Auroch Digital developed Endgame: Syria in just two weeks and posted the informational game on Google Play and browsers. It was also intended for iOS devices, but Apple blocked its release. Its designer spoke with Digital Trends about the challenges of developing games about real conflicts.
Auroch Digital’s Game the News project hit a roadblock earlier this week when Apple rejected its most recent game, Endgame: Syria, from inclusion in the App Store. Since Endgame: Syria depicts the ongoing conflict between Syrian rebels in their struggle to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, it violates the App Store rule that no game can “solely target a specific race, culture, a real government, or corporation or any other real entity.” Since al-Assad is still recognized as the ruler of Syria regardless of being accused of massacring his own people, games released on the App Store can’t comment on him, his government, or the conflict demolishing that country.
Digital Trends’ spoke with Auroch Digital’s Tomas Rawlings earlier this week to gain some insight into the Game the News project and Endgame: Syria.
While Rawlings doesn’t believe that Apple specifically targeted Endgame: Syria, he does believe the game’s blocking highlights problems with Apple’s curating of the App Store.
“[We] don’t feel we were singled out but I think it is right to question why some games get though and others don’t,” says Rawlings, “ I think by making games about real world events we are subject to more scrutiny than if we just did a game about annoyed avians.”
Tellingly, Endgame: Syria had no problem getting placement in the Android Market.
“There have been no problems with Android—the game is on Google Play and doing well. Apple’s guidelines mean that making games about controversial issues and themes is harder work as a result. However looking at our data for the platforms that people use to play Endgame: Syria, as they also run in HTML5, there is no shortage of people playing them on iOS devices, just not via the App Store.”
Auroch’s experience with Apple hasn’t changed the Game the News project’s goals according to Rawlings. The team will still go about making “short playable experiences that make you smile or think,” and in a very short amount of time. (Endgame: Syria was made in approximately two weeks according to Rawlings, but other games like one make about the Uzbek cotton industry, have been finished in about a day and a half.)
It will, however, alter how Auroch engages with Apple. “[This experience] will change our production process and the types of games we submit to Apple,” says Rawlings.
Apple’s App Store has proven to be fertile ground for creative expression, but its real power as a gaming platform will always be limited if it blocks games like Endgame: Syria.
As CES 2013 comes to a close companies are not wasting any time with teasing their Mobile World Congress lineups, as Huawei reveals it will have a slim new smartphone ready for the show.
Consumer Business Group CEO at Huawei, Richard Yu, confirmed to Engadget today that the company will unveil a new addition to the P series of Android smartphones, which includes the Ascend P1.
Yu also hinted that the new handset will have a "beautiful metallic body" and thinner form factor than the newly announced Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra, the world's thinnest smartphone at 6.45mm.
At Huawei's CES press conference Yu had already confirmed that the Chinese firm will launch two "exciting innovative products" at MWC, so those playing tech bingo at home can now check one of those devices off the list.
Other rumors, like the leaked Ascend W3, suggest that Windows Phone 8 announcements could make up the other half of Huawei's MWC lineup.
Octo-cores for everyone
Yu also revealed that Huawei is not giving up on its race with Samsung, and will launch its own eight-core processor this year.
At CES Samsung announced the Exynos 5 Octa, an eight-core chip said to be 70 percent more efficient than quad-core CPUs. It is based on Cortex A15 CPUs using ARM's big.LITTLE processing technology.
Huawei will have its own chip based on the same technology, which the Chinese company plans to launch in the second half of 2013 with an unspecified device.
Yu did not, however, confirm that the eight-core chip will make an appearance at MWC. Samsung may beat Huawei to the punch in that regard, as Exynos 5 Octa chips are suspected to power the Galaxy S4.
Whatever Huawei brings to the table next month, TechRadar will be in attendance at MWC 2013 in Barcelona to bring you all the news from the Huawei camp.
The CES 2013 is over. It wasn't quite as exciting at last year, but it wasn't a complete waste of time either.
There were a few persistent features that probably defined what the 2013 will be and what to expect from the upcoming MWC, IFA, etc. The 1080p screens are the new thing for the flagships, while 5" screen is the new normal for the class.
We've never been such fans for the double-digit megapixels, but still 2013 will shape the new generation of mobile sensors as well. LTE is continuing its expansion, making its way to more phones than ever before, while design starts to play an increasingly important role in the smartphone game.
