So you didn’t stay up until nearly 3:00 am last Friday morning to pre-order your iPhone 4S like I did, huh? Well, you missed out on all the fun! So there you are contemplating if you should go stand in lines Friday at one of the three cellular carriers or at the Apple Store. What to do? If you’re thinking, ‘No way I’m standing for hours only to be told there are none left,’ then you have the online alternative. BUT, which one should you go with? Best Buy? Radio Shack? AT&T? Verizon? Sprint? Take a look at STELLAService found before making your next click below and do it the easy way!

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Source: DisplaySearch’ Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report

The forecast published by DisplaySearch in its Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report shows a further reduction in the demand outlook for TVs worldwide. Total TV shipments are not forecast to grow from 2010 to 2011, holding at 248 million units. LCD TVs will account for 206M and plasma TV for 17M. The forecast reduction is based on lower business targets for the year from TV manufacturers, and lower than expected demand for key TV components during the peak procurement period leading into the holiday season.

“Demand in regions like North America and Europe has fallen short of expectations as persistent economic problems have made consumers cautious in their spending and highly value-seeking,” noted Paul Gagnon, Director of North America TV Research for DisplaySearch. “Emerging markets continue to show good growth, but it is not strong enough to counteract the weaker demand in developed markets, and as a result, we have lowered our unit forecasts for LCD and plasma TV.”

Although total TV unit demand for 2011 looks to be flat, shipments of flat panel TVs, which excludes CRT and rear projection technologies, will increase about 6% Y/Y. This growth looks likely to improve to 9% in 2012, as the premium for advanced features continues to fall and manufacturers bring low-cost solutions to emerging markets in an effort spur faster replacement of CRT TVs.

LCD TV Will Remain the #1 TV Technology, as Backlights Shift from CCFL to LED

LCD shipments will rise from 192M in 2010 to 206M this year, which is less than the previous forecast of 211M and a key reason the overall TV market forecast was reduced.

Gagnon added, “LCD TVs account for more than 80% share of all global TV shipments. LCD TV supply chain participants—including panel makers, OEMs, and TV brands—have all lowered their outlook for 2011 demand, despite a recent drop in LCD panel prices. Long-term, we continue to forecast annual growth in demand for LCD TVs, although generally we expect less than 10% growth each year.”

LED and 3D Features Keep LCD TV Prices Stable

A growing share of new premium features, like LED backlights and 3D, are helping to keep the LCD TV category average prices very stable in 2011, falling just 7% Y/Y on a volume weighted basis. However, with the slower unit growth, total LCD TV revenues are expected to be flat this year. After increasing slightly in 2012, revenues should begin a gradual decline beginning in 2013. The forecast share of LED backlights in LCD TV shipments has been reduced slightly to 46% in 2011, but is still expected to become the dominant backlight technology for LCD in 2012 and reach nearly 100% of shipments by 2015.

Plasma TV Growth Slows

Plasma TV unit growth started slowing in Q2’11, declining 6% Y/Y, and is now expected to see a double-digit unit shipment decline each quarter through the middle of 2012. Because LCD TV prices are falling more quickly than plasma TV prices, the gap in pricing is narrowing and share is shifting away from plasma and towards LCD at several sizes. For example, in Q2’10 a 42” 1080p plasma TV was 32% cheaper than a competitive 42” 1080p 120 Hz LED LCD TV, but that gap fell to just 9% by Q2’11. Total plasma TV unit shipments are expected to fall 9% in 2011 to 17M units and around 5-6% each year thereafter.

OLED TVs Enter the Scene in Late 2012

OLED TV is set to debut around late 2012 as a contender in the 40”+ category, but will only grow to about 2.5% of the 40”+ segment by 2015 due to high prices and limited availability. Current projections are for OLED to debut at about 2-3X the price of a high-end LED-backlit LCD TV.

Emerging regions (China, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa) will have the strongest flat panel TV growth over the next four years, averaging 11% growth each year, while developed regions decline an average of 1% each year. The Asia Pacific region is positioned for strongest growth as the late-adopting India market begins to boom.

The worldwide forecast for 3D TVs was slightly increased through unexpected growth in emerging markets and Europe, although North America is growing slower than expected. 3D TVs are expected to account for 11% of total TV shipments in North America, but 14% of Western Europe and 12% of China TV shipments. Eventually though, North America will lead 3D adoption due to stronger preference for 40”+ sizes. 3D TV is expected to account for just over 22M in 2011, rising to more than 100M shipped by 2015.

