MxMIndia

Category: NEWS

  • The Good Times Ambassador is the first brand inIndiato switch to the new Facebook guidelines

    Kingfisher set to recount its ‘Brand Journey’ with Facebook Brand Timeline

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kingfisher, one ofIndia’s top 10 brands on Facebook, has proved yet again that it is one of the most digital-savvy brands in the country. It is the first brand inIndia to adapt Facebook’s ‘Brand Timeline’, giving its consumers ample reasons for a qualitative interaction with the brand.

     

    The switch to Facebook Timeline comes not just as a new look but a strategic move to engage with its consumers more qualitatively while also highlighting the milestones and narrating the story of the brand that was never told before.

     

    The Kingfisher page has been positioned as a facilitator of ‘Good Times’ and strategically does not promote beer, considering the profile of the Facebook users. The Kingfisher Facebook fan page currently enjoys more than 3.3 million likes.

     

    Commenting on the new move, Samar Singh Sheikhawat, Senior Vice President, United Breweries Ltd said: “In the rapidly evolving world of digital communications, the changes might be multiple but the crux remains the same – finding innovative and instantaneous ways of touching the lives of consumers. At Kingfisher, we’ve always strived to set these benchmarks by moving on to new platforms swiftly and utilizing the inherent strengths of the medium to forge a deep, meaningful relationship with our consumers. In keeping with that philosophy, Kingfisher was the first Indian brand to adopt the recently launched Facebook Timeline on February 29. Our endeavour now will be to use the key features of the format in a uniquely creative manner and make the consumer interactions on Facebook richer and more memorable.”

     

    Facebook Timeline went online in September 2011. It offered Facebook users the joy of revisiting their lives with a collection of photos, posts and apps facilitating a digital autobiography! Facebook has now rolled out the Timeline for brands which will transform the way brands communicate and interact with consumers drastically. The latest format provides brands with new options for self expression, allowing them to narrate their corporate story with milestones, highlight the brand’s key campaigns and so on.

     

    Kingfisher made its entry into Facebook in April 2008 and has been successful in constantly engaging with its consumers for the last 4 years. The numbers of fans have been growing in leaps and bounds year after year, a clear indication of the ever increasing popularity on Facebook.

    Initiating, fuelling and sustaining conversations remains to be the key challenge any brand faces on social media – Kingfisher is perceived as the benchmark in this space with consistently high levels of interactivity. As a result, currently the brand’s Facebook page flaunts more than 3 million fans, making it one of the top 5 brands on Facebook inIndia. Incidentally, this also makes Kingfisher the second largest beer brand globally on Facebook.

     

    On the other hand on Twitter, Kingfisher has a fair presence with about 17,000 followers. Though Twitter is a fairly new channel in the social media universe of brands inIndia, Kingfisher is perceived as a thought leader and as a brand that listens to consumers, not just talk. This is reinforced by even some of the top global blogs on social media mentioning Kingfisher’s Facebook & Twitter presence individually as amongst the best uses of social media inIndiaby brands.

     

  • Mr Sharma will take over as the head of the Chennai operations in addition to the Bangalore office. He will report to Mallikarjunadas CR, CEO, SMG India

    SMG strengthens South ops, Sriram Sharma elevated

    By A Correspondent

     

    Starcom MediaVest Group has promoted Sriram Sharma as the Vice President, Starcom MediaVest Group, South India. He will take over as the head of the Chennai operations in addition to the Bangalore office. He will continue reporting to Mallikarjunadas CR, CEO, SMG India.

     

    In another senior management appointment GV Sudha has been appointed as the Business Director, Starcom & VivaKi Exchange, Chennai. She will lead all businesses in Chennai and will report to Sriram Sharma. Ms Sudha comes to SMG after a two year stint with Madison. She has 14 years of experience in media and has worked with organizations like Lodestar UM, Ogilvy & Mather and Lintas.

     

    Confirming the appointments, Malli CR said: “We are delighted to announce that Sriram Sharma has been appointed the Vice President for South. His track record with us speaks volumes of his talent and capabilities. We are sure he will lead the southern offices successfully. As for Sudha, we are extremely happy to welcome her to the SMG family. Her experience in media will surely accelerate the growth of SMG in Chennai.”

