Category: Information Technology

The next iPhone is going to be unveiled September 12: Report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Apple will host its big iPhone 8 event on September 12, Dow Jones said Monday.

The tech giant is expected to announce a bevy of products, including two new iterative iPhone updates, possibly named the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus, in addition to a high-end iPhone 8. Apple is also reportedly gearing up to announce a new 4K Apple TV that will support sharper content than current models, and a new Apple Watch.

The iPhone 8 will reportedly feature a display that takes up almost the entire front of the device, using new OLED panels that are brighter and more colorful than previous screens. Rumor has it Apple has moved the fingerprint reader to the back of the phone but will also support facial recognition thanks to a new 3-D sensor on the front of the device.

Rumors have suggested the most high-end iPhone 8 will start at $1,000. Apple typically sells its new phones within a week or so of the announcement.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

This start-up aims to replace 40,000 worth of man hours with one click

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Lora Kolodny
CNBC

Given a Cambrian explosion of digital data over the last decade, businesses are struggling to make sense of all the information in their possession and turn it into something comprehensible. On Thursday, a search start-up called ThoughtSpot revealed a new product called SpotIQ to automate that task.

SpotIQ employs artificial intelligence to create hundreds of insights from data in a company’s cloud or on-premise storage systems. These include charts that are tailored to the interests of a particular worker, team or executive.

Normally, this work would take days and involve teams of business analysts, data scientists and graphic designers, said ThoughtSpot CEO Ajeet Singh. His company claims it can now do a job that would take 40,000 man hours in a single click, once its software is set up.

Singh, who previously co-founded cloud computing company Nutanix, describes SpotIQ as something like Amazon recommendations for business intelligence. Customers who have been piloting the system already were able to rapidly identify anomalies in their business operations, and find easy ways to either save money, or increase the speed of delivery of goods, he said.

Corporations that use ThoughtSpot already include Bed Bath & Beyond, Capital One, Celebrity Cruises, DeBeers and Scotiabank among others.

Earlier this year, ThoughtSpot raised $60 million in new venture funding from LightSpeed Venture Partners and Capital One Growth Ventures, bringing its total capital raised to about $160 million in funding to date.

Singh said that money will go toward ongoing research and development, hiring, and international expansion. All ThoughtSpot users will have access to SpotIQ by the end of September. The company will not charge its users for the new feature.

ThoughSpot is competing against the likes of Microsoft Power BI and Tableau software for a piece of the massive big data and business analytics market. According to research from International Data Corp., worldwide revenue for big data and business analytics will surpass $203 billion by 2020.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Google is paying Apple billions per year to remain on the iPhone, Bernstein says

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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By Todd Haselton
CNBC

Google is paying Apple billions of dollars to remain the default search engine on iPhones and iPads, Bernstein said in a note to investors on Monday.

The firm believes that Google will pay Apple about USD 3 billion this year, up from USD 1 billion just three years ago, and that Google’s licensing fees make up a large bulk of Apple’s services business.

Apple has been touting its services business as a quickly growing segment of the company, noting that it expects that branch alone will soon be as large as a Fortune 500 company.

“Court documents indicate that Google paid Apple USD 1 billion in 2014, and we estimate that total Google payments to Apple in FY 17 may approach USD 3 billion,” Bernstein analyst A.M. Sacconaghi Jr. said.

“Given that Google payments are nearly all profit for Apple, Google alone may account for 5 percent of Apple’s total operating profits this year, and may account for 25 percent of total company OP growth over the last two years.”

Bernstein sees pros and cons in the payments.

Sacconaghi said that Google might decide to back away from paying Apple any licensing fees if it feels confident enough that its search engine is so popular Apple won’t include any other option by default.

On the other hand, Sacconaghi said that Apple’s iOS devices contribute about 50 percent to Google’s mobile search revenue, which means Google might be too afraid to walk away from its licensing deal with Apple. In this case, it’s a win-win for Apple and Google.

Bernstein has an outperform rating on Apple with a price target of USD 175.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Apple is at risk of falling out of the top 5 smartphone vendors in China

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Apple’s share of the Chinese smartphone market fell last quarter, according to one analysis, representing the waning dominance of the iPhone ahead of a major milestone.

