Obviously just like most smartphone users, when you are out and about there could well be a time you need to charge your iPhone, and although there are numerous portable battery packs available to charge the iPhone there is a new iPhone charger coming to market that lays claim to being the world’s smallest and most portable iPhone charger, and is called JuiceBuddy.
According to the guys over at Ubergizmo, by way of Gizmag, the JuiceBuddy charger for the iPhone and iPod Touch is small enough to be fitted to a keychain, and the JuiceBuddy even comes with a clip included so you can clip it to your keychain or backpack.
The iOS smartphone user doesn’t even need to carry their charger cable with them, as all you require is an outlet for the JuiceBuddy to plug into, flip open the cap and slide on your iPhone. Also you can remove the keychain portion to reveal a USB port in the accessory so they can charge other devices as well.
We have a quick promo video of the JuiceBuddy for iPhone in action for your viewing consideration below, so don’t forget to mash that play button and check it out.
Price wise the JuiceBuddy is limited to the USA at the moment costing $25 from Pacific Productions, although apparently a UK and EU version of the JuiceBuddy expected to become available as of the 15th of September.
So there you have it, will any of our iPhone toting readers be picking up the JuiceBuddy in the near future so they don’t have to carry around a cable or battery pack?
Prepaid iPhone Threatens Larger Carriers - msnbc.com
Will the negative publicity about the low wages, no-commission policy, and extreme expectations at Apple Retail, which sells the iPhone, cool the love affair with the brand? Could it morph from cult identity to social-value liability like Wal-Mart?
That could happen. Encounters with the smartphone on the front lines of retail - as consumers, sales representatives, and/or job applicants - have evolved into a kind of universal experience. That’s a lot like the phenomenon of television when the small screen became the medium. It shaped perceptions of value, from the stock of CBS to that of advertisers like Procter & Gamble. During 2011, IDC estimates, 491.4 million smartphones were sold worldwide. From the best restaurants in Manhattan to the aisles of the dollar stores people are consumed with their smartphones.
Based on that “craze,” there can be, at least, short-term assessments of value about the companies behind those front lines of retail. The game is changing too fast to even think longer term. Interestingly there are also fascinating ripple effects. For example, because of the success of the Apple retail model which he helped launch J.C. Penney chief executive officer Ron Johnson has borrowed some practices. One of them – ending commissions in some departments such as jewelry and shoes - might not turn out to be a best one for Penney. Media, including influential Business Insider, are ridiculing the continual changes, including this one on commissions. The Penney stock, at $22.56, is near the 52 week low of $21.57. The high had been $43.18.
Moment of Truth Encounter One
At distressed Best Buy, it’s no surprise that no sales representative greets the customer, at least not me when I was in the store. Perhaps because their employment might be short term, the front lines, mostly composed of Generation Y, seem more focused on socializing with each other than concern with the customer. AT&T zeroes in on this factor. In its post-purchase survey it asks how long did it take for the sales associate to do that. That was immediate when I went to its North Haven, Connecticut branch on Universal Drive, which has been several times. At Verizon, in the same shopping center, that was also instant when I accompanied Baby Boomer friends to return iPhones and androids and cancel two-year contracts. At Staples, across the street from Verizon, the third-party sales rep, employed by Wireless Advocates, never ventured out from the mobile phone store within a store. However, doing that is part of the procedures taught in the training. The stock is at $12.74, near the 52 week low of $11.94 and far from the high of $16.93. At Apple retail, the sales wizards acquired the magic touch of seeming to be always available without being intrusive.
Moment of Truth Encounter Two
The second moment of truth in these seminal retail encounters is the approach during the actual purchasing process. Leaders Apple, AT&T, and Verizon have sales reps so well trained that they are confident enough to listen. The quality of the training could be a significant variable. When I applied for (and didn’t get) a part-time smartphone selling position with AT&T, even for that there was a month of in-person full-time instruction. The part-time sales position I was hired for (but dropped out of after the third day of training) for Wireless Advocates had about a week of in-person full-time instruction. The leaders’ retail has been packed. Staples’ mobile store within a store never has been when I was there. During random visits from November 2011 until the present, I only witnessed two phones being purchased.
Moment of Truth Encounter Three
The third key indicator is what goes on post-sale. Verizon’s front lines don’t seem to try to preserve the sale in a return situation. Depending on the customer that could be a plus or a minus. If the return is within the terms of the contract, they will simply take it back and that’s that. For overwhelmed customers, especially Baby Boomers like my acquaintances, that was wonderful. They had tried smartphones and had decided to downshift back to dumbphones. However, sales and a long term relationship could have been sacrificed by not discussing more suitable products and service contracts. With AT&T, managing the whole customer relationship seems to be center stage. After all, in addition to smartphone contracts, the company also is making plenty of revenue through subscriptions to DSL lines and businesses which still need those pricey landlines.
