Apple "not in the junk business": CEO Tim Cook on iPhone 5c's high price

Apple has no intention of competing in the "junk" segment of the electronics market, chief executive Tim Cook says.

In an interview published Thursday as Apple prepared to launch sales of two new iPhones, Cook said he remains unfazed by Apple's eroding share of the smartphone market.

"There's always a large junk part of the market. We're not in the junk business," he said in the interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.

"There's a segment of the market that really wants a product that does a lot for them, and I want to compete like crazy for those customers."

The comments come with Apple facing criticism for maintaining a comparatively high price for its new iPhone 5c (Review), which had been seen as a smartphone for emerging markets and budget-conscious consumers.

The iPhone 5c will sell for $549 in the United States, and higher in China and other markets, where carrier subsidies are rare.

"We never had an objective to sell a low-cost phone," Cook told the magazine. "Our primary objective is to sell a great phone and provide a great experience, and we figured out a way to do it at a lower cost."

He added that ""I'm not going to lose sleep over that other market, because it's just not who we are. Fortunately, both of these markets are so big, and there's so many people that care and want a great experience from their phone or their tablet, that Apple can have a really good business."

Cook said he was not overly concerned about the decline in Apple's stock price, which has fallen sharply since hitting a peak last year.

iPhone 5c to compete with iPhone 4 and 4s in India

Apple's new iPhone 5c may face fierce competition from iPhone 4 series in the country, since these models are likely to fall in the same price bracket, according to analysts.

The California-based firm will roll out the iPhone 5c its cheapest handset till date in the US, China and Japan among other countries starting September 20. Apple CEO Tim Cook called iPhone 5c "more fun and colourful" than any other iPhone.

The device is expected to hit India by the end of the year, though no official confirmation was available. Analysts say the phone will be a premium product in India.

Gartner Principal Research Analyst Anshul Gupta said: "iPhone 5c will not be the cheapest Apple handset in India. It will face competition from iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S." He, however, added that Apple, with the new launch, is trying to protect its margins.

"Price point of iPhone 5c could be in the range of Rs. 30,000-35,000, which will not be seen as a low-end product. Apple will have to calibrate the Indian market carefully for its launch," IDC India Country Head Jaideep Mehta told PTI.

KPMG (India) Partner Telecom Practice Jaideep Ghosh said: "iPhone 5c is not a mass phone, it's a high-end smart phone. I think it will play in the high-end smartphone market."

The unlocked 16GB version of the iPhone 5c will be available for USD 549 (about Rs. 34,700) in the US, while the model in China would be priced at USD 729 (about Rs. 46,000). Apple's iPhone 4 (8GB) is priced in the range of Rs. 23,000-24,500 in India, while iPhone 4S (16GB) is in the range of Rs. 38,000-39,000.

The iPhone 5c will feature an all-new design and will be available in 5 colours blue, green, pink, yellow and white. It features a four-inch Retina display, A6 chip, an 8 MP iSight camera and is powered by latest iOS 7 operating system. iPhone 5c is priced at USD 99 for the 16GB model and USD 199 for the 32GB model (with a 2-year contract) in the US.

Apple's strongest competitor Samsung had launched the latest version of its flagship model, Galaxy S4, earlier this year. BlackBerry launched the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q5 as part of its attempts to make a comeback in the smartphone race. Nokia is also trying to gain traction with its Lumia range of smartphones and Asha range of devices, which are targeted at emerging countries like India.

Apple also launched its flagship iPhone 5s, which it referred to as the "world's first and only smartphone" with a 64-bit chip. The handset introduces a fingerprint sensor 'Touch ID' for the iPhone. Built into the home button, Touch ID takes a high-resolution image of the user's fingerprint to unlock the device.

Apple claims claims 10 hours of talk time on 3G networks for the iPhone 5s, and up to 10 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi and LTE networks. It will be available in three colours Silver, Slate, and Gold and will cost USD 199 for 16GB, USD 299 for 32GB and USD 399 for 64GB with a standard two-year contract in the US.

