Benedict Evans writes about the usage data of iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s based on analysis of Facebook ad information.

The results show that the iPhone 5c is a lot more popular among women than men.

Monday Notes discusses Microsoft’s fruitless CEO Search.

For a large, established company, having to use an executive recruiter to find its next CEO carries a profoundly bad aroma. It means that the directors failed at one of their most important duties: succession planning. Behind this first failure, a second one lurks: The Board probably gave the previous CEO free rein to promote and fire subordinates in a way that prevented successors from emerging.

A common barb thrown at Apple is that the company uses outdated hardware and sells them at premium prices. If you look at things like the Retina Display, TouchID, and many more, you’ll know that the statement isn’t true.

We recently confirmed that Qualcomm should be offering 64-bit chips in the second half of 2014, which is roughly a year after Apple introduced the 64-bit A7 processor. At the very least, it’s good to see that Apple’s move is increasing the speed that new competing devices will have 64-bit processors, which is a benefit to consumers.

Qualcomm Insider: Apple 64-Bit Chip `Hit Us in the Gut’

“The 64-bit Apple chip hit us in the gut,” says the Qualcomm employee. “Not just us, but everyone, really. We were slack-jawed, and stunned, and unprepared. It’s not that big a performance difference right now, since most current software won’t benefit. But in Spinal Tap terms it’s like, 32 more, and now everyone wants it.”

Monday Note writes about shameless carriers.

In response to Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s CEO, predicting the end of subsidies because “wireless operators can no longer afford to suck up the costs of customers’ devices”:

I don’t know if Stephenson is speaking out of cultural deafness or cynicism, but he’s obscuring the point: There is no subsidy. Carriers extend a loan that users pay back as part of the monthly service payment. Like any loan shark, the carrier likes its subscriber to stay indefinitely in debt, to always come back for more, for a new phone and its ever-revolving payments stream.

Meanwhile, some carriers are offering a cheaper contract if you choose to pay for the phone in full.

In the meantime, AT&T has finally followed T-Mobile’s initiative and has unbundled the service cost from the handset. If you pay full price for your smartphone, an AT&T contract will cost you $15 less than with a subsidized phone on a 2-year agreement.

Mobile carriers know that they are overcharging customers. It has taken an “un-carrier” like T-Mobile to make drastic changes to get other carriers switching from existing practices. Carriers believe they can get away with it because customers are tied to contracts.

Just yesterday, my telco called to offer me a S$4 discount per month because I have not renewed my contract. It sounded like a nice gesture until the lady went on the explain that should I cancel my line, I would have to pay the company back. So if I enjoyed the discount for five months and then cancel my line, I would have to pay them$20. They might call it a discount but it sure doesn‘t sound like one.

This is just another way for them to deter subscribers from terminating their lines, just like how they use a phone contract to tie down customers for two years.

Digital Trends reports that Target is refusing to sell Beyoncé’s self-titled album because it was first released digitally.

Releasing a statement about the company’s disinterest in the new album, Target spokesperson Erica Julkowski said “At Target, we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, and when a new album is available digitally before it is available physically, it impacts demand and sales projections.”

Julkowski continued “While there are many aspects that contribute to our approach and we have appreciated partnering with Beyoncé in the past, we are primarily focused on offering CDs that will be available in a physical format at the same time as all other formats. At this time, Target will not be carrying Beyoncé’s new self-titled album ‘Beyonce.’“

How is this different from when an album is first released on CDs? Consumers can still choose to download digital copies if they have no intention of paying.

The Next Web reports that WeChat is going international in a different way to WhatsApp.

M-commerce isn’t a new idea for other chat apps too — Japanese messaging service Line has, for example, dabbled in selling items via its app. Just yesterday, it announced it was going to hold a flash sale for users in Thailand via a partnership with all-in-one e-commerce logistics firm aCommerce and L’Oreal’s Maybelline New York.

However, as Chinese Internet giant Tencent also owns payment service Tenpay, WeChat’s team can easily tap on the technology to settle the necessary backend work. Tencent already rolled out an update to Weixin in August, incorporating payment services. All users have to do is link an online banking account to Weixin to pay for items and they are good to go.

I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. Tencent can also tap on location data to push location-specific deals to users and allow them to pay using their phone. There is a lot of potential in that without even factoring in the impact of iBeacons.