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Tag: apple watch

  • Hermès Apple Watch launched at up to $1499

    Hermès Apple Watch launched at up to $1499

    Hermès and Nike have revealed new collaborations with Apple, to produce exclusive co-branded Apple Watches.

    Hermès introduced new Apple Watch styles and an expanded assortment of wristbands that incorporate its signature palette alongside a series of bold new colors.

    Meanwhile, Nike is focused on functionality for the sportsperson, with the Apple Watch Nike+ Series 2, featuring GPS, a two-times-brighter display, water resistance to 50m and a dual-core processor.

    Launch dates in Asia

    In Asia, the Apple Watch Hermès will be available from September 23 in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Singapore and Taiwan. The Nike watch goes on sale from yesterday, September 9.

    The Hermès models range in price from US$1149 to $1499, while the Nike sells for a more affordable $369 – $399. The Hermès wristbands will also be sold separately.

    Apple watch Hermes double buckle cuff

    Hermes says the design process was driven “entirely by a shared ambition for ultimate beauty and utility,” featuring exclusive watch face designs inspired by the iconic Clipper, Cape Cod and Espace Hermès models.

    “Ours is a partnership born of parallel thinking and mutual regard — we share similar preoccupations, ever evolving and refining our design,” said Jonathan Ive, Apple’s chief design officer.

    Siri speaks

    The Apple Watch Nike+ also includes exclusive Siri commands and Nike watch faces along with deep integration with the new Nike+ Run Club app to motivate wearers to go for a run, coaching plans that adapt to their unique schedule and progress, and guidance from the world’s best coaches and athletes.

    “Apple Watch is the ultimate device for a healthy life and we wanted to push it further to create the best smartwatch in the world for runners and athletes,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO. “Apple Watch Nike+ takes performance tracking to a whole new level and we can’t wait to bring it to the world’s largest community of runners.”

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  • iPhone SE launch date revealed

    iPhone SE launch date revealed

    The Asia-Pacific iPhone SE launch dates have been revealed.

    In Asia-Pacific, customers in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore will be able to order the new handset model beginning Thursday, March 24, with availability beginning Thursday, March 31.

    The iPhone SE will be available “in early April” in India and Taiwan, but release dates were not given for other Asian markets.

    The new iPhone SE marks a philosophical shift into a lower price bracket for the tech giant, with the SE essentially an evolution of the old iPhone 5 product with features previously only found in the larger iPhone 6 models.

    iPhoneSE-RsGld-3Angles-LockScreen-PR_US-EN-PRINT

    Apple says the SE is the world’s most powerful phone with a four-inch display, “reinvented from the inside out, giving customers a powerful, full-featured iPhone no matter which model they choose”.

    The 64-bit A9 chip, introduced in iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, offers iPhone SE customers two times faster CPU and three times faster GPU performance compared to iPhone 5s, offering longer battery life and less energy use. It features M9, Apple’s new generation motion coprocessor and faster wi-fi.

    Pricing will start at US$399 in the US for a 16Gb model, with prices yet to be revealed for Asian markets.

    But both the tech and business community appeared underwhelmed by Apple’s launch overnight, which also included a new 9.7 inch iPad Pro and cheaper models of the Apple Watch.

    “Given the softness of Apple’s performance last quarter, today’s event was an opportunity for the company to start regaining some of the momentum it has lost,” commented Neil Saunders, CEO of retail analyst Conlumino.

    “Unfortunately, this opportunity was largely squandered with fairly mundane product updates being the sole focus of the occasion. Gone was the sense of wow, gone was the sense of excitement that makes consumers want to dash out and get the latest Apple products.”

    Saunders says the technical ability and engineering prowess of Apple is indisputable, but the launch unveiled little more than tweaks.

    “As such they will likely little to persuade consumers, especially in saturated core markets like the US and the UK, to rush out and upgrade. The one slight positive is that some of the cheaper price points, across lines like Apple Watch and the new smaller iPhone, will allow Apple to penetrate some consumer segments that have, hitherto, found its products too expensive.

    “However, that Apple should need to focus on price is a worrying sign and a reversal on the previous position that its products were so innovative and cutting edge that it was able to command a premium.”

    Saunders concluded that Apple needs to come up with “revolutionary rather than evolutionary product” this year.

    “It has failed to do so at this event, which does not bode well for future sales or market share.”

     

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  • Apple Retail Stores Headed To India Soon

    Apple Retail Stores Headed To India Soon

    Apple is working to open retail stores in India, now the world’s second-largest smartphone market. Although Apple has eyed the country for a while now, the company’s plans point to a quick and rapid expansion to help its iPhone sales.

