iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus launch was no different, it set all time high record for the company and until recently the company had been struggling to catch up with the demand. Due to differences in pricing, currency and contract terms iPhones are sometimes cheaper in certain countries when compared with others.

The black market is known to import phones from countries where it is available earlier or cheaper and make profit by selling at higher price. One Chinese man thought about doing the same, however the import technique he used was rather unique.

According to the report published by Huffington Post, the man strapped 94 iPhones to his body as he was allegedly smuggling the phones from HongKong to mainland China. The report mentions that the custom officials noticed his “weird walking posture, joint stiffness, muscle tension” and pulled him aside for questioning.

When I first saw the photo of the man with all those phones strapped to his body I was reminded about the iPhone 6 bendgate. I wonder if any of those 94 iPhone were bent during the course of his journey. While we may never find out if those iPhones did bend or not but, considering the fact that those were meant to be sold it seems that the man was fairly confident about his technique.

Apple is committed to increase the number of Apple Stores in China from 15 to 40 within two years. Making the devices available easily and on the same launch date as the U.S. may help discourage such activities in future.

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.

Verizon has reported its earnings for the 4th quarter of 2012, becoming the first of the four major U.S carriers to report its earnings. According to GigaOm, the carrier activated over 9.8 million total smartphones, with 6.4 million or two-thirds of them being iPhones.

Verizon’s earnings are strange, however, particularly because half of the total iPhone activations consisted of the iPhone 5. This means that Verizon customers continue to purchase the older iPhone 4 and 4S, despite the newer generation enjoying majority of sales at other carriers such as AT&T and Sprint.

It sold 7.3 million LTE devices the last three months of 2012, and it activated 9.8 million smartphones in total. It activated 6.2 million iPhones, about half of which were the LTE-enabled iPhone 5.

Verizon was also one of the first carriers to start widely implementing 4G LTE in most of its new smartphone offerings. According to AllThingsD, Verizon is slowing the expansion of its 3G network in order to build its 4G LTE network and add more devices. About 23% of all devices on Verizon operate on the carrier’s 4G network, justifying its dedication to expanding its LTE network and adding more subscribers.

With Verizon reporting strong sales of not only the iPhone 5 but older generations of the iPhone, it is no surprise that Apple is also reporting its best financial quarter. Last quarter, Verizon activated 3.1 million iPhones, nearly 46% of its smartphone sales. With the carrier adding more devices to its LTE network, it will be interesting to see how its sales shift once Apple releases a new generation of the iPhone.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple’s iPhone 5 is currently sold in 47 countries around the world, however, the Cupertino, California company promised that they would bring the smartphone to 100 countries by the end of 2012. Now, in order to keep that promise, Apple is planning to bring the iPhone to 50 more countries in December alone. On Monday, Apple announced that they will in fact be adding to the list of countries in which the iPhone is available.

Apple today announced iPhone 5 will be available in South Korea on Friday, December 7, with more than 50 additional countries being added in December, including Brazil, Russia and Taiwan. iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless—all while delivering even better battery life.

Apple is bringing the iPhone 5 to South Korea on December 7th, followed by 49 others on December 14th and December 21st.

On December 14th, the iPhone 5 will be available in Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

On the 21st, Apple will release to the rest of the countries, which includes Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam.

With the iPhone 5 made available in so many different countries, and with the holiday season in full gear, Apple is sure to make record sales for the new iPhone, likely more than the iPhone 4S. Many of the Asian nations, such as Japan, South Korea, and China are major growth opportunities for Apple as a good portion of its revenue comes from that region.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple launched its new iPad 3 earlier this year, and expanded it for sale in a number of international countries. On Apple’s iPad selection page in Latin America, additional countries have been added. Apple’s country page was recently updated to reflect the availability of the new iPad in 30 new countries, including Brazil.

The full list of countries for May 11 include: Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Malta, Martinique,Mauritius, Morocco, Peru, Taiwan, Tunisia, Vietnam.

