iPhone 5 sales top 5M units over first weekend, Apple says

Eager fans wait for the iPhone 5 at Apple’s flagship store on Fifth Ave. in Manhattan.

Apple said it sold 5 million iPhones over the weekend, topping the mark set by last year’s iPhone4S by 1 million units.

The Apple frenzy continued its memorable run with lines snaking out of some of its most high-profile stores on Friday as consumers eagerly snapped up the company’s latest smart phone. The figure, however, isn’t quite as high as some analysts expected, with one notably calling 6 million his “worst-case scenario” for first-weekend sales.

Still, the iPhone 5 reestablishes Apple’s dominance in the smartphone business. While Samsung Electronics may lead the market in total smartphones sold, no other company can garner the kind of excitement and anticipation for a new product, and few companies can reap the sheer amount of profit that Apple can with the iPhone.

The success comes despite criticism that the iPhone 5 isn’t a ground-breaking upgrade from the previous version, and that its key features – a bigger display and a 4G wireless connection — are elements that should have been included in the iPhone 4S.

More embarrassing is Apple’s own maps application, which contains a number of errors, distorted images, and a lack of detailsin different locations that have many wishing the company hadn’t booted Google Maps off ofiOS 6.

Still, the phone garnered strong reviews and the lack of a major change in its aesthetics or the map flap haven’t hurt demand. Apple said that more than 100 million devices have upgraded to iOS 6, the latest version of its mobile operating system.

Wall Street had higher expectations, with estimates as high as 10 million units sold over the first weekend. The company could sell as many as 50 million units in the fourth quarter, according to J.P. Morgan.

Still, it remains to be seen whether the long-term demand for the iPhone continues with the competition stepping up its game. Samsung has already gone after Apple with a few advertisements taking shots at the iPhone 5, while Microsoft is readying the launch of its Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 campaign.

On Thursday, the Apple will release the iPhone 5 in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

iPhone 5 sales top 5M units over first weekend, Apple says

How push notifications can save your app from getting dumped

Generally, I’m not a fan of apps shooting push notifications out to my phone.

No, “Words with Friends,” I don’t care that I’m about to forfeit my game. There’s a reason I stopped playing it. I don’t need an alert any time I get a new friend on Facebook.

But apparently, notifications do make a difference when it comes to engagement, and sometimes they’re what keeps an app from getting deleted off the phone or being one of the myriad of unused “zombie” apps left ignored on a smartphone. With many of these apps now relying on the “freemium” model of charging for premium content, constant use is vital. Sure, you spend a lot of money getting someone to download your app, but how do you keep them using it?

“You’re going to see this battle for engagement instead of just a battle for downloads,” said Josh Martin, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics.

Urban Airship, which provides the notification platform for many apps, including CNET’s own app, provided me with some data on how notifications actually boost engagement. The company looked at the percentage of people who continued to open an app after a period of time between one and six months.

Predictably, the percentage dropped over time, but those with push notifications performed significantly better than those that opted to not have notifications. By the sixth month, 31 percent of people who downloaded the app still opened it if notifications were in place, compared with 14 percent for regular apps.

Of course, Urban Airship has a vested interest in people using notifications, so I approach the stats with a healthy dose of skepticism. Push notifications are relatively new, after all, and it wouldn’t be difficult to show progress after such a short period. Plus, can you imagine if all of your apps starting sending notifications?

“If all apps use it, does it become white noise?” Martin said. “That becomes a concern over the long term.”

Urban Airship acknowledges that risk, and is active in educating developers on how and when to apply notifications. The company is sensitive to apps going overboard on the notifications, which can send them straight into the delete category.

“You’re basically interrupting people,” Brett Heiggelke, chief marketing officer of Urban Airship, told me. “It’s like the six o’clock dinner phone call, will they appreciate it? Because if not, they’ll shut off the notification and even kill the app.”

Still, Heiggelke believes notifications will be key to getting people back to all sorts of apps, including games and even retail brands.

