when considering last quarter sales

There is a huge amount of interest in upcoming Apple iPhones, with the iPhone 5S widely expected to launch in September and an iPhone 6 set for 2014. We’ve been keeping readers informed with leaks and speculation about the next iPhones, but of course nothing has been officially announced yet about either device. One thing that looks certain though is that the success of the iPhone 5 and 6 is promising, when considering last quarter sales.

It’s easy to assume that any future iPhone will be a big hit, as Apple generates a large amount of brand loyalty, and previous iterations of the iPhone have all been hits. Therefore we can say without too much prevarication that the iPhone 5S and 6 are assured a decent amount of sales. women shoes factory However, it seems to be the case that demand for the iPhone is growing, as shown by the latest estimates for the June quarter.

Analysts’ estimates for last quarter iPhone sales range from 23 million to 32 million, with a median of 27 million units. Although it has been reported that there seems to be a slowdown of high-end smartphone sales globally, the verdict from 45 Apple analysts bucks this idea, with the consensus suggesting that iPhone sales still grew in the June quarter.

Fortune reports on the findings of 28 professional analysts and 17 amateurs for fiscal Q3 this year, and the resulting estimate of 27.15 million iPhones sales indicates a rise of 4.3% over the same time last year when sales were 26.03 million. Although this indicates a much slower growth than in previous years, it does still show growth.

This growth becomes even more notable when taking into account that the most recent iPhone, the iPhone 5, is already 9 months old, while the iPhone 4S is 21 months old and the iPhone 4 is 36 months old. On July 23 Apple will report on fiscal Q3 2013 earnings and we’ll know just how accurate these estimates are.

These figures certainly suggest very encouraging potential for sales of the iPhone 5S and 6, and although other makers may be seeing a slowdown in sales, that doesn’t seem to be the case for Apple going on these latest estimates. We recently told about Google’s huge promotional budget for the Moto X in a bid to rival the iPhone 5S, and it will be interesting to see exactly what happens over the next few months for all smartphone sales.

Before we wrap up we’ll give you some of the expectations for the iPhone 5S, but remember none of this is official just yet. Just of a few of the leaks and rumors suggest an upgraded processor, a 13-megapixel camera, possibly with slow-motion video capture, more storage options, and a fingerprint sensor, and it’s likely to be running iOS 7 out of the box.

We’re interested to hear your thoughts on the latest analysts’ estimates regarding current iPhone sales, and how they appear to indicate that Apple is still achieving growth? Are you waiting for the launch of the iPhone 5S? Why not send us your comments with your views.

The Moto X Phone has already been in the hands of Google’s chairman and a number of photos revealing the Moto X in Eric Schmidt’s hands made some people a little jealous. You can see all the hands-on photos with Google’s Moto X Phone in their article.

Back to Forbes, you can see in their article that they feel strongly about the Samsung Galaxy S4 reducing its price to compete with the upcoming iPhone 5S and Moto X Phone. The author makes it clear that a price war is coming, but in our opinion the plastic iPhone 5 with a cheaper price point is almost certain considering the range of leaks.

It will be interesting to see how this cheap iPhone 5 competes with the range of Galaxy S4 models and their price points, although Apple will need to get the specs up to scratch even with a cheaper price.

With Google investing hundreds of millions into the Moto X Phone, this will have an impact on Apple’s launch plans and Samsung’s aim for smartphone feature dominance, but we highly doubt any phone could stop Apple’s iPhone 5S if it launches with some vital changes. This is especially true for the extremely loyal Apple fans, and there are millions of them in many countries.
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Consumer reaction to lower prices in the quarter

Unprecedented levels of demand in the last quarter owing to lower gold prices have led to depletion of stocks in a number of key markets. Jewellery shops in China and India have run low or in some cases completely out of stock, it said. “In India, imports of gold are headed towards record levels in Q2 of 2013. We anticipate 300-400 tonnes of imports in the second quarter, as much as a 200 per cent year-on-year increase and almost half of total imports last year,” the WGC said in its market update for the second quarter of this year.

The country had imported only 153 tonnes of gold in the same period in 2012 calendar year as demand was lower because of record prices at that time.

