Apple Inc

613 'Apple Inc' stories April 2013 - August 2015

KGI predicts zero or negative growth for next iPhone, citing weak Chinese economy and limited appeal of Force Touch

Ben Lovejoy Aug 11 2015 - 4:57 am PT

KGI – which has an excellent track record – has predicted a strong possibility of either zero or negative growth of iPhone sales in Q4 2015. The investment note cited by Taiwanese site Apple Daily (via GforGames) forecasts that Apple will sell between 65M and 75M iPhones, compared to 74.5M in the same quarter last year.

We predict iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S could be the first S-series models to see flat or lower shipments versus their predecessors.

KGI bases its pessimistic prediction on two factors. First, the weak state of the Chinese economy. Second, the very same argument I made in my opinion piece yesterday: that the headline feature of the iPhone 6S, Force Touch, doesn’t seem likely to wow customers …
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Opinion: Five reasons Apple’s rumored ambitions of 90M iPhone 6S sales may be a tough target

Ben Lovejoy Aug 10 2015 - 7:32 am PT

59 Comments

iphone-6-vs.-iphone-6-plus-4

The iPhone 6 was the iPhone many had long been waiting for, offering a larger screen size and NFC support for Apple Pay. Unsurprisingly, it opened to record sales, and has continued to break sales records ever since.

But Apple’s ‘tick tock’ strategy –a major new iPhone one year and an updated model based on the same form factor the following year – means that the company has to work much harder to sell its S models. With little visual difference (and the average mass-market customer oblivious to processor upgrades), Apple has to rely on a headline new feature to persuade people that it’s worth the upgrade.

For the last couple of S models, Apple has offered pretty convincing reasons to buy: the 4S gave us Siri, and the 5s introduced Touch ID – both appealing features that were easy for non-tech customers to understand. But if the rumors are correct that Force Touch is the headline new feature of the iPhone 6S, this is one of five reasons I think the company’s rumored ambition to make 90M units by the end of the year could be a tough number to turn into sales …
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Apple Music’s advantage is being big enough to do curation properly, says Jimmy Iovine, as he eyes curated TV

Ben Lovejoy Aug 7 2015 - 6:39 am PT

26 Comments

iovive-wired

Jimmy Iovine seems to be doing the rounds of UK media at present. Following yesterday’s Evening Standard interview, he’s done another with Wired editor Michael Rundle.

Much of it is, of course, the usual sales spiel: curation is cool, nobody else will catch us or do it better, lots of great people involved – the kind of things you’d expect him to say. But the interview does contain one unexpected snippet: that Apple Music‘s curated approach could be applied to TV …
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Morgan Stanley maintains AAPL as a buy, giving four reasons for expecting stock to climb

Ben Lovejoy Aug 6 2015 - 7:24 am PT

3 Comments

Following Bank of America Merrill Lynch yesterday giving six reasons for downgrading AAPL stock, Morgan Stanley has responded today with four reasons it continues to rate the stock a Buy, reports Business Insider.

In a note to clients on Thursday, Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty maintained an “Overweight” rating and $155 price target on the stock, arguing that the company will not see a similar stock meltdown to what was experienced after a huge run-up in 2012.

While acknowledging that supply may be catching up with demand, leading to supply chain reports of seemingly weaker sales, Huberty says there are four reasons the stock is likely to climb.

Gross margins are improving, not deteriorating, as the company heads into the next iPhone cycle.

There’s low institutional ownership of the stock.

Apple has a more competitive product line-up and a “stickier” ecosystem against Android.

There’s a more robust product and services roadmap.

Addressing concerns about the impact the weak Chinese economy may have on Apple, Huberty says that smartphones costing more than $300 each have been increasing their market share, meaning that Apple is well placed to continue to grow its business in the country.

‘The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs’ opera to debut in 2017

Chance Miller Aug 5 2015 - 4:40 pm PT

4 Comments

Joining the increasingly growing lineup of Steve Jobs biographies, the Santa Fe Opera announced today that it will debut a new opera centered around the life of the late Apple CEO. The show is entitled “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” and is composed by Mason Bates with librettist Mark Campbell. The opera is currently scheduled to debut in 2017 (via LATimes).

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Why is AAPL stock falling despite record sales, profits and cash?

Ben Lovejoy Aug 5 2015 - 7:27 am PT

31 Comments

aapl

The stock market can often seem an irrational place, and never more so than where AAPL is concerned. The company keeps reporting record sales, has typically out-performed analyst expectations, takes home almost the entire smartphone industry’s profits and has so much cash it scarcely knows what to do with it – yet its share price is falling.