Source:  http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/iphone-5c-to-compete-with-affordable-iphone-4-and-4s-in-india-analysts-417679

Cheaper iPhone failed - iPhone 5c price disappointment

Apple unveiled two new iPhones at a special event held at its Cupertino headquarters on Tuesday. It announced iPhone 5s, successor to the iPhone 5, which comes with a lot of new features like a brand new A7 processor, the first 64-bit chip inside a smartphone, improved camera, and, the highlight of the device, a fingerprint-scanner called Touch ID.

Apple also unveiled iPhone 5c, which was widely anticipated to be the low-cost iPhone, but it turned out to be a big disappointment on that aspect. While the iPhone 5c boasts impressive hardware specifications and comes in a wide variety of colours, the key criteria for this iPhone was always going to be the price, and this is where it disappoints.

The iPhone 5c was supposed to be Apple's weapon to take on Android in at least the mid-level smartphone segment, if an entry-level pricing was never going to come to fruition. However, one look at the off-contract pricing for the iPhone 5s in various regions, and all those hopes can be put to rest.

The entry-level 16GB iPhone 5c without a contract has been priced at $549 in the US. That comes out to a whopping Rs. 35,000 at current exchange rates (1 USD = 63.65 INR) and does not include the duties and other charges that come in while pricing a product in India. If you were hoping for a sub-Rs. 25,000 pricing for the iPhone 5c in India, it's safe to say we won't see anything like that.

The pricing in other regions is even worse, with the iPhone 5c priced at 599 euros (approximately Rs. 50,500) in Germany and 469 pounds in the UK (approximately Rs. 47,000). Of course both those prices include VAT, which can be sizeable. Pricing in Hong Kong is HKD 4,688 (approximately Rs. 38,500). However, it's the pricing in China, one of two "emerging markets" - the other being India - that the iPhone 5c was said to be targeting that is really surprising. The iPhone 5c price in China is 4488 Chinese Yuan Renminbi, which works out to over Rs. 46,500, without duties or any other charges.

With just a $100 price difference between the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s, it's a little difficult to fathom why the iPhone 5c even exists. The iPhone 5c surely won't help Apple penetrate into any newer markets, and its only selling point seems to the number of colours it's available in.

It seems Apple is not willing to shed its 'premium' tag just yet, and that, more than anything else from Tuesday's event. will surely disappoint millions who were hoping to see Apple in a more 'affordable' avatar.

Source: -    http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/iphone-5c-price-disappointment-cheaper-iphone-fails-to-check-in-417065

Apple unveils its iphone 5c and 5s

Apple Inc introduced two new iPhones on Tuesday including the "iPhone 5c" that comes in five colors and starts at $99 with a contract, priced to bring one of the industry's costliest smartphones within reach of the masses in poorer emerging markets.

Chief Executive Tim Cook kicked off the event at the company's Cupertino headquarters which also ushered in the pricier iPhone 5s. Shares in Apple, which had been in negative territory most of the morning, briefly went positive and were down just 0.5 percent at $503.48.

Cook expects Apple to ship the 700 millionth device - an iPhone or iPad - based on iOS mobile software sometime next month.

The world's most valuable technology company is trying to beat back rivals like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd in markets like India and China, where it is quickly losing ground.

Wall Street approves of the move to offer a more basic version of the device, although some investors warned initially that it would reduce margins and potentially tarnish a brand that has been linked to premium users since its 2007 inception.

Now they hope a bigger emerging-market presence can help reverse a 29 percent fall in the company's share price since it hit a record high of $702.10 a year ago. The selloff was fueled by fears of slowing growth and a perception that Apple's ability to innovate and shake up industries was dwindling.

The new iPhones, coupled with a belief that Apple will announce a deal with the world's largest carrier in China, have spurred investors to build bullish share and options positions in the company over the past two weeks.

