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Microsoft: ‘We will no longer be producing Zune players’
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 · 9:15 am · 60 Comments
Microsoft Corporation, on their Zune website today stated the obvious. Zune hardware is dead:
“We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices.”
MacDailyNews Take: It’s dead. No, it’s not. Yes, it is.
Microsoft. Can’t even knife the baby cleanly.
One last time, for old times’ sake:
There's no live stream that I know of.
Here's another source of coverage:
http://live.arstechnica.com/Event/iPhone_5
Live coverage of today's event from Endgadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/04/apples-lets-talk-iphone-keynote-liveblog/
Apple announces iPhone 5 event for Oct. 4
Posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at 8:06 am. PT
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Apple on Tuesday officially announced its iPhone 5 launch event. According to the invitation received by The Loop, the event will be held on October 4 at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. campus. The event will begin at 10:00 am PT.
I will be at the event, and will bring you a live update of the announcements as they happen.
http://www.loopinsight.com/2011/09/27/apple-announces-iphone-5-event-for-oct-4/
BREAKING...Did J.P. Morgan's Foxconn analyst forget about Brazil?
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt September 26, 2011: 11:30 AM ET
A report out of Apple's Asian supply chain may have sent the wrong signal to Wall Street
Apple (AAPL) shares fell sharply in early trading Monday following a widely reported note to clients from J.P. Morgan's Gokul Hariharan to the effect that multiple supply chain vendors in Asia have registered a 25% cut in fourth-quarter iPad 2 orders from Apple -- "the first cut ever we've seen" according to Hariharan. (Business Insider's headline: HOLY CRAP: Apple Just Cut iPad Orders By 25%.)
Given that Hariharan is paid to cover Foxconn (the trademark of Taiwan-based Hon Hai), Apple's major supplier, he was understandably concerned about what such a cut would do to Foxconn's profit margins and the profits of its Asian partners.
What Hariharan -- and the traders who dumped Apple shares on the news -- seem to have missed were the reports out of South American that Foxconn, in partnership with the Brazilian government, has built an iPad plant in Brazil that is ready to start churning out product by December.
The stock recovered somewhat after several analysts stepped forward to pour cold water on the J.P. Morgan report.
"Apple purposely maintains enough suppliers and manufacturing partners to make any one supply-side data point inconclusive," wrote Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, who mentioned the fact that Apple is transitioning to Brazilian manufacturing.
"We believe the report out of JPM is extraordinarily misleading," echoed Bullish Cross' Andy Zaky, "given that it attempts draw a conclusion regarding Apple's expectations which are simply not founded in evidence."
UPDATE: In a rare eruption of internecine conflict, J.P. Morgan's Mark Moskowitz has formally disavowed his Asian colleague's report, according to Bloomberg. That report "has the equity markets worried about Apple," Moskowitz wrote. It "focuses on how Hon Hai could be impacted by potential iPad sell-in order cuts. This alert is not the view of the U.S. IT hardware team."
New Amazon Kindle Fire tablet said to be slower version of RIM's PlayBook
By Daniel Eran Dilger
Published: 06:27 PM EST (03:27 PM PST)
Amazon's new Android-based tablet, apparently named the Kindle Fire, is said to be based on the same basic design as RIM's PlayBook, built by the same maker, apart from having a slower processor intended to make it cheaper.
According to a report by Ryan Block of Gdgt, Amazon's forthcoming new Android-based tablet is targeted at the Barnes & Noble Nook Color rather than Apple' s iPad, and is essentially a stopgap offering rushed to make the 2011 holiday buying season.
In order to make that deadline, and to avoid distracting its existing "Lab 126" working on conventional e-ink based Kindle devices, Block said that Amazon worked with Original Design Manufacturer Quanta.
As an ODM, Quanta builds notebooks, netbooks and other devices that are rebranded by other companies. Quanta was the original ODM for the XO-1 notebook aimed at third world markets, and also helped RIM build its PlayBook tablet (depicted below).
For Amazon, Block says Quanta used RIM's PlayBook as a design template to quickly bring a tablet device to market. "I'm told Amazon ran into trouble," Block reported, "and eventually sacrifices were made (like using a slower processor)."
