iPhone

A measure of Apple's success: Oppenheimer cites Japan

Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer took a minute during Tuesday's earnings conference call to cite Apple's success in Japan -- an important metric in a country where national brands were once invincible.

"In Japan, IDC Japan announced that iPhone gained the number one position for all of calendar year 2012, as well as for calendar Q4 2012 in both handsets and smartphones," Oppenheimer said.

He continued. "This is also the first time a non-Japanese company has achieved the No. 1 spot for an entire year...In addition, Apple was ranked No. 1 in Nikkei'… Read more

Verizon outguns AT&T in Q1 smartphones

In the battle between wireless giants over consumers, Verizon Wireless toppled rival AT&T in the first quarter.

Growth in the traditional contract subscriber business -- seen as the bread and butter of the wireless carriers -- has been slowing for over the last several quarters. But Verizon appears to be weathering the slowdown better than most.

It wasn't much of a contest. Verizon added a net 677,000 new contract customers, compared with 296,000 net new contract subscribers at AT&T.

"The difference between subscriber trends at AT&T and Verizon is pretty … Read more

AT&T sold 4.8M iPhones in the first quarter

AT&T sold 4.8 million iPhones in the first quarter.

The company sold 6 million smartphones in total.

The number almost certainly means that AT&T continues to be the largest retailer of iPhones in the U.S. Verizon Wireless sold 4 million units in the same period. Sprint Nextel reports its results tomorrow, but it's unlikely to top AT&T's number.

AT&T added 296,000 net contract customers in the first quarter.

AT&T Q1 profit edges up as it adds 291,000 net customers

AT&T on Tuesday reported a slight gain in profit amid growth powered by its tablet business.

The Dallas telecommunications provider posted a first-quarter net profit of $3.7 billion, or 67 cents a share. In the year-earlier period, it posted a profit of $3.6 billion, or 60 cents a share. Excluding the impact of the sale of its advertising business and a tax settlement, the carrier reported earnings of 64 cents a share, up from 59 cents a share from a year ago.

Revenue, meanwhile, fell 1.5 percent to $31.4 billion, also affected by loss … Read more

A last echo of iPhone 'antennagate' -- $15 checks

The clamor that surrounded Apple's iPhone "antennagate" episode has long since subsided, but there's now a faint echo to be heard.

Some iPhone owners in the last day or so have received a $15 check that was the result of Apple's February 2012 settlement of a class action lawsuit over problems with the iPhone 4 antenna, according to reports at 9to5Mac and the TUAW blog.

When the iPhone 4 debuted in June 2010, an uproar quickly ensued from a very vocal array of users who complained of dropped calls and poor reception, and who put … Read more

Cricket introduces family bundles, cuts price of iPhone plans

Prepaid carrier Cricket Wireless wants to make sure it doesn't get shut out of the no-contract game.

With T-Mobile making a lot of noise about its no-contract plans, Cricket, a unit of Leap Wireless, is offering a family bundle that includes two smartphone plans for $40 each a month. Individual smartphone plans cost $50 a month. The plans were effective starting yesterday.

In addition, Cricket brought its iPhone plan down to the standard $50 price, which includes unlimited calling, text messages, and 1 gigabyte of full-speed data. A more expensive $60 plan provides 2.5GB of data, while the … Read more

Analysts highlight bright spots ahead of Apple's Q2 report

Apple's fiscal second-quarter results aren't expected to be particularly cheerful, but some analysts are still finding reasons to be bullish.

The Cupertino, Calif., company will report its January-March quarter results on Tuesday, and no one is expecting a blowout. The company could make history with its biggest second-quarter sales yet, but it's also expected to post its first decline in profit in a decade.

Despite worries about Apple's recent performance, BGC boosted its rating on Apple's stock to "buy" from "hold," saying investors should take advantage of the recent weakness to … Read more

Citi goes sour on Apple, claims iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 delay

The expected iPhone 5S will see an extended delay in delivery, while iPad Mini demand is softening, according to a research note from Citigroup Capital Markets. The note also claimed a Retina MacBook Air is coming.

"We have previously written that iPhone5S, despite an accelerated design phase, was modestly delayed from June to July," wrote Citi's Glen Yeung in a research note Sunday. "With input from Citi's Taiwan-based technology research team...we now believe that a further 1- to 2-month delay (from July to August or September) is possible, likely stemming from volume production issues.&… Read more

Will Samsung's next phone be metal like the iPhone?

There's something about the plastic nature of Samsung's phones that make them slightly less attractive.

To me, that is.

I know that there are millions to whom it doesn't make a difference. There are even many, no doubt, who believe -- in some idiosyncratic way -- that plastic says now, rather than, oh, six months ago.

Some of these people are 13 years old.

However, not all of these people work for Samsung. Indeed, the SamMobile blog last week revealed that it had heard whispers from South Korea that some at Samsung believe plastic isn't quite … Read more