Also sparking Apple's upward momentum was hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn's revelation last month that he had taken a large position and was pushing for the company to expand its program of share buybacks.

He has said the stock may rise to as much as $700 if Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook pushed for a larger buyback. The shares were down 0.5 percent at $503.64 in morning trading.

Industry observers said Apple had not turned out a category-defining electronic device since late co-founder Steve Jobs made a bet on the iPad in 2010. Speculation revolves around a smartwatch along the same lines as Samsung's recently introduced Galaxy Gear, or some sort of TV product.

But analysts said neither was likely to generate numbers anywhere in the neighborhood of the iPhone, which supplies half of Apple's revenue and is the company's highest-margin product.

"Apple needs to demonstrate in the coming months that it has other product lines which can start to make up for slowing growth and falling margins in (the) iPhone and iPad," said Jan Dawson, a chief telecoms analyst for Ovum Research. "That's a tall order."

More immediately, Apple will get a boost if it succeeds in enlisting China Mobile Ltd in its iPhone network. For the first time, the company will host media in Beijing just nine hours after its Cupertino, California, launch, spurring speculation it will announce a distribution agreement with the Chinese carrier.

The world's largest wireless carrier serves more than 740 million users and is perceived as more amenable to carrying the popular smartphone now that profit and subscriber growth are decelerating. Net income grew just 2 percent in the quarter that ended in June.

And smaller rivals China Unicom and China Telecom, which both already sell Apple's iPhone are making headway against the market leader.

Separately, Japan's largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, is expected to begin selling it as soon as this fall, other sources said.

One key question is whether Apple will also sell its cheaper iPhone 5c in more mature markets like Europe or the United States, heightening the risk that it will begin cannibalizing sales of the flagship 5s.

Globally, the market for cheaper smartphones priced around $300 - the iPhone 5 now starts at $649 without a contract - may grow to 900 million units by 2015, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimated. Assuming Apple manages to capture just 10 percent of that market, the 5c would bring in revenue of $30 billion annually.

"The only real potential to surprise investors (on Tuesday) seems to be in the scope and velocity of a new China strategy, and any new features within iOS 7 and fingerprint scanner technology," said Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes.

"Since it missed the trend toward larger screened phones and seems poised for only incremental iPad improvements, we believe that Apple needs to prove it can innovate in software and services."

Source : http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/apple-unveils-iphone-5c-and-iphone-5s-417021

Apple's iphone 5s - Introduced Touch Id (fingerprint scanner)

Apple unveiled the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c at a special event held at its headquarters in Cupertino. While the iPhone 5c did not live up to its promise of being a 'low-cost iPhone', the iPhone 5s showed off some promising innovations, like the new Apple A7 chip and, perhaps  the highlight of the event, a built-in fingerprint scanner called Touch ID.

Touch ID can be used to unlock the phone, by simply placing a finger on the Home button. It can also be used to confirm purchases made on the App Store, iBookstore or the iTunes Store.

You can scan and add multiple fingerprints (e.g. left and right thumbs, as well as index fingers), including those from multiple people (e.g. your wife or kids), and Touch ID will authenticate based on any of stored prints.

In case you are worried about privacy, Apple assures that fingerprints are encrypted and stored in a secure area inside the new A7 chip. Fingerprints are not accessible to any third-party apps, and nor are they sent to Apple's servers or backed onto iCloud.

So what's the technology behind Apple's latest innovation? The Touch ID capacitive sensor embedded in the Home button scans your finger at 500ppi resolution to get a high resolution image of your finger. The sensor embedded in the Home button is just 170 microns thin.

The new Home button is made out of sapphire crystal, one of the "clearest, hardest" materials out there. The Home button protects the fingerprint sensor and also acts as a lens to precisely beam your fingerprint to the scanner. The Home button is surrounded by a steel ring, that can detect touches and tell Touch ID to start scanning when a finger is placed.

