Apple Testing Smaller iPad: WSJ

Apple is beginning to test a smaller iPad, with a screen around the size of 8-inches, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The iPad maker is reportedly working with its component parts suppliers in Asia to test the smaller iPad, although that is no guarantee that Apple would market the device.

Apple founder Steve Jobs had stated late in 2010 that smaller iPads were near useless unless you could “use sandpaper” to file down your fingers. The current iPad has a 9.7-inch screen.  And the new iPad 3, expected to be unveiled at an Apple event March 7, should have the larger, 9.7-inch screen, and will include a 4G version, said the WSJ recently.

We’ve long stated here that the impact of a 7-inch iPad on the car AV market would be significant.

Analysts said a smaller iPad would help Apple compete against devices such as the 7-inch Kindle Fire.

Source:  The Wall Street Journal

Apple iPad 3 Due Next Month: Report

Apple will announce in early March a new iPad that will ship shortly after, reported the AllThingsD blog affiliated with the Wall Street Journal Thursday.

The next gen iPad will debut at a special event in San Francisco and should be similar in form to the iPad 2 but faster and with a better display and graphics processor.

Source: AllThingsD

Almost 100 Million Own Smartphone in U.S.

Since the smartphone is now a part of the car radio sale  (as consumers want their phone to work with their head unit), here’s some new figures you should know:

About 40 percent of U.S. wireless subscribers own a smartphone or 97.9 million people, according to comScore’s latest findings.

Android has a 47.3 percent market share, and Apple has a 29.6 percent share.  Both platforms have gained market share since September last year.

BlackBerry phones ranked third with 16 percent share, followed by Microsoft (4.7 percent) and Symbian (1.4 percent).

You can see the full report here http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/2/comScore_Reports_December_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

Source: comScore 

Amazon Looking At Physical Retail Stores

Amazon plans to open a brick and mortar retail store in Seattle to sell its own gadgets including the Kindle Fire, reported Reuters citing the blog Good E-Reader.

The store might also sell books, particularly the books for which it acts as publisher.

It’s purpose is to test whether a chain of Amazon retail stores would be a money winning venture.

The strategy may be inspired by the success of Apple Stores, said analysts.  And the goal is also to learn if the store would improve sales of the Kindle, as consumers might want to try it out before buying.

And if Amazon launches other devices, such as a smartphone, the store may serve as a showcase.

The store might open before Christmas this year,  said Good E-Reader.

There was no mention of Amazon selling devices other than its own at this point in the report.

Amazon would be required to collect sales taxes in any state where it has a physical location (but in Seattle it already has a physical presence via its headquarters).

The online giant already has some brick and mortar experience.  It owns Quidsi, which opened its first store– a BeautyBar–n Manhasset, Long Island (NY).

Source: Good E-Reader via Reuters

 

 

Best Buy SuperBowl Ad Celebrates Technology

Best Buy’s SuperBowl commercial Sunday showed some of the smartphone technology wizards of the past decade along with their inventions.

The ad is called Phone Innovators and ZDNet ranked it as one of the top technology ads of SuperBowl XLVI along with ads from Acura and Fiat.

Here’s the Best Buy ad:

Source: ZDNet

 

 

 

 

Samsung’s Latest Phone: Galaxy Note

One of the more “notable” new smartphones shown at CES this month was the Samsung Galaxy Note, sporting a very large 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED screen.

(Think about that in terms of use for GPS in the car or perhaps, even back seat video).

The phone, which is unique in several ways, will be available through AT&T starting February 19 at $299 on contract, Samsung and AT&T announced this week.

The Note may be considered a cross between a tablet and phone. It comes with a pen stylus and a built-in mode for digital drawing. Or you can use the stylus to actually write email or jot down notes and texts.

The Note gives you 4G LTE speed and ships with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread, but it will be updatable to the newer Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android.

The Galaxy Note has a rear-facing 8 megapixel camera and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera, 32GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. AT&T pre-orders begin on February 5.

Source: Samsung, Huffington Post

Droid Razr Maxx Now Available: Still Skinny

If you thought the ultra-thin Motorola Razr was cool but a little light on the battery life, then the Razr Maxx, available as of Thursday through Verizon Wireless may be the next phone for you.

