iPhone 5S And 5C First Weekend Sales Are Less Impressive Than They Seem

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Once China Is Factored In, iPhone 5S and 5C Weekend Results Are Less Impressive (BI Intelligence)
Apple sold a combined 9 million units of the new iPhone 5S and 5C over the weekend. That seems far greater than the 5 million sold during last year's iPhone 5 launch, but looks can be deceiving. First, Apple launched not one but two devices. Also, unlike the new 5S and 5C, the iPhone 5 was not available in mainland China in its first weekend. Accounting for these factors, and our estimate for the sales mix between 5S and 5C, high-end iPhone sales would actually be dead-even with last year. Full analysis, data, and charts available to BI Intelligence subscribers. Click here to sign up for a 2-week trial. Read >

BlackBerry Lays Off 4,500 Employees After $950M Quarterly Loss (MarketWatch)
Struggling Canadian handset maker BlackBerry had its stock market shares halted Friday. This came on the heels of an announcement in which the company claimed a $950 million loss for the most recent quarter. The company's performance this past quarter will lead to a 40% reduction in its global workforce, about 4,500 people. Read >

BlackBerry Co-Founder Seeks Bid To Be Taken Private (New York Times)
BlackBerry's co-founder, Mike Lazaridis has begun aggressively reaching out to several private equity firms about a possible bid for the handset maker. Lazaridis and BlackBerry's other co-founder stepped down as executives last year in an attempt to hand over the company to a new executive team and spur growth. One year later, with no growth, BlackBerry continues to cede its already limited market share in the global smartphone market. A full-fledged buy out would likely lead to significant consolidation within the smartphone industry. Read >

BBM For Android Leaks, And BlackBerry Pulls BBM From iOS App Store (BlackBerry)
A leaked version of BlackBerry's popular messaging service, BBM, is forcing the company to put a hold on the global rollout of BBM for Android. Amid all the Android market confusion, BlackBerry also decided to pull the already released iOS version of BBM from the app store. BlackBerry reported that the unofficial Android app pulled in more than 1.1 million active users in just 8 hours. Read >

Microsoft Is Ready To Tackle Phablets (ZDnet)
At Microsoft's recent Financial Analyst Meeting, Executive Vice President Terry Myerson clued in on the company's future, claiming that phablets will be a critical part. He also mentioned that the convergence of Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT technologies may be imminent. Read >

Photos Are Becoming The Next Cheap, Abundant Data, So We Need More Photo-Sharing Apps (David Lee)
David Lee, an angel investor in Silicon Valley, claims that photos are quickly becoming the newest well of cheap, abundant data. More cheap photo data will be necessary and beneficial in the long run for companies and services like Google Glass, Google Earth, connected cars, and others. Because of this, he feels the photo-sharing app landscape is wide open and ripe for many newcomers. Read >