Timing is everything. That could be the message from news Apple’s chief iPad 2 supplier is expected to churn out 20 million of the tablets for the third quarter – just in time for the all-important holiday sales period. Shipments of the iPad 2 for the quarter were already expected to hit 14 million, thus topping the last period’s 9.25 million tablets Apple sold.
Apple’s iPhone again ranks as the most satisfying smartphone by JD Powers’ customer survey. This makes the fifth year the handset has been listed on top, scoring 795 in customer satisfaction. Motorola placed second while legal nemesis Samsung was dead last in customer satisfaction.
Lowe’s, the nationwide chain of handyman havens, is planning a new tool for the do-it-yourself consumer: an iPhone app able to store your home’s layout along with all the items needed for that weekend project. Meanwhile, 42,000 Lowe employees will get iPhone 4s enabling them to take customer orders and answer questions.
In the case of a German judge, looks are everything when deciding to permanently ban Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that European nation. “For the informed customer there remains the predominant overall impression that the device looks” like Apple’s iPad, a Dusseldorf court ruled Friday.
For those concerned Android was catching up with Apple’s iPad, JPMorgan analyst Mark Moskowitz has this message: stop your worrying. “Beyond the iPad, there has not been another high-volume tablet offering, yet,” he told investors Thursday. When one does, don’t look to Mountain View, but Microsoft for a credible Apple competitor.
Japan is the next stop in Apple’s far-reaching attempt to stop the spread of Samsung rival devices. The tech giant has filed suit in Tokyo asking the court to suspend sales of the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II smartphones, as well as the Galaxy Tab 7 tablet. The Galaxy S is outselling the iPhone in this tech-obsessed Asian nation.
Teamsters Union boss James Hoffa thinks Apple and other tech companies relying on overseas factories to make the gadgets Americans love are being unpatriotic. “Everything [Apple does] is in China, or in Asia somewhere…There’s something wrong with that,” Hoffa told a cable news interviewer on the eve of Labor Day.
The iPhone could generate nearly half of Apple’s revenue by calendar 2013, with the tech giant forecasted to sell 143 million smartphones and 68 million iPads, according to a high-profile analyst Wednesday.
Software maker Intuit, maker of QuickBooks, wants its QuickBooks for Mac 2012 to be tailored to the Apple-owned small enterprise. That means the next version of the accounting software package available Sept. 26 is “not about check-boxes and feature parity,” a product manager says.
You could almost smell the desperation from the press release announcing the “first ever” premiere of a network television show on Apple’s iTunes. Fox, which usually keeps its first-run programming off iTunes, has released the pilot episode of “New Girl,” a series receiving lackluster reviews, as a free download on the service.
You would think all of the hype surrounding the much-anticipated iPhone 5 would leave consumers waiting for Apple’s new handset. Well, you’d be wrong. The iPhone 4 remains the top-selling U.S. smartphone at AT&T and Verizon, one analyst says.
Bigger isn’t better, smartphone makers are learning at a Berlin trade show of new devices going up against Apple’s iPhone. After striking out with pricing and features, competitors are now turning to larger screens as a way to set themselves apart. One minor problem: consumers hate them.
An Australian judge suggests Apple pony up some iPad sales figures to bolster its argument for barring sales of Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet. Although it is was only a suggestion, the tech giant may have to disclose sales in the UK and U.S. – something Samsung attorneys have demanded.
Unsure of how Intel’s “Ultrabook” laptops will compete with the iPad and MacBook Air, manufacturers are “testing the water” by ordering less than 50,000 units for later this month. Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and Asustek are reportedly uncertain how the revamped laptops will be greeted by consumers shifting to tablets and cloud computing. That sounds to us like they’re giving up and conceding victory to the MacBook Air before they even got started competing with it.
AT&T expected it would have more time to argue its case for the $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. However, just one hour after CEO Randall Stephenson expressed confidence the buyout would be approved in early 2012, Justice Department lawyers announced an antitrust lawsuit blocking the deal.
If its Friday, it must mean another headline-grabbing patent lawsuit against Apple. Wi-LAN, which has a penchant for patent dustups with high-profile tech companies, is suing Apple over Wi-Fi and other wireless transmission technology.
Eddie Cue, who helped create iTunes and the App Store, now will lead Apple’s push into online ads and iCloud, the tech giant announced Thursday. As senior vice president of Internet Software & Services, Cue reports directly to Tim Cook, who assumed the CEO post following Steve Jobs’ exit.
If you are already sick of the two U.S. political parties slugging it out for voters’ attention, get ready for a political drama closer to home: your smartphone. Yes, Apple and Android’s Google want you – specifically the ‘undecided’ amongst consumers yet to decide which smartphone to buy.
Apple could sell 20 million iPad 2 tablets the next quarter, more than doubling last quarter’s 9.25 million iPads snapped up by consumers. According to an industry publication, the tech giant may sell 25.5 million iPads during the second half of 2011, a 76 percent increase over the first half of this year.
Playhaven CEO Andy Yang calls it the ‘ranking roller-coaster,’ a lengthy process of app introduction and updates that can turn a hot download into an also-ran in the span of a few months – the time it takes for game developers to get slightly new versions through the Apple App Store. Yang thinks he’s found a way to shorten the app update process from three months to three minutes.
When HP killed its TouchPad, dropping the price to $99, the PC maker set off a firestorm of interest in the tablet that nobody previously wanted. Now HP said it will restart manufacturing for a limited time to meet what it says is “unfulfilled demand.”
Apple iPhone users, eagerly awaiting the extra bandwidth from AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile may have to tighten their belts. The U.S. Department of Justice Wednesday filed an antitrust lawsuit, blocking approval of the $39 billion deal on grounds it will “substantially lessen competition.”
Chinese environmental activists are threatening to tarnish Apple’s image unless the tech giant reduces the amount of pollution coming from suppliers in this populous country. Five non-governmental organizations Wednesday released a report charging Apple uses suppliers which take “advantage of the loopholes in developing countries’ environmental management systems.”
What have Apple and erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra got in common? They are both wildly-popular and hot items on the Chinese counterfeiting circuit. Little wonder then, that the iPhone maker hired the head of drug-maker Pfizer security to root out fake smartphones and tablets in China.
The HP TouchPad, which the company killed last week due to few sales and retailer rejections, might live again if the firm spins-off its PC manufacturing business, an executive in China said Tuesday.