It’s only slightly thicker than the Droid Razr by .07 inches, but the battery now lasts a full day and night (21 hours).  Motorola claims the phone is the thinnest long lasting smartphone batterywise on the market.

In all other aspects, the phone is the same as the Droid Razr which has been available for a few months now.

The 4G LTE phone gives you an impressive 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and 32GB of memory for $299.99 on contract. The phone will be updatable to Android Ice Cream Sandwich in the future.

Sources:

CNET Reviews

CNET

Geek.com

 

 

Apple Reports Astounding iPhone Sales

Updated. Not long ago, it was a big deal if Apple sold 15 million iPhones over the holiday quarter. On Monday night, Apple announced it sold 37 million iPhones during its recent quarter ended December 31, 2011.

Its  stunning iPhone performance helped Apple sail past Wall Street expectations of $39 billion in revenue.  Instead, the company reported a record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion (up 73 percent from a year ago) and record net profits of $13.06 billion (more than double the profits from the quarter last year).

Apple sold 128 percent more iPhones than a year ago and 111 percent more iPads, reaching 15.4 million tablets.  It also sold 15.4 million iPods, marking a 21 percent decline.  Mac sales rose 26 percent to 5.2 million units.

The news generated a spike in Apple’s share price of 8 percent in late trading, bringing its share price to over $450 and bringing its evaluation (at least temporarily) to $426 billion,  higher than Exxon Mobil, the most highly valued company.  As of Wednesday morning, however, shares were back to about $420.

Source: Apple, MarketWatch

Target Stores Act to Stop “Showrooming”

For the specialist, and for any brick and mortar store, a concern is that consumers are using your shop as a showroom, only to leave empty-handed and price shop online.

Target is doing something about it.  According to the AP and other reports,  Target sent a letter to its suppliers, asking them to help stop “showrooming.”  The chain wants suppliers to create special versions of products for the retailer that can not be found online.   It may also launch a subscription plan, so if a person regularly shops for certain merchandise (such as diapers or coffee), he gets a discount.

Vendors are expected to comply with Target’s requests because of the 1,800-store chain’s massive purchasing power. And other retailers including Best Buy may follow suit, analysts told The Wall Street Journal.

Estimates place online sales at Walmart and Target at only 1-2 percent of sales.

Also, last week Target announced that it is collaborating with a small number of boutique shops that will offer merchandise in its stores on a rotating basis, to create a constantly changing shopping experience at its stores.   All Target locations will carry the merchandise as well as Target online.  Target is also expanding Apple displays at its stores.

 

Source: AP via CBS Money Watch, The Wall Street Journal

Photo via Business Insider

Best Buy Ripe for Take Over: Bloomberg

In the latest of negative reports for Best Buy, analysts say the company is ripe for a buy out.

The big box retailer lost almost a third of its market value last year, but it still has a high cash flow.

“…the world’s largest seller of consumer electronics is now valued at just 3.6 times its free cash flow (BBY), the cheapest of any retailer worth more than $1 billion,” said Bloomberg.

Best Buy still produces more free cash flow than any comparable store and it has more cash than debt, which makes it an attractive LBO target,  analysts told Bloomberg.

Best Buy has been reeling from a one-two punch.  There’s no longer a hit, high margin product like TVs to fuel sales.  And competition has grown fierce  from Amazon and Walmart.  Same store sales have fallen in 5 of the 6 past quarters.

Source: Bloomberg

Best Buy is Gradually Going out of Business: Forbes

A Forbes story Monday gives Best Buy a few more years before it goes out of business.

Competition with Amazon and also Apple Stores and the failure of 3D to take off is only part of the reason.  For the most part, Best Buy’s demise is its own fault, claims Forbes contributor Larry Downes.

Despite the exit of Circuit City as a competitor, Best Buy is losing marketing share.  Its stock has lost 40 percent of its worth.  Analysts give it a rating of B-.

Forbes’ biggest complaint is with the shopping experience at Best Buy.  Clerks are unhelpful. Returns are limited. The in-store pick up of merchandise ordered over the web doesn’t always work smoothly.

