Apple investors who were worried about the iPhone 5c eating into the company’s margins now have yet another report from the East that should help ease their concerns. Plugged-in Taiwan-based market research firm TrendForce on Wednesday issued a report stating that combined shipments of Apple’s new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c smartphones accounted for more than 60% of the 33.8 million iPhones Apple sold last quarter. The firm also estimated that 5s and 5c shipments were split fairly evenly in Q3.
Moving forward, however, TrendFore says Apple has slashed iPhone 5c orders by a whopping 11 million units in the fourth quarter due to slower than expected sales, and the company increased iPhone 5s orders significantly to accommodate continued heavy demand. As a result, the firm expects the 5c to account for just 24% of total iPhone sales in the holiday quarter while the iPhone 5s makes up the lion’s share of Q4 iPhone sales.
TrendForce expects total holiday-quarter iPhone sales to grow to 48.9 million units, up a mere 2.2% from 47.8 million in the year-ago quarter.
Via : Yahoo News
One of the biggest surprises in the tech world this year came when Apple decided that it wouldn’t try to attract consumers in emerging markets by releasing a truly low-cost iPhone. Instead, the iPhone 5c that the company launched in September is mostly another high-end smartphone that’s slightly less expensive than the iPhone 5s off-contract because of its older hardware and cheaper plastic casing. Chinese manufacturer Lenovo, which has been the one company to actually thrive during the great PC sales collapse of 2013, now sees an opportunity to deliver to consumers in emerging markets and is planning to target consumers whom Apple has failed to reach with the iPhone 5c.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said that the company’s goal is to serve markets where “the iPhone is probably not the best-selling product” because it’s seen as too expensive. This means that Lenovo will start expanding its reach beyond the Chinese market and into territories where the competition isn’t as fierce, such as Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
Of course many smartphone vendors, including Huawei, BlackBerry and Samsung, have been trying to make waves in these emerging markets over the past few years. But Lenovo’s brand recognition and big marketing budget give it an edge to push its way into markets where it doesn’t have a big presence selling smartphones.Lenovo will get a particular boost in countries such as Brazil where it’s done a good job of selling PCs despite a declining overall market.
Via: Yahoo News
The new iPhones have apparently convinced only a small percentage of iPhone 5 owners to upgrade.
Polling 400 US phone customers that activated an iPhone between September 20 and October 20, research firm CIRP found that only 6 percent of iPhone 5 owners jumped to an 5S or 5C. In contrast, 12 percent of iPhone 4S owners had upgraded to the iPhone 5 over the same period last year.
Further, among the two-thirds of those polled who upgraded from any iPhone to the 5S or 5C in September and October, fewer jumped ship from the iPhone 5 relative to the number of all iPhone owners who moved from the 4S to the 5 last year.
"Ideally, Apple attracts a significant percent of its customers from Android and other systems," CIRP partner and co-founder Mike Levin said in a statement. "At the most recent launch, though, Apple saw an increase in the share of customers that already had an iPhone. Perhaps because of the declining base of non-smartphone owners, a smaller percentage of iPhone buyers upgraded from a basic or flip phone, compared to the year-ago launch."
Do the results signal a spiraling interest in the iPhone? Or do they mean that a fair number of people have passed on the 5S or 5C in anticipation of the iPhone 6?
Apple releases a major new iPhone once every two years, with a minor S upgrade in between. It seems reasonable to assume that the minor upgrades attract fewer people than do the major ones. A certain number of iPhone 5 and Android owners could simply be holding out for the next-generation iPhone.
Source : CNET News
Apple may be enlisting a couple more suppliers to help meet demand for its mobile products.
Later this year, the iPhone maker will tap into the resources of Taiwan-based Wistron to build 5C handsets, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday, citing "people familiar with the supply chain." Next year, Apple will employ Compal Communications, also based in Taiwan, to produce the iPad Mini.
Apple typically relies on Foxconn, aka Hon Hai, for much of the manufacturing of its mobile devices. But that relationship has had its ups and downs.
Foxconn has been criticized for its unsafe labor practices, creating a headache for Apple. A high return rate for defective iPhone 5 units has also triggered a disagreement between Apple and Foxconn over which one should pay for the repair costs, J.P. Morgan analyst Alvin Kwock told the Journal.
Even under better circumstances, Foxconn would be hard pressed to produce all of the iPhones required by Apple.
"Apple has raised this quarter's iPhone 5S orders from Hon Hai as demand has been stronger than expected," an unnamed Hon Hai executive told the Journal. "But it takes time to boost production capacity and Apple can't find other assemblers to increase production to meet demand immediately."
And as Apple cooks up even more products, such as the 5C and iPad Mini 2, the company has little recourse but to seek out more manufacturers to meet the rising demand for its growing lineup.
