iPhone 5C: The simplicity behind the design

Recently, we saw Apple introduce a new plastic iPhone. Why plastic? Because it's cheaper, sure. But it's also one of the smartest industrial design decisions Apple has ever made. 

iPhone 5C: The simplicity behind the design

Recently, we saw Apple introduce a new plastic iPhone. Why plastic? Because it's cheaper, sure. But it's also one of the smartest industrial design decisions Apple has ever made. 

First look: iOS7 shines on new iPhones

CUPERTINO: One of the best things about Apple's latest iPhones is the slick new iOS 7software that runs the devices. But that souped-up operating system could end up hurting sales because the free software upgrade will also work on iPhones released since 2010, giving owners of the older models less incentive to buy Apple's newest products. 

'Cheaper' iPhone 5C may cost Rs 40,000 in India

NEW DELHI: A few months ago when phone analysts started talking about a 'cheap iPhone', there was an indication that Apple would finally launch an affordable iPhone for price-sensitive markets in countries like China and India. Apple did launch a 'cheaper' phone on Tuesday night. But this cheaper phone, called iPhone 5C, is hardly affordable.

The basic model of iPhone 5C, which has hardware similar to iPhone 5 but in a plastic body, will be available for $99 (on contract) in the US. But don't get mistaken by the low price. In India, the device is expected to cost around Rs 40,000.

APPLE MAY MISS STEVE JOBS

I will be very happy if, by the end of it all, Tim Cook does not have blood on his hands. But, by the looks of it, Apple CEO may be assiduously murdering the legacy of legendary Steve Jobs.

Can someone like Cook spoil the broth that he himself helped cook so successfully for so many years? But then knowing Jobs, we also know how most decision-making happened at Apple while he was at the helm.

10 THINGS THAT U NEED TO KNOW ABOUT APPLE

You may or may not have heard, but Apple made some announcements yesterday. Here's what you need to know:

• Apple has introduced two new iPhones, the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s. They'll both run on a new operating system, iOS 7, and they'll ship on September 20th.
• Here are all the ways iOS 7 is different. The most noticeable difference is its font, a very thin Helvetica Neue Ultra Light.

Apple: iOS7 to be available from September 18

CUPERTINO: Apple says its next mobile operating system, iOS 7, will be available as a free download on September 18.   Craig Federighi, head of software at Apple, said at an event at the company's Cupertino, California, headquarters that "downloading iOS 7 is like getting an all new device."   The new system can be downloaded on the iPhone 4 and later models, as well as on the tablets beginning with the iPad 2.   Apple also says it expects to ship its 700 millionth iOS device next month. Apple CEO Tim Cook predicts that iOS 7 will become the most popular mobile operating system in the world.   The company later launched two new iPhones: iPhone 5S and a cheaper model iPhone 5C.

A7 processor in iPhone 5S not revolutionary: Analyst

NEW DELHI: While introducing iPhone 5S,Apple also introduced the A7, a new processor that powers the phone. This is a successor to the A6 chip found in iPhone 5 and offers almost two times more performance. The A7 is also the world's first 64-bit smartphone processor. 

Fingerprint scanner: The killer feature of iPhone 5S

NEW DELHI: This is one of those occasions when the rumours turned out to be true. There was a talk ahead of the iPhone launch event on September 10 that the high-end Apple phone will come with a fingerprint scanner for added security. Now we know that iPhone 5S indeed packs in a fingerprint scanner, hidden inside its round home button. 

Apple launches iPhone 5S, cheaper 5C

NEW DELHI: Apple has, for the first time, unveiled a cheaper smartphone, named the iPhone 5C. It has almost the same specifications as iPhone 5, which was launched as the company's flagship device last year, but in a plastic body.

