Tag Archives: aapl

Google’s ‘Shamu’ phablet aims to eclipse Apple iPhone 6 Plus

Smartphone screens are getting even bigger, judging from Google’s (GOOGL) upcoming 5.9-inch beast, code-named “Shamu.” Just weeks after Apple (AAPL) introduced its 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, Google is looking to top it with the latest Nexus handset from its Motorola unit. The Nexus 6, nicknamed Shamu after the famous killer whale, will be released this month, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday. The Nexus 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are classified as phablets, or phone-tablets. Once ridiculed as being too large to use as phones, phablets are the hottest category in smartphones today. Pundits likened the experience of using early phablets to holding a dinner plate to your ear. But as people use mobile devices more for nonvoice applications like Web surfing and watching videos, demand for phablets has grown. The Nexus 6 is larger than the iPhone 6 Plus and the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 4. It will be…

Google Now beats Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana

Apple’s (AAPL) Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana were drubbed by Google Now in a test to determine which mobile voice-controlled search engine provides the most accurate responses. Consulting group Stone Temple Consulting compared the responses of the three services to 3,086 different queries. The questions were a knowledge comparison not a personal assistant comparison. So, STC asked questions that had specific answers like “How many quarts in a gallon?” or “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?” Out of all the questions asked, Google’s (GOOGL) Google Now provided some type of enhanced search result 58% of the time, compared with 29% for Apple’s Siri and 20% for Microsoft’s (MSFT) Cortana. Google Now returned twice as many results as Siri and nearly three times as many results as Cortana, STC said in a report Tuesday. “This is clear evidence that Google is much further down the path with this type of work than…

Apple stock ‘dramatically undervalued,’ Carl Icahn says

Activist investor Carl Icahn on Thursday urged Apple (AAPL) to step up its share repurchases, claiming that the company is “dramatically undervalued” and should be trading at double its closing price from Wednesday. In an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Icahn said that Apple stock should be valued at 203 a share based on its growth prospects for the iPhone 6 series smartphones, refreshed iPad lineup, Apple Watch and other products. In morning trading on the stock market today, Apple was up nearly 1%, just below 102. Icahn did not give a specific figure for how much Apple should spend on its stock buyback plan. He spent most of his roughly 5,000-word letter detailing Apple’s growth potential by product category and praising Cook’s stewardship. Icahn says that he owns about 53 million Apple shares, which he intends to hold during any new Apple tender offer. Icahn…