iPhone sales figures for the first weekend since the device went on sale on September 20th have been announced by Apple. This year the company set a new record high of 9 million sold units, these include both, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s models.

This isn’t the first time Apple has broken its own previous high. With every new release of iPhone the company successfully manages to set new sales record. iPhone 4S recorded four million sold units during the first weekend and iPhone 5 recorded 5 million units. Even though this years figures set an all time high, they can’t really be compared. This year Apple is selling two new models and added China to the list of countries where the phone would go on sale.

Apple’s press release does not break the iPhone sales figures for the two different models however, analysts believe that iPhone 5s demand was much greater than iPhone 5c. The company is struggling to meet the demand for iPhone 5s as the availability has moved to October for many customers.

Apple also announced that iTunes Radio has been very well received by users as the company recorded over 11 million unique listeners during the launch weekend. iOS 7 was released to general public on September 18th and Apple revealed that over 200 million devices are already running the latest software.

iPhone is the most profitable and revenue generating business for Apple and as the company continues to break previous records, its clear that users are voting with their money.

The web has been abuzz lately with reports that Apple is looking to introduce a “cheaper” iPhone for emerging markets around the world. New details have now emerged about what materials the low cost iPhone will be using. According to Digitimes, Apple will be using plastic for the chassis low cost iPhone as opposed to the blend of both metal and plastic used in the previous generations. The report also notes that the iPhone’s chassis will be “mixed with plastic and metal, with the internal metal parts being able to be seen from outside through special design”.

It is unclear how Apple plans to do this and if they will use these materials in a different way, other than the designs they have already implemented. However, the report goes on to mention that the plastic and metal materials are already being tested and will likely be released in the second half of 2013. It is possible that if Apple were to release the cheaper iPhone in the Fall, it would be able to move up release of the rumored ‘iPhone 5S’ to June.

Apple’s SVP of WorldWide Marketing, Phil Schiller commented on a report from WSJ about the possibility of a ‘cheaper’ iPhone and dismissed the claims. Both The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, and other sites that have reiterated the claims made in the reports suggest that Apple is likely to price the cheaper iPhone around $99-$149. It is unclear what Apple would call the cheaper iPhone, as the refresh rumored for June is simply being called the ‘iPhone 5S’.

{Via MacRumors}

In an interview with Shanghai Evening News, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing made claims that Apple would never make a cheap iPhone. However, Schiller’s comments can be taken to mean that Apple would never introduce a lower quality product into the market as opposed to not introducing a lower cost or “cheap” and smaller iPhone  [Google Translation].

Apple confirmed Schiller’s interview with the Chinese newspaper to The Next Web after numerous reports and rumors online began to surface that the Cupertino, California company was working on a lower-end iPhone for emerging markets such as China.

At first, non-smartphones were popular in the Chinese market, now cheap smartphones are more popular and non-smartphones are out. Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple’s products. In fact, although Apple’s market share of smartphones is just about 20%, we own the 75% of the profit.

The possibility of a cheaper iPhone was confirmed by major news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, and even Bloomberg who mentioned that Apple was in fact looking to release a “a smaller, cheaper version of the iPhone as soon as this year”. Schiller outrightly negated these claims, saying that although cheap smartphones are popular, “this will never be the future of Apple’s products”.

Rumors about Apple introducing a cheaper iPhone with no contract have been around for quite some time, and it makes sense that the company would try and take on Android, which has seen expansion in the low-end market. However, it seems that with Schiller’s comments, a cheaper iPhone may not be coming in the near future but perhaps a cheaper, more revolutionary iPhone that meets Apple customer’s standards as seen with the iPad mini.

{Via AppleInsider}

On Tuesday, Apple Inc. (AAPL) introduced the widely rumored iPad Mini. Although the iPad mini was exactly what users were expecting, a smaller screen, a full sized experience, many are still disappointed with the pricing of the device, which starts at $329. Users expected AAPL to introduce a device in the $199-$299 price range, usually what Android tablets are selling for in the market.

According to Reuters, Apple’s SVP of Product Marketing, Phil Schiller was quick to defend the iPad mini pricing at $329, saying that it is correct when compared to Apple’s product category.

“The iPad is far and away the most successful product in its category. The most affordable product we’ve made so far was $399 and people were choosing that over those devices,” Schiller said.

“And now you can get a device that’s even more affordable at $329 in this great new form, and I think a lot of customers are going to be very excited about that,” Schiller said.

Apple’s competitors such as Google and Amazon are mainly content based companies and are looking to make money off of the services that they offer, selling the device as a secondary accompaniment in order to sell content and advertising. However, Apple is selling the hardware and software first, and is looking to give customers an experience, rather than to simply sell content. As the holiday season approaches, it will be interesting to see how Apple’s iPad mini plays out with customers and if the pricing will affect the sale of the device in the long run.

{Via MacRumors}

It’s only been 6 months since the introduction of the third generation iPad, and Apple has already introduced a new version of it. On Tuesday, alongside the announcement of the iPad mini, Apple introduced the refreshed iPad, calling it the 4th gen iPad instead.

The 4th generation iPad has been updated with the new Lightning connector currently on the iPhone 5, 4th gen iPod touch, and the new iPad mini as well as a new A6X processor as previously predicted, and FaceTime HD.

