Apple unveils two new iPhones

CUPERTINO, California — Apple on Tuesday unveiled two new iPhones, fielding a slick new top-end model along with one aimed at budget-conscious smartphone shoppers around the world.

“The business has become so large that this year we are going to replace the iPhone 5 and we are going to replace it with two new designs,” Apple chief Tim Cook announced at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters.

Apple will begin taking orders on Friday, and on September 20 the two devices will go on sale in the United States, Australia, Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan and Singapore.

The iPhone 5C is part of Apple’s bid to counter the flood of low-cost smartphones from rivals, most of which use the Google Android operating system.

Apple designer Jony Ive said that despite the lower cost, the polycarbonate iPhone 5C with a steel frame “is beautiful.”

The iPhone 5C with 16 gigabytes of memory will start at $99 with a two-year US carrier contract and $549 without a contract — $100 less than previous iPhone base models.

“The 5C is a no-compromise device,” Gartner analyst Van Baker told AFP after trying out Apple’s new phones. “It is just in a plastic case instead of a metal case, and they basically reduce the price by the cost of materials.”

But Baker said it was an “open question” whether the price cut for the iPhone 5C would be enough to attract customers in emerging markets.

“Anyone expecting Apple to come truly down-market with the iPhone 5C was fooling themselves,” said Ovum analyst Tony Cripps.

“The day that happens is the day the company signals that it has run out of headroom for expansion.”

Apple would not name its China telecom launch partners, who might step in with subsidies to help push down iPhone prices there. Apple planned a separate press event in China on Wednesday.

The top-line iPhone 5S, which starts at $199 with a contract for US buyers and $649 without one, “is the most forward thinking phone we have ever created,” said Apple vice president Phil Schiller.

“It is the gold standard in smartphones.”

Schiller said the 5S model includes a speedier chip which puts computing performance on par with desktop machines.

“It has over a billion transistors in it,” he said, adding that the device will be a mobile game lover’s delight with blazing smooth, rich graphics.





The 5S will also have some 10 hours of talk time, or 40 hours of music listening, Schiller added.

Apple introduced a fingerprint sensor for the iPhone 5S as a new security measure in place of passwords.

“You can just press the home button to unlock your phone,” Schiller said. “You can use it to authenticate iTunes purchases.”

Schiller added: “We have so much of our personal data on these devices, and they are with us almost everyplace we go, so we have to protect them.”

Reticle Research principle analyst Ross Rubin described Touch ID as a “show stealer” that addresses “a necessary annoyance that many consumers have to deal with many times a day.”

Apple also broadened its color palette, announcing the low-cost phone in blue, white, pink, yellow and green, and the top-line model in silver, gold and a new “space gray.”

Apple said its iOS 7 software will debut September 18. It includes a free iTunes Radio Service featuring more than 200 stations “and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store.”

The two new handsets keep the four-inch screen of current iPhones, despite some speculation Apple would boost the size to compete with larger phones from rivals like Samsung.

The smartphone market is now dominated by Android devices, with roughly three-fourths of all handsets, but a forecast by research firm IDC suggested Apple will increase its share this year to 17.9 percent from 16.9 percent.

IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said that with the 5C, “Apple is staking out its space in the lower-cost smartphone category.”

Llamas said Apple is seeking to fend off lower-priced rivals while “it enjoys bigger profit margins and still maintains the aura of being an aspirational brand.”

The event was a disappointment to some who were looking for a fresh device from Apple, such as a smartwatch or TV service.

“I think there was an expectation for that ‘one more thing,’” said Roger Kay at Endpoint Technologies. “People were looking for some pizzazz and they didn’t get it.”

Apple announced separately a deal with Japan’s biggest mobile phone carrier NTT DoCoMo to bring the two new iPhones to that country.

source: interaksyon.com

One-piece, silicone battery case for iPhone 5

PowerSkin recently launched its second Apple-certified external charging solution for the iPhone 5 this month with the release of its silicone battery case.

The PowerSkin for iPhone 5 packs 1500 mAh of power capacity, extending talk time by up to 6.5 hours and music time up to 32 hours. An on/off button located on the back gives users power-on-demand with LED battery lights displaying the amount of charge left.

