Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Apple iPhone sales double in 2011

Latest profits for the computer giant Apple beat hopes, including a higher-than-expected rise in iPhone sales.

Net income for the three months to March jumped 85% on the same period a year ago, with iPhone sales of 18.65m - a rise of 113%.

The figures are the latest in a string of good results from the US's technology companies.

Intel's figures, released on Wednesday, were also well above hopes and helped share prices to a three-year high.

Apple reported quarterly net profits of $5.99bn (�3.6bn), 95% up on the $3bn it made a year ago. Revenue was $24.67bn, a rise of 83%.

Sales of the company's computers were strongly higher, up by 28% from a year ago driven by its tweaked MacBook Pro.

Apple's figures were not uniformly positive. It sold 4.69m iPad tablet computers in the quarter, below expectations.

Another disappointment was sales of its one-time star, the iPod, down by 17% on the year at 9m units.

Most analysts were enthusiastic about the figures.

Channing Smith, portfolio manager at Capital Advisors growth fund, said: "Dynamite numbers across the board. The only hiccup is lower than expected iPad numbers."

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a statement: "With quarterly revenue growth of 83% and profit growth of 95% we're firing on all cylinders."

Mr Jobs, who went on medical leave in January with an undisclosed illness, continued: "We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year."

The day-to-day running of Apple is currently being done by chief operating officer Tim Cook.



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iPhone tracks users' movements

Apple iPhones and 3G iPads are secretly recording and storing details of all their owners' movements, researchers claim.

Location data is kept in a hidden, unencrypted file according to security experts Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden.

With the right software, it can be used to map exactly where a person has been.

Apple has yet to comment on the revelation, however there in no suggestion that it has been uploading or using the information.

The findings, first reported by the Guardian newspaper, will come as a surprise to most iPhone users, as their devices do not give any visual indication that such data is being recorded.

However, although the practice is not explicitly flagged-up, it appears to be covered in the company's terms of use.

"We may collect information such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier, location, and the time zone where an Apple product is used so that we can better understand customer behaviour and improve our products, services, and advertising"

Clearly intentional

Writing on the technology website O'Reilly Radar, Mr Allan and Mr Warden said they did not know why iPhones and iPads were collecting location information but it was "clearly intentional".

The men claim that the facility to record users' positions was added with the iOS4 software update, released in June 2010.

The data is also transferred to the owner's computer and stored in a file there each time the two devices are connected to carry-out a backup or synchronisation.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos, told BBC News that it was unlikely Apple planned to use the information for commercial purposes.

"I think there are some legitimate privacy concerns and people will probably look for a way of obscuring that data," he said.

"But it is an object lesson about reading the terms and conditions," he added.



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Digital Act court challenge fails

A legal challenge to the Digital Economy Act has failed get the controversial legislation overturned.

The judicial review, requested by BT and Talk Talk, rejected claims that Parliament had overstepped it powers with anti-piracy measures.

However, Justice Kenneth Parker upheld one of the objections, relating to who pays for the legislation's enforcement.

The ruling pleased groups representing copyright holders who said it would help reduce illegal file sharing.



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