AAPL stock has fallen more than 14% since April, wiping $113B from the company’s market valuation. It dropped 7% in the past month alone. That’s the equivalent of McDonalds vanishing into thin air. What gives?
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Kantar: The iPhone’s Q2 market share grew in every country surveyed…except the U.S.

Ben Lovejoy Aug 5 2015 - 6:24 am PT

1 Comment

Kantar data suggests that the iPhone increased its market share during Q2 in all of the countries it surveyed bar the USA. Apple’s share of the smartphone market grew in China, Australia and all five of Europe’s largest markets, defying the usual lull in sales seen during the run-up to a new model in September.

Apple iOS returned to growth across all of Europe’s ‘big five’ markets [of] Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain,” reported Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Kantar surveyed buyers to determine the reasons they selected the iPhone over Android rivals, with owners listing four main factors …
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Rep. Barbara Lee calls on Apple to release federal hiring diversity data after meeting with Tim Cook

Ben Lovejoy Aug 5 2015 - 4:11 am PT

26 Comments

Congressional Black Caucus member and California Congresswoman Barbara Lee has called on Apple to release federal data on the diversity of its workforce, following a meeting with Tim Cook to discuss the issue, reports USA Today.

Apple is one of a number of tech companies that issues its own reports on employee diversity, but refuses to release data from its federally-mandated filing. Companies are required by law to file the information, but are not obligated to make it public …
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How to reinstall deleted Apple Watch apps

Apple granted patent for Apps user-interface of Apple Watch

Ben Lovejoy Aug 4 2015 - 4:45 am PT

4 Comments

Apple was today granted a patent on the way it displays apps on the Apple Watch. It’s one of the briefest patent descriptions around, merely pointing to the associated illustration.

The ornamental design for a display screen or portion thereof with graphical user interface, as shown and described.

The illustration itself is simply a representation of the apps screen of the Apple Watch. Only a monochrome version is shown online, though the USPTO notes that color version(s) are held on file.

Apple has been granted a number of patents for the Apple Watch, including five covering the overall form factor and design and others for the bands.

Via Patently Apple

Canalys: Xiaomi and Huawei push Apple down into 3rd place in China, but still applying pressure

Ben Lovejoy Aug 3 2015 - 7:38 am PT

6 Comments

Apple has lost its top position in smartphone shipments in China, reports Canalys, falling from the #1 slot it achieved in Q4 of 2014 to #3 in Q2 of this year.

Canalys did not reveal Apple’s market share (a number it would like its clients to pay for), stating only that Xiaomi took the top slot with a 15.9% share, with Huawei close behind at 15.7%. A separate market size estimate from Counterpoint, with similar numbers, suggests that Apple’s market share in the country may have fallen to around 12.2% …
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Apple opens Japanese YouTube site, uploads a bunch of new Japanese videos

Seth Weintraub Aug 3 2015 - 7:27 am PT

8 Comments

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_lDKon0bUM]

Apple, over the weekend, opened an new front on Google’s YouTube video service to host its Japanese videos. The site is verified by YouTube and has been up for 3 days but appears to have gone unnoticed. None of the videos as of this writing have more than 100 views and there are only 49 subscribers. I have a feeling that’s a bout to change.

Update: Apple also launched a S. Korean Youtube Channel.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TeR0F2VpOg]

Apple reportedly testing having Siri transcribe voicemails, allowing you to read them

Ben Lovejoy Aug 3 2015 - 4:09 am PT

10 Comments

Apple is reportedly conducting internal testing on a service that allows Siri to transcribe your voicemail messages into text, so that you can read them rather than having to listen to them. Business Insider reports that the service is expected to be launched next year.

When someone using iCloud Voicemail is unable to take a call, Siri will answer instead of letting the call go to a standard digital audio recorder.

iCloud Voicemail can relay information about where you are and why you can’t pick up the phone to certain people. But the coolest feature of the service is that Siri will transcribe any incoming voicemails, just like it does with anything else you say to it.

The piece says that a number of Apple employees are currently trialling the service to determine its reliability …
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Strategy Analytics: iPhone market share climbed from 8.2% to 10.9% year-on-year

Ben Lovejoy Jul 30 2015 - 4:50 am PT

1 Comment

Strategy Analytics has issued its latest estimates of global mobile phone shipments, and reports that Apple’s market share climbed from 8.2% in Q2 2014 to 10.9% in the same quarter this year. Apple revealed in its latest quarterly earnings that it saw iPhone sales climb 35% year-on-year to 47M units.