Since April 2012, I have been in the AT&T North Haven branch about five times. Those primarily have been associated with problems experienced because of the Nokia Lumia 900 hardware, Microsoft Windows 7 software, and/or the reality that I am a digital immigrant. Whatever. Both the sales reps and manager pulled out all stops to keep me a customer (although I probably had ceased to be profitable). Last week the manager allowed me to replace the Nokia with an iPhone, waiving the restocking fee. The partcular sales consultant took the time to tutor me in the basic features. To my surprise, my chubby Italian 60+ year old fingers eventually were flying on the keyboard. Of course, my positive word of mouth about AT&T has become downright aggressive.
Everything Changes
In the future, however, the quality of the sales force could recede in importance when assessing the value of the particular company. What could dominate are the terms and conditions that the current wireless carriers provide consumers. At the top of the list are the pricing per se, particularly the policies regarding data, and the length of the contract or rather the existence of any contract.
The playing field could reconfigure as competitors such as Sprint Nextel provide lower-cost no-contract services through WiFi or some combination of that and wireless. That option, which Sprint has made possible through its partner Republic Wireless, whose parent is Bandwidth.com, could become the new game-changer.
iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Windows Phone 8 to target growing market - popherald.com
June 26, 2012, 8:51 A.M. EDT — More smartphones are expected to join the market before the end of this year, but at least two platforms will gain and many will lose. Can Apple’s next iPhone outsell Samsung, Nokia and other mobile devices due this year?
Samsung has begun selling its new Android smartphone in United States, the Samsung Galaxy S3, and analysts predict that the South Korea-based tech giant will generate more revenue than other Android phone manufacturers for the Galaxy S3 alone.
However, Samsung is facing shortages, in fact, its partner providers in North America have confirmed that Samsung’s shipment delays caused the release date delays recently, like the AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile USA variants with limited supply.
Samsung Galaxy S III Android Smartphone.
But aside from overwhelming demand for the new Samsung phone, phone market experts think that the delay of Galaxy S3 phones in many markets in North America particularly in United States was due to the anticipated underwhelming supply of Qualcomm’s chips, the Snapdragon S4 Krait CPU which powers the U.S. variants in North America, and the same chipset that supports the Long Term Evolution of wireless carriers. Qualcomm said it will face supply issues until 2013 largely due to growing demand from the manufacturing side, and the growing number of smartphone customers.
Meanwhile, Microsoft will begin selling phones with multi-core CPUs later this year with its new Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system. No word yet on the involved chipset makers but according to Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, the company’s platform can run “buttery smooth” on phones with single-core CPUs, however he adds, Microsoft’s new platform wants to see more innovation from its hardware partners. Apparently, Microsoft’s rivals, Android and iPhones, are already shipping with multi-core processors, and phones with dual-core and quad-core CPUs sell well and appeal to many markets. Experts say Microsoft wants to attract not only the non-advanced users, but also the “hackers” and the “geeks” that demand for more powerful specs sheet.
The home screen of the next version of Microsoft Windows Phone.
But the timing of the new Microsoft mobile OS shows that it wants to stop Apple’s next smartphone, the iPhone 5, from breaking phones sales records. Analysts believe that the phone will go on sale around October alongside other phones from its rivals, Android and Windows.
Rumors say the next iPhone might introduce a new processor, a new design, a new display and likely shipping with Long Term Evolution. According to a Gartner report issued last month, the next iPhone can help drive a stronger smartphone sales for the second half of 2012 not only in United States, but the rest of North America and Western Europe. Last quarter, according to the research firm, global sales of mobile devices shows decline due to a slowdown in demand from markets in Asia.
The iPhone 5 is expected to outsell last year’s iPhone, but can its rival change the game? Last quarter, Apple enjoyed 96.2 per cent growth after the company captured more markets especially in Asia. model expanded into new markets and carriers. Apple’s iPhone sales in China also shows strengths last quarter and new reports suggest that Apple is planning the same method to sell more iPhone 5 phones in the region.
This week’s rumor mill suggested that Apple’s new smartphone will debut in October and will include China as one of the launching markets. Also, analysts say that China Mobile will join the iPhone market this year, giving Apple a new opportunity to grab its own share of the carrier’s 650 million mobile subscribers.
It is safe to say that more smartphones will join the lucrative market before the end of the year. Based on this month’s smartphones rumor mill, Apple, Google, Samsung, HTC, Research in Motion and Nokia will all launch new phone/s before the month of November.
Bonking for money to be built into the next iPhone - The Register
Bonking for money to be built into the next iPhone
Just rub it against the sweet spot to get what you want
Posted in PCs & Chips, 26th June 2012 08:14 GMT
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Dismantling code aledgedly from the next iPhone 9-to-5 Mac has discovered Near Field Communications embedded in the hardware, paving the way for Apple Commerce come 2013.
The code comes from two prototype handsets 9-to-5 Mac reckons are knocking around Cuppertino in the hands of trusted developers and engineers. The rumour site has already revealed a larger screen close enough to 16:9 to show proper video, but now reports that the iPhone being launched by Apple in October will sport electronic payments using the NFC standard.
The news isn't shocking, Apple has long been interested in NFC as its patent portfolio shows (Apple has patented all sorts of applications for NFC beyond paying by bonk), not to mention various recruitments in the field, but knowing that it's coming in October will put the pressure on Google to make more of the lead it has with Google Wallet and show that Microsoft's own offering (which comes with Windows Phone 8) is not a moment too soon.
Apple's Passbook application, part of the already-announced iOS refresh, is an obvious candidate for NFC integration as it already stores tokens and boarding passes - items which transition to short-range radio very elegantly - but 9-to-5 Mac's information is lacking in the critical detail of whether Apple will be prepared to cede any control to the network operators who have to pay for the iPhones we all use.
Google lets the operators play; the current generation of Android handsets support SIM-based wallets through the SWP (Single Wire Protocol) the operators prefer, but those wallets have to exist in competition with Google's own offering. Microsoft, meanwhile, is happy to let the operators own that space and seems to be making no move to try and control the electronic wallet in Windows Phone 8.
Apple has, reportedly, been talking to banks about getting their payment cards onto the next iPhone, which would indicate that Cupertino intends to have its own wallet on the phone: so the only question is whether Apple will let the operators put a wallet on the SIM or decide to lock them out entirely as it did with ring tones, downloadable games, and music.
The operators might decide to reduce the iPhone subsidy or switch their promotional efforts to Microsoft, but one underestimates the craven nature of operators at one's peril - Apple is still the coolest kid on the block, the one everyone wants to be seen with, even if that means ceding one more market to the legacy of Steve. ®
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Sprint's iPhone shunned by Apple and Best Buy customers? - CNET News
Sprint might have the iPhone in stores and at brick-and-mortar retail outlets, but at least so far, the company is trailing far behind its competitors in actually attracting consumers.
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) today revealed the results of a study outlining the performance of carrier iPhones both in their stores and outside of them. Sprint appears to be getting hit hard, earning just 9 percent of all iPhone sales in Apple stores and 19 percent at Best Buy. AT&T's iPhones account for 63 percent and 60 percent of sales in Apple and Best Buy, respectively.
Sprint was late to the iPhone game. For years, AT&T was the exclusive provider of Apple's iPhone in the U.S. Last year, Apple finally brought the device to Verizon's network, and delivered it to Sprint months later.
That delay might have proven to be a bigger issue than Sprint even believed. According to CIRP's data, iPhone owners are loath to switch carriers, leaving Sprint with little chance of rapidly gaining market share. In fact, CIRP found that 94 percent of AT&T's customers bought an Apple handset from the carrier. Verizon's retention also stands at 94 percent. Sprint has been able to maintain 88 percent of its iPhone owners.
"[Sprint] seem[s] to capture a reasonable share of customers outside of AT&T and Verizon, and of course have started switching their expiring customers to iPhones where they can," CIRP spokesman Michael Levin told CNET today in an e-mailed statement. "But, they just can't break through to take meaningful share from AT&T and Verizon, which must frustrate their leadership to no end."
CIRP discovered a host of other interesting stats, including that 75 percent of new iPhone owners at AT&T previously owned an Apple handset. One other interesting tidbit: 48 percent of Verizon customers who upgraded to an iPhone came from Android, and 47 percent previously owned a BlackBerry.
Qtel bids to buy remaining $1.9 billion Wataniya stake - Reuters
DUBAI |
DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar Telecom QTEL.QA (Qtel), the majority state-held telecoms operator, has offered to buy the remaining 47.5 percent stake it does not already own in Kuwaiti unit Wataniya (NMTC.KW), a Kuwaiti bourse statement said on Tuesday.
Based on Wataniya's current market capitalization of $3.97 billion, the stake is worth about $1.9 billion, Reuters data shows.
"Wataniya shares were suspended from trading temporary based on the financial market authority's instructions. The authority has received a bid from Qatar Telecom to takeover the entire transferable shares of the company," the bourse statement said.
Qtel is being advised by Barclays Capital (BARC.L) and the investment banking arm of National Bank of Kuwait (NBKK.KW), a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The Qtel offer was submitted to Kuwait's Capital Markets Authority, which is reviewing the proposal, the source said. Based on the authority's recommendation, Wataniya can review the offer and appoint financial advisors to evaluate it.
Qtel bought the Wataniya stake in 2007 for about $3.7 billion. Kuwait Investment Authority, the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, has a 23.5 percent stake in Wataniya and the remaining shares are publicly held.
New Kuwaiti capital markets bylaws, introduced last year, requires any entity who buys more than 30 percent of a listed Kuwaiti firm to bid for the remaining outstanding shares within 30 days.
Kuwait's No. 2 telecom operator, whose chief executive resigned earlier in June, has operations in Kuwait, Tunisia, Algeria, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia and the Maldives. In April, it reported a 90-percent drop in first-quarter net profit, with earnings from the prior-year period boosted by a one-off fair value gain.
Qtel has been raising stakes in its subsidiaries recently.
Earlier in June, Qtel agreed to double its stake in Iraq's No. 2 operator Asiacell to 60 percent for $1.47 billion as it seeks to exploit rising demand for broadband.
Qtel also owns a majority stake in Omani telco Nawras NWRS.OM.
Shares in Qtel ended down 1.1 percent on the Doha bourse Tuesday, while Wataniya shares were halted in Kuwait. The statement came after markets closed.
(Reporting by Dinesh Nair; Editing by Amran Abocar)
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