    Apple is working to open its first retail stores in India, a country of 1.3 billion people that’s grown into the world’s second-largest smartphone market, behind China, and one that can help keep new customers coming to the iPhone.

    To get that process started, Apple submitted an application to receive government approval to open its first stores there, though it didn’t get the “format” quite right and has resubmitted the application, according to a Feb. 7 report from Bloomberg Business. An unnamed source told the publication that it’s not clear how many stores Apple aims to open, or in what time frame the application may be approved.

    During Apple’s Jan. 26 earning call with analysts, CEO Tim Cook pointed to India as an “incredibly exciting” market for growth and an example of Apple’s ability to find investment opportunities during times of economic uncertainty.

    “Some of the most important breakthrough products in Apple’s history were born as a result of investing through the downturn,” Cook said during the call. “We’ve also seen these times as opportunities to invest in new markets, just as we’re doing now in areas such as India.”

    As of the close of Apple’s quarter, 66% of its revenue was generated outside of the US. Despite economic softness, Cook said that Apple saw its best results ever in Greater China, with revenue growing 14% over last year and 47% sequentially.

    It currently has 28 stores in China and plans to have 40 by this summer.

    Highlighting the potential that India represents, Cook noted that while the median age in China is around 36 or 37, in India it’s 27.

    “Almost half the people in India are below 25,” Cook noted. “So I see the demographics there also being incredibly great for a consumer brand and for people that really want the best products.”

    Sales of iPhones in India grew 76% during the quarter.

    During the calendar third quarter of 2015, one in three smartphones shipped in India was 4G enabled, an almost threefold increase over the previous quarter

    Nearly half of the smartphones sold there during the quarter had 5-inch-plus displays and prices below $200. With sub-$150 LTE devices, Samsung currently dominates India’s budding smartphone market, with a 24% share, followed by Micromax, an Indian brand, with a 16.7% share.

    Apple’s marketshare, by comparison, is around 2%, which analysts attribute, in part, to Indian consumers’ lack of an in-store experience and the relative high prices of the iPhone.

    Following Apple’s last earnings call, Jackdaw Research analyst Jan Dawson explained that while Apple continues to diversify its revenue streams, the size of its iPhone base “becomes ever more important to its revenue growth.”

    While Apple introduced the Apple Watch, Apple TV, Apple Music, and the iPad Pro in 2015 to spur growth and profitability, Dawson wrote, “almost all of these new products and services are tied to the iPhone in some way, and benefit greatly from the installed base of a half billion iPhone users.”

    While the iPhone itself will contribute less to Apple’s overall performance going forward, Dawson added, “it’s going to become ever more central to Apple’s future growth.”

    IDC analyst Kiran Kumar expects smartphone marketshare in India to finally outstrip feature phones in 2016, and for the country to see a “healthy double-digit growth rate” over the next few years.

    From the research of Counterpoint, “India smartphone user base grew to 220 million users by the end of 2015, surpassing [the United States] for the first time ever.”

     

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  • China is buying about one-fifth of the world’s Apple Watches

    China is buying about one-fifth of the world’s Apple Watches

    Demand from China has helped drive the massive success of the iPhones 6, but will it do the same for the Apple Watch? The early numbers look a bit muted, though still promising.

    Since the device’s release in May, research firm RedTech Advisors/TalkingData estimates that over 1 million of the watches have been sold in China. Sales for the three-month period ending in June topped out at over 626,000, which the company calculates to equal 22% of estimated global sales of 2.8 million devices.

    That’s lower than China’s overall contribution to Apple’s revenues. While the company doesn’t disclose disclose iPhone sales by region, last quarter Apple generated 26% of its revenues from China, driven by sales of its smartphone.

    Growth of the Apple Watch is slowing in China, and sales aren’t expected to increase until November, when China’s e-commerce companies launch their Cyber Monday-esque Single’s Day deals, and then later through Chinese New Year in February.

    RedTech said the uptake for the Apple Watch in China has been slower than other Apple products, but attributes this to a lack of supply rather than demand. The company estimates that 30% of activated Apple watches in China came from “grey market” third-party vendors during the product’s release, but as supply increased, grey-market sales plummeted to 13%. Right now, the firm calculates that 40% of Apple Watch sales are coming from official Apple Stores, another 28% come from its official Chinese online store, and the remainder from third-party vendors, gifts, and overseas vendors.

    Apple is aggressively expanding its retail presence in China, and plans to double its number of retail outlets in China by 2016 to 40.

