12/26/2013 Apple will soon struggle to attract new iPhone buyers.

          An interesting new report from Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi suggests that Apple might be on the cusp of seeing a drop in new iPhone buyers.

The news doesn't suggest a drop in the popularity of the iPhone. Rather, many people already have one, so Apple will soon be selling more devices to upgraders rather than new iPhone customers. According to Sacconaghi, the percentage of "net new iPhone customers" is set to shrink approximately 13 per cent between 2012 and 2013, dropping from 62 per cent to just around 54 per cent.

Going forward, those numbers will drop to 37 per cent in 2014 and a mere 28 per cent in 2015. Concurrently, iPhone "replacement" purchases will jump up to nearly three quarters of everything Apple's selling by 2015.

"Barring a signed contract with China Mobile (CHL) or an iPhone priced to sell to the developing world, there is a slim margin of error that Apple will attract sufficient first-time iPhone buyers going forward to meet consensus forecasts for [fiscal year 2014 and 2015]," Sacconaghi wrote, according to ZDNet.

So, what's the problem? It's not that Apple's suddenly going to go belly up with its iPhone sales; that's not the issue at stake. However, the raw figures do paint a pretty simple picture. According to Sacconaghi, around 1.25 billion people can afford a smartphone like an iPhone sans carrier subsidies; of these, around 800 million already own a smartphone.

     "It is imperative that Apple look to address the lower end of the smartphone market, where we see five times the number of first-time smartphone buyers over the next two years. Even though there may be 100 million to 150 million new high-end smartphone users annually over the next two years, there will be about 500 million new low-end smartphone users annually over the next two years, or about four times the new user total addressable market,"Sacconaghi wrote, according to Forbes.

The iPhone 5C was supposed to be Apple's low-cost device for emerging markets, but it ended up being a colorful replacement for the iPhone 5, and not exactly affordable.

Meanwhile, when the number of new iPhone users stagnates, the content on the iTunes Store also suffers. Once a pretty significant majority of iPhone users are up and running with their typical shopping habits, a smaller number of new iPhone users won't be able to add that much activity with their app, music, and video purchases. In other words, the iTunes Store begins to plateau; content sales start to slow down a bit.

Things could improve if Apple can officially tap into China Mobile's 700 million or so customers, but so far, there have been rumors but no official announcements.

Source : ITProPotal

7/09/2011 Apple website hacked, could be targeted by Anonymous

Now that the LulzSec team has disappeared into the ether, the amorphous non-collective that is Anonymous has once again come into focus as the anti-sec group to watch. This morning, however, it’s the work of an individual Labanese Grey-hat hacker going by the name idahc that is in the headlines.

After idahc successfully discovered vulnerabilities on an Apple business website, a dump of more than two dozen usernames and hashed passwords appeared on Pastebin — though he claims the data was not posted by him. Access appears to have been gained via a flaw in a survey posted on the Apple Consultants network site that was being served from abs.apple.com. That server remains offline for the time being, presumably while Apple attempts to batten down the network hatches.
While idahc admits that the situation is “not yet serious,” the breach still means that Apple could find itself scrutinized by the same people who have recently gained entry into dozens of high-profile sites — from PBS and Citibank to just about every Sony site and service imaginable.

@Atulplayer

While the individual who found the exploit was quick to point out that he had no ties to either Anonymous or LulzSec, there’s always the possibility that his method could wind up in their hands and facilitate a future attack on Apple. For its part, Anonymous tweeted that it was busy elsewhere — an ominous sign for whoever or whatever it is that Anon is actively engaging.

Apple is, however, a big, juicy target and it’s certainly the kind of corporate entity that these hacktivist groups have been going after in recent days. If this initial leak is any indication of the kind of data that might be heisted, however, your account is probably safe — since stolen hashes don’t necessarily mean your password can be compromised.