, spend a bit more on the XE2 or the X-Pro2 if/when it’s announced. The quality will be a bit better, and you’ll benefit from faster focussing. Otherwise, compare the used/ end-of-line price of an XE1 against the XM1 and XA1, weighing up wifi and a tiltable LCD on the XM1/XA1 against slightly better quality and a viewfinder (XE1). Ultimately, it’s the quality problem of too much choice; pick one and just photograph with it!

Fujilfilm XM1 Review 7

Check out the new Fujifilm X-Series Video

Ben Evans is the author of Photography: The Few Things You Need To Know, available at www.GreatBigBear.com. He is an English-speaking Barcelona photographer – www.EnglishPhotographer.com teaching photography with www.BarcelonaPhotographyCourses.com.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Fujilfilm XM1 Review [and XA1/XE2 Thoughts]

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Primitive Coast V + Thoughts On The Singh-Ray 10-Stop Mor-Slo Filter

05 Sep

Primitive Coast V - landscape photography by Jim M. Goldstein

One of my favorite techniques to tame the chaotic beauty of the ocean into a smooth surreal scene is to take long exposures. Earlier in the year I decided to buy and test the Singh-Ray 10 Stop Mor-Slo filter. One of the big features I liked about this filter over the Lee Big Stopper filter is that it was actually available and Singh-Ray makes an amazingly high quality product that produces minimal color cast.  I was using a 100mm square version of the filter that has a foam framing around the edge to minimize light leaks. If you venture out to get this filter the one thing I’ll warn you about is to pay attention to how you place the filter in your filter holder. The 100mm and 150mm square filters foam framing has been cut so that it slides in a certain way. If you force the filter in the wrong way you’ll tear and rip off the foam framing. Easy to do if you’re rushing, fatigued and just plain not paying attention. If you’re using a screw mount version of the filter this is a non-issue. Overall a great filter and worthy of the premium price.

As for my image “Primitive Coast V”, pictured above, I took this image just after the sun set and as the blue hour was approaching. The long exposure, lengthened by the 10-Stop Mor-Slo filter, helped more of the rich red color register on my camera sensor giving a naturally intense coloration to the scene. I normally keep shooting photos until the last bit of light is present to capture such color, but now waiting and using the Mor-Slo filter opens doors to even more interesting color photos especially on the tail end of the day when you’d think no more light is present.

Photo Details

Canon 5D Mark III, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM,  f/13,  ISO 100, 4 min with Singh-Ray 10-Stop Mor-Slo filter

Copyright Jim M. Goldstein, All Rights Reserved

Primitive Coast V + Thoughts On The Singh-Ray 10-Stop Mor-Slo Filter

The post Primitive Coast V + Thoughts On The Singh-Ray 10-Stop Mor-Slo Filter appeared first on JMG-Galleries – Landscape, Nature & Travel Photography.

       

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Nikon D5000 Thoughts & (Review)

01 Nov

Hey guys ithree6mafia here: reviewing the nikon d5000 that i always use 🙂

Sized for a pro size DSLR with up to a 70-200 f2.8 lens attached. The Hydrophobia® 70-200 protects valuable photo equipment from the elements during active use. Keep shooting in the rain, snow or blowing sand. The Hydrophobia gives you peace of mind that you can capture the moment in almost any weather!

 
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Posted in Nikon Videos

 

My Thoughts on SmugMug’s Price Increase

21 Oct

A lot of people have asked me over the weekend what I think about SmugMug’s price increase. On Friday SmugMug co-founder Chris “Baldy” MacAskill presented a video outlining why SmugMug needed to raise prices. Basically it comes down to the fact that Pros really do use a TON of storage and now more than ever. SmugMug (like everybody these days) uses cloud storage and replicated storage for terabytes of data (possible for a single customer with today’s DSLRs and fast bandwidth speeds) is EXPENSIVE.