The DisplaySearch Q3’11 Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report includes panel and TV shipments by region and by size for nearly 60 brands, and also includes rolling 16-quarter forecasts, TV cost/price forecasts ,and design wins. This report is delivered in PowerPoint and includes Excel-based data and tables. If you need further information or assistance please contact us at +1.408.418.1900 or sales@displaysearch.com or at the local DisplaySearch offices in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

When the first iPhone debutted in 2007, I dragged my kids with me to the local AT&T store in my small Central California town of Manteca. It was festive and pleasant as my children sat huddled together against the windows of the AT&T store listening to a story on my iPod. The now defunct bank Washington Mutual next store added to the excitement by passing out free hot dogs and drinks! In just a few hours, I was the fourth one into the store and minutes later had my 16GB iPhone!

I didn’t line up in the following years for the iPhone on its day of release but did have to weather some lines when I finally did make the upgrade purchase. This year, however, I’d rather not spend a day in the mall hoping the Apple Store does not sale out of inventory before it’s my turn. No, this time I am ordering online seeing how it went so well with Verizon iPhone 4 orders in February. Mmm, the irony unfolds.

So, I revved up my browser at 11:50 last night and logged into the Apple Store. By 11:58, up came the notice that the store would be back soon. I found this as a good sign. Apple was gearing up. By 12:05, I realized it was no longer a good thing. By 12:15, I was becoming irritated. By 12:30 am, it was down right uncalled for.

I monitored my twitter feed to see if others were experiencing the same issue. Indeed, I was not alone. Macworld’s Dan Frakes (@danfrakes) posted, “I’ve memorized the phone numbers up to España.” CNet’s Brian Tong (@brian_tong) blasted, “iPhone 4S pre-orders are Siri-ously L-A-M-E. Thanks AT&T and Apple!” I couldn’t resist replying, “@brian_tong If I had an iPhone 4S, I’d say, “Siri, tell me when Apple gets its act together and the web page is ready for orders.”"

Finally, at 12:35, Apple brought it’s site back online for pre-orders. But the joy was short lived as Frakes posted what we all were seeing, “And stuck on the “Are you a new or existing AT&T wireless customer” page. Continue takes me back to the same page over and over”. Worse yet, if you were like me, Firefox 7 for the Mac wouldn’t render the site properly – still doesn’t as of this writing – and it was not possible to even make your selection. Thankfully, I thought to open Safari and that got me quickly to Dan’s issue. Yet, some how Chris Pirillo (@ChrisPirillo) got through the process and confirmed his order.

Frantically, I kept acknowledging that I was an upgrade client after clicking the Continue button and the same page would return over and over. Tong commented on twitter, “This is a HORRIBLE experience, site wouldn’t work. The App got to the checkout phase and then hangs, and says “We’ll be back soon”" Frakes almost made it further but got, “”Your request couldn’t be processed.” Nooooooooooo”. He thought out loud, “I’m imagining a few people at the server farm saying, “Let’s just turn on one server at first, just to screw with them,” as we all in our virtual line continued through the frustrating process of trying to get the order to happen. Tong wrote what we were all thinking, “What a tease when you get to the FINAL “Check Out” screen, and then it says try again…and it never gets past it…”

Interesting enough, Verizon users were off in bed sleeping and having sweet dreams of a new iPhone 4S in the mail as they had no issue with their orders. @pdgill teased, “@danfrakes Verizon’s new tag line: Switch to us for the convenience of preorders!”

Comments in the iPhone 4S virtual line were humorous and it’s all that kept most of us going. @MacfusionGirl encouraged the twitter line, “This is the best iPhone line I’ve been in. You guys don’t smell. You’re not annoying, loud or stepping on my feet ”, even though it was nearly 2:00 am and most of us hadn’t showered since the day before.

Sadly, agony mounted as the morning wore on and Frakes noted, “Please wait while we pretend to process your request, raising your hopes a bit, then kick you out mercilessly.” I received the error, “We are temporarily unable to take iPhone orders. We apologize for this inconvenience. Please try again later.” Frakes blamed all of us stating that we had broke it.

