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TECHNOLOGY Thursday 2 February 2017
Apple reversed its iPhone slump. But what’s next?

MICHAEL LIEDTKE company also was helped
AP Technology Writer by a recall of Samsung’s
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Note 7 phones, which were
Apple has snapped out of plagued by battery fires.
the first sales slump in the That problem drove some
iPhone’s decade-long his- people switch to other
tory, although the modest models such as the iPhone.
upturn doesn’t mean that THIS YEAR’S IPHONE
it has broken out of its inno- About 17 percent of all
vation funk. iPhones are now 7 mod-
If anything, the numbers els, according to Localyt-
Apple released Tuesday ics, which tracks activity
highlight the company’s on mobile devices. Most of
growing dependence on the rest are older iPhone 6
the iPhone, whose sales or iPhone 5 models. Apple
tower above Apple’s other could have sold more of
current offerings. The com- the iPhone 7 Plus, which
pany hasn’t managed boasts a bigger screen
to come up with another and an extra camera, but
breakthrough product the company misgauged
since its chief visionary, demand and didn’t make
Steve Jobs, died in 2011. enough to meet customer
Meanwhile, Apple’s rivals In this Sept. 7, 2016, file photo, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, demand, CEO Tim Cook
have been rolling out new talks about the pricing on the new iPhone 7 during an event to announce new products, in San said during a conference
products in other promising Francisco. call.
fields such as augmented Associated Press IPhone sales could slip
reality, virtual reality and yet again. Anticipation is
artificial intelligence. Apple which makes money from as Samsung and Google some consumers and be- building for the expected
currently trails in those ar- fixing devices, selling mu- entice customers with sleek fuddled others. release of a 10th anniver-
eas, although many ana- sic streaming subscriptions devices running on Android Apple shipped 78.3 million sary iPhone of some sort
lysts believe the company and commissions on sales software. The trend led to iPhones in the latest quar- this summer or fall. Many
may try to catch up with of mobile apps. Apple’s three consecutive quar- ter, a 5 percent increase smartphone owners could
products featuring those services revenue surged ters in which iPhone sales compared to the previous hold off until they get a
trendy technologies later 18 percent to $7.2 billion in fell compared to the prior year. It benefited from a good look at this year’s
this year. the past quarter, putting it year, causing Apple’s total year-end quarter consisting iPhone, says Daniel Ives,
No matter what’s coming on pace generate enough revenue to sag as well. of 14 weeks, one more than a senior vice president for
down the pike, the iPhone annual revenue by itself Apple bounced back in the previous year period. If the mobile research firm
remains a huge money- to rank among the world’s the quarter ending in De- not for the calendar quirk, Synchronoss Technologies.
maker. Its success is the largest companies. cember, buoyed by a posi- the iPhone sales slump “It’s like a drum roll while
main reason Apple boasts IPHONES ON THE RISE tive response to the late might not have ended. Ap- everyone waits for the cur-
a market value of $640 bil- AGAIN ... BARELY September release of the ple sold an average of 5.6 tains to roll back to unveil
lion — more than any other But selling more iPhones iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. That million iPhones per week in the next iPhone,” Ives says.
company. has been getting tougher device featured a better the latest quarter compare “There is a lot of pent-up
The iPhone is also driv- as more people hold on to camera, which drew rave to 5.7 million iPhones per demand out there, so this
ing the rapid growth of older models for longer pe- reviews, and no jack for week in the previous year. has the potential to be a
Apple’s services division, riods and competitors such headphones, which irked The Cupertino, California, game changer.”q

Self-driving cars needing less human help than in past

JUSTIN PRITCHARD to California’s Department miles. ing testing on public roads. mo have suggested 2017
Associated Press of Motor Vehicles, which That was a notable im- Separately, the state also or 2018 is more realistic.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Self- posted them online. provement over the prior requires companies to re- The state expects to release
driving car prototypes ap- The documents catalog year, when there were port any collisions involving final version of the “pub-
pear to be getting better the number of times from eight incidents per 10,000 its cars. lic operation” regulations
at negotiating California December 2015 through miles. The Department of Motor within six weeks, accord-
streets and highways with- the end of November that A reportable disengage- Vehicles has been work- ing to Melissa Figueroa, a
out a human backup need- humans took control from ment happens when ing on regulations that will spokeswoman for Califor-
ing to intervene, accord- a car’s software for safety- the technology fails or the define how the technolo- nia’s top transportation of-
ing to data made public related reasons. backup driver takes control gy can be rolled out to the ficial.
Wednesday by California Waymo, as Google’s self- out of concern the car is public when companies The Department of Mo-
transportation regulators. driving car project was re- malfunctioning. believe it is ready. When tor Vehicles made public
The data reflect safety- cently rebranded, did far Though imperfect, the that will happen depends a first draft in December
related incidents reported more testing than the other data are the best peek the on several factors, includ- 2015, nearly a year after
by 11 companies that have 10 companies combined. public gets into the fiercely ing regulators’ readiness final rules were supposed
been testing more than 100 Waymo reported that competitive world of self- and company confidence to be in place, and has
vehicles on public roads, its fleet drove itself more driving cars and how the the vehicles are safe. since revised the language
primarily in the Silicon Val- than 635,000 miles with 124 prototypes are perform- While Tesla’s Elon Musk has based on developments
ley neighborhoods where safety-related “disengage- ing. California required the been bullish, talking about at the federal level and in-
the technology has grown ments” — the equivalent of disengagement reports as months rather than years, put from industry and other
up. The reports were made two incidents every 10,000 part of regulations govern- companies such as Way- groups.q