Money

Apple Q3 2013 earnings: 31.2M iPhones, 14.6M iPads, $35.3B revenue

Cody Lee ∙ July 23, 2013

Facing increasing competition from Samsung and other vendors, without a new product in several months, most analysts predicted that Apple's earnings for the June quarter would be somewhat of a disappointment. But Apple just beat most of the Street's estimates.

Apple's earnings are out, and for the most part the numbers are impressive. The company managed to sell 31.2 million iPhones during the 3-month period, where most analysts predicted 26 million. And it also sold 14.6M iPads (very low), and posted $35.3B in revenue...

Apple refunds father $6000 for App Store purchases made by 8-year-old daughter

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 16, 2022

I don't have kids yet. But when I do, I'm going to make sure that I take all of the necessary steps to prevent them from making purchases in the App Store. There are various ways to do this, and for me it's just common sense—I wouldn't leave them with real money.

But apparently, it's not such a cut-and-dry matter for some folks. Take this story by UK's Mirror publication, which went viral this weekend, about an 8-year-old girl racking up a staggering $6000 App Store bill on her father's iPad by making several in-app purchases...

AT&T introduces new 300MB and 2GB data plans

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

AT&T has introduced two new Mobile Share plans this morning, rounding out its family of Mobile Share rate options it first introduced in the summer of last year. The offerings are designed to allow users to share monthly data allotments across multiple devices.

Previously, the plans started at 1GB of data per month and then jumped straight to 4GB. But today, AT&T announced that it would be adding 300MB and 2GB plans to the mix, giving users that don't require much data a wider selection of options to choose from...

Apple to webcast June quarter earnings call

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2016

As per usual with Apple's earnings releases, the company will webcast its upcoming June earnings call. The live webcast will be provided, beginning at 2pm PDT on Tuesday, July 23, and will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

You can tune in to the audio webcast using your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 4.2 or above or a Mac running OS X 10.5 or above. If you're on a Windows PC, you'll want to install QuickTime 7 or later...

Comparing device upgrade plans: AT&T vs Verizon vs T-Mobile

Cody Lee ∙ July 18, 2013

Last week, T-Mobile unveiled 'Jump,' an ambitious new upgrade program that allows subscribers to pay $10 per month for the chance to upgrade their devices more frequently. At the time this hadn't really been heard of, as most carriers were on a 2-year upgrade model.

But that changed almost immediately after T-Mobile's Jump event. Just a few days later, AT&T introduced its Next device upgrade program, and this morning, Verizon made its Edge offering official. So what's the difference between all of these options? Let's take a look...

Why AT&T’s ‘Next’ device upgrade program is a bad deal

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Yesterday, AT&T introduced a new device upgrade program called AT&T Next. An obvious response to T-Mobile's 'Jump' plan, Next will allow customers, willing to pay a monthly fee, to trade in their device and upgrade to a brand new one every 12 months.

At first glance, this sounds like a good deal. After all, the carrier's current policy is that you only get a subsidized equipment upgrade every 24 months. But after crunching a few numbers, it's fairly clear that the Next plan is actually a big ripoff for customers...

AT&T introduces new ‘AT&T Next’ device upgrade program

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Well that didn't take very long. Just hours after a report surfaced regarding Verizon's plan for a new device upgrade program, AT&T announced a new upgrade plan of its own. It's called 'AT&T Next,' and its description sounds awfully familiar.

The AT&T Next program will allow subscribers to purchase a new smartphone or tablet every twelve months with no activation, upgrade or financing fees. The catch is, they'll have to make monthly payments equal to 1/20th the device's retail cost...

Sprint introduces new unlimited plans with lifetime guarantee

Cody Lee ∙ July 12, 2013

It's been a busy week for the folks over at Sprint. Not only did the carrier rebrand itself as the Sprint Corporation, and complete its buyout deal with SoftBank, but today it announced two new rate plans that include unlimited talk, text and data.

While the unlimited data itself is notable—few carriers still offer this—the real highlight of the plans is the lifetime guarantee. That's right, in a world where the rules seem to change every other year, Sprint is promising unlimited everything, forever...

Pebble announces it’s surpassed 275,000 watch pre-orders

Cody Lee ∙ July 11, 2013

Folks still skeptical on whether or not there's a real market for smartwatches should checkout Pebble's latest blog post. The company says they've received over 190,000 smartwatch pre-orders since their Kickstarter project ended last year, giving them 275,000 total.

Even if you do that math at $99 a pop—which was just a limited time early bird special price—that amounts to over $27 million. Not bad for a year's work...

Apple to announce third quarter earnings on July 23

Cody Lee ∙ July 1, 2013

Folks wondering how Apple did financially during its quiet third quarter will have their answer in just a few short weeks. The Cupertino company announced this afternoon that it will be releasing its financial results for Q3 2013 on July 23.

Apple’s earnings reports are typically a major affair in the tech world, and this one won't likely be much different. The iPad-maker’s stock continues to take a beating, and it desperately needs to post some big numbers to change the conversation…

Apple contacting iTunes users with details on in-app purchase settlement

Cody Lee ∙ Updated November 23, 2017

Apple began sending out emails to some iTunes users this weekend, informing them of how the approximately 23 million people that are a part of the in-app purchases class-action lawsuit can apply for compensation.

The settlement, which will cost Apple in excess of $100 million, stems from a class action lawsuit filed against Apple by parents who complained that it was far too easy for their children to make in-app purchases...

Apple Board mods Tim Cook’s pay package to be more performance-based

Cody Lee ∙ June 21, 2013

According to a new filing with the SEC this afternoon, Apple's Board of Directors has elected to modify Tim Cook's payment package he was awarded in 2011 after being promoted to CEO. The change, which apparently came at Cook's request, takes the one million restricted stock units he was set to receive over the next 10 years and makes the compensation more performance-based...