Jason Snell wrote a piece on why he writes on his iPad. From the article:

The iPad also offers a remarkable lack of distractions. When I write on my Mac I find I am endlessly checking Twitter and email and my weather station’s current conditions page and anything else I can find to distract myself from the difficult task of putting one word in front of another. On the iPad, I am more focused—and when I do finally take a break to check my email, it feels like an actual break, not a distraction.

He nails it with that quote. I find that writing on my iPad—while not as fast—is very much a distraction-free experience. It also explains why full screen writing apps like WriteRoom are popular.

Google updated their Gmail app for the iPad and iPhone to 2.0. From the official blog post:

With version 2.0 of the app, you’ll get a totally new look and feel, plus a bunch of improvements like profile pictures in messages, numerous new animations from swivels to transitions and infinite scrolling in the message lists.

The app also supports multiple accounts and much more. Head on over to the blog or App Store to see the changes.

While some people online stop at overall market share when comparing products, I am more concerned with their usage in the real world. I decided to look at sales numbers for Android and iOS devices in correlation with both their online market share and Black Friday sales numbers to see how they stacked up. What I found was rather interesting.

Back in July, I posted “Still Not Sold On iPad Mini” where I outlined why I was skeptical of the then-rumored iPad Mini:

To say I am skeptical would be an understatement. It just isn’t adding up, and having prominent publications announcing something does not guarantee anything. Who knows, I could be wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time.

I could argue that my opinion came nearly four-months before the iPad Mini was announced, but the fact-of-the-matter is that I was wrong. Why am I writing a post declaring that I was wrong? Simple: not enough bloggers do.

Just in case you missed it: I was wrong.

In the piece “The 7-Inch iPad’s Biggest Critic: Steve Jobs,” Ina Fried of AllThingsD discusses why Apple may very well release a 7” iPad, even if it goes against Jobs’ beliefs:

And what has changed, obviously, is the entry of some serious competitors in the smaller-screen tablet market. Amazon proved the market for a low-cost smaller tablet with the Kindle Fire last year and the market will no doubt grow with the arrival of the Galaxy 7 from Asus and Google.

Both Amazon and Google have razor-thin margins on their tablets; their strategy seems to be “give the hardware away and make money on services.” This is not how Apple rolls. They instead prefer to cater to those who prefer spending more money on a better experience.

Even more interesting is the lack of leaks we usually see before a launch. John Gruber linked to Marco Arment’s post on the lack of leaks that are more common than ever:

It’s unlikely that Apple would be able to manufacture millions of iPad Minis without someone leaking some parts a few months ahead of their release. So if we don’t see such leaks by September, I don’t think this product, if it exists, will be released this year.

To say I am skeptical would be an understatement. It just isn’t adding up, and having prominent publications announcing something does not guarantee anything. Who knows, I could be wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time.