With MetroPCS, T-Mobile could help Apple reach 9 million new potential iPhone buyers
It may not be the iPhone 5 they buy — the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S may prove more attractive — but that’s OK. Read more »
The year-old iPhone 4S was world’s 2nd most popular smartphone in Q4
Both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S outsold Samsung’s Galaxy S III juggernaut, which after five months of availability, sold 15.4 million units during the fourth quarter. Read more »
After iPhone 5, iOS makes gains at AT&T and Verizon
Some of Apple’s gain appears to be RIM’s loss as Blackberry sales dropped off at both carriers. The remaining pickup by Apple may have come from new customers, or from upgrades from Android devices, which lost share year over year between mid-October and late November. Read more »
A photographer’s view of the iPhone 5
The iPhone 5′s new camera lens isn’t a gigantic improvement. But where Apple does make more significant advances is the software. My tests shots show the iPhone 5 has faster photo capture, better low-light performance, and improved noise reduction. Read more »
Improved iPhone 5 less expensive to make than iPhone 4S
Is it possible to build a better smartphone for consumers that costs less to produce? Apparently so, if you’re Apple. A preliminary teardown of the iPhone 5 shows that the most expensive iPhone this year is cheaper for Apple to make than the iPhone 4S. Read more »
Chart: iPhone 5 first weekend sales compared to earlier iPhone models (chart)
The iPhone 5 hasn’t matched very high sales expectations, but it has exceded previous opening weekend sales. We take a visual look at first-weekend iPhone sales over the years. Read more »
How an advanced photographer uses the iPhone and iPad
If you had told me even a year ago that more than 60 percent of the photos I take would never touch my Mac, I’d have laughed. But it’s true. Here’s a walk through my heavily iOS (and Mac) powered digital photography workflow. Read more »
Why nTelos gets the iPhone but T-Mobile must wait
Apple has a new U.S. carrier partner for the iPhone, and once again, it’s not T-Mobile. Instead it’s nTelos, a carrier with only 400,000 customers. Apple isn’t snubbing T-Mobile here. It’s merely following the path of least resistance. Read more »
First-look video: Wahoo Blue HR heart-rate monitor
This year is shaping up to be a good one for health-related gadgets, thanks to the new Bluetooth 4.0 specification and profiles. The $79 Wahoo Blue HR is among the first of these devices, and I recently took it for a 5-mile test run. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Opportunities and challenges for mobile deals
Mobile deals combine location-aware discounts with mobile marketing campaigns. What are the largest pitfalls in this promising space, though? Privacy and security issues must be addressed to assure consumers their purchases are secure and their location is being closely guarded. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple gets China Telecom, but China Mobile still out of its grasp
The iPhone 4S will arrive March 9 on China Telecom, China’s third-largest carrier. It’s an important step for Apple, which has highly prioritized its China business, but the number of reachable customers pales in comparison to the 650 million customers China Mobile serves. Read more »
Sprint: iPhone brought 40 percent of new signups in Q4
Sprint sold 1.8 million iPhones in the last three months of 2011, or just a quarter of the number of iPhones that AT&T did. But it’s actually good news for the nation’s third-largest carrier, which announced its quarterly earnings Wednesday. Read more »
Android still 1st choice among virgin smartphone buyers
The iPhone may have passed over Android in total U.S. smartphone sales, but Google’s platform still has one key advantage: it’s attracting more mobile data newbies. According to the NPD Group, 57 percent of first-time smartphone buyers last quarter chose Android handsets. Read more »
Subscriber Content
CES 2012: a recap and analysis
This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history. It boasted 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. It is easy to be jaded by the endlessly repetitive products, but the thousands of innovations point toward a future of connectivity. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Straight talk for businesses considering an iOS app