Sony's event was probably the highlight of the show bringing the first two members of the Xperia 2013 lineup - the flagships Xperia Z and Xperia ZL. We managed to spend some quality time with those beasts and you can find all about them right here.
Huawei was the dark horse bringing us the sweet sounding Ascend D2 and Ascend Mate droids. While the first one combines the top-notch tech Huawei is manufacturing right now, the Mate phablet tries to stretch the definition of phablet with its 6.1" screen. The Windows Phone 8-running Ascend W1 mid-ranger was also debuted at this year's CES.
Somewhat disappointingly Samsung didn’t introduce new phones in Las Vegas (it did unveil the new Galaxy S II Plus yesterday, but it didn't actually bring it to the CES floor). At least we finally got to see the face of the Windows Phone 8-running ATIV Odyssey for Verizon. We also learned the Galaxy S III mini is getting some new colors and that the company is working on a flexible OLED screen for mobile gadgets.
Next, Pantech brought the affordable Discover smartphone to AT&T. ZTE announced the Grand S, saying it's the slimmest smartphone with a 5" 1080p display. Lenovo showcased the K900 - a 5.5-inch 1080p droid with a brand new dual-core Atom processor and a few affordable dual-SIM droids too - the IdeaPhone S890, S720, A800 and A690.
Finally, we got to see the next generation of mobile chipsets, which will power some of the most exciting upcoming smartphones in 2013. Qualcomm introduced the latest Snapdragon 800 (quad-core 2.3GHz Krait, Adreno 320) and 600 (dual-core 1.9GHz Krait, Adreno 330) SoCs. Samsung then stole the spotlight with its eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chipset featuring four ARM Cortex-A15 cores and four ARM Cortex-A7 ones. STE also announced its latest chipset - the NovaThor L8580 - with a quad-core Cortex-A9 CPU. As you've probably guessed, the last one targets the mid-range devices.
Well, CES 2013 might be over, but MWC 2013 is just around the corner. Here is hoping it will bring even more interesting announcements and cool gadgets for us to play with.
Nokia is launching its Lumia 920 flagship in India today alongside the Lumia 820. The phones will be available in brick and mortar stores as well as through Nokia's online store with free shipping starting tomorrow and will cost $697 and $504 (RS 38,199 and RS 27,599)respectively.
The budget Windows Phone 8 offering Lumia 620 will be available in India from February but the price and exact date aren't available just yet.
The Lumia 920 isn't exactly on the cheap side - you could get a Galaxy S III for less and a Galaxy Note II for about the same. The Lumia flagman is, however, cheaper than a brand new iPhone 5.
HTC's Windows Phone 8X and 8S, which are the other available WP8 smartphones in India are also priced lower, but that's to be expected given their more modest specs sheets.
To refresh your memory the Lumia 920 has a 4.5" ClearBlack IPS display on tap with the PureMotion HD+ technology, which ensures higher framerates for lower motion blur. There's an 8.7 MP snapper on the back with PureView technology for enhanced low-light performance and Carl Zeiss optics. The device is powered by a dual-core Snapdragon S4 with two 1.5 GHz Krait cores.
The Lumia 820 uses a lower-grade dual-core Krait chip, 8 MP camera with 1080p video recording and a 4.3" ClearBlack AMOLED display of WVGA (480 x 800) resolution.
Finally the Lumia 620 has a 3.8" WVGA screen (again ClearBlack technology), 5 MP camera and a dual-core 1 GHz Krait processor.
All three smartphones are running on the Windows Phone 8 platform.
Windows Phone gains traction over Symbian in Q4 2012
Nokia finally caught a break this week with better than expected sales of its Lumia and Asha smartphones, but the real story may be how Symbian has finally been surpassed by the Windows Phone platform.
Unwired View reported Thursday that Nokia was doing some well-deserved chest thumping in a press release touting 4.4 million Windows Phone-powered Lumia handsets sold in Q4 2012, a 51 percent increase over the 2.9 million sold in Q3.
While that may sound impressive, the reality is that Nokia's Windows Phone sales made up a mere 1.7 percent of the total smartphone market from July to September last year, a number that jumps to 3.7 percent when Symbian devices are added to the mix.
Those numbers were nearly reversed in Q4, but Symbian isn't quite dead and buried just yet.
Symbian lives on
It hasn't been quite two years since Nokia announced the retirement of Symbian, but the aging platform still managed to squeak out an impressive 2.2 million units during the last three months of 2012.
