Rumor: iPhone 4G heading to Sprint?
May 27, 2010
Despite the close ties between Apple and AT&T for the iPhone in the U.S., a rumor has Sprint getting the new iPhone 4G. Not to be confused with the 4th-Generation (4G) iPhone, Sprint is the only U.S. carrier with a 4G network. At least one analyst predicts that an iPhone carrier other than AT&T is likely to get higher sales.
All indications are that Apple and AT&T have a loyal and cozy partnership with the iPhone. But sporadic reports suggest a crack in the armor.
The latest is a tech blog that reports a commenter, supposedly a Best Buy employee from Pennsylvania, who said, “Sprint will be carrying the iPhone, beginning in June. They’ve begun to grease the wheels for advertising.”
Wal-Mart slashes iPhone price to $97
May 25, 2010
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, plans to slash the price of Apple’s 16GB 3GS iPhone to $97 beginning Tuesday.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) is widely expected to unveil a brand-new iPhone next month, and could be working with retailers to clear out its remaining inventory of the about-to-be-outdated model.
At the new price, customers will save $100 on Apple’s smart phone, which currently sells for $199. The deal requires that the phone be purchased with a two-year contract from AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive service provider.
“It is our commitment to always lead on price,” Mehrdad Akbar, Wal-Mart’s (WMT, Fortune 500) senior category director for wireless, in a prepared statement about the price change.
Apple sold 8.3 million iPhones last quarter, more than twice the amount sold during the same period a year ago.
Wal-Mart’s pre-Memorial Day price whack comes as technology giants such as Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), Research in Motion (RIM) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500), which recently snapped up Palm, vie for top dog status in the smart phone market. Industry analysts say that worldwide smart phone sales topped 54 million units in the first quarter, up nearly 49% from a year ago.
At $97, Wal-Mart’s price slightly undercuts the $99 price tag several analysts anticipated for the remaining iPhone 3GS stock. When consumers get sight of a new iPhone model on the horizon, sales of the existing model typically falls off sharply.
In the furor surrounding last month’s theft of a new iPhone prototype, Apple filed legal documents claiming that leaked details of the new model would be “immensely damaging” to the company because “people that would have otherwise purchased a currently existing Apple product would wait for the next item to be released.”
SOURCE: CNN
Google Beats Microsoft in Smartphones, Catching Apple
May 19, 2010
PARIS/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)- Google’s Android mobile phone system is building momentum, beating Microsoft in the last quarter and challenging Apple as the number of new models with software and compatible applications grow.
Google’s Android was the fourth most popular operating system on smartphones sold in the first quarter, research firm Gartner said on Wednesday, putting the company in a good position as handsets look set to surpass computers for browsing the Web.
Android, which was in 10 percent of smartphones sold in the quarter, lags Nokia’s Symbian, Research in Motion and Apple.
Gartner said Android was due to beat Apple soon as there were more handset makers using its operating system, and Android phones were already outselling the iPhone in North America.
Earlier this month, research group NPD said smartphones running on Android accounted for 28 percent of U.S. unit sales in the first quarter, ahead of the iPhone — data Apple publicly questioned, saying it was based on a limited sample of consumers.
Gartner’s data is considered an industry standard.
DEVELOPER BOOM FOR ANDROID
More and more start-ups are developing applications for Google’s Android software, boosting interest among consumers and posing increasing risk to Apple, venture capitalists told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in San Francisco.
While Apple’s app store offers more than 200,000 games, tools and other software to jazz up the iPhone, against just 38,000 for Android, the openness of Google’s mobile operating system is helping it gain popularity with developers.
“I am quite impressed by the traction the Android ecosystem is getting,” said Chris Moore, a partner with Redpoint Ventures, which has invested in online video store Netflix and IAC/InterActiveCorp’s Ask.com.
Moore told the Reuters Global Technology Summit it felt as if as many start-ups were walking into his office to pitch Android applications as those for the iPhone.
“I want to say that on the current trajectory, they (Android) will pass the iPhone platform, or at least reach parity by the end of this year or middle of next year.”
Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley are watching these trendlines very closely as they place bets on start-ups developing interesting mobile apps.
App developers usually choose a limited number of mobile platforms to write software for as every additional platform raises sharply their costs.