May 12th will include: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates. Apple is also looking to bring its previous generation iPad 2 to a number of countries, including China, Honduras, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and the Philippines at a lower price, putting the finishing touches and securing final deals.

Apple continues to make its new iPad available in nations all around the world, allowing the company to expand its line of products and gain more users. Apple’s recent focus on Asia has given the company a significant boost in international sales and marketing. With these 30 new countries added, Apple continues to build upon its success.

{via MacRumors}

As another holiday is here, this time in the form of Easter, many of the major App Store developers are slashing prices on their apps for both the iPhone and the iPad.

It’s great to see that iOS owners get to save money multiple times each year and not just during the traditional sales time of Black Friday and after Christmas. Now is a great time to fire up the App Store on either your computer or mobile device and grab yourself some of the games that you’ve always felt were just a little too expenses.

Many, if not all, of EA’s games have seen price reductions for both the iPhone, and the iPad some of the all time classics such as Flight Control and Real Racing 2, so if you are one of the small percentage of iPhone or iPad users that haven’t brought either of them yet what are you waiting for.

Other titles that can be snapped up for a bargain include Smash Cops, NFL Flick Quaterback, Lost Winds, Where’s My Water, Lego Harry Potter and just in time for the start of the baseball season 9 Innings: Pro Baseball.

If you looking for some bargains and ways to pass the time if you’re one of the lucky ones with a long weekend then head on over to the App Store and let us know in the comments below what you picked up.

Apple released the iPad 3 only a few days ago and already it has been a big success. The company recently announced that they have already sold 3 million of the new devices under 4 days. The new iPad was considered by some to be only a minor upgrade with the 5 megapixel camera, new Retina Display and 4G LTE.

The Cupertino company called this the “strongest iPad launch yet.” This puts the New iPad as the most successful iPad launch ever. Apple continues to improve upon its products every year and reaches a higher number of sales each quarter.

CUPERTINO, California―March 19, 2012―Apple® today announced it has sold three million of its incredible new iPad®, since its launch on Friday, March 16. The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.**

“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”

With the launch of the iPad 2, Apple did not report the first weekend sales, however, the company sold over 300,000 of the original iPad with the first batch of one million taking 28 days to move and ship. Apple also experienced a massive success with the iPhone 4S, with customers experiencing long  queues.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook mentioned earlier this week that John Browett was hired not to “bring Dixons to Apple”, but instead “to bring Apple to an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction.” Cook even went as far as to say that, “John shares that commitment [to customer service] like no one else we’ve met.”

With John Browett accepted as one of Apple’s more talented executives, the online community has begun to wonder what style of retail strategy that Browett will bring to the Cupertino company. On Thursday, Paul Harmer who wrote an email to Tim Cook further revealed that he had an unusual encounter with John Browett at one of Dixons’ retail stores, PC World. He described it as following.

Just a quick note about John Browett –

About a year ago I was with a friend in our local branch of PC World (part of the Dixons group) looking at plasma TVs. We were assisted by a really charming and knowledgable assistant, who I must admit appeared slightly better-dressed and older than most in the store. He must have spent at least 30 minutes with us, explaining the pros and cons of LCD vs plasma, and the best deals available. An excellent impression.

Turns out it was John Browett making one of his regular store visits, but we had to prise this out of him.

Hope he does well, genuinely impressive bloke, and this ties in with your comment about his passion for customer service. He means it!

Paul

In a another interesting twist, Paul Harmer also mentioned that after emailing Dixons Group, he recieved a personal response from Browett, then Dixons CEO:

Dear Paul,

Thank you for your kind comments.

Hope the TV works out well.

Happy new year

John

This new report allows many to see the retail experience that Browett will be bringing to Apple, an experience that is very familiar to customers. Late Apple CEO and Chairman, Steve Jobs was known to send emails to customers and address them directly, something that CEO Tim Cook has continued as well. Apple is making lots of changes to its executive positions, hoping to preserve its reputation for excellent customer service.