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Sriram Sharma said: “I am thrilled and honoured to be given this opportunity to lead SMG in the South. My experience till now has been fabulous and I look forward to the new responsibilities.”

     

    Starcom MediaVest Group is one of the youngest, largest and most diversified media networks in the country. It has over 250 human experience strategists and activators across its four full service offices. It prides itself on its ‘people first’ approach at workplace and is known as one of the best places to work in. In addition to communication strategy development through its two networks Starcom Worldwide and MediaVest Worldwide, the group offers solutions in the area of ‘any screen content’ LiquidThread.

     

  • Quick service restaurant company Dunkin' Brands will localise its menu in India to have savoury products

    Dunkin’ Donuts to introduce savoury products at outlets in India

    By Sarah Jacob

     

    Quick service restaurant company Dunkin’ Brands will localise its menu in India to have savoury products, said John Costello, Dunkin Brands’ chief global marketing and innovation officer.

     

    In China, for instance, Dunkin’ Donuts not only retails chocolate-flavoured doughnuts but also rice-based doughnuts called Mochi rings and milk tea. In Singapore, it offers Kaya (coconut-based) doughnuts.

     

    The American firm which has a presence through its 462 Baskin-Robbins outlets in India, will open its first Dunkin’ Donuts store in New Delhi in the first half of 2012. It is betting on NBA player Lebron James to promote both brands in India, besides China, Taiwan and South Korea.

     

    Mr Costello said India’s economy and growing middle class presented a significant opportunity for the $8.4-billion company to partner Jubilant Foodworks and the Indian firm’s success with Dominos Pizza added to it. It plans to have 500 Dunkin’ Donuts outlets in India over 15 years.

     

    “This is our largest national store commitment,” said Mr Costello. As part of the master franchise agreement, Dunkin’ would provide brand, product and marketing expertise and Jubilant Foodworks would build, own and operate the stores in India. Dunkin’ Brands operates 16, 800 outlets globally.

     

    Of this, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for over 5, 400 outlets, driven by brand Baskin Robbins. Mr Costello said the company intends to expand store count to 7,000 in the region by 2015.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Mr Satheesh will spearhead the company's revenue opportunities and oversee the marketing and brand building of the channel

    PR Satheesh joins as President, Travel Trendz TV

    By A Correspondent

     

    PR Satheesh, who recently quit as the President of the mobile solutions company TELiBrahma, has joined Travel Trendz Tv as its president.

     

    Mr Satheesh will spearhead the company’s revenue opportunities acrossIndiaand rest of the world. He would also be overseeing the marketing and brand building of the channel, along with giving strategic inputs in the content creation and distribution space of the channel.

     

    Talking about his role, Mr Satheesh said: “I am excited to be part ofIndia’s first travel channel that plans to projectIndiato Indians and foreign nationals – the true culture, history and diversity ofIndia.”

     

    He has been instrumental in taking TELiBrahma from its nascent stage to a high growth stage, and was part of their recent Series C fundraising efforts from Intel Capital. He had also set up and managedIndia’s first IN Store TV Network Tag Media.

     

    Mr Sateesh has worked with Zee Network, Deccan Chronicle and The Asian Age in the past.

     

    Talking about Mr Satheesh’s appointment, Abdul Azeem, CEO & Executive Director of the company which is promoted by the Agri Gold Group said: “We have found an ideal partner in Satheesh. He brings with him decades of experience in the industry, along with great passion and entrepreneurial mind-set that will go a long way in carving TTTv’s passport to success.”

     

    He added that PR Satheesh joining the company has added a fillip to the efforts of the channel in showcasingIndiain its true spirit towards promoting global travel and tourism in its real spirit.

     

    TTTv has also recently appointed Som Banerjee as the Channel Head. Banerjee comes with an experience of creating content across genres such as sports, travel, fiction and reality. A graduate in Philosophy from thePresidencyCollege, Kolkata, he is a multi-brand and a multi genre professional with over a decade of work experience.