Despite the price fall in April, the WGC’s research indicates that sentiment towards gold in the two largest markets is still extremely positive, with 70 per cent of consumers in India and China anticipating a stable or increasing price in the next 12 months. “Purchasing behaviour has been extremely strong, which indicates sustained demand over 2013 as a whole. While it is expected volumes will return to more normal levels, the momentum created in demand in Q1 and thus far in Q2 is likely to continue,” it observed.

Noting that the outlook for the remainder of 2013 is even more positive, the WGC said, “We anticipate record quarterly totals for the second quarter in India and China. Even if ETF (electronically traded funds) outflows continue, it is quite likely that gold previously held in the ETFs will find its way to Asian consumers taking a long-term view on gold.”

During the first quarter (January-March) of this year, there was very strong demand in the consumer markets for bars, coins and jewellery, the report said. “Purchases in India, China and the US were particularly strong. Consumer reaction to lower prices in the quarter was very positive and led to records being set in Chinese demand and in jewellery demand worldwide,” it said.

In India, consumers have flooded into the market, viewing the lower prices very much as a buying opportunity, with a sudden rise in jewellery sales reported from retailers across the nation. This was echoed in re-stocking by jewellers ahead of Akshaya Tritiya on May 13, it added.

Gold imports from India, the world’s largest consumer, are expected to increase to 900 tonnes in the current calendar year as against 860 tonnes in 2012.

A former Indian-origin cricket coach here has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for his role in a burglary in May last year.

Jeraj Puvaneshen, 26, pleaded guilty to helping two fellow coaches, Rajeswari Pasupathy and Vigineswari Pasupathy, both sisters, burgle the apartment of one of their students at Hougang area here May 17, 2012, media reports said Thursday.

Both the sisters had represented Singapore in cricket before.

At the time of the incident, Puvaneshen was the cricket coach of St Andrew's Secondary School and St Andrew's Junior College.

According to the reports, the sisters came to know that one of their students, a 12-year-old boy, was staying in his flat alone as his parents were away.

They then asked Puvaneshen to take the boys cricket team for a run outside the school in the afternoon.

While the boy was away from his home, the two sisters stole gold jewellery worth S$20,000 and other items from the flat using the keys to the flat they had taken out from the boy's bag.

There are steel blocks on the cushions

SHAUN Murphy felt the full force of an electrified Graeme Dott as the Scot hauled himself level in their high-stakes Crucible battle.

From 6-2 behind at the start of the session, Dott forced his way level at 8-8, teeing up a tantalising climax to the best-of-25-frames second-round match at the Betfair World Championship last night.

Dott was terrific, which was to his great credit as he could easily have been put out of his stride by the static shocks he was suffering before the players took an early interval.

The man who carried off the title in 2006 was suffering when he cued near the cushions, unlike Murphy who appeared untroubled. When Dott explained the situation to referee Brendan Moore, it was agreed they should leave the arena. Bizarrely, a tournament official was sent out to spray the carpet with water.

Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, said on BBC2 as the match was interrupted: “It’s quite strange only Graeme Dott is getting the static from the table. I’ve never seen this at the Crucible. Maybe he has to change his shoes.”

Asked about Dott’s problems, assistant tournament director Martin Clark later said: “Graeme pointed out to referee Brendan Moore at the end of the 11th frame that he had been feeling static shocks.

“There are steel blocks on the cushions and especially if Graeme had any metal in his shoes that may have caused it. We called the players in for the mid-session interval a frame early and sprayed the carpet with water, and that stopped the shocks.”

There still seemed to be faint crackles of static after the interval, but nothing as troubling as earlier.

Dott is bidding to keep Scottish hopes alive, with 1988 the last year his country had no representative in the quarter-finals. The tight tussle remained a nip-and-tuck affair with Murphy leading 11-10 in the final session.

Meanwhile, Dechawat Poomjaeng toned down the comedy but to no avail as the eccentric Thai showman waved farewell to the game’s showpiece event last night.

The 34-year-old promised he would return for next year’s tournament after the thrills and spills of his entertaining debut made him a crowd favourite. He hopes to make enough money from snooker to buy a house but a second-round exit to Welsh wonder Michael White gave him just ￡16,000, so moving out of the Sheffield property he shares with four other Thai cuemen will have to wait. It at least dwarfed the meagre ￡4,000 he had previously banked in winnings since joining the professional tour at the start of last season.

