Is Apple's upcoming iPad mini aimed at consumers looking for an inexpensive tablet or folks seeking an Apple tablet that can be popped into a jacket pocket?
That's the real question facing observers as the Cupertino, California company prepares to introduce its 7.8-inch product tomorrow. The answer, of course, will tell us just who Apple thinks its rivals are in this space...
Apple will reportedly pay up to "partially absorb costs" related to stricter quality control in iPhone 5 manufacturing, according to Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. Faced with numerous complaints from early adopters who noticed their handset is far more prone to scratches and nicks which Apple initially attempted to dismiss as "normal" wear and tear, the company is now ready to take a hit on its near-term gross margins to improve production quality of the iPhone 5. Specifically, the analyst projects the iPhone maker's gross margins to be between 40.5 percent and 41.5 percent versus Wall Street's consensus between 42 percent and 43 percent...
Analysts are almost busting their buttons to tell investors just how big a deal they expect is a smaller iPad, widely thought to be up for an introduction next Tuesday. One well-known Apple watcher foresees huge headaches from rival seven-inch tablet makers, describing the so-called iPad mini as "competition's worst nightmare."
Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee writes the iPad mini will come on the scene as Apple's competitors are already running hard just to keep up with the larger iPad 2.
The Cupertino, Caliornia gadget designer may even phase-out the $399 iPad 2 in order to focus attention even more strongly on the leading brand. Add a 7.85-inch iPad mini expected to sell for under $300 - and rival tablet manufacturers lose both the size advantage as well as the lower price tag...
Apple will discontinue the iPad 2 in order to simplify product choices ahead of next Tuesday's introduction of a smaller tablet, one analyst predicts. Friday, Rob Cihra, analyst with Evercore Partners, told investors the move would be part of Apple's goal of providing "clearer product tiers."
The Cupertino, California-based company uses its engineering prowess in both hardware and software to overcome an otherwise soft technology market. The iPhone maker has increased its revenue by thirty percent this year at a time when demand for PCs has dropped by four percent...
Here we go again. T-Mobile USA, the nation's fourth-largest carrier and the only major U.S. telco without Apple's iconic smartphone, should finally land the latest iPhone early next year, if an analyst with Morgan Stanley is to be trusted.
This isn't the first time analysts made such an estimate and the carrier on its part has been appeasing to its iPhone-totting customers with free support to unlockers, Nano SIMs for the iPhone 5 and a broad marketing push to sell Apple users to its unlimited data plans...
Despite Samsung's efforts to portray the iPhone as a device for older consumers, the iPhone is still extremely popular among teenagers. Piper Jaffray says that 40% of US teens now own the handset.
Gene Munster, an analyst with the firm, released a report today on his survey of US teenagers regarding what gadgets they're using. And judging from the results, Apple's iPhone and iPad are still on top...
With the successful iPhone 5 launch now behind us and the rumored iPad mini introduction allegedly upon us later this month, the rumor-mill is no doubt busy thinking about Apple's next big thing. The mythical Apple television set instantly springs to mind, dubbed by the media as the iTV. Not so fast. According to one analyst, an intelligent remote rather than a standalone HD TV set is up next for the Cupertino, California designer of shiny gadgets...
The rumored mini iPad could be Apple's sexiest tablet yet, with one analyst predicting that the aesthetics will play an important role in pushing the product into the mass market. The current iPad lineup is pretty and with Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7 looking a bit plasticky, premium design paired with Apple's famous fit and finish could give an inexpensive, smaller iPad just the kind of attraction it needs to make average consumers drool down their black turtlenecks...
With last Friday's addition of 22 new countries, the iPhone 5 is now available in 31 major markets but many would still be hard pressed to buy one due to dwindling stock both in the United States and in other countries around the world. By all accounts, the iPhone 5 demand is off the charts, Mapgate be damned.
Matter of fact, quite the opposite is happening: demand for the iPhone 5 is surging as mapping woes don't appear to slow sales (though customer satisfaction ratings did take a hit). Looks like that CEO apology was a pre-emptive maneuver to smartly protect the brand in the long haul...
The iPhone 5 goes on sale this Friday in the United States and eight more major markets overseas, hitting an additional 22 countries next Friday. So far, customer response completely blew Apple away as the handset became AT&T's and Apple's fastest-selling iPhone.
With a little more than four days until launch, Piper Jaffray's resident Apple analyst Gene Munster issued a note to clients, predicting sales of at least six million units during the opening weekend, possibly up to ten million units.
Munster previously said the iPhone 5 would go down in history as the most successful consumer electronics launch and compared other smartphones to Timexes, with the iPhone 5 being the Rolex of smartphones...
Despite lack of NFC (here's why) and wireless charging (you still need to plug a wireless charging device somewhere), the manufacturing precision with which the iPhone 5 is made is seen as one of its biggest selling points. Piper Jaffray analst Gene Munster previously predicted "the biggest consumer launch in history", calling the iPhone 5 arrival "the mother of all upgrades". He's back at it again, likening the iPhone 5 in today's note to clients to "a Rolex among a sea of Timexes"...
Now that we have the official confirmation of Apple's iPhone event taking place at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts next Wednesday, the second part of iMore's report mentioning September 21 availability (it's a Friday) is almost certainly a done deal as well. Which means Apple will get to sell the iPhone 5 (or whatever you think it's going to be called) for just ten days during the September quarter.
Despite this, resident Apple analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray is convinced that the device will shatter all previous sales records, moving as much as ten million units in its first week of sale, enough to make Samsung's lead short-lived and re-take the crown of the best-selling smartphone in the United States...