Ed Sutherland - page 2

If you are looking for the best online deals from an Apple Store, it would pay to head to the United States, or any English-speaking store, a new analysis finds.

In the latest chapter from the Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight, Intel and Microsoft chase profits over a cliff. Unable to agree, the two companies created a rival tablet that costs more than the iPad and will likely hasten the move to ARM. The Wintel team is back at it snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has barely had time to make his mark on the tech giant when an ambitious senior vice president is being portrayed as a ‘CEO-in-waiting.’ In a soon-to-be published look inside Apple, Scott Forstall is described as a potential problem for Cook, who only months ago took over for co-founder Steve Jobs.

Facing a storm of criticism over the working conditions in factories building iPods, iPhones and iPads, Apple today for the first time released the names of 156 global suppliers along with a report showing mixed success obtaining fair working conditions. One bright spot: fewer children are working on the much-prized Apple devices.

As iPhone sales continue to climb, U.S. carriers should expect Apple to also require increased subsidies, one observer writes. Verizon could pay nearly 28 percent more in 2012, with Sprint and AT&T also facing double-digit hikes in payments for the popular smartphone.

Apple, a veteran of long lines ahead of iPhone launches in the U.S., has temporarily halted retail sales of the iPhone 4S in China. The tech giant announced Friday it has stopped in-person sales in Beijing and Shanghai “for the time being” in the wake of a near-riot by angry scalpers.

If you need another reason why iPhone rivals just don’t get it, there’s word four of the largest smartphone makers plan to introduce fewer models in a bid to replicate Apple’s success. Ah, if it were only so simple.

Intel wants to be friends with Apple — or more specifically, Apple’s hoard of cash. As the PC industry craters and mobile devices seem to be the future, the chipmaker wants the tech giant to buy its Medfield design. Although Intel if talking, is Apple listening?

Consumers have another reason besides low-cost designer collaborations to mob their favorite retailer. Target confirmed 25 of its largest U.S. stores will offer an expanded line of Apple gear later this year. The stores join Best Buy in catering to crowds of Apple fans looking to buy more than iPods at their local retailer.

For a company not officially at the Las Vegas-based CES, Apple sure does have a huge presence. Not only is the tech giant molding the smartphone and gadget exhibits, but the Cupertino, Calif. firm also overshadows video vendors. Indeed, Apple’s planned entry into the TV business is ‘the elephant in the room’ at the massive technology trade show.

Remember Dell’s Streak tablet? Even though the device was just a blip in the minds of consumers, the PC maker wants to take another whack at going up against the iPad. The company is being coy with details, saying they want to get this attempt right.

Wall Street is cautiously optimistic that the update of RIM’s PlayBook tablet could avoid the BlackBerry maker from once again putting its finances in a ditch. The software update prompted one high-profile analyst to tell investors he was “less cautious” about the near future. Yes, that doesn’t scream confidence, but we are talking about the Titanic of mobile tech — and people are still running for the lifeboats at RIM.

Apple production partner Foxconn has been tied to worker suicides in the past, but a new wrinkle emerged earlier this month. According to reports, a group of 300 Chinese employees building Xbox 360 game consoles threatened suicide by jumping off the roof of a factory.

Apple is a tease – and that’s a good thing, according to new research figures. The late announcement of an iPhone 4S created such pent-up demand among consumers that the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant came within a breath of Android’s U.S. smartphone lead. A wave of sales during the third quarter of 2011 pushed Apple’s share of the U.S. smartphone market to 43 percent, just shy of Android’s 47 percent share.

All that was missing was Steve Jobs. That’s how close Acer’s promotion of its new AcerCloud service was to Apple’s iCloud. Although imitation is flattering, some observers charged Acer of a ‘blatant ripoff’ of iCloud – down to even the promotion images used by netbook kingpin.

Despite the Las Vegas floor of CES 2012 being filled with new smartphones, the iPhone is still hot with prospective handset buyers, a new survey finds. The iPhone tops the list with 54 percent of consumers planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days. That’s down from 65 percent in September, a surprise to experts. The nearest Android handset cam in a distant second.

If Research in Motion is gambling on its future, it picked the right venue: the Las Vegas-based CES 2012. The Waterloo, Ont. company plans to introduce an updated version of its PlayBook Operating System, as well as its new BlackBerry 7.1 software amid a storm of criticism. But can new software alone resurrect a troubled tech company?

South Korean smartphone maker Samsung learned a lesson about the pace of Italian justice Friday. A Mulan court rejected the company’s call for a preliminary injunction against sales of the iPhone 4S. This is Samsung’s second denial in Italy, a court refused to block the iPhone 4S in that nation back in October.

It’s hard living in a post-PC world, especially if you’re chip giant Intel. A Wall Street analyst downgraded the company from “Buy” to “Neutral” after key PC makers signaled plans to adopt rival ARM – not to mention the smartphones and tablets also throwing sand in Intel’s face.

If you’re a carrier scrambling for ways to make up dwindling voice and texting profits, Apple’s iPhone 4S is not just a product, but a dreamy pin-up, a new report on smartphone data usage finds. What’s more, Siri — the iPhone 4S’s hallmark feature — is a down-right wet dream.

Do you live in an area too small to support an Apple Store but has a Target retail location? Apple reportedly will launch later this year “store-within-a-store” sites at 25 of the chain’s larger U.S. locations. The plan would expand the Cupertino, Calif. company’s retail reach already available at more than 600 Best Buy stores.

If you thought pulling a rabbit out of your hat was cutting-edge magic, you haven’t talked to Apple CEO Tim Cook lately. Give him three months, and Cook can convert 300,000 Apple shares into almost $100 million dollars. Pretty neat trick, huh? In fact, Cook leads all Silicon Valley executives in the largest cash haul from company stock, according to just-released data.

With billions in the bank, sometimes it is cheaper to pay a few bucks rather than spend time in court. That apparently is the logic behind a $5 million settlement announced in a patent-infringement lawsuit filed against Apple. Despite little chance of a courtroom win, a Taiwan-based touchpad maker is proclaiming victory.

The prevailing Wall Street consensus is that Apple will report later this month iPhone sales of around 29 million handsets. But one expert is questioning that figure, suggesting official analysts could be way too conservative amid yet another historic sales period for the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant.

Just how important is the iPhone to U.S. carriers? Verizon’s financial chief provided some insight Wednesday, announcing the provider sold 4.2 million Apple smartphones during the holiday fourth quarter. While the October launch of the iPhone 4S likely spurred many of those purchases, the cost is a smaller profit in exchange for hefty data contracts and a piece of the Apple halo.