Twenty-one-year-old qualifier White became the first player to secure a quarter-final berth as he crushed world No 70 Poomjaeng. From 7-1 up overnight he prevailed 13-3, winning with a session to spare.

White made breaks of 71, 83, 73 and 102 to set up a last-eight clash with Ricky Walden or Robert Milkins.

Poomjaeng shook hands with fans on the front row before departing behind the dark curtains to bring an end to a campaign that began with a stunning win against world No 5 Stephen Maguire.

Defeat did not appear to rattle him, with Poomjaeng saying: “I’m okay because it’s the first time for me at the Crucible. I loved the crowd’s reaction to me. I’m so proud that everyone likes me. I love them.”

World No 3 Mark Selby sneaked ahead of Barry Hawkins, leading 5-3 after the first session of their second-round exchange, while Judd Trump took a 6-2 lead against Marco Fu.

His rant last night was pitched at both the fans

All the angst of Rafael Benitez came spilling out last night and if some of it was understandable enough as it reflected the pain generated by one of the worst ordeals ever endured by a leading football man, there was too an inevitable response.

Did you anticipate a bed of flowers as you came racing out of exile and into the shoes of a manager much respected, and even adored by some sections of the Chelsea support? Did you think that Roberto Di Matteo's extraordinary contribution to the affairs of a club which had repeatedly broken the normal operating rules of a successful football organisation, which had treated its managers with not much more dignity than might have been accorded a series of errant office boys, would be buried in the welcome for a man so widely disliked on the terraces of Stamford Bridge?

It would have been an improbably huge ask in any circumstances and of course it was impossible to imagine any that could have been worse when Benitez was introduced to his new club against a background of hostility quite unprecedented even in the turbulence of today's high pressure football.

There was even the savage irony of Benitez's arrival coinciding with the death of one of the great figures of Chelsea, the tough and beloved manager Dave Sexton.

Last night Benitez produced echoes of the American president Richard Nixon when he believed his political career was over long before his Watergate denouement. "You wont have me to kick around any longer," he told his worst critics," and that was the substance of Benitez's outburst after another night when Chelsea supporters reminded him that he was still so far anything like acceptance.

Chelsea won their Cup-tie at Middlesbrough but there was always the sound of anti-Benitez sentiment.

It was plainly breaking point for the man who believed that his power to transform Chelsea would sooner rather than later win him a new and more tranquil phase of a career which, after success at Valencia and the extraordinary Champions League success with Liverpool in Istanbul, ran into serious trouble at Anfield and then the humiliation of a swift ejection at Internazionale in the wake of his bitter foe, and Chelsea hero, Jose Mourinho.

Benitez can now hardly conceal his bitterness towards Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea hierarchy who made it clear that his reign at Stamford Bridge would never be more than a brief holding operation.

Unfortunately, Benitez was unable to hold together a situation always threatening to break at the seams.

He says that the club's refusal to grant him any more than interim status was a massive mistake but then there is something of a pattern in Benitez's attempts at crisis management. He has a tendency to apportion blame some way from his own direct responsibilities. At Liverpool the problem was the club's errant American ownership, yet never satisfactorily explained that he was still unable to improve and re-animate the team with not inconsiderable spending power.

His failure to communicate with key players – notably the ramrod Xabi Alonso – was a factor which was never acknowledged from the manager's office and, of course, his relations with the Chelsea players has been wrapped in controversy over recent days.

His rant last night was pitched at both the fans and the ownership and at no point was there any concession that his promise of renovating ￡50m Fernando Torres, which may saw as the key reason for his summons to London, and a new level of team efficiency had fallen to the point where his performance record had slipped below the mark which provoked the sacking of Di Matteo.

Indeed, there was a powerful case to believe that the truly massive mistake was not in granting him temporary powers but allowing his style of management to take any root at all.

It has not, after all, ever been marked by the kind of professional compromise adopted by Di Matteo when he was parachuted into the challenge of repairing, in any kind of fashion, the vertiginous collapse of the project of Andre Villas-Boas.