Apple set to announce two iPhones with eye on India, China

SAN FRANCISCO: The handset market is so brutally competitive that Apple, the most successful smartphone maker, is preparing to step up its game this week by offering two new iPhones instead of one.  At an event on Tuesday at its Cupertino, California, headquarters, the company is set to unveil for customers worldwide a new iPhone with a faster processor, along with another model that will be sold at a lower cost.  The company's profit growth has slowed in response to a saturated handset market in America and parts of Europe. Many people already own a smartphone and are not upgrading to new devices as often as before.  A lower-cost smartphone could allow Apple to expand into overseas markets — especially China, where the iPhone has been highly desired among many consumers but is just out of reach because of its price.  "A cheaper model will open up the market significantly for Apple," said Chetan Sharma, an independent telecom analyst who consults for phone carriers.  Apple declined to comment on the new products. But analysts expect the higher-priced model to be an improvement over the current iPhone, including a faster processor and better camera flash, as well as a fingerprint sensor for security.  The second iPhone is expected to be a cheaper version of the soon-to-be-outdated iPhone 5, coming in a variety of colors, with a plastic case instead of aluminum. Analysts expect the full price of the lower-cost iPhone to be $300 to $400, positioning it as a midtier product.  Apple has been enormously successful, with the iPhone driving most of its revenue. In the second quarter, the company took 53% of the profit in the global smartphone market, with Samsung Electronics, which uses Google Android software to run its smartphones, taking the rest, according to a survey by Canaccord Genuity, an investment bank.  But both Apple and Samsung face a common enemy: the tide of manufacturers that produce dirt-cheap Android phones. While they make all the profits, Apple and Samsung have seen their combined share of the worldwide smartphone market drop to 43% in the second quarter from 49% a year earlier. The makers of cheaper phones — including Huawei, Yulong and ZTE of China, and Micromax and Karbonn of India — are raking in sales in emerging markets where high-end smartphones are not popular.  "We've had several indications from the handset market that vendors are in real trouble," said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst for Alekstra, a mobile diagnostics firm. "The biggest threat to all the companies seems to be the low-end Androids."  In terms of sales, smartphones surpassed traditional flip phones this year. There are a few markets remaining where traditional cellphones are still outselling the smartphone, including India, Brazil and Russia. Data from Qualcomm suggests that Latin America, China and India are adding substantially higher numbers of smartphone subscriptions than North America, Japan, Korea and Europe.  China, with its huge population, is an attractive target for Apple. But Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, said recently in a call with investors that the company was puzzled about why sales of its products were struggling in China. Sales there fell 4% in the second quarter compared with the same quarter last year. And Apple's sales in Hong Kong were down about 20%.  A cheaper iPhone could help it gain traction in China, depending on its cost.  Analysts said the introduction of the cheaper iPhone would probably coincide with an expected partnership deal with China Mobile, which has about 700 million subscribers — about seven times as many as Verizon Wireless. Capturing even a small percentage of China Mobile customers would translate to tens of millions more iPhone sales.  Apple already sells its phones in China through China Telecom, a major network operator, but it slipped into sixth place among smartphone makers there in the second quarter, with a share of only 4.8%, according to Canalys, a research firm. Over all, China is the largest smartphone market in the world, accounting for one-third of worldwide shipments of smartphones in the second quarter; the United States is in second place, accounting for about 14% of shipments in the same period, according to Canalys.  Despite Apple's efforts to keep its plans secret, clues about the new iPhones leaked out. China Telecom briefly posted a message last week on a blog platform soliciting early orders for the new devices. It identified the high-end model as the iPhone 5S, and the lower-cost one as the iPhone 5C. The post was later removed. A spokesman for China Telecom declined to comment, citing nondisclosure agreements.  In Japan, where Apple is much stronger but faces a renewed challenge from domestic smartphone makers like Sony, the company has struck a deal to sell the iPhone with the country's biggest mobile phone carrier, NTT Docomo, two people briefed on the situation said Friday. Docomo has 60 million customers, but it has been losing market share to Japan's other two main mobile operators, SoftBank and KDDI, which operates under the brand name au. Both have been marketing Apple's phones aggressively, giving Apple a 40% share of smartphone sales in the first quarter, according to IDC, a research firm.  Historically, so that it can protect the quality of its products as well as profit margins, Apple has refused to make cheaper products just to get more customers. Therefore, a lower-cost iPhone would most likely be positioned as a midtier product, similar to the approach Apple took with the iPad Mini. At $330, the iPad Mini is cheaper than the bigger, $500 iPad, but not as affordable as the smaller Android tablets offered by Google and Amazon, which cost from $160 to $230.  Realistically, a lower-cost iPhone will be $300 to $400 at full price, Mr Kuittinen, the Alekstra analyst, said, significantly less than the current iPhone, which costs $650. Overseas, many phone carriers charge full price because they do not subsidize the upfront cost of a smartphone the way carriers do in the United States. And while a lower-cost iPhone would drive up Apple's revenue, it would probably not be a blockbuster hit in economically disadvantaged markets, Mr. Kuittinen said.  "Nobody is saying Apple should have a $130 iPhone," he said, "but if they price this iPhone 5C at $400 or above, it's just not going to be effective in countries like India, China or even Brazil."  Still, even if the price is fairly high, a cheaper iPhone should appeal to a subset of people in developing countries who flaunt gadgets as status symbols, like jewelry. People who were on the fence about buying an iPhone might pay a little extra just to be able to show off, Mr. Sharma, the telecom analyst, said. "Consumers are willing to shell out money to own a brand," he said. "I think a $300 price gives them a chance to own it."

China Telecom ‘confirms’ iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C

NEW DELHI: While the world speculates about the launch of iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, a Chinese telecom giant has practically confirmed the two Apple smartphones.

China Telecom, one of the three biggest telecom companies in the country, recently put up a pre-order page for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C on its official website. It also posted information about the two smartphones on its Sina Weibo account. However, the web page and the posts were later taken down by the company. 

According to reports, Apple has tied up with China Telecom, along with China Mobile and China Unicom, to launch the two rumoured iPhones on their networks. China Mobile, the world's biggest telecom operator, will carry the iPhone for the first time this year. 

Apple has sent out invites for an exclusive event for China on September 11, just a day after it is expected to launch its new smartphones globally. This is the first time that the company is hosting an event exclusively for any country. 

The China Telecom web page shed light on some features of the iPhone 5S flagship smartphone. It said that the phone has a larger screen, touch on the display panel, A7 processor, iOS 7 operating system, sapphire Home key, a gold version, supports LTE-A technology, wireless charging, larger battery capacity, support slow motion video capture and dual flash. Most of these features are in line with previously leaked specifications, though the larger screen has been mentioned for the first time for the iPhone 5S. 

A recent WSJ report has said that Apple is currently testing iPhones with 4.8-inch and 6-inch screens. However, the devices scheduled to launch this year are widely expected to have a 4-inch screen, just like the one in iPhone 5. 

A Chinese website has also leaked the first images of the retail box of the iPhone 5S. The image on the retail package shows a circle around the Home button of the phone, suggesting a fingerprint scanner. The user interface on the iPhone pictured on the box seems similar to the one previewed by Apple in iOS 7, which is likely to start seeding on the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are launched. 

The iPhone 5S is expected to be the new top-end model in Apple's smartphone line-up and feature a metal body. It is said to come in at least three colour options - black, white and gold. The rumoured cheaper model, named iPhone 5C, is said to have a plastic body and come in six colours, such as blue, red, green, yellow, white and black.