In a new report from KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo, the usually accurate analyst estimates that global pre-orders for the Apple Watch will top 2.3 million units through May. A report earlier this week claimed that Apple Watch first day pre-orders were at almost 1 million units…
German Apple Stores have dropped Vodafone and O2 contracts for both iPhones and iPads, offering them only with Deutsche Telekom contracts or SIM-free. The change affects only post-paid contracts: pre-paid SIMs remain available on Vodafone.
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While the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition has been receiving a lot of attention due to its premium pricing and aesthetic, Apple will sell far more of the lower-priced Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport models, and has created a different customer journey for those customers, according to sources briefed on the plans. Most of the sales process will be familiar to buyers of other products from the Apple Store, but a number of steps are different, including the process of visiting a “magical” display case, trying on different models, playing with demo units, considering Apple Watch accessories, and actually finalizing the purchase. Below, we detail the entire customer experience for the upcoming Apple Watch launch…
The job of Apple Retail Store employees will begin changing in profound ways next month. In order to showcase and sell the Apple Watch, retail employees will be trained to provide personal fashion and styling advice to customers, according to employees briefed on the plans. Until now, Apple Retail has been tasked with recommending iPads, iPhones and Macs with few styling options aside from limited color options.
Apple is pushing for retail employees to initiate conversations that build trust, enabling the employee to serve as a valued fashion advisor during the purchase process, similarly to how traditional watches are sold. Apple Watch sales training programs will take place for Apple retail staff over the course of the next two weeks, teaching entirely new sales techniques to encourage iPhone upgrades, assist with gifting, and guide customers in watch and strap choices.
Below, we detail how employees will provide fashion advice to customers and Apple’s multi-part plan for selling an Apple Watch.
Apple will introduce several major initiatives to ready its retail stores for the Apple Watch’s launch in April, according to sources briefed on the upcoming changes. Starting on April 10th, Apple will allocate 15 minutes per customer for in-store try-on appointments, using 10 or more try-on stations to manage what’s expected to be a steady flow of customers interested in having hands-on time with the Watch. While customers will not necessarily be required to have an appointment, they will be time-limited and guided during the hands-on experience. Additionally, they will be given the opportunity to place a reservation at the time of try-on for a particular model, and make a follow-up appointment to pick the watch up during the April 24th launch date. Stores will also have launch day stock for walk-in appointments.
Apple reported the largest profit ever recorded by a public company in the holiday quarter, mostly driven by sales of 74 million iPhones with an average selling price of $687. According to Cannacord, this meant Apple captured 93% of handset smartphone profits. Perhaps more staggering is that it claims Apple dominated on similar levels across the entire of 2014 — with 79% of mobile device profits.
The analyst expects continued growth for the iPhone for the next few users, with an estimated 650 million iPhone users by the end of 2018.
Apple is looking to hire individuals across the US for a team of IBM Business Development Executives that “will be accountable for all aspects of the Apple and IBM partnership for a defined geographic and account set territory.” That means Apple is hiring a team of individuals that will act as company liaisons to help roll out and oversee sales teams pushing the new Apple/IBM iOS solutions to enterprise customers. The positions, which are industry and region-specific, also show Apple’s plan for the upcoming expansion of its enterprise solutions for new industries including manufacturing and healthcare.
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Apple’s stock soared the day after the company reported its record breaking quarter with over $74 billion in revenue and more than 74 million iPhones sold, and now Apple’s stock has reached a new all-time high during trading. The company briefly touched on $120/share during trading this morning and is on track to break its previous record closing high soon.
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Ahead of Apple’s fiscal Q1 2015 earnings report today, there were signs that Apple had enjoyed significant growth in China and a record number of smartphone sales in the region during the holidays. Today, we get some more insight into that growth, as Apple reported a 157% increase from the previous quarter: revenue of $16.144 billion in Greater China compared to $6.292 billion in Q3.