{via Mac Rumors}

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), over the past two years has been not only increased its revenue but also its quarterly profits and on Tuesday, the company reported their best quarter ever for the 1st quarter of 2012. AAPL posted a revenue of $46.33 billion and net quarterly profit of $13.06 billion, which equals to $13.87 per diluted share.

This is much improved and higher than the same time last year, where Apple reported $26.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $6 billion, or $6.43 per diluted share.

Q1 2012 gross margin was at 44.7, higher than the 38.5 from last year, and international sales, unsurprisingly accounted for about 58% of the quarter’s revenue. This was a new record for the Cupertino company, in both profit and revenue, with the company increasing drastically higher each year, and is showing no signs of any slow down.

We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.

Apple also shipped 5.2 million Mac computers during the quarter, a unit increase of 26 percent from the previous year. iPhone unit sales reached 37.04 million, up 128 percent from a year ago quarter, and the company sold 15.4 million iPods during the quarter, representing 21 percent unit decline.

Apple has not been experiencing the same heavy iPod sales as they once did, making the popular devices now a small part of the company’s revenue, with majority coming from the iPhone and iPad. Apple’s projected revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 is $32.5 billion and earnings per diluted share of $8.50.

Apple has been experiencing high sales volume for the iPhone 4S, since its release late last year, in October. Apple, after releasing in the United States, began the roll out of the popular device in international markets, including China, however, after scalpers caused many problems in recent months, and a near riot in Apple’s Sanlitun retail store in Beijing, the Cupertino company has decided to halt sales of the device in-store “until further notice”.

Reuters reported early Friday that Apple stopped in-store sales after police restrained a massive crowd, causing riot behavior and unsafe conditions for both customers and employees. Scalpers are very common in Chinese Apple Stores, buying up iPhone and iPad stock, causing limited availability of the device, and then selling them at higher than suggested retail prices.

This illegal activity has caused tensions in Apple Stores which consistently run low on stock iOS devices and has also caused a major headache for police who must manage crowds of angry people on a regular basis.

“The demand for iPhone 4S has been incredible and our stores in China have already sold out,” an Apple spokeswoman said.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to open our store at Sanlitun due to the large crowd. And to ensure the safety of our customers and our employees, iPhones will not be available in our retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being,” she said.

Apple’s decision to halt in-store sales is a smart one, because of the negative press that they would receive by allowing a riot in one of their retail stores. With sales halted, online sales will be increasing, which could possibly lead to a number of crashes and errors on the Apple Online Store. It’ll be interesting to see how Apple’s PR team will handle this situation as the days progress and the announcement of an iPad 3 gets closer and closer.

Apple on Wednesday announced that they are planning to rollout the iPhone 4S to 22 countries around the world on Friday, January 13th with China as the featured addition for the debut. The Cupertino based company has been experiencing heavy adoption rate and positive sales in China and other countries in Asia.

Customer response to our products in China has been off the charts,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With the launch in China next week, iPhone 4S will be available in over 90 countries making this our fastest iPhone rollout ever.

The iPhone 4S currently operates on China Unicom in China, however, Apple has not specified whether they will be adding any new carriers to the iPhone 4 and 4S. In big markets, such as the US, Apple is constantly looking to expand to more networks. Currently, China has only one carrier for iPhone 4S.

Alongside China, Apple is also rolling out the iPhone 4S in 21 new countries, including: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, China, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guam, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Uganda.

{via MacRumors}

Apple has planned to launch a major sale across Asia in celebration of The Year of the Dragon, something that is rarely seen and not done regularly by Apple. The sale will begin on January 6, but will last only for the day in Apple Stores in China, Japan, and numerous other Asian countries.

Apple is not currently disclosing details on what the sale offers, however, it may be similar to Apple’s Black Friday sales in the US with minor discounts on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, as well as models of Macbooks and other smaller products.

Customers in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines are eligible for Apple’s one-day sale, which the company is calling ‘Red Friday’, offering a range of accessories, gadgets and software — as well as some Apple Store exclusives.