The research firm said that Apple’s dramatic growth in iPhone shipments contrasted strongly with an overall industry growth rate of just 2% …
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Opinion: iTunes is now so clunky the only safe solution is to nuke it from orbit

Ben Lovejoy Jul 28 2015 - 8:20 am PT

145 Comments

I’ve complained before about the massive missed opportunity of Apple failing to properly integrate both owned and streamed music within iTunes. I got over that enough to use and enjoy Apple Music, and I’m confident I’ll be continuing my subscription once Apple starts charging my card, despite the raw deal we get on pricing in the UK.

But I also agreed with Variety that Apple needed to adopt the same approach for OS X as it does for iOS, splitting out the various iTunes functions into separate apps. Having now been using version 12.2 of iTunes for a month, I’m escalating this from a moderate whinge to a full-scale rant. The time has come for Apple to finally rid us of this creaking, bloated disaster of an app, and start afresh …
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T-Mobile adds free Apple Music cellular streaming, offers free next-gen iPhone upgrades to iPhone 6 buyers

Cam Bunton Jul 28 2015 - 7:51 am PT

34 Comments

Summer for T-Mobile this year has meant announcing a series of promotions and plans dubbed #UncarrierAmped. Today, the company launched the latest, and last of these moves. This time it’s all about Apple. John Legere announced in a blog post that the company is adding Apple Music to its Music Freedom free music streaming service and is going to offer this year’s — as yet unreleased — iPhone to anyone buying an iPhone 6 over the next couple of months.
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Sources at major labels say Apple Music hit over 10M subscribers in first month

Ben Lovejoy Jul 28 2015 - 4:12 am PT

28 Comments

Music site Hits Daily Double cites “inside sources at some of the major labels” as stating that Apple Music signed up more than 10M subscribers in the first four weeks, saying the number was shared with them by Apple.

The site says both Apple and the labels were surprised by the speed of adoption, noting that streaming figures for some tracks – which include “a couple of cutting-edge hip-hop titles” – are on a par with Spotify, which has around 75M subscribers …
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New Pad & Quill Apple Watch bands turn Sport into classy for $86

Seth Weintraub Jul 27 2015 - 10:14 am PT

6 Comments

Pad and Quill, one of our favorite Apple accessory makers, today introduced a set of Apple Watch bands with their trademark quality leather and stitching combined with two options of metal: Stainless Steel and Polished Black. At $86 (save 5% w/code 5forSUMMER), this turns an Apple Watch Sport into something you can wear with business casual to formal attire. Paired with a standard Apple Watch, it adds more color options to your Stainless Steel arsenal.

Not just any leather, but the luxury full grain leather used to craft all of Pad & Quill’s handmade goods. So we turned to Victorio, a 4th generation italian leather tannery artisan. His tannery uses legendary soft-tumbled method to transform full grain American steer hides into a luxury leather watch band that will hug your wrist with pliable comfort, while being as rugged and durable as your active life demands.

We’ll have a review in the next week or so but if you can’t wait, you can order yours in 38mm or 42mm today for delivery starting in mid August. Check out our hands-on impressions with each of Pad and Quill’s full lineup of Apple Watch accessories in the meantime.
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Apple’s retail expansion in India underway, 100+ of 500 resellers reportedly selected

Ben Lovejoy Jul 27 2015 - 5:23 am PT

1 Comment

Apple’s plan to establish 500 mobile-focused reseller stores in India is reportedly well underway, with NDTV Gadgets reporting that more than 100 of the partners for its Authorised Mobility Resellers (AMR) program have already been signed-up.

Apple seems to have already identified the cities, and indeed the areas within these cities where it wants to open the new stores, as a job listing on Apple’s website says the responsibility of Program Manager – AMR is to select store locations “within identified micro markets within a city” (emphasis ours).

An Apple-appointed contractor is building the stores’ interiors to ensure that they conform to Apple’s design and size requirements, before handing them back to the third-party resellers to operate. The partners are reportedly being selected by Apple on the basis of their track-record in selling Apple products.

Apple is said to be focusing on building market share in the company, and will, unusually, allow AMRs to discount iPhones below the official retail price.

Apple ‘Back to School’ promo expected to go international on August 6/7

Cam Bunton Jul 25 2015 - 7:21 am PT

3 Comments

Apple recently kicked off its ‘Back to School’ promo in the US and Canada, offering customers a free pair of Beats headphones for buying a Mac. The same deal will be rolling out internationally in various countries on either August 6th or 7th (exact date depends on country). Like those in the US and Canada, European customers will be able snag a free pair of Beats Solo2 headphones with a qualifying Mac purchase, or get €200 discount on the Beats Wireless Solo2.