Via: Cnet
AppAdvice also has a theory on the matter, giving a potential list of countries for the fourth wave of iPhone 5s and iPhone 5s launches based simply on other countries where the iPhone 5 launched on the same date as in the Philippines last year:
After looking back to the countries grouped with the Philippines for the sixth wave of last year’s iPhone 5 launch, and removing the territories which have (or will have) already received the new smartphones, we’re expecting Apple to bring its iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c to some or all of the following countries on Nov. 15:After its November 1 rollout, Apple will have brought the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c to a total of over 60 countries, which will move the company closer to its stated target of avaliability in 100 countries before the end of the year.
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, South Africa, and Venezuela.
Overall, supplies of the iPhone 5s remain constrained, with shipping times in the United States and a number of other countries still at two to three weeks. Supplies of the iPhone 5c, however, remain plentiful with estimated shipping times of 24 hours.
Source : Mac Rumors
The new iPhones vaulted Apple back atop the leader board as the top-selling smartphone vendor in the United States in September, a position held by Samsung for the preceding three months. Helping the company along were reportedly healthy sales of the three-year-old iPhone 4S, which customers can get for free on a two-year contract.
Canaccord notes that their research showed "very strong initial sales and back orders for the iPhone 5s and strong iPhone 5c sales" in both the U.S. and international markets. The devices launched to record-breaking sales numbers in their late September opening weekend and demand still far outstrips supply for the iPhone 5s.
The bank believes that Samsung's upcoming Note 3, which has polarized technology journalists and consumers alike with reports of benchmark cheating and region locking, "should compete very well" against Apple's handsets. The future looks much more bleak for smaller competitors like HTC, BlackBerry, and Motorola, all three of whom Canaccord believes gave up share in the "high-tier smartphone market" to Apple.
According to the report, September brought "very weak" demand for HTC's flagship HTC One, while the Taiwanese company posted the first quarterly loss in its history earlier Friday. The story was similar for BlackBerry, which saw "very soft" sales of its new Z10 and Q10, and Motorola, where sales for its refreshed Droid lineup declined after Apple's new iPhones became available.
Source : Appleinsider
Last Friday, the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S officially became available in select countries worldwide. Now the data is in, and it turns out that the iPhone 5S is currently three times more popular than the multi-colored, plastic iPhone 5C.
The latest data comes by way of Localytics, where it is reported that the two newest iPhone models account for 1.36 percent of all iPhones activated in the United States. Looking a bit deeper, the iPhone 5C only represents the .31 percent of that figure – with the iPhone 5S representing 1.05 percent of iPhone activations.
This same trend extends to the rest of the globe, where there doesn’t seem to be a single market where the iPhone 5C is upstaging its more powerful brother – that includes developing markets like China.
What does this mean for the iPhone 5C?
Before we all start jumping up and down and shouting “the iPhone 5C is dead” – let’s take a step back for a minute.
The iPhone 5C is essentially the iPhone 5, with a plastic colored shell and a few other minor changes. In contrast, the iPhone 5S has a fingerprint reader, a 64-bit processor and an even more premium finish than the original iPhone 5.
That means there are likely folks coming from the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 over to the new iPhone 5S. As for the iPhone 5C? If you already have an iPhone 5, there’s little appeal here. That means the iPhone 5C has the potential to be more appealing to those with aging iPhones (4S and older) and first-time iPhone buyers.
These types of buyers are often ‘value’ customers that aren’t interested and rushing out for a device during its first week launch. The iPhone 5C isn’t about the short-term sales it will bring, but about the long-term.
Bottom-line, the iPhone 5C could end up as a colossal failure – but it’s really too early to make that call, one way or the other.
What do you think of the iPhone 5C, is it a good idea or not?
Source : CNET News
- See more at: http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/09/23/iphone-5s-demand/#sthash.rBb7fHRP.dpuf
If Apple users search for content on the Internet with Siri, the mobile assistant will run a search through Bing.
A new logo, stunning interface, introduction of new features and modification of existing ones has got the search engine some prominence.
With the latest update to iOS Bing app, users can get what they want on the Internet with an ease. The new iOS app displays four tiles on the home page of the search app, Weather, Popular Now, Nearby and Images. These tiles on the front page will give useful information without having to run a type search.
"Bing search within Siri makes it easier than ever to find what you need by delivering various types of results - so you don't have to go to your browser to look at the same list of results," Bing explained in a blog post. "For example, when you ask Siri a question, you will either see a specific answer or search results from Bing, including web links, related searches, images and video."
In addition to the Siri integration and new interface, Bing also allows users to share images from within the app to their social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Another option will allow syncing saved images and screenshots to SkyDrive.
Users can also sync bookmarks and images from the latest version of the Bing desktop and android app.
Source : HEADLINES & GLOBAL NEWS
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