Looking for other ways to pre-order, I grabbed my iPhone and opened the App Store app. I made it much further than I did on my Mac Pro; however, I still received an error message at the final screen. “Drat!” I yelled at 2:15 in the morning. Then, in a ray of hope, I searched the App Store for the illusive AT&T Upgrader that we had been hearing about all week. “Dude!”, it was there! I downloaded it, opened it after install, and walked through the steps. Amazingly it was quick and I had a new white iPhone 4S 32GB on the way!! It was only 2:30 am in morning.

As I looked one last time on twitter, I noted Frakes had made it through via the old-fashioned way on his desktop computer, tweeting, “OK, they must have turned on the other servers, because the site came back up and I completed the reservation in 30 seconds.”

After all that and a late night, I awoke early in the morning to find that my credit card had been denied! “You’ve got to be kidding?!” I mumbled to myself as I ran to my Mac to attempt a new order. Being a pro in navigating the Apple Store site, I was able to get through the upgrade pricing approval screen quiet quickly. Again, my card declined. Ugh! I used a second card and it thankfully it went through. Minutes later when I returned to the Apple Store site to verify my order, “We’ll be back soon” Post-It note had reappeared. I had just made it!

As to the failed card? Chase Fraud alert. I just got an automated call asking to authorize the denied charges hours later. Nice, Chase.

Steve Jobs began putting a dent in the Universe in 1976 when he and his friend released to the world the Apple I. A year later, they gave it a keyboard and case and called it the Apple II. Then came Lisa in 1983 which in itself spawned the cheaper and faster Macintosh in 1984. Anyone that could claim just these few accomplishments to their name would be satisfied but this was just the beginning for Steve Jobs.

Jobs was forced out of the company he co-founded by the man he won over from Pepsi to be Appe’s CEO by asking him if he wanted to sale sugar water or change the world. So Jobs left Apple and brought a few engineers with him and started NeXT computer. After the Macintosh and the once-in-a-lifetime game changing invention, Jobs did it again with the NeXT Workstation. While it wasn’t a huge hit, like the Lisa, its influence is what made it so great. From the worlds first web browser being invented on a NeXT to the operating system of today’s Macs and iPhones based on it, NeXT was an amazing accomplishment.

Then Jobs started down a new road, one of animation. Helping a friend out, Jobs purchased Pixar from Star Wars fortune George Lucas to help pay for his divorce settlement. Jobs got a bargain at a few million and turned it around into the most successful animated entertainment company of all time. From the Lifesavers commercial to Toy Story, Jobs took animation to infinity and beyond.

While Jobs was building a new empire with Pixar, Apple was struggling to stay alive. It begged him to return and he agreed to help the ailing company he co-founded and even branded himself the iCEO. i for interim. The little i also appeared on his first success back to Apple with the iMac. i for Internet. Not only could it connect to the Internet easily, a service in its infancy, but one could also see through its exterior case. It came in lime and berry colors as well as orange. It was also the first computer to have a USB port. Yes, in 1998, Steve Jobs introduced yet another massive hit.

The Internet not only popularized the way people did things but also how people heard things. Napster and the MP3 began a new revolution that filled up hard drives with compress music quicker than a Beatles hit airing on an AM radio for the first time in 1964. Steve Jobs didn’t sit and wait for others to figure out solid state memory and taxing interfaces were not the way to put music into peoples pockets. No, in 2001, he marveled the world with the iPod. Sure, Creative had a hard drive digital music player but it didn’t have the iPods ease of use. The iPod was an instant hit and put white ear buds into millions of peoples heads.

Two years later, Jobs changed the music industry, again, with an easy – and legal – way to get music onto your iPod. He brought all the major labels into a single place called iTunes Music Store. It would later drop the Music from its name as Jobs pulled in Hollywood and its popular TV shows and movies to round out the digital hub as Jobs refereed to iTunes a year later at Macworld. In only five years, iTunes became the largest music retailer in the US surpassing long time giant Wal-mart.

In January 2007, I had the honor to witness the unveiling of Steve Jobs’ greatest invention since the Macintosh. The iPhone. It was rumored for months and yet when he showed it off to the crowd of reporters at Moscone West, all we could do is keep gasping and applauding. It was magnificent and fixed everything RIM, Nokia, Motorola, and Microsoft never thought was even broken to begin with. Even the $600 price didn’t phase most of us. We were all floating. Of course, the iPhone changed the mobile phone industry forever.