Heiggelke pointed to snowboard gear maker Burton’s app as an example of notifications done right. Rather than just a simple app with directions to a local store or a catalog of its equipment, the app offers a “Pow Alarm” that provides alerts when fresh powder hits a local resort. Users can select their favorite ski resorts, how much powder should trigger the alert, and what days work best.

“It’s branding at its best,” Heiggelke said, adding that marketers need to think differently when applying notifications to their apps.

Urban Airship is working to make its notifications more targeted and relevant to consumers.

Games, meanwhile, are increasingly dependent on notifications to keep people coming back. Many use the freemium model, and need to build a high enough interest level that the gamer will actually fork over real money for virtual goods.

Whether it’s a notification of new levels, or showing an alert when the person hasn’t played in a while, social games in particular have been leading the charge with finding new ways to utilize notifications.

Zynga has been particularly good at pioneering the use of notifications, Martin said, and he expects the social-gaming company to continue to do so.

“They’re leading the market in terms of innovation,” he said.

Notifications may be hot because there are no other real answers to the issue of engagement. As such, don’t expect them to go away.

Just in case, I’m bracing myself for the avalanche of alerts on my iPhone.

How push notifications can save your app from getting dumped

Friend mining: Facebook preps for social search future

No other company in the world holds as much personal data as Facebook, which puts it in an ideal position to cull data from your friends and friends-of-friends, and even those you don’t know, to bring you answers to your deepest questions. Such as, “What sushi restaurants have my friends gone to in New York in the last six months and Liked?”

Ok, maybe that’s not your deepest questions, but it’s the example that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used during an interview at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference earlier this month when he was talking about the intersection of Facebook and search.

“Search engines are evolving” to “giving you a set of answers,” Zuckerberg said. “Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer a lot of questions people have.”

You could call Facebook’s notion of search “friend mining,” extracting specific answers to question by mining the immensely data-rich social graph. Zuckerberg was coy about when Facebook would launch a more capable search engine, but allowed, “At some point we will do it. We have a team working on search.” His remarks certainly got the attention of Facebook watchers and Wall Street analysts, who have been speculating about how Facebook, with its nearly one billion users, could harness all that personal data and generate Google-like revenue from search.

“People have been waiting for years for Facebook to jump in to search,” said Jed Williams, a senior analyst with interactive media research firm BIA Kelsey. “This is such a big opportunity.” Search is an $18 billion business in the U.S. alone, according toresearch firm eMarketer.

The company is taking small steps. On Friday, the company began tracking search activity in addition to everything else users do on site.

At this point, people don’t associate Facebook with search, despite the fact that the company says it processes 800 million queries a day. The vast majority of those queries is people searching for other people, rather than the kinds of search queries common to Google and Microsoft Bing.

You can search the broader Web from within Facebook, but Facebook doesn’t make that task easy. Type ‘sushi’ into the Facebook search bar, for instance, and you’ll get a list of Facebook pages about sushi, based on popularity and which ones your friends ‘like.’ Then, lower on the page, a little box lets you search outside Facebook’s walls via Bing, with which Facebook has a partnership.

According to August 2012 ComScore search data, Google had 66.4 share of the U.S. market and Bing 15.9 percent. Yahoo, which also uses Bing search, has 12.8 percent. Microsoft wouldn’t disclose how much traffic it gets via Facebook.

While Bing has Facebook integrated into its search engine — so that what your friends like on Facebook shows up alongside your Bing search results, and you can easily post to Facebook to ask a question — presumably Zuckerberg’s search team is working on something that would derive a set of answers from Facebook first and wouldn’t require a visit to Bing.

Quora, Yelp, FourSquare 

To hear Zuckberg talk, Facebook’s search sounds partly like Quora on steroids. Quora, founded by former Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo, let’s users post questions that people can answer. Facebook launched a similar service, a minor foray into a social-type of search, in 2010, but has since killed it.

