Tablet computers have been around for quite some time but they never really caught on among the wider consumer markets. Nearly all of them had been pitched for highly specialized purposes in the corporate setting. It took an Apple to bring the tablet computer to more than 3 million consumers in just 80 days from launching. This was the Apple iPad. The world of tablet computing was never the same again.

Creating a New Mobile Gadget Genre

Reading the specs of the iPad, one has to wonder why it was never done before. But a closer look suggests that iPad required the success of the iPhone and the Kindle to pave the way for market receptivity to it. Multimedia, internet surfing and emailing on the iPad brings unparalleled experience to these.

Powered by a 1 GHz Apple A4 SoC that had the ARM Cortex A8 processor in it and running the same platform as the iOS4 that would soon run the new iPhone 4 after it, the iPad was less powerful laptop. But it wasn’t meant to replace a laptop. It was meant to be better than a laptop in the multimedia and internet surfing departments with a half the weight of the lightest laptop at 1.5lbs and half as thick.

One could say that a laptop could easily do the job, along with a mobile phone. But Apple took the gamble and gave the world what was clearly superior to the most popular smartphone ever made, the iPhone, and gave it the dimensions that made the laptop a favorite internet and multimedia gadget.

In the words of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the Apple iPad is actually “way better than a laptop, way better than a smartphone.”

Better than the iPhone and Laptops

The Apple iPad has a couple of outstanding features no laptop has. Its 9.7-inch IPS (In-Plane Switching) LED backlighted display simply outclasses all laptops. With XGA resolution and 16 million colors, watching a movie on it while on the road has no competition.

You can watch clips or images in any orientation thanks to its 3-axis accelerometer. You don’t even need a keyboard although this is optional from its proprietary 30-pin docking connectivity. Its capacitive touchscreen with multitouch and gesture input capability is all you need. If this feature was the key that catapulted the iPhone to iconic status, wait till you experience it on the iPad’s bigger screen.

It gets better with a battery life that allows you to watch three full length movies end to end that no laptop can do at this time. You get 10 hours of movie watching or 140 hours of non-stop music listening on a single full charge.

Internet surfing is always a fulfilling experience on screens larger than even the largest screen on a mobile phone. The Apple iPad offers WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n and the option to go HSDPA over 3G of your surfing needs. In fact, the Apple iPad becomes a phone by just using a headset or its speaker and microphone facilities.

Nowadays the role of press releases has changed a lot – they have become an excellent distribution vehicle for companies who sell software online. It has become a great cost-effective channel for the companies who have been on the market for a long time as well as for the young companies. Once you start to publish press releases, you will increase awareness of your products and create back links to your website. This will result in the web site traffic growth and will lead to software downloads.

How to start PR distribution
Software companies always have many types of news. PR distribution ideally should be a steady process, so you have constant appeal to your clients and journalists.
In your press release you may want to write about a solution that servers a unique niche of the market, your company attending software industry events, awards received, new version releases, software updates, new partnerships, sales increase and much more.

Effective press releases
Some of us are still used to thinking of press releases as an old way to contact media. Modern PRs are very far from the old style – they may have audio, video, graphics, i.e. lots of things that will attract your audience. PRs tend to be more social and client-oriented. These are reasons why you need to put in product information your clients would be more likely to read.
Most of the news releases that software companies publish are product or customer related. To attract more customers, put free trial offers in the releases of your software products. Press releases should highlight your success stories and contain expert solutions as a leading software company in the industry. Give readers more examples of the benefits they can get with your software. People are not looking for your product; they are looking for solutions to perform the tasks.

What is the best way to distribute PR?
News release wires offer a great opportunity for software companies to cover hundreds of web sites, including online news services like Yahoo! and Google. Make sure your PR is highly optimized – it uses keywords that make it easier to be found by your customers and has links to your web site.

Is PR really helpful for selling software online?
If you want to sell software online effectively, try looking for different ways to increase your web site traffic and attract targeted audiences. Doing effective PR on a regular basis will help you to accomplish these goals. People will be aware of your solutions and the company brand and will be more likely to make a purchase once they understand they can trust the company that offers the solution they are looking for. PR distribution is considered to be a long-lasting form of promotion because once PR is published and later archived you can still get visitors coming from PR links.

Natalia is a marketing manager at PayPro Global, a Canadian corporation with global presence. She possesses an extensive background in marketing communications and holds a master’s degree in computer science as well.

By now, most of us use search engines to search for people, places, products, and businesses that we are interested in or want to learn about, however, Google offers so much more in terms of searching tools. Are you using them?

Go to Google.com and try out some of the tricks below.

Flight Tracking: Need to know flight details? Type in the airline and the flight number to receive the departure and arrival times as well as the cities and airport codes.

What to type example: American Airlines 1234

Package Tracking: Expecting a package from UPS, USPS, or FedEx? Enter the tracking number into Google for instant package status.

What to type example: 1Z9999999999999999

Weather: Planning an outing and need to determine weather conditions? Enter the word weather and then the city or zip code.

What to type example: weather Raleigh NC

Sunrise and Sunset: Need to know when the sun is going to rise or set today? Enter the word sunset (or sunrise) and the location.

What to type example: sunset Raleigh NC

World Time: Need to know what time it is in another location or timezone? Type in the word time and then the location.

What to type example: time Raleigh NC

Population: Interested in the population of an area? Type in population and then the area.

What to type example: population Orange County, NC

Local Search: Have a craving for pizza and need to locate restaurants close to you? Search the type of food (or other service) with your zip code

What to type example: pizza 27722

Movie Showtimes: Google will display current movie showtimes around your area. Type in movies and your zip code.

What to type example: movies 27722

Definitions: Need to know the definition of a word? Type the word define and then the word you would like defined.

What to type example: define indigo

Cooking Conversions: Making a recipe that calls for ounces but you only have measuring cups?

What to type example: 4 ounces in cups

Unit Conversions: Google will calculate unit conversions as well such as volume, weight, length etc.

What to type example: 17cm in inches

Currency Conversions: Need to know how much your money is worth in another currency? Type in the amount, current currency, and then the currency you need the information for.

What to type example: 100 USD=Euros

Calculator: Google also has a calculating function. To get the answer to a math related question, type in the equation.

What to type example: 7+6=

Advanced Calculator: Google will compute more advanced math equations such as algebra etc.

What to type example: (5*2)+(5-2)/2=

What to type example: sine(49)=

Translation: Type in translate, the word you want translated, the original language, and then the language you would like the word translated into.

What to type example: translate hello English to Spanish

Stock Information: Type in the stock name to get real-time stock quotes and information.