Steve’s final dent came last year as he introduced the iPad. Apple wasn’t the first tablet maker, Bill Gates touted it nearly a decade earlier at CES, but rather Apple was the first to do it right. Explaining to the crowd, Jobs told reporters that the iPad went back as far as to the time of Gates’ announcement in 2001. Jobs illustrated that the technology just wasn’t ripe enough for the iPad. So, instead, Jobs took what they had and turned it into the iPhone. While first impressions from many was that the iPad was nothing more than an over-sized iPhone, in just a few short months, the iPad sold millions and began a new age which Jobs would later call the Post-PC era.

Now, we wrestle with the Post-Steve era and wonder what would have been in just a couple more years. Most likely, Steve had already began the next Big Thing and maybe even a few other of Jobs brilliant ideas are already being nurtured. The fact is, sadly, Steve Jobs was a genius and with his passing, so ends his amazing journey through technology.

There he was, on stage, taking a pot shot at the 4G competition and how the new iPhone 4S was just as fast on Internet speeds. Sadly, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, lied to a crowd full of reporters who let Schiller’s claim go right over their heads.

The problem with Schiller’s claim is two-fold. First, the iPhone 4S will only take advantage of the faster HSDPA speeds on GSM/UMTS systems leaving two of the three US carriers out in the cold that use CDMA/EV-DO. Second, that third and only GSM carrier here in the States is AT&T. Remember them? Ya, the company that doesn’t invest in its network but rather changes texting plan prices and killing unlimited bandwidth to add to its coffers. Well, truth behold, AT&T has but a handful of locations in the entire United States that supports the 14.4 HSDPA download speeds. Surprise, surprise!

Do you think the senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing didn’t know this fact when he pronounced to the audience the iPhone 4S was just as fast as the Android competition on the chart of US models behind him on stage? No, he completely knew the truth. What Phil Schiller did was lie to the world that the iPhone 4S was just as fast as LTE equipped phones that have been widely available for nearly half a year here in the United States. While the rest of the world may benefit from the improved modem, basically no one in America will. Essentially, Schiller knew the iPhone 4S offered very little – if anything at all – over the faster Android phones and attempted to level the playing field. He did so like a seasoned politician.

The news around Twitter and Facebook is the new iPhone from Apple. Apple’s newly crowned CEO, Tim Cook, took the stage at 4 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, for his first Stevenote, er, Keynote. Cook quickly passed the presentation off to familar Apple faces to essentially drag through a complete recap of iOS 5s features shown off four months ago. Reporters grew weary 20 minutes into the WWDC rehash and began playing Angry Birds. In the course of nearly an hour, Apple only disclosed three new items in conversation! If this is what we can expect of future Apple Keynotes, the Jobs Era of slick presentation has already vanished.

Finally, at 55 minutes, the iPhone 4S was revealed. Nothing changed on the outside – no teardrop case like earlier “leaks” reported – but rather under the hood is were the real stuff was. At the heart of the iPhone 4S is the same processor that runs the iPad 2, the dual-core A5. Also sharing components with its big brother is the graphics processing which is told be 7 times faster, though the demo didn’t really seem to indicate this. The antenna has been completely reworked to include not one but two which the iPhone 4S can use both or one or the other for optimal signal. It also uses the new system for premium bandwidth. In fact, Philip Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, made a jab at the competition and its 4G speeds pointing out the iPhone 4S 3G speeds equaled that of the LTE phones. Mmm, we’ll see about that, Philly, remember, we’re mostly using AT&T. Additionally, the new 8-megapixel camera was shown off along with the claim of faster access with the ability to take the first picture in 1.1 second. With new infrared and back light technology, this aims to be the best camera on a phone yet with its extreme low light and improved white balance features. The camera will also record 1080p HD video catching up to many Android devices which have been able to make this claim for nearly a year.

The big announcement, the One More Thing if you will, was the fact that the phone will now work at your command. No, not that Voice Command feature we all forgot about, but true voice instructions using the technology of Siri which Apple purchased last year. Siri will do amazing things like tell you the current weather conditions by just asking, “What’s the weather like?” as well as read your incoming SMS and then respond to it with your voice-to-text copy. You can tell it, “Wake me up tomorrow at 8 am” and it will create the alarm for you. Send email, search for a place to eat, add calendar events – to which it will even respond if you have a conflict – and many other features. This is the game changer, as Apple put it, for the iPhone 4S. Because all the text-to-speech and vice versa is happening on the phone and not on the Internet like the original Siri, it requires the power of the A5 chip and thus this iOS 5 feature is only for the iPhone 4S.

