Rebecca Greenfield

Apple has lost its number one position with the world’s most popular phone, ceding the title to rival Samsung and its Galaxy S3, but we don’t imagine it will stay that way for too long. Last quarter, Samsung sold 18 million S3s, compared to the 16.2 million iPhone 4S phones Apple sold worldwide, according to research from Strategy Analytics. With two weeks left in that quarter, however, Apple announced its iPhone 5, which presumably ate into the sales of its 4S. The anticipation for the phone hurt 4S sales the quarter before that, said Apple. Presumably the same thing happened the next quarter, which saw fewer phone sales again. The 5 didn’t come out until the final nine days of that period. Once it was released, Apple sold 5 million iPhones in its first weekend out—a record. And that was with supply issues out of China, according to Foxconn. The supplier said it was shipping “far fewer” new iPhones than it needed to meet demand, said Chairman Terry Gou. “Market demand is very strong, but we just can’t really fulfill Apple’s requests,” he told reporters, notes The Wall Street Journal’s Aries Poon. If these supply issues don’t get in the way for the holiday season, we imagine after one quarter of 5 sales, Apple will have its world title back.

By LOU WILIN

The traditional holiday shopping trip is getting cutthroat, thanks to shoppers’ use of the Internet and Smartphones.

Smartphone users scan store merchandise bar codes and compare them with Amazon.com’s prices with help of an Amazon application.

Even those without the Amazon application can photograph books, microwaves, toasters or tools, for example, and compare them with online prices, said Louis Hyman, assistant professor at Cornell University’s Industrial & Labor Relations School.
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By Chloe Albanesius

Back in 2007, Facebook was accused of ruining Christmas with its Beacon feature. Is it Google’s turn?

Not exactly, but it appears that the People app within Android 4.2 wants to kick off the New Year a bit early. Those who want to enter in a December birthday or anniversary are out of luck since the app skips right over December and moves from November to January.

As you can see in the attached screen shots, the problem does not affect the Android 4.2 calendar app (below); December is alive and well there. But flip over to the People app (above) and 2013 kicks off in less than two weeks.

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Mellisa Tolentino

In today’s mobile new roundup: iPhone 5s already in the works; Nexus devices are a hit in the UK; and Good Technology teams up with BoxTone.

iPhone 5s already in the works

Just bought the iPhone 5? How would you feel if I told you that Apple is already working on the iPhone 5S, set to be released during the first quarter of next year? You’d say that the rumor is absurd and that Apple doesn’t release phones in the first half of the year, but Apple seems to be full of surprises these days. Remember the iPad mini? It launched way off Apple’s schedule of product releases.

Though the source, Digitimes, is a bit questionable, you can’t deny that Apple may need to release a revamped version of the iPhone 5 to address standing issues like poor mapping software. They did something with the iPhone 4S, so a 5S wouldn’t be difficult to imagine. No news yet as to what features the 5S could have, only that early stages of production would begin in December in order to meet a first quarter launch.
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