Block said the first generation Android Kindle is "supposed to be pretty poor," calling the device a "stopgap" device and part of an effort to "do whatever it takes to get in the game."
As for Android enthusiasts hoping that Amazon's new tablet will rival the iPad, Block wrote, "I wouldn't get my hopes up that this is going to be an iPad-killer -- nor do I think Amazon really intends it to be."
Led by Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Mobile Devices Now Dominate Airport Wi-Fi
SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 AT 11:20 PM PT
Not long ago, airport Wi-Fi connections were dominated by laptops, with only a small number of mobile phones hopping onto such networks.
These days, though, smartphones and tablets make up more than half of such connections, according to new data released on Tuesday by Boingo Wireless. February was the first month that mobile devices outnumbered laptops; by May, such devices amounted to 59 percent of Wi-Fi connections.
A year ago, laptops represented two-thirds of Boingo’s connections, and two years ago, just a quarter of machines accessing the airport Wi-Fi networks were mobile devices.
“Since the launch of the iPhone in June 2007, we’ve seen a marked growth trend for non-laptop devices, but the exponential growth in iPhones and iPads in the last year pushed mobile devices past laptops, showcasing just how disruptive the trend is,” Boingo VP Dawn Callahan said in a statement.
Boingo notes that laptops aren’t going away — mobile devices are just proliferating much faster. There are twice as many laptops, for example, than there were in 2007. However the smartphone has taken off, fueled by the launch of the iPhone in June of 2007.
Apple’s iOS continues to dominate the mobile space, accounting for 83 percent of the mobile total. Combined, all Android devices are still a distant fourth place behind the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch when it comes to popularity on Boingo’s network.
The findings mirror a rise in mobile devices using inflight Wi-Fi, such as that offered by Gogo. In the air, iPads account for more than a third of big-screen connections, compared to about 20 percent for Macs and 41 percent for Windows PCs. Android devices trail Apple’s mobile products on Gogo’s networks as well.
Mobile devices are also gobbling up a lot more data than they did just two years earlier, Boingo said. On a monthly basis, the average mobile device consumed 211 megabytes of data in June, compared with 114 megabytes in May 2009. And the devices are also consuming that data in less time, gulping an average of 8.9 megabytes in every 10 minutes of use, compared with 3.7 megabytes in the same period two years earlier.
http://allthingsd.com/20110920/led-by-apples-iphone-and-ipad-mobile-devices-now-dominate-airport-wi-fi/
UBS: iPhone’s 89% retention rate crushes competition; next closest is HTC at 39%
By: Zach Epstein | Sep 22nd, 2011 at 06:45PM
A whopping 89% of iPhone owners plan to stay loyal to Apple with their next smartphone purchase according to a recent survey conducted by investment bank UBS. A group of analysts from the firm recently commissioned a survey of 515 smartphone owners and determined that Apple’s iPhone is by far the most “sticky” device on the market. Apple’s next closest competitor was HTC, but only 39% of HTC smartphone owners said they intended to purchase another phone from the Taiwan-based vendor. RIM dropped to the No. 3 spot with a 33% retention rate, which was just half of the 66% it scored in a similar UBS survey from 18 months earlier; Apple had a 95% retention rate in UBS’s March 2010 survey, so it too declined over the past year and a half. Samsung (28%) and Motorola (25%) rounded out the top-5. A chart of UBS’s findings follows below.
Nice chart! em
Apple iPhone To ‘Steamroll’ BlackBerry, Says Ticonderoga
By Tiernan Ray
Ticonderoga Securities’s Brian White today writes that Research in Motion’s(RIMM) disappointing fiscal Q2 report last night and mixed outlook is a mixed bag for other companies in the tech universe.
It is a definite positive for Apple (AAPL), he thinks: “In our view, the fall of RIMM with its “too-little-too-late” BlackBerry refresh will continue to add to Apple’s momentum that we believe could be off the charts with the iPhone 5 launch.”
White rates Apple shares a Buy and has a $666 price target on the stock.
White thinks the introduction of Apple’s “iPhone 5,” which may happen in coming weeks, according to the latest rumors, will “steamroll BlackBerry 7 ramp,” while the lower-than-expected shipments of RIM’s “PlayBook” tablet computer last quarter show that the device in his opinion has become “another iPad casualty.”