Di Matteo did it with the astounding short term effect of winning both the Champions' League and the FA Cup. He also created a sense that he would conjure the best he could from players of great experience but uncertain futures. He had the nous to live in the moment and when that time came to an abrupt end, when Chelsea failed to defend their European title, he left the arena with a philosophical shrug.

Benitez doesn't do such gestures. He imposes his will and his theories and there is not much sense of accommodation with old pros who had in their time achieved a few things perhaps worthy of some respect. It will always, you have to believe, be the Benitez show, good or bad, win or lose, but last night it seemed that even he had grasped that he had been selected for the wrong stage.

Lab working on security shoe sole to ID people

High-tech security? Forget those irksome digital iris scans. Meet the biometric shoe.

A new lab is working to perfect special shoe insoles that can help monitor access to high-security areas, like nuclear power plants or special military bases.

The concept is based on research that shows each person has unique feet, and ways of walking. Sensors in the bio-soles check the pressure of feet, monitor gait and use a microcomputer to compare the patterns to a master file for that person. If the patterns match the bio-soles go to sleep. If they don't, a wireless alarm message can go out.

"It's part of a shoe that you don't have to think about," said Marios Savvides, head of Carnegie Mellon University's new Pedo-Biometrics Lab, in Pittsburgh.

The lab, which has $US1.5 million in startup funding, is a partnership with Autonomous ID, a Canadian company that is relocating to several US cities. Todd Gray, the company president, said he saw the potential when his daughter was in a maternity ward decorated with representations of different baby feet all along a wall.

Autonomous ID has been working on prototypes since 2009, with the goal of making a relatively low cost ID system. Gray said they've already run tests on samplebio-soles, which are no thicker than a common foot pad sold in pharmacies, and achieved an accuracy rate of more than 99 per cent. He said Carnegie Mellon would broaden the tests to include "a full spectrum of society: big, tall, thin, heavy, athletic, multicultural, on a diet, twins and so on."

Gray wouldn't speculate on what the system would cost or when it might reach the marketplace, but each worker at a site would have his or her own pair of bio-soles.

"Within the third step, it knows it's you, and it goes back to sleep," he said. "If I put on yours, it would know almost instantly that I'm not you."

The idea may seem far-fetched, but scientists have known for centuries that individuals have unique ways of walking, and in recent years the US Department of Defense has been funding millions of dollars of gait research, as has the Chinese government.

The Institute of Intelligent Machines is doing extensive research into gait biometrics, including reports of systems where a floor monitors footsteps without people's knowledge.

One expert who is not connected with the CMU lab said the biometric sole seemed promising.

"I must admit I find this news very exciting," said John DiMaggio, an Oregon podiatrist who has worked with law enforcement to use foot information in forensic investigations. While it is too early to fully judge the CMU research plan, DiMaggio said using feet as a biometric identification source makes sense.

While researchers have noted that gait can vary with injuries, fatigue and other factors, Savvides said the bio-soles can detect signs of those things, too.

The bio-soles might also have medical uses. Several papers presented this month at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Vancouver suggest changes in how elderly people walk — such as a slowing pace or variable stride — can provide early warnings of dementia.

Gray said the technology is less invasive of privacy than eye scans and other biometrics, in part because the individual data stays inside the bio-soles.

But one group that has followed biometrics and privacy issues said there could still be problems.

"Any biometric capture device is a potential tracking device, just like every iPhone is a potential tracking device. That's just the way these things are," said Lee Tien, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco nonprofit that monitors free speech and privacy issues.

Tien said that the bio-soles themselves "might make a person feel a little bit better" than other security systems and that Gray's claim that the system can ID a person within three steps is "pretty impressive."

But he added that if the project is successful, bio-soles could also be implanted in shoes secretly.

"I wouldn't expect Nike to build these in. But it's potentially covert," he said, meaning it could be used to help spy on people.

Paes disheartened by India's Olympic tennis row

Leander Paes disheartened by controversy surrounding India's team selection for London Games

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Leander Paes insists the "disheartening" selection row engulfing India's tennis team for the London Games hasn't dampened his enthusiasm about appearing in his sixth Olympics.

