Articles about Apple

If you’re the same as me, you’ll resent the idea of having to pay for apps. Fortunately, there are plenty of free gems out there and, since these freebies are available in pretty much every category you could think of, the likelihood is you’ll be able to find exactly what you’re looking for without having to spend a penny.

That’s not to say that they’re all good apps. A lot of them are duds that won’t be worth your while, but there’s no fool-proof way of knowing that until you actually test them. Alternatively, you can just have a look through a list that sifts out the best from the rest. Wouldn’t that be convenient?

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Apple may be in talks with BMW about building an electric car together, which would serve as the first in a long line of cars with Apple logos on the front.

Manager Magazin (German) reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook met with BMW officials in Leipzig, Germany. The topic of these discussions was not officially disclosed, although it appears to be a periodic meeting between the two companies.

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Apple has not revealed an official sales figure for Apple Watch, but, according to a Canalys report, it leads the smartwatch pack, with sales estimated to be around 4.2 million units. And we are talking about sales exclusively through Apple's own online and brick and mortar stores, which is a different strategy to iPhones and iPads.

Staring next month, however, Apple Watch will no longer be confined to Apple's own locations, as the smartwatch will also be available for purchase at US retailer Best Buy. Will this boost sales?

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The Apple Watch has only been available a few months, but it has already captured a sizable portion of the wearable market. Selling 4.2 million units throughout the second quarter of 2015, it has stolen an early march on its rivals, particularly the many wearables that use Android Wear as their primary operating system.

The question remains, however: how much longer can Apple continue to dominate the market with its self-imposed restrictions? The Apple Watch is only compatible with the iPhone 5 and later models running at least iOS 8.2, cutting off a huge proportion of consumers who use Android handsets. If Apple wants its new smartwatch to have genuine mass appeal, it will struggle under these terms.

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When Apple released its Q3 report for FY2015, it revealed that its iPad sales continue to fall. This was the first quarter when the iPad’s revenue was lower than Mac sales. The past quarter reported that the revenue was lower than a couple hundred million dollars, but this quarter shows that the difference is nearly $1.5 billion.

This is quite a substantial drop in revenue, but still, the iPad in terms of units sold is still higher than Mac sales.

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Not so long ago most Mac users would have told you that their systems didn't need any form of protection as they were inherently safe. But the world has become a more dangerous place and last year the iWorm malware is thought to have recruited some 18,000 Macs into a botnet.

Whilst experienced users who are careful about what they install and where they go online may still be justified in feeling safe using a Mac without additional protection, there's no doubt that non-experts need extra security. Particularly as cyber criminals have started to target Macs because they know more of them are unprotected.

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Today's question: Is Apple's CEO hiding weak smartwatch sales or does he demonstrate transcending leadership by positioning for greater platform success—taking the long view? The answer lies perhaps in his comments made during yesterday's fiscal Q3 earnings conference call.

In data released today, Strategy Analytics puts Apple Watch shipments at 4 million for the April quarter. Yesterday, Canalys gave estimate that is 200,000 units higher. Posting to BetaNews just minutes ago, analyst Sameer Singh calculates 3 million devices shipped and 2.5 million sold. Apple doesn't share the real numbers that it surely has. In chief executive Tim Cook's remarks that follow, there are hints—but little more. Something he says later in the conference call is quite provocative; genius and contrary-logistics-thinking. Either he's hiding or abiding.

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After months of speculation, Apple finally released some vague numbers related to the Apple Watch. As a part of their fiscal Q3 2015 earnings release, Apple announced that revenue from "Other Products" including the Apple Watch, iPod, Apple TV and other accessories totaled $2.64 billion during the quarter. This compares to roughly $1.69 billion in fiscal Q2 2015, before Apple Watch sales began. Combined with some comments from Tim Cook, this should help us get to a rough estimate of Apple Watch shipments (if not sales) for the quarter. We can then also compare this estimate with the third party data sources I highlighted in my last post.

