Apple reportedly sells 5 million iPhones to China Unicom

Filed under: Hardware, Odds and ends, Apple, iPhone

It appears that China Unicom has been selected as the sole distributor of iPhones in China, according to a report in the International Business Times today. While the deal has yet to be finalized, the company has purchased 5 million WCDMA iPhones without Wi-Fi from Apple at a price of 10 billion yuan (US$1.46 billion).

China Unicom is to begin selling the 3G phones in September at company stalls in Carrefour stores, as well as at several large China Unicom retail outlets. The phones are expected to sell for 2,400 yuan (US$352 as of this writing) for an 8GB model and 4,800 yuan (US$704) for a 16GB iPhone. It's estimated that Apple's profit from each sale is about 1,100 yuan (US$161).

China Unicom faces stiff competition from black market iPhones, which are selling for as low as 400 yuan ($59). The International Business Times report notes that Apple made large concessions to China Unicom in order to enter the massive Chinese market. To give some scale to the size of this sale, Apple reported during the 3Q 2009 conference call with Wall Street analysts that they had sold a total of 5.2 million iPhones in the last quarter.

Apple reportedly sells 5 million iPhones to China Unicom originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple reportedly sells 5 million iPhones to China Unicom originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Palm Pre debacle highlights location privacy issues

Reports about Palm keeping track of Pre users has shown how location services can backfire, and the importance of making users aware of how information is used.

Review: Zensify for iPhone

Zensify is a social network aggregator for the iPhone and iPod touch that feeds a number of social networking services into one interface. It's useful for seeing trends in topics, but falls short in comparison to more powerful tools and those that are a bit smarter.

Apple Tablet to Offer Webcam Option, Serve as Touchscreen Input Device for Macs?

Gizmodo reports on details regarding Apple's rumored tablet computer from a source believed to have had access to information on the device. The source reports that the device will look much like a large iPhone, complete with home button and black p...

Microsoft Details Shift From Entourage to Outlook for Next Major Release, Announces Office 2008 Business Edition

Microsoft today announced that the next major version of Office for Mac will see the replacement of its Entourage for Mac e-mail client with Outlook for Mac. The company has also deployed a Web Services Edition of Entourage 2008 for Mac beginning to...

Gizmodo: More (and Less) on the Apple iTablet

Gizmodo honcho Brian Lam claims to have received a cryptic call with nebulous details on the much-rumored Apple iTablet, shedding light and casting in shadow at the same time. Highlights:

• Lam believes the source is in a position to know about the iTablet
• The source implies he or she has sat in meetings about the device
• 10 inch screen
• Looks just like a big iPhone (though that may change)
• 2 versions: with webcam and without (for education?)
• $700 - $900 price tag
• May function as secondary touchpad/screen for Macs
• OS is still big question mark
• Super-secret Lam-Googled product code name that “made sense”

So, do we know more now… or less?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Gizmodo: More (and Less) on the Apple iTablet

Chillingo’s The Quest - 3D Fantasy RPG Review

Miss the old days of the Dungeons & Dragons dungeon crawler? With The Quest - 3D Fantasy RPG , you'll be able to hack, slash and interact with virtual characters for over 50 hours of gameplay.I was amazed by the 3D graphics engine and even more so when I realized ...

SwitchEasy Colors for the iPhone 3G/3GS

SwitchEasy Colors for the iPhone 3G/3GsDespite the iPhone's sleek and smooth design, one thing is for certain. It's not made for a klutz like me. I cannot count the number of times it has dropped from my hand, bags, lap... I'm duly surprised that it has managed thus far without ...

OS X Snow Leopard 10A432 Installer Tweaks, Public Launch on August 28th?

With yesterday's developer seed of the rumored OS X Snow Leopard "Golden Master" (Build 10A432), users with access to the latest version have been examining it for changes. Among the most obvious modifications, as noted by Gear Live, is a change in ...

China Unicom Purchases 5 Million iPhones to Go on Sale Next Month?

International Business Times covers reports from Chinese-language media claiming that wireless carrier China Unicom has purchased 5 million China-specific iPhones from Apple and will begin selling them next month.

China Unicom, the po...

eBook Roundup: 8 Apps for iPhone readers

Filed under: Reviews, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

An e-book (or ebook, or eBook, depending upon who you ask) is the digital equivalent of a paper book. According to KiwiTech, the publishers of Classics2Go, the market for eBooks has increased more than 60% over the last six years and growth from this point is expected to be very strong.

We can reasonably connect the start of this burgeoning market to the release of the Amazon Kindle in 2007. Strong sales convinced some wary readers that this was a viable option. You could carry a few hundred books under your arm, and the reading experience was, well, acceptable. Going on a long trip? Wouldn't it be nice to take about 20 pounds of paper out of your luggage?

2007 also marked the introduction of the iPhone; it took about a year for eBook apps to appear on the iPhone. Now there are so many of them that finding the right one for your purposes can be a confusing prospect. I would like to clarify all this a bit by categorizing the four types of eBook apps, at least so far, and letting you know what you can expect from each.

In deciding upon an eBook reader you need to consider: what sort of material you will be reading, how much you are willing to spend (if anything) and the quality of the viewing experience.

Last year, Andrew Kazmierski and Phill Ryu released Classics (iTunes link). Their idea was to take a bunch of books in the public domain, 22 in the current release, and control all aspects of the user experience. We covered the first release of Classics upon its original release when its price was $2.99. Since then, the price has dropped to .99 and the number of books has increased.