IOS development is not for the faint of heart, and a new blog post by developer Kent Nguyen does a good job of pointing out exactly why. Nguyen targets those who would be footing the bill for app development, in the hopes of lessening sticker shock. Read more »
Apple’s iPhone 4S helps iOS stay ahead in the enterprise
Apple’s iPhone 4S has helped it regain ground lost to Android in consumer smartphone market share, but it’s also having a very positive effect on enterprise adoption, according to a new report. The iPad remains by far the top tablet in business. Read more »
What Wall Street is saying about Apple’s record quarter
Apple’s record quarter is prompting a lot of analysts and Wall Street watchers to up their estimates for the stock’s performance. A slew of investor notes released Wednesday suggest few believe Apple’s fortunes have reached their apex. Investors seem to agree, as Apple’s stock opened strong. Read more »
After China, Apple has its eye on Brazil
China is Apple’s second-most-important market after the U.S. But when it comes to finding other new emerging markets to sell its wares, Apple has its eye on Brazil. CEO Tim Cook spoke of the country’s growing importance during Apple’s quarterly earnings call on Tuesday. Read more »
Unruly crowds force Apple to halt iPhone sales in China stores
On the day Apple was set to sell the iPhone 4S for the first time in China, huge crowds gathered outside the Shanghai and Beijing stores. At the Beijing store, crowds became so unruly Apple had to close the store and SWAT teams were called in. Read more »
Chinese iPhone 4S launch the one to watch as lines grow
Apple is in for another huge iPhone 4S launch, if early lineups are any indication. Lines outside Apple’s five official retail stores in China have already extended into the hundreds ahead of Friday’s launch, which is good news for Apple’s next-quarter results. Read more »
Apple poised to double potential iPhone market in China
Apple is one step closer to nearly doubling its potential iPhone subscriber base in China, thanks to a new regulatory approval it secured in that country. Apple now has permission to offer a handset that operates on the network used by third-largest Chinese carrier China Telecom. Read more »
Siri: Enabler of more data consumption, not the root cause
A recent report on the outsized increase in data usage among iPhone 4S users blamed the bandwidth drain squarely on Siri. But while Siri may be used as the mechanism for more Internet searches and smartphone services, the application itself uses very little data. Read more »
Study: iOS set to win share as smartphones surge
Apple is set to reap the benefits of increased consumer interest in smartphones, according to a new study. A survey of 15,000 U.S. shoppers found that Apple and Google will dominate, with Apple’s winning back share over the next six months. Read more »
Huawei’s thin, high-end Android 4.0 phone: Ascend P1 S
Prior to Huawei’s CES scheduled press event on Monday, the company took a shot at high-end handset makers with the Ascend P1 S. Just 6.68 millimeters thin, the phone runs Android 4.0 on a Texas Instruments dual-core OMAP chip and 4.3-inch high-resolution Super AMOLED display. Read more »
Demand and satisfaction for Apple’s iPhone strong following 4S launch
A new survey of 4,000 North American consumers finds that even though the iPhone 4S has been out for a couple of months, consumers still have a strong appetite for the Apple smartphone. It’s the strongest demand seen yet for an iPhone following its initial launch. Read more »
The iPhone 4S gulps twice as much data as iPhone 4
Apple’s iPhone 4S is data-hungry, according to a new study released Friday by mobile network monitoring firm Arieso. In fact, it found Apple’s newest iPhone consumes twice as much data as the iPhone 4, and three times as much as the iPhone 3G. Read more »
Italian court denies preliminary iPhone 4S ban
Apple’s iPhone 4S won’t be blocked for sale in Italy, at least not in the near-term. A Milan court rejected Samsung’s request for a preliminary injunction against the device on Thursday. It’s the third time Samsung’s attempts to hobble Apple in Europe have been blocked. Read more »
Verizon iPhone sales hit 4.2 million during holiday quarter
Verizon sold 4.2 million iPhone during the fourth quarter of 2011, CFO Fran Shammo said at a conference on Wednesday. That’s more than twice as many iPhone devices as it sold during the previous quarter, an increase do doubt spurred by the iPhone 4S. Read more »
Kickstarter finds: iPhone smart cover, carry your iPad in style and cables to go