The fourth quarter was more notable for Windows Phone sales finally eclipsing Symbian for the first time, mostly led by strong sales for Nokia's newest Lumia smartphones.
Nokia won't release its full earnings report for Q4 2012 until January 24, but analysts are likely already looking ahead to the first quarter of this year to see if the onetime mobile giant can maintain its momentum.
A Samsung vice president has revealed the company won’t be releasing the Ativ Tab tablet in the U.S., blaming consumer confusion over Windows RT and low demand.
Since its release late last year, Microsoft’s Windows RT operating system hasn’t proven to be much of a hit with manufacturers, with Samsung being the latest to decide against putting any effort into the release of its one and only tablet using the software. In an interview with CNet, a Samsung senior vice president explained it won’t be launching the Ativ Tab tablet in the U.S., despite it being on sale already in some other markets.
Considering the public’s only passing interest in Windows RT so far, Microsoft may want to listen to Samsung’s reasons for not releasing the Ativ Tab. The company was prompted to carry out some market research after realizing consumers didn’t really understand Windows RT, particularly regarding its relationship to Windows 8, and that to, “Educate the customer … was going to require pretty heavy investment.”
To make matters worse, Samsung describes the feedback from its retail partners regarding a Windows RT tablet as, “modest,” which coincidentally is the same word Steve Ballmer used to describe sales of the Surface RT tablet. Couple this with the marketing costs to educate potential customers, and the company took the decision to hold off putting the Ativ Tab on sale. Price was also a concern, however Samsung doesn’t blame Microsoft, as it wasn’t prepared to cut back on features to reach what it considered to be a reasonable retail cost.
Like other manufacturers who’ve taken a similar stance over Windows RT, Samsung’s decision isn’t final, as it wants to “See how the market develops for RT.” One thing is for sure, the Windows RT market isn’t going to be doing much developing if there aren’t any devices using it on sale. Samsung joins Acer, Toshiba, HP and others on the sidelines, all casually watching Microsoft’s own Surface RT tablet to see if it suddenly scores with the public.
Bored of the same iPhone rumours? There could be a whole new set soon...
There's no doubt that Apple will be forced into making a lower cost iPhone – but that doesn't mean it will be rubbish.
I've been arguing back and forth with a number of noted voices in the technology community about whether Apple is really going to bring out a cheap iPhone – and it's fair to say opinion is divided.
For those that haven't seen, this eternal brouhaha has been brought to the surface once more by the Wall Street Journal's claim that people 'briefed in the matter' told it that plans to bring out a lower-cost handset are progressing.
This would allow Apple to compete with the budget handsets that are powering through developing nations, into the hands of those seeking to jump on the smartphone bandwagon now they can afford to do so.
However Phil Schiller chatted to the Chinese paper Shanghai Evening News, and surprisingly spoke candidly on the subject of budget smartphones. He said that cheap smartphones would never be Apple's product development direction. "Although Apple's market share of smartphones is just about 20 per cent, we own 75 per cent of the profit," he added.
Cheap = bad?
Some people have speculated that a cheap iPhone would use lower-cost materials, something that Schiller took exception to. He noted that with things like the Retina display or aluminium chassis show that Apple will always look to the higher-end of the materials to bring the Apple 'ethos' to its products.
The issue Apple is going to have to face is that the smartphone market is set to change rapidly in the next few years, evolving into an almost unrecognisable user base.
Nathan Eagle, founder of Jana, which uses text messaging and mobile web surveys in remote parts of the planet to gain market data, told TechRadar he believes that Android's dominance is almost unstoppable, pointing to the low-cost handsets available using the OS and the 5 billion feature phones in the market that are likely to be upgraded to smartphones over the next half-decade.
There's no doubt that the emerging market is going to be a crucial battleground for manufacturers. IDC predicts that while the market share for Android will stagnate over the next few years, this isn't a bad thing given the user base will be an order of magnitude higher by 2016.
Apple, on the other hand, will see its hold on the market shifted somewhat as the likes of Windows Phone make inroads to the developing nations; already Nokia has seen modest success with its low-cost Lumia range in China, and the trend is continuing around the world.
"We believe that the high-end smartphone market (above $400 USD off contract) for [calendar year 2013] will be about 320 million units, of which we believe Apple will capture 50% market share," Gene Munster, analyst at Piper Jaffray, said.