Contrast this to the Amazon experience:

“Amazon lives and breathes the customer’s point-of-view. It completely engineers its business practices, its systems, and its people to support it. When they make a mistake, they admit it and they fix it. Immediately…It’s not just Amazon’s prices that are better, in other words.  Its customer service is superior in every way… Phone support is instant, responsive, and knowledgeable.  Returns are simple…”

The article is an excellent cautionary tale for every retailer.  In a nutshell, the blog states that consumers want to shop on the web, so brick and mortar stores must find a way to include the web in the service they offer, and design their services around it.

Easier said than done…

Source: Forbes

Best Buy Blunders, Fails to Ship Christmas Orders

Best Buy blundered late in the holiday season, notifying some customers that orders they placed weeks prior would not ship.

The big box giant acknowledged that orders for popular items placed over Black Friday and Cyber Monday exceeded supplies, leaving it in unable to meet demand.  Best Buy offered free shipping this year, aggressively competing against Amazon.com, but was apparently unprepared for the surge in sales.

A Best Buy spokeswoman told several news outlets that overwhelming demand of hot products led the company to cancel orders.

Although it affected less than 1 percent of Best Buy shoppers, the order cancellations invited a flurry of angry postings on the web.   Laptops and video game consoles were among the products cancelled.

Some customers were notified their orders were cancelled as late as December 21.  Others, were notified on December 16, according to some of the forum posts.

Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities wondered if the bad press would scare some people away from ordering from bestbuy.com in the future, reported SFGate.com.

“This was a rare situation based on a high volume of orders over a short period of time,” said spokeswoman Susan Busch. “There was an unacceptable delay between order confirmations and cancellations, and for that we are very sorry. The challenges related to this situation are being addressed.”

CEO Brian Dunn told analysts earlier this month that Best Buy’s aggressive online promoting had led to high store traffic and sales increases in stores open for at least 14 months.

Online sales overall are up 15 percent to $32 billion so far this holiday season, while total sales are up just 2.5 percent, said Reuters.

Best Buy is not the only mass merchant to stumble in online execution this holiday season.   Target’s website was overloaded in September as consumers rushed to buy a new Missoni clothing collection.

Source: Wall Street Journal, SFGate, Reuters via USAToday

 

Cellphone Bans Don’t Help Distracted Driving

A ban on cellphone use in the car, even while using a handsfree kit, was recommended by a Federal agency last week.  But such bans are not effective against distracted driving, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (a group of auto insurers).

In states where bans are already in effect against using a handheld phone while driving,  there has been no reduction in crash rates (although there has been a reduction in phone use in the car) the Institute found.

The bans are even less effective against texting while driving.  Paradoxically, texting bans actually resulted in more crashes in several states, an IIHS study found, CNNMoney reported.

As you may remember, last week the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that States enact complete cellphone bans in the car, outlawing even hands free kits.  The recommendation is not expected to cause the States to act on such laws, so the point is a bit moot.  But it has stirred up a cauldron of debate on distracted driving.

The Consumer Electronics Association told us that it advocates keeping one’s eyes on the road and a ban against texting while driving.  Apart from that, it holds that electronics can contribute to driver safety, said spokesman Jason Oxman.

Wireless carriers such as Verizon and Sprint have been eerily silent on the NTSB recommendation. Even the wireless industry association CTIA said it does not oppose a full cellphone ban for the car.

“We came to the conclusion that with respect to the consumer, it really is best to defer to their choice and their judgment as to what laws should be applied,” CTIA spokesman John Walls told the WSJ.

MERA, the Mobile Electronics Retailers Association says it advocates a “Pocket or Dock-It” approach.  The point is to keep the phone out of the drivers’ hands and let technology like Bluetooth and car kits “solve the distraction issue,” said MERA President Chris Cook.

“Concerns over celll and or Smartphone use and the driver’s ability to focus on driving should be addressed through docking the device and connecting it to a hands-free device (i.e. Bluetooth, etc.) that allows for communication without hands-on interaction or leaving the device in your pocket, purse and or out of reach when driving. Simply, ‘Pocket or Dock It’,” says MERA.

