Apple Watch the Most Anticipated Wearable, PwC Study Finds

PricewaterhouseCoopers has published a study on the smart wearables market, which shows that the Apple Watch is the most hotly anticipated device. 59% of people questioned said they are looking forward to trying the first Apple smartwatch.

A potential smartwatch by Amazon would also enjoy significant interest - 57% of the survey participants would like to see the retail giant come up with its own wearable. Google-powered devices aren't that far behind with 53% interest.

Apple Watch

Of course with Android Wear smartwatches already on sale for a few months, chances are plenty of people have already jumped on board and aren't on the waiting list anymore. In fact, according to the study one in five US adults already own a smart wearable of one kind of another, which means that pioneers have been handsomely rewarded for their speed.

However, 33% of those early adopters have abandoned their purchasing device within one year so there's obviously huge potential for improving. 76% of all respondents said that they don't see the smart wearables as a potential replacement for a gadget they already have - instead it should serve to bring new functionality.

There's obviously huge potential in the smart wearable niche at present given the sheer number of large players that aim to participate and the amount of marketing dollars they bring to it. We'll have to wait for at least another year until for things to settle down before we find out who manages to get the largest slice of the pie, though.

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/

Apple Announces Financial Results for Q4 of the Fiscal 2014

Apple announced its financial results for Q4 of the fiscal 2014. The Cupertino giant took home a quarterly net profit of $8.5 billion or $1.42 per diluted share from $42.1 billion of revenue. Its gross margin for the quarter is 38%.

from bottom to up : iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s

The above result is an improvement over the $7.5 billion of net profit from $37.5 billion of revenue for the same quarter last year. Gross margin for last year’s quarter was 37%.

Unsurprisingly iPhone sales were the main driving force behind the stellar financial performance. Apple moved 39.2 million smartphones - up from 33.8 million for the same quarter last year.

Mac sales impressed too. An impressive 5.52 million computers were sold - way up from the expected $4.9 million.

Sales of Apple iPad however, weren’t so impressive. Cupertino sold 12.3 million slates - down the projected 13.1 million. Apple sold 14.1 million tablets in the same quarter last year.

Apple’s guidance of the next fiscal quarter is expectedly optimistic. The manufacturer expects revenue in the range of $63.5 and $66.5 billion and gross margin between 37.5% and 38.5%.

The above guidance should hardly catch anyone by surprise, as next quarter is going to include the holiday shopping season. It will also mark a full fiscal period of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus retail availability. The new iPad Air 2 will also likely help Apple’s cause.

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/

Apple iPad Air, iPad mini 2, and iPad mini Get Price Cuts

iPad's Family Prices

Apple made the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 official today at a special event (10/16). This, however, doesn't mean that their respective predecessors will not be sold anymore.

In fact, the original iPad Air from last year and the iPad mini with Retina Display (also known as the iPad mini 2) will stick around and serve as cheaper alternatives to Apple's new slates. Surprisingly though, even the original iPad mini from 2012 will still be available.

This will be the most affordable of the bunch, going for $249. The iPad mini 2 will set you back $299, so it's going to be $100 less than the new mini 3. Over on the Air front, to get an original iPad Air you'll only need to shell out $399, and again that's $100 less than the new model.

Following this move, Apple will effectively have a five tablet lineup on sale, something that has never happened before.

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/

Apple Announces the iPad Air 2, it is Thinner, Faster, Golder

iPad Air 2

The Apple iPad Air 2 is only 6.1mm, making it the thinnest tablet yet. It's also now available in Gold as well as silver.

The tablet is powered by a custom Apple A8X chipset, which is a version made especially for the iPad family. The CPU is 40% faster, while the GPU is 2.5x faster than on the A7 chipset.

The TouchID fingerprint sensor from the iPhone is finally available on the iPad Air 2.
 

The screen on the iPad Air 2 is the same reslution as before, but now has a new anti-reflective coating, which reduces reflections off the screen up to 56%.

The iPad Air 2 has a 8MP F/2.4 camera and shoots 1080p video. The camera can take time-lapse videos, 120fps slow-mo videos and has burst mode. There is also a second mic to allow stereo audio recording, unlike the iPhone 6.

The front camera is updates as well. It has a new sensor, improved face detection and HDR videos. Wi-Fi is faster now, with support for 802.11ac, MIMO antennas, rated at up to 866Mbps connection rate. Battery life is kept the same at 10h just like last year. The iPad Air 2 will be available in Silver, Space Gray and Gold.

iPad Air 2 rear camera

The iPad Air 2 will start at $499 for the 16GB just as before. Just as on the iPhone, the 32GB version is now gone and the 64GB version will be priced at its price level - $599. The LTE versions will cost you $130 extra.

iPad Air 2 prices

The last year's iPad Air will stay around, too, selling for $100 less than the new generation.

Pre-orders will start tomorrow, October 17, and the iPad Air 2 will be shipping next week in the US, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China (Wi-Fi models only), Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau (Wi-Fi models only), Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Availability in Croatia, Greece, Puerto Rico, Russia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and elsewhere around the world, will continue through the end of October with additional global availability in the coming months.

To learn more about it, check out Apple's iPad Air 2 product page

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/