Sales

Apple announces that iPhone 5 hits Korea and 50 additional markets in December

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2012

Apple has just announced via a media release that the iPhone 5 will launch in South Korea this Friday, December 7, with 50 additional markets to follow later this month. Next week, the iPhone 5 will go on sale in Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

The third wave of the global expansion will follow a week later, December 21, and will include Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam...

Online iPhone 5 availability now improving to 2-4 business days

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 3, 2012

In another display of Apple catching up to iPhone demand, the company's online store in New Zealand is now quoting 2-4 business days for deliveries. It was only a week ago that the New Zealand store indicated shipping times were improving to one week. Prior to that, it took Apple about a month following the iPhone 5 launch to improve delivery times for online orders from 2-3 weeks to one week. The online US store gave us a one-week shipping estimate at press time but we're expecting international stores to follow suit and update estimates later in the day...

Android apps revenue now growing quicker than iOS apps revenue

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 30, 2012

Owners of iPhones and iPads have historically pointed to the App Store's plethora of quality produce as the reason for the platform's dominance. It's always been the reason many have chosen iOS devices over those powered by Android, but things may be beginning to shift in a whole new direction.

While app developers have always suggested that getting Android users to buy apps is an exercise in futility, a new report claims that things are changing, with Android developers now finding a much improved landscape, as revenue from Android devices grows quicker than that of the App Store.

And not just by a little bit, either...

ZAGG knocks 50% off almost everything in Cyber Monday sale

Cody Lee ∙ November 26, 2012

Those of you who missed out on last week's Black Friday deals will be happy to hear that the discounting continues today with Cyber Monday. Dozens of online retailers are participating in the sales blitz, including popular iOS accessory-maker ZAGG, who has knocked 50% off of most of its inventory...

China Telecom starts taking iPhone 5 pre-orders

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2012

Echoing earlier reports, folks in China can now officially get an iPhone 5 as China Telecom, the smallest of the country's three telecom carriers, started taking pre-orders for the device yesterday. According to a local report, a member of the customer service staff at the carrier's Beijing branch confirmed iPhone 5 pre-orders in mainland China.

The country's largest home appliance retailer, Suning, started taking pre-orders for the device earlier in the month. No word on availability of CDMA iPhone 5 models on Apple's long-time iPhone distributor, China Unicom...

iPhone 5 shipping times improve to one week

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Demand for Apple's latest handset continues to outstrip supply, but availability has been improving lately. Throughout September, Apple's online store consistently quoted a 3-4 week shipping estimate for the handset before improving to 2-3 weeks mid-November. And as the handset became easier to find in Apple's brick-and-mortar stores, some international online Apple Stores today updated iPhone 5 shipping times to just one week.

This bodes well for Apple's holiday sales because it indicates the company is catching up to iPhone 5 demand. Apple is expected to soon roll out the device to additional countries, per its promise to make the iPhone 5 available in about a hundred countries and through 240 carriers by year's end...

ThinkGeek discounts iCade, iCade 8-Bitty and more for Black Friday

Cody Lee ∙ November 23, 2012

Here at iDB, we're big fans of the iCade controller line. Both the iCade arcade cabinet and the 8-Bitty gamepad have a fun, retro look to them, and they support more iOS titles than any other controller.

So as you can imagine, we were pretty excited when we found out that ThinkGeek was going to be discounting the two accessories, along with several other items, as part of its major Black Friday sale....

Apple’s Black Friday sale now live in the US

Cody Lee ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Ok folks, Apple's Black Friday sale has now officially begun here in the US. After being down for several hours, the company's Stateside online store has returned with discounts on several popular products.

As usual, the price cuts are modest. But for a company that rarely puts its products — particularly current gen models — on sale, it's a fairly big deal. We've got all of the best deals and details after the fold...

Apple’s Black Friday deals go live in Australia and New Zealand

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 22, 2012

Apple's online stores in New Zealand and Australia went offline earlier this morning in preparation of the previously teased Black Friday deals. The one-day shopping event offers a $100 discount on select MacBook Pro and Air models and various savings on the newest iOS devices and accessories like EarBuds and Smart Covers. The Black Friday deals page is now live on Apple's online stores in New Zealand and Australia. We're expecting the deals to go live on the US Apple Store soon and will updated this article accordingly...

Online iPhone 5 orders now available within two weeks

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 20, 2012

With the holidays upon us and Chinese plants working around the clock churning out Apple handsets (Foxbots should help automate assembly in the near future), no wonder analysts recently started seeing iPhone 5 inventory at Apple’s brick-and-mortar stores improving and at their highest level yet for AT&T, Verizon and Sprint customers. This week, availability of online orders on Apple's web store also has improved as a result...

Apple teases one-day Black Friday shopping event in Australia

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 19, 2012

Black Friday, a one-day shopping stampede, is the day after Thanksgiving which is celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States (on the second Monday of October in Canada). As Black Friday officially marks the start of the Christmas shopping season, retailers fall over each other in offering not-to-be-missed discounts. Apple just announced on its Australian online store the one-day Apple shopping event on Friday, 23 November...

New LTE iPads hit AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Best Buy

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Cody told you earlier this morning that U.S. carrier Sprint started selling Apple's iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad with Retina display in its retail stores. Not to be outdone by the nation's #3 telco, carriers AT&T and Verizon announced that both Wi-Fi and cellular versions of the two tablets are now available across their retail and online stores in the United States. Additionally, we are hearing that Best Buy has the tablets and will begin selling them later today. Both carriers are offering the iPad mini and the fourth-gen full-size iPad with or without shared data service, with Sprint of course having the upper hand with its unlimited data offering (and limited 4G coverage).

The devices have also arrived in Apple's retail outlets. Some customers who pre-ordered their units saw their shipment delivered as early as yesterday or are seeing their packages out for delivery...