Like Wikipedia, Quora’s value comes from those who decide to participate. But Facebook wouldn’t need people to weigh in before it gives you useful answers to all sorts of questions — because, in effect, they already have. They’ve ‘liked’ restaurants, movies, bands and perhaps a page for the Toyota Prius. They ranted and raved about services. They’ve told Facebook where they work, lived, and on and on and on. And they’ve been doing it for years, with no sign of slowing.

Facebook’s job is to determine what data points matter for what type of question. That’s no small task. Eventually, Zuckerberg envisions a question-answer-search service that not only answers basic questions about which restaurants your friends have ‘liked,’ but one that can offer up meaningful responses for less straightforward questions, such as this example Zuckerberg gave: “Which of my friends or friends of friends work in a company that I might like to work at?” That’s not a particularly tricky question when you think about what data Facebook has and how it could mine it to deliver useful answers. To answer the question Facebook would need the right set of data, data you would see on another social networking site, the business-focused LinkedIn.

Yelp also offers clues about what Facebook’s possibly cooking up on the search front. Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities Internet analyst, even suggests that Facebook could take on Yelp big time. While Facebook currently doesn’t have Yelp-like reviews, Pachter points out that it could amass them quickly.

 

“If I write on Facebook that I had a phenomenal meal, Facebook could have a text box pop up that would ask me if I would like to rate it, give it a thumbs up,” said Pachter. “It could be a full-fledged Yelp.” And that would give Facebook more data points, including from its bazillions of images, for its friend-mining version of search, providing a big opportunity for snagging local ad dollars.

Yelp, which like Facebook was founded in 2004, has seen its business skyrocket with the spread of mobile phones – and that’s something that Zuckerberg is surely keenly aware of as he oversees Facebook’s challenging shift to mobile.

The importance of mobile is why Danny Sullivan, editor SearchEngineLand.com and a CNET contributor, says he expects Facebook search to resemble Foursquare’s ‘explore’ button. That lets users search for, say, nearby restaurants or stores based on your location and other criteria, including where you’ve checked in previously. Foursquare also surfaces recommendations based on users reviews, and it shows where your friends have checked-in, what reviews they have written.

Searching for revenue

The crowd that’s super excited by Facebook and search is Wall Street. Facebook’s beaten up stock, still roughly 40 percent off its IPO price of $38, has been on the rise ever since Zuckerberg’s interview. It closed Friday at $22.86 a share, up about 30 percent from its low of $17.55. One reason cited is Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm for search, which, rightly or wrongly, Wall Street equates with Google and fat profits. Google made $2.79 billion in the last quarter, dwarfing Facebook’s earnings.

For sure, Facebook social search offers a big money opportunity on several fronts. The market for local mobile ads alone — think Facebook adding Yelp and Foursquare-like features — is expected to hit $1.3 billion this year alone and quadruple over the next few years, according to research firm BIA Kelsey.

More broadly, Facebook could start selling ads — or its so-called Sponsored Stories – against queries. One possibility, according to Pachter, is that Facebook could let advertiser drop deals into search results based on keywords. If you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, for example, you could ask the question, “Where’s a good place to visit in Hawaii?” Facebook could then mine your friends’ status updates and photos to bring you their past vacation haunts. Facebook could then insert Hawaiian hotel packages in these results.

Whatever Facebook comes up with as it builds out its search products, it needs to tread carefully when it comes to new ways of using user data. Ultimately, it’s all about making a search that becomes a seamless part of the Facebook user experience. Because, if it’s not, Facebook will have some unhappy users — and then it will have fewer friends to mine.

Friend mining: Facebook preps for social search future

Apple supplier Foxconn confirms worker riot at Taiyun factory

Foxconn, a contract manufacturer to Apple, closed a northern China factory for the day followingan early Monday riot that, according to the company, began as a fight between workers. Details remain scarce.