Until now, the FaceTime camera on the iPad was the same basic VGA camera that shipped on the iPhone 4, 4S and iPad 2. According to Phil Schiller, SVP of Product Marketing, the 4th generation iPad has expanded LTE support for more carriers around the world as well as faster WiFi speeds, twice as fast as on the third generation iPad.

Pricing for the 4th generation iPad remains the same $499/$599/$699 for the same 16GB/32GB/64GB capacities. WiFi+Cellular versions of the 4th generation iPad also remain the same, coming in at $629/$729/$829 for 16GB/32GB/64GB respectively. The 4th generation iPad will be available in stores and online for sale on November 2nd and is currently available for Pre-Order.

Following months of speculation and rumors, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller took the stage on Wednesday to introduce the long awaited iPhone 5. The media event, which was scheduled a week ago pointed to such a release and now the device has finally been revealed.

The iPhone 5, as expected has a larger 4 inch screen, and runs all pre-installed apps with a larger vertical area, and runs non-optimized third party apps letterboxed. The home screen has been stretched out a bit to hold 5 rows of apps, as opposed to 4 and the display is still the Retina Display with a 1136 x 640 resolution. The iPhone 5 now has an aspect ratio close to 16:9 now, making it great for watching widescreen movies.

The iPhone 5 now also carries faster LTE networking which will be supported by Sprint, AT&T and Verizon in the United States, Rogers, Telus, Bell, Fido, Virgin in Canada and numerous other carriers overseas. The iPhone also includes WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n, and is dual-channel, up to 150Mbps, making it much faster than the iPhone 4S. All of the networking and the larger Retina Display is powered by an all new A6 chip produced by Apple.

The A6 chip is 22% smaller than its predecessor, the A5 and has a 2X faster CPU and 2x graphics compared to the A5. During the keynote, Apple invited up EA games to demo Real Racing 3, showing off new improvements in graphics performance. Other major changes include the larger, all metal and glass design leaked prior to the event, along with a relocated FaceTime camera above the earpiece. Other features include:

Battery

The larger battery in the iPhone 5 shell now allows 8 hours of 3G or LTE talk time or 10 hours on WiFi while browsing

Camera

The iPhone 5 will carry the same specs as the iPhone 4S camera but will do so in a much thinner package. It has the same 8-megapixels and a 5-element lens as the 4S but will have a Sapphire crystal lens cover for more clarity and durability. The new A6 will provide for less noise during image captures along with a “smart filter” for better color matching. Apple, as expected prior to the event will also be including Panorama imaging, capturing images at 28 megapixels in one clean sweep.

The company also updated the front facing FaceTime camera to 720P HD and backside illuminated. FaceTime is now also possible over Cellular announced during WWDC.

Audio

The iPhone now has 3 microphones, one on the front, one in front for noise cancellation, and one on the back.

Dock Connector

The dock connector, called Lightning, will be an all digital 8 pin design and is 80% thinner than the previous design. The Lightning charger can now be plugged in any way and does not have a designated side. There is also a converter for the new dock connector that has the ability to work with the current 30 pin connectors.

Apple’s iPhone 5, with all of its new improvements alongside iOS 6 will make this Apple’s most powerful iPhone to date. iOS 6 will be released to the public on September 19th and will ship on the new iPhone 5, and will run on the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, 3GS, new iPad, iPad 2 and iPod touch.

The iPhone 5 will be available on contract for $199 for 16GB. $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB respectively. The iPhone 5 will be available for Pre-Order starting Friday the 14th and will be shipping on September 21st in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It will be arriving to 20 more countries later this month.

{Image Credit: Engadget}

What seemed to be happening was that some hacked individuals iTunes accounts, that have been readily available on the Chinese Black Market for some time, were being used to game App Store metrics and push a certain developer’s apps up to the top of the App Store rankings. Thus generating sales for them.

The apps themselves were mostly copyright infringing copies of Japanese Manga that the developer had duplicated and was selling under his own name. Apple were fairly quick to react when developers used to occupying those rankings on the App Store were bumped down by an influx of these fairly dodgy looking Vietnamese apps. Upon investigation the website for the developer was shown to not even be real.

Phil Schiller got involved over the weekend and contacted these, and other concerned developers to tell them that Apple were looking into it. The errant developer was fairly quickly removed from the App Store, along with all of his apps.

And today Apple issued this statement on the issue…

The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.

Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.

If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about cancelling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorised transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.

When you consider just how many iTunes accounts there are, and how many probably have passwords with people’s pet’s names, or their favourite food – despite users always being advised to use more secure passwords – it is hardly surprising that accounts get hacked from time to time. As long as you are using a decent password for your iTunes account, and only connect via Apple’s site, or iTunes then you should be OK.

If you are concerned about your account or credit card being on file with Apple, then perhaps consider using a card with a lower limit, or taking your card off when you are not using the account. Or perhaps use PayPal as a payment option.

At the end of the day this was not a massive hack on the iTunes store, and you are no more likely to be exposed through iTunes to this kind of thing than you are when using your credit card in a real store or on any other web site like Amazon for example. As long as you use sensible passwords, and practice fairly common sense protocols when shopping online!

The point is that this is not an “Apple Issue”, it’s an internet issue, but with Apple being so high profile at the moment people love to jump on these stories and blow them out of all proportion.

Personally I think Apple reacted very quickly to this problem, and seem to have cleared the whole thing up quite satisfactorily.

Are you worried about the security of iTunes? Have you had your account hacked? Let us know in the comments…