MICROSOFT CHALLENGED
Microsoft, which has been making mobile software for around 10 years, hopes to claw back market share it has lost to rivals with new Windows Phone 7 models, due to reach markets in time for holiday-sales at the end of the year.
“We continue to see pressure for Microsoft. We expect to see difficulties also with Windows Phone 7 with limitations they are putting on hardware vendors,” Gartner’s Milanesi said.
Aiming to better battle against iPhone Microsoft has set high technical demands for handset models due to use its software.
Handset makers such as HTC, Samsung and Motorola all make Windows phones but are increasingly turning to Android, which is not only free but attracting a fast-growing developer community.
Microsoft is the only major phone software maker to charge a license fee to handset makers.
SOURCE: ABC News
Verizon iPhone? Maybe Not
May 11, 2010
A front-facing camera, HD video recording, a slimmer form factor … all would be nice features for Apple’s fourth-generation handset, but here’s the burning question that most consumers want answered about the next iPhone: Will it finally be available through Verizon Wireless? If you’re hoping the answer’s yes, Engadget has bad news for you, in the form of a 2008 court filing from Apple itself.
The documents unearthed by Engadget this week comprise a response to an ongoing California class-action lawsuit filed back in 2007.
I’ll spare you the details of the suit (Engadget has ‘em if you’re interested) and skip right to the good part (or the bad part, depending on your point of view): “The duration of the exclusive Apple-[AT&T] agreement was not ‘secret’ either. The [plaintiff] quotes a May 21, 2007, USA Today article — published over a month before the iPhone’s release — stating, ‘AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years-an eternity in the go-go cellphone world.’ ” (Hyperlink added.) Read more
U.S. Cellular Profit Down 43%
May 11, 2010
Regional carrier U.S. Cellular saw its profits fall 43 percent in the first quarter despite improvements in churn and ARPU.
The company, which is owned by Telephone & Data Systems, said it made $48.23 million in the first quarter, or $0.55 per diluted share, compared to $84.5 million, or $0.97 per share, during the same period last year.
The company posted $965 million in service revenue, a decline from last year’s sales of $983 million.
A marked rise in data revenue helped offset declines in voice to bring total retail service ARPU to $46.99, compared to $46.87 during the same period last year. Churn improved to 1.4 percent over last year’s 1.5 percent.
U.S. Cellular also marked its second-straight quarter of subscriber growth after losses in the second and third quarters of last year. The company added 6,000 net subscribers and said it added 24,000 net retail subscribers after an increase in prepaid subscribers offset the loss of 9,000 postpaid subscribers.
U.S. Cellular also appointed Mary Dillon as president and CEO to replace John “Jack” Rooney, who earlier announced his retirement. The appointment will become effective June 1.
Dillon joins U.S. Cellular from McDonald’s Corp., where she was global chief marketing officer and executive vice president, with responsibility for worldwide marketing efforts and global brand strategy.
SOURCE: Wireless Week
Nokia Sues Apple Again
May 11, 2010
When you are famous, you are sure to have people envying your success. You make one mistake and boom, your foes get the perfect opportunity to dethrone you from your current stature. So if a tech giant like Apple who has currently been a pain to almost everyone in the industry with a successful lineup of products one after the other, gets caught in some rule contravention, who would let it pass with impunity. Atleast not somebody like Nokia who is facing the prime consequences of the unsurpassed success of iPhones in the smartphone market. So the clash between the leading smartphone makers takes another turn with Nokia suing Apple over patent infringement related to the iPad 3G. Read more
AT&T customers log the most dropped call complaints, Verizon claims fewest
May 7, 2010
There are those that love AT&T (NYSE: T), and there are those that hate AT&T. But, there’s no denying that the leading GSM wireless carrier offers some fairly significant advantages over its competitors. You get to use 3G data alongside voice services – so you can look up the restaurant location and reviews while chatting with your friend about where to go for dinner. You get the benefit of a 3G data network that pushes wireless data at speeds that would make other carriers with similar coverage footprints jealous. You can swap your SIM card into any compatible GSM phone on a whim. Unfortunately, you also get 
arguably crappy service. A new study from ChangeWave Research highlights that problem with stats that have AT&T scoring highest in customer-reported dropped calls. AT&T also fared badly in terms of the number of customers reporting that they’re “very satisfied” with their wireless service. Read more
Growth coming for smartphones in 2010
May 7, 2010
Smartphone shipments grew 57 percent in Q1, with the iPhone seeing a 132 percent increase over 2009
Smartphones such as the iPhone are in “high-growth mode” globally, IDC said today, with shipments by manufacturers growing nearly 57 percent in the first quarter.
