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While some of you may have picked up a laptop with a solid-state drive, or even outfitted your PC with one in order to experiment with faster boot times, the flash-based storage devices haven't quite gotten the momentum needed to replace the traditional hard disk drive as the PC storage solution of choice. One factor that could hinder their adoption even more, according to industry sources, is the tremendous need for flash chips from Apple to outfit its soon-to-hit-stores iPad.

One key marker that flash chips are getting scarcer is that, following a glut of chips and associated low prices, those costs are on their way back up again. This is in spite of increased production rates by flash manufacturers.

Apple is already one of the biggest consumers of flash chips, eating up close to a third of the world's production of NAND-type flashes. Being that large a buyer, the company is likely able to get special treatment from suppliers, letting the iPad get first dibs on remaining flash supplies. Everyone else will end up paying more as stocks are depleted.

There's good news in sight, though, as new manufacturing techniques should mean that by next year we'll see some of the most affordable flash chips yet and, by association, larger and better solid-state drives. The SSD revolution will just have to sit this year out.

You've seen the product announcement videos, you've read the pundits arguing left and right over whether or not the iPad will be the next big thing or an oversized toy; now it's time to decide if you want to check it out yourself. Apple's set the tablet's release date and is going to be opening the books for pre-orders next week.

Next Friday, March 12, you'll be able to either go online or hoof it to one of Apple's retail locations and put in your pre-order for the iPad. Considering the rumors about limited production numbers and potential stock shortages, if you're leaning towards picking one up, and you'd like to get your hands on it before summer, you'd be smart to get a pre-order in, and early at that.

The standard-connectivity version of the iPad, with WiFi only, will finally go on sale in just under a month, on April 3. Those of you with pre-orders will be able to just stroll over to your local Apple store to pick yours up, while the rest of us try our luck waiting in line to score one of the models. Apple hasn't pegged down an exact date for when you can expect to get one of more expensive iPads with the built-in 3G modem, but it will be sometime later in April. Even without a release date, you'll still be able to place a pre-order, come next week.

The Enterprise Irregulars blog is sponsored by .   Work.  Online.  

The Enterprise Irregulars blog is sponsored by .   Work.  Online.  

The Enterprise Irregulars blog is sponsored by .   Work.  Online.  

So with this in mind, I’ve pulled together a few links which may help shed some light if you’re mulling these kinds of questions over too.

There’s the FT Digital Media and Broadcasting Conference which was on yesterday and today. Although I’m not there, and despite the distinct lack of women speakers (i.e. only one across two days – Jeez, is this really 2010?! Come on FT.com – you can do better), nevertheless I’m following some of the tweets from it and there are some gems in there. Have a look for the hashtag #FTMedia10 and follow FTDigitalMedia on Twitter. I’m sure there’ll be some news and blog coverage coming out of this conference too, so watch this space.

A *must read* article is this one Understanding the participatory news consumer – a comprehensive breakdown of the latest Pew Internet research showing what the US digital news consumer is up to on their mobile phone. I’m not going to repeat what the article covers, but it shows that mobile internet users access the internet more often than their fixed line counterparts:

“On-the-go news consumers:  Who are they?

The typical on-the-go news consumer is a white male, age 34, who has graduated from college and is employed full-time.  Given their younger profile, it is not surprising that 40% of this group are parents of young children (compared with 30% of the general adult population), and 32% have never been married.  One in three (32%) live in households with incomes of $75,000 or more. As a subset of the broader mobile internet population, on-the-go news consumers reflect many of their characteristics (see table below).

Not surprisingly, on-the-go news consumers maximize their cell phone use.  They are 67% more likely than other cell phone users to text message, more than twice as likely to take pictures with their phones, and four times as likely to use their phones to instant message.  They are also especially heavy internet users—80% of this on-the-go group are online on a given day, compared with just 67% of other internet users—and they engage in activities such as blogging (20% v. 11%), using social networking sites (73% v. 48%), and using status update sites like Twitter (29% v. 14%) at significantly higher rates than other internet users.”

And this topic or where mobile meets media was also on our minds in Barcelona during Mobile World Congress where the UKTI hosted a Mobile Monday London panel session discussing this very topic. Paul Skeldon from Telemedia 360 took some video of it, the highlights of which you can see here. It's in four parts with Russell Buckley, VP of Global Alliances at Admob chairing, and Chris Boden from Lonely Planet, Lucie McLean from the BBC, Steve Ives, CEO at Taptu and yours truly on the panel.

Is Traditional Media Dead?

Is Advertising Dead?

Are Applications Dead?

Will the iPad Save Us?

Paul also covered the panel session in this month’s Telemedia 360’s PDF newsletter which is worth a read if media and mobile is your game. [You can download a free copy from their website.] I am widely quoted in the article but to get the full context, it’s probably best to view the videos *and* read the article too to get the whole picture.

If anyone else out there has interesting links to share around the topic of where media meets mobile, then please do share in the comments below, or email me and I’ll add them to the article.

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Pear Analytics™ today announced the release of its free Website Analyzer™ for the iPhone® and soon to be iPad® application.

The  application analyzes any website or blog by scanning the site and a variety of data sources to determine how “SEO-friendly” the website is. Within 30 seconds, the user will get a full report on their website with vast and easy-to-read information and resources to show the user how to fix or solve the problems in non-technical, easy-to-follow instructions. 

Through its SiteJuice product, Pear develops software to help website owners with search engine optimization tasks. The iPhone/iPad app is simply an extension to their existing product suite, and is similar to the Free SEO Analysis you can get on Pear’s website, but with a couple of extra advantages. The app provides anyone the ability to review the status of key SEO elements in a mobile environment.

Pear says that many of the clients who use their products are boutique ad agencies and web development shops who could easily use the app to help counsel and work with clients in better understanding the strategic value of sound SEO principles and practices.

Pear’s mobile app looks pretty robust, offering users the ability to store their last ten reports and even email those reports to clients or colleagues.

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The next round of Apple's Mac mini may do away with its DVI output in favor of the more current HDMI standard, simplifying the computer's connection to home media centers.

Reports from those who have had a chance to check out the Mac mini redesign report that video output is now available over both mini DisplayPort and HDMI interfaces. This should be good news for any potential Mac owner who would want to plug his or her Mac mini into an HDTV for use as a media player. Both the existing DVI and the mini DisplayPort connectors can be converted to HDMI with adaptors, in doing so you negate one of the big advantages of HDMI: that the standard can carry audio and video over the same cable.

We like this move very much; the Mac mini's compact size makes it convenient to carry around the house, moving it from office to living room as work time lapses into play time, and a simple one-cable connectivity solution is the perfect complement to the computer.

Whether these output changes will go hand-in-hand with a overhaul to the Mac mini's graphics processor is still up in the air; disagreements between chipset manufacturers may force Apple to keep using the old Nvidia system it has been. Considering how tight-lipped Apple can be, we may have to wait until the official announcement to know for sure.