     

  • Experts say it's up to the agencies to help political parties with a nice strategy

    Power of +ve campaigning: Why SP won & BSP, Cong lost

    By Rajiv Singh

     

    Political pundits talk about caste factor, anti-incumbency, development, corruption and so on to explain Tuesday’s assembly election results, but some advertising experts give a completely different explanation – negative advertising failed and positive campaigning clicked.

     

    It’s open to debate if people vote on the basis of advertisements or not, but look at some campaigns:

    “Utho, jaago aur badlo” (Rise, awaken and change) and “Jawab hum denge” (We will give a befitting reply) – the taglines used by the Congress to woo voters in Uttar Pradesh flopped.

     

    Power of Positive Campaigning

    Jeeta and Jaggi – the toon characters used by the Congress to connect with the people in Punjab by poking fun at the Badal government – too failed.

     

    “Na hatya, na phiroti, na balatkaar, hum denge saaf suthri sarkaar” (No murder, extortion or rape, we would give you a clean government) – the BJP’s election plank in Uttar Pradesh didn’t revive the fortunes of the party.

     

    Now, look at what worked: “Umeed ki cycle” (Bicycle of hope), the tagline of Samajwadi Party’s successful campaign in Uttar Pradesh.

     

    “While Mayawati’s BSP and Rahul Gandhi-led Congress were busy fighting each other, the SP talked about problems faced by the aam aadmi,” said veteran adman KV Sridhar.

     

    “That’s why their campaign clicked; it didn’t take a potshot or dig at the rival parties,” added the national creative director of Leo Burnett.

     

    One of the TV commercials made by Arkash Entertainment – the Mumbai-based production house in charge of Samajwadi Party’s campaign – shows a cycle racing past an elephant.

     

    “We wanted to say something without saying anything,” said Arjun Sablok, the creative head of Arkash Entertainment, who made his debut in political advertising with this campaign.

     

    “Our campaign focused on positives and avoided mudslinging,” added the 45-year-old adman and filmmaker who first met Akhilesh Yadav three years ago in a UP village. Saurabh Uboweja, director of brand consulting firm Brands of Desire, said this approach worked because the voter is not in a negative mindset.

     

    “Voters have seen growth recently as a general positive economic environment reverberates in the nation. When one has a positive mindset in general, positive campaigning linked to higher growth will tend to prove more beneficial than dragging voters into the past,” he said.

     

    Mr Sablok – who has made a film with Hrithik Roshan and a music video with Lata Mangeshkar besides several commercials with leading Bollywood actors – said he started preparations for his first political campaign a good nine months before the elections. An outsider in Uttar Pradesh, he travelled extensively to know about the ground realities there. And he used real-life situations and people.

     

    In one of the television commercials, for example, Raju, a rickshaw puller, talks about his problem of working everyday to pay back the loan and then a voiceover says the Samajwadi Party will implement an insurance programme for rickshaw pullers. Other such characters used in the campaign include Buddhiram, a farmer lamenting about lack of electricity, and Neetu, a housewife whose husband works in another state because of lack of jobs in Uttar Pradesh.

     

    Mr Sridhar of Leo Burnett said this smart and straightforward campaign worked at a time when Mayawati and Rahul Gandhi were busy blaming each other.

    So, in his mind, Rahul Gandhi’s relentless campaigning failed to revive the Congress in the country’s most populous state partly because the party’s advertisements failed to connect with people.

    The Congress campaign in UP, created by Percept/H, talked about the misrule of the Mayawati government and asked people to give Congress a chance. “The campaign had no insight into people’s lives,” said Mr Sridhar. Negative campaigning proved disastrous for the Congress in Punjab too, a state that had never before voted the ruling party back to power.

    The opposition party’s campaign, created by Delhi-based advertising agency Crayons, featured toon characters Jeeta and Jaggi who talked about corruption and other problems under the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government.

    This failed to pull down the Badal government.

    The Akalis’ campaign, handled by New Delhi-based agency Brand Curry, highlighted the development work done by the government.

