Research

Best Buy sells almost as many iPhones as Apple’s retail stores

Back in 2008, Apple made the decision to allow Best Buy to carry and sell its beloved handset. And that choice is proving to be a fantastic one today as reports are coming in regarding the retailers' iPhone sales.

Citing a study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, AllThingsD reported this morning that Best Buy outlets have been selling almost as many iPhones as Apple itself...

Over 60% of Developers Prefer iOS Over Android

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt made some waves at the recent Paris-hosted Le Web conference with comments regarding Android and its iOS competitor. Schmidt was at the conference to talk about Android's big update, Ice Cream Sandwich.

During his speech, the CEO made a pretty big 6-month prediction for Google's mobile platform, saying things like "developers will soon start choosing Android over iOS." But a recent research report from Flurry Analytics suggests otherwise.

Apple Expected to Sell 4 Million Apple TVs This Year

Apple has long described its Apple TV as a "hobby." And with sales of the set-top box not reaching anywhere near the numbers of Apple's other iOS devices, that makes perfect sense.

But even though Apple treats it like a side project, the Apple TV has done fairly well. A new report suggests that Apple's media hub has captured nearly a third of the market.

Steve Jobs Was Right, Tablet Size Does Matter

When Apple decided to bring the iPad to market it came to the conclusion that a 9.7-inch screen was the way to go after testing various different sizes and dimension ratios. Steve Jobs later famously declared that a 7-inch form factor was simply too small to be usable, but that didn't stop the likes of Samsung and RIM from releasing tablets with a screen that size.

Amazon has recently joined the group of companies to release a tablet, and it also went for the smaller form factor for the Kindle Fire. Was that a wise decision?

According to usability fiend Jakob Nielson, Amazon's tablet is simply too small to be truly useful, lending credence to what Jobs and Apple have been saying for the last two years...

Study Shows 41% of iPhone 4S Owners Broke Contract to Upgrade

Apple's new handset has been extremely popular since it launched last month. Carriers are still struggling to keep up with the demand for the device. To put things plainly: consumers love it.

They love it so much, in fact, that many of them are willing to break their previous carrier contracts to get one. A recent study shows that some 45% of people surveyed paid an ETF to get their iPhone 4S...

Apple Was Fifth Most-Visited Store on Black Friday

Apple has found itself in the top 5 most-visited online stores in the United States for the first time, according to data compiled by comScore for Black Friday. Sitting pretty in fifth place, Apple is the highest ranking product brand in the list, almost overtaking Target in the fourth spot.

The impressive results come as Apple is also experiencing fantastic sales in its brick and mortar stores, with the Black Friday sales apparently breaking forecasts left and right...

The iOS Hacker’s Handbook Reveals How Jailbreaking and Exploit Research Works

Some of the greatest minds in the security research and hacking community, including a couple of prominent jailbreak developers, have put together a new book called The iOS Hacker's Handbook.

The book is a collaboration between infamous security guru Charlie Miller, Dion Blazakis, Dino DaiZovi, Vincenzo Iozzo, and Ralf-Phillip Weinmann. Stefan Esser (better known as "i0n1c" in the jailbreak community) is also listed as an author. The Dev Team's MuscleNerd served as the book's Tech Editor.

iPhone Owners Are More Loyal Than Android Owners

We love our iPhones here at iDB, and even if we do play with an Android or Windows Phone 7 device here and there, we always come back to our iDevices without fail.

According to a new study by research firm GfK, we're not the only ones captivated by our fruity phones. The report claims that of the survey's 4,500 participants across Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, China, the United States, and Japan, 84% of current iPhone owners said they would buy another iPhone in the next twelve months.

That number drops to a comparatively low 60% for Android users...

Just How Small is the Non-Apple Tablet Market?

To say that Apple dominates the tablet market would be an understatement. The iPad has been successful enough to not only run other companies out of the tablet-making business, but it has also been enough to make even PC manufacturers nervous.

We've seen statistics before regarding Apple's share of the tablet market, but we had no idea the numbers were this bleak for the competition. According to a recent NPD Group report, there has only been 1.2 million non-iPad tablets sold in the United States this year...

Amazon’s Kindle Fire All Set to be 2nd Only to the iPad

The iPad may have had it all its own way since its initial inception last year, but if a new survey is to be believed, then it may finally have some real competition in the form of Amazon's Kindle Fire.

New data from ChangeWave Research points to Amazon's first entry into the tablet market being the second most popular tablet on the market, behind, you guessed it, Apple's iPad.

A November survey of 3,043 people yielded the insight which shows that 22% of those questioned planned on picking up the 7" Kindle Fire, with 65% aiming to pick up an iPad. Third choice, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, could only garner 4% of the interest...

90% of the Money Spent on Mobile Apps Comes From the App Store

With the iPad coming under scrutiny as the competition begins its latest assault on Apple's tablet dominance, new figures suggest that the iPad may still be the best bet for those looking to make a living out of making tablet-based apps.

Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst Gene Munster has written in a research note released Monday that Apple's iPad still accounts for between 85% and 90% of the money spent on mobile applications.

The news comes as Android moves into a new era thanks to the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, the release which Google hopes will combine the tablet and smartphone software in a way similar to the iPad and iPhone. Munster's claims show that Android may still be suffering from an old issue: Android users just don't seem to buy apps as much as iOS users...

VoIP-Based Services Like iMessage Reportedly Eating Carriers’ Lunches

With third-party instant messaging apps, Apple's own iMessage, and VoIP services becoming more prevalent, it is to be expected that at some point mobile networks will see a reduction in revenue as people move away from using SMS and voice calling.

What we didn't really expect is the move to start happening so soon. But according to one report, carriers are already feeling the pinch.

Research carried out by infrastructure solutions provider Mavenir Systems on behalf of mobileSQUARED suggests that carriers are already finding that third-party solutions are beginning to impact their business, and it's only going to get worse for the bottom line...