appmarsh

Monday, 10 February 2020

Amazon Continues to Dominate the Smart Speaker Market [Chart]

Amazon has managed to hold on to its dominance in the smart speaker market, according to a new report from eMarketer. The company is expected to fend off rivals Google and Apple to capture about 70% of the market in 2020, down only a few percent from last year.

This year, 69.7% of US smart speaker users will use an Echo, down slightly from 72.9% last year. By comparison, 31.7% of smart speaker users will turn to Google-branded devices, and 18.4% will use other smart speaker brands, including the Apple HomePod, Harmon Kardon Invoke and Sonos One. These percentages add up to more than 100% because some smart speaker users use more than one brand of speaker.

“Since Amazon first introduced the Echo, it has built a convincing lead in the US and continues to beat back challenges from top competitors,” said Victoria Petrock, a principal analyst at eMarketer. “We had previously expected Google and Apple to make more inroads in this market, but Amazon has remained aggressive. By offering affordable devices and building out the number of Alexa skills, the company has maintained Echo’s appeal.”

Spotlight Deal:
New Apple MacBook Air On Sale for $200 Off [Deal]

Share Article:
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Email, Reddit, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon

Follow iClarified:
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Newsletter, App Store, YouTube

from iClarified - Apple News and Tutorials https://ift.tt/2SsQS8c

Sylvester Stallone and Michael Bay Are Teaming Up For an Escape From New York-Inspired Sci-Fi Film

Stallone. Bay. Sci-fi action. Sign us the heck up.

Lawyers for Elizabeth Holmes Try to Have Theranos Case Thrown Out, Saying Indictment Too Diluted

Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the disastrously failed blood testing/scam startup Theranos, is trying to have charges against her and former company president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani thrown out on the grounds they’re “too vague” and leave prosecutors too much room to cherry pick evidence, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

T-Mobile and Sprint Merger Expected to Receive Final Approval Tomorrow

A judge overseeing a lawsuit aiming to stop the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint is planning to rule in favor of allowing the deal to go forward, reports The New York Times.

The FCC formally approved the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint in November 2019, but attorneys general from 13 states and the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit aiming to block it. The states argued that combining the two companies was not in the public's interest as it would reduce competition and lead to higher smartphone bills.

Final arguments in the antitrust suit took place last month, and sources that spoke to The New York Times said that none of the parties involved have read the judge's ruling yet, so there could be conditions or restrictions attached.

Both Sprint and T-Mobile are planning to make announcements related to the merger on Tuesday, as the lawsuit was the final roadblock preventing it from moving forward. If the judge does indeed rule in favor of Sprint and T-Mobile, the newly combined company will be known as T-Mobile and it will have 100 million customers.

The two companies have committed to building a nationwide 5G network covering 97 percent of the U.S. population in three years and 99 percent within six years. They have also promised not to raise their prices for three years following the merger's completion.

Under the terms of the deal, both T-Mobile and Sprint were required to sell some of their assets to Dish, as the FCC wants to see Dish become the fourth nationwide facilities-based wireless carrier in the United States.

Tags: Sprint, T-Mobile

This article, "T-Mobile and Sprint Merger Expected to Receive Final Approval Tomorrow" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

from MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - All Stories https://ift.tt/39uOrJv

Case Makers Readying 'iPhone SE 2' Cases Ahead of Low-Cost iPhone Launch

Apple is rumored to be working on a low-cost iPhone that could launch within the next few months, and as with any new imminent ‌iPhone‌ launch, case makers are already scrambling to get cases ready for the new devices.

Case manufacturers often pre-design cases for new iPhones well in advance of when the devices launch, basing designs on rumors, leaked schematics, renders, and other details. Most often this information is accurate enough that these pre-designed cases fit well, and there's a lot of money in being one of the first companies to have a case available for a freshly released ‌iPhone‌.

With the new low-cost ‌iPhone‌ rumored to be identical in design to the 4.7-inch ‌iPhone‌ iPhone 8, it's not much of a stretch for case makers to take advantage of this fact and offer cases for sale early.

Totallee, for example, has already launched pre-orders for an "iPhone SE 2" case, and sites like Alibaba and Amazon also have similar case listings. We can expect pre-sales of cases for the low-cost ‌iPhone‌ to pick up its launch date approaches.

Totallee and other case manufacturers do not have specific information on the new ‌iPhone‌ direct from Apple, and these early case designs (and the March release date details) are based on circulating rumors. Totallee says the cases will be available on March 24, but that's just the date that ‌iPhone‌ SE preorders began back in 2017 and a decent guess as to when an event could potentially be held.

The low-cost ‌iPhone‌, which has been referred to as the "iPhone SE 2" due to its prospective $399 price point, is not expected to resemble the 2016 ‌iPhone‌ SE at all. Instead, rumors suggest it will be an updated ‌iPhone 8‌.

The new ‌iPhone‌ will feature a 4.7-inch display, a single-lens rear camera, thick top and bottom bezels, and a Touch ID Home button. It is expected to come in space gray, silver, and red color options, and we're expecting 64 and 128GB storage capacities.

Recent rumors have suggested that Apple could unveil the new low-cost ‌iPhone‌ early in the year, perhaps in March. Apple does often hold an event in March, and if there are going to be new product announcements coming at a specific event, we could be hearing details soon.

Related Roundup: iPhone SE 2

This article, "Case Makers Readying 'iPhone SE 2' Cases Ahead of Low-Cost iPhone Launch" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

from MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors - All Stories https://ift.tt/2OH0cEu