Available at www.power-skin.com.

source: interaksyon.com

Wirelessly receive your cycling data via iPhone app

The RFLKT, the world’s first and only iPhone-powered cycling computer, wirelessly receives all App data and ride info from the iPhone 4S and/or iPhone 5 via Bluetooth Smart. Equipped with control buttons, cyclists can operate their favorite iPhone cycling App, toggle between screens, start/stop intervals and even control iPhone functionality such as music playback all from the RFLKT, while the iPhone remains safely in a jersey pocket or bike mounted compartment. RFLKT’s sleek profile and lowly 2 ounce weight, make it virtually unnoticeable when mounted, while the coin cell operated battery has a life of over one year and requires no charging.


Now avalailable at WahooFitness.com

source: interaksyon.com

Verizon Activated 6.2 Million iPhones in Q4, Almost Half Were iPhone 5

We just got our first glimpse at iPhone 5 sales for the fourth quarter.

Verizon revealed during its earnings call Tuesday that it activated 6.2 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, almost half of which were LTE-enabled iPhone 5 devices. That means Verizon sold about 3 million iPhone 5s in the December quarter, up from 651,000 in the previous quarter (when the device had only been on sale for nine days).

In total, the carrier activated 9.8 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, a new record for quarterly smartphone activations. In a pre-earnings estimate earlier this month, Verizon credited the higher number of activations to a "higher mix of Apple smartphones."

Despite the record number of activations, Verizon reported a whopping $1.93 billion loss for the fourth quarter due to charges incurred from pensions and Hurricane Sandy.

AT&T and Sprint haven't reported their iPhone sales figures yet, though AT&T did reveal that it too had a record quarter for smartphone sales — with 10 million smartphone activations — which many assume is due to demand for the new iPhone. Apple's earnings report for the December quarter will be released on Wednesday.

Apple's stock was up by about half a percent pre-market following the positive iPhone sales figures.

source: mashable.com

Apple’s iPhone 5 gets thumbs-up from Consumer Reports

SAN FRANCISCO — Consumer Reports, the influential reviewers’ group that blasted the iPhone 4 for a faulty antenna, on Friday gave Apple Inc’s latest smartphone a thumbs-up despite echoing widespread complaints about its patchy mapping service.

The organization, which in 2010 withheld its recommendation for the iPhone because of spotty reception when the gadget was held in a certain way, said laboratory tests confirmed that the new iPhone 5 ranked among the best smartphones but its mapping function clearly fell short.

Apple’s latest iPhone, sporting a larger 4-inch screen and 4G capability, drew scathing reviews for glaring errors in a new, self-designed mapping service. Chief Executive Tim Cook apologized last week and directed users to rival services run by Google Inc and others.

“Despite the widespread criticism it has received, Apple’s new Maps app… is competent enough, even if it falls short of what’s available for free on many other phones,” reviewer Mike Gikas wrote on the group’s website on Friday.

“As Apple has recently apologized and promised to fix these and other map glitches, we expect the Map app to improve in time,” he wrote.

Apple’s shares were down 1.3 percent at $658.43 in early afternoon trade on Nasdaq.

The consumer electronics juggernaut began selling its latest smartphone last month. Sales of over 5 million in its first three days in stores fell short of outsized expectations as it struggled with supply constraints.

Its homegrown Maps — stitched together by acquiring companies and employing data from a range of providers including TomTom NV and Waze — was introduced with much fanfare in June by software chief Scott Forstall. It was billed as a highlight of the updated iOS 6 software.

Errors and omissions quickly emerged after the software was rolled out. They ranged from misplaced buildings and mislabeled cities to duplicate geographical features. Users also complained that the service lacked features that made Google Maps so popular, such as public transit directions and street-view pictures.

The last time Apple faced such widespread criticism — including from Consumer Reports — was during 2010′s “Antennagate” furor, when users complained of signal reception issues on the then-new iPhone 4. This year the consumer group, which reviews everything from cars to kitchen appliances, also warned initially that Apple’s new iPad threw off too much heat.

A defiant Steve Jobs at the time rejected any suggestion the iPhone 4′s design was flawed, but offered consumers free phone cases at a rare, 90-minute press conference called to address those complaints.

