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‘Anemic’ iPhone 8 demand drags Apple shares lower

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Apple Inc’s shares fell nearly 3 percent on Thursday on signs of weak demand for the iPhone 8 that caused analysts and investors to question the company’s staggered release strategy for its latest phones.

Wireless carriers in the United States and Canada have reported slow third-quarter customer upgrades. While some expect a pickup after the iPhone X goes on sale in November, others cautioned that phone’s high price tag could weigh on demand.

The chief executive of Rogers Communication, Canada’s largest mobile network, on Thursday said appetite for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which went on sale in September, had been “anemic,” the latest sign of weak sales for those phones ahead of the Nov. 3 launch of the pricier iPhone X.

But some analysts said overall phone production looked in line with their earlier expectations, and that it is unclear whether weak iPhone 8 sales would hurt iPhone revenue and margins because users may still be buying more profitable older models with more memory.

Verizon Communication Inc’s Chief Financial Officer Matt Ellis said the number of third-quarter phone upgrades fell versus previous years, but that he expected an upgrade surge when the iPhone X is released.

“I think what you’re seeing there is a difference in timing of some of the new devices coming out versus what we’ve historically seen,” Ellis told an earnings call.

“As we get into the holiday season, some of those new devices come out, we think we will see strong demand.”

The uncertainty about demand coupled with a Taiwan media report of a cut in iPhone 8 production pushed Apple shares down 2.8 percent by midday.
“The Street is hyper-sensitive to any speed bumps around this next iPhone cycle and (that) speaks to the knee-jerk reaction we are seeing in shares,” said Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer at GBH Insights in New York.

“iPhone 8 demand has been naturally soft out of the gates with the main event being the iPhone X launch in early November. (But) this is the early innings of what we believe is the biggest iPhone product cycle with X leading the way.”

U.S. wireless carrier AT&T said last week its third-quarter postpaid handset upgrades were down by nearly 900,000 from a year ago.

SUPPLY CHAIN

Apple no longer gives regular updates on sales numbers, but indications from supply channels, wireless carriers and analysts help shed light on demand.
When Apple announced the plan to release both phones before the end of 2017, fans were disappointed they would have to wait until November for the iPhone X.

But there are also concerns that the more expensive phone marking the iPhone’s 10th anniversary may see a muted reception compared to the frenzy that normally greets Apple phone launches.

A carrier store survey suggested the cheaper iPhone 7 was outselling its successor just a month after iPhone 8’s launch, KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh said this week.

The post ‘Anemic’ iPhone 8 demand drags Apple shares lower appeared first on Kashmir Patriot.


Paytm Launches ‘Inbox’, a Full-Fledged Chat Platform That Preempts WhatsApp’s Payments Entry

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On Thursday Paytm officially rolled out a messaging feature, which had been reported about earlier in August. Called Paytm Inbox, the feature is a full messaging platform, which allows users to chat using messages, share photos and videos, and of course, you can send and receive money (using the Paytm Wallet). In a pretty clear dig at WhatsApp, the Paytm blog post about the new feature also mentions Message Recall as a highlight feature – a jab at how long it took to get WhatsApp Delete for Everyone. It also shares another new WhatsApp feature – live location sharing.

“We have realised that besides making payments, our users and merchants also like to communicate with each other,” said Deepak Abbot, Senior Vice President, Paytm. “There is a need of social messaging, commerce and payments seamlessly blending into one another.”

“One step for us towards meeting this consumer need is ‘Paytm Inbox’ where you can chat with friends/ merchants and send/ receive money effortlessly and securely,” he added. “This will help us drive greater engagement on our platform and build a stronger bond with our customers.”

The update – which is already available on Android, and coming to iOS soon – adds Inbox to the main Paytm app, in the bottom navigation bar. Tap on the Inbox and you can start chatting with your friends. It uses your Paytm linked phone number and if you press the new message button, it shows you the phone numbers of all your friends who use the app as well. Given how many people have used Paytm – whether it was to take advantage of an e-commerce deal, to set up payments for Uber, or even to buy something offline when there was no cash available – we saw almost all of our phone contacts, which is a big advantage Paytm Inbox has over most new messaging apps, in that you can assume most of your contacts already are on the platform.