The company said several people were injured and sent to the hospital after the incident, and that some were also detained by police. The factory in question employees about 79,000 workers.

Other reports, however, described a riot possibly involving as many as 2,000 people and, by one account, potentially sparked when a guard struck a worker. Photos posted by a user on the Chinese Internet service Baidu depicted lines of helmet-clad riot police surrounding what appeared to be workers and rooms littered with detritus and glass from broken windows.

Earlier this month, a Shanghai Evening Post journalist claimed to have gone undercover at the Taiyun plant. He described his orientation, plant security and his job, which was supposedly to manufacture the back plate of the iPhone 5.

Back in March, the head of human resources at the Taiyun factory reportedly told a South Korean newspaper that Foxconn had “just got[ten] the order” for the iPhone 5. That was just a few weeks after a reported strike involving hundreds of workers over a pay dispute at the Taiyun plant.

We’ll update this story as we know more.

Apple supplier Foxconn confirms worker riot at Taiyun factory

Kim Dotcom: Inquiry ordered into 'unlawful spying'

An inquiry has been ordered into whether New Zealand intelligence staff engaged in unlawful spying prior to the arrest of Megaupload owner Kim Dotcom.

The country’s Prime Minister John Key said some communications were obtained “without statutory authority”.

Mr Dotcom is fighting extradition to the US where he faces accusations of copyright theft on a huge scale.

In June, an NZ court ruled that a search warrant used for a raid on Mr Dotcom’s home was illegal.

The court also said that Mr Dotcom should be allowed to see evidence on which his extradition hearing will be based – a decision US authorities have appealed against.

‘Public trust’

The latest statement from Mr Key will be seen as another blow to the integrity of the US case.

The prime minister asked for an investigation into “circumstances of unlawful interception of communications of certain individuals” working for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), the country’s main intelligence agency.

He added: “I expect our intelligence agencies to operate always within the law. Their operations depend on public trust.

“I look forward to the inspector-general’s inquiry getting to the heart of what took place and what can be done about it.

“Because this is also a matter for the High Court in its consideration of the Megaupload litigation, I am unable to comment further.”

Mr Dotcom, writing on his Twitter account, backed the inquiry call.

“I welcome the inquiry by @JohnKeyPM into unlawful acts by the GCSB,” he wrote. “Please extend the inquiry to cover the entire Crown Law Mega case.”

Works of art

Authorities arrested Mr Dotcom and his colleagues at his country estate in January, confiscating computers and hard drives, works of art and cars.

His website Megaupload – which allowed users to upload and share large files – was also forced to close.

The FBI accuses Mr Dotcom of leading a group of employees responsible for earning more than $175m (£110m) since 2005 by copying and distributing music, films and other copyrighted content without authorisation.

Mr Dotcom – also known as Kim Schwartz – insists his website was merely an online storage facility.

Since his arrest, he has gathered some high-profile support, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Despite his ongoing legal battles, Mr Dotcom said a new version of Megaupload, called Megabox, was “90%” complete.

He said “lawyers, partners and investors are ready” to back the site which is expected to launch before the end of the year.

Kim Dotcom: Inquiry ordered into 'unlawful spying'

How to wait in an iPhone 5 line

(CNN) – Want to get an iPhone 5 on Friday?

You’ll probably need to wait in line. Or pay someone to do it for you.

Hipster-looking shoppers already have plopped down in folding chairs outside Apple’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York.

And in San Francisco, a man working through a micro-tasking company (more on what that means in a second) has been diligently waiting in line, for a price, since Monday.

“You’re going to wait here until Friday? God watch over you,” a stranger told that person, who was using a service called TaskRabbit, according to his Twitter feed.

Massive demand awaits Friday’s iPhone 5 sale

TaskRabbit nabbed the first-in-line spot to try to promote its online service that allows people to pay someone else to do a menial task for them. In this case, according to CNET, you can find people online who for about $40 to $150 will stand in line to purchase the iPhone 5 on your behalf.

