Apple decreases prices, screen sizes for new iPhone, iPad
Apple went small cutting prices as well as screen sizes unveiling a new iPhone and iPad aimed at reaching more customers and boosting replacements, at a low-key product unveiling on Monday.The new launches came as Apple geared for a high-profile court battle with the US government on encryption and data protection, with chief executive Tim Cook claiming that protecting privacy is an obligation for the tech giant.The new iPhone SE will debut at $399 for US customers without a contract subsidy.
Apple vice president Greg Joswiak said, many consumers prefer smaller handsets, which accounted for 30 million iPhones sold in the year 2015.
“Some people really love smaller phones,” he told the event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, unveiling the aluminum handset with upgraded specifications and other features including Apple Pay.
“In some countries like China, for a majority of these customers it is their first iPhone.”
The iPhone SE will be aimed at first-time Apple buyers and those who want to upgrade from the iPhone 5S and 5C, which have not been updated in over two years. The iPhone 6S, starts at $649.
Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller announces the 9.7" iPad pro.
Also unveiled at the event was a new iPad Pro that also moves smaller — a 9.7 inch display compared with the 12.9 inch model on the original business-geared tablet.
“It is a large enough display to get all your work done, but easy to carry around,” said Apple vice president.
The smaller, new iPad starts at $599 for US customers, down from around $800 for the original.
Apple will be taking orders from Thursday for the new phone and tablet, with deliveries set for March 31, in the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore, with more markets to come online in April.
Graphic on the evolution of the Apple iPhone since the first model was launched in 2007.
Kickstarting upgrades
Apple is seeking “to kickstart the upgrade cycles for both iPhones and iPads,” said Jan Dawson.
Larger iPhones are still selling in vast volumes, but there's considerable evidence that some of those who own smaller iPhones are holding onto them rather than upgrading to the new larger iPhones.
Dawson said “significant pent-up demand within Apple's base of iPhone owners who want a smaller iPhone with up-to-date specs and newer features.” But he added that “this pricing doesn't get the iPhone down to the kind of prices needed to really spur sales in emerging markets, where older devices have been on sale for some time at similar and lower prices.”
Apple also announced it was decreasing the entry level price for its Apple Watch to $299 as it unveiled a new nylon band for the device. Apple has not released sales figures for the smartwatch but analysts have said it has become the market leader.
We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data and our privacy, Cook told the crowd gathered , one day before a court hearing on a hotly contested FBI effort to force the company to help break into the iPhone of a shooter involved in a deadly attack.We believe strongly we have an obligation to help protect your data and your privacy. We owe it to our customers. We will not shrink from this responsibility.Apple, backed by a broad coalition of technology giants like Google, Facebook and Yahoo, argues that the FBI is seeking a “back door” into all iPhones as part of the probe.
Because of the iPhone's encryption, Apple contends it would need to build a weaker operating system to help the FBI crack the phone's passwords to unlock.
US Justice Department argues that it is making a “modest” demand that could help reveal vital evidence in a terror case.
Apple refuses to unlock iPhones for FBI
Apple Inc., which makes computers and iPhones, said that it would not obey an order from a US federal judge to help the FBI access data on a phone used by San Bernardino shooters.
Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people at a holiday gathering in San Bernardino, California. They were also killed by police after a chase.
A federal judge in California ordered Apple to provide the FBI access to data on an iPhone 5c that Syed Farook was using. Judge Sheri Pym also ordered Apple to help build special software for FBI for unlocking the phone.In an open letter to Apple customers, the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, said he could not accept this “unprecedented step”, which “threatens the security” of its customers. We oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand” .
“This moment calls for public discussion, and we want our customers and people around the country to understand what is at stake.”
Mr Cook noted that smartphones had become an essential part of people’s lives who use them to store “an incredible amount of personal information”, from private conversations to photos, music, notes, calendars, contacts, financial information and health data.
Apple customers expected the company to do everything in its power to protect their personal information, and “at Apple we are deeply committed to safeguarding their data”.
He noted that compromising the security of “our personal information can ultimately put our personal safety at risk. That is why encryption has become so important to all of us.”
Mr Cook noted that for many years, Apple had used encryption to protect its customers’ personal data because it believed it was the only way to keep information safe.
“We have even put that data out of our own reach, because we believe the contents of your iPhone are none of our business”.
Mr Cook said that like others in the United States, Apple and its employees were also “shocked and outraged” by the deadly act of terrorism in San Bernardino last December.
He wrote that the FBI asked Apple for help in the days following the attack, and the company worked hard to support the government’s efforts to solve this horrible crime.
“When the FBI has requested data that’s in our possession, we have provided it. Apple complies with valid subpoenas and search warrants, as we have in the San Bernardino case”.
Why he could not comply with the latest court order, Mr Cook wrote: “Now the US government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone.”
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