Apple Inc on Tuesday invited members of the media to an event on Wednesday next week in San Francisco for what is expected to be the debut of a new-generation iPhone.
E-mail invitations bore the cryptic message, “It’s almost here” and a large number “12” casting a shadow that appeared to be the number five, suggesting that the event would spotlight the long-anticipated iPhone 5.
Leaks and rumors portray the new iPhone as having a larger touch-screen than its predecessor and say that it is to be available by the end of the month.
Photo: Reuters
Demand for what is being referred to as the “iPhone 5” is likely to be high, with analysts convinced that many people in the market for handsets have put off purchases to wait for the latest Apple offering.
“While our checks indicated consumers are delaying iPhone 4S purchases in anticipation of the iPhone 5, we anticipate an LTE iPhone 5 with a new hardware form factor will result in record iPhone sales,” Canaccord Genuity brokerage firm said in a note to investors.
Apple shares ended the official trading day at US$674.97 and then inched up to US$675.25 in after-market trades.
Samsung Electronics Co mobile phones remained the most popular in the US with 25.6 percent of the market, but third-place Apple gained ground to claim 16.3 percent as of the end of July, according to industry tracker comScore.
Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Amazon.com are out to grab spotlights ahead of the Apple event with announcements of their own this week.
Nokia Oyj and Microsoft were set to host a media event in New York yesterday, most likely to launch one or more smartphones using the Windows Phone 8 operating system.
Nokia on Tuesday unveiled a free music streaming service for US customers with its Lumia handsets, without ads, as the firm seeks to gain traction in the smartphone market.
The Finnish company, once the leader in mobile phones, has been losing market share as consumers move to smartphones powered by Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android operating system.
Google-owned Motorola Mobility and US telecom titan Verizon Wireless were also set to host their own New York event yesterday, with analysts predicting they were to introduce a beefed-up Razr smartphone powered by Android software.
Today, Amazon.com is expected to debut a new version of its popular Kindle tablets at an event in Southern California.
Meanwhile, Taiwan-based consumer electronics titan HTC Corp (宏達電) plans a Sept. 19 event in New York, at which it is expected to unveil slick new smartphones powered by Microsoft’s new Windows 8 mobile software platform.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last