Hundreds queue as iPad Air hits the stores today

iPad Mini and iPad Air  Credit: Daily Mail

Your iPad just got a generation older!

Apple's new iPad Air becomes available in 41 countries today, pulling hundreds of fans to the front doors of Apple Stores, jostling to be among the first to get their hands on the high-end device.

Customers in Australia and Japan were among the first to get their hands on the 9.7-inch tablet as stores opened at 8am in each country.

Philip W. Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, unveiled the newly named iPad Air earlier this month.

It is the fifth 9.7-inch model to be sold by the Californian firm and is 20 per cent thinner than the iPad 4, with a 5MP camera.

Schiller also unveiled the new iPad mini which has a 7.9-inch Retina display for the first time, plus 10 hours battery life.

The iPad Air also went on sale on Apple's website in various regions at midnight local time, although reports claim only the Hong Kong store has sold out.

The release is part of a double-launch strategy in which the iPad Air is released today followed by the iPad mini 'sometime in November.'

Apple has not officially announced when the new 7.9-inch model goes on sale, although rumours claim it could launch on 21 November in time for Thanksgiving in the U.S and ahead of Christmas.

Reports suggest the new iPad Mini is delayed because of production problems surrounding the device's new Retina Display.

Apple shipped around 8.9 million of its first-generation iPads earlier this year, and even this wasn't enough to satisfy demand.

If Apple does ship only 3 million new devices - around a third of the old amount - it could leave at least two thirds of customers disappointed as the IHS iSuppli report predicts demand for the new tablet will exceed 9 million.

Samsung Shipped Twice As Many Smartphones As Apple in Q3

 

Worldwide handset shipments decreased 1.9% YoY to 387.3 million units in Q3 2012, according to new data from market intelligence firm ABI Research.

Worldwide smartphone shipments increased 32.8% YoY to 155.5 million over the same period.

Samsung retained the lead position in both handset and smartphone shipments. Underscoring its accomplishment, Samsung shipped more than double the smartphones of second place Apple.

"Samsung looks to be running away from the pack while Apple's new product portfolio continues to eat into its decreasing gross margins," says senior analyst Michael Morgan.

Apple will need to ship over 94 million smartphones in Q4 if it wants to match its 2011 shipment growth of 96 percent."

Handset and Smartphone Shipments by OEM (millions)

Vendor	Handset Shipments			Smartphone Shipments
	3Q 2012	3Q 2011	YoY	3Q 2012	3Q 2011	YoY
Samsung	102.6	85.0	20.7%	55.5	26.5	109.2%
Nokia	82.9	106.5	-22.2%	6.3	16.8	-62.5%
Apple	26.9	17.1	57.6%	26.9	17.1	57.6%
ZTE	17.6	18.9	-6.8%	8.3	3.1	168.4%
LG	14.4	21.1	-31.8%	7.0	5.7	22.8%
Huawei	12.1	14.2	-14.8%	7.6	5.0	52.4%
RIM	7.4	11.8	-37.2%	7.4	11.8	-37.2%
HTC	6.0	13.2	-54.6%	6.0	13.2	-54.6%
Others	117.4	107.0		30.4	17.8
Total	387.3	394.7		155.5	117.1
Growth (YoY)	-1.9%	12.6%		32.8%	44.3%
Growth (Sequential)	2.3%	3.8%		4.5%	9.9%

 

Nokia smartphone shipments declined 38% from Q2 2012 to 6.3 million as its current Lumia line of smartphones cannot be upgraded to the upcoming Windows Phone 8 software release.

 

With competing OEMs looking to take advantage of the WP8 platform, Nokia will have trouble remaining a top ten smartphone OEM in Q4. LG returned to profitability on the back of strong LTE smartphone shipment growth while ZTE showed the best YoY smartphone shipment growth of 168.4%.

 

RIM and HTC both continued to struggle with their smartphone strategies and portfolios by experiencing YoY smartphone shipment declines of 37.2% and 54.6% respectively.

 

Smartphone shipments accounted for 40.2% of all handset shipments in Q3 up from 39.3% in the previous quarter. As the overall handset market shifts towards a smartphone reality, OEMs will need to consider following Samsung's lead in offering a range of smartphone products at ever lower price points to maintain market share growth.

 

It is becoming clear that Samsung and Apple will continue to be the masters of the premium smartphone segment "The strain of rapid growth makes Apple appear to be running out of room at the high end," says senior practice director Jeff Orr.

 

"The company's warning of additional margin pressures with its new device line up make it increasingly difficult for Apple to move downstream to the rapidly growing low-cost smartphone market."

 

-CellularNews

Apple apologises for glitches on Maps

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.

While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

Tim Cook

Apple’s CEO

Source: http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/

Pictures of customers waiting for iPhone 5

These 'oyinbo' people nor dey craze so?


Apple fanatics jostling to be among the first to own iPhone 5

 


Apple lovers queing in London (By the way, this picture proves that Asians are overruning London (Lol)

 

Munich, Germany

 

Paris, France

 

People sleeping overnight to be the first at the door

 

Paris, France

 

iPhone 5, at the unveiling

Samsung GS3 ad attracts nearly 3m hits on You Tube in 24 hours

Since it was uploaded yesterday, this Samsung GS III commercial has drawn 2.8million watchers on You Tube. It's a cheeky ad that pokes fun at Apple 5 arriving tomorrow.

Finally, here is TALLER and THINNER iPhone 5

Bye bye 4S, hello 5: Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, shows off the iPhone 5 for the first time.Image: Daily Mail 

Apple has finally unveiled the massively anticipated iPhone 5.

CEO Tim Cook taking the stage in San Francisco, said ‘Apple has never been stronger’ as the new handset was revealed.

