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Apple offers minimum Rs. 13,000 off on iPhone 5c, iPhone 4S via buyback scheme

Apple, in an attempt to boost sales of its iPhone 5c and iPhone 4S smartphones, is introducing a buyback scheme for the Indian market starting Saturday. The latest scheme will offer a minimum exchange price of Rs. 13,000 for an old smartphone.The news comes from a Twitter user named Manish Khatri, who is a retailer in Mumbai, and NDTV Gadgets has been able to verify this scheme from another source. Khatri writes on Twitter, "Buyback on iPhone 5c and iPhone 4S 8GB LIVE FROM TOMORROW (get minimum 13000 on selected models) *condition apply."

Khatri has also posted an image that includes the list of smartphones that can be traded in for the iPhone 5c and iPhone 4S. Interestingly, the list includes some of flagship smartphones also.
The smartphones that can be used for the buyback offer includes the BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry Q10, HTC One dual-SIM, HTC One mini, HTC Desire 500, HTC Desire 600, Nokia Lumia 925, Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8, Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, Sony Xperia Z1, Sony Xperia Z, Sony Xperia Z Ultra, Sony Xperia ZR, Sony Xperia C. The list also includes the Apple iPhone 4 8GB and 16GB models.
Earlier on Friday, the research firm Gartner said in a report that the iPhone 5c was expensive for India and other emerging markets.
In India, Apple is selling the 16GB iPhone 5c at Rs. 41,900, and the 32GB variant at Rs. 53,500. The iPhone 4S 8GB, in newly revised pricing, is available at Rs. 31,500 including taxes.
Apple launched both the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s in India on November 1, starting at Rs. 41,900 and Rs. 53,500 for the 16GB models, respectively. Both the smartphones were globally unveiled in September this year

Moto G dual-SIM smartphone to land in India with Android 4.4 KitKat: Report

While it has already been confirmed that Motorola will be launching the dual-SIM version of the Moto G in India in early-January 2014, and that the smartphone would be receiving a 'guaranteed' Android 4.4 KitKat the same month, a new report says the model that will ship in India will come pre-loaded with Google's latest iteration of Android.
Omio News Blog in a report has revealed Motorola's plans for the rollout of Moto G with the latest Android iteration in various countries.

The report quotes Mark Randal, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain & Operations, Motorola who while replying about Android 4.4 KitKat rollout plans for Moto G said that the company will be shipping the smartphone with Android 4.4 KitKat after Christmas. Considering that in India, the Moto G will be launched next year, in early January, it is quite evident that the device will be running Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box.

Further, the report notes that the Motorola Moto G will release in two waves  , the first wave includes countries namely Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico and UK, while the second wave includes US, South East Asia and other countries. Randal also revealed that the Motorola Moto G will be launched with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean in first wave countries, though they will also receive the Android 4.4 KitKat update by the end of January.

On Thursday, a tweet by Guy Kawasaki confirmed that the Motorola Moto G dual-SIM variant would be making it to the Indian market, as well as Brazil. While Motorola has already confirmed that the Moto G will be arriving in India, it has yet to reveal the precise plans for the type of retail availability.

The Motorola Moto G features a 4.5-inch HD 'edge-to-edge' display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels (translating to a pixel density of 329ppi) and boasts a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen. Powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor coupled with an Adreno 305 GPU, the Moto G features 1GB of RAM. On the optics front, the Moto G sports a 5-megapixel rear camera along with an LED flash and also includes a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The rear camera supports HD (720p) video recording.

The Motorola Moto G also features water-resistant nano-coating on the inside and outside. The Moto G packs a 2070mAh battery, which Motorola claims can deliver up to 30 percent more talktime than the Apple iPhone 5s.

Smartphones accounted for 55 percent of global phone sales in Q3: Gartner

Smartphone sales accounted for 55 percent of global mobile sales in the third quarter as customers in China and Latin America swapped their old phones for the higher end of the range gadgets, research firm Gartner said on Thursday.Worldwide smartphone sales rose nearly 46 percent from last year to 250.2 million units, it said, while overall mobile phone sales were up less than 6 percent at 455.6 million.

