Weekly Highlights: Apple's New iPads, HBO Go Without Cable And More

It’s hard to surprise analysts at every turn. After the impressive array of products unveiled in September, Apple was unable to impress the masses.

"No real major breakthroughs [at today's event]," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, told Benzinga. "Because they had the leak earlier this week, pretty much everything they announced was expected."

Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, told Benzinga that he didn’t expect any fireworks from the event.

“[But] I think Touch ID is a big deal,”he said. “Everybody underestimated it on the iPhone 5S."

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Current iPhone sales will arrive on October 20 when Apple reports its latest earnings results. Looking forward, it seems that the December quarter is going to be quite good for Apple.

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant has reportedly pre-sold 20 million iPhones in China. If true, Apple would set a new sales record in the nation -- and likely set an overall sales record for the quarter.

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After years of anticipation for a cable-free HBO, Time Warner announced that HBO Go will be available without a cable subscription in 2015.

"This is a monumental announcement," Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told Benzinga.

"This is the first time that a big-time content service has unbundled. The content companies for the first time are bypassing the cable companies. It's what users want."

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Amazon Prime and Amazon Fresh aren’t going anywhere, but Google hopes to get a piece of the market with Google Express. Fortunately for Amazon, analysts don’t think it will pose much of a threat.

"I don't know if I'd say [it's a] real threat, at least not today," Needham analyst Kerry Rice told Benzinga.

"It's kind of like people searching on Amazon instead of Google. People aren't going to use Amazon to search for everything and Amazon doesn't index the Web. But if you're looking to buy a product, you might go to Amazon."

Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, doesn’t understand why Google cares about the delivery space.

“This seems to be more on the fringe than self-driving cars, honestly,” Moorhead told Benzinga. “I think a flat fee is the right way to go, a la [Amazon] Prime. I do think that's a good move in the context of it, but strategically I just don't get it.”

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Could the world’s largest streaming video site become the next big acquisition? Only time will tell, but Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is betting the answer is yes.

This week he tweeted his interest in Netflix, saying that “someone will try to buy them.”

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This might seem like a buying opportunity, but some analysts warn that Netflix could have a tough road ahead.

"[It's possible] that in Europe the population of subscribers to Netflix is not as large as people thought because Europeans are [Virtual Private Networking] the U.S. Netflix," Albert Fried & Company analyst Rich Tullo (who is short Netflix) told Benzinga.

"They're using VPN technology to get into U.S. Netflix."

Tullo expects Netflix to drop to $250 or $260 within the next few months.

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The preceding slideshow was just the beginning. Check out these other hot stories right here on Benzinga.

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