Apple has once again expanded sales of the third-generation iPad. The tablet is now available in another nine countries, the biggest of these being India. Colombia, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa, and Thailand are also on the list.
Sony has confirmed that its NEX-7 kits will finally begin to ship near the end of February. The company already offers the camera body, which arrived last month, however the 18-55mm kit lens faced delays due to the devastating flooding that halted production in many Thailand-based facilities.
Last year's flooding of hard drive factories in Thailand had no material effect on cost or supply for Apple's first fiscal quarter, according to CEO Tim Cook. Speaking during a post-results Q&A, Cook added that the company expects no supply problems during the current quarter, although it does anticipate paying more for drives. That problem has been factored into guidance, Cook said.
In announcing its latest financial results which showed net income of $145 million, Western Digital has offered an update on its ‘significant’ progress in restoring manufacturing capacity and supply following the Thai floods. The major hard drive manufacturer says that is continuing to ramp production in Thailand and had resumed slider production, which had been suspended since October 10.The company now believes its manufacturing capacity will be back to pre-flood capabilities in the quarter ending September 2012.
As promised, Apple has launched special Lunar New Year online sales in a handful of countries. These are notably similar to the company's Black Friday deals in the US, which were modest in scope. At the Hong Kong Apple Store, for instance, Apple is offering about 8 percent off Wi-Fi iPads, or 6 to 7 percent off 3G models.
Apple is running a special Lunar New Year promotion on Friday, January 6th, the company has announced. In China and Hong Kong, as well as Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines, people will be able to visit local Apple online stores for rare first-party discounts. As with the company's Black Friday sale, though, no prices are being advertised ahead of time.
The iPhone 4S is now available in over 20 more countries, checks show. A list includes Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The expansion coincides with expansions of the iTunes Store and iTunes Match.
Although the floodwaters have receded in Thailand, the disaster is still said to be affecting supply chains in the tech industry. Canaccord Genuity analyst Bobby Burleson suggests Intel has been forced to stockpile its microprocessors as a "direct result" of the hard drive shortages that resulted from flooded factories located in Thailand.
Sony has reportedly resumed production operations for its Alpha and NEX cameras that were being manufactured in areas affected by the recent record-breaking floods in Thailand. To bring the operations back up to speed, the company is said to have moved production from the inundated Ayuthaya site to a plant located further south in Chonburi.
Sony has warned that it has delayed indefinitely the introduction of two of its latest cameras as a result of recent flooding in Thailand. The company has been forced to shut down two of its three production units in the country, including those that had been preparing to roll out the new NEX-7 and Alpha A65 cameras. A worldwide shortage of hard drives as well is expected in the aftermath of the flooding.
Mac and general hard drive production could be hindered by the flooding that has ravaged Thailand in recent months, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Waters have inundated the country since July, killing at least 315 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. Even Bangkok is now threatened, the BBC notes.
Friday's Chinese launch of the iPad 2 was greeted with long lineups, reports say. AppleInsider remarks that at the Beijing Apple Store, people began lining up at 5PM on Thursday; sales began at 8AM Friday, but by 10AM hundreds of people were still waiting in line. The queue is said to have been more carefully managed than the one for the first iPad, though, with numbered wristbands which allowed people to hold their place in line so long as they came back in less than an hour.
Apple will launch the iPad in Thailand on Friday, December 3rd, reports say. Prices should range between 15,900 baht ($528) for a base 16GB Wi-Fi tablet and 25,900 baht ($860) for a 64GB 3G version. People will be able to buy from at least two sources: local reseller iStudio, or Apple itself via the company's online store, which already has an order page.
The iPhone 4 should be launching in several more countries over the course of the next week. Three rollouts are scheduled for September 24th, when Israel will get the phone through Orange, Turkey through Turkcell and Vodafone, and Thailand via TrueMove. Although some 200,000 Thais are said to have pre-ordered, only 45,000 to 60,000 phones may actually be ready for launch day.
Thailand will soon have a second iPhone carrier, says an industry source contacted by Reuters. The company is Total Access Communications, which is said to be planning a Thai iPhone launch within the space of a month. TAC is owned by the Norwegian corporation Telenor, which already sells the iPhone in several countries, mainly Scandinavian.
Adding to the confusion surrounding the rumors of an iPhone "nano," images have surfaced that suggest the unconfirmed devices have already been replicated by knockoff manufacturers, according to AppleInsider. The fakes are built with a smaller form-factor than the iPhone 3G and even include Apple logos on the back panel. When the devices are turned on, the menu layout is similar to the genuine interface and several icons have been directly copied.
True Move, owned by True Corp. and the third-largest cellular carrier in Thailand, says it has signed a deal with Apple to begin selling the iPhone in its home market. The carrier is however in the earliest phases of arranging a Thai deployment, according to Reuters, with no prices for the phone, subscriptions or pre-paid plans. Even the timing of a launch is uncertain, as True Move will only say that the iPhone is due "in the coming months."
Apple's latest attempt at negotiating international distribution of the iPhone is in Thailand, according to reports. Reuters cites Prattana Leelapanang, the assistant VP of wireless business marketing for Thailand's Advanced Info Service (AIS); according to Leelapanang, his company is already discussing the details of an arrangement with Apple, including revenue sharing. The last point is particularly notable, as neither Apple nor its telecom partners have in the past admitted to revenue sharing, although it is a widely accepted fact amongst analysts.