"Sales of feature phones (normal handsets) continued to decline and the decrease was more pronounced in markets where the average selling price (ASP) for feature phones was much closer to the ASP of affordable smartphones," said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta.
He said he expected smartphone sales of just below 1 billion devices for 2013.
Samsung kept the top spot in the smartphone segment, with a 32.1 percent market share, selling 80.36 millionsmartphones, up from 55 million in the same quarter last year, helped by its Note 3 large display smartphone.

Apple sold 23.2 percent more smartphones at 30.33 million, but its market share dropped to 12.1 percent from 14.3 percent.
Sales of Apple's new iPhone 5s and its low-cost iPhone 5c model had a modest impact on sales as both phones went on sale in September, the last month of the quarter.
Lenovo took the third spot with a 5.1 percent market share in the smartphone segment, just ahead of LG Electronics and Huawei, with market shares of 4.8 percent and 4.7 percent respectively.
All the companies are in especially fierce competition in the Chinese market, where customers are still replacing their old models with smartphones.
Of the smartphones sold, 81.9 percent were running on Google's mobile platform Android, while 12.1 percent used Apple's iOS and 3.6 percent were on Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Gartner said.

Blackberry saw its user base drop to 1.8 percent from 5.2 percent from the third quarter last year, it added.

Nokia to add Bluetooth LE to all Windows Phone 8 Lumias

An update called Lumia Black will enable the Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy technology for the entire WP8 Lumia lineup.



Nokia will roll out an update that will outfit all Lumia phones running Windows Phone 8 with the latest low-energy version of Bluetooth.
In a new FAQ, Nokia noted that the recent Amber update added Bluetooth LE to the Lumia 520, 620, 625, and 720. A future update dubbed Lumia Black will do the same for all other Windows Phone 8 Lumia handsets.
What's so special about Bluetooth LE? Built into Bluetooth 4.0, the low-energy technology lets you pair your phone with special accessories designed for health and fitness, among other areas. With Bluetooth LE, the accessory's battery charge also lasts considerable longer than it would using an older version of Bluetooth.

O2 launches 4G mobile broadband tariffs

Plans start at £15 a month with 5GB of data, with those signing up to the £25 a month plan with 5GB of data before the end of February receiving an additional 3GB a month
O2 has today launched its new 4G mobile broadband plans, enabling customers to experience the download and upload speeds on their tablets and laptops.
The monthly tariffs start at £15 a month for 3GB of data and £25 a month for 5GB of data. Customers choosing the more expensive plan before February 28, 2014 will get an additional 3GB of monthly data allowance as long as they stay signed up to the 5GB plan.
If customers don’t use all of their data one month, they roll over to the next month and receive 12GB of data with their next top-up. They can add 1GB bolt-ons for £10 if they run out of data.
A 90 day tariff for a one-off top-up of £30 is also available, providing 5GB of monthly data.
The tariffs are compatible with a range of tablets including the Google Nexus 7 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. They are also available with 4G dongles, including the ZTE MF823 for £50 and Huawei E8278 Dongle with mobile Wi-Fi for £65, which allows up to 10 other devices to connect to 4G.
O2 Gurus have also set up a data calculator to help customers choose the data package that is right for them. This lets customers estimate how much monthly data they will use and therefore which tariff to go for.
 O2 launched its 4G network on August 29. It is now available across 11 cities and over 90 surrounding towns, covering more than 15 million people across the UK. It will launch in the cities of Edinburgh and Newcastle, as well as the towns of Huddersfield and Wetherby before the end of the year.

