Apple announces financial results for Q4 of the fiscal 2014

Apple announced its financial results for Q4 of the fiscal 2014. The Cupertino giant took home a quarterly net profit of $8.5 billion or $1.42 per diluted share from $42.1 billion of revenue. Its gross margin for the quarter is 38%. The above result is an improvement over the $7.5 billion of net profit from $37.5 billion of revenue for the same quarter last year. Gross margin for last year's quarter was 37%. Unsurprisingly iPhone sales were the main driving force behind the stellar financial performance. Apple moved 39.2 million smartphones - up from 33.8 million for the same quarter last year. Mac sales impressed too. An impressive 5.52 million computers were sold - way up from the expected $4.9 million. Sales of Apple iPad however, weren't so impressive. Cupertino sold 12.3 million slates - down the projected 13.1 million. Apple sold 14.1 million tablets in the same quarter last year. Apple's guidance of the next fiscal quarter is expectedly optimistic. The manufacturer expects revenue in the range of $63.5 and $66.5 billion and gross margin between 37.5% and 38.5%. The above guidance should hardly catch anyone by surprise, as next quarter is going to include the holiday shopping season. It will also mark a full fiscal period of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus retail availability. The new iPad Air 2 will also likely help Apple's cause. Source...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_announces_financial_results_for_q4_of_the_fiscal_2014-news-9993.php

Lenovo will allegedly attempt to acquire BlackBerry this week

According to a new report, Lenovo might make a bid for the BlackBerry at some point this week. The troubled Canadian manufacturer has been showing signs of resurgence over the past few weeks. Reportedly, Lenovo is willing to pay in the ballpark of $15-$18 for each BlackBerry share. The latter's price is currently hovering around $10. Unsurprisingly, neither Lenovo, nor BlackBerry has confirmed or denied the report. 

A potential deal will mark yet another high-profile acquisition for Lenovo. The Chinese tech giant is about to wrap up its purchase of Motorola in the near future. Overall, the rumor marks a busy week for Lenovo's and its smartphone business. Last week the manufacturer also announced that it will launch a new brand of mobile devices that will compete with the likes of Xiaomi using an internet-based business model. Source |...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/lenovo_will_allegedly_attempt_to_acquire_blackberry_this_week-news-9992.php

iPhone sales might reach record 62 million this quarter

According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, Apple is on track to sell between 56.7 million and 62.7 million iPhones during the fourth quarter of 2014 (from October to December). Overall Wall Street estimates hover around 60 million. For comparison, in last year's Q4 Apple sold 51 million iPhones, and that was itself record breaking at the time. So needless to say, if the company manages to move more product this time around, it will once more have broken its own record. If Munster is correct, then this quarter's jump in sold units will be between 25% and 45% compared to Q4 2013. And given the record first weekend sales that the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus enjoyed, it's entirely plausible for Apple to go beyond 60 million by the end of the year. The Chinese market will be a big contributor to iPhone 6 sales, with pre-orders over there reportedly having hit 20 million units. The analyst also expects the average iPhone retail sales price to go up during this quarter, from the current $630 to around $695. This should be fueled by the higher cost of the iPhone 6 Plus compared to the iPhone 6, as well as people increasingly choosing devices with more built-in storage (which are more expensive than the base models). In terms of revenue, Apple may be looking at anywhere between $65 billion and $68 billion for Q4 2014. Either of those figures would represent a steep jump from the year-ago result of $57.6 billion, which was record breaking at the time. As for the upcoming Apple Watch, Gene Munster claims around 10 million will be sold in 2015. And if it comes out before Valentine's Day, Apple could sell 2 million units by the end of...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_sales_might_reach_record_62_million_this_quarter-news-9991.php

Sprint LG G2 update has LTE and HD voice improvements

The LG G2 that's been sold by Sprint in the United States is now in the process of getting a new software update. This won't change the Android version the G2 is running, or anything like that. What it will do, though, according to the official changelog, is improve LTE attachment as well as enhance the HD voice functionality. Alongside those things, the new update also comes with a "Google security patch", so it's probably one you want to install as soon as possible. As the rollout is staged, it may take a few days for your phone to notify you about it. If you're impatient, you can go to Settings > System updates and select Update LG Software to force a manual check. After applying this firmware update, you'll be on build ZVE. The previous software release for Sprint's G2 came in July and brought with it the Korean company's Knock Code feature. Source |...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/sprints_lg_g2_gets_an_update_with_lte_and_hd_voice_improvements-news-9990.php

Nexus 6 pre-orders confirmed to start on October 29

Google and Motorola unveiled the Nexus 6 phablet last week. During the blog post announcement, we were told that pre-orders for the device would start on October 29. And this date has just been confirmed by none other than the phone's listing in the Google Play Store. The Nexus 6 is in there, but you'll only be able to pre-order one starting on October 29 - next Wednesday, to be precise. By now you probably know the pricing: the Nexus 6 will set you back $649 if you want the base 32GB model, or $699 if you need double that storage amount. The Nexus 6 will become available at T-Mobile on November 12, though whether this will be its release date across carriers and retailers in the US is still a mystery. The phablet will also be sold by AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular. It boasts a 5.96-inch QHD (2,560x1,440) AMOLED touchscreen, a 13 MP rear camera with dual-LED flash, and a 2 MP front-facing unit for selfies. It's powered by a beastly Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset, with a 2.7 GHz quad-core CPU, 3GB of RAM, and a 3,220 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop. The Nexus 9 tablet by HTC, which was introduced alongside the Nexus 6, has already gone up for pre-order. Source |...

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/nexus_6_preorders_confirmed_to_start_on_october_29-news-9989.php

HTC One (M8) for Windows review: Eeny, meeny, miny, m8

What if you could pick a phone and then choose its operating system? What if you could get a popular flagship such as the HTC One (M8) and replace the Android OS with Windows Phone? Wonder no more - meet the HTC One (M8) for Windows - the only smartphone giving you the choice!

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_m8_for_windows-review-1151.php