Local brand Xiaomi snagged the fourth-place spot that was held by Apple, leaving Apple at No. 5, according to Canalys, an independent analyst company. Samsung is also in the top 10 smartphone brands in China, although only the top four brands were ranked by Canalys’ statement.

Huawei: 23 million
Oppo: 21 million
Vivo: 16 million
Xiaomi: 15 million
Source: Canalys

Apple does not break out figures on sales of individual products in each region, and was not immediately available to comment. But earlier this year, a separate report from Counterpoint Research found that the iPhone was not the top selling smartphone in China in 2016, the first time Apple had been unseated since 2012.

Remaining in the top of the crop is key for Apple because the top five brands accounted for almost 75 percent of the 113 million shipments in China, Canalys estimates. It’s an area where Apple has struggled in recent years, with sales down 14 percent year over year last quarter.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has expressed long-term optimism on the Chinese market, despite strong competition provided by WeChat’s software ecosystem, which works on Android or iPhone devices. Apple recently created a new post, managing director of greater China, tapping an executive that has developed China-specific features for iPhone and iPad.

The iPhone 8, considered a marker of the device’s tenth anniversary, is expected by some analysts to revamp Apple’s influence in China. Sales in greater China are expected to hit $9.96 billion in the September quarter, according to FactSet, up from $8.79 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

KFC – yes that KFC – is selling its own smartphones in China

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Kentucky Fried Chicken celebrated its 30th anniversary of operations in China by unveiling a limited edition smartphone it had collaborated on with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei.

KFC made the announcement about the partnership with Huawei in a post on its Weibo account on Friday. An accompanying video on KFC’s Weibo account highlighted how far both brands had come since their humble beginnings when they first opened for business in 1987.

KFC opened its first restaurant in China a short distance from the Tiananmen Square in Beijing in November 1987. Today, Yum China, which counts KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in its stable of brands, has more than 7,600 restaurants in the country.

Huawei — a telecommunications equipment company best known for its smartphones — was founded in 1987 in Shenzhen. The company ranked third in terms of market share in the global smartphone market in the last quarter of 2016, according to 2016.

Launched in tribute to KFC’s thirty-year milestone in China, the commemorative version of the bright red KFC Huawei 7 Plus smartphone came complete with a logo of Colonel Sanders and plenty of pre-installed freebies.

The limited edition model included KFC’s mobile app and 100,000 “K dollars” (virtual credits on the KFC app in China). The phone also provided access to K-music — KFC’s new jukebox function available on the KFC app, trade magazine Campaign Asia said.

A total of 5,000 units of the limited edition phone will be released, KFC said on Weibo. The phones cost 1,099 yuan ($161.91) per unit and will be available for sale on the fast food company’s Tmall store from July 13.

Quarterly sales at Yum China came in below analyst forecasts in the second quarter this year, with the poorer-than-expected performance of the company’s Pizza Hut brand blamed.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Apple just got its most bullish forecast yet: Worth $1 trillion in a year

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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After reporting mixed earnings last week, Apple was given a USD 202 price target, its highest to date, by one analyst on Monday.

With the expected release of the iPhone 8 this fall, Apple is only in the “early stages” of unlocking upside potential for investors, Drexel Hamilton’s Brian White wrote in a note to clients Monday.

“We believe Apple remains among the most underappreciated stocks in the world,” White said.

The analyst raised his 12-month price forecast for Apple stock to $202 from $185, reiterating a buy rating on the shares. Apple closed Friday at $148.96 per share. If the stock climbed to White’s target (a gain of more than 35 percent), that would give the iPhone juggernaut a market value of $1.05 trillion based on its current share count of 5.2 billion.

White said his 12-month price target is based on applying a 16 P-E to his 2018 pro forma EPS estimate of $10.49 and then adding the company’s cash per share. The analyst argues this is more than reasonable considering the S&P 500 currently trades at 16 times 2018 estimated earnings.

White’s price target marks the highest for the company among 33 Wall Street analysts who cover Apple, according to data from TipRanks. The average price target of those analysts is $159, and the lowest is $120, TipRanks said.

