Peter's Interest

Sales of Apple's iPhones in brick-and-mortar stores have crashed by half since June, prompting them to whittle down or even halt the sale of the devices, after the US handset maker eased controls on pricing, giving online retailers more room to offer discounts. Apple decided in April to free up distribution and not control trade margins and the final consumer price of iPhones in any retail channel as it sought to double sales this financial year to 2 million units. This led to the phone being offered at deep discounts on Amazon, Snapdeal and Flipkart, among others. "iPhone is currently the most abused smartphone online when it comes to pricing, with Apple completely relaxing trade norms and discipline," said Subhash Chandra, managing director of Bengaluru-based Sangeetha Mobiles, which runs 250-plus stores. "While all retailers are suffering, several smaller shops have completely stopped selling iPhones since they have to face consumer backlash on lower online pr...

The iPod may not be Apple's golden goose anymore, hell, it's not even an option on the company's site anymore, but that doesn't mean that the firm is ignoring it. The company is giving the iPods a seasonal refresh with the junior devices getting some new colors and the iPod touch getting more of the features we're used to seeing on the iPhone. Whereas the existing touch came with just a 5-megapixel camera, the new version gets an 8-megapixel shooter with burst and slo-mo -- just as you'd find on the iPad Air 2. Internals-wise, the new iPod comes with the 64-bit A8 CPU that you find in the iPhone 6, paired with the M8 motion co-processor that'll please the fitness enthusiast in your life. If you were looking to grab the new iPod Touch, then the 16GB edition will set you back $199. In addition, you can grab a 32GB option for $249, a 64GB variant priced at $299 and, for the first time, a 128GB model that'll sell for $399. At the same time, Apple also ...