Report: One In Five U.S...

Internet adoption among U.S. adults increased rapidly from the mid-’90s to about 2005. Since then, though, the number of adult Internet users has remained almost stable at around 75 to 80%. The Pew Internet & American Life Project’s latest poll shows that this trend continued in 2011. Those who are online use the Internet more than ever before, but about one in five U.S. adults is simply not online. According to this report, “senior citizens, those who prefer to take our interviews in Spanish rather than English, adults with less than a high school education, and those living in households earning less than $30,000 per year are the least likely adults to have Internet access.” Age, household income and education have remained the strongest positive predictors of Internet use since Pew started tracking these numbers. Virtually every U.S. household with an annual income over $75,000 is online, but that’s only true for 63% of adults who live in a household with an annual income under $30,000. The numbers look quite similar for different education levels: 94% of adults with post-graduate degrees are online, but 57% of those without high school diplomas remain offline. Beside the obvious economic barriers to entry, though, the Pew poll also found that half of those who don’t go online do so because they just don’t think “the Internet is relevant to them.” One in five of those who are not online today think that they just don’t know enough about technology to use the Internet on their own. On the positive side, though, this new study also found that the gap in Internet access between whites and minorities in the U.S. is slowly disappearing. Neither race nor gender, the Pew report says, “are themselves part of the story of digital differences in its current form.”

Velti Report: iOS Regai...

iOS edged out Android in mobile ad marketshare last month, according to a new report from mobile marketing company Velti . The report is based on data collected from 33,405 apps via the Mobclix Exchange, which Velti acquired in 2010 . It says that at the end of 2011, iOS and Android both had 50 percent marketshare, but that iOS pulled ahead in March, with 53 percent marketshare for the month. March also saw the launch of the new iPad. Apple has already called it “ the strongest iPad launch yet ,” with 3 million units sold in three days. That’s reflected in Velti’s numbers too — the report says that the new iPad accounted for 2.2 percent of all iPad ad impressions this month, compared to 1.5 percent for the iPad 2 in its first month. The report also has data on the most lucrative ad formats and apps. Not surprisingly, larger ads made more money for publishers — a fullscreen iPhone ad saw an average eCPM (price paid per thousand impressions) of $1.22, compared to 59 cents for a standard 300 by 50 banner. On Android, the average eCPM was $1.14 for fullscreen and 33 cents for a standard banner. (The difference on the low end reflects “advertiser demand and preference towards iOS,” Velti says.) Weather apps had the highest eCPM ($1.24), followed by education ($1.17) and lifestyle ($0.89).

Apple Quantifies Their ...

Earlier today, AT&T announced record sales and activation numbers for the new iPad. During the Apple dividend/buyback call, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke of a “record weekend” for the new iPad. Unfortunately, neither had actual numbers to share. And that was odd since normally when Apple has a new record number to crow about, crow they do. This was more of an Amazon maneuver where “records” are set by products selling 4x of another unstated number. Turns out Tim Cook just didn’t want to spoil the surprise. Apple has just issued a release with their actual sales numbers for the first weekend of the new iPad. And the numbers are big. Very big. Three million iPads sold in the first three days big. So how does that stack up to the previous versions of the iPad? Well, Apple didn’t officially announce first weekend sales for the iPad 2, likely because they were very constrained. Analyst estimates pegged the number sold somewhere between 500,000 to somewhere just north of 1 million. So even using the bullish numbers, this iPad launch was roughly 3x as large as the launch last year. Two years ago, Apple sold 300,000 iPads on the first day of sales. Again, the pace here seems to be about 3x that. For comparisons sake, Apple sold 4 million units of the iPhone 4S in its first weekend late last year. Our full review of the new iPad . Over the weekend, a few analysts were jumping over one another to be the first to predict timid sales of the new iPad. Those analysts, once again, now look like huge assclowns. The quote part of the release below: “The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”

Estimate: 90 Million U....

By the end of the year, there will be an estimated 34 million tablet computer users in the U.S., according to new numbers out today from eMarketer . Of those, 28 million (or 83 percent) will be using an iPad. The iPad still rules the tablet world, jumping nearly 160 percent from an estimated 13 million users last year. By 2014, there will be an estimated 61 million iPad users in the U.S. But the iPad’s share of total tablet users will drop to 68 percent. The total number of tablet users in 2014 is estimated to be 90 million. While eMarketer doesn’t break out numbers for any tablet other than the iPad, the obvious question is how much of those remaining 30 million tablet users will be on Kindle Fires or Nooks. Those two seem to be the strongest contenders right now precisely because they come in at a lower price point and are addressing a more limited media consumption set of scenarios. I should note that these estimates are for numbers of users, not devices sold. One iPad or Kindle Fire can be shared by multiple people in a household. For instance, my wife has already absconded with my Kindle Fire, so I guess we count as two users, although I don’t have high hopes of actually getting my hands on it anytime soon. (when she puts it down, my kids grab it to play Fruit Ninja). So I might just have to get my own. I think over time we will see more households with multiple tablets, just like we do today with multiple laptops.

Thanks To The 7 Deadly ...

Sins used to require effort. In biblical times, even sloth meant having to sit around using your imagination. Now, a 1-inch hand gesture is all that separates human kind from the bookmarked sin of choice. The faintest desire for a fix of narcissism sees us pawing through Facebook and Twitter for Likes and retweets. If the task at hand seems daunting, we can hastily retreat to Netflix where we’re only asked to stare. A stray carnal thought can be indulged at any moment thanks to 4Chan and YouPorn. College Humor’s graphic The 7 Deadly Websites is most fascinating not because it’s clever and accurate, but because the internet has removed the taboo from sin. Go ahead, live vicariously through friends as they post about their hot new spouses and high priced vacations, we’re all on Facebook doing the same thing. It’s openly acknowledged that people use Twitter to experience the pride of celebrity, and why put on pants to go to a restaurant when there’s Grub Hub. These services have many redeeming qualities, but they are ripe for misuse. There are angels trying to save us from ourselves. Asana, Khan Academy, Fitbit, Up. But those take at least some determination. Sean Parker at his wickedly extravagant Spotify party said that “Solving the piracy problem can’t happen if you don’t build a service that’s more convenient than piracy.” The same goes for sin. Until technology makes it easier to stay humble, content, active, and pious than to devolve into corruption, righteousness will be reserved for the strongest of will. Alternatively, revel in our damnation, and thank the fates such pleasurable hedonism is now just clicks away.