Back in 2005, when SmugMug last changed their pricing, it was harder to really flood a site with with serious storage. Bandwidth speeds were slower, file sizes were smaller, processing technology wasn’t as fast. Today Nikon’s D800 has a whopping 36.3 megapixel image. We’ve grown used to super fast bandwidth and now with my new MacBook Pro the only thing slowing me down in Lightroom is me. I can process so many more images today in Lightroom than I could with Photoshop back in 2005.

So SmugMug was faced with a tough decision — continue losing money on many of their best customers, or raise prices. Well, they had other choices as well, but none of them fun. They could start charging based on how much storage you use, but this would hit their highest grossing Pros even harder in many cases. They could start throttling your upload speeds to slow you down. Can you imagine how frustrating that would be (that’s how most of the cheapo cloud storage backup providers do it for dollars a month). They could take a higher percentage of your photo sales, but again this would cost many working photographers even more money.

What SmugMug decided to do is to ask their business customers (the ones who use the most storage and make the most *money* off the site btw) to pay $ 100 more.

Nobody likes to see prices raised — especially the working Pro photographer. Times are tough and every penny counts. It bothers me though to see SmugMug being attacked online. If Canon charges $ 100 more for a lens do Pros complain? Sure, but not like some of the comments I’ve read regarding SmugMug’s price increase. If Canon raises the price of a lens $ 100 does David Pogue from the NY Times feel the need to tweet about it? Canon, a huge nameless faceless corporation can raise prices and people don’t even notice, but SmugMug an accessible family run business does it and people take it out on them.

I pay Canon $ 500/year for their platinum CPS service. This is a service that gets me things that are valuable to me (discounted repairs, expedited shipping, loaner lenses), things that ultimately help me make money. It’s a cost to me but I justify it because I make money off my photography. I bet a lot of the other Pros on SmugMug use this service too. It’s part of the cost of doing business.

It’s odd for me to see people trying to compare this move by SmugMug as Netflix like. Huh? A consumer DVD rental company vs. a professional services company used to sell your photos? Let’s compare the situation to something a little more similar. Last year I made about $ 3,600 off my Flickr photos. I made this money through the Getty/Flickr deal. Flickr charges me $ 25/year to store my photos and won’t let me sell my photos myself on Flickr. Do you know how much Flickr/Getty grossed with my photos? About $ 18,000.

If people want to complain about high fees, how about complaining about Getty/Flickr payouts. Last year they took around $ 14,400 of the money made by *my* photos. You see Getty pays photographers 20% and keeps 80%. SmugMug on the other hand gives Pros an ecommerce engine that can sell both stock and prints and they pay out 85% of mark ups and keep 15%.

Yesterday a client contacted me about using a photo for stock that I own. I had to redirect them to Getty because Getty also demands an exclusive right on my images that they represent. Bummer! 20% instead of 100% sucks. I still use Getty/Flickr though. It’s a cost of doing business. SmugMug likewise is a cost of doing business for a photographer. If you don’t want to do it for business then just use the cheaper plan without the ecommerce engine.

The fact of the matter is that Pros have flocked to SmugMug because it gives them a very valuable tool that they need. Unlimited storage, an ecommerce engine with a high payout and really some of the most amazing customer service on the planet. They are a truly wonderful unique family run business operating in the photography space. What they are not, however, is a charity. They are in business to make money and they can’t continue losing money on their most active customers year in and year out. If someone doesn’t need the ecommerce engine the price is the same. If someone DOES use the ecommerce engine though (the biggest storage users and the ones making money off the site) then they will have to pay more. This sounds fair to me.

So those are my thoughts on SmugMug’s price increase. I support the company, one that has done so much for the photography community, and hope that this tough business decision is something that people can come to terms with and move on beyond.

[Disclosure: SmugMug is a former sponsor of my former photography show Photo Talk Plus, they are not a current sponsor of anything I’m doing though as we’re taking a break with the show. I also consider many of the wonderful people who work there personal friends.]