“Now that our auto experts have completed their tests, including some carried out some days after the launch, they describe the app as relatively streamlined, and concluded that it generally provides clear guidance, including voice and on-screen directions,” Gikas wrote.

“However, they did find that it lacks the details, traffic data, and customization options offered by the free Google navigation app found on Android phones.”

source: interaksyon.com

Long lines greet Apple’s iPhone 5 in Sydney, Tokyo

SYDNEY/TOKYO — Apple Inc’s iPhone 5 hit stores around the globe on Friday, giving the consumer giant a boost ahead of the crucial end-of-year holiday season as rival Samsung Electronics Co stepped up its legal challenge over key technologies.

The new phone – which was unveiled last week – went on sale first in Australia, where long lines formed for the opening of the California company’s Sydney store at 8 a.m. local time (2200 GMT, Thursday).





Apple has booked more than 2 million pre-orders for the device in the first 24 hours, double the first-day sales of the previous iPhone 4S.

But South Korea’s Samsung moved to crash the party on the eve of the phone’s debut, saying it planned to add the new device to existing patent lawsuits against its U.S. rival.

Samsung and Apple are locked in patent battle in 10 countries and the stakes are high as the two vie for top spot in the booming smartphone market.

Both companies are also raising marketing spending to promote their latest products ahead of the holiday sales quarter.

Long queues

An estimated 600 people queued around the block from the Apple store in central Sydney and customers were limited to buying a maximum of two phones. In a rainy Tokyo, the lines stretched back several blocks.

Guerrilla marketers grabbed the first dozen or so spots in the queue in Sydney, with companies paying staff members to line up for several days in the hope of being photographed and interviewed for being among the first in the world to get their hands on the new devices.

At the head of the queue was Todd Foot, who lined up with colleagues – all wearing clothing branded with their price comparison website logo – for three days. Staff from an online buyer and seller of used Apple products roamed the long lines offering free coffees.

But most of those waiting were aficionados already hooked on Apple’s earlier iPhones and best-selling iPad tablet computers.

“I feel like if I leave it at home, I go a bit crazy,” James Vohradsky, a 20-year-old student said of his current iPhone. “I have to drive back and get it. I can’t do my normal day without it,” said Vohradsky, who had queued for 17 hours with his younger sister.

Some analysts expect Apple to sell up to 10 million iPhone 5 models in the remaining days of September and JP Morgan estimates the phone release could provide a $3.2 billion boost to the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter.

In Japan, where the line outside the Tokyo Apple store stretched for several blocks, one of the two carriers selling the iPhone 5 said it was concerned the U.S. company does not have enough production capacity to meet demand.

Softbank president and founder, Masayoshi Son, said demand for the iPhone 5 was greater than the first iPhone. KDDI Corp, the other Japanese carrier offering the iPhone, said that it had already run out of the iPhone 5.

The new phone has a larger, 4-inch screen and is slimmer and far lighter than the previous model. The iPhone 5 supports faster 4G mobile networks and also comes with a number of software updates, including Apple’s new in-house maps feature.

Maps miss mark

The new maps feature, however has been criticized by some users for a number of geographical errors, missing information and a lack of features.

Kim Tudo, a student at the University of New South Wales who queued overnight, said he was disappointed the turn-by-turn navigation feature under the iOS 6 mobile operating system behind the new phone is not immediately available in Australia.

Vohradsky said the lack of mobile payment chip was also “a bit of a letdown”. Apple did not embed Near Field Communication (NFC) technology used to turn cellphones into mobile wallets into the iPhone 5.

Tudo and Vohradsky were less bothered by Apple’s decision to drop the wide dock connector used in the company’s gadgets for the best part of a decade in favor of a smaller one, a move that some critics have noted adds to costs for users who will now have to buy an adaptor for speakers or other accessories.

The iPhone is Apple’s highest-margin product and accounts for half of its annual revenue. Apple has said it will make initial deliveries of the iPhone 5 on Friday in the United States and most of the major European markets, such as France, Germany and Britain. The phone then goes on sale on September 28 in 22 other countries.

Apple plans to sell the new phone in 100 countries by the end of the year.

Influential reviewer Walt Mossberg labeled it the best smartphone on the market but criticized the mapping application.