A third of Americans often use cellphones while driving, AAA says.

Source: CNNMoney, Wall Street Journal, CEoutlook

Photo via Reuters

 

New Nexus on Verizon Gets Rave Reviews

“This is easily the best smartphone to ever hit Verizon Wireless,” said the Boy Genius Report (BGR) Wednesday while  Mashable called the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon  “the best Android phone ever produced.”

Available as of Thursday,  the Nexus is the first smartphone running the new Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS.  That feature, plus its 4G LTE speeds help make it comparable to or better than the Motorola Droid Razr and HTC Rezound, said reviewers.

The Galaxy Nexus provides Internet speeds similar to your home desktop on a broadband connection.  It’s super thin (though not as thin as the Droid Razr), and it uses the first 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display.  Resolution is 720p.

The  Nexus uses a 1.2GHz dual core processor and has a 5MP camera with pictures not quite as sharp as the iPhone 4S, said reviewers.

Using NFC, you can hold two Android 4.0 phones close together to “beam and share” apps, contacts, YouTube videos and web sites.

CNET  gave the phone 4 ½ starts (outstanding) and said, “It marries the power of the Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS with the speed of Verizon’s LTE network.”

But not all reviewers were impressed,  ZDNet said the Nexus just proves Android overall is not as good as other phone platforms, as the phone suffers from minor glitches.

The Galaxy Nexus is available for $299 with contract from Verizon.

See reviews here:

BGR

Mashable

CNET

ZDNet

 

Android Takes More than 1/2 Smartphone Share

Android won more than half the market share in smartphone sales for Q3 this year, according to Gartner’s worldwide statistics.  In fact, Android share doubled from the same time last year to over 52 percent compared to about 25 percent a year ago.

The iPhone (iOS) slipped, mainly because consumers waited for the new iPhone 4S, which quickly sold 4 million units in its first weekend (post- Q3).  Apple’s share for the quarter fell to 15 percent from 16.6 a year ago.

Other OS’s also faired poorly.  Windows Phone is down to 1.5 percent share from 2.7 percent a year ago and BlackBerry smartphones are down to 11 percent from 15.4 percent.

Symbian (Nokia) share halved to about 17 percent, down from 36.3 percent, Gartner said.

Source: Business Insider 

Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) Has Voice Text Too: Review

We neglected to mention earlier that Windows Phones such as those from HTC and Samsung now have a voice assistant too, like the iPhone 4S and Android phones, in the new Windows Phone update called Mango.

While not quite as robust as Apple’s Siri or Google’s Voice Actions, Mango’s “Speech” lets you dictate a text message and it will read back your texts to you. You can perform Internet searches by voice and switch apps by voice.

Users hold down the Windows-logo button and the Speech assistant pops up. There are four commands for voice: “Call,” “Text,” “Find,” and “Open.”

In a review of Mango Thursday in The New York Times, David Pogue compared Mango Speech to Siri, stating, “The recognition is nowhere near as good or as broad…But it’s great at understanding its Big Four commands: Call, Text, Find (on the Web) and Open (an app)…(On the iPhone, you can’t open apps by voice at all).”

You can see Mango Speech in action here.

Overall Mango (Windows Phone 7.5) fixes early complaints about Windows Phone software, such as a lack of copy and paste. Pogue calls it “gorgeous, classy, satisfying, fast and coherent. “

Source: The New York Times

Will Android Join In-Car Voice Revolution?

Updated! Google introduced Tuesday night the next version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich, which will first appear on a new Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone to ship next month.

And like the new iPhone 4S, it will let you dictate a text message into the phone and may have implications for use in the car!

The Technology Review says Android’s Matias Duarte demonstrated the feature in Hong Kong by talking into the phone. He said, “ ‘Hey, man. I’d love to talk right now, but I’m a little bit busy. I’ll catch up with you later period, smiley-face,’ with which the sentence ended with just that: a period and then a smiley face. The crowd of journalists gave him an ovation for that.”

For car use, the question is whether the device will read aloud your voice texts back to you. If so, says Aamp of America’s Scott Rothstein, then the aftermarket could create Bluetooth kits that would play back the voice through the car’s sound system.