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” Food For Thoughts, Delivered Through The Visual Arts “

16 Mar

A few nice visual art images I found:

” Food For Thoughts, Delivered Through The Visual Arts “
visual art
Image by UggBoy?UggGirl [ PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL ]
=

THE LAST OF THE RED WINE (THE PREQUEL/SEQUEL)

“Oh come on Simon, he’s made some good projects. Remember the hedge fund he did at the ICA managed by monkeys? He earned two million pounds! Didn’t even have to pay the monkeys!…”

Early in 2011 an unlikely group of artists, comedians and writers worked together on The Last of the Red Wine, a radio sitcom set in the artworld. Used to being the subject of their own work, the collaborators instead cast themselves in a collective farce, written and performed in the course of one week.

The next instalment of the sitcom at Project Arts Centre, The Last of the Red Wine (the prequel/sequel), dissects the mix of people and personalities involved in the original project and examines the processes of self-representation in their individual practices. Presented as a selection of videos and installations, it reveals the further absurdities of art and the artworld, as experienced by serious artists with ridiculous ideas.

Location: Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland

Camera: Leica Camera AG X1

=

” Food For Thoughts, Delivered Through The Visual Arts “
visual art
Image by UggBoy?UggGirl [ PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL ]
=

THE LAST OF THE RED WINE (THE PREQUEL/SEQUEL)

“Oh come on Simon, he’s made some good projects. Remember the hedge fund he did at the ICA managed by monkeys? He earned two million pounds! Didn’t even have to pay the monkeys!…”

Early in 2011 an unlikely group of artists, comedians and writers worked together on The Last of the Red Wine, a radio sitcom set in the artworld. Used to being the subject of their own work, the collaborators instead cast themselves in a collective farce, written and performed in the course of one week.

The next instalment of the sitcom at Project Arts Centre, The Last of the Red Wine (the prequel/sequel), dissects the mix of people and personalities involved in the original project and examines the processes of self-representation in their individual practices. Presented as a selection of videos and installations, it reveals the further absurdities of art and the artworld, as experienced by serious artists with ridiculous ideas.

Location: Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland

Camera: Leica Camera AG X1

=

 
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” Food For Thoughts, Delivered Through The Visual Arts “

05 Mar

Check out these visual art images:

” Food For Thoughts, Delivered Through The Visual Arts “
visual art
Image by UggBoy?UggGirl [ PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL ]
=

THE LAST OF THE RED WINE (THE PREQUEL/SEQUEL)

“Oh come on Simon, he’s made some good projects. Remember the hedge fund he did at the ICA managed by monkeys? He earned two million pounds! Didn’t even have to pay the monkeys!…”

Early in 2011 an unlikely group of artists, comedians and writers worked together on The Last of the Red Wine, a radio sitcom set in the artworld. Used to being the subject of their own work, the collaborators instead cast themselves in a collective farce, written and performed in the course of one week.

The next instalment of the sitcom at Project Arts Centre, The Last of the Red Wine (the prequel/sequel), dissects the mix of people and personalities involved in the original project and examines the processes of self-representation in their individual practices. Presented as a selection of videos and installations, it reveals the further absurdities of art and the artworld, as experienced by serious artists with ridiculous ideas.

Location: Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland

Camera: Leica Camera AG X1

=

” Food For Thoughts, Delivered Through The Visual Arts “
visual art
Image by UggBoy?UggGirl [ PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL ]
=

THE LAST OF THE RED WINE (THE PREQUEL/SEQUEL)

“Oh come on Simon, he’s made some good projects. Remember the hedge fund he did at the ICA managed by monkeys? He earned two million pounds! Didn’t even have to pay the monkeys!…”

Early in 2011 an unlikely group of artists, comedians and writers worked together on The Last of the Red Wine, a radio sitcom set in the artworld. Used to being the subject of their own work, the collaborators instead cast themselves in a collective farce, written and performed in the course of one week.