The latest iPhone comes as competition in the smartphone market has reached a fever pitch with Apple up against phones that run on Google Inc’s Android software. Android has become the most-used mobile operating system in the world, while Samsung has taken the lead in smartphone sales.

Samsung released new ads mocking Apple fans queuing for the new iPhone, showing users favorably comparing the features of Samsung’s top-selling Galaxy S3 smartphone.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple sells 2 million new phones, sets early order record

Demand for Apple Inc’s new iPhone 5 has exceeded initial supply as the company booked 2 million orders in one day and pushed the delivery date for some preorders to next month.

Apple said on Monday that it would deliver most preordered phones as planned by Friday, the first day of delivery, but many would not be available until October.

It is not unusual for Apple products to sell out the first day. Last October, the company booked 1 million orders for the previous iPhone, the 4S, in the first 24 hours. That beat Apple’s previous one-day record of 600,000 sales for the iPhone 4.

Shares of Apple were up 1 percent at $698.50 in early trading on Monday.

The latest strong preorders could mean a strong holiday quarter for Apple. The iPhone is the marquee device for the company and accounts for half of its revenue.

Given the demand for the device so far and Apple’s aggressive rollout of it internationally, some analysts raised their sales estimates.

Canaccord Genuity technology analyst Michael Walkley said he now expected Apple to ship 9 million to 10 million iPhone 5s from Friday to September 29, the last day of fiscal 2012.

Baird Equity Research William Power estimates that Apple may have booked sales of roughly 5 million iPhone 5s in the first three days. Last year, it sold 4 million iPhone 4S units in that time.

The new phone, which will appear in stores on Friday for walk-in purchases, has a larger, 4-inch screen and is slimmer and far lighter than the previous model. The iPhone 5 supports the faster 4G network and also comes with a number of software updates, including Apple’s new in-house maps feature.

Apple began taking orders for the iPhone 5 at midnight Pacific time on Friday (0700 GMT Saturday). Shipping dates for the smartphone slipped by a week within an hour of the start of preorders.

On Monday morning, Apple’s U.S. store, at www.apple.com, showed preorders placed at that time would take two to three weeks to ship.

AT&T sets sales record

AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, said demand over the weekend had made the iPhone 5 the fastest-selling iPhone the company has ever offered.

AT&T did not disclose how many iPhones it had sold, but said the iPhone 5 was still available for preorder and would go on sale September 21 at AT&T retail stores.

The phone’s other carriers, Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp, also showed similar delays in shipping the phone.

European carriers also reported brisk sales. France Telecom’s Orange said bookings for the new phone “have been very strong, breaking the records of what we saw for the iPhone 4 or 4S.” But the carrier said it could deliver preorders on time.

Apple previously said it would start shipping the iPhone 5 by September 21 in the United States and most of the major European markets, such as France, Germany and the UK. The phone goes on sale on September 28 in 22 other countries.

Analysts have forecast that Apple will have sold more than 30 million iPhones, including older models, by the end of September.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple snubs emerging mobile payment standard

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK — EBay Inc Chief Executive John Donahoe often quotes a merchant saying NFC stands for “Not For Commerce” – and dismisses the prospects of Near Field Communication technology used to turn cellphones into mobile wallets.

He got some support this week from Apple Inc, which did not embed NFC chips into the iPhone 5.

NFC proponents had hoped Apple would endorse the technology, which passes encrypted data between devices at close range without contact. So instead of swiping a credit card, shoppers can simply wave their phones at a checkout terminal to pay for their goods.

The technology is backed by the largest U.S. carriers and credit card companies, but has failed to take off in America because merchants have been reluctant to spend money to upgrade their checkout terminals until NFC is more widely adopted.

“Anyone hoping NFC would be a reality soon is disappointed,” said Sanjay Sakhrani, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. “Many in the industry were hoping inclusion in the iPhone would be a springboard for more adoption. This takes the impetus away.”

NFC technology, which has uses beyond mobile payments, is backed by Isis, a mobile wallet joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA. Isis’ financial services partners include American Express, JPMorgan Chase and Capital One Financial.

