If you plan on giving that special someone an Apple gift for Valentine’s Day, you can now check to see when it needs to be ordered.
iPhone
Samsung ad boasts phone’s voice recognition
It’s a good thing Apple did Siri or Samsung would have run out of ideas. […]
China predicted to grab 40M iPhones in 2012
Josh Ong for AppleInsider: Investment bank Morgan Stanley believes Apple will partner up with both China Telecom and China Mobile “over the next year” to make its iPhone available on all three Chinese carriers, a move that could bring incremental … Continued
Your iPhone has to be made in China, and Apple can’t absolve your guilt
Tom Krazit, PaidContent:
There’s nowhere else in the world you can build a modern smartphone or tablet as cheaply, easily, and reliably as the massive factories of companies like Foxconn, which operate on a scale that is difficult to comprehend. The price for doing business with companies like Foxconn is living with the knowledge that these products are being built by people who have signed up for a modern-day version of indentured servitude.So what can be done about that?
The State of iCloud-enabled apps
Federico Viticci:
In 107 days since iCloud went live, and 235 since Apple’s announcement at WWDC ’11, it appears the majority of third-party developers are still considering whether or not iCloud is something worth investing their time — and customers’ money — or not.
An interesting read.
Apple overtakes Samsung as No. 1 smartphone vendor
Alex Spektor, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments grew 54 percent annually to reach a record 155.0 million units in Q4 2011. Apple overtook Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume with 24 percent market share. Apple’s global smartphone shipments surged 128 percent annually to 37.0 million units, as distribution of the iPhone family expanded across numerous countries, dozens of operators and multiple price points.”
Motorola is in the shitter
MG Siegler gives us a rundown of Motorola’s quarterly earnings. Hint: It’s not good — Motorola couldn’t ship as much as Apple sold.
iPhone accounts for 80% of AT&T smartphone activations
AppleInsider:
The iPhone was dominant at AT&T, accounting for 80.8 percent of the 9.4 million smartphones sold through the carrier.In the previous quarter, the iPhone represented 56 percent of AT&T’s smartphone activations with 2.7 million units. The wireless carrier revealed that a majority of the 7.6 million iPhones it activated in the quarter were the iPhone 4S.
That’s impressive.
Apple pricing
Horace Dediu:
The evidence I see is that Apple does not change pricing but rather stakes out a specific price point as resonating with consumers given their positioning. They then doggedly stick to it. Competitors tend to exploit open price points or try to position with specs on the same spots Apple occupies.
Apple doesn’t do anything based on what its competition does, including price. Apple’s products are priced fairly and at what consumers can afford, and are willing to pay. The proof is the 37 million iPhones, 15million iPads, 15 million iPods, and 5 million Macs the company sold last quarter.
RIM’s co-CEOs resigning
Priceless cartoon.
[Via DF]
More iOS devices sold in Q1 than all Android devices
Matt Richman:
On Apple’s earnings call, Tim Cook told analysts that Apple sold over 62 million iOS devices during the fourth quarter, which is about 4 percent more than all of the Android devices sold during the same time period.
Clearly Apple is screwed and Android is winning.
Motorola seeks an injunction against iPhone 4S and iCloud
Foss Patents:
The latest hostility is a new lawsuit filed by Motorola Mobility, with green light from Google, in the Southern District of Florida, seeking an injunction against the iPhone 4S and the iCloud over a package of six patents previously asserted against older Apple products in the same court.
ToutApp email productivity for iOS
Sounds interesting. It lets you create templates on the Web site to use on the iPhone, track clicks and views and schedule emails.
Apple growing faster than Android
A new study from research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that Apple is growing faster in the smartphone market than Android. […]
Verizon’s “Good news, bad news” quarter
Bloomberg:
Verizon Communications Inc, the second-largest U.S. phone company, reported a fourth-quarter loss after booking a pension charge and having higher subsidy costs for rising iPhone sales.While iPhone sales more than doubled from the third quarter to 4.3 million units, total smartphone sales fell short, signaling waning demand for handsets that run on Google Inc.’s Android operating system.
Because of the subsidies the carriers pay to Apple, higher sales of the iPhone mean more upfront costs but, in theory, more profits long term.
RIM co-CEOs to step down
New York Times:
Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who made the BlackBerry a leading business tool but then presided over its precipitous decline, said they would step down on Monday as co-chairmen and co-chief executives of Research in Motion.
BWHAHAHAHAHA!
