Tag Archives: aapl

Apple, Samsung Impact? 2-For-1 iPhone, Galaxy 7 Deals Roil Market

T-Mobile US on Wednesday unveiled a 2-for-1 deal for Apple ’s ( AAPL ) new iPhone SE amid reports that buy one, get one free (BOGO) deals boosted sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 smartphones in the first three months of 2016. The 2-for-1 deals vary. T-Mobile ( TMUS ) rolled out a buy one, get one “half off” promotion for Apple’s iPhone SE, which hits store shelves on Thursday. T-Mobile recently ended a similar 2-for-1, half-off the second device, promotion for older iPhones, including the 6 series. AT&T ( T ) in early February rolled out an iPhone buy one, get one free deal for both new and existing customers. AT&T required that the second phone be a newly activated line. An AT&T spokeswoman said the 2-for-1 offer has not been extended to the new 4-inch-screen iPhone SE, which starts at $399. Both AT&T and T-Mobile offer financing plans with monthly installment payments. T-Mobile customers would pay about $600 for two iPhones SE devices under the new promotion. All four U.S. national carriers — including Verizon Communications ( VZ ) and Sprint ( S ) — have offered BOGO deals for Samsung’s new flagship device, the Galaxy 7 series. Some analysts have bumped up estimates for Galaxy 7 sales, owing to the 2-for-1 deals in the U.S., says a Reuters report . Samsung reports earnings in late April. According to a Nomura report, Samsung has pushed U.S. wireless firms to offer the 2-for-1 deals, in order to boost demand. Analysts, however, say phone upgrades by U.S. wireless subscribers in the first quarter were again lower than normal, continuing a trend from Q4. Apple’s release of the iPhone 7, likely in September, could spur more upgrades, analysts say. T-Mobile stock was up a fraction in afternoon trading in the stock market today . Image provided by Shutterstock .

Will Tesla Model 3 Reveal Be More Exciting Than Apple Spring Event?

Loading the player… The mass market Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) Model 3 could drive 5 times growth in the electric car maker’s annual deliveries by 2020, according to an analyst. A new Goldman Sachs report out Wednesday, one day ahead of Tesla’s long-awaited reveal of the Model 3, says the $35,000 price point “has the potential to dramatically increase the total addressable market and drive a bullish outlook for sales growth.” Aside from the company’s sales and earnings, analysts are focused on Tesla’s delivery and production figures. Though delivery growth is expected to boom in the long term, the analyst says near-term deliveries could drag down the stock. Tesla reports first-quarter deliveries in early April, and Goldman expects the luxury car maker to meet its guidance of 16,000 deliveries. Tesla Up Over 60% From Feb. Low Shares reversed lower in above average trade, losing 0.9%, but are continuing to find support around the 200-day line. Despite reaching a 2016 high earlier this month, Tesla is still in the red for the year. The stock is about 20% below its July high, reached as the stock failed to break out of a cup-with-handle base. Still, shares are up 62% from their February low. Tesla Unveiling Like Apple Event? Meanwhile, Credit Suisse says that it does not predict “much incremental information” during the Model 3 unveiling tomorrow evening — much like what happened recently with Apple ( AAPL ) during its spring product launch event. But the analyst said the real key will be seeing what the demand for the new car is like in terms of initial reservations. The Model 3 won’t start production until late 2017, a year after a rival mass market electric car from General Motors ( GM ) — the Chevy Bolt — is expected to begin production. Apple stock rose 1.5% on an upgrade from Cowen Wednesday, while GM edged up a fraction.

Like Apple, Google Android Said Ordered To Unlock Smartphones

Apple ( AAPL ) isn’t the only tech giant to face government demands to unlock cellphones. Alphabet ( GOOGL ) unit Google reportedly has been ordered to help federal agents open cellphones in seven states. The American Civil Liberties Union found 63 instances stretching back to 2008 where the government sought a court order to help it access data from a locked cellphone, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Apple’s first iPhone was released in mid-2007. Details of the cases came after the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday told a federal judge that it no longer needed to compel Apple to help unlock  the password-protected iPhone 5C used by Syed Farook, one of the two now-deceased shooters in the San Bernardino, Calif., massacre. The DOJ said the FBI was able to access data on the iPhone with the assistance of an unidentified outside party, without Apple’s help. Apple had argued that a court order forcing it to write software to bypass its own security protections would have set a dangerous precedent. Creating a “back door” for the government’s use would have made all iPhones more vulnerable to hackers, criminals and spies, the company said. Google told the WSJ: “We carefully scrutinize subpoenas and court orders to make sure they meet both the letter and spirit of the law. However, we’ve never received an All Writs Act order like the one Apple recently fought that demands we build new tools that actively compromise our products’ security. … We would strongly object to such an order.” Google is among the many tech companies that have backed Apple in its fight with the FBI. The ACLU, though, says the All Writs Act was used in the Google cases, which involve investigations by the FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security Department, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Land Management, the WSJ said. Prosecutors have sought to use the All Writs Act, a law from the 18 th  century, to compel the smartphone makers to allow access to data, unleashing a massive privacy debate. The first cases relying on the All Writs Act date back to 2008. In one of the Google cases, a 2015 drug investigation in California, prosecutors got a court order compelling Google to provide assistance in getting data from an Alcatel and a Kyocera cellphone, that used Google’s Android operating system, the WSJ said, citing court records. The ACLU found Google was also the subject of All Writs Act cases in Alabama, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon and South Dakota, according to the report. A court filing last month from Apple indicated there were about a dozen cases in which the Justice Department was pursuing similar orders involving Apple iPhones. Google’s Android is an open source operating system that runs on phones manufactured by a number of companies, while Apple’s iOS is used just on its iPhones. Apple stock was up 1% in early afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 109. Alphabet stock was up a fraction, near 771.