"We believe this means Apple is missing the other 65% of the market, or 580 million units, given its current product lineup without the lower priced phone."
Add in elements like Firefox OS and the efforts of brands like ZTE and Huawei, all of which are capable of providing higher-end specs and experiences at low prices, and you can see why Apple could be forced to react.
China bright
China is a smartphone market that many are talking about as a key battleground in the near future, and that makes sense given its economy is growing at a rapid rate.
Samsung is currently leading the way in this region, although Lenovo - a relatively unheard of brand in the handset space outside of its native China - is intent on taking that slot away. Apple has around 80% less market share than Samsung, albeit with only three of its six-strong iPhone range actually launching in the country and it still hasn't offered a model that can run on 3G networks, which would clearly hold back sales.
The reason for smartphone dominance in such parts of the world for the likes of Samsung and Lenovo rests partly on their ability to bring sub-$250 devices to the market - there are many featurephone upgraders in rural parts of the country and the lower prices combined with ever improving hardware now make a smartphone a sensible choice given 3G networks are finally becoming more widespread.
So it would seem to the outsider that Apple would be mad to ignore such an opportunity, right? After all, it's got more cash than Scrooge McDuck many times over, so bringing a phone that costs $100, has the Apple logo on it and runs a watered down version of iOS is an easy win in the eyes of many.
And to those people Schiller's comments might reek of arrogance, of a firm that loves money and hates consumers and won't bring anything to market that it doesn't think will add to its massive money pile.
But look again at what he's really said and you'll realise there's a lot of wiggle room left with his words: a phone that uses 'the best materials we can' as well as cheap smartphones never being the future of Apple.
Of course they won't be the future. As long as Apple keeps making attractive smartphones to Western consumers (although there are some that think the mixed reception the iPhone 5 garnered is evidence that may not happen) it will maintain a healthy presence at the sharp end of the smartphone market and keep those high profit margin devices flying off the shelves for years to come.
But below the top end, there is absolutely room for an iPhone mini. One that uses older screen technology and lower cost materials but has a new design.
Which is precisely what happened with the iPad mini. In fact, it's hard to think of a top-end product range where Apple HASN'T made a mini version: the iPod, Mac and iPad all became miniaturised when Apple succumbed to pressure for a cut down version and decided such a model could flourish.
It didn't just make a low-capacity and rubbish quality version of any of these products though. It went back to the drawing board, looked at what was available at the price point it needed to hit, and found the perfect blend between profit and presence.
So if it does ditch aluminium for polycarbonate, an 8MP camera for a 5MP variant and brings the screen size back down to 3.5-inch, you can bet it will do so in a new shape and with a fanfare large enough to extol the intelligence of all these decisions.
As Matt Bolton, Deputy Editor of Future's Apple Group in the UK, pointed out, Apple can always find a new way through when it looks like there's only one option: "I wonder if this is a netbook-like situation; by the time it looks like Apple has missed the boat, a new way of solving the problem comes along."
In that case it was the iPad, so Apple could just wait until some emerging markets become a little more mature and then bust out a strong mid-range device that costs perhaps $280 - keeping the aspiration levels high but maintaining its presence.
In short, Apple cannot continue with its strategy as it stands in the same way it couldn't let Google and Amazon hoover up the tablet market with the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD. But that doesn't mean we're going to suddenly see an iPhone 3G with nothing more than a new name either.
ST-Ericsson has announced the NovaThor L8580, a quad-core processor which uses a new method of conserving energy, which the company has named eQuad.
This past week, we’ve been introduced to next generation processors from Qualcomm, Nvidia and Samsung, and now it’s the turn of ST-Ericsson, which has revealed its new NovaThor L8580 quad-core chip at CES 2013. While ST-Ericsson doesn’t share quite the same level of name recognition as its peers, its NovaThor chips found their way into a wide variety of handsets during 2012, and this more powerful model could see it become better known this year.
ST-Ericsson says the L8580 is the world’s fastest and least power hungry mobile processor with an integrated LTE modem available, a title it says is thanks to a clever manufacturing process known as FD-SOI. Without going into detail, this allows the quad-core chip to operate either at full speed, or power down to an energy saving setting where only one core is active. The company call this eQuad, and see it as an alternative to other power-saving solutions such as the companion core system popularized by Nvidia.