The sensor uses advanced capacitive touch to take high-resolution image of the sub-epidermal layers of your skin. The resultant image is then analysed, and grouped into one of three fingerprint types: Arch, Loop or Whorl. It then analyses ridges and other details too small for the human eye to see, to come up with a match for one of the stored fingerprints.

Mtv Video Music Awards 2013

The MTV Video Music Awards 2013 was another big hit in Brooklyn New York, on the 25^th Aug, 2013. The show had young artist who made the leading nominees like Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Robin Thicke and many more. Even though there were a few things that both critics and fans didn’t expect to see the show put up by Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke for their erotic and sexually of their hit songs “We can`t Stop”, and “Blurred Lines”. Sad to know that there was no host this year even though Kevin Hart tried to make a few appearances during the broadcast just to crack a few jokes. 

Justin Timberlake was awarded with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for his profound effect on the MTV culture.

Justin Timberlake won Video of the Year for “Mirrors”

 Bruno Mars won the Best Male Video Award for “Locked Out Of Heaven”

Taylor Swift won the Best Female Video Award for “I knew You were Trouble”.

Austin Mahone took the Award Artist to Watch for “What About Love”.

Best Pop Video was achieved by Selena Gomez with the song “Come and Get it”

30 Seconds to Mars won Best Rock Video for “Up in the Air”

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton took home the Best Hip- Hop Video.

Pink and Nate Ruess won Best Collaboration for “Just Give me a Reason”.

Justin Timberlake (featuring Jay-Z) — "Suit & Tie" (Director: 

David Fincher) won the award for Best Direction.

Bruno Mars — "Treasure" (Choreographer: Bruno Mars)

bagged the award for Best Choreography

Capital Cities — "Safe and Sound" (Visual Effects: Grady

 Hall, Jonathan Wu and Derek Johnson) won the moon man

 for Best Visual Effects

One Direction — "Best Song Ever" achieved the award for

Best Song of the Summer.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (featuring Ray Dalton) —

 "Can't Hold Us" (Directors of Photography: Jason

 Koenig, Ryan Lewis and Mego Lin) achieved for Best 

Cinematography

Janelle Monáe (featuring Erykah Badu) — "Q.U.E.E.N." (Art

 Director: Veronica Logsdon)  took home the award for Best

 Art Direction

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (featuring Ray Dalton) —

 "Can't Hold Us" (Directors of Photography: Jason

 Koenig, Ryan Lewis and Mego Lin) achieved for Best

 Cinematography

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (featuring Mary Lambert) —

 "Same Love" won the award for Best Video with a Social

 Message

These are the videos that achieved all the different awards in the Video Music Awards of 2013.

The show also had a first appearance of N Sync since they last broke up in 2002.

Katy Perry closed the show with her performance of “Roar”.

Electronic Clutch By Bosch

All New Electronic Clutch By Bosch

With continuous research and development Bosch has developed an electronically controlled clutch which will shorten the gap between the manual and automatic transmission as:-

1. It allows the driver to use 1st gear while in traffic without using clutch as with the pressure on accelerator it gets deactivated and it gets activated when there is no pressure on accelerator.

2. With its coasting feature it will make cars more fuel efficient up to 10% as it decouples the engine from transmission when the accelerator is not pressed leading to the saving of fuel.

3. It is more cost effective than whole automatic transmission so it will help the owners to enjoy the automatic kind of drive without paying that much for an automatic version.

4. It works with the pressure on brake and accelerator pedal.

Though it is a nice alternative of that traditional clutch which requires pressure and will make your joints suffer while in heave stop and go traffic but still it is a clutch so it can’t give you pleasure of fully automatic transmission.