The next instalment of the sitcom at Project Arts Centre, The Last of the Red Wine (the prequel/sequel), dissects the mix of people and personalities involved in the original project and examines the processes of self-representation in their individual practices. Presented as a selection of videos and installations, it reveals the further absurdities of art and the artworld, as experienced by serious artists with ridiculous ideas.

Location: Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland

Camera: Leica Camera AG X1

=

 
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Dilbert Animated Cartoons – Aura of Incompetence, Year End Spending and Deep Thoughts

07 Aug

Go to www.babelgum.com to see all the new cartoons! www.dilbert.com by Scott Adams. RingTales presents Dilbert Animated Cartoons. Wally radiates. The Boss pontificates
Video Rating: 4 / 5

www.dilbert.com by Scott Adams. RingTales presents a Dilbert Animated Cartoon. The company depends on the new product.. Wally rationalizes his work habits. Wally presents a Powerpoint presentation. ”

 

Thoughts on the iPad: Realizing Potential of Mobile Apps

30 Oct

To conclude my monthly series “Thoughts on the iPad” where I previously discussed future audience trends in Where Will Your Audience Be Next Year? and developing eCommerce trends with mobile apps in Cracking the Code to Web Revenue? I wanted to discuss the web marketing potential of mobile apps. With all signs pointing toward a shift in user adoption with mobile devices and eCommerce trends highlighting an increase in mobile app consumption, the natural questions are “How is this relevant to me? ” and “How can the potential of mobile apps be realized?”  The answer to these questions are most certainly subjective, but here is my take.

How are mobile apps relevant to me?
The earliest adopters of mobile applications (service & content publishers) have by and large been larger brands with deeper pockets or small tech companies looking to capture the attention of early adopters with novel products & services. For some mobile apps have been a way to establish an image of hip or cool, a means to create PR buzz or to push the envelope establishing a new business model. As it relates to small business owners, such as photographers, the question inevitably arises how is this new platform relevant to me?

Mobile apps provide a very interesting solution to a challenge faced by all businesses regardless of size, namely generating revenue online. Don’t get me wrong there are multiple approaches to generating revenue online including straight sales (ex. books, prints, ebooks, etc), freemium (ex. MailChimp, my email marketing service of choice, offers limited free service with expanded services costing money), advertising, subscription, etc. Each of these business models can be accomplished outside of the realm of mobile applications through a standard website. Unlike the standard website mobile applications excel in revenue generation because:

  1. There is an understood expectation that apps at some point cost money
  2. They’re mobile and your audience can make a purchase virtually anywhere
  3. They facilitate instant sharing of online testimonials between customers and prospective customers via social media & email
  4. Transaction conversion rates by app customers are trending higher than standard web customers
  5. They can unify existing web properties (marketing and commerce) into a powerful sales tool

Realizing the Potential of Mobile Apps
Depending on your business model there are numerous ways to realize the potential of mobile applications. I can’t claim to know the exact answer for everyone, but the clues to finding the right answer for you are in the list above. Personally I feel the most novel aspect of mobile apps is the ability to hone marketing and sales efforts into a razor sharp tool. Utilizing a mobile app to act as a lens that focuses ones online presence is an incredible opportunity. Such an approach not only pulls together disparate online efforts it reinforces brand, messaging and product/service offerings.

On that note, look out for my next post later today for an exciting announcement that will show how I’m applying such theory to my business online.

Technorati Tags: technology, mobile, app, application, photography, iPad

Copyright Jim M. Goldstein, All Rights Reserved

Thoughts on the iPad: Realizing Potential of Mobile Apps


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Thoughts on the iPad: Where Will Your Audience Be Next Year?

26 Sep

In my previous post All Eyes Are On The iPad. Are Yours? I noted how the iPad was setting the stage for a publishing revolution with its transformational user experience. How have I come to this bold prediction? Three key signs have led me to the belief we’re on the cusp of a publishing revolution in short order.

