Tag Archives: aapl

Smartwatches still searching for killer app

LAS VEGAS — Smartwatches might be the next big thing, but they currently lack a killer app. Adoption of smartwatches, including the upcoming Apple (AAPL) Watch, will be muted until the industry can come up with must-have applications for consumers, experts said at the International CES this week. “As an analyst and (tech) columnist, I’ve been wearing smartwatches now for about a year and a half,” said Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies. “I have yet to find what I would call a killer app that would make me want this.” That doesn’t mean that one won’t emerge, especially after Apple launches what it promises to be category-defining product, he said.

Global smartphone prices tumbling thanks to Chinese firms

Chinese companies are driving down the average selling prices for smartphones and tablets worldwide with low-cost products based on Google’s (GOOGL) Android operating system. The average smartphone is expected to sell for $275 in 2015, down 12% from $312 last year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. In 2010, the average smartphone sold for $440. Smartphone sales are projected to rise 19% this year to nearly 1.51 billion units, with most of the growth occurring in developing markets like China, says the trade group. Developing markets will account for 75% of smartphone unit sales this year, compared with 40% in 2010. China alone will account for 34% of global smartphone sales. Unit sales growth is coming not from the latest Samsung or Apple (AAPL) phones, but from low-cost handsets from Chinese upstarts like Xiaomi, Coolpad and OnePlus, says Steve Koenig, CEA director of industry analysis. Many of…

Tablet User Growth Will Top 1 Billion Before Slowing

Apple (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN) and other makers of tablet computers got some good and bad news Thursday with a new report saying that tablet users will top 1 billion worldwide by year’s end but that user growth will drop dramatically over the next three years. Nearly 15% of the world’s population will use tablet computers this year — more than double the percentage of users three years ago, says a report released Wednesday by market tracker