The 39-year-old Paes will play mixed doubles at the Olympics with India's top women's player, Sania Mirza, who on Tuesday said she was being used as "bait" to pacify Paes after he was asked to be paired with little-known Vishnu Vardhan in the men's doubles.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will be India's other pairing in the men's doubles, after they each refused to partner with Paes in London because they have been playing together on the ATP circuit.

"I am here to play sport and not politics," Paes said on Thursday, after winning his first-round match in the men's doubles at Wimbledon with regular Czech partner Radek Stepanek. "Unfortunately, I see the games being played within games, and as much as that is very disheartening, I am looking forward to playing my sixth Olympics for my country as I have played for 22 years for the people and the flag."

Before his partnership with Mirza was confirmed, Paes had threatened to withdraw himself from contention following the decision to pair him with Vardhan.

"I am looking forward to representing my country with the teams that the All India Tennis Association have selected," Paes said.

Mirza won this year's French Open with Bhupathi and said in a statement that she was disillusioned after being "put up as bait to try and pacify one of the disgruntled stalwarts of Indian tennis," in a direct reference to Paes.

Paes refused to comment on either Mirza's statement or whether their relationship had been tarnished.

"Every Olympics has some nonsense coming in with it," Paes said. "I know how much hard work goes into what I do. (Either) people choose to respect it, which I'm very lucky that India does, (or) people choose to disrespect. That's their problem not mine."

A seven-time Grand Slam winner in men's doubles, Paes also won a bronze medal in singles in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Paes said Vardhan will be his 91st different partner in men's doubles and acknowledged that going deep in the Olympic tournament with a player who is currently ranked No. 300 in the world in singles is a tall order.

"I don't even know if he has grass-court shoes," Paes said. "So it's a bit of a tough one.

"But he's a really good kid, I'm happy to play with him. Whatever the obstacles are, which I see are going to be many — he's never been to Wimbledon before — whatever I can do as an experienced professional athlete to help my partners out, I do."

India is sending its largest ever tennis contingent to the Olympics with seven players. Apart from the two men's doubles pairs and the mixed doubles, Mirza and Rushmi Chakravarthi will play in women's doubles, while Somdev Devvarman will play in men's singles after receiving a wild card.

Emperor needs new clothes

TODAY is Friday, or more specifically Office Casual Dress Friday, the most stressful day in the working week.

As a young man, oh how I heckled the females in my life who complained bitterly of the daily decision-making process about what to wear to work.

I found it difficult to relate to their problem, for my own daily routine in suiting up for work was a lay-down misere; attire for Monday to Thursday consisted of one generic business shirt, one generic pair of business pants, generic black socks and black shoes. Dressed for work in 20 seconds.
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Casual Dress Friday was then met with a spring in my step as I had the time, financial resources and relative physique to align my casual attire to the fashions. Brand-name jeans accentuated my pre-sagging gluteus maximums; fitted shirts did not subconsciously ride up over my pre-expanding man-belly; my leather shoes were bought from a high street boutique, not an orthotic clinic. In short, I could confidently mix it with my female co-workers on the office runway.

Fast forward 20 years - and 20 pounds - and the thought of Casual Dress Friday sends me into a fashion conniption.

Previously I could never understand how my partner could stand in front of a wardrobe, a virtual clothes store in itself, and gaze blankly for hours with no solution in sight.

Fast forward 20 years and that person is now me. I have become that father whose fashion sense makes his daughters cringe with embarrassment whenever I set foot outside of the house.

There is no smart casual in my wardrobe. Instead it consists of clothing from two extreme poles of fashion: beige business shirts and beige pants to accentuate my appearance as a beige accountant, bookended with holding-on-to-my-youth articles of clothing such as an old football tracksuit and a prized 1984 Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA replica T-shirt.

As for polo shirts and chino pants, there will never be a better example of mutton dressed as lamb than if I tried to squeeze my bones into anything bearing a designer label.

So what am I wearing to work today? I have put together a casual ensemble consisting of one generic work shirt with one pair of generic work pants. And the casual item? A panicked, desperado accessory in the form of dull grey PVC sneakers which, viewed from a distance of 30 metres, could be mistaken for dull grey generic work shoes.

Oh, how all the females in my life now heckle me on Fridays.