Capable of running at speeds up to 2.5GHz, the NovaThor L8580 uses a PowerVR GPU – similar to the ones used by Apple – and has a modem which can support LTE and HSPA+ on GSM, WCDMA and the Chinese TD-SCDMA bands, giving it worldwide appeal. There’s all the usual connectivity options, from GPS to Wi-Fi Direct built-in, plus it can handle displays with a 1080p resolution.
A key difference between the NovaThor L8580 and some of the other processors revealed at CES is it is based on ARM Cortex A9 architecture, and not the latest ARM Cortex A15 architecture, as seem on Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800. We’ll have to wait until some benchmark figures appear to compare them, but as chips like the Exynos 4 Quad also use ARM Cortex A9 architecture, it certainly won’t be slow, and that’s before eQuad comes into the equation.
ST-Ericsson has worked closely with manufacturers such as Samsung and Sony over the past year, and we’re sure to see the L8580 appear in a device from both in the future. However, there is another possible home for its new NovaThor eQuad chip in 2013, as a partnership between ST-Ericsson and Jolla was announced last November, paving the way for an eQuad Jolla phone, perhaps?
The company has said samples of the chip will be available to its partners before the end of March.
It seems that the early info that the Sony Xperia Z and Xperia ZL aren't going be sharing markets was wrong - Sony Mobile's Twitter account posted a message saying that both models will be available in Canada.
Both Android phones were announced at CES and they share a lot of their specs, including screen and chipset. The Xperia Z is thin (7.9mm) and waterproof, but has a larger footprint (139 x 71mm), while the Xperia ZL is not water-proof and is thicker (9.8mm), but it's smaller (131.6 x 69.3).
There are some other differences, you can check our hands-on for the full details.
Anyway, it's a good thing that Sony is letting users choose which model they want. Worldwide launch plans are still not officially announced, so it's not clear if other regions like mainland Europe, the UK and Australia (all of which are slated to get the Xperia Z) will have such a choice.
Android developers will soon be able to respond to users' comments about their apps on Google Play.
While major Android devs have had this option for some time, all the signs point to Google extending the privilege to more, if not all, app makers.
"The feature originally rolled out to top developers and we're gradually expanding it to additional Google Play developers," a Google spokesperson said.
Dev dev goose
The new feature will be a welcome addition to many developers whose apps live and die by customer feedback - one bad experience can turn countless app shoppers off.
It makes sense to give developers a right to reply; it almost seems ridiculous that there has only been one-way communication since day one.
As longs as the whole thing doesn't descend into one massive flame war like, y'know, YouTube.
We catalog our favorite phones, tablets, software, and companies at CES 2013.
It was a quiet CES for mobile this year, but even a quiet CES is a busy one. Though big players like LG and Samsung seem to be holding out for Mobile World Congress in late February, up and comers like Sony, ZTE, and Huawei announced a number of new flagship devices. Below are our picks for the best mobile products and companies at CES, which was a show filled with bigger phones, new operating systems, higher resolutions, and bold statements.
Is 6.1-inches too big for a phone? The trend toward larger and larger phone screens is getting a little ridiculous, but we have to admit that the Ascend Mate is doing a good job convincing us that 6.1 is just right … if you’re a fan of the “phablet.” The design is streamlined and slim, and the body curved for comfortable holding. Beyond that, the Mate is an Android lover’s dream: full HD screen, 4050mAh battery, and a 13 megapixel camera. This smartphone has all the right moves and its a bold move for Huawei, a Chinese manufacturer just starting to find its brand around the world.
BlackBerry 10 wasn’t formally a part of CES this year, but RIM was in town anyway, showing off the latest, near final version of BlackBerry 10, which launches on January 30. What we saw was impressive. BB 10 doesn’t completely reinvent the wheel, but it combines a lot of winning interface ideas from WebOS, Android, and iOS. In our short time with the device, we were impressed by how well its universal inbox managed everything from email to social notifications, how easy it was to manage open apps, and how well the entire interface flowed together. Like Ubuntu and Firefox OS, BB 10 plans to challenge the duopoly of Android and iPhone. With an interface that’s more appealing than Windows Phone, we think it has a chance.
For the past year, Sony has been making solid progress with its Xperia brand in the United States and we’re hoping the Xperia Z will help it kick things up a notch in 2013. The Z follows the new phone trend of 5-inch 1080p screens, quad-core processors, 13-megapixel cameras, and thin 8-9mm frames, but also packs in a waterproof (resistant) design, allowing you to fondle your phone in the bathtub, shower, or whatever other place you can think of. The Xperia Z may be the first major phone in the U.S. with waterproofing tech built in.
T-Mobile USA didn’t show off any new devices at CES this year, but its new CEO John Legere made waves nonetheless. The new CEO unveiled a contract free $70 unlimited data, voice, and texting plan, but that wasn’t all. In a rare sign of honesty and hilarity, he took direct shots at all the competition and laid out T-Mobile’s new mission to undo many of the horrible practices in the wireless industry, like subsidizing devices, 2-year contracts, moving devices between carriers, etc. With an agressive 4G LTE rollout plan and an already fast HSPA+ network, we’ve begun looking at T-Mobile as a major player again.
This device stretches the definition of “mobile” a bit, given its massive 20-inch screen. But it is a true tablet and it is portable, even if most people will only port it around their home or office. The gimmick here is the 4K resolution. This is the same resolution we’re seeing on flagship HDTVs, but it’s in a device that weighs around 5 pounds, runs Windows 8, and sports a touchscreen and digitized pen capabilities. It’s a multimedia beast that would make an excellent digital gaming table, though it’s more likely destined for high-tech offices.
"Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple's products. In fact, although Apple's market share of smartphones is just about 20%, we own the 75% of the profit," said Schiller.
He also pointed to the fact China was transitioning from featurephones to cheaper smartphones; presumably it was inferred that the country would eventually embrace the higher end of the market, thus bringing in maximum profit revenue.
Better than best
Schiller also highlighted the manufacturing practices employed by Apple: namely the efforts to always use the best technology available, such as the Retina display, the chassis materials and the production processes all make a 'superior' product.
He also noted that market share is less important to the firm than profits, stating that although Apple only had 20% users (in the smartphone space) it nabbed 75% of the cash from those sales, contrasting with the strategies of some brands.
Whether Apple will find a way to wriggle around this statement in the future is going to be up for much debate – after all, the iPad mini seemed to both contradict and confirm Steve Jobs' statement about a seven-inch tablet being too small, so what chance a cheaper, but not too cheap, iPhone appearing any time soon?
Apple’s senior vice president of marketing has said cheap smartphones “will never be the future of Apple’s products.”
There’s been much speculation of late about the possibility of Apple launching a cheap iPhone. We’ve had the usual “unnamed sources” offering up information, “people familiar the matter” claiming to know what’s going on, “a person in the supply chain” having seen something of note – you know, the usual.
The latest person to throw some light on the whole cheap iPhone shebang is, for a change, someone very familiar with the matter. And what’s more, we can name him. According to Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of product marketing, cheap smartphones “will never be the future of Apple.”
His words came in an interview with Chinese newspaper Shanghai Evening News, an interview confirmed and translated by The Next Web. Schiller is currently on a visit to the country with Apple boss Tim Cook.
Schiller insisted that with every piece of kit Apple develops, the company uses “only the best technology available. This includes the production pipeline, the Retina display, the unibody design, to provide the best product to the market.”
He continued, “At first, non-smartphones were popular in the Chinese market, now cheap smartphones are more popular and non-smartphones are out. Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple’s products. In fact, although Apple’s market share of smartphones is just about 20 percent, we own 75 percent of the profit.”
Still a chance?
While his words don’t unequivocally lay to rest the idea that the Cupertino company is planning to launch a cheap iPhone (you weren’t really expecting an outright denial, were you?), Schiller’s musings appear to go against a number of recent reports from major publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.
Bloomberg, for example, claimed on Wednesday Apple was in the middle of creating a cut-price smartphone with a price tag of between $99 and $149 set for release later this year. It said the device would use “cheaper parts and may be smaller than current models.”
From Schiller’s interview, it seems that while Apple is unlikely to launch any kind of ultra-cheap handset made with low-price components, there is a chance it might, at some point, launch a more affordable phone – cheaper (than the current iPhone) but not cheap – similar to the way it launched it a more affordable iPad (the Mini) without sacrificing quality or performance. For a while before the iPad Mini launched, plenty of analysts expected it’d be priced to compete with the likes of the Kindle Fire or Nexus 7. That didn’t happen.
The cheap-iPhone rumor mill will undoubtedly continue to turn, but after Schiller’s intervention, it’ll be moving a whole lot slower – for the time being at least….