“2010 looks to be another year of large-scale consumer adoption of [smartphones]” IDC analyst Ramon Llamas predicted, based on the trend in smartphone shipments. And updates expected this year for BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile are likely to spark even greater demand, he said.
A fourth generation iPhone is also expected this summer, IDC noted. Apple has announced its Worldwide Developers Conference will begin June 7, the likely date for the company to unveil its next-generation iPhone. Read more
Cell Phone Sales Are Up 22 Percent
May 4, 2010
Increased demand for smartphones has spurred a resurgence in the global mobile phone market. As the economic recovery continues, IDC reports that the number of cell phones sold in the first quarter is up by 22 percent. Nokia is still the world’s largest maker of phones, followed by Samsung and LG. RIM and Sony Ericsson tied for fourth place. Read more
RIM in Top Five. Knocks off Motorola
May 3, 2010
Smartphones drove a rebound in the overall mobile handset market in the first quarter of 2010, as BlackBerry maker Research In Motion broke into the top five of cell phone makers for the first time.
The worldwide mobile phone market grew 21.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, compared to a decline of 16.6 percent during the first quarter of 2009 when the global economy was in recession, according to market research firm IDC. Growth was fueled mainly by the economic recovery and sales of smartphones, IDC said. In total, cell phone makers shipped 294.9 million units in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 242.4 million units in the first quarter of 2009.
Smartphones, which allow people to e-mail, surf the Web, and access other Internet-based applications, have grown in popularity over the past year. The growing demand also helped catapult RIM, the largest maker of smartphones, into the top five of worldwide mobile handset makers. The company displaced Motorola, which has struggled over the past few years to find another hit phone to replace its popular flip-style Razr. Motorola has steadily been slipping in market share.
Despite its better than expected first quarter earnings reported Thursday, Motorola is still struggling to sell phones. That said, its strategy to focus on smartphones is starting to pay off. And the company beat expectations in smartphone sales for the first quarter. Executives expect the momentum to continue as it introduces 20 new devices this year using Google’s Android operating system.
RIM tied with Sony Ericsson for the No. 4 position in IDC’s market share rankings with 10.6 million units shipped in the first quarter. Motorola, which had been in the top five since IDC started tracking quarterly market share in 2004, shipped 8.5 million units.
“The entrance of RIM into the top five underscores the sustained smartphone growth trend that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery,” Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC said in a statement. “This is also the first time a vendor has dropped out of the top five since the second quarter of 2005, when Sony Ericsson grabbed the No. 5 spot from BenQ Siemens.”
So how did the rest of the mobile phone makers do in the first quarter? Nokia maintained its No. 1 position shipping 107.8 million phones in the first quarter. But the company still managed to lose market share, slipping from 38.4 percent market share in the first quarter of 2009 to 36 percent market share in the first quarter of 2010.
Samsung held the No. 2 spot for the 12th consecutive quarter with total shipments of 64.3 million devices. Its market share grew from 18.9 percent in the first quarter of 2009 to 21.8 percent in the first quarter of 2010.
LG Electronics held onto its third place position. It’s year-over-year shipments grew 20 percent, but the company’s market share remained relatively flat at 9.3 percent.
Research In Motion and Sony Ericsson tied for fourth place each with 3.6 percent market share. While RIM increased its market share compared to the previous year, Sony Ericsson lost ground. In the first quarter of 2009, Sony Ericsson had a market share of 6 percent.
IDC analysts said the positive trends in the mobile handset market are expected to continue throughout 2010, but they warn that growth won’t be as strong throughout the year mainly because the first quarter of 2009 was so bad. The firm is forecasting growth of the worldwide market to be about 11 percent overall in 2010.
“It should be noted that the market’s first-quarter growth, while impressive, is relative to one of the worst quarters in mobile phone industry history (first quarter of 2009),” Restivo said. “The market’s growth should not be taken as a proxy for future quarters nor annual growth.”
SOURCE: Cnet
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