Apple has seen major growth and adoption of its products in Asian markets, particularly in China, and is looking to expand its reach by conducting sales and announcement of products internationally around key dates in the Asian calendar. It is very interesting to see Apple’s personal approach to sales in numerous countries, by including holidays and popular culture of Asia as opposed to a more corporate approach to sales.

Apple’s establishment in the Asian markets has witnessed substantial growth over the past few years and continues to grow as the company expands the number of retail stores and online availability in more countries.

{via TiPb}

Apple’s iPhone 4S went on sale on Friday, with an improved camera, dual core A5 chip and Siri. This year the iPhone was made available on three networks, adding on Sprint as the new carrier.

Demand for iPhone 4S is now being reflected by sales records for both AT&T and Sprint, who have reported that their one day record has been broken. AT&T reported earlier that they have almost doubled the number of iPhones activated in a day than ever before, causing servers to strain under the many new iPhone 4S activations.

As of 4:30 pm ET today, AT&T had already activated a record number of iPhones on our network – and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day. These record volumes may produce slower activations for some customers, though our systems continue to run at record levels.

The original iPhone used to be exclusive to AT&T in 2007, but lost exclusivity when Apple joined forces with Verizon and now Sprint. Sprint has also reported that the iPhone 4S launch is the most activations and most units they’ve ever sold on launch day. Sprint reportedly broke this record by 1PM ET, making it the fastest sales day ever in Sprint’s smartphone sales.

Sprint product chief mentioned that it was the “best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history.” He also mentioned that this is likely because of Sprint’s “truly unlimited plan”, with unlimited talk, text, and web.

This is the first time that Sprint has sold the iPhone, and it looks very promising. Apple’s choice of Sprint, and Sprint’s dedication to selling the iPhone 4S could turn out to be beneficial for both, Apple and Sprint.

{via Mac Rumors}

In a new report from Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White cites sources with Asian component suppliers, who believe Apple could sell a staggering 45 million units of the iPad during 2011. Apple sold 15 million iPads in 2010, but the device was only on sale for around nine months – 2011 will be the first full year of availability for the iPad.

Sales figures of around 40 million have already been predicted by other industry sources, however, this new figure is beyond what financial firms have been predicting. During a visit to Asia last year, White also predicted similar but claims:

At the time, this number was difficult for many investors and some in the media to get their heads around.

The iPad 2 is now available to over 24 regions worldwide, and the demand for the device means that stores continue to sell stock within days, while customers are struggling to secure the second generation tablet without a wait of up to 4 weeks.

While other tablets aim to compete with the iPad – such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and soon the BlackBerry PlayBook – Apple’s device doesn’t seem to be effected by its rivals and continues to thrive, with sales continually on the increase.

Despite the claims from suppliers, White is personally predicting sales of 30.9 million units. RBC Capital has predicted 28 million, while Needham is expecting 30 million.

Whether it sells 30 million or 45 million, it’s clear Apple’s iPad is a record breaking success for the Cupertino firm.

The second-generation device is expected to do even better, partly due to being a great deal more accessible on launch day. Instead of having to travel to your nearest Apple Store to pick up an iPad 2, you can grab one at one of 10,000 stores across the U.S., including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, AT&T, and Verizon. The addition of a white model is also expected to boost the iPad 2’s success.

The Bloomberg report also notes Tim Barjin’s predictions, who is an analyst at Creative Strategies Inc. and Rodman & Renshaw LLC and Piper Jaffray & Co., and who agrees with Marshall’s expectations:

Apple has such a huge lead,” said Bajarin, who has covered the industry for more than 20 years and works as a technology consultant. He projects 500,000 units in two days. “Competitors are going to be chasing Apple for many years.

Whether Apple hits that 600,000 mark or not, it’s guaranteed to be a huge weekend for the Cupertino company, with people already queueing up to get their hands on the latest iPad tablet. Will you be heading out this weekend to buy one? Let us know in the comments!