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Apple’s Cook to speak at Goldman Sachs tech conference tomorrow

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 20, 2017

Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak at Tuesday's Goldman Sachs tech conference, February 12, according to Apple's Investor News site.

He is scheduled to speak at approximately 7:15am Pacific, 10:15am Eastern time, just after the markets open. Apple will provide a live webcast of its CEO's talk in the streaming Quicktime audio format here.

Cook also gave a presentation at last year's event, with Apple posting audio of the full talk shortly after the event had wrapped up. We're expecting lots if interesting tidbits tomorrow as Cook lets us in on some valuable insight into Apple's business..

Californian tech industry insiders claim summer iTV launch is ‘a certainty’

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Watchers and analysts alike are increasingly expecting that Apple will reveal its cards at its upcoming developers conference, WWDC, this summer. First, a set of dubious images made rounds this morning, allegedly depicting the iPhone 5S on an assembly line and hinting at a likely summer launch.

However, eagle-eyed bloggers were quick to point out a few glaring inconsistencies, eventually debunking these spy shots as depicting an iPhone knock-off. Then an analyst said a cheaper iPhone model was due in June and now another report claims an Apple-branded television set is coming this summer...

Apple said to be rushing iOS 6.1.1 to address 3G and enterprise issues

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Over the past week or so, several users have come forward complaining about issues with iOS 6.1. Vodafone has actually told its iPhone 4S owners not to update to the software due to the problems, and AOL Corporate has had to turn off some Exchange services.

Well it looks like Apple is working to get these bugs fixed as soon as possible. A new report out this morning claims that carriers have already completed testing of iOS 6.1.1, and the 23MB firmware will be available in the near future as an over-the-air update...

$300 budget iPhone due in June, analyst says

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 11, 2013

Topeka Capital analyst Brian White asserted Monday morning that a lower-priced iPhone could be introduced as early as this June. It will be sold unsubsidized for about $250-$300, he thinks, and suggests "iPhone Mini" or "iPhone Air" as names. Just as The Wall Street Journal originally reported, White expects the less-expensive iPhone to use a plastic body instead of metal and glass.

It would have a lower margin than prior iPhones though Apple could make up for the difference in sheer volume as carriers in emerging markets like China, Brazil and India could position the device as a competitive offering to local brands, like the Xiaomi handset which costs around $320 off-contract in China...

The iPhone 5 rates fifth in US user satisfaction

Ed Sutherland ∙ February 11, 2013

Results of a new smartphone user satisfaction survey have some observers scratching their heads. Apple's iPhone 5 ranked fifth in the U.S., behind a number of Android devices from Motorola, HTC and Samsung. Due to Apple's past high ratings in customer satisfaction, the survey's findings prompted questions so far left unanswered.

According to a poll by OnDevice Research, Motorola's Atrix HD took first place in the U.S. user satisfaction scores, with the Motorola Droid Razr M, HTC's Rezound 4G, Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 and the iPhone 5 filling out the top five devices.

While Apple was named the top brand in overall mobile device satisfaction by U.S. consumers, Google ranked number two - even though it does not directly produce mobile devices...

Google paying Apple $1 billion annually in per-device iOS search fees

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 11, 2013

Analyst Scott Devitt of Morgan Stanley has estimated that Google pays Apple up to a billion dollars each year to be the default search engine choice on iOS. That's $1 billion in pure profit.

The two companies apparently have a per-device deal in place rather than a revenue sharing deal, he wrote in a report titled "The Next Google Is Google." The fee-based co-operation was agreed on in order to simplify accounting and it lets Apple collect upfront payments.

By contrast, Devitt estimates that Google pays around $300 million annually to Mozilla to be the default search engine for Firefox.

While one billion in traffic acquisition costs isn't much relative to Apple's $13 billion in holiday quarter profit, it ain't spare change either. Moreover, it just shows that Google is very much keen on having iOS users search the web using Google search...

Apple called to testify before Australian Parliament in pricing probe

Cody Lee ∙ February 11, 2013

Over the past year or so, members of the Australian Parliament have been investigating whether or not its country's residents pay higher-than-average premiums on electronic products and services. And it looks like it's now prepared to speak directly to the makers.

The Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications in Australia's House of Representatives released a memo yesterday, stating that it has called upon Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe to speak at a public hearing regarding its probe at the end of next month...

NBA offers free app for tracking this weekend’s All-Star events

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 14, 2018

Good news NBA fans. We are now less than a week away from the three day showcase for basketball's top players known as All-Star Weekend. The annual 3-day affair features several events, including the Slam Dunk contest and of course the All-Star game itself.

And thanks to The League, you'll be able to follow along with all of the action right on your iPhone or iPad. The NBA is offering a free iOS app, NBA All-Star 2013, that will let you grab news, stats, photos and video highlights of all of this weekend's festivities...

Alleged iPhone 5S assembly line spy shots surface, dismissed as a knock-off

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 11, 2013

At last, some pretty credible parts apparently belonging to the iPhone 5S are starting to emerge. A set of images posted by a Chinese tech site and allegedly depicting the iPhone 5S parts on an assembly line include several shots of the device's internals, including a vibration motor that looks to be a linear oscillating vibrator like that of the iPhone 4S.

That would be a departure from the iPhone 5's more noisy rotational motor which uses counterweight. It wasn't immediately clear whether the leaked images are authentic or perhaps show an iPhone clone being assembled somewhere in China, though latter seems to be the case. I've included a few more snaps right past the fold...

WSJ: Apple testing iWatch designs with Foxconn

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 28, 2016

The New York Times tech columnist Nick Bilton has recycled his December 2011 story of a curved-glass iPod, now claiming in a new piece published this morning that a wearable computer by Apple is actually in the works. An iWatch apparently runs iOS, the story has it, and will stand apart from competition based on Apple's "understanding of how such glass can curve around the human body”.

Not to be outdone by its chief competitor, the credulous Wall Street Journal just issued its own iWatch report corroborating Bilton's article and adding a few tidbits of its own...

How Apple sales are hitting a language barrier

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Do you need another metric to follow in the race between Apple and Android? How about language?

That's the focus of a new report suggesting Apple's iPhone is predominantly focused on English-speaking nations while Android-powered Samsung smartphones are popular in Asia, Africa and South America, where English-speaking consumers are a minority.

After sifting through the Twitter accounts of both Apple and Samsung, a Saudi Arabian researcher at King Saud University (KSU) found 75 percent of Apple's followers spoke English, while about 35 percent of Samsung's online fans were non-English speakers...

Tim Cook opposed suing Samsung in 2011, but was overruled by Steve Jobs

Cody Lee ∙ February 10, 2013

There's an interesting report out this morning that takes an in-depth look at the so-called "frenemy" relationship between Apple and Samsung. The connections between the two are certainly odd, as they are competitors, supply chain partners and suing each other around the world.

Their latter association is perhaps the most known in recent years. The two companies' high profile court battles over who copied who have been very public, especially the most recent one in northern California. And according to Reuters, the whole thing started over the Galaxy Tab...