The year 2014 has been active on ZDNet Mobile News. Looking at the most popular stories shows that the readership is as diversified as the topics covered. It also points out the trends that were popular in mobile tech.
Coverage on Mobile News has been spread across mobile platforms and topics. The breakdown of the most popular articles of the year makes that clear.
iPad
Diving down into the statistics, it's evident that a lot of iPad owners are looking to add a good keyboard to the tablet. That is particularly true about iPad mini owners, as the most popular article that appeared here detailed the best keyboards for the small iPad.
The article that first appeared in 2013 was also very popular in 2014, and shows how many iPad mini owners want a good keyboard to best leverage the use of the tablet. Lots of correspondence resulting from this article indicates readers appreciate the hands-on approach used for this selection.
Another article from last year was very popular in 2014, for the same reason. First appearing in early 2013, this article aggregating the best keyboards for the iPad was very active in 2014. Since these keyboards predated the iPad Air and thus won't work with them, it shows that many owners of older iPads want a keyboard to round out the benefits of the tablet.
That's not to say that the iPad Air hasn't been purchased by a lot of folks. Two popular articles that made our top list at different times during the year make that clear:
These articles from 2013 that are still popular in 2014 indicate that as suspected, it's likely that owners of older iPads are not rushing to upgrade to the iPad Air or the iPad Air 2. They seem to be happy with the old iPad, but want a keyboard to use with it.
This isn't what Apple wants to hear, but the makers of third-party accessories must be ecstatic. It's expensive for OEMs to retool cases for every new iPad, and owners hanging onto the older tablets extends the shelf life of accessories for older iPads.
This year we saw Microsoft release Office for the iPad, a great office suite optimized for touch operation. This had been long anticipated, and it was no surprise this article was very popular:
Windows is well represented in the popular articles of 2014, as the article detailing the 10 reasons to buy a Windows tablet instead of the iPad or Android demonstrates. This appeared after Windows 8.1 corrected many of the shortcomings of 8.0, and those wanting a Windows tablet were thirsty for information.
Articles about Windows that were very popular in 2014:
This year we saw the Chromebook rise in popularity, and the response to coverage on ZDNet Mobile News reflected that. The most popular articles about the Chromebook indicate that owners were hungry for good apps for laptops running Google's OS.
Apple released the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2014, and the excitement after the launch was reflected in the popularity of these articles on ZDNet Mobile News.
This year has been a big one for mobile tech. Sales of the iPad have slowed down, the new iPhone set sales records, Microsoft has continued to get its software on all mobile platforms, and Google has pushed the Chromebook hard.
Next year will be exciting in the mobile space, as Apple's wearable should hit the market and Windows 10 will be released by Microsoft. I'll cover it all on ZDNet Mobile News, and thank you for your readership.