Apple stores sales ban boosts rival outlets
China Daily: China Unicom, the country’s second-largest telecom operator by subscriber numbers, said it has large stocks of Apple Inc’s iPhone 4S handsets available for purchase. That’s despite Apple’s Chinese stores halting supplies of the device and scalpers charging a … Continued
AmpKit LiNK HD guitar interface for iPhone, iPad and Mac
AmpKit LiNK HD is based on USB digital audio technology, providing high fidelity while eliminating crosstalk and feedback. It’s perfect for AmpKit’s authentic high gain amps.
Some nice features on the LiNK HD. AmpKit is my goto amp software on the iPhone and iPad, so I’ll be interested to see how this interface does. I’m expecting good things though.
New AT&T data plans will launch on Sunday
AT&T will hike data rates by $5 on all new subscribers: As the AT&T network gets even faster with 4G LTE deployment – up to 10 times faster than 3G – and devices and applications become even more sophisticated, it’s … Continued
More US Consumers Choosing iPhones
Nielsen’s December survey of the U.S. mobile phone market: According to the latest research from Nielsen, the high-profile launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S in the Fall had an enormous impact on the proportion of smartphone owners who chose an Apple … Continued
Camera+ tops 6 million in sales, $5.1 million revenue
We’ve just hit our 6 millionth sale for everyone’s favorite iPhone photo app, Camera+. It’s been a while since I’ve done a sales figures post with all the number/charts/etc. But after taking a look at Camera+ sales over time, I found it interesting to see how much they’ve increased over the past several months, with the bulk of this being attributed to the success of the iPhone 4S.The app has earned us a grand total of $5,125,844 to date.
Impressive.
Review: GuitarJack 2 for iPhone and iPad
One of the great things about Apple’s iOS devices for musicians is having the ability to play and record our guitar while on the go. When the hardware and software allowing us to do this was first introduced, we gave the companies a little leeway on the quality just so we could play. […]
Dating site for Apple fans gets an iPhone app
Diehard Mac & Apple fans often have a lot in common — personalities, creative professions, a similar sense of style and aesthetics, taste, and a love for technology. As Apple fans we love to hang out in cafés with our Macbooks and iPhones. Cupidtino is like that neighborhood café where the people are hip, decor is classy, conversation is intelligent and prices are reasonable. But it’s open at your convenience, folks are from around the world, and it’s less awkward to talk to someone.
If you’re going to meet someone with common interests, why not start off with an Apple fan.
Classic arcade shooter Rayforce comes to iPhone
Taito has announced the release of Rayforce, the classic arcade game shooter, now available for the iPhone and iPod touch. It costs $11.99. Rayforce firs appeared in coin-op arcades in 1993 and spawned two sequels. It’s a fast and frantic … Continued
And by ‘Google’ I actually mean ‘Microsoft’
MG Siegler:
Holy shit, over 70% of the Android phones sold in the U.S. are now contributing money to Microsoft’s pockets. Microsoft, not Google.
Amazing how much money Microsoft is making from Android.
Apple suspends iPhone sales in China
New York Times:
Apple said in a statement that it had temporarily suspended sales of all iPhones at its five mainland China stores for the safety of customers and employees. The phones will still be offered online, through Apple’s official partner, Unicom, and at authorized resellers. The statement did not say when Apple stores would resume selling the iPhone 4S.
The crowd threw eggs at the store when it didn’t open. Who goes to buy a phone with a pocket full of eggs?
Huge Queues for Chinese iPhone 4S Launch
Steven Millward, Tech in Asia:
There are already huge queues outside of China’s five official Apple stores in readiness for tomorrow’s launch of the iPhone 4S. At the two stores in Beijing, and the three in Shanghai, there are clearly lines stretching hundreds of meters, with reports of hundreds of queuers at each, snaking around city blocks.
The iPhone 4S will be available online, but that hasn’t deterred many Chinese from braving the sub-zero temperatures to line up at Apple Retail Stores.
If you think iPhone sales in the US are huge, wait until Apple fully breaks into a market of one billion people.
Microsoft’s Smoked by a Windows Phone $100 challenge
Microsoft’s Ben Rudolph was at CES this week challenging all comers to take the “Smoked by a Windows Phone $100 challenge.” According to The Verge, Microsoft had 30 wins, 3 losses, and 1 draw. […]
RIM faithful
Alex Knight:
I have spoken friends of mine who have been long-time Blackberry fans, and they aren’t holding their breath for any miraculous event where the company will suddenly bounce back.
This is a key point. Not even RIM’s loyal followers believe there is a chance in hell the company can recover from its embarrassing missteps over the last few years. Even at its worst times, Apple’s core customers believed in the company.
iPhone stops New York Philharmonic
From “thousandfold echo” comes the reason why you turn your phone off at concerts: Until today I’ve never been to a concert where a cellphone stopped the orchestra in the middle of a piece, but now I can check that … Continued