Like many new technologies, NFC is hampered by a chicken-and-egg problem. Mobile phone makers like Apple are reluctant to take on the extra cost and engineering effort of embedding NFC chips because many merchants can’t accept payments this way yet. Meanwhile, merchants won’t install NFC until more consumers have the technology on their phones.

Isis said on Thursday that it was delaying the launch of its NFC mobile payments service for the second time this year.

“Isis has placed a massive bet on NFC,” said David Evans, founder of Market Platform Dynamics and an adviser to companies in the payments business. Apple’s decision “is another reason to believe that Isis doesn’t have much promise of getting off the ground.”

Apple did not include NFC because it is not clear the technology solves any current problem, marketing chief Phil Schiller told AllThingsD on Wednesday.

Apple: We’ll pass

Instead of embracing NFC, Apple is developing Passbook, a mobile app that pulls together loyalty cards, tickets and coupons on the new iPhone. Many analysts consider this an early version of a digital wallet, except Passbook does not let users link their credit and debit cards yet.

Other digital wallets have already been developed by companies including eBay’s PayPal, Google Inc and Visa Inc. These wallets aim to bring together credit and debit cards, bank accounts, loyalty cards, rewards and coupons in one place, letting shoppers pay for purchases mostly online, but increasingly in physical stores too.

NFC’s advocates argue it eliminates plastic and cash and can be more secure than magnetic strips. But that alone will not persuade consumers to stop using credit cards in stores because plastic is already so convenient, experts say.

“It is a new technology and one that is unfamiliar to users. So that opens up new possibilities for abuse and naiveté,” said Charlie Miller, principal research consultant with Accuvant. But he said NFC allows for interesting security options that traditional credit cards don’t, such as account numbers that change dynamically.

PayPal is betting that other services that make digital wallets more useful will encourage consumers to switch – it is designing a digital wallet that helps consumers do as many things as possible from one place, including buying flight or movie tickets, sending money to other people and tapping coupons, rewards and loyalty cards.

“Technology is not what’s going to win this digital wallet war. It’s going to be about the consumer value proposition,” said Carey Kolaja, senior director for PayPal’s product team.

Others argue NFC still has potential, partly because merchant incentives from Visa and MasterCard are expected to spark a wave of payment terminal upgrades in coming years. These upgrades will include NFC capability.

“It is difficult to buy a new terminal that doesn’t already have NFC technology, and soon it will be impossible,” said Rick Oglesby of consulting firm Aite Group.

But the software and service providers behind the terminals will also have to be ready to accept and process payments that come with coupons, loyalty cards and rewards programs.

At the moment, most terminals can handle the amount of the transaction and the card number and not much else, Oglesby said.

Until this is all sorted out, Apple will likely wait to enter the payments business aggressively, Oglesby and others said. Apple took a similar approach to 4G LTE wireless technology, waiting until coverage was wide enough this year to unveil an iPhone that uses it, Oglesby noted.

“They won’t do something until they know a lot of their customers will use the service,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Answers to Your Questions About Apple’s iPhone 5

Apple on Wednesday unveiled its much-anticipated iPhone 5, as well as upgrades for the iPod Touch and iPod Nano. In reaction to the news, many readers posted questions. Here are answers to the most commonly asked ones.

Q. Cost? Available to order date? Anticipated ship date? –David Wachte, New York.

A. The iPhone 5 costs $200 for the model with 16 gigabytes, $300 for 32 gigabytes and $400 for 64 gigabytes, with a two-year contract. You can pre-order it starting Friday. The phone releases Sept. 21, and ship dates vary depending on when you place the order.

Q. Does Siri now allow you to issue configuration requests, such as “Turn Bluetooth on,” or “Turn ringer off”?
–Zak456, Hoboken, New Jersey

A. No. In the new version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 6, Siri has been expanded to add things like booking a restaurant through OpenTable, but tweaking core settings is not something it does yet.

Q. Does the new Nano have a clip to attach to your clothes (for when you workout) like the current version does? – D, Conn.

A. No. Its workout feature is a built-in pedometer and support for Nike+.

Q. Why did Apple create another proprietary connector, instead of adopting the ubiquitous Micro-USB connector? It would be great if the industry could standardize chargers for cellphones. –Mark, Calif.

