January, 2019 | CompuScoop.com

Roku is launching its own Subscription only Channels

CompuScoop Staff January 2, 2019 0

“Roku Inc said on Wednesday it will begin offering premium video channels to customers for a subscription fee as it expands its free streaming video service,” Reuters reports. “Premium channels from CBS Corp’s Showtime, Lionsgate-owned Starz and Noggin from Viacom Inc among others will be available to viewers of the Roku Channel, a free video service offered to owners of Roku streaming video devices.”

“The move by the device maker, which spun off of Netflix in 2008, resembles the lucrative channels business Amazon launched in 2015 that resold video services on an ‘a la carte’ basis,” Reuters reports. “Apple Inc is expected to launch its own streaming video service that will adopt a similar model, people familiar with the plan have said.”

Reuters reports, “Like Amazon, Roku will handle the billing for these services, allowing viewers to subscribe directly from the Roku Channel instead of needing to go somewhere else to plug in credit card information.”

Read more in the full article here.

iPhone XR sees biggest Christmas adoption rate yet, but iPads did even better

CompuScoop Staff January 2, 2019 0

“We examined our vast mobile data over Christmas this year, looking specifically at the volume of new devices that entered the market. As a reminder, this data only consists of devices that users activated for the first time and began using apps in,” Thomas Rodde reports for Localytics. “We discovered that Christmas shoppers were heavily focused on obtaining Apple products this year: iPads have become a mainstay of the holiday season and the iPhone XR’s momentum shows no sign of decreasing.”

“In 2016 we found that iPads dominated the leaderboards for new device activations over the Christmas holiday, while in 2017 the Google Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, and the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X took the top five,” Rodde reports. “In 2018, iPads returned to the top of the list as they nearly swept the top five, proving that their stellar performance years ago was not just a flash in the pan.”

“We found that the iPhone XR saw more new device activations than any other device over Black Friday weekend compared to the average of previous weekends. This narrative partially played out in our Christmas data as well, confirming the demand for iPhones at a lower price point,” Rodde reports. “Though an 88% increase in new devices is nothing to shake a stick at, the XR still failed to beat the newest iPad and iPad pros and the iPad Mini. The new sixth generation iPad clearly saw the greatest increase in activation volume at 219%, while the 11 inch iPad Pro came in at second with a 125% increase versus the prior weeks in December.”

“Apple’s market strategy for the XR seems to be paying off: A study from Consumer Intelligence and Research Partners found that significantly more consumers switched from an Android device to an iPhone within 30 days of the XR’s launch than those who switched to the iPhone X from an Android device in its first month,” Rodde reports. “[iPhone XR saw] the greatest lift in activations of any new Apple [iPhone] in the past three years. The number of new XRs activated by consumers grew by 88% over Christmas, while XS activations grew by 49% and XS Max activations by 36%. It’s also important to remember that the XS and XS Max have been in the market since September, while the XR came out in late October.”

Source: Localytics

Hey Apple, you exited the WiFi market at the wrong time

CompuScoop Staff January 2, 2019 0

One of the more interesting news items of 2018 was Apple discontinuing the AirPort lineup. From the first Airport product to the last final AirPort Extreme, Apple was selling premium Wi-Fi hardware devices at a time when most people I knew were content with a $30 router from Walmart,” Bradley Chambers writes for 9to5Mac. “Since they released their final AirPort product, the market has finally shifted up.”

“As end-users are starting to load their home networks with more than a single laptop and a few smartphones, people have realized that having a high-quality router (with whole house coverage) is not a luxury. If you want to load your house up with smart home products, multiple iOS devices, Apple TVs, etc., you have to invest in the infrastructure,” Chambers writes. “Plain and simple, Apple exited the home networking business at the exact wrong time.”