That sort of idea isn’t all that new, and line-standers also are offering their services on craigslist. “If you are looking to buy the iPhone 5 when it is released, but not looking to stand in the line. I’ll do it for you!” wrote one person in Los Angeles. “I’ll get in line at 6 a.m. for 40 bucks. Camp overnight for 70,” wrote another stander, this one from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Other people are posting craigslist ads asking others to stand in line for them. One such ad, in Los Angeles, says the patron will offer the stander “a reasonable amount” … “and on top of that, I’ll even buy you breakfast.”

For those who don’t want to spend even more than the hefty price tag for the iPhone, but do want to pick up a phone on Friday, perhaps the line is the way to go.

Unless you hopped online within the first hour or so last Friday, pre-ordered iPhones aren’t expected to arrive for weeks.

But plan to get up early on Friday morning.

While opening-day iPhone lines vary by location — what passes as early enough at a Radio Shack in Nevada may not work for an Apple store in New York – analysts generally say advance consumer demand for the iPhone 5 is outpacing previous models. Early reviews of the phone have been positive.

Apple recently announced it had received 2 million pre-orders for the new phone, which is taller, faster, lighter and slimmer than the previous model, the iPhone 4S. That’s about double what the company experienced for the previous iPhone, Apple said.

That could foreshadow long lines. Or it could mean more consumers are skipping the line-waiting game and, instead, have chosen to order the phone online.

iPhone 5 pre-order shipping dates pushed back

The line waits are part exercise in extreme consumerism, part homage to Apple.

Last year some of the line-standers made pilgrimages to Apple stores in part out of a sense of tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died a week before the phone went on sale. Fans set up mini-memorials in his honor at some Apple stores.

To get a sense of what the most dedicated Apple fans are willing to go through, check out this chart from The Atlantic, which shows the longest Apple gadget waits.

If you’re just in the market for purchasing the new iPhone, not the in-line circus, there are several other stores that plan to carry the iPhone 5 on Friday.

They include AT&T, Sprint and Verizon stores, as well as select Best Buy, RadioShack, Target and Walmart locations. Check with stores in your area for details.

Still want to brave the Apple store? Doors open at 8 a.m. local time Friday in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK. The iPhone 5 will roll out to 22 more countries on September 28.

How to wait in an iPhone 5 line

Fighting pandas set to join World of Warcraft

Warcraft’s online gaming world is about to get a bit bigger.

The next expansion for World of Warcraft, known as Mists of Pandaria, goes live on Tuesday.

The expansion introduces the continent of Pandaria and its many inhabitants, including martially-adept pandas, to the game.

The Asian-themed game is seen as an attempt to shore up WoW’s dwindling subscriber base and cement its popularity in China.

Competition time

In early August it was revealed that the number of people playing World of Warcraft has dropped to its lowest level since 2007.

In 2010, WoW claimed to have more than 12 million players but in June 2012 this had dropped to nine million. About half of these subscribers are believed to be in China.

WoW creator Blizzard has tried several different strategies to keep people playing the game. It has introduced a version that is free to play in the early stages of the game. In addition, it let subscribers get a free version of its other hugely popular title Diablo 3, if they signed a 12-month contract for WoW.

Part of WoW’s decline has been put down to growing competition from other top tier games that have launched in recent months. Titles such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3, Runescape and many other free to play games have all drawn players away from the ageing title.

Mists of Pandaria is the fourth expansion for the massively multiplayer online game. Those who buy the expansion will get the chance to play as one of the Pandaren – the fighting pandas. The game also introduces a new character class to the game – the monk who uses martial arts rather than weapons to fight.

As with other expansions, Blizzard is overhauling many other parts of the game at the same time as introducing Pandaria. The expansion will let players control ever more powerful characters; will see changes to the way characters improve their abilities; introduce short challenges for high level characters and let players pit their in-game pets against each other.

Fighting pandas set to join World of Warcraft