If you needed any proof how popular the iPhone 5 is from a brand recognition point of you, pop along to the world famous Harrods store in London.
First up is a matching set of iPhone 5 and iPad Mini, with diamonds. Yours for £4,500.
You also get to choose a bespoke colour finish. If gold is more your thing, you can buy the iPhone 5 in this finish. Again if you need to ask the price, then you cannot afford it!
So my readers, what finish would you choose if money was no object?
Despite Apple losing the crown for the world’s top phone manufacturer to Samsung, it still retains the undisputed crown for what really counts and that is mobile ad revenue.
The Next Web reported that Opera’s latest figures show that iOS devices generate almost half of all mobile ad revenue across its network, Android devices 28% , BlackBerry generates 5.4%, Symbian 1.6% and behind Symbian Windows Phone generates a 0.3% of revenues. The iPad is dominant in the mobile advertising, but when removed from the figures, the iPhone still generates 36.5% of all mobile ad revenues, which is more than Android’s total market share for both phones and tablets.
Impressive stats.
Google just announced a HDMI dongle that plugs into your TV.
Technical specifications –
Output HDMI
CEC compatible
Max. Output Video Resolution1080p
Dimensions 72(L) x 35(W) x 12(H) mm
Weight 34g
Wireless2.4 GHz WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Power USB
(Power adapter included)
Supported Operating Systems Android 2.3 and higher, iOS® 6 and higher, Windows® 7 and higher
Mac OS® 10.7 and higher
Chrome OS (Chromebook Pixel, additional Chromebooks coming soon).
This device costs $35 and is available in the US now to order. It allows you to watch media from YouTube , Google Play , Netflix and mirror content from your android device. Sounds like Apple TV.
CUPERTINO, Calif., Jul 23, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Apple(R) today announced financial results for its fiscal 2013 third quarter ended June 29, 2013. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $35.3 billion and quarterly net profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $35 billion and net profit of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.9 percent compared to 42.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 57 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The Company sold 31.2 million iPhones, a record for the June quarter, compared to 26 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 17 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 3.8 million Macs, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter.
It is clear from these results that to maintain it’s turnover, margins have been reduced. The iPhone however is still popular. It is still a brand people want and value.
However, people cannot afford to change their iPhone as often or don’t want to as their current model works just fine.
Apple really need to introduce the next new thing and be successful. Actually, Apple just need to launch their updated iPads and iPhones soon as they haven’t released anything for nearly a year while they focused on ios 7 and new hardware.
What we will see is a change in performance once the new hardware is released.
The Belkin WeMo have for some time been exclusively available on iOS devices. Now another company is offering their products on android. In a press statement, Belkin stated the following –
PLAYA VISTA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Belkin, creator of people-inspired technology products, today announced compatibility with Android 4.0 or higher devices bringing the simple, ingenious WeMo smart home platform to a greater number of mobile users.
“With more than a billion Android devices expected by 2014 according to Gartner, expanding WeMo capabilities to Android devices is a necessary step for the continued success and evolution of the WeMo brand.”
“Android users have been waiting for WeMo compatibility, and our ability to deliver on their request is an important next step in demonstrating our continued commitment to creating a simple, customizable home monitoring and control system that can be accessed wherever and whenever,” said Ohad Zeira, director of product management at Belkin.
Finally, I can start using my WeMo products with my HTC One.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is testing a 12.9 inch iPad screen size and an iPhone in 4.7 and 5.7 inches. None of this is a surprise really, as I’m sure Apple test many different variety of sizes in the course of time.
What might be interesting is whilst a larger iPad screen size of 12.9 inches seems a big jump from 9.7 inches, with the every reducing bezels, the overall profile of a larger screen size may not be significantly larger than the current offering. My only thought though is 12.9 inch screen size is totally overkill for an iPad or tablet and too big for general lap use. People prefer the iPad Mini size as this is far more pocketable and user friendly.
What is more believable is Apple responding to market trends towards larger screened phones and phablets. What we might see from Apple is a 4.3 or 4.5 screen iPhone but in the same size profile of the current iPhone 5, but with no bezel. This would then allow Apple to release a new device somewhere in between the iPad Mini and iPhone. Lets hope we don’t have to wait too long as I really would love to see a larger screened iPhone.
In a rather unusual move from Apple, they released a statement on their Apple Developer Login page saying the site had been hacked. Developers had not been able since last Thursday to login and people were wondering what on earth was going on. This has happened at a rather awkward time, as Apple is trying to finish iOS 7 which is currently in beta.
At present Apple is re writing and creating the whole area to make it more secure. It does ask the question is anything on the web safe now?
About a year and a half ago I had the pleasure of travelling away from rural Devon to London.
I was sat on a underground train in London and observed iPhone after iPhone after iPhone.
Move forward to today and once again I’m in the Big Smoke. Compared to Dartmoor, Devon , London is noisy, congested and filthy.
This time phone brands observed are different. Apple still features a lot, but very noticeable was a plethora of Samsung phones. BlackBerry seemed to feature in small numbers too . I seemed to be the only person, using a HTC One, or any HTC .
Samsung not only had a strong presence but it was the size of these phones. S3 and S4 but plenty of Samsung Galaxy Notes. Despite the size of the Note , whenever I observed one, it was a female owner.
Back to my HTC One, it clearly shows what an uphill battle HTC has to gain market penetration. The same for windows phone.
There is hope for windows phone though. I took my daughter into Carphone Warehouse. She currently has a £50 pay as you go Samsung android phone. It’s rubbish but actually for £50 it’s amazing. Does everything a £500 phone does but with dreadful performance and feature sets. Anyway, I asked my daughter to go and look at all the phones and pick one she liked the style of, ignoring price. I also reminded her I wasn’t buying anything! So this was just a pure selection on style. The winner was the Nokia Lumia 925.
And then we get on to tablets. People were using these in small numbers. I even witnessed photographs been taken with tablets!
So there we have it. Samsung have clearly moved into Apple’s space and big screens as a daily driver are even more usual.
Russia’s largest mobile phone networks have called Apple’s bluff and not renewed iphone agreements. These include MTS, Vimpelcom and Megafon with a combined 300 million subscribers.
As a result, the networks have got closer to Samsung and Windows Phone.
I just wonder if this is the networks playing hard ball with Apple to get a better deal, or the end for real. Luckily Apple can sell the phones directly, however this cannot be good news.
iOS 6 and Apple hardware is knocked regularly as looking old and tired and out of date. Android is stated as far more advanced. And yet when it comes to a basic need nothing could work as well as the iPhone or iPad.
Why?
Game of Thrones Season 3 is not available on DVD until next year. HBO for some reason stopped iTunes US from showing the third season, when it was fine for the first two. However, Blinkbox by Tesco, now has the third season available for download. Except the iOS app doesn’t work with AirPlay. Well it does , just turn on AirPlay mirroring. And voila.
Now when it came to trying to use an android phone or tablet, this basic operation was not possible. iOS to the rescue.
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