Apple's CFO Luca Maestri mentioned during the earnings call that the Apple Watch was responsible for more than 100% of the sequential revenue growth of "Other Products" because of a decline in revenues from non-Apple Watch products like the iPod, Apple TV and other accessories. If we assume a 15% sequential decline in revenue from those products, we can attribute roughly $1.2 billion in revenue to the Apple Watch.

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People are more satisfied with the Apple Watch than they were when they first bought the iPhone and the iPad, a new survey shows.

The report by Apple Watch research platform Wristly, published on 19 July 2015, found that three months after the launch of the smartwatch, overall customer satisfaction is at 97 percent.

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Apple is letting developers and enthusiasts test out beta versions of iOS 9 ahead of launch. While the company is keen on getting feedback for the next version of its mobile operating system (just as Microsoft is with the preview builds of Windows 10), there have been concerns that problems with apps during beta testing has led to a swathe of negative reviews in the App Store.

Developers have complained that problems with iOS betas can cause problems with their apps, rather than their apps being inherently problematic. To address the issue, Apple is placing a ban on App Store reviews from iOS 9 beta testers.

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All eyes turned to Apple this afternoon as the world's most profitable tech company announced the first full quarterly results that include its smartwatch. You could hear a collective pin drop across the Internet as U.S. stock markets closed and everyone waited wondering: Flop or Not?

We don't know. In the press release, CEO Tim Cook refers to the "great start for Apple Watch", but there's no data in the PR or in the 8-K filing with the SEC. The device fits into the "Other" category. During Cook's earnings conference call opening remarks hard data also is lacking.

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After the closing bell today, Apple announced results for fiscal third quarter, which largely is congruent with calendar Q2 (End date, April 27). Broadly: $49.6 billion in sales, $10.7 billion net income, and $1.85 earnings per share. Year over year, revenue rose 33 percent and EPS by 45 percent. Apple guidance before the big reveal: Between $46 billion and $48 billion revenue. Wall Street consensus was $49.31 billion sales and $1.81 EPS. The Street's estimates ranged from $46.9 billion to $53.64 billion.

Gross margin reached 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent annually and 40.8 percent sequentially. Company guidance: 38.5 percent to 39.5 percent. Once again, international sales accounted for most of the quarter's sales: 64 percent, which is up from 59 percent the previous year but down from 69 percent three months earlier.

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When Apple announced the new storage sizes for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, a lot of customers were bummed that the 32GB option did not replace the 16GB option. It essentially forced anyone who used a fair share of apps to buy the 64GB model.

Thankfully, Apple might be planning to change this with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. According to MIC Gadget, Apple will make the 32GB model the standard, with 64GB and 128GB for those that want to use all of the storage of music, movie and photo files.

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Apple will release its Q3 FY2015 earnings report later today, revealing just how well its products have performed in the second quarter of the year. The star of the show will likely continue to be the iPhone line, while iPads are expected to disappoint once again. But what about its most-recent endeavor, Apple Watch?

Apple has been relatively quiet so far. There are no official figures of any kind yet, and there is no guarantee that the company will reveal any concrete information surrounding its smartwatch today. There is, however, an estimate from analyst company Canalys, which places Apple at the top of the wearable vendors list.

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In another universe, I don't own Apple Watch. Either LG Watch Urbane or Moto 360 adorns my wrist. But in this one, I not only sold my soul to the bitten-fruit logo company but I grew to enjoy the servitude. Thirty-three days after purchasing the smartwatch, I can express satisfaction, even if sometimes muted, with the user experience.

I prefer Android Wear for its fantastic contextual utility, but find greater overall usability and positive emotional response from living with Apple Watch. As expressed in the previous post, I suspect that returns rates may be high for this device—at least compared to others that Apple produces. The real measure of any product's success is: 1) Did you keep it?; 2) Do you use it?; 3) Do you enjoy it?

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