“Apple’s valuation has been depressed for years as investors grew concerned that Apple would fall victim to the missteps of consumer electronic companies of the past,” White wrote. “However, Apple has proven its resilience through its unique ability to develop hardware, software and services that work seamlessly together.”

As of Friday’s close, shares of Apple have risen 60 percent over the past 12 months and are up about 29 percent this year.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Apple just made a bunch of apps free for everyone

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Apple just made iMovie, the entire iWork suite and GarageBand free for everyone.

Those applications have already been free for folks who purchased a new iOS or macOS device in the past several years. That means you may already have a free version installed or available to you through the App Store.

If you hadn’t purchased new hardware though, chances are you were looking at paying $9.99 per iOS app, like GarageBand for example, or up to $19.99 per iWork app. iWork consists of a suite of applications meant to compete with Microsoft Office or Google Docs.

iWork includes Pages, which is like Microsoft Word, Numbers (like Excel) and Keynote (like PowerPoint.) The apps stay in sync across devices, whether you’re using them on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, and documents can also be accessed easily through iCloud.

You should find the free apps available on your iPhone or Mac now.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India’s smartphone market is seeing a huge shift but Apple might not see the benefits for at least 2 years

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Most of India’s mobile phone users are planning to upgrade to a new device in the next 12 months driven by consumers wanting 4G handsets, a trend that is positive for premium electronics giants like Apple and Samsung in the long-term, according to Counterpoint Research.

Two in three of the over 1,500 Indian mobile users surveyed by Counterpoint, said they plan to upgrade within the next year. This is a shortening of the average 24 to 30-month upgrade cycle, to just under 20 months, the analyst firm concluded.

Indian mobile users’ desire for 4G capable phones with more advanced features is driving the trend. One in three respondents were considering phones with a fingerprint sensor and a better front-facing selfie camera.

The trend is positive in the long-term for the likes of Apple and Samsung, which both offer premium handsets at a high price. But in the near-term neither will see a boost in India, a country seen as a driver of growth in a slowing smartphone market.

“All the brands who are successful in sub-$200 segment like Lenovo, Xiaomi and a handful of Indian brands will benefit,” Neil Shah, research director of devices and ecosystems at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC by phone.

“In the longer term you will have a bigger user base who will want to upgrade to a better phone. Apple will benefit post-2018 with a maturing user base and the 4G network will be available everywhere. People will be using more services. In the next two years it would be a good idea for Apple to roll out their retail footprint and invest in manufacturing.”

Apple’s cheapest smartphone model is the iPhone SE which retails in India at 27,000 rupees ($420.50). Currently sub-$200 phones are the most popular in India. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has continuously talked up the potential of the Indian market and revealed earlier this year that Apple had “all-time record revenue results” in the country in 2016. Apple is keen to expand and do well in India given cooling sales in China.

Cook has visited the country and met with officials. Apple has set up a partnership with Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron which is set to soon start assembling iPhones in India, a move which could bring the cost of the device down. At the same time, Samsung has struggled in India for the past few years, but has a number of lower cost devices that could appeal. But it will also be hoping to find new consumers for its higher priced Galaxy S8 smartphone which was recently released.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Google paid its self-driving car boss $120 million — and then he left for Uber

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Embattled engineer Anthony Levandowski collected USD 120 million from Google, despite involvement with at least one start-up that would ultimately compete with the company, according to new legal filings.

Levandowski was already trying to staff up his competing start-up, Otto, while he worked at Google — but he waited until he got his payout to make the details of Otto public, a lawsuit said.

Levandowski is at the nexus of a battle between what is now Alphabet’s self-driving car company, Waymo, and ride-hailing start-up Uber. Waymo alleges that Levandowski stole thousands of documents and trade secrets for Otto, which went on to be rapidly acquired by Uber.

New court documents allege that Levandowski’s conflicts of interest may have been much deeper. Not only did Levandowski try to poach Google employees, the lawsuit said, but he may have been involved in competing side businesses called Odin Wave and Tyto Lidar.