A. Apple executives say the smaller “Lightning” connector allowed it to make the iPhone 5 and new iPod Touch thinner. Apple is the only company that uses a proprietary charging port, which benefits it in a number of ways: If people buy accessories like docks, clock radios and chargers made just for Apple products, they have to keep buying Apple products if they want to keep using their gear. Making its own port also allows Apple to make industrial design decisions that other manufacturers who conform to the Micro-USB standard probably couldn’t make.

Q. What’s this gorgeous thing gonna cost me each month? Can I keep my existing plan (AT&T, $70 per month) when I buy the iPhone 5? Any good pointers for comparing pricing and plans? –MT, San Francisco, Calif.

A. AT&T has said you’ll be able to keep using your existing plan if you upgrade to the iPhone 5. So if you’re paying $70 a month now, you should continue to pay that price, unless you decide to change your plan.

Q. Plan to order my phone on the 14th from Apple to be delivered to my home. Since the new phone will have a new SIM card, how do I transfer from old card (iPhone 4) to new without going to Apple or AT&T store? Am I missing something obvious? –PN, Franklin, Tenn.

A. When you purchase the iPhone 5 through AT&T or Apple, it includes a SIM, and you activate it with your number through iTunes. You won’t have to swap cards or go to a store.

Q. Near Field Communications (NFC) is the best technology to unify payments with a cellphone. The Apple rumors had the new phone coming with NFC. Why did Apple not put NFC in the new iPhone 5? –J.C., San Francisco, Calif.

A. Only Apple knows the answer to this question, but in general, Apple doesn’t do anything that it feels it doesn’t need to, and mobile payments are still a premature technology. Also, Will Strauss, an analyst at Forward Concepts, which studies chips, says the iPhone 5’s all glass and aluminum body precludes it from using NFC.

Q. It’s become an annual question, but is the iPod Classic still being sold?– Mark L. Milwaukee, WI

A. Yes, it’s still alive and selling.

Q. So I am out of contract. AT&T or Verizon? No more unlimited data, which I’ve had with AT&T. Which is better for the iPhone 5? –Mark Calif.

A. It depends on your preferences. Verizon has a larger 4G LTE market than AT&T, so if reliable coverage matters most to you, Verizon is the right fit. However, customers new to Verizon only get to choose a shared data plan, which can cost you more over the long run unless you’re sharing a plan with multiple family members or plan on using multiple devices. AT&T still allows customers to choose between a shared data plan or an individual “tiered” plan. So if you’re on a budget and you don’t plan on sharing data, AT&T’s tiered plans are a better deal.

source: nytimes.com

New iPhone could boost US GDP, JP Morgan says

The next generation iPhone 5, which Apple Inc. plans to release this week, could not only boost the tech giant’s bottom line – but could give a significant boost to the overall U.S. economy.

Sales of the new iPhone could add between a quarter and a half percentage point to fourth quarter annualized growth in the U.S., according to J.P. Morgan’s chief economist, Michael Feroli in a note to clients on Monday.

Such an impact would be significant.

“Calculated using the so-called retail control method, sales of iPhone 5 could boost annualized GDP growth by $3.2 billion, or $12.8 billion at an annual rate,” Feroli wrote. That 0.33 percentage-point boost, he added, “would limit the downside risk to our Q4 GDP growth protection, which remains 2.0 percent.”

Feroli laid out his math. J.P. Morgan’s analysts expect Apple to sell around 8 million iPhone 5s in the fourth quarter. They expect the sales price to be about $600.

With about $200 in discounted import component costs, the government can factor in $400 per phone into its measure of gross domestic product for the fourth quarter.

Feroli said the estimate of between a quarter to a half point of annualized GDP “seems fairly large, and for that reason should be treated skeptically.” But, he added, “we think the recent evidence is consistent with this projection.”

Feroli said that when the last iPhone was launched in October 2011, sales significantly outperformed expectations.

“Given the iPhone 5 launch is expected to be much larger, we think the estimate mentioned … is reasonable,” Feroli wrote.

According to a recent Reuters poll of Wall Street dealers and economists, U.S. GDP was seen at 2.0 percent on average in 2013, down slightly from estimates this summer.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple to shrink wide dock connector for iPhone 5

TAIPEI/HONG KONG — Apple Inc’s new iPhone will drop the wide dock connector used in the company’s gadgets for the best part of a decade in favor of a smaller one, a change likely to annoy the Apple faithful but which could be a boon for accessory makers.