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Worldwide smartphone sales data from Kantar shows that strong iPhone 6 sales helped Apple achieve market share gains in all but one of the nine countries surveyed. iOS increased its market share in the US, UK, China, Australia, Germany, France, Italy and Spain – with Japan the sole exception.
In the US, Apple’s share of the smartphone market jumped 4.3% year-on-year in the three months ending in November to 47.4%. No surprise that the iPhone 6 was the best-selling phone in the country, capturing 19% of all smartphone sales …
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McDonald’s is testing Bluetooth beacon-based offers in at least some of its locations as it pilots beacon platform Piper that works with both iOS devices using Apple’s iBeacon framework and other mobile devices.
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Bloomberg reports this afternoon that Apple has ceased online sales in Russia due to “extreme” fluctuations in the value of the ruble. Apple has previously attempted to combat the unpredictable swings in the country’s official currency by adjusting the prices of its products, having most recently increased the price of the iPhone 6 by 25% in the country last month.
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A ton of great deals on accessories for iPhone, iPad and Macs have gone live today for Cyber Monday in addition to the many Black Friday deals still running from the weekend. Today is your last chance to get in on most of these discounts and in some cases might be your last chance to get your hands on these products before the holidays.
Head below for our roundup of the best deals available today on cases and accessories for your Apple device.
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According to the latest data from Fiksu, the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus alongside iOS 8 accounted for a massive increase and an all-time high for app downloads. Specifically, the report points to a 42 percent increase from the previous month among the top 200 free iOS apps tracked by the company. Around 7.8 million downloads for the top 200 free apps accounted for a 42 percent increase over September and a 39 percent increase year-over-year.
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Following opening up preorders for Apple’s new iPads last week, T-Mobile announced today that the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 are now available to purchase from both its online and brick and mortar retail stores. T-Mobile’s website, however, notes that the 128GB iPad Air 2 is not yet available and currently only offers the 16GB and 64GB variants.
Sales at T-Mobile follows preorders through Apple, AT&T, Sprint and others kicking off earlier this month with first shipments of the device arriving last week. Apple, Sprint, and other carriers started sales of the device in stores last week.
Why exactly T-Mobile doesn’t have the 128GB model is unclear, but availability of certain models through carrier and retail partners has varied greatly from company to company since the launch last week. Through Apple’s website in the US, most versions of the 128GB iPad Air 2, apart from the Space Gray color option, have the same 1-3 day shipping estimate as the 16GB and 64GB models.
Through T-Mobile the iPads will be available through T-Mobile’s financing options for Simple Choice plan customers starting at $0 down for both tablets. $0 down with monthly payments (approx. $26 for iPad Air 2 and $22 for iPad mini 3) is for the 16GB entry level models, while the 64GB model will be available for $99 down and the 128GB models for $199 down.
The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 are available from T-Mobile’s website and in-stores now.
Apple’s worldwide digital music sales through iTunes have dropped up as much as 14% in 2014, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal citing sources close to the situation. That’s a big decrease, as the report points out, when compared to data available for digital sales last year:
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While yesterday’s iPad numbers don’t look great – down 12.5% year-on-year, the third successive quarter in which sales have fallen – Tim Cook remains upbeat about the product, stating that it “has a great future” and that its long-term prospects are more important than “individual 90-day clicks.”
Quartz‘s Dan Frommer pulled together some of the things Cook has to say about the device, and while you’d clearly expect Apple’s CEO to put the best possible spin on things, he makes some reasonable arguments …
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Apple has today announced that it sold 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units in the first three days of sales. This includes the 4 million units sold in the first 24 hours of preorder sales. Apple’s newest iPhones have consistently been out of stock across the world, particularly the iPhone 6 Plus which is believed to have faced production issues, limiting the number of available devices for sale.
For comparison, Apple reported 9 million iPhone 5s and 5c sales in the first three days. This means the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus set a new record by over a million units. Apple is unlikely to give any more color regarding iPhone sales performance until its quarterly earnings call in October. As usual, Apple has opted to not share the breakdown of sales between the two new devices.
In a statement to Re/code, Apple has announced that iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have set new records for overnight preorders.
