Year: 2012

Showdown: Google Voice Search v. Siri speed test

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

http://vimeo.com/52497584

Google's recently updated Voice Search iOS app is simply amazing as it demonstrates just how speedy Siri should be. Unfortunately, Apple's digital secretary remains reliant on network connectivity for voice recognition. Heck, this time last year some folks were even convinced only the iPhone 4S was fast enough to run Siri. That couldn't be farther from the truth because Google's iOS app comes with real-time voice recognition. So, how speedy is Siri compared to Google's refreshed app? Check out this clip by Gizmodo and meet us down in the comments. It's a couple days old but definitely worth watching...

Apple rumored to be investing in Sharp

Cody Lee ∙ November 5, 2012

Sharp, who makes TVs, displays and other electronics, is in serious trouble right now. The company is bleeding money, its stock price is plummeting and it says that it's not sure that it can continue to operate.

In fact, the dyer situation has Foxconn worried enough that it's thinking about pulling out of its deal to buy an 11% stake in the company. But according to a new report, Apple may be looking to help out...

The iPad mini could comprise half of all iPads sold in December

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Apple will sell 20.2 million iPads during the December financial quarter - half of them iPad minis, one Wall Street analyst predicts. The forecast comes as experts attempt to divine the meaning of Apple's record three million tablets sold over the past weekend.

Despite a Northeast US battered and bruised by Hurricane Sandy, Apple announced it sold three million new iPads this weekend, breaking a record of 1.5 million Wi-Fi-only units moved during the iPad 3 opening weekend in March. Analysts believe a large portion of new iPads sold this weekend were various iPad mini models...

Tablets now comprise 1 out of every 4 PCs sold

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Should tablets be considered computers? While experts debate the tech equivalent of how many angels dance on the head of a pin, consumers are voting with their wallets. Tablets sales increased nearly 50 percent during the third quarter while computer purchases are on life support.

Today's numbers from IDC reflect a continuing trend away from PCs and toward mobile devices. Globally, 27.7 million tablets were sold during the third-quarter. This follows last month's numbers which showed PC sales declined 8.6 percent to 87.7 million during the same period...

Android smartphone growth slowing, Apple still on the rise

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 5, 2012

Not sure if this has anything to do with smartphone penetration rate in the United States and in various other markets passing the 50 percent milestone, but a credible analysis shows that even though Android's growth was unstoppable in the past twelve months, capturing a whopping 75 percent of all smartphones sold in the third quarter, Google's platform is slowing over past six months while iOS is still making healthy gains.

Respectable independent analyst Horace Dediu took the latest comScore data to chart the two platform's growth. He discovered a recent split of 23.5 million for Android and 17 million units for iOS as Google's platform gained 58 percent of the growth and Apple captured 42 percent. That's a notable change in spread in Apple's favor versus the 24-month period when Android captured 70 percent of the growth and iOS captured 30 percent of the growth...

A Google Maps iOS app approval is anything but given, insiders claim

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 5, 2012

Google submitted its native Maps iOS app to Apple in September with the hope of having it approved by Christmas. Two weeks later, its chairman Eric Schmidt acknowledged that a Google Maps iOS app is up to Apple and a newspaper report this morning now suggests that insiders don't have high hopes that it will be approved by the iPhone maker after all. Google previously released a native YouTube app for iOS devices following the removal of stock YouTube software from iOS 6. Last month, the search Goliath also enabled Street View as a web app in the mobile Safari browser...

Belkin launches two official Lightning accessories

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 25, 2016

Unofficial Lightning accessories that use cracked chips one-up Apple's offering on price, but the "Made for iPhone" (MFi) stamp of approval has its advantages, mostly by reassuring buyers that MFi accessories meet Apple's standards of quality and extensive testing. Belkin was the first third-party manufacturer out of the gate with 30-pin connector accessories back in 2003.

On Monday, it has also become the first official Apple partner to launch Lightning-enabled accessories. The company launched a car charger and a sync dock, both priced within reach of budget shoppers. Belkin is accepting pre-orders today, promising to ship the products later this month...

IDC: Android gained tablet market share in Q3, while Apple slowed

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 27, 2017

In the race to win the tablet market, all it takes to gain an edge is for the leader to take its foot off the accelerator. Enough potential iPad buyers "sat out" the third-quarter waiting to learn more about the iPad mini, that the brief pause cut into Apple's lead, allowing Android tablet companies to gain share.

According to data by market research firm IDC, Apple's leadership in the third quarter - ahead of the iPad mini's release - shrank to 50.4 percent, down from 59.7 percent a year ago. By contrast, Samsung lead a pack of Android rivals with a triple-digit growth...

Beating its own estimate, Samsung confirms 30M Galaxy S III sales in 5 months

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 5, 2012

It's a milestone day today. First, Apple announced it sold three million new iPads over the weekend and now South Korea-based Samsung confirmed it beat its own self-imposed estimate by shipping a respectable 30 million units of the flagship Galaxy S III handset. Previously, executives for the company publicly expressed hope to move that much units by year's end. The Galaxy S III launched back in May so the figure amounts to an average of six million S III units a month...

Apple announces sales of 3M new iPads in 3 days

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Apple just announced that during the opening weekend it sold three million units of both the iPad mini and the fourth-generation iPad with Retina display, exceeding the three million iPad 3 tablets sold over the course of four days back in March. It's also double the 1.5 million Wi-Fi-only iPad 3 units Apple confirmed it sold in March. Though it did not break down sales by model so we don't know how many iPad minis the company moved, Tim Cook noted Apple "practically sold out of iPad minis". Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted sales of 1.5 million iPad minis over its opening weekend...

Apple dodges its taxes outside the United States

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated March 29, 2017

The subject of large companies paying their taxes is something of a hot button topic in the UK right now, which is why the likes of Starbucks have already found themselves thrown to the wolves over their accounting practices. Today, the latest multinational firm to be on the rack is Apple, with the news that it paid just 2% tax on its profits outside the US last year, leaving international taxmen considerably out of pocket.

Paperwork filed in the United States shows that Apple paid around 2% tax on its pre-tax earnings of $36.8B outside the US. That's down on the 2.5% paid the year before.

Oddly though, it's all perfectly legal...