    “Over the past few years, there has been a demographic and psychographic change in the profile of voters. In terms of demographic change, young voters have emerged, who abhor negative campaigning,” said Brand Curry MD Subrata Chakraborty. “In fact, even the old voters have no appetite for advertisements that look down upon others,” he added.

    The BJP, which rose to national prominence in early 1990s with its Ram Janmabhoomi movement centred on Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, lost the plot in the state not only in terms of negative slogans but also due to lack of synergy between its print and television campaigns. “The TV campaign was not in sync with the print campaign,” said a BJP leader in the state.

    One of the TV commercials showed famine-like situation in the state and starving people, he said, requesting anonymity. “But this is not the ground reality. This election was not fought on starvation and malnutrition…This left the people cold.”

    Sushil Pandit, owner of Hive Communications, the ad agency that handled the print campaign for the BJP in UP, said the party highlighted too many issues without a clear focus. “There was no consistency in approach,” he added.

    But experts say it’s up to the agencies to help political parties with a nice strategy.

    “Political advertising is driven by politicians, and not the ad agency, but the strategy should come from agency,” said Prathap Suthan, the creative mind behind the ‘India Shining’ and ‘Incredible India’ campaigns and chief creative officer of tech support firm iYogi.

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • Manoj Barpujari of Dainik Agradoot daily is to be awarded the Best film critic award Swarna Kamal and Rs75,000 for his critiques in English and Assamese

    Assam’s Manoj Barpujari wins Nat Award for film criticism

    By Archita Wagle

     

    The recently announced National Awards 2011 saw Manoj Barpujari win the Best Film Critic award Swarna Kamal and Rs75,000 for his critiques in English and Assamese.

     

    Mr Barpujari is based in Guwahati and works as Assistant Editor with the Assamese daily, Dainik Agradoot. He also “very occasionally” contributes to the English daily, Assam Tribune. He is a member of Indian section of FIPRESCI, the Paris-based international federation of film critics and contributes to the website, www.filmfocusindia.com. He has been associated with the film society movement for more than two decades and has been tutoring on media and film studies. Mr Barpujari’s win makes him the fourth from the North-east to win this award.

     

    Mr Barpujari said that winning the Best Critic award was “Beyond my expectation. I am feeling what any man would feel on winning such a prestigious award.”

     

    When asked about his foray as a film critic, Mr Barpujari said: “I started as a film critic in the early 80s, even before I became a full time journalist. I was very much influenced by the parallel cinema movement in India and that inspired me to write about films. I write mostly about political and social issues. Only 10 per cent of what I write is about films.”

     

    Fellow film critic and Assamese journalist and now a film-maker, Utpal Borpujari, who was also the first from the North-east to win the Best Critic in 2003, was all praise for Mr Barpujari. “Manoj is a very senior film critic. He follows Indian and world cinema very seriously. He is the fourth from the North-east to be awarded the Best film critic. This proves that there is serious film criticism happening in the North-east. Unlike the mainstream media, regional publications are giving space for serious film criticism.”
    Apart from Mr Barpujari and Mr Borpujari, Altaf Mazid and RK Bidur Singh, both from North-east, jointly won the Best Film critic award in 2009.

     

    Mr Barpujari is not just a film critic and a “working journalist” as he calls himself. He is the winner of the Hafeez Karamath Journalism Fellowship 2010 of Trinidad & Tobago and has published nine books on various subjects in the fields of socio- political issues, art and literature including cinema. He has co-edited with Dr Garima Kalita the first ever comprehensive volume on cinema of Assam titled Perspectives on Cinema of Assam (2007).

     

    Mr Barpujari has served as jury in many competitions and film festivals in India and abroad. He presented documentaries from Assam in a program organized under the auspices of the Media and Communication Department, Goldsmiths College, London in 2008.

     

    Mr Barpujari is also a poet whose have been translated in to several major Indian languages. A collection of his poems won the Munin Borkotoky Literary Award in 2004.

     

  • Pune-based design agency Changing Sky has won recognition for excellence in brand repositioning from The Rebrand 100.