On the surface, these features do not sound all that great. Essentially, it’s a tuned up iPhone 4. Additionally, it’s pretty much what everyone expected, no real surprises like past models. In truth, all this iPhone does is catch it up with most Android phones. Google has had text-to-speech for nearly a year on its operating system and HD video is old shoe. Schiller can claim similar speeds with the 3G equipped iPhone 4S but truth is, LTE blows the doors off of AT&Ts network and Verizon’s older EV-DO. In fact, AT&T ignores equipment investment as proof of the many EDGE towers found easily a few miles off of California Highway 99 in the Central Valley at nearly every exit outside of large cities like Stockton or Sacramento. I think Apple is setting itself up for some uproar by neglecting LTE. This will only further Android’s dominance for another year while we await the LTE iPhone.

Now, that said, here is the if of all of this, and it’s a BIG if. If Apple has genuinely pulled off Siri without a hitch, this could blast the iPhone past any Android. With the ability to add calendar events, have SMS conversations, send and receive email, and buy movie tickets, all hands-free in your vehicle, this would make Siri the killer-feature. Now, of course, there’s that IF. While Siri performed well in the quiet auditorium of Apple’s theater, my noisy F-250 cab is a whole different story. I long ago stopped using Voice Command because of it. Even cars with better cabin noise control can struggle with voice and it will be mighty interesting to see if Apple over came this issue.

Now, if Siri turns out to be a dud and unusable in the real world and those Schiller claimed broadband speeds never really happen, then you have just another iPhone 4 with an extra letter. Google will continue to make further inroads with Android and widen the lead over the iPhone reminding many of us of the Windows vs Macintosh days of the late 80s. Interesting enough, that decline came soon after Steve Jobs left Apple the first time. Will history repeat itself?

Apple finally sent out the invites for it’s upcoming “Let’s talk iPhone” event. There is little doubt the next-generation iPhone will be the topic of this gala to be held at 1 Infinite Loops, Apple’s headquarters, in Cupertino, California. Most expect the A5 processor CPU, better camera, and graphic video improvements. Others feel LTE is a possibility of appearing in the next iPhone. Lately touted, Apple-purchase Siri speech-to-text technology called Assistant looks to be on the agenda as well. Still, some think the iPhone will be larger based on leaked photos of upcoming cases like the one pictured above with the current iPhone sitting inside the case with plenty of wiggle room.

First reports of the larger screen seemed to point to Apple responding to the larger Motorola and HTCs that hit Verizon stores in the last few months. In classic Apple style, it didn’t make it too large as to be obnoxious, was the reason. That may be true, but I started thinking about it and wondered why, if these pictures are to believed, would Apple make the next iPhone just a bit larger? It certainly wouldn’t be for the screen. The minor bump in size would be minimal and most likely even unnoticeable in real world use.

I looked at the picture of the case again and thought, “While that’s not much space at all, if you filled it up with something like lithium-ion, then that could be a LOT of space.” You know, the active component of a rechargeable battery? It makes perfect sense when you pop open an iPad and see the majority of it is a battery and because of that, iPads can run all day long without breaking a sweat. The iPhone has been plagued with weak battery life since its inception and while the iPhone 4 claims the best performance yet, I know many users who have said that their 3GS had better life! iFix-it and the likes found little difference in the iPhone 5s battery.

So, if Apple could make a larger footprint, just a wee bit larger, and use it all for a battery, it’s very possible to gain a substantial about of battery life. I could easily see a 50% increase over the iPhone 4 with the added room seen in the next-generation iPhone case. If components used internally shrink, such as memory, then that’s even more room. Moving things around to better pack the board would also give some net gains. Thus, it’s quiet possible we could hear Tim Cook tell us October 4th that the newest iPhone has double the batter life of its predecessor.

Of course, if the larger size is in fact a done deal, the growth could be for other things like an LTE radio, better antenna, or even more memory, though I doubt the latter. But, I really do think we could be finally getting a smartphone that lasts all day. Boy, I really hope so.