Apple struggling with iPhone in India

There is a huge market for mobile phones in India, but according to the locals, Apple's iPhone hasn't even made a dent.

That's the conclusion of a long story published by LiveMint.com analyzing the first few months of Apple's foray into India with the iPhone 3G. Analysts estimate that just 11,000 iPhones have been sold in India since Apple launched in that country in September, which is probably equivalent to a week's worth of sales at the downtown San Francisco Apple store.

It doesn't seem that Apple ever thought it would make a huge splash in India, allocating just 50,000 iPhones to that market, according to the article. Of the 120 million mobile phones sold in India each year, around 6 million are of the smartphone variety, and Nokia owns the market with between 60 percent and 70 percent market share.

Several reasons are given for the tepid debut of the iPhone in India: price, promotion, and distribution. The authors note that India's mobile market doesn't follow the carrier subsidy model used in most places around the world, and as a result the iPhone is being sold for far more than some had expected after the $199 (9,500 rupees) worldwide price was announced. Still, that doesn't seem to have been the primary reason for the slow sales, since competing phones are priced about the same as the 30,000-rupee 8GB iPhone, although some think that customers thought they would get the cheaper price and were disappointed that it didn't apply to them.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10096534-37.html

Latest Apple Rumor: DRM-Free Music Headed from Sony BMG to iTunes

In 2006 and 2007, Apple (AAPL) was one of the torch-bearers in the movement to push record labels to license downloadable copies of their music without digital rights management encryption (DRM). When the fruits of that effort were eventually harvested and the labels decided to go DRM-Free, the rewards largely passed Apple by.

At the time, iTunes was already the leading distributor of digital music. There wasn't a competitor even close. The record labels, in an effort to level the field and try to shift the balance of distribution power to a less monopolistic scenario, allocated DRM-Free licenses only to Apple's rivals; stores like Amazon and Walmart. It's a strategy they've yet to reconsider.

To date, EMI remains the only representative of the Big 4 (the world's four largest record companies) that allows Apple to sell DRM-free tracks. Rumor has it, however, that may soon start to change.

Apple-centric website 9to5Mac reported this weekend that Sony BMG (which is now wholly owned by Sony (SNE)) may be preparing to offer a DRM-free license to iTunes sometime in the near future. If true, the news would begin to make good on a pledge Steve Jobs made in May 2007 when he said he expected more than half the songs in iTunes to be available in iTunes Plus, Apple's DRM-Free offering, later that year.

The news sounds promising but readers should also beware. The original posting begins with the ominous line, "let's just say we have a hunch on this one." No sources, even anonymous ones, are provided. Additionally, the timeline for delivery is reported as being any time in a range of weeks or months ahead. With such limited information, the report of soon to be announced DRM-free license for iTunes amounts to little more than another rumor in an already crowded sea of Apple gossip. It's another whisper on the Applevine.

Could it turn out to be true? Absolutely. Is it it likely? With such a wide time window, the possibility increases, but I still wouldn't expect anything soon.

Why not? …
To date, the music labels have set themselves on a path to try and create a more competitive digital marketplace. Part of the strategy behind that appears to be an effort to keep iTunes in a DRM box while competitors are empowered with a broader selection of portable DRM-free tunes. Even though it's questionable whether its working , Amazon MP3 has been growing, and other label-backed services like MySpace music are moving forward too. A deviation now would be a surprise.

http://news.indiamart.com/news-link.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fus.rd.yahoo.com%2Ffinance%2Findustry%2Fnews%2Flatestnews%2F*http%3A%2F%2Fus.rd.yahoo.com%2Ffinance%2Fexternal%2Fpssa%2FSIG%3D13946q8nc%2F*http%3A%2F%2Fseekingalpha.com%2Farticle%2F105621-latest-apple-rumor-drm-free-music-headed-from-sony-bmg-to-itunes%3Fsource%3Dyahoo

iPhones rule in US smart phone market: study

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Technology tracking firm NPD on Monday said Apple's iPhones are the mobile handset of choice for US consumers.

The report comes on the heels of studies showing that iPhones have taken the place of BlackBerry handsets as second-best selling mobile telephones worldwide and are half as likely to break down as the Research-In-Motion devices.

Nokia remains the mobile phone market leader worldwide.

US sales of iPhone 3G models in the third-quarter of this year topped those of former market-leader Motorola RAZR mobile telephones for the first time, according to NPD.

"The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality," NPD director of analysis Ross Rubin said in a release.

"Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features."

BlackBerry Curve models made by Canada-based RIM were the third most popular mobile telephones among US buyers in the third-quarter, according to NPD.

Sales of iPhone 3G models have rocketed since the touch-screen, motion-sensing devices geared for high-speed wireless Internet networks hit the market in July with starting prices of 199 dollars per handset.

Global sales of iPhones more than quintupled between September of last year and the end of the same month this year, according to a report released by technology industry research firm Canalysis.com.

IPhones outsold BlackBerry devices worldwide during the three months that ended October 1. Apple iPhones had 17.3 percent of the market and were closing ground on Nokia, which held 38.9 percent, Canalysis reported.

BlackBerry sales were 15.2 percent of the global mobile phone market in the quarter, according to the Britain-based research firm.

Worldwide shipments of smart phones, mobile telephones with wireless Internet capabilities, in the third quarter of this year hit a new peak of 39.9 million, according to Canalysis.

While discussing Apple's recent-quarter with investors last month, the California firm's chief executive Steve Jobs pointed out "Apple beat RIM," calling it a "remarkable milestone."

Apple got more good news in the form of Square Trade Research findings indicating iPhones are half as likely as BlackBerry devices to break down in their first year of use.

Square Trade determined that iPhones had a 5.6 percent "failure rate" as compared with 11.9 percent for BlackBerry devices.

"Apple's extraordinary success with the iPhone has not come without complaints and skepticism," Square Trade said in its report.

"Shortly after both the 2.5G and 3G launches, hundreds of users expressed grievances with the iPhone in online forums and blogs, with abundant reports of users plagued by hardware and software problems.

Apple launched the first generation iPhone in June of 2007.

source-http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ikhzYjwkTowqOjPkXXehiHDUSRNg