    Changing Sky on its way ahead

    By A Correspondent

     

    Changing Sky, a Pune-based design agency has recently garnered recognition from The Rebrand 100. This Global Awards is the highest recognition for excellence in brand repositioning – and the first and only competition of its kind. Changing Sky has won the recognition for its work for Mapro.

     

    Talking about the journey of the agency, Gargi Sharma, Founder & Principal Designer of the agency said, “The journey of Changing Sky has been much like the “changing sky” itself both challenging and rewarding. Though two years old, we still feel like a start-up in spirit – rearing to go.”

     

    On future plans she said, “Our mantra is to grow with our customers. So the drivers very clearly are to deliver value to them that leads to tangible business results – from growth, profitability and sustainability points of view.”

     

    The agency has worked with clients that largely comprise sectors including FMCG, IT and Engineering sectors. Sharma added, “The playing field is global and we have been working with both national to international customers. The most rewarding though, have been domestic brands with global aspirations, whom we have been able to help carve a niche for themselves in the global marketplace.”

     

    Commenting on their expansion plans, Sharma concluded, “We have lots of plans that we are hoping to turn to reality in the course of the year. I must also add that they will be executed prudently so that there is no compromise on the quality of work – which I have seen happen due to scaling.”

     

  • Veteran mediaperson and BCCL president Bhaskar Das will now don an additional hat of Principal Secretary to Managing Director Vineet Jain.

    Exclusive: BCCL President Bhaskar Das is now also Principal Secretary to MD

    By A Correspondent

    It was Holi. And time for colour and loads of cheer.  In media-land, we received this missive via our BBM: Bhaskar Das, the man who brought to The Times of India group most of its monies (as head of response), and the man who’s captained many industry associations and is known for his very interesting and intellectual questions at media industry conferences, will now be President and Principal Secretary to the Managing Director at Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL). MD = Vineet Jain.

     

    In a signed office advisory, Mr Jain recognises Dr Das’s contribution to the company. “Bhaskar Das has always excelled in every responsibility entrusted to him – be that of leading Response function to newer heights, brand management, profit centre head or special projects in the area of Wellness, Times Foundation among others.” And he mentions that the new role “has the potential of becoming a gamechanger for the Group”.

     

    So what does this gamechanging role mean?

     

    In addition to the responsibilities he has been entrusted with at ‘Brand Capital’ (eka Private Treaties), Dr Das will now look after the following:

     

    * Exploring new revenue opportunities across the group’s media initiatives

    * Evolving a collaborative sales approach across various group properties

    * charting out a future roadmap for Optimal Media Solutions (that is, Medianet)

    * Facilitating a shared understanding an aligning all functions and group cos. to shareholder philosophies and objectives

     

    The end-objective is to “capitalize on the wealth of knowledge and expertise and to leverage the same across the Group”.  Given this, Mr Arunabh Das Sharma, Executive President – Response will report to Mr Ravi Dhariwal.

     

    See also: MxMIndia interview with Dr Bhaskar Das

     

     

  • Media Planning adds D.R.A.M.A to every creative to make it larger. Karthik Lakshminarayan cites some examples

    5 reasons why behind every good creative is an even better media plan

    By Karthik Lakshminarayan

     

    #1 Media plans ‘Demonstrate’ brand promise

    People are increasingly becoming health-conscious these days and one cannot get past a dinner with family and friends without having a conversation around how everyone is watching what they eat or are trying hard to lose weight and maintain a ‘healthy heart’. Hence, when an oil brand which stood for heart health took the simple route of making an RJ lose weight ‘live’ on radio by adopting the brand, it helped ‘Demonstrate’ what the brand stands for, and took the creative forward and helped it work harder for the brand.

     

    #2 Media plans help brands promise become a ‘Reality’

    When a chocolate brand started celebrating every happy moment in our lives with chocolate, it was only a matter of time before passing exams became a part of the same. Hence, when the brand celebrated that and we had exam results available on the mobile platform, it was a media plan that made this promise a ‘Reality’ and every single student who passed his exam and looked up his results on the WAP platform had the brand message being dished out to them. This media plan won accolades across the globe!