  1. Tablet computers are currently the next must have device.
  2. Touchscreen interaction / navigation will be spreading to traditional computers
  3. Touchscreen interaction / navigation is defining an entire new branch of user interaction & user experience

Must Have Device
If you haven’t noticed already there are iPad giveaways around every corner. Apple’s iPad has captured the imagination of millions of people by changing how they interact with content on the web. This same fervor hit consumers in the 80’s with the mouse and here in the 2010’s touchscreen technology is making online viewing less abstract and physically more interactive. Apple’s ability to hit it big with the iPad, as with their other successful product launches, inevitably results in competitors releasing cheaper takeoffs. Odds are if you know someone who wants a gadget for Christmas they’ll be asking for an iPad. If an iPad isn’t in the budget you can bet that your local retailer like BestBuy will be selling a variety of competitors to fill the void.

Expect Touchscreen Interaction on Your Computer
Mobile devices are an intuitive place to utilize touchscreen technology. Mobile devices with their small footprint must be compact for portability while walking a fine line to provide an easy to view screen with easy navigation capabilities. Ask a child to view something on a computer and their first reaction invariably will be to point to the screen. This exemplifies the simplest navigation tool available… our fingers. As mobile devices become ubiquitous amongst younger generations such navigation is not only going to become intuitive, but expected.

The difference between a 3.5 inch (9 cm) and a 9.75 inch (24.5 cm) diagonal touchscreen of an iPhone & iPad may seem less than notable, but the increase in real estate to present text, images and video is huge. Everything (navigation cues, graphics, buttons, etc.) becomes easier to identify, touch, and move. Larger screen sizes also create greater opportunity for new and innovative navigation and presentation layers.  This type of content interaction is not likely to be lost on traditional computers with even larger screens, as recently surfaced Apple patent filings of a touchscreen iMac confirm we’ll be seeing more of this style of interaction on future computers.

Evolution of Web Use & Design Standards
In a recent edition of Wired magazine it was prognosticated that the web is dead.

Over the past few years, one of the most important shifts in the digital world has been the move from the wide-open Web to semiclosed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display. It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule. And it’s the world that consumers are increasingly choosing, not because they’re rejecting the idea of the Web but because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives (the screen comes to them, they don’t have to go to the screen). The fact that it’s easier for companies to make money on these platforms only cements the trend. – The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet

How the data is parsed to come to this conclusion is questionable in my book (video is not considered the web? really!? What about YouTube?), but this Wired article in general raises an interesting premise and should make you think twice about how you’re experiencing the web today and how you & your audience might be experiencing it in the future.

The iPad, being the first out of the gate, will have a disproportionate amount of influence on design standards and user experience trends for the touchscreen oriented content. Knowing these standards and understanding how users are interacting with online content is critical whether  that content resides in a web page, app, peer-to-peer site, etc.  The question then raised is how does your web site translate to a touchscreen device like an iPad? In case you were unaware iPadPeek is a great way to see (just be sure you disable Flash on your browser first).  The even bigger question is how will your audience be viewing the content you produce and publish online?

Will traditional web sites hold up? Will apps be the dominant channel of online publishing? Will mobile viewing overtake traditional computer viewing? I have a notion of how things will play out in the future and it centers on a maturing model of revenue generation, but details to this thought will have to wait for the next post in this series Thoughts on the iPad: Cracking the Code to Web Revenue? Stay tuned…

Technorati Tags: photography, Apple, iPad, publishing

Copyright Jim M. Goldstein, All Rights Reserved

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Thoughts on the iPad: Cracking the Code to Web Revenue?

14 Sep

In my previous post Thoughts on the iPad: Where Will Your Audience Be Next Year? I noted that current tablet computer trends are painting a picture of a transformed landscape where one’s audience might be interacting with online content in a radically different manner and frequency. Not only does mobile access through a device like the iPad impact navigation & content structure, it has the ability to shift expectation in how web viewers pay for content. There are some very clear signs pointing to this shifting trend and it begs the question, “Has the code to web revenue been cracked?”