It has a larger 4" screen, along with a new dock connector and headphone design.

The phone will go on sale on September 21st, and will cost the same as the previous version, the 4S.

With a casing made from glass and aluminium, is it also the thinnest iPhone ever made, at just 7.6mm thick

It also contains an eight-megapixel camera which can take 28-megapixel panoramic shots.

Apple confirmed the phone, available in black and white, has a four-inch display, - 1136x640 - which is the same width as previous models but taller.

'EARPODS' FOR THE 'COMMON EAR'

Daily Mail reports that Apple has also redesigned the iconic white headphones shipped with its products.

‘We’ve shipped over 600 million sets of headphones,’ said Greg Joswiak of Apple.

‘We’ve spent three years in designing an entirely new headphones - EarPods’.‘

'We 3D scanned hundreds of ears, and looked for a commonality,’ said Sir Jonathan Ive.

‘The shape of the EarPod is defined by the shape of the ear.’

It uses a new display which is 30 per cent thinner than previous handsets.

Schiller, vice president of marketing, said: 'It is designed to fit in the hand, and all of our software is being updated to take advantage of this display.'

The handset also has a new chip, the Apple A6, which is twice as fast as previous versions but 22% smaller.

The iPhone is expected to be the biggest selling in Apple’s history, with an estimated 8m set to be sold according to some estimates.

The battle for domination of the mobile market has become increasingly heated recently with Apple's competitors taking it on with a series of new products.

The firm boasted the new handset has eight hours of 3G talk time, and a 225 hour standby time.

It also has an eight megapixel camera with a 3264x2448 sensor, and has improved its performance in low light, and a lens made from sapphire crystal.

The handset also now has a panorama mode to create wide shots. ‘The ocean looks bluer, kids look happier,’ joked Schiller.

Apple also revealed a redesign of its iTunes music store.

'Apple loves creating music products, it is embedded in our DNA,' said Tim Cook.

'Today we are announcing some exciting changes to iPod and iTunes.'

'The iTunes store is the number one in the world,' said Eddy Cue of Apple.

'More than 2/3rd of our downloads come from iOS devices, so we have spent a year redesigning the store from them.'

Schiller also confirmed the handset has a controversial new connector.

‘The iPhone from its start used the 30 pin connector, and it has served us well. A lot has changed and it is time for the connector to evolve - and out new connector is called Lightning.’

But here is the bad news... the new iPhone5 includes new docking connector which makes thousands of Apple accessories obsolete (unless you buy new adapter)


Apple also showed off a connector allowing people to use their existing chargers and accessories.

The handset will use iOS 6, and dumps Google’s maps for Apple’s own.

‘We’ve built in free turn by turn directions,’ said Scott Forstall of Apple as he demonstrated the new Apple Maps app.

‘We use a cinematic camera angle to fly you around corners.'


 

New iPhone to be unveiled on 12 September

Rumours are rife that the new iPhone maybe unveiled on 12 September.

The Apple-focused blog iMore says that the actual release date for the so-called iPhone 5 could follow just nine days later on 21 September, mimicking earlier Apple product launch schedules. It cites insider sources that have “proven accurate in the past."

 The report suggests that the new iPhone could be unveiled alongside an anticipated smaller-screen iPad – known as the iPad Mini – and a new iPod nano. The already-announced iOS6 is likely to be made available around the same time.

 The new iPhone is thought to be thinner and have a larger screen; it will mark the first physical redesign of the iconic device since the iPhone 4 was unveiled in June 2010 (last year’s iPhone 4S featured only internal improvements).

 Apple sold 26 million iPhones last quarter, down from 35.1 million the previous quarter. CFO Peter Oppenheimer noted on an earnings call that “iPhone sales continue to be impacted by rumour and speculation around new products.” The iconic smartphone accounts for about half of the firm’s sales, generating US$16.2 billion last quarter.

Samsung Galaxy S III hits Nigeria

Samsung Electronics’ latest flagship Smartphone, Galaxy S III is now available in Nigeria, only a few weeks after launch in Europe. The much expected device was formally unveiled to Nigerian phone users at Samsung Brand Shops at The Palms Shopping Mall in Lekki and Ikeja Shopping Mall, in Alausa, Ikeja, both in Lagos. The new phone is the follow up to the very popular Galaxy II, which was critical to Samsung overtaking Nokia to become the world’s best-selling mobile phone maker.

Samsung is hoping to consolidate the success it achieved with Galaxy S II by enhancing some of its most popular features in this latest device. Galaxy S III comes with a 4.8 inch (12.2cm) screen, an increase on the 4.3 inch screen of its predecessor, and much bigger than the 3.5in display on the iPhone 4S. It is one of the largest screens on smartphones ever.

The arrival of the phone on Nigerian shores put paid to speculations as to when mobile phone users in the country can have access to the Smartphone which has enjoyed rave reviews across the world.

Speaking at the consumer launch of the device at the weekend, Donald Etim, Head, Corporate Marketing, Samsung Electronics, said that the Samsung Galaxy S III is designed to respond intuitively and naturally to human use and interaction. “Once again, we are putting the ‘Next Big Thing’ in the hands of consumers. The Galaxy S III introduces a completely new way of sharing and socializing that no other mobile phone can. The device essentially balances ergonomics with intuitive use, making it an extension of the user,” he said.

It would be recalled that Samsung Electronics overtook Apple Inc. in the last quarter of last year to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor amid a widening technology and legal battle between the two companies.

During the period, Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones, taking 23.8 percent of the market, according to the United Kingdom- based renowned research consultancy, Strategy Analytics. Apple’s 17.1 million shipments, comprising 14.6 percent of the market, pushed Apple to second place, the firm said, adding that Nokia maintained its third position.