Lots of people may be on vacation right now, but Kickstarter isn’t. The crowdfunding site has some great new Apple-related accessories that could be just what the doctor ordered if you’re flush with post-Christmas cash or a guilty indulgence if shopping cleaned you out. Read more »
Deal alert: Best Buy’s iPhone 4 BOGO deal returns
Best Buy has a good deal on iPhones this weekend: It is offering buy-one-get-one-free pricing on the 32 GB iPhone 4, on either Sprint or AT&T with new 2-year contracts. Basically, it means you get a 32 GB iPhone 4 for the price of the 8 GB version. Read more »
Apple’s Santa Siri ad: The most effective ad of the holiday season
Apple’s Siri ad featuring the jolly old elf was 2011′s most effective holiday advertisement according to viewer reaction as measured by Ace Metrix, a TV ad analysis firm. The Apple spot featuring Santa Claus using Siri also exemplified a trend this year: specifically, “Santa sells.” Read more »
Apple’s iPhone tops UK holiday smartphone shopping
Apple’s iPhone 4S is on a roll this holiday in the UK, where it accounted for almost a quarter of all smartphone sales during the four weeks leading up to Dec. 9. Even older iPhone devices, like the 3GS, outperformed newer devices like Nokia’s Lumia line. Read more »
Apple’s iPhone 4S most-discussed smartphone for second half of 2011
Apple’s iPhone 4S is the smartphone on the tip of everyone’s tongue this holiday season, according to stats from Nielsen/McKinsey subsidiary NM Incite released Friday. The 4S captured 40 percent of online buzz around smartphones during the last six months, despite not being introduced until October. Read more »
The iPhone’s untallied success: Pre-paid and gray market
The iPhone 4S is being hailed by pretty much every quarter as a success these days, including users, carriers and analysts. But Apple is also making gains in a less brightly lit area of smartphone sales: the world of gray market devices on prepaid contracts. Read more »
French court says no to iPhone 4S ban
Apple will be able to continue selling the iPhone 4S in France unimpeded, according to a court decision on Thursday. The Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris has denied a request by Samsung to secure a preliminary injunction against the sale of the 4S. Read more »
AT&T cites Apple’s iPhone as driver for record smartphone sales
AT&T said on Wednesday it expects to break its record for smartphones sold during a single quarter, based in part on the success of Apple’s iPhone 4S, which prompted a very high number of upgrades among its users and remains a strong seller. Read more »
Siri plays a big part in iPhone 4S owner satisfaction
How much do you love your iPhone 4S? Chances are the answer is “a lot.” New ChangeWave research data shows owner satisfaction with the iPhone 4S is much higher than that of the iPhone 4, with 96 percent approval ratings and only 2 percent reporting dissatisfaction. Read more »
Tips and tricks: Wording and Siri commands
Welcome to another installment of Tips and Tricks, the series that aims to teach you something new about your Apple stuff. This time, we’ll be taking a look at Siri and how changing one or two words in your query can produce completely different results. Read more »
Subscriber Content
The Internet of things: creating tomorrow’s health care
By 2020 it is estimated that 20–50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. Many of these devices will be collecting health data or will be connected to health and medical devices in the home, the hospital or the wider environment. The Internet of things (IoT), meanwhile, refers to the growth of sensors and things that connect to the Internet via RFID, Bluetooth, ZigBee and satellite. In health care, its growth is likely to open new disruptive business opportunities for services that add value to the data collected. This paper provides a preliminary overview of the landscape of opportunities and drivers in the current health and health care environments and highlights some of the challenges that remain. Companies mentioned in this report include IBM, Arrayent Health, Kaiser Permanente and Ford. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
China Unicom one small step from selling iPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S has made waves around the world, but it has yet to even enter the water in China, Apple’s second-most important market. We should see how it does there soon, however, as a launch is very close, according to a China Unicom exec. Read more »