Levandowski denied having ownership interested in Odin Wave when questioned in mid-2013, the lawsuit said, and also helped Google do due diligence for a potential acquisition of Tyto — a company that Otto later acquired.

“Throughout this process, Levandowski never disclosed a relationship with Tyto and its employees,” the lawsuit said. “Google now believes that Levandowski in fact had a relationship with Tyto and its employees that conflicted with Levandowski’s duties to Google.”

Levandowski hasn’t been the only engineer to get hefty sums from Waymo. In the suit, Google said it has had to provide incentives” to convince numerous other employees not to follow Levandowski to Uber. Uber and Waymo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg has previously reported that high paychecks prompted attrition at Google’s car project. Bloomberg also reported that Levandowski had a long history of side projects during his time at Google, many sanctioned by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

“Anthony is a rogue force of nature,” former Google self-driving car executive told Bloomberg. “Each phase of his Google career he had a separate company doing exactly the same work.”

Levandowski has invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination in the lawsuit, according to a transcript obtained by The New York Times. Lawyers for Levandowski could no immediately be reached.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

What to watch for in the Samsung Galaxy S8 launch

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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South Korean smartphone maker Samsung Electronics is under pressure to deliver the goods as it launches its latest model, the Galaxy S8, on March 29, in New York.

Besides excitement over new features the Galaxy S8 is expected to debut, all eyes are on whether the electronics giant’s latest offering will restore trust among its customer base as Samsung’s competitors attempt to ramp up their share of the market.

The company has a lot riding on the release after a previous model, the Galaxy Note 7, came under fire for exploding due to battery malfunctions. Samsung followed up with a major product recall and eventually terminated Note 7 production.

Amidst a flurry of leaks and rumors ahead of the launch, a feature the S8 is sure to debut is its new voice assistant Bixby — Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Siri. A blog post from Samsung’s head of R&D InJong Rhee detailed how Bixby would offer a “deeper experience” compared to its competitors.

Analysts said that while Samsung has talked a big game, it remains to be seen how well Bixby will perform. “They’ve talked about it but we need to see it in action. We need to see how well it executes, we need to see how the software works,” said Bryan Ma, vice president at IDC Asia Pacific.

“The bigger thing to watch out for is the Viv acquisition that they made,” said Ma. Viv is a company specializing in artificial intelligence that was founded by the creators of Siri.

“The problem is, it hasn’t been integrated yet. They just made that acquisition … Right now, we can’t get too carried away with how Bixby’s going to be. I’ll believe it when I see it, probably later this year or in the next year,” Ma added.

In light of the Note 7 recall, hardware and battery quality will also be “front and center” for the launch, said Ishan Dutt, research analyst at Canalys. Samsung has done well post-recall in getting the message across that it was taking quality control seriously, Dutt added.

The company developed an “8-Point Battery Safety Check” in response to battery defects in the Note 7 in a bid to redeem consumer trust.

“This phone really can’t afford to have issues,” Dutt said.

As for the leaks, tech insiders are predicting that the Galaxy S8 will no longer have a home button so that there’s more room for a larger display screen. The phone’s fingerprint sensor is also rumored to be moved to the back of the phone.

One aspect of Samsung’s strategy that has confused is the company’s announcement that it would sell refurbished Galaxy Note 7 phones in the same week it launches the new S8.

“Completely baffling,” Ma said, “In their defense, if it’s about helping the environment, … maybe they’re getting a little bit of money out of it? But at the end of the day, it’s a perception thing. Why remind people about it again?”

Dutt agreed, “It seems to be perhaps not the best step in terms of PR to be even … overshadowing (the S8 launch and) also reminding people about the Note 7 at a time when the focus really should be on the new device and starting afresh.”

“I think ultimately, this is going to be something that will get Samsung back on its feet after the problems of last year. The challenge, however, is going to be Apple. Apple’s got a phone that, if you believe the rumor mill, is going to be a tremendous blockbuster later this year,” Ma said.

Apple is expected to launch a new smartphone in September this year — the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. And while the company has not confirmed the name of the new model, many in the market have already begun calling it the iPhone 8.

“In that sense, Samsung still has quite a bit of an uphill battle to go,” Ma said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow