Add Extra Screen Real Estate to Netbook, Laptop or Desktop PC with Lightweight App from Avatron Software; Leverages Wireless Connectivity, iPad Touch Screen for Easy, Anywhere Setup



PORTLAND—Avatron® Software, a leading developer of popular applications for the Apple iPhone OS platform, just launched its new Air Display app that turns any iPad into an extra monitor for netbook, laptop or desktop computers, adding up to 70 percent more usable screen space. Following its launch, Air Display shot up to the top-grossing third-party app position on iTunes.

The lightweight app improves productivity by allowing users to reposition windows or workflow elements onto the separate screen to free up more workspace. It is ideal for pairing with small laptops, such as the MacBook Air. A Windows version is currently under development.

“Air Display is perfect for times when you need more screen space, especially for graphics software like Photoshop, Office or iWork, or games that require more room than a 13” screen can provide,” said Dave Howell, CEO of Avatron Software. “The app makes it incredibly easy to setup the iPad on a desk, at a coffee shop—wherever you need some extra workspace. You just launch the app and it’s ready to go.”

Air Display connects the devices over a localized wireless network and leverages the iPad’s auto-rotation feature, allowing the device to be rotated in portrait or landscape orientation as needed. The iPad can be positioned to the left or right of the primary screen, and the device’s hallmark touch-screen functionality can still be used to manipulate features on the iPad screen, just as if it were being used alone.

The app delivers hi-performance mouse capabilities with a screen refresh rate of 150 frames per second for no perceivable lag time in mouse performance. Compressed image quality and refresh speed are continually balanced to optimize viewing quality or speed of movement as needed.

For easy installation, the required Mac components are installed to the main machine, with the Air Display app loaded on the iPad. Once basic configurations are made, the main machine automatically recognizes the iPad as a secondary monitor each time the app is loaded on the device. Once the iPad app is closed, the main machine automatically returns to single-screen mode.

For best results, a stand may be used to position the iPad in the ideal viewing position—a picture frame, plate holder or folding stand works well, as do some iPad cases.

Designed by seasoned Mac OS developers with more than 25 years of Apple software engineering experience, Air Display is the result of deep iPlatform knowledge to most effectively leverage the platform’s unique capabilities.
Avatron’s success with its first two iPad apps are the result of the company’s focus on productivity apps, which translate very well on the iPad, relative to the iPhone. Avatron’s first iPad app was Air Sharing HD, which lets users transfer virtually every file type from their desktop to the iPad, creating a portable document storage device.

Air Display for iPad is available in the U.S. now for just $9.99 in the App Store. The Mac OS installer is free at www.avatron.com/ad. International versions will launch in conjunction with the iPad international launch.

Air Display is part of Avatron’s highly acclaimed family of productivity Apps for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. For more information, visit www.avatron.com.

About Avatron Software
Avatron® Software is a leading developer of popular applications across all genres for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, including Air Sharing, Air Sharing Pro, Air Sharing HD and Air Display. Avatron's Air Sharing file-sharing app was downloaded by more than 1 million users in its first two weeks and has raised the bar for iPhone application design and quality. The company's Avatron Publishing division builds App Store programs around content created by market-leading media producers. Avatron was founded in April 2008 by Dave Howell, a former Apple software engineering manager, and a team of veteran Mac OS X programmers. The company is based in Portland, Oregon.

HTC Corp.’s Droid Incredible smart phone carries a Bill of Materials (BOM) of $163.35, according to a dissection conducted by iSuppli Corp.’s Teardown Analysis Service.

“The Droid Incredible could have been dubbed the ‘Nexus Two’ given its similarity to HTC’s Nexus One introduced early this year,” observed Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst and teardown services manager for iSuppli. “Indeed, the phones are very similar in terms of costs and features, with the main difference being the Incredible’s support for the CDMA air standard used by carrier Verizon in the United States.”

The Nexus One’s BOM amounted to $174.15, based on iSuppli’s January pricing estimate, very close to the current materials cost for the Incredible. The centerpiece of both phones is an advanced Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display. Both phones also share a common electronic design based on Qualcomm Inc.’s 1GHz Snapdragon baseband processor. Finally, the Incredible and Nexus One both integrate a class-leading density, at 4Gbit, of Mobile Double Data Rate (DDR) DRAM to support the processor.

Beyond the use of CDMA in the Incredible, only a few other differences distinguish the phone from the Nexus One. The Incredible, for one, uses an optical track pad, as opposed to the trackball on the Nexus One. Furthermore, the Incredible employs HTC’s Sense User Interface (UI) overlay, whereas the Nexus uses the generic Android UI. When the $8.90 manufacturing cost is added in, the combined BOM and production expense for the Incredible amounts to $172.25.

The attached table presents iSuppli’s preliminary BOM estimate for the Incredible, broken down by major functional sections of the device. Please note that iSuppli’s teardown assessment accounts only for hardware and manufacturing costs, and does not take into consideration other expenses such as software, licensing, and royalties.

Qualcomm, Samsung and Hynix lead the BOM parade

The most expensive section of the Incredible is the baseband/applications processor, at a cost of $31.40, and accounting for 19.2 percent of the smart phone’s total BOM. This section is dominated by Qualcomm Inc.’s baseband Integrated Circuit (IC), which includes the Snapdragon processor.

Coming in at a close second in terms of expense is the display and touch screen section at a cost of $31.20, or 19.1 percent of the BOM. The AMOLED display portion of this subsystem is supplied by Samsung Mobile Display Co. Ltd.

Next in the ranking is the memory section, at a cost of $29.80 and accounting for 18.2 percent of the BOM. In the individual Incredible phone unit torn down by iSuppli, this section consists of NAND flash memory and mobile Double Data Rate (DDR) DRAM from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and more NAND from Hynix Semiconductor Inc. However, iSuppli believes that HTC is likely using additional sources of supply for these commodity memory parts.

Broadcom, Texas Instruments and Atmel get Incredible wins

Other major functional sections and suppliers include:

· The Bluetooth/WLAN section, at a cost of $8.45 or 5.2 percent of the BOM, featuring a Broadcom Corp. chip that combines Bluetooth, FM and WLAN support.

· The power management section, with an expense of $7.25 and amounting to 4.4 percent of the BOM, including semiconductors from Qualcomm and Texas Instruments Inc.

· The user interface functions, costing $5.55 and accounting for 3.4 percent of the BOM, featuring an Atmel touch screen controller, an Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corp. (AKM) electronic compass and a Bosch Sensortec GMBH accelerometer.

· The Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver section, with a cost of $5 and representing 3.1 percent of the BOM, centered on a single-chip RF device from Qualcomm.

· The power amplifier section, at a cost of $2.60 and BOM share of 1.6 percent, featuring two transmit modules from Avago Technologies Ltd. and TriQuint Semiconductor Inc.
For more information on iSuppli’s Droid Incredible Teardown, please visit: http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns-Manufactu...ardown.aspx?PRX