Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

Saturday 4 November 2017 TECHNOLOGY
A24

Sales of iPhone X begin: Can Apple live up to the hype?

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE and available for same-day "The Super Bowl for Apple is
TALI ARBEL sales Friday. the iPhone X," GBH analyst
AP Technology Writers Shares rose 2.8 percent to Daniel Ives said. "That is the
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — $172.89 in midday trading potential game changer."
Apple's iPhone X went on Friday. But it also brings a poten-
sale Friday, as the com- Apple had said Thursday tial stumbling block. While
pany scrambles to meet that iPhone sales rose 3 conspiracy theorists might
demand for a marquee percent, to 46.7 million, in suspect that Apple is arti-
device that sports a lush the July-September quar- ficially reducing supply to
screen, facial-recognition ter, a period that saw the generate buzz, analysts say
skills and a $1,000 price tag iPhone 8 and 8 Plus come the real reason is that Ap-
. out in the final weeks. Sales ple's suppliers so far haven't
Most analysts have predict- could have been higher been able to manufac-
ed Apple won't be able to if many customers hadn't ture the iPhone X quickly
catch up with demand un- been waiting for the iPhone enough. The new Apple iPhone X sits on display as consumers line up to
til early next year. X. Making the iPhone X is buy the phone at the new Apple Michigan Avenue store along
But the company is optimis- As with recent quarters, proving to be a challenge the Chicago River Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in Chicago.
tic. "As we approach the one of the main sources of because it boasts a color- Associated Press
holiday season, we expect Apple's growth is coming popping OLED screen, and impatient consumers iPhones in the fiscal year
it to be our biggest quarter from its services, which are which isn't as readily avail- turn instead to phones from ending in September 2018
ever," CEO Tim Cook told anchored by an app store able as standard LCD dis- Google or Samsung. — the most in the product's
Wall Street analysts Thurs- that feeds the iPhone and plays in other iPhone mod- "What Apple needs to do is history. The previous record
day. He added that the other devices. els. The new iPhone also manage consumer expec- was set in 2015 when Apple
company is increasing its Revenue in that division requires more sophisticated tations so they don't get shipped 231 million iPhones,
iPhone X production ca- surged 34 percent to $8.5 components to power the frustrated having to wait for thanks to larger models in-
pacity every week. billion during the July-Sep- facial-recognition technol- so long for a new phone," troduced just before the
Apple is now giving deliv- tember period. All told, ogy for unlocking the de- Ives said. fiscal year began. By com-
ery times of three to four Apple earned $10.7 billion vice. Analysts believe Apple can parison, Apple shipped
weeks, down from five to on revenue of $52.6 billion, Even with the iPhone X's pull off the juggling act. nearly 217 million iPhones
six weeks, for those order- compared with a $9 billion delayed release, Apple is Forrester's Julie Ask said in its just-completed fiscal
ing online. Lines formed profit on revenue of $46.9 still struggling to catch up. would-be buyers aren't 2017.
outside stores in New York, billion a year earlier. Apple is counting on the likely to switch to Android If Apple falters, investors are
Chicago, Hong Kong, Mi- Nonetheless, the just-end- iPhone X to drive even just because they can't get likely to dump its stock after
lan, Italy, and Dubai, Unit- ed quarter largely became higher-than-usual sales dur- an iPhone X right away. At driving the shares up by 45
ed Arab Emirates, among an afterthought once Ap- ing the first nine months of most, Ask said, it will delay percent this year on the ex-
others, as customers came ple decided to release the next year — a scenario that when Apple gets revenue. pectation that the iPhone X
to pick up orders or to grab iPhone X six weeks after the might not play out if pro- They are expecting the will be the company's big-
one of the limited numbers iPhone 8. duction problems persist company to sell 242 million gest hit yet.q

U. of Michigan expert puts

bird-like robot through its paces

teries and is able to walk Cassie and the potential For now, Grizzle and some
unassisted on rough and she represents, certain real- of his students are putting
uneven terrain. world applications are still a Cassie through her paces
Cassie, which stands a bit bit out of reach. on and around Michigan's
over 3.25 feet (1 meter) Search-and-rescue "is a Ann Arbor campus.
at full leg extension, was hard problem and serves During a recent a stroll on
built by Albany, Oregon- as a template for 'unsolved a pedestrian walkway,
based Agility Robotics and problems in robotics,' Cassie ambled on a grassy,
purchased by Michigan which is one of the reasons sloped surface, then took
researchers using grant you see it pop up so much a serious tumble and did
In this Monday, Oct. 23, 2017 image made from video, a new money from the National when robotics companies a face-plant on the con-
robot, named "Cassie," walks on the campus of the University Science Foundation and talk about applications," crete.
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. Toyota Research Institute. said Agility Robotics CEO "Well, I think that's the end"
Associated Press Although other institutions Damion Shelton, who add- of the test, Grizzle said, as
have acquired similar mod- ed that it is "difficult to even Cassie lay in a heap on the
By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER derived from the casso- els, Michigan's team is ex- speculate" when a robot ground, slightly nicked and
Associated Press wary (KASS'-uh-WAIR'-ee), cited to use its version to could be used for such a scratched but no worse for
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — a flightless bird similar to an put Michigan Robotics' cut- purpose. wear.
A rare bird has landed at ostrich — stands upright on ting-edge programming to Other applications will be The programs Grizzle and
the University of Michigan: legs with backward-fac- the test, said Jessy Grizzle, launched sooner, accord- his students tested "are ver-
a two-legged robot named ing knees. The biped that director of Michigan Ro- ing to Shelton, who said a sion 1.0," he said.
"Cassie" that researchers weighs about 66 pounds botics. robot capable of walking "They are simple algorithms
hope could be the forerun- (29.94 kilograms) may not "This stuff makes our old around the perimeter of to make sure that we un-
ner of a machine that one have feathers or a head, math look like child's play," an industrial site taking 3D derstand the robot. We will
day will aid search-and-res- but she is attached to a Grizzle said. scans is no more than two now focus on implement-
cue efforts. short torso that holds mo- Although there is consid- years away from becom- ing our super-cool latest
Cassie — whose name is tors, computers and bat- erable excitement about ing reality. stuff," Grizzle said.q