Advent of the App Store
One thing is certain Apple’s iTunes App store has changed the landscape before us since its release in mid-2008. With the release of the iPhone 2.0 OS software came the App Store, supplementing the iTunes music store, and soon others were quickly trying to duplicate the wild success of this newly created platform.  Now Apps downloads are on course to  surpass music downloads from the Apple iTunes store by the end of 2010. In roughly 2 years time that is an amazing accomplishment considering the current rate of music sales on iTunes has taken 7 years to reach its current level.  The larger phenomenon of the app craze has even spawned an App convention that is taking place here in San Francisco this week.

While Apple wasn’t the first to create an App platform (Facebooks App platform was released in 2007), they’re the first to tie it to a wildly popular consumer device, the iPad. As previously noted in my first post to this series All Eyes Are On The iPad. Are Yours?, it has been predicted that Apple will ship 12.9 million units this year, with shipments rising to 36.5 million next year and 50.4 million in 2012 and by any means that should be an eye opener. An eye opener because the combination of device sales and App download forecasts might just be indicators of a perfect storm on the horizon that shifts how many people interact with content on the web.

Revenue: Has the Web Found It?
Will the web as we know it be replaced by Apps? I doubt it, but where the web failed to convert user activity into revenue Apps just might be the long sought after holy grail many web entrepreneurs have been waiting for. While Apps have proven to be a potentially lucrative revenue creator not all App stores are created equally. In February 2010 Distimo reported that 75% of Apple Apps and 43% of Android Apps were paid apps and later in August 2010 Pingdom reported similar findings that 70% of Apple Apps and 36% of Android Apps were paid apps.

Interesting findings from the May 2010 AdMob Mobile Metrics report is that on average users of the iOS (Apple) and Android platforms spend at least 79 minutes a day using apps (note: Apple iOS users spend 89 minutes a day) and download 9 apps per month. The user activity is definitely a positive as most web sites are lucky to break the double digits in user activity sessions. The phenomenon of app dowloading has spawned an interesting trend as well… a mild addiction to downloading apps. In passing I’ve talked to several iPad/iPhone users that enjoy downloading apps almost as much as using the apps themselves. Nielsen reports that iPhone users for example download on average 40 apps versus Android users at 25 apps, both of which are an increase over 2009 findings.

Pricing
App pricing best practices seems to be the big mystery at the moment and is something I’m still researching. One interesting piece of data I surfaced concludes that downloads are not linked to price. This was in relation to game apps which might very well carry a different customer expectation to the photography market. While I can’t say much in definitive terms about app pricing I can say that higher prices will only be supported by app content/services that are of high value to users. There have been no shortage of apps commanding upward of .99 or more that have found themselves in the iTunes top-revenue/grossing list. Ultimately pricing will have to be tailored to the nature of the app. A photographer may very well want to release a free portfolio app in an effort to draw as many eyes as possible to their work versus charging for an eBook.

Looking into the Crystal Ball?
The web certainly will not be shrinking into oblivion, but content or services being produced to generate revenue may very well be predisposed to the app world.  What apps have going for them, unlike standard web content, is that they come bundled with the expectation they cost money to acquire and use. For the truly creative who frame content of value in an app there is certainly money to be made. On the flip-side of that sentiment with hundreds of thousands of apps in the current marketplace not all apps cost money. Free is not just an attempt to standout, for the savvy developer, it’s part of a calculated strategy. It’s important to note that vast majority of apps are not likely to be profitable, falling into the category of loss-leaders (see my series starting with Assumptions of Free and Taylor Davidson’s great article Free isn’t a problem, it’s an opportunity), but they do offer a unique opportunity to engage & introduce your work and services to others.

In my eye the iPad holds great promise for photographers with the right application. As to how photographers can get the most out of the iPad and take advantage of these trends you’ll want to read my next post on the subject. Stay tuned…

Technorati Tags: photography, photo, Apple, iPad, app

Copyright Jim M. Goldstein, All Rights Reserved

Thoughts on the iPad: Cracking the Code to Web Revenue?


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