Home automation image: insideci.co.uk
There are a couple of analyst rumors doing the rounds at present that are best described as … questionable.
First, we have Brian White claim (via VentureBeat) that the key focus of the long-rumored iWatch is as a control for home automation systems.
As an Apple supplier, our contact offered insight into the “iWatch” and described this potential new device as much more than an extension of your iPhone but as a multi-purpose gateway in allowing consumers to control their home (i.e., heating/cooling, lights, audio, video, etc.)
You may recall that Mr White is a man who likes his remotes: he predicted back in April that the Apple HDTV (which he always claims is going to be released in the next quarter or two) would be controlled by an iRing …
Brian White’s iRing as conceptualised by Victor Soto
So, that’s an iRing to control the TV, and an iWatch to control everything else. Oh, and if you want to know how many iWatches will be sold, Gene Munster has the answer there, based on picking a random price and asking a random number of random consumers (via CNET).
Based on a Piper Jaffray survey of 799 US consumers, analyst Gene Munster believes Apple could sell between 5 million and 10 million smartwatches during the initial launch year. The recent poll asked people whether they would buy a $350 iWatch that can connect to an iPhone.
Keep in mind, Munster in his latest call missed the iPhone sales number by a staggering 50%, predicting 4-5 million when the real number turned out to be 9 million.
[tweet https://twitter.com/llsethj/status/387204779463942144]
Then there’s talk of a 12-inch Retina MacBook Air. This one comes from a DisplaySearch blog post which uses “supply chain research” to create an entire table of product predictions, many of them confidently naming a specific quarter (the iPhone 6 will be out in Q2 next year, apparently):
All that’s missing is the release date for the iRing.
With widespread speculation that Apple will finally be forced to give in to the trend for larger-screen phones, and sporadic rumors of larger iPads, everyone is getting in on the action when it comes to writing screen sizes on a bunch of PostIt notes and sticking them to a dartboard. DisplaySearch apparently decided to throw the MacBook Air into the mix too, for added fun.
A Retina version of the the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air has long been predicted, once Apple can get costs down to the right ballpark for the lower-cost machines, but the 12-inch prediction seems to have about as much of a solid grounding as the rest of the table. Consider it intended for entertainment purposes only.
Related articles
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- Report claims both likely & unlikely display changes for future Apple devices (9to5mac.com)
- Apple issues MacBook Air EFI firmware update with fixes for Boot Camp (9to5mac.com)
- Roundup: The iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, and wildcards for tomorrow’s Apple event (9to5mac.com)
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- iPhone 5s and 5c rolling out to more than 25 new countries on Oct. 25, a dozen more Nov. 1 (9to5mac.com)
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I thought the same when I saw the 12″ MBA and the iPhone screen sizes/resolutions.. I highly doubt they will go that route.. It is likely they are testing screen sizes between 4.5 and 5″ ..but I don’t think in any way are they going to release a 5.7″ iPhone.. Not happening.
They are still fairly firm on the 1 handed experience for phones. I would expect something closer to 4.5-4.8 with as small a bezel as possible to keep it’s size down.
“As an Apple supplier, our contact offered insight into the “iWatch” and described this potential new device as much more than an extension of your iPhone but as a multi-purpose gateway in allowing consumers to control their home (i.e., heating/cooling, lights, audio, video, etc.”
Nice try butt wink. The thing these “analysts” love to throw out is “our Apple supplier” this and “Apple partner” that, but guess what? None of these supposed Apple suppliers would ever have a clue about products being developed deep underground in Cuppertino. Apple can get all the parts they need in small batches perfectly anonymously. And then to claim they know what the software functions would be. To these guys credits though, you’ve got to have nuts the size of Mars to lie like that to keep your job.
“Munster in his latest call missed the iPhone sales number by a staggering 50%, predicting 4-5 million when the real number turned out to be 9 million.”
You mean they missed out by 100%? The analyst predicted 4-5m but sold was 9m so that’s 100% increase on their prediction. Rather you have taken the actual sales and worked out they predicted 50% less of the total which is incorrect… Just sayin!
He predicted 50% of the actual number