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New hockey app                                          TECHNOLOGY A23
  debuts with help                                                                                                                                     Wednesday 27 January 2016
  of MLB baseball
                                Apple’s iPhone success may be reaching its peak 
AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Major           BRANDON BAILEY                   ports Tuesday on Apple’s        lysts are expecting around      a similar cycle a few years
League Baseball is debut-       AP Technology Writer             sales for the last three        55 million.                     ago, when iPhone sales
ing a new website and           SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —             months of 2015, investors       An estimated 500 million        growth slowed to 7 percent
apps — for ice hockey.          Apple could soon face            will be watching closely for    people own iPhones now,         in the final months of 2013.
Under a deal reached last       one of its biggest challeng-     any hints about how Ap-         which means Apple can           The next year, Apple intro-
summer, baseball’s digital      es to date: Peak iPhone.         ple’s signature smartphone      rely on a significant number    duced new models with
business has taken over         Most analysts believe Ap-        is faring in the current quar-  to upgrade each year. But       significantly bigger screens.
streaming and app devel-        ple surpassed its own re-        ter. Sales usually fall some-   some have put off buying a      That sent sales skyrocketing,
opment for the National         cord by selling more than        what after the holiday          new model because they          especially in Asia, where
Hockey League. On Mon-          74.5 million units of its flag-
day, the NHL will start offer-  ship product in the final        Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus at an event in San Francisco.
ing a cheaper subscription      three months of 2015. But        Most analysts believe Apple surpassed its own record by selling more than 74.5 million iPhones
package, NHL Premium,           there are signs that iPhone      in the final three months of 2015. But there are signs that iPhone sales in the first three months of
with six-minute recaps and      sales in the first three         2016 will show an abrupt decline from the same period a year earlier.
live video for the final five   months of 2016 will — for
minutes of most games, plus     the first time ever — show                                                                                                                  (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
any overtime and shoot-         an abrupt decline from the
outs. Premium will cost $3 a    same period a year earlier.      shopping season. But ana-       didn’t see a strong reason      consumers had previously
month, compared with $25        That could mark a pivotal        lysts say it appears Apple      to upgrade.                     flocked to buy big-screen
for full games. In both cas-    moment for the Silicon Val-      has cut production orders       Despite some new features,      phones from rival Samsung.
es, hometown games will         ley giant.                       from key suppliers in recent    “people are feeling like        But there may no more
typically be unavailable to     Apple is the world’s big-        weeks, suggesting it’s low-     there hasn’t been anything      equally dramatic changes
preserve television rights.     gest company, in terms of        ered its own forecasts.         that’s really new” in the lat-  left to jump-start sales like
The NHL is also boosting vid-   stock value, thanks to the       Apple hasn’t commented          est iPhone models, known        that again. “Apple really
eo quality to 60 frames per     iPhone’s surging popularity      on iPhone sales since last      as the 6S and 6S Plus, which    pulled the big lever they
second, double the stan-        around the world. In busi-       fall, when Cook struck an       came out last fall, said mar-   had left un-pulled, up to
dard 30 frames, though          ness terms, Apple makes          upbeat tone. In part, Zino      ket researcher John Feland      then,” said tech analyst
you’ll need a streaming TV      most of its money from           and other experts say, the      of Argus Insights.              Jan Dawson of Jackdaw
device, a game console,         iPhone sales.                    company is suffering from       Apple will likely make sig-     Research. “That was sort of
an iPad or one of the larger,   But concerns about slow-         its own success. Apple sold     nificant changes in the         a one-off event.”
Plus models of the iPhone.      ing growth have sent the         61 million iPhones in the       next major iPhone release,      While iPhone sales may
Officials say that 60 frames    stock into a months-long         March quarter of 2015, or       expected in September,          be slowing, Apple has
will be ideal for fast-moving   slump, fueling debate            40 percent more than it did     which could fuel another        launched other products
action such as hockey, as       about what kind of com-          a year earlier. To match        surge in sales. Some tech       and services tied to the
it will make puck move-         pany Apple will be in the        that growth rate, Apple         blogs have reported a new       iPhone — from the Apple
ment look smoother. Bob         future.                          would need to sell more         model might even be com-        Watch to the digital pay-
Bowman, baseball’s presi-       The iPhone contributed           than 85 million in the cur-     ing this spring.                ments service known as
dent of business and me-        nearly two-thirds of Apple’s     rent period. Instead, ana-      The company went through        Apple Pay.q
dia, says he plans to bring     $234 billion in revenue last
that to baseball, too.          year. None of the other
Among other features:           new products Apple has
— Beyond choosing a             launched in recent years
team or two as favorites,       have emerged as block-
you’ll be able to “follow” ri-  busters. That’s led some
val teams. Those teams will     critics to suggest Apple has
show up higher on league        lost its innovative touch,
scoreboards, but you            while others say it’s evolv-
won’t clutter the screen        ing to depend on a broad-
with as much news about         er base of related tech
those teams as you would        products and services.
for favorites.                  One thing is clear, said
— Composite views will          analyst Angelo Zino at S&P
mix the main action with        Capital IQ: “Last year was
alternative angles, such as     an unprecedented year
cameras looking straight        for Apple and the iPhone....
down on each goalie.            You’ll never see that type
Gone will be the ability to     of growth from the iPhone
choose alternative angles       again.”
individually, as video didn’t   When CEO Tim Cook re-
always sync correctly. Of-
ficials are hoping to ad-       Marvin Minsky, pioneer of artificial intelligence, dies 
dress that by offering the
composite view with pre-        CAMBRIDGE, Massachu-             The university says Minsky      and considered how ma-          we know it today.”
selected angles as a single     setts (AP) — A pioneer in        died Sunday at Brigham          chines might be endowed         Minsky served in the Navy
stream. Although baseball       the field of artificial intel-   and Women’s Hospital in         with common sense.              during World War II, before
is now running hockey’s         ligence at the Massachu-         Boston of a cerebral hem-       Daniela Rus, director of        earning mathematics de-
digital services, you won’t     setts Institute of  Technolo-    orrhage.                        MIT’s Computer Science          grees from Harvard and
get the type of real-time       gy who saw parallels in the      Minsky viewed the brain as      and Artificial Intelligence     Princeton. He joined MIT’s
tracking available for          functioning of the human         a machine whose function-       Laboratory, says Minsky         faculty in 1958.
baseball. q                     brain and computers has          ing can be studied, and         “helped create the vision       He is survived by his wife
                                died. Marvin Minsky was 88.      replicated in a computer        of artificial intelligence as   and three children.q
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