    It may be difficult determine whether the Apple Watch has been a success for some time, either in China or globally. Smart wristbands, unlike phones, are a relatively new type of hardware. IDC estimates that Apple globally has 19% of wearable market share, a remarkable feat given that Apple’s watch has only been available for just over a three month period.

    But one Apple supplier from Taiwan complained that orders for watch components were lower than anticipated, which suggests Apple had even higher expectations.

  • Singapore greets Apple Watch with a shrug

    Singapore greets Apple Watch with a shrug

    In tech-savvy Singapore, new Apple products typically trigger snaking lines spanning multiple blocks, but the Apple Watch got short shrift.

    When stores on the city’s Orchard shopping district opened their doors at 9am, a group of around 40 had gathered at the iconic ION mall. Across the street, around 15 people were milling outside Paragon’s iStudio store while a crowd of around 25 lined up outside luxury watch store The Hour Glass.

    Because Singapore doesn’t have an Apple retail store, only select authorized re-sellers are allowed to carry the Cupertino giant’s products.

    “I was expecting a much longer queue, so this is good news for me,” exclaimed Mario Dinata, a mobile engineer waiting in line at iStudio.

    Indeed, the turnout pales in comparison to previous Apple launches in the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state. Last September, hundreds of fans queued for the iPhone 6 days before the official launch after slots for online pre-orders vanished in mere minutes.

    The smartwatch only becomes available on Apple Singapore’s online store on Friday afternoon and phone inquiries have been minimal in the past week, according to employees at the iStudio store.

    As an app developer, Dinata says he’s often first in line for the newest Apple toys so he can test it out before his competitors. “This is definitely much smaller than previous lines,” he said, smiling.

    None of the stores were able to provide a sales update by mid-morning, but judging by a brief survey of people in line, the Apple Watch Sport was by far the most in demand out of the three models.

    The 38mm Sport retails for $349, versus $549 for the Apple Watch. Local pricing of the third option, the luxury Apple Watch Edition crafted from 18-karat gold, remained unconfirmed by Friday morning.

    “If I had the money, I would buy the Edition model any day over a luxury Swiss watch,” remarked 56-year old Mrs. Li, who declined to give her first name. “I’m buying the Sport today since it’s the cheapest one available. I’m an Apple fan, so I have to get the Watch. I have all their other products.”

    The device has already hit the market elsewhere in the region following an April launch in Japan, China and Hong Kong. Aside from Singapore, the watch also goes in sale in six other countries Friday, including South Korea and Taiwan.

    Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at technology advisory Enderle Group, doesn’t expect much hype going forward.

    “The Watch has one problem the iPhone didn’t have. Kids have stopped using watches some time ago, so Apple has to undo this perception that watches are for old folks and out of date,” he told CNBC. “This will likely go through three versions before reaching its stride, if it ever does.”

    Apple CEO Tim Cook has remained silent on global sales thus far, but 2.8 million units may have been sold since its April debut, Slice Intelligence told Reuters earlier this month.

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  • Singapore, Taiwan, Korea to get Apple Watch

    Singapore, Taiwan, Korea to get Apple Watch

    Singaporeans, Taiwanese and South Koreans will be capable of purchase the Apple Watch from later this month.

    “The response to Apple Watch has surpassed our expectations in each approach, and we’re thrilled to convey it to extra clients around the globe,” stated Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice chairman of Operations. “We’re additionally making nice progress with the backlog of Apple Watch orders, and we thank our clients for his or her endurance. All orders positioned via Might, with the only exception of Apple Watch 42 mm Area Black Stainless Metal with Area Black Hyperlink Bracelet, will ship to clients inside two weeks. At the moment, we’ll additionally start promoting some fashions in our Apple Retail Shops.”

    Apple says the Apple Watch might be obtainable in Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Mexico Spain and Switzerland from Friday, June 26 from the Apple On-line Retailer, Apple’s retail shops and chosen authorised resellers.

    The world’s developer group has already created hundreds of apps for Apple Watch with new apps for patrons to discover and uncover. Apple Watch wearers can already hold monitor of a Singapore Airways flight, keep in contact with associates in South Korea with KakaoTalk, discover the close by YouBike station in Taiwan and entry film tickets with Cinepolis in Mexico.

  • Apple watch to be available in Singapore from June 26

    Apple watch to be available in Singapore from June 26

    Apple Watch will be available in Singapore from June 26, according to a press statement on Apple’s website on Thursday.

    Fans will be able to buy the smartwatch from Apple’s online and retail stores, and selected authorised resellers.

    Selected models of the Apple Watch will also be available from boutique store Malmaison by The Hour Glass in Singapore.

    The watch will also be available in six other countries on June 26 – Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan.