Ed Sutherland

Microsoft’s Surface just a blip with 0.13 percent of tablet traffic

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apparently, more of Microsoft's Surface tablets are showing up in commercials and television episode placements than online. Despite an aggressive push, the Windows device accounted for just 0.13 percent of advertising served to tablets during November, according to one mobile advertising network. The dismal numbers are just the latest sign the much-heralded Surface just isn't selling.

Microsoft's outspoken boss Steve Ballmer acknowledged as much when he recently called Surface numbers "modest". By comparison, 0.91 percent of Google's Nexus tablets displayed ads between November 12 and November 18. The percentages come just a day after a report that the iPad mini saw ad impressions climb 28 percent daily during the November...

One in two willing to pay a premium for the better Apple television interface

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 11, 2012

Here's something to chew on as another Wall Street voice chimes in on the possibility of an Apple-made television set. In a survey, 47 percent of consumers say they are interested in an iTV with about the same number willing to pay more than a thousand bucks to put an Apple logo in their living room. Perhaps most intriguing is how one analyst opens the door to an iTV without the headaches of licensing content.

According to the survey by AlphaWise and Morgan Stanley, eleven percent of US head-of-households polled said they were "extremely interested" in an Apple television, with 36 percent "somewhat interested." The 47 percent of interested consumers is greater than the number of people who were interested in the iPhone and iPad, when those Apple devices first entered the American conscious...

iPhone 5 helps Apple grab a quarter of the world’s LTE device market

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 11, 2012

In less than three months the iPhone 5 has been available, Apple has laid claim to more than 26 percent of the LTE device market. While rival Samsung still is the LTE leader, its position fell by nearly 11 percent following the iPhone 5's September 21 launch, researchers say.

Smartphones from by Apple and Samsung are leading an explosion in LTE use. While 2011 ended with nine million 4G subscriptions, 2012 will exit with fifty million LTE users, according to Strategy Analytics. Asia appears to be a hotspot for LTE use, the research firm noted...

How Bluetooth can make Apple TV more than a ‘hobby’ device

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 11, 2012

News that the Apple TV software will support Bluetooth could make the streaming device largely viewed as a "hobby" into something more. Much more. More than simply replacing the Apple remote with a keyboard, the new software potentially does for video what the iPhone did for grainy phone snaps.

While speculation is rampant (and likely quiet wrong) about when Cupertino will enter the television business, the Apple TV box is a gold mine just gathering dust, here's why...

iPad mini November ad impressions surged 28 percent daily

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 10, 2012

How is the 7.9-inch iPad mini doing in the war amongst small tablets? Pretty well, according to one company. During November, the number of ads displayed on the mini grew 28 percent each day. By comparison, mobile ads on Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet rose 19 percent per day during November.

According to Millennial Media, the iPad mini is both a "game changer" and a holiday "must-have gift." Perhaps most-telling is that minis purchased in November as likely holiday gifts didn't stay under wraps for long...

Rumor: iPhone 6 with NFC, stronger battery, super HD camera, 4.8-inch screen in June 2013

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

So, are you tired of the iPhone 5 already? Feeling the after-announcement blues, sort of like the after-Christmas let-down? Cheer up, Apple fans, the iPhone 5S (or the iPhone 6 or whatever Apple calls it) is coming next June or July. According to one Wall Street observer, the new iPhone will include a "super HD" camera and screen, stronger battery and NFC.

What's more, the iPhone 5S will arrive in a rainbow of colors, or at least 6-8 different colors, according to Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. Also on tap: the iPad 5 with an IGZO screen and more colors...

IDC: Samsung leads shipments, Apple rules smart device profits

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated July 12, 2017

Research firm IDC again crowned Samsung and Apple the leaders in smartphones and tablets. The two rivals are taking different paths to the top as the South Korean company leads in sheer numbers while the iPhone maker leads profit per device.

It recently said Samsung has 21 percent of the so-called smart connected device market comprised of a collection of PCs, tablets and smartphones, while Apple squeezed $34.1 billion out of its 15.1 percent market share during the third quarter of 2012...

Apple slips to sixth place in China smartphone market

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 7, 2012

Apple's standing in the growing China smartphone market has taken another hit, slipping to #6 during the third quarter, research firm IDC announced Thursday. The drop comes as the iPhone maker faces concerns its iPhone could lose ground to other smartphone makers, such as Samsung and Nokia, whose handsets cover a wider range of price points. Apple share of smartphones shipped to China fell below ten percent during the quarter, a drop which coincides with Chinese smartphone shipments topping 60 million handsets, a new high...

Apple ‘more in tune’ with TVs than set-top box biz

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 7, 2012

Wall Street investors are among those intensely interested in Apple CEO Tim Cook's remark that the iPad maker has "intense interest" in doing something about television. One observer believes Apple wants its logo on the king of the hill, top of the heap when it comes to consumer electronics: the television set. The company has never been one to work around the edges of an industry.

That's why a Wells Fargo Securities analyst expects Apple to forgo a predicted set-top box and instead go for a full-blown Apple TV, calling it the "centerpiece of the living room"...

Apple’s return to US could be led by Foxconn

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 7, 2012

Remember when foreign auto makers such as Honda opened manufacturing plants in the United States? The same likely will be true for Apple in 2013 when the Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker relies on its Chinese manufacturing partner to hire U.S. workers to build gadgets - then increasingly exported to other nations. I'll pause while you try to follow that convoluted logic.

When Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told interviewers his company intends to spend $100 million in 2013 to produce a line of Macs in the U.S., unsaid was the fact he'll likely have to rely on its Taiwan-based go-to manufacturer, Foxconn, one analyst notes Friday morning...

Judge calls for ‘global peace’ between Apple and Samsung

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 7, 2012

Call it a Rodney King moment, or a holiday Hail Mary, but one California judge is asking long-time judicial combatants Apple and Samsung to play nice. Apparently, the idea went over like last year's fruitcake. Judge Lucy Koh Thursday made the plea as the two rivals met for an appeal hearing where the South Korean smartphone maker objected to its $1.05 billion patent-infringement fine and Apple argued the penalty should be increased...

iPad mini enters China to mostly yawns

Ed Sutherland ∙ December 7, 2012

Apple's iPad mini lived up to its name today in China, drawing a smaller crowd than last year's riotous introduction of the iPhone 4S. Indeed, one observer described the Friday reception by mainland China tech fans as "nearly nonexistent". Those consumers who did go to Apple locations, such as the the company's Beijing store, came away not with the 7.9-inch mini, but with the larger iPad 4, instead. As opposed to January's mobs that rioted, forcing Apple to temporarily halt sales of the 4S, no mobs appeared for the mini...