The iPhone 5, Apple’s next generation iPhone expected to go on sale around October, will come with a 19-pin connector port at the bottom instead of the proprietary 30-pin port “to make room for the earphone moving to the bottom”, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

That would mean the new phone would not connect with the myriad of accessories such as speakers and power chargers that form part of the ecosystem around iPods, iPads and iPhones, without an adaptor.
That means new business, analysts say.

“It represents an opportunity for accessory vendors,” said Pete Cunningham, London-based analyst at technology research firm Canalys. “The iPhone connector has been a standard for a long time now and I would expect the same to be true for a new connector, should Apple change it as expected.”

Apple did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.

Tech blogs have long speculated on the demise of the 30-pin connector, which at 21 mm wide takes up a chunk of space, especially as the latest technologies such as microUSB offer more power in less space.

They say that a smaller connector would give Apple more scope for new product designs or a bigger battery, or simply to make ever smaller products.

Switzerland’s Logitech, one of the biggest makers of Apple speakers, declined to comment.

But some enterprising vendors in China have already begun offering cases for the new phone, complete with earphone socket on the bottom and a “guarantee” the dimensions are correct.

For some in the peripherals industry, the change could open doors to new business.

“iPod docking speaker sales have been declining for one or two years,” said an employee of a Hong Kong-based company that designs speakers especially for Apple products.

“My previous factory is a lucky one. They shifted the focus to Bluetooth speakers, which proved a wise decision now,” the employee said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It looks like while iPod speaker sales are going down, Bluetooth speaker sales are going up.”

Happy to upgrade?

Apple has already said that some users of older models of its Macbook computers won’t be able to use the latest operating system to be announced soon, but analysts think it will be kinder to mobile gadget users.

“Apple needs to find a solution not to disappoint their current clients who want to upgrade to the new iPhone but are tied to an expensive accessory that have bought,” said Franciso Jeronimo, London-based analyst at technology research firm IDC.

“I believe Apple will come up with some sort of adaptor so the new iPhone can be used with previous connectors.”
It could be a difficult change for Apple to manage, even with an adaptor.

“With a smaller connector, what am I going to do with my loudspeaker at home and the fitness pack that I use when I go to the gym? That’s the question,” said 24-year old Travis Tam, who owns an iPhone 4 and works as an account executive at a social networking company in Hong Kong.

“I feel that the premium gap between the next iPhone 5 and newest Android models is getting much smaller these days. That will mean that details such as having a smaller connector will mean more in whether I will continue to use an iPhone and switch to other Android phones.”

A salesman surnamed Chan at an Apple reseller in Hong Kong thought a smaller connector would be a “pain”, and would spoil the clean lines and seamless connectivity that is Apple’s trademark.

“There are ways around it as some of the speakers have an audio input point that can be connected directly to any iPhone with a earphone jack. It’s not a very elegant way of doing things, but it’s an alternative,” he said.

In the end though, Apple fans are Apple fans.

“I don’t think it will stop Apple consumers from buying the new gadgets,” said C.K. Lu, Taipei-based analyst at research firm Gartner. “Many companies are interested in developing accessories for Apple because Apple users are more open and willing to buy accessories.”

source: interaksyon.com

iPhone 5 to be released in September?

Here we go again. It’s full steam ahead for the iPhone 5 rumor mill as speculations on the much-awaited iDevice smartphone continue to bombard the Internet.

This time, tech website Ubergizmo posted that a French blog site reportedly “obtained a piece of information from a Chinese source that specializes in manufacturing iPhone accessories.”

The blog site — which is incidentally in French — claimed the 21st of September as the release date of the next generation iPhone.

Furthermore, the blog also pointed out the iPhone’s 30-pin proprietary dock connector has been replaced with a narrower 19-pin version, a report that already came out in other news websites.

The earlier report from Reuters said that the change in the connector size was “to make room for the earphone moving to the bottom.”

Anyway, we just have to wait until the actual iPhone product comes out. Probably in two months time?

source: interaksyon.com