Costa Rica Backdrop For Tablet Commercials

Costa Rica is getting some free worldwide publicity thanks to the hottest tablet computers in the market. In Wednesday’s video presentation of the long-awaited iPad 3, which is really called the "new iPad", images of the Poas volcano and some of our beaches are clearly seen.

The iPad promotional video, which can be seen here (QuickTime download and installation may be required), includes a section in which the new features of the iPhoto app are showcased. The upgrade to iPhoto is illustrated by a few photos of a family posing for the camera with souvenirs made in Costa Rica. The first photo shows a sign where the phrase “Costa Rica Pura Vida” can be read before giving way to the nice pictures of the family visiting the Poas volcano, and finally the beach photos appear. In the video, the photos being reviewed and organized are kept in an album titled “Our Costa Rica Getaway.”

The Amazon Kindle Fire and the iPad battle in Costa Rica
While it is certainly a matter of national pride that Apple’s marketing team decided to include photos of our precious landscape to showcase the incredible resolution of the new iPad’s camera and display (5 megapixels and 2048 x 1536 at 264 pixels per inch, respectively); one of the most interesting aspects of Apple’s promo video is that Amazon was recently here to film a commercial for their competing tablet computer.

In a previous Week in Review article, The Costa Rica Star reported that a film crew in Playa Flamingo had wrapped up filming a commercial for the Amazon Kindle Fire in January. The director of that commercial, Ben Younger, is better known for his cult film Boiler Room; a movie that dealt with the shady world of fraudulent penny stock brokerage firms during the dot-com bubble in Wall Street.

The Amazon Kindle Fire commercial was shot at The Palms Private Residence Club, a ritzy enclave in Guanacaste. On that commercial, the Kindle Fire’s screen and its low price were highlighted. In yesterday’s press conference for the new iPad, the screen and camera resolutions were also brought front and center, and a price adjustment was announced as well -at least for the iPad 2.

The Kindle Fire commercial showed a man lounging by the poolside who could not manage to view the content on his tablet screen, ostensibly an iPad. The man is blinded by the bright sun at Playa Flamingo as an attractive woman enters the scene, effortlessly reading on her Kindle Fire. The clearly envious man indicates that he needs a tablet with a screen that will allow him to read, watch films and surf the web. The woman replies that the Kindle Fire does just that, and then her two young children arrive, each playing with a Kindle Fire. The man suggests that three Kindles probably cost the woman a fortune, to which she responds that in fact all three Kindles cost less than his tablet -a clear jab at the former price of the iPad 2.

Other Recent Wireless Developments in Costa Rica
The video commercials for the new iPad and the Kindle Fire aren’t the only recent developments in the world of smartphones, tablets and wireless communications in Costa Rica. Thousands of iDevices with iOS 5 were silently upgraded to iOS 5.1 not long after the Apple press conference took place. The upgrade was documented by David Vargas at La Nacion, who may have been hoping for the long-awaited Spanish-speaking Siri personal assistant after a 15 minute download, but instead got Japanese. Spanish and other languages for Siri may become available by the end of the year, according to unconfirmed reports.

Business daily La Republica recently reported that Tico firm Neo Solar Group is ready to market its new line of solar chargers for iPads, iPhones and many other portable communication devices. The unveiling of the company’s new website is delayed, but on their Facebook profile they are currently holding a contest to give away one of their new solar chargers.

-International Wi-Fi outfit GOWEX, which keeps an office in San Jose, recently announced the signing of an agreement with VOIP giant Skype to allow connections to the Internet on the growing network of wireless communities maintained by GOWEX. The company specializes in the creation of full-scale municipal wireless networks in 60 cities in Spain and Argentina. The presence of the company in San Jose ensures that public Wi-Fi networks at the municipal level may soon begin deployment in Costa Rica. One of the aims of GOWEX is to provide a solution to the heavy loads on 3G networks and a sensible alternative to voice communications through strategic partnerships such as Skype.

From Costa Rica Star