This app looked so impressive that it was featured in an Apple iPhone commercial. Upon launch, the reader is presented with a nicely rendered wooden bookshelf displaying colorful dust jackets. Click on a book and start reading. There is no wait, since all the books were downloaded with the app. Future updates bring more books. The books are all the kind of classics that are on school reading lists ranging from Frankenstein and Dracula, to The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The feature set is slim. Tap the right side of the screen or swipe right to left and the sepia toned pages turn using a pleasing animation. There are two buttons on the top of the screen. One brings down a maroon and gold bookmark and sends you to the bookshelf. When you click on the book again, you are brought to where you left off. The second button takes you to a table of contents. The bottom of the screen tells you the name of the chapter you are reading and what page you are on. The top of the screen displays the title of the book. Illustrations in books like Alice in Wonderland are nicely rendered, and the text is attractively formatted. A change in color of the title bar gives you an idea of where you are in the book.

Continue reading eBook Roundup: 8 Apps for iPhone readers

eBook Roundup: 8 Apps for iPhone readers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

eBook Roundup: 8 Apps for iPhone readers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Fake or Really Fake? Apple iTablet UI Goes YouTube

It’s just a snippet of the mythical iTablet user interface, and while Gizmodo is almost sure it’s fake, Brian Lam holds one tiny breath of hope for it to be true. Either way, it’s an interesting concept. We’ve heard rumors that, if Apple’s tablet uses a version of the iPhone OS, it may run multiple iPhone apps as windows on the larger screen.

We’re guessing most of you will chime in with “fake, fake, fakety, fake!” in the comments, but what do you think of a multi-window (and multitasking!) iPhone-like OS?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Fake or Really Fake? Apple iTablet UI Goes YouTube

5 Million iPhones Heading to China Unicom?

China Unicom, the second largest mobile carrier in the world’s largest mobile market, has reportedly bought 5 million iPhones from Apple as it makes ready to launch the device in September.

These won’t be the same iPhones sold in the rest of the world, however, as they’ll be using China-specific WCDMA radios, and will also lack Wi-Fi. Aiya. That, of course, leaves the door open for gray market iPhones — a staple in the nation since the original iPhone 2G launch in 2007 — to linger around and compete with the official, crippled version. (Insert Verizon joke here if you must).

Also changing according to the report is Apple’s share of the money. While they typically get 20-30% of profits, they’ll be making do with 1000-1100 Yuan per unit under terms of this deal (which allegedly may run as long as 3 years).

Either way, and long-in-the-making though it may be, it’s a huge deal for Apple and the iPhone in a huge market. Guess we’ll see what this does for Gartner’s numbers next year…

(International Business Times via Apple Insider)

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

5 Million iPhones Heading to China Unicom?

Apps for Less: Pocket Tunes Radio, Galaga REMIX, Dig Dug REMIX, Star Defense

For those of you who are not familiar with our Apps for Less posts, they are a great way for us to point out a few good iPhone (and iPod touch) applications available in the App Store that are currently on sale, or ones that have come down to a price permanently that we feel are worth mentioning to our readers.

Today’s first application happens to be one of my personal favorites - Pocket Tunes Radio. [iTunes Link] Not only does it have a ton of free internet radio stations you also get the ability to stream Sirius XM channels. And most of the channels that were omitted from the official Sirius XM application are actually available with Pocket Tunes Radio! Howard Stern anyone? Pocket Tunes Radio is now available for a limited time for $7.99 - $2 off it’s regular price.

Next up we have a pair of retro games many of you old school gamers should enjoy. Namco’s Galaga REMIX [iTunes Link] and Dig Dug REMIX [iTunes Link] are now on sale for $2.99 a piece! Namco has added a nice twist to two great classic games - the ability to play both the original arcade games and new remixed versions with new boss battles, power-up items, etc…

Last up for today we have another great iPhone game, ngmoco’s Star Defense [iTunes Link] has dropped permanently to a low $2.99! This is one game that has been covered here at TiPb more than once, so be sure to check it out.

So there you have it, three great applications at low prices that hopefully some of you will take advantage of. If you happen to have an application in the App Store that is on sale and want everyone to know about it, feel free to contact us and let us know!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apps for Less: Pocket Tunes Radio, Galaga REMIX, Dig Dug REMIX, Star Defense

iPhone Market Share Continuing to Climb

The research firm Gartner reports that, for the second quarter of 2009, the iPhone continues to increase its market share on a world-wide level. In fact, it leads the way with the highest increase of market share, as sales increased by 10.5% from one year ago.

This increase of market share can be accounted for due to a few separate reasons. For starters, the early June price drop of the iPhone 3G to $99 was clearly a great way to move inventory while boosting sales. Apple’s product release timing is also plays a large role in their success. While releasing iPhone 3GS to the market at the very end of the second quarter of 2009 all of the initial sales were included in this report.

Everyone knows the iPhone took mind share early on, and there’s little doubt left they own profit share as well. It will be interesting to see where market share ultimately ends up…

[via MacRumors]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone Market Share Continuing to Climb

Review: AT&T Navigator for iPhone

AT&T Navigator comes through by offering turn-by-turn directions and voice prompts for iPhone users, but it's not necessarily a big step up from Google Maps.