Apple charts new course with large iPhones, smartwatch

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple moved to recapture its role as the leading tech trend-setter on Tuesday when the California giant unveiled its first smartwatch and two large-screen versions of the iPhone.

In a major product event, Apple also said it was introducing a new mobile wallet that will allow consumers to simply tap their phones to pay retailers, aiming to popularize the idea of mobile payments.

The Apple Watch, a sleekly designed wrist device which links to the iPhone, "will redefine what people expect from this category," chief executive Tim Cook said in Apple's hometown Cupertino, California.

"It is the next chapter in Apple's story."

Also unveiled were the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, in a large boost to the screen size of the popular handsets.

Apple's main rival Samsung has long had a range of larger handsets and has tried to market a smartwatch of its own.

The iPhone 6 will have a screen of 4.7 inches and the 6-Plus will be 5.5 inches, allowing Apple to adapt to consumers' apparent preference for bigger displays.

Cook said the new handsets represented "the biggest advancement in the history of iPhones."

Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller the new iPhones were "simply stunning" with polarized glass displays and bodies that are "thinner than ever before."

"These are the best phones ever made," Schiller said, as he described the new devices at a major set-piece event streamed live online.

The new iPhone 6 will start at the same price of existing iPhones at $199 for US customers while the iPhone 6 Plus will be at $299 with a two-year contract.

Schiller said the devices would be available in at least 115 countries by the end of the year.

With the new launch, Apple will cut the price of existing iPhone 5S and 5C with the launch.

Apple's move, expanding the latest iPhone with a four-inch screen, comes as consumers are switching to handsets with bigger displays to watch videos and browse the Internet.

Observers say the time is right for Apple to introduce a generation of iPhone 6 models with screen sizes stretched to tap into users' love for "phablets" that combine the features of smartphones and tablets.

Cook said the ApplePay system would replace an "antiquated payment process" with "an entirely new payment system" that allows consumers to touch their phones to retail terminals.

The new payment system will be built into the new iPhones and the upgraded Apple's operating system called iOS 8.

Cook said that in the United States alone each day, "that's 200 million times that we scramble through our credit cards and go through what is a fairly antiquated payment process."

He said other efforts have failed because the companies introducing mobile wallets were working on the basis of "their self-interest" instead of the user experience.

Cook showed a video of a consumer tapping a phone on a payment terminal, commenting, "it's so cool."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Apple's smartwatch coming soon?

TAIPEI - Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc will start mass production of Apple Inc's first smartwatch in July, a source familiar with the matter said, as the U.S. tech giant tries to prove it can still innovate against rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

The still-unnamed watch, which Apple followers have dubbed the iWatch, will be the company's first foray into a niche product category that many remain skeptical about, especially as to whether it can drive profits as growth slows in tech gadgets.

The production will be a boost to Quanta, whose work for Apple so far has focused on laptops and iPods, product lines that are in decline. Quanta's role, though, is likely to raise questions about what involvement Hon Hai Precision Industry Co , one of Apple's biggest suppliers, will play in production.

While the watch has been widely expected, the start date of its mass production and the extent of Quanta's involvement were not known until now. Mass production will start in July and the commercial launch will come as early as October, according to the source and another person familiar with the matter. The sources requested anonymity because Apple's production plans are private.

Apple will introduce a smartwatch with a display that likely measures 2.5 inches diagonally and is slightly rectangular, one of the sources said. The source added that the watch face will protrude slightly from the band, creating an arched shape, and will feature a touch interface and wireless charging capabilities.

The source said Apple expects to ship 50 million units within the first year of the product's release, although these types of initial estimates can be subject to change. The watch is in trial production at Quanta, which will be the main manufacturer, accounting for at least 70 percent of final assembly, the source said.

Like many other smartwatches, Apple's watch will be able to perform some functions independently, but tasks like messaging and voice chat will require connection to a smartphone, according to the source. The device will only be compatible with gadgets running Apple's iOS, like its flagship iPhone, one of the sources said.

Most mainstream smartwatches collect data about the user's heart rate and other health-related metrics, in addition to facilitating tasks like checking e-mail and making phone calls.

A third source said LG Display Co Ltd is the exclusive supplier of the screen for the gadget's initial batch of production. It also contains a sensor that monitors the user's pulse. Singapore-based imaging and sensor maker Heptagon is on the supplier list for the feature, two other sources said.

Apple declined to comment. Quanta, LG Display and Heptagon also declined to comment.

GAME-CHANGER?

Apple's smartwatch will follow similar devices by Samsung, Sony Corp, Motorola and LG Electronics Inc - gadgets that tech watchers say have not been appealing or user-friendly enough to ignite a wave of mass adoption.

But the market is growing fast, with data firm IDC saying that worldwide shipments of wearable computing devices, including smartwatches, will triple this year over 2013.

Apple has already dropped hints of its plans in this arena, hiring the former chief executive of French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, a unit of Kering SA, and proclaiming that it will introduce "new product categories" this year.

Many are hoping that Apple's entry into the field of so-called smart wearables will transform the industry like the company's iPhone did in 2007.

Some forecast that smartphone sales, the current cash cow of the consumer tech world, will lose momentum as the market reaches saturation.

IDC predicts that worldwide smartphone sales will increase 23 percent this year, slower than the 39 percent last year, and that annual growth will average only 12 percent from 2013 to 2018.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com