     

    #3 Media plans show ‘Applicability’ in consumers’ lives

    The first time Indian Idol came about, it was a huge success and everyone remembers the hype and popularity the show created. However, to be able to reach each and every nook and corner of the country for auditions was physically impossible and hence evolved the concept of ‘Telecom Partner’, which helped people audition by recording themselves in specially designed booths and sending it to the channel.

    The ‘Applicability’ of the telecom partner was strengthened and helped people realise that telecoms help connecting people with not just people but also with their dreams.

     

    #4 Media plan help brands ‘Magnify’ their status

    Not so recently, when I was part of Colors and we launched the channel close on the heels of the high-profile launch of 9X and Imagine, we had to ‘Magnify’ the brand and what we stood for to consumers and woo them to our channel. The media plan was designed to Magnify the brand by using network strength and riding every single ad-break on the network with top and tail promos of brand Colors. This magnified the brand promise many times and the intrigue generated was high enough for the channel to be a part of the consideration set amongst viewers and more than magnified the creative of some of the lead shows like Fear Factor and Balika Vadhu.

     

    #5 Media plans that help brands ‘Amplify’ their promise

    Who can forget the famous ‘Kodak’ moments and how each and every happy moment is captured even today with these rather famous words – ‘Its a Kodak Moment’. The media plan that sought to ‘Amplify’ this promise rode on the largest media channel and the largest Bollywood award show of its time and the aptness is something which will be cherished for years to come.

     

    Karthik Lakshminarayan is the COO, Crest (Madison Media).

     

  • To celebrate the spirit of women in the advertising-media domain, MxM India conceptualised a roundtable conference with Big CBS Love, in a half-hour show that was aired on Bloomberg-UTV on March 8.

    Woman power at MxMIndia’s roundtable for Big CBS Love

    By A Correspondent

     

    Much has being spoken about how the media-advertising industry being one of the few industries in India that has seen many women professionals coming to the fore and showing the way to the younger and the aspiring lot to stand their ground for excellence, despite myriad challenges.

     

    To celebrate the spirit of women in the advertising-media domain, MxM India conceptualised a roundtable conference for Big CBS Love, in a half-hour show that was aired on Bloomberg-UTV on March 8, 2012.

     

    Eminent women professionals such as Punitha Arumugam, CEO, Madison Media, Anita Nayyar, CEO, MPG India, Shubha George, COO, MEC South Asia, Anisha Motwani, Director and Chief Marketing Officer, Max New York Life Insurance shared their views on the role of women in the industry.

     

    Ms Arumugam pointed out that advertising attracted a lot of women as against other industries, while Ms Nayyar and Shubha George referred to how Roda Mehta played an inspiring role. Ms Motwani, who started out in advertising, then joined the automobile industry and moved from there to insurance, remarked how women even today can’t ignore their responsibilities towards their families. Ms Motwani, who had taken a sabbatical after marriage for two years, said working women need to believe in themselves, their ability and not give up.

     

    On reasons why women have done so well in advertising and media, Ms Nayyar said: “Over the years, it is evident that when it comes to client relations and numbers – women have done very well. And since advertising has a casual sort of environment, it gives that extra advantage and scope for women to double up as a key member at home and the workplace.”

     

  • With its enhanced display, Apple's new tablet could rev up digital media and publishing though there's no indicator of an India launch

    iPad3 could revolutionise ad & content

     

     

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAF51B0HgDg[/youtube]

    By A Correspondent

     

    Apple brightened up our lives on Holi day with the third generation of the iPad. That it launched on Holi was obviously a coincidence. India sadly figures nowhere in the iPad 3’s roll-out later this month.

     

    On March 7 in the US, Apple introduced the new iPad featuring a stunning new Retina display, its new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video.  The battery life is 10 hours.

     

    And what happens to the iPad 2? It is now offered at $399 (Rs 24,500 in India) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and $529 (Rs 32,900 in India) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model.

