Apple's new four-inch iPhone SE could prove very popular in China, Apple's second largest market in terms of revenue, as launch weekend pre-orders from retailers have topped an estimated 3.4 million units, said CNBC on Monday. Data from local retailers reveals that Gold and Rose Gold are the most popular colorways among buyers in China. Those are preliminary figures: Apple has not publicly boasted about iPhone SE pre-orders as of yet.
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Great deal: Mac app bundle with Parallels 11, 1Password and 6 other apps for just $80
Supercharge your Mac with this Black Friday Bundle Deal from the good folks at Parallels. For just $80, you can pick up more than $500 worth of software, including apps like Parallels Desktop 11, Parallels Access, 1Password for Mac, Evernote Premium and more—a total of 8 useful, powerful applications.
Of course you all know what big fans of Parallels and 1Password we are here at iDB—we use the former in all of our virtual machine tutorials, and the latter is regarded as the best password management app for both Mac and iOS. Then there is Evernote and Pocket, neither of which need much introduction.
Early Best Buy Black Friday deals: up to $100 off Apple Watch, $125 off iPad Air 2
Heads up holiday shoppers. Best Buy is offering early access to some of its Black Friday deals in a limited-time, online-only sale. Until midnight tonight (CT), you can take advantage of discounts of up to $100 on Apple Watch, $125 off iPad Air 2, and various other promotional prices.
For Apple Watch, Best Buy is taking $50 off Sport models and $100 off of Stainless Steel models—easily one of the best deals we've seen on Apple's smartwatch. And for iPad, the retailer is knocking $100 off select 16GB and 64GB Air 2 models, and as much as $125 off of 128GB models.
An offer you can’t refuse: The Godfather Trilogy is just $10 on iTunes right now
Thanksgiving is on Thursday, and unless you work in retail, chances are you have a long weekend coming up. And what better way to spend your extra free time than by watching one of the most popular film series in cinematic history: The Godfather Trilogy.
For a limited time, iTunes is offering the 3 movies, which follow the fictional Corleone crime family through the course of its history in the US and their homeland in Sicily, for just $9.99. That's a savings of at least $20 over its Best Buy and Amazon counterparts.
Deal alert: tons of great albums currently on sale on iTunes
iTunes is currently having a massive sale on some great albums, all of them available for only $6.99. Of course, if you are an Apple Music subscriber, it might not be worth it to you, but if you like to buy and own your music albums, then there are a few deals in there you can't pass.
Apple: iPhone 6s on pace to beat last year’s 10 million pre-order record
Apple this morning confirmed in a statement issued to CNBC that its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are “on pace” to beat the ten million pre-order record established during last year's first-weekend sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The number flies in the face of many clueless analysts who said Apple wouldn’t be able to hit that number this time around because the iPhone has peaked.
Interestingly enough, Apple touted “exceptionally strong” pre-orders for the larger-screened and more expensive 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus, with the initial stock sold out globally.
The company did not announce opening weekend iPhone 6s sales at the time of this writing but we're expecting them to announce the new record via a press release shortly.
Report states that Apple Watch sales face a major decline, but take it with a grain of salt
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Slice Intelligence, is reporting that Apple Watch sales (US only) are facing a significant slowdown, as noted by MarketWatch this afternoon. Per Slice, the Apple Watch has gone from a peak of around 200,000 units a day right around launch, to under 20,000 units a day.
Obviously, this sort of data isn't based on cold hard facts—only Apple itself would be able to provide us with 100% accurate numbers—but this kind of report does put a gloomy cloud over the Apple Watch.
Should Apple be worried? It's simply way too early to tell right now.
But one must remember that, unlike its iPhone and iPads, the Apple Watch is a brand new product category, and Apple has been met with significant supply chain constraints. Remember, it wasn't that long ago when you couldn't even walk into a store and buy one.
Apple Watch availability expanding to seven more countries on June 26
The Apple Watch will be arriving to an additional seven countries beginning Friday, June 26, the company confirmed Thursday in a media release.
Customers in Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan will be able to buy the device beginning June 26 from the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.
In addition, the Cupertino firm has announced limited in-store availability of the wearable device.
Slice Intelligence: Apple Watch sales taper off to 30,000 units per day
Slice Intelligence, an opt-in service that scans receipts of two million online shoppers' inboxes, estimated Friday that Apple Watch sales have cooled off and currently stand at or below 30,000 daily units in the United States, following the launch day spike that saw an estimated 1.5 million U.S. pre-orders of the wrist-worn device.
As noted by Quartz tech editor Dan Former, that suggests that Apple Watch orders fell sharply after the first day and haven’t grown since.
1Password for Mac is on sale for 30% off
Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't yet experienced the greatness that is 1Password, then now is a wonderful time to jump in. That's because the well-respected password management tool has gone on sale for a limited time, and is now $34.99—30% cheaper than it normally is.
I think it's safe to say that most of us at iDB use 1Password, and I've personally used it for a number of years. Yes, there are other password management tools out there, and I have experienced many of them. That said, I can unequivocally recommend 1Password as the best tool of them all.
Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest games discounted in Square Enix holiday sale
Joining Halfbrick and others, Square Enix has launched a holiday promotional sale for all of its iOS games. So for a limited time, you can pickup some of the studio's biggest titles for iPhone and iPad at a significant discount.
The Square Enix library contains a number of popular console ports, including Final Fantasy 1-6, and Final Fantasy Tactics, as well as multiple Chaos Rings and Dragon Quest games. We've listed all of the discounted titles below.
App Santa is back with big discounts on great apps
Whether you've been naughty or nice this year, App Santa will still bring you great deals on award winning apps by independent developers. Available now through December 26th, App Santa is offering up to 60% on many must-have applications for both iOS and Mac. It's like Christmas before Christmas. Enjoy!