Numbers

All-time iPhone sales are about to surpass all-time iPod sales

The iPhone, Apple's wildly successful smartphone, is coming up on a significant milestone. The handset is about to pass another one of the Cupertino company's wildly successful products, the iPod MP3 player, in all-time sales.

The achievement was noted on Twitter this morning by Ender's analyst Benedict Evans, who pointed out that with cumulative iPhone sales at 356 million units and lifetime iPod sales at 375 million, it should happen this quarter...

Here’s why Apple dropped the ball in Russia

Russia is one of the BRIC countries mentioned alongside Brazil, India and China as areas where demand for smartphones is increasing rapidly. Yet, recently, the last of Russia's big-three carriers stopped selling the iPhone, leaving it up to resellers and Apple's new online store to meet demand.

Why are Russian carriers saying no to the iconic handset - and adopting competitors, such as Samsung and Microsoft? The answer could be as simple as 1-2-3...

Over 50% of all streaming set-top boxes sold are Apple TVs

According to the latest Frost & Sullivan Consumer Video Devices Market report, the Apple TV currently accounts for more than half of all streaming set-top boxes sold worldwide. That makes it the leader in the space by a long shot, with Roku coming in second at 26%.

The market research outlet posted the report this morning, which details a number of data points including market drivers, restraints to growth, product and pricing trends, and competitive landscape. And Apple's $99 hockey puck-shaped device came out on top...

Apple’s lower Mac sales created by ignoring iPad demand

When is a tablet a PC? When it's running Windows 8. Conversely, when is a tablet not a PC? When it bears the Apple logo. In a second quarter littered with negative sales figures, it took some fancy footwork to lump Apple Mac shipments in with an industry decline that's lasted five quarters.

In its estimates of PCs shipped during the last quarter, Gartner earlier this week announced PC shipments on average fell 10.9 percent. Even Apple - which has consistently beaten PC numbers - fell 4.3 percent. However, in a curious note, the firm explained the figures included desktops, mobile PCs and mini-notebooks - but not iPads. What gives?...

Pebble announces it’s surpassed 275,000 watch pre-orders

Folks still skeptical on whether or not there's a real market for smartwatches should checkout Pebble's latest blog post. The company says they've received over 190,000 smartwatch pre-orders since their Kickstarter project ended last year, giving them 275,000 total.

Even if you do that math at $99 a pop—which was just a limited time early bird special price—that amounts to over $27 million. Not bad for a year's work...

Wall Street prepares for flat year-over-year growth from Apple

If Wall Street was caught flat-footed by Apple's lower earnings back in April, analysts are preparing for more bad news for the third quarter. Apple is expected to announce lower quarterly revenue and sales, prompting one expert to slice thirteen percent off his previous forecast for the third quarter. Although a $5.4 billion reduction in expectations might seem dramatic, it is actually rosier than a review of what Apple may announce July 24...

Smartphones to push mobile ads over $9B in 2013

There are several key take-aways from a new report showing mobile advertising is exploding, set to surpass $9 billion in 2013. Despite a developed world saturated in smartphones, services for those devices continue to grow by leaps and bounds. Additionally, as we touched on Monday with the incredible success of Candy Crush Saga, the freemium app concept is red hot.

Such apps gain their popularity by being free up front, but earn their keep either through in-app purchases or advertising. According to the report by IAB and IHS, search accounts for 53 percent of mobile ad revenues, crystallizing what I've always thought: Google did not create Android out of some magnanimous gesture, but to keep ahead of the advertising curve...

More proof that Apple’s premium iWork/iLife iOS suite could go free

Apple for years offered iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand iOS apps as a $4.99 download each.

On the Mac, those apps which comprise the iLife suite come bundled with new Mac purchases and Apple's been very actively advertising them as one of the reasons people switch to the Mac.

As for the iWork productivity suite - comprised of the Pages word processor, Numbers spreadsheet maker and Keynote presentation creator - users are expected to pay $19.99 each on the Mac side and $9.99 each on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Some watchers think the advent of the free iWork for iCloud web apps with full editing capabilities (currently in beta) may signal Apple's intention to make the entire iWork suite a free affair, giving people one less reason to consider rival platforms. Today, a German blog has discovered an interesting change in the first-run App Store screen in the latest iOS 7 Beta 3 that surprisingly adds individual iWork/iLife apps as free downloads...

Apple to announce third quarter earnings on July 23

Folks wondering how Apple did financially during its quiet third quarter will have their answer in just a few short weeks. The Cupertino company announced this afternoon that it will be releasing its financial results for Q3 2013 on July 23.

Apple’s earnings reports are typically a major affair in the tech world, and this one won't likely be much different. The iPad-maker’s stock continues to take a beating, and it desperately needs to post some big numbers to change the conversation…

The iPhone, America’s most profitable product

Apple's iPhone isn't just the nation's top smartphone brand, it's also the most profitable product in America, according to a Friday report. Despite having around just one-fifth of the overall smartphone market globally, or nearly 40 percent in the U.S. alone, the handset enjoys the industry-leading 40 percent operating margin, producing more than half of Apple's $156.5 billion in 2012 sales. That profit margin is almost double that of the iPad, which grossed "only" $32.4 billion, according to MarketWatch...

Vine shares on Twitter have plummeted since Instagram video debut

When Instagram debuted its new video feature last week, one of the more popular hashtags on the social network was 'R.I.P Vine.' Many felt that the photo sharing giant's—which boasts over 100 million users—entrance into the video space meant the end of Vine's short-lived success.

Well according to a new report, the numbers are actually trending towards that sentiment. Using Topsy's free analytical tool, the folks over at Marketing Land say that Vine sharing sharply dropped last week after Instagram's announcement, and it continues to plunge...

India overtakes Japan as third biggest smartphone market

For years, the big three smartphone markets have been China, the U.S. and Japan. India now has knocked Japan out of the third spot due in part to better distribution and increased attention from Apple and Samsung, a research firm said Wednesday.

India has recently been in the spotlight as the two smartphone giants battle over the nation's growing interest in adopting the more powerful mobile phones. As a result, consumers are bombarded with an array of buying options, perhaps explaining why Strategy Analytics is reporting 163 percent smartphone growth in India, four times the global average...