According to French Mac blog Consomac, Angela Ahrendts, the company’s retail chief told employees of its wider rollout plans in a short video:

“In the US and in Canada, in our stores and online, it is the season for Back to School. Kids go back to school in these countries earlier than a lot of other countries. It Will Be launching August 6 and August 7 in additional countries, again aligned to When Your kids and your students Actually go back to school.”

It’s expected that European customers will be subject to the same purchase rules as in the States and Canada. They’ll need to buy an iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or Mac Pro with education pricing to get the free Beats. Build-to-order configurations are eligible, but Mac Mini is excluded from the deal.

This is first year Apple has given away Beats products with its Macs for ‘Back to School’ students. Last year, a Mac purchase got you a $100 gift card, and an iPhone or iPad purchase got you a $50 gift card.

Once the deal goes live in Europe, we’ll be sure to update you. As things stand, we’re expecting the roll out to begin in just under two weeks’ time.

Apple patents TV remote with Touch ID, references both television and HomeKit applications

Ben Lovejoy Jul 23 2015 - 5:41 am PT

2 Comments

While Apple reportedly dropped its plans to make a complete TV, its adoption of the Apple TV box as the gateway device for HomeKit may be behind a patent for a TV remote with Touch ID.

As is often the case, the patent is expressed in extremely broad terms, referring to a “sensor configured to detect a biometric characteristic of a user” and mentioning everything from iris detection to voice sensing, but a fingerprint is included and appears to be what is shown in the main drawing.

Apple suggests that biometric authorization could be used both for things like selecting an individual’s preferred channels on a TV, and for home automation applications like changing a thermostat temperature or opening a garage door.

As ever, the fact that Apple patents something is no indication that it will ever make it into a product.

Via Patently Apple

Apple increasing R&D spending by $1.5B as it cuts capital expenditure

Ben Lovejoy Jul 23 2015 - 4:59 am PT

4 Comments

An SEC filing by Apple shows that the company plans to increase this year’s spend on product development by $1.5B, reaching a total of $5.9B by the end of September, reports Business Insider. At the same time, Apple is cutting its forecast capital expenditure by $1B, which the company told the WSJ was due to efficiency savings.

A company spokeswoman said Apple lowered the forecast because it was able to spend more efficiently for tooling equipment and facilities. “There are no changes in our product plans,” she said.

Apple explores a great many potential new product ideas, and the increased spend on product development could conceivably indicate that the company is choosing to invest more heavily in one of these, BI speculating that it may be the long-rumored Apple car …
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Apple’s tough security requirements for Bluetooth LE are delaying HomeKit roll-out, say manufacturers

Ben Lovejoy Jul 22 2015 - 1:09 pm PT

7 Comments

If you were wondering why manufacturers seemed to be rather slow in launching HomeKit-compatible devices, it may all be down to Apple’s stringent security requirements. Forbes reports that manufacturers are finding it hard to incorporate the extremely secure encryption standards demanded by Apple in order to achieve MFi certification for their products.

Apple is requiring device makers using both WiFi and Bluetooth LE to use complicated encryption with 3072-bit keys, as well as the super secure Curve25519, which is an elliptic curve used for digital signatures and exchanging encrypted keys.

While mains-powered WiFi kit is coping, the processing workload in battery-powered Bluetooth LE devices is leading to extremely slow response times, say manufacturers …
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Tim Cook believes China will be Apple’s biggest market – and it’s not hard to see why

Ben Lovejoy Jul 22 2015 - 4:24 am PT

5 Comments

One of the most remarkable numbers revealed yesterday by Apple was that revenue in Greater China – the term used to describe mainland China plus Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan – more than doubled in the past year. Year-on-year revenue in the region more than doubled, compared to Apple’s already impressive worldwide growth of 33% …
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Fortune: AAPL earnings likely to beat analyst expectations for 9th straight quarter

Ben Lovejoy Jul 21 2015 - 6:11 am PT

3 Comments

With Apple due to report its fiscal Q3 (calendar Q2) earnings later today, Fortune notes that the company has beaten Wall Street expectations for eight straight quarters – and strong iPhone sales mean that today’s earnings report is likely to make it nine.

iPhone sales typically drop in June as consumers hear more rumors about the next model and many decide to wait. But with Q3 sales estimated at close to 50M phones, representing a massive 40% year-on-year increase, that would put Apple’s revenue well in excess of the company’s own guidance of $47B and above the Wall Street consensus estimate of $49.5B …
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