     

    “The new iPad redefines the category Apple created less than two years ago, delivering the most amazing experience people have ever had with technology,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The new iPad now has the highest resolution display ever seen on a mobile device with 3.1 million pixels, delivering razor sharp text and unbelievable detail in photos and videos.”

     

    According to Mumbai-based IT consultant Lionel Faleiro, the new iPad is a great evolutionary product for its screen, processing power and upgraded camera. “The main reasons that sells the iPad the most is its availability of Apps and its consistent OS updates. The quality of design of iPad optimized Apps in the iOS Store is much better than its Android counterparts,” he said, adding that he expects the iPad3 to launch in India in May this year.

     

    The new iPad’s Retina display delivers four times the number of pixels of iPad 2, so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when held at a normal distance, making web pages, text, images and video look incredibly sharp and realistic. The 3.1 million pixels in the Retina display are more than one million more pixels than an HDTV, and with 44 per cent increased colour saturation the new iPad displays colors that are unbelievably richer, deeper and more vivid. Movies are now capable of playing at full 1080p HD-resolution, delivering an incomparable viewing experience on a mobile device.

     

    The A5X chip with quad-core graphics promises to deliver a fast, responsive user experience while supporting the incredible Retina display. With double the graphics performance of the A5 chip, the A5X facilitates a Multi-Touch interface, immersive gameplay and visual depth.

     

     

    Writes Patrick Thornton on Poynter.org:

    “The new iPad could finally elevate the text reading experience on a tablet to something much more akin to reading a printed newspaper, magazine or book. Most major news organizations have released iPad apps, but the blurry, pixelated text from the relatively low-resolution iPad 1 and 2 always stood out. iPad news apps may have great looking photos, videos and interactive graphics, but text – often the core of what a news organization produces – doesn’t look that good, especially in comparison to what humans have been able to enjoy for hundreds of years.”

     

    iPad Wi-Fi + 4G with built-in next generation 4G LTE offers support for fast networks including HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA, and now both CDMA and GSM iPad users have the ability to easily roam internationally.

     

    Comments Amy Gahran on the Knight Digital Media Center site: “Over the last two weeks, such updates include the iPad apps for the New York Times, Associated Press, New York Daily News, Pulse News, Flipboard, NBC Nightly News, the Guardian (Eyewitness app), the Star Tribune and more.

     

    Now that the specs and capabilities of the iPad3 have been confirmed, it’s likely that even more news organizations will be revamping both their apps and the kind of content delivered through them-especially the resolution of photos, video, and graphics.”

     

    The new iPad also supports dictation, another amazing way to get things done just using your voice. Instead of typing, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard, then say what you want to say and the new iPad listens. Tap done, and iPad converts your words into text. You can use dictation to write messages, take notes, search the web and more. Dictation also works with third-party apps, so you can update your Facebook status, tweet, or write Instagram captions.

     

    The new iPad Wi-Fi models will be available in black or white from Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB model and $699 for the 64GB model. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G for either AT&T or Verizon will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for the 32GB model and $829 for the 64GB model. iPad will also be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands from March 16.

     

    By the end of March iPad will be available in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

     

    A final word from Gahran: What will be more interesting will be to see if later this year Apple finally launches a smaller, cheaper iPad mini. This long-rumored unicorn so far has failed to materialize-but if the Kindle Fire and other smaller Android tablets keep gaining ground fast, Apple might be tempted to compete with this large consumer market segment.  It’s still a rough economy out there – and the lesson of how Android quickly came to dominate the US smartphone market is probably not lost on Apple. An iPad mini would have very different device and app support capabilities, which would require more significant adaptation from apps and mobile websites.”

     

    Please read:

    BusinessWeek: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-07/apples-big-show-the-tech-bloggers-prom

    Poynter.org: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/165618/ipad-3s-retina-display-will-make -news-apps-stand-out-present-new-challenges-for-news-orgs/

    Knight Digital Media Center: http://www.knightdigitalmediacenter.org/news_blog/comments/20120307 _ipad_3_launches_what_does_it_mean_for_news_publishers/