Apple expands its iPad range with new models

However, analysts warn company’s stranglehold on tablet market will continue to loosen
Apple unveiled the latest additions to its market-leading iPad device range last month – but its grip on the tablet space will continue to loosen, analysts were quick
to warn.
As with the launch of the iPhone 5c and 5s in September,   Apple unveiled two new models during the event in San Francisco which included the fifth-generation iPad – dubbed the iPad Air – and an upgraded version of the iPad Mini.
The 9.7-inch Retina display iPad Air is 20 per cent thinner and 28 per cent lighter than its predecessor. It will also run on the 64-bit A7 chip which Apple introduced in the iPhone 5s.
The upgraded 7.9-inch iPad Mini will also now feature a Retina display, upping its pixel density from 163 to 326 pixels per inch, and the 64-bit A7 chip. It is 0.3mm thicker than its predecessor and weighs an extra 23g. Both of the new iPads will be preloaded with Apple’s latest iOS 7.
“iPad created an entirely new mobile computing experience, and the new iPad Air is another big leap ahead,” Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phillip Schiller said: “It is so thin, light and powerful, once you hold one in your hand you will understand what a tremendous advancement this is.
“iPad Air with its 9.7-inch Retina display weighs just one pound and packs the incredible performance of iOS 7 running on a 64-bit desktop-class Apple A7 chip, and delivers all-day battery life in the lightest full-sized tablet in the world.”
Price
iPad Air with Wi-Fi models wereavailable in silver or ‘space grey’ from November 1, with the 16GB model costing £399, the 32GB model costing £479, the 64GB model costing £559 and the 128GB version costing £639. iPad Air with Wi-Fi and Cellular models cost £100 more than Wi-Fi-only alternatives.
The iPad Mini with Retina display will be released this month (no exact date had been set at the time of writing) with Wi-Fi models starting at £319 for the 16GB version and increasing incrementally by £80 up to a 128GB model costing £559. iPad Mini with Retina display Wi-Fi and Cellular models will also cost £100 more than Wi-Fi-only alternatives.
Additionally, Apple confirmed that it will retain the iPad 2 and the original iPad Mini in its tablet line-up.
The 16GB iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available for £329, with the 3G model costing an additional £100.
Apple will also now offer the original iPad Mini at £249 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and £349 for the 16GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
Network partners
Vodafone, EE and Three have all confirmed they will offer Apple’s new iPad Air tablet with a choice of 3G and 4G contracts from November 1.
Vodafone said it will also stock the iPad Mini with Retina display later in November. Vodafone’s pricing plans had not been announced at the time of going to press.
EE also said it will offer both of the new iPads from launch on its 4GEE network, as well as on Orange and T-Mobile.
Three said it will range the new iPads, and confirmed it would stock the iPad Air at launch.
O2, and Phones 4U did not respond to Mobile News’s requests for information.
Falling share
While Apple remains the out-and-out market leader, having pioneered the space in 2010 (170 million sales, 39 per cent market share) its global market share has been on the slide – falling by around 20 per cent in the past year, according to research firm IDC. Samsung, with its Galaxy Tab range, has in contrast seen continued year-on-year growth from around 11 per cent to just under 18 per cent.
Nokia has also entered its name in the growing list of tablet manufacturers with the 10.1-inch Lumia 2520, released in Dubai on the same day as Apple’s conference.
In the UK, Apple remains dominant, and is expected to command around 59 per cent of the total number of smartphone users (11.8 million units) by the end of this year, according to research firm eMarker.
As reflected on a global basis, growth will continue to slow throughout the forecast period and by 2017, that share is expected to have fallen to around 40 per cent (see ‘Industry reaction’ boxouts for analysts’ views).
Financials
However, sales in the quarter ending September (released last week), painted a positive picture, in spite of analysts’ warnings.
Apple increased sales of its iPads during the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012 – 14.1 million compared to 14 million.
In contrast, sales of its Mac computer sales fell to 4.6 million from 4.9 million in the same quarter last year as the tablet space continues to eat away at PC market share.
iPhone sales continue to show few signs of falling, with the manufacturer breaking all previous Q4 records following the release of its new iPhone devices.
It sold 33.8 million iPhones, a record for the September quarter, compared to 26.9 million in the same quarter last year – a 26 per increase.
However, it reported a nine per cent fall in profits, after profits per device fell from 40 per cent to 37 per cent – plus a mix of lower priced devices (iPhone 4 for example) remaining available.
Net profit for July, August and September was $7.5 billion (£4.7 billion) compared to $8.2 billion (£5.1 billion) for the same period last year.
Revenues rose to $37.5 billion (£23 billion) from $36 billion (£22 billion), although gross margin (the profit per product) fell from 40 per cent to 37
per cent.
CEO Tim Cook said: “We’re pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones.
“We’re excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad Mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next-generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS.”
CFO Peter Oppenheimer said: “We generated $9.9 billion [£6.2 million] in cash flow from operations and returned an additional $7.8 billion [£4.8 million] in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, bringing cumulative payments under our capital return programme to $36 billion [£22 billion]