Apple to build WORLD'S BIGGEST iStore in Dubai. BBC News - Apple bans two hazardous chemicals from assembly lines. 14 August 2014Last updated at 12:49 ET By Joe Miller Technology reporter Hundreds of factories in China are linked to Apple's supply chain Apple has banned two potentially hazardous chemicals from being used in the final assembly process at 22 of its iPhone and iPad production plants.
Benzene, which is a carcinogen, and n-Hexane, which can cause nerve damage, will no longer be used in cleaning agents or degreasers at the facilities, the firm said. Power of iPhone 6 hype-gasm: Apple a sniff away from record stock high. Boost IT visibility and business value Peak Apple Apple's stock today inched toward the company's record high as investors eager for new products pushed shares over $100 apiece.
It's the first time Apple stock price has hit triple figures since the company undertook an ambitious 7:1 stock split in June this year. Apple used the split to put more shares on the market and, in doing so, increase the number of potential investors. Stockholders saw each of their company shares broken down into seven smaller shares that could then grow in value faster and bring more money when sold off as a whole or portion. If you owned one share worth, at the time of the split, $644, you'd get seven $92 shares, post-split. So, Apple won't sell cheap kit? Prepare the iOS garden wall WRECKING BALL. Opinion It’s that time of year again, when Apple’s annual iPhone launch is looming and the mobile chattersphere becomes entirely dominated again by one handset maker.
In 2007 and 2008, that was completely justified. Since then, there have been progressively fewer reasons to define the whole smartphone sector by Apple. Apple slings fanbois' data at Chinese servers in China Telecom deal. Boost IT visibility and business value In an effort to woo buyers in China, Apple has inked a deal to store Chinese customer data in Chinese servers for the first time.
Plenty of technology firms are leery about storing sensitive information in China (although given the NSA's reach, US servers aren't exactly private) but Apple has hired China Telecom to use the telco's servers to store iCloud data for Chinese customers. "Apple takes user security and privacy very seriously," Cupertino told Reuters. "We have added China Telecom to our list of data center providers to increase bandwidth and improve performance for our customers in mainland china.
All data stored with our providers is encrypted. Dog bites man: Apple's Macs trounce all Windows PCs in customer love. Once again, Apple's Macs – desktops and laptops – have outscored any and all windows PCs in a customer-satisfaction survey: the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
"Apple maintains the strong lead it has held for a decade, inching up 1 per cent to an ACSI score of 87," the consumer-surveymeisters write in a report (registration required) published on Tuesday. Apple's score edged up one point higher than in last year's survey – ACSI has been doing this since 1995 – and is seven points higher than its closest competitor, HP, which also rose one point from last year.
Number three, Dell, sank two points from its previous score. Noting that the Windows-based PC manufacturers all lag behind Apple, ACSI offered condolences. "Microsoft's revamped Windows 8 operating system, included in all new Windows-based PCs since its release last year, does not seem to have provided a bounce in sales or in customer satisfaction for these manufacturers," it writes. Apple 'sapphire glass' fronts for iPhone 6? It's NEWS to SUPPLIERS. Boost IT visibility and business value Several Apple analysts have speculated over the past few months that the next iPhone and perhaps even the near-mythical iWatch will use super-tough sapphire glass in some capacity.
But that claim has been thrown into question after the industrial analysis firm TrendForce claimed a tiny issue – not actually having the sapphire glass to do this – might hamper production. The Taiwanese analyst claimed that despite talk of an Arizona factory that would churn the stuff out, global production for sapphire glass has shown no uptick to date, which is not what you might expect if Cupertino was about to flood the market with phones using the wonder material.
iTime for a smartwatch: Apple granted modular wrist-puter patent. Build a business case: developing custom apps Rumors that Apple will unveil a smartwatch this year became slightly more concrete on Tuesday, on news that Cupertino has been granted a patent for a wearable device that may or may not be called iTime.
Or, as Apple explains in the patent summary, "the invention pertains to an electronic wristwatch. " The text of the patent doesn't give any formal name for the device, but one of the accompanying drawings shows the screen labeled with the word "iTime" – though there's no telling whether Apple will stick with that moniker when/if the device actually ships. So what makes Apple's smartwatch different from the others? As usual, the language of the patent is sufficiently obtuse that it's hard to picture what the finished product might look like, but we can make some educated guesses. Sure looks like a smartwatch to us! If Apple's past track record is any indication, however, keep your eye on the courts Build a business case: developing custom apps. Peak Apple: Mountain of 80 MILLION 'Air' iPhone 6s ordered. Build a business case: developing custom apps Apple has told its Chinese suppliers to build a mountain of 70 to 80 million new iPhone 6s, which are expected to come in two different sizes and hit the shops this year.
This means that the number of brand-new iPhones could match the population of Germany, which is inhabited by slightly more than 80 million souls, and totally outstrip Iran and the UK, which have populations of 77.6 million and 64.1 million people respectively. According to secretive sources whispering to the Wall Street Journal, up to 80 million 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch sixth-gen iPhones will be on sale by December. Welcome to the BIG APPLE: IBM sells iPads, iPhones to enterprises.
Build a Business Case: Developing Custom Apps IBM and Apple will together tout software to the enterprise: Apple will handle support and IBM will sell iPads and iPhones crammed with Big Blue's ported apps.
The "landmark partnership" was announced by the two companies on Tuesday, and will see each firm help the other make money from a business area it has no particular affinity for. IBM, for instance, will "sell iPhones and iPads" loaded with any of 100 industry-specific software products codeveloped by IBM and Apple, while Apple while handle phone support for the products. Inevitability, on-site support will be handled by IBM. As part of this, IBM will port about 150 of its applications to iOS. This lets IBM sell handheld computers without having to develop them, which we imagine is what the company wanted given its moves to divest itself of its hardware businesses – like its selloff of ThinkPad and, more recently, servers to Lenovo. Great Fall of China: iPhone 5C sales lag as blinged-up 5S sells out. New iPhone sells out, millions in hands of lucky fans, Cook cock a hoop ... Updated Apple has given itself a pat on the back after shifting nine million of its latest iPhone 5S and 5C models over their first weekend on sale.
However, while we know that the iPhone 5S has sold out across the world, the success of the cheaper plastic-sheathed 5C is less clear. Apple has not broken down the new iPhone 5-series sales figures, meaning we cannot yet measure the success of the lurid new handset. Meanwhile, 200 million devices are now running Apple's new iOS 7 operating system; the company claims this is "the fastest software upgrade in history". The fruity firm said that – surprise, surprise – demand for the iPhone 5S has "exceeded the initial supply" and reassured fanbois and gurlz that any outstanding orders will be posted out in the coming weeks.
“This is our best iPhone launch yet – more than nine million new iPhones sold, a new record for first weekend sales,” beamed Tim Cook, Apple CEO, adding: "We’ve sold out of our initial supply ... Update. Apple ups revenue estimates in wake of nine million–phone weekend. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple has announced that it now expects its revenue to come in at the high end of the range it projected when it announced its financial results for its third fiscal quarter of 2013 this July. In the filing this Monday, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer cited the sale of nine million iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c units in the three days since their release last Friday. Although he avoided a direct use of words such as "because" or "due to," his intent was clear – so we will. Because of the strong sales of its two new handsets, "Apple expects total company revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter to be near the high end of the previously provided range of $34 billion to $37 billion," Oppenheimer wrote, and due to those sales, Apple "expects gross margin to be near the high end of the previously provided range of 36% to 37%.
" As of Monday, Yahoo! Apple beckons fanbois back into its golden era... of, er, 2010. 5 things you didn’t know about cloud backup As the world mutters about Apple's uncertain future, the fruity firm has offered out-of-date fanbois a way to relive its glorious past. Cupertino's online App Store will now let users of old iPhones and other iThings download previous versions of software, so they can continue to use such technological innovations as the Fart Button and other must-have utilities - even if said users haven't installed (or cannot install) the latest release of iOS. In other words, punters can download archived builds of programs that are compatible with the old system software on their devices. This is particularly useful if you're on a gadget that can only run iOS 4 and the apps you want have been updated to require at least version 5.0: now you can download the old iOS 4-era versions.
Did Apple Make a Mistake By Releasing Two New iPhones? Apple CEO Cook: 'We're not in the junk business' Peak Apple: Samsung hits DOUBLE the market share of iPhones. Not even the cheapest iPhones could help Apple claw back ground lost to Samsung - whose smartphone gear has now amassed more than twice the market share of the iPhone. The smartphone market expanded 46.5 per cent in Q2 with more than 225 million units shipped worldwide, data from beancounters Gartner showed.
However it was the Korean chaebol that really made the most of the expanding sector, selling 71.3 million devices compared to 45.6 million a year ago, capturing 31.7 per cent market share, up two per cent. Peak Apple? HOGWASH! Apple is 'extremely undervalued,' says Icahn. High performance access to file storage. Apple slugs Australia with iPhone tax. High performance access to file storage. PEAK APPLE: One MILLION fewer iPads sold this quarter.
It’s lonely at the top, or so saying goes, but Apple may not have to wait too much longer before it rubs shoulders with those playing catch-up in the global PC arena after Q2 sales declined off the back of a slab crash. Figures for the last three months collated by the beancounters at Canalys show Tim Cook’s lot sold nearly one million fewer iPads than a year ago, taking its total computer sales down 5.1 per cent to 17.69m units. This was in a market that grew 13.6 per cent year-on-year to 123.8m units - notebooks, desktops and tabs - but stagnated sequentially, with total PC sales crossing the line flat on the previous quarter. The problem for Apple is that demand for tablets no longer equates to demand for iPad, and though the total slab market world-wide bounced 41.5 per cent year-on-year, those emblazoned with a certain fruit fell 9.2 per cent to 13.2m. No Apple fanbois here: Man United BANS iPads from Old Trafford.
Implementing global e-invoicing with guaranteed legal certainty Manchester United is banning tablets from Old Trafford on match days as part of a tightening-up of security procedures to reflect heightened terrorist concerns. Large electronic devices including laptops and tablets will be added to the list of prohibited items as a result of security concerns, the Premier League side said in a statement. Ahead of the new season, we’d like to make you aware of some changes to the Club policy regarding items you cannot bring in to the stadium on home matchdays.
As a result of the latest security advice, large electronic devices including laptops and tablets will be added to the existing list of prohibited items (PDF, one page) for matchdays at Old Trafford. We apologise for any inconvenience that this might cause but we are committed to putting the safety and security of all supporters as our number one priority. Apple's Australian profits crash after tax adjustment - Hardware - iTnews. Apple Australia has reported a slight drop in revenue and a massive decline in after-tax profit in its consolidated income for the 2016 financial year, after paying a hefty tax adjustment relating to previous years. The iPhone maker’s consolidated Australian revenue fell $296 million, or three percent, to hit $7.5 billion for the 12 months to 24 September 2016, according to its annual report to corporate regulator ASIC.