BMW-1 series is ready to strike Indian roads

All new BMW-1 Series

It may look like a regular hatchback from the outside, but the 1-series is unique. It’s the only hatchback around that uses a longitudinally placed, front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout – a layout that offers more driving thrills than a regular front-wheel-drive hatchback. We’ve driven the 1-series from Germany to Austria before its September 3 launch in India, to get a feel of what you can expect.

The seats are low, so you slide down into them. Once seated in the particularly sporty driver’s seat (it has adjustable bolsters and thigh support), you’ll see a typical BMW dashboard that’s dominated by a smart-looking 8.8-inch screen on the centre console. Build quality, as expected, is almost faultless and the driving position, as is with all BMWs, is spot on. The problem, then, is that the 1-series’ dash doesn’t feel special like a Merc A-class cabin does. There’s also precious little storage space in the centre console, although the door pockets are generous. Our test car didn’t have powered seats or electric steering adjustment, but

there was still quite a bit of kit on offer, including a lane-departure warning system and a rear-end collision warning system. We don’t think the last two will make it to India though. BMW is also keen to point out that the iDrive system that, once paired to your phone, lets you tweet and update your Facebook status without having to touch your phone.  

Still, if you're expecting the 1-series to be spacious, think again. It's quite cramped at the rear and the high transmission tunnel (thanks to the rear-wheel-drive layout) eats into the middle passenger's legroom. Headroom is decent though, and the bigger windows (in contrast to the A-class's thick pillars) don't make you feel as hemmed in as you would in the Merc. The 1-series has a usefully big 360 litres of boot space and the rear seats split 40:20:40, which is useful.

BMW has said that, to start with, there will be two engines on offer in India – a 136bhp, 1.6-litre turbo-petrol and a 143bhp, 2.0-litre turbo-diesel – both mated to the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission.

The cars we are driving, however, have manual gearboxes and this is, at least mechanically, the only difference from what you will soon be able to buy in India.

The initial impression of the petrol is that it is a peppy engine. The mid-range is strong, it revs rather freely to almost 7,000rpm and there’s good top-end performance to be had too. Add to that a snappy gearshift and a progressive clutch and it’s a car that is a lot of fun to drive. The only fly in its ointment is the weak bottom end. Below 1,500rpm, especially if you have to start off on a slope, you really have to slip the clutch and feed in lots of throttle to get going. This, however will be less noticeable on the automatic that we will get here. It also gets quite thrummy near the redline, so you tend to up-shift early. Do that and the engine, like most direct-injection petrols, runs smoothly and quietly.

It’s a similar story with the diesel. There’s a bit of lag you have to work around initially, after which there’s strong acceleration from an engine that will happily rev to 5000rpm. It is surprisingly quiet too and it’s like that even when you accelerate hard. Both engines are reasonably smooth, although there are some vibes from the gearlever when you rev them hard, and though they aren’t particularly quick, neither will disappoint in a straight line. More importantly, both engines offer more power than what you get in an A-class. The diesel and the petrol we drove came with selectable driving modes that alter throttle response characteristics, among other things.

The 1-series is a lot of fun to drive – the steering on both cars is quick and well weighted, and there is lots of grip. That said, there some body roll and the car tends to understeer when you drive it hard.  The diesel, as expected, feels slightly more nose-heavy than the petrol, but both have lots of grip and come alive when you drive them hard. As for the ride, a drive over German roads is no test for a suspension – they are just too smooth. Still, it does feel pliant enough save for a few jiggles over lumpy tarmac, and the relatively high-profile tyres on 16-inch rims do their part as well. Sadly, BMW will continue to offer the 1-series with run-flat tyres when it comes to India.

BMW is assembling the 1-series in India and is expected to price it at around Rs 20-25 lakh. For that price, it’s a fun to drive and fundamentally sound car. The question is, how many of its potential customers in India will really want what the extra driving thrills it offers? It doesn't look as special as a Mercedes A-class, though, and when you're this much money for a hatch, special is what you want, isn’t it?

Courtesy:- www.autocarindia.com