An Apple representative said that the overnight sales of the new iPhones set a record, though Apple did not say how many have been sold.
“Response to iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has been incredible with a record number of preorders overnight,” Apple told Re/code.
Earlier today, AT&T announced that it saw the best iPhone demand in two years. The phones have received immense interest today, despite Apple Online Store issues. T-Mobile’s systems have been crunched due to the demand, meaning sales representatives have had to resort to pen and paper to reserve iPhones for customers.
Steve Jobs famously declared back in 2010 that Android was a stolen product, and he was willing to “go thermonuclear war” in order to “destroy” it.
“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” Jobs said. “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
Back in April, I suggested three reasons it might be time for Apple to settle its Android disputes and move on. The relatively small damages award in the most recent case (and which now looks set to be further reduced) provided a fourth reason not long after I wrote that piece. But I think the case today is even more compelling …
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With Apple’s Q3 earnings call this week revealing iPad sales of 13.3 million units for the quarter and Tim Cook making a point of defending the category, today we get a look at how Apple is doing overall with IDC’s latest numbers for worldwide tablet shipments.
While noting that tablet shipments worldwide grew 11% year-over-year, IDC’s numbers show that Apple was able to maintain its lead over Samsung with 26.9% of the market (down from 33% last year) compared to Samsung at 17.2% down from 18.8% the year before. Both lose share to other companies as the category reportedly experienced a lot of growth among smaller companies like Lenovo and Acer while the “others” category grew from 37% to 44% marketshare:
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Ahead of Apple’s Q3 earnings call where analysts expect the company to beat its own top-end guidance, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners today shared its latest numbers on iPhone and iPad sales for the quarter.
While analysts are expecting Apple to announce sales of iPhones as high as 40 million units for the quarter representing a 15% increase from last year, CIRP gives us some insight into how iPhone and iPad models sold relative to flagship models last year. It’s also an interesting look at how Apple’s two model iPhone approach is working while continuing to sell previous generations. The iPhone 5s, according to CIRP’s research, accounted for 62% of iPhone sales vs 52% for the iPhone 5 at the same time last year. The data shows Apple is selling more of its most expensive, high-end flagship models as a percentage of its over all sales for compared to last year:
“Once again, Apple’s premium iPhone 5S sold well in the quarter,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. “It appears that in the US, Apple sells the 5S model at the expense of the iPhone 5C, which continues to sell much slower than the similarly- priced iPhone 4S in the same quarter last year. The entry-level ‘free’ or subsidized price point maintains its 16-18% of iPhone sales.”
As for iPad sales, the report notes the iPad Air captured a much higher percentage of Apple’s tablet sales relative to its flagship models last year. “The comparable flagship tablet last year, the iPad with Retina, accounted for less than a third of sales, while the iPad Air has over half. The small format iPads held their own at more than a third of sales, adding the higher-priced iPad Mini with Retina to the product mix. The $399 full size iPad with Retina seems to be stuck in the middle, at only 10% of sales.”
The report covers data for Apple’s fiscal Q3 that includes the three month period ended June 30. Apple’s conference call to announce its Q3 financial results is scheduled for tomorrow at 2PM PT/5PM ET.
Image via <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml1LzNFn8kc">TechSmartt</a>
According to figures released by market research company BCN, Asus sold more tablets than Apple during the first half of 2014 in Japan. Asus’ market share rose 8 percent year-over-year during the first half of 2014, the report claims, giving it a 38.9 percent portion of the tablet market in Japan. Apple, on the other hand, holds a 36.4 percent share (via Nikkei). This is the first time Asus has ever held the top spot in Japan, according to the report.
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With Apple’s upcoming fiscal Q3 earnings call just around the corner, analysts are predicting the company sold as many as 40 million iPhones during the quarter that ended last month. That’s on the high side of estimates complied by Fortune, however. Estimates from a poll of 26 analysts includes predictions ranging from 31.8 million to almost 40 million units. The average of estimates comes in at 35.88 million.
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