“They haven’t announced whether it will be speaking back. If it does comment back we would be able to play it through the [car's] speaker system,” he said.

Derek Schmiedl of  NAV-TV believes that the feature will be able to work through the car’s speakers.  “Because it’s an open platform and other apps that exist on Android can be directly exported, theoretically it be done,” he said.

If so, he said, “It would be an awesome addition. It would definitely increase the safety and function of the device in the automobile because you wouldn’t have to hold the phone.”

With Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), Google also adds some other new cool features and changes the look and feel of Android in hopes of making it “loved” not just “needed,” explained Gadgetbox.

Another cool new feature is Facial Unlocking. Ice Cream Sandwich recognizes your face to unlock the phone.

Then there’s Android Beam. It uses NFC technology (see note below) to let two users share information by tapping two phones together. It also lets you share links, contacts and map locations and it permits some app sharing.

New Ice Cream Sandwich phones can also take panoramic shots; you just sweep the camera in an arc and the camera stitches together shots for you. Watch the demo above.

As for the first Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone, the 4G Galaxy Nexus runs on a 1.2 gigahertz dual-core processor, and has a roomy 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display at 1280 by 720 resolution. The camera is 5 MP and it gives you HD 1080-pixel video. Other features include 1GB of RAM and 16- or 32GB of internal memory. Depending on the region, it will support LTE or HSPA+ 4G service. It also has Bluetooth, WiFi and NFC.

Note: NFC or near field communication is a short range wireless technology that can be tagged onto objects like a poster or T-shirt. Your phone can then instantly read the NFC tags placed on various objects to pick up information.

Source: Technology Review, CNET, Gadgetbox

Motorola Announces Droid Razr on Verizon

Motorola has revived the Razr—the 4th best-selling phone to date–but there’s very little old school about the new Droid Razr.

Motorola says the new 4G LTE device is the thinnest smartphone in the world.

Announced on Tuesday, the Razr will be available on Verizon. It will run Android Gingerbread with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 8MP rear facing camera. The Razr will be the first smartphone to be able to stream Netflix movies in HD resolution.

It has a front facing HD camera, shoots 1,080HD video and has 32GB of memory and 1GB of RAM.

The Razr is 7.1mm thick with a hump at the top and sports a 4.3 inch AMOLED screen. It will go on sale in early November with pre-orders starting October 27.

Source: Huffington Post

Apple iPhone 4S Sales Dazzle

In 3 days, iPhone 4S sales have reached 4 million, effectively doubling the early sales of the iPhone 4, announced Apple Monday.

“iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.”

Apple said more than 25 million customers are now using iOS5 on an Apple device and more than 20 million have signed up for the iCloud free cloud service.

The iPhone 4S with new Siri voice control, improved camera and faster processor, officially went on sale October 14.

Apple will report its Q4 earnings Tuesday.

Source: Apple

Apple Expected to Sell 2- 4 Million iPhones This Weekend

The initial disappointment that Apple failed to release an iPhone 5, isn’t stopping an outpouring of demand for the interim iPhone 4S.

Analysts expect Apple to sell between 2 to 4 million of the new 4S, which goes on sale today, said Bloomberg. At that rate, sales would far surpass those of the original iPhone 4 at 1.7 million units during launch weekend.

Apple has already sold out of pre-orders for the phone, with Verizon, AT&T and newest carrier, Sprint, stating they will not be able to fulfill pre-orders immediately, said Bloomberg. AT&T is giving buyers on its site a delivery estimate of up to 4 weeks, up from 1-2 days when pre-orders began Oct. 7. (We preordered a 16GB iPhone 4S from Best Buy through Sprint and were given at ETA of October 31).

Apple has already upped production for the iPhone 4S, reports Taiwanese journal DigiTimes, increasing orders from one factory, Pegatron, to 15 million, from 10 million (between 2 and 2.5 million of those are for this quarter).

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was first in line yesterday at the Las Gatos Apple store in California, preparing to wait overnight, he tweeted.

Apple announced earlier this week that pre-orders of the iPhone 4S topped one million in the first 24 hours, setting a new record.

Source: Bloomberg, DigiTimes, AllThingsD

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