Technology
This Week in Mobile is a weekly podcast available on Apple iTunes or Google Play where I bring you up to speed on the top mobile news stories of the week: Despite what most analysts (except Atherton Research) and "experts" said, the iPhone X is a roaring success. In its last earnings call, Apple confirmed that it sold more iPhone X than any other smartphone during the first 3 months of this year. And the iPhone X was also the world's #1 smartphone - including in China - sold in that same period. The next 2 smartphones are also iPhones, the 8 and the 8 Plus. And as we said last week, we expect Apple to release an update of the current 5.8-inch iPhone X this fall, as well as a larger 6.2-inch iPhone X Plus version. According to Huawei, the P20 Pro - the Chinese company's flagship smartphone - has outsold last year’s top of the line P10 Plus in Western Europe by more than 300%, mostly in Germany, UK, and France. Last March, the CEO of Huawei Mobile said that it hoped to sell 20 million P20s (P20 Pro, P20, and P20 Lite). Just to put this into perspective, Apple sells almost as much iPhone X - about 16 million - in just a quarter. Xiaomi, the 4th largest seller of smartphones in the world and #2 in China filed for an IPO in Hong-Kong and could raise as much as $10 billion, valuing the company at more than $100 billion which would be the biggest since Alibaba's $21 billion IPO, 4 years ago. What we also learned from the filing is that Xiaomi's business model is based on capturing and monetizing the data of their customers using their cheap hardware (smartphones and connected devices/IoT). We're currently investigating this issue and will report back next week with more details. Almost 4 years after abandoning the U.S. market, Nokia is back stateside - in part thanks to the implicit ban of Huawei and ZTE smartphones - with the Nokia 6, a "pure" Android One mid-range smartphone, available unlocked on Amazon and Best Buy for $269. T-mobile and Sprint announced last Sunday their $26.5 billion all-stock merger. The combined company would have 127 million subscribers, close behind Verizon (150 million) and AT&T (144 million). The rationale behind the merger is to accelerate the buildout of a nationwide 5G network that will require billions of dollars of investment. However, in a report to clients, Atherton Research believes that both companies can afford to build a 5G network - which they have already started - and that the merger will actually increase prices for consumers and reduce market competition. App of the Week: Yumlist (for iOS only) uses Tinder-like swipe gestures to find the restaurants that best match your palate. Just swipe right if you like the food that you see in the app, and left if you don't. Then the artificial intelligence-based algorithm (AI) will start recommending you restaurants - right now in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles - based on your preferences. To enter the private beta, you can use this special invite code: TWIM.