The actual messaging experience in Paytm is pretty standard though one disappointing UI element is that the text box is just a single line. This means that if you type a slightly long text of more than five or six words, you can’t see what you were saying at the beginning on the sentence. This also makes it harder to edit your message before sending it.

On the bottom row, you’ll see other icons, for the camera, gallery, send and receive money, and a location icon. We tested this using a second Paytm account with Inbox and it works as expected. However, if you’re chatting with someone who either has an older version of the app (or with an iOS user), they won’t get your message, or your money requests. Because of this, it might be a few days or even weeks before you can use Paytm Inbox ubiquitously, as people catch up to the latest version.

According to Paytm, Inbox will make payments easier, “as everyone from individuals to local retail stores to home-based entrepreneurs can now interact and initiate payments on-the-go.”

The company added in a statement that “the messaging platform is encrypted end-to-end, and users can initiate private conversations and create group chats. They can also send photos and videos instantly, share live location, capture and share moments with the built-in camera. There is also a feature allowing users to recall their messages using ‘Delete for All’.”

It’s worth pointing out that some time ago, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma spoke to Gadgets 360 and said that the [then] upcoming chat feature wasn’t a WhatsApp competitor. The use case, he suggested at the time, was around just before and after sending money – so you could tell someone how much money to send, or confirm that the money was received. At the time, the idea seemed more like the vision for FreeCharge’s Chat and Pay feature, which was introduced in March 2016.

So why the digs at WhatsApp? Well, the chat giant – WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform in India, with at least 200 million active users in the country – has been making its own foray into the payments space. It’s testing a business messaging service, and it’s expected to add UPI integration this year, so you could for example exchange messages with a chatbot to book movie tickets, and complete the payment, all from within WhatsApp. It’s similar to how WeChat, the popular chat platform in China, is also the leading payments platform in that company.

Of course, Paytm is also a huge platform in India, with a user base that grew exponentially after the demonetisation initiative in November 2016 – Paytm also says it now has over 200 million wallets. The two companies are getting more and more alike, but they’re coming to the same place from different directions, so it’s going to be interesting to see which one offers the more comprehensive experience to users once WhatsApp’s payments features are live.

Disclosure: Paytm’s parent company One97 is an investor in Gadgets 360.

The post Paytm Launches ‘Inbox’, a Full-Fledged Chat Platform That Preempts WhatsApp’s Payments Entry appeared first on Kashmir Patriot.

Israeli start-up says Apple copied its patented smartphone camera technology

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An Israeli startup has sued Apple Inc , accusing the iPhonemaker of copying its patented smartphone camera technology.

Tel Aviv-based Corephotonics Ltd filed its patent infringement case against Apple in federal court in San Jose, California, on Monday.

 

Corephotonics, which has raised $50 million from several high-profile venture capital firms and other investors, said its patented dual camera technology for mobile devices was incorporated by Apple in the iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8 Plus without its authorization.

According to the lawsuit, Corephotonics Chief Executive David Mendlovic approached Apple about a partnership. Apple praised the startup’s technology but refused to license it, Corephotonics said, even suggesting it could infringe the latter’s patents with little consequence.

According to the complaint, “Apple’s lead negotiator expressed contempt for Corephotonics’ patents, telling Dr. Mendlovic and others that even if Apple infringed, it would take years and millions of dollars in litigation before Apple might have to pay something.”

An Apple spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

Many high-end smartphones include dual camera systems that can zoom in without losing image quality. Apple has its own patents on dual camera technology.

Through its latest funding round in January, Corephotonics raised $15 million from investors that included Samsung Ventures, electronics manufacturer Foxconn and chip maker MediaTek Inc.

 MediaTek supplies modem chips to Apple and Foxconn is a contract manufacturer for Apple.
Corephotonics’ other investors include Magma VC, Amiti Ventures, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and Solina Chau’s Horizon Ventures, as well as flash storage maker SanDisk and Chinese telephone services provider CK Telecom.
Corephotonics is represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the law firm that advised Samsung Electronics Co on its patent litigation with Apple.

The post Israeli start-up says Apple copied its patented smartphone camera technology appeared first on Kashmir Patriot.

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