“We believe it is only a matter of time before the iPhone and iPad challenge RIMM’s enterprise dominance.”
As for Celestica (CLS) and Flextronics (FLEX), two contract manufacturers that get 19% and 10% of sales from RIM, respectively, could benefit from the ramp up of the BlackBerry this quarter.
“RIMM’s November quarter shipment outlook (even if growth is one-half this guidance), appears much stronger than our EMS models suggest and could be interpreted as a positive for EMS partners.”
White rates Celestica a Buy but has a Sell rating on Flextronics.
Apple shares today are up $5.14, or 1.3%, at $398.05, while Celestica is down 21 cents, or 2.5%, at $8.19 and Flextronics is up a penny at $5.93.
New York Times: iPhone announcement in weeks. Yes, we have more.
Seth Weintraub
September 15, 2011 at 10:02 pm
We passed up the New York Times iPhone story earlier because it didn’t really contain any new product information. We’ve been hearing early October for awhile now in terms of when the iPhone gets released. Therefore, the announcement in ‘weeks’ isn’t news either.
Neither is the 8MP camera which I was on hand to hear Sony CEO Howard Stringer reveal earlier this year. Nor the A5 processor which isn’t even a small stretch. And the best bit:
two people with knowledge of the inner workings of Apple’s next-generation iPhones say either the iPhone 5 or iPhone 6 will include a new chip that is made by Qualcomm.
Helpful.
But here’s some real info: We’ve heard that there are indeed two different models of iPhone coming out next month (announced this month?) We still think October 7th is the scheduled release date give or take any delays. We’ve heard the low-end model, which is essentially an iPhone 4 look-alike (glass front and back), is rolling off the assembly line in big numbers right now. Apple expects to have 10+ million of these things on hand for launch and full ramped production into the holiday shopping season. These will be priced aggressively and be everywhere.
They will also be offered in both prepaid and post paid plans (this is a big deal – more to come on that).
But there is some bad news…
It appears that the tear-drop shaped iPhone 5 with larger screen and thinner, rounder body is seeing continued design and production delays, at least on one assembly line (Apple has multiple production sources – Pegatron, Foxconn, etc). We therefore think that iPhone 5 will be delayed slightly at the very least and may see shortages all the way into 2012.
The iPhone 5 itself is a sight to behold, we’ve been told. It is impossibly light, yet much firmer than Samsung Galaxy phones which are backed in plastic. The camera rivals point and shoot cameras and will be a major marketing point for this device.
As you probably know, information comes fast and furious in the run up to announcements. We’ll have lots more coming soon.
http://9to5mac.com/2011/09/15/new-york-times-iphone-announcement-in-weeks-yes-we-have-more/
No more dips for you! $396 in AH.
Just kidding!
Who knows where this market is headed?
Wish I'd been short RIMM today, though.
APPLE, MICROSOFT AND ORACLE SURGE... The big three hold the key to QQQ and chartist can watch key support levels for clues. Chart 4 shows Apple (AAPL) moving higher the last three days. Monday’s low marks key support at 370. CCI turned positive in late August and remains positive. A move into negative territory would be bearish for this momentum indicator. Chart 5 shows Microsoft (MSFT) holding above its June low and surging above 26. Not many indices or stocks held above their June lows in August. This shows some relative strength. Uptrend support is set at 25.25, which is based on Monday’s low. Chart 6 shows Oracle (ORCL) forming a higher low in early September and surging above 28 today. The September lows mark key support. The TRIX (10,6) oscillator moved above its signal line in late August and remains in an uptrend. This upswing is in good shape as long as TRIX holds above its signal line.
Survey shows 'unprecedented' demand for Apple's iPhone 5
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt September 13, 2011: 8:23 AM ET
Demand for the iPad is also rising, according to data from a ChangeWave survey
RBC Capital's Mike Abramsky has raised his fourth quarter iPhone and iPad estimates based on the results of a survey of 2,200 potential buyers. The survey, conducted in August by ChangeWave research, showed what Abramsky called "unprecedented iPhone 5 demand and strong back-to-school iPad buying intentions."
In a note to clients issued Tuesday he ticked off the main data points: (I quote)
31% of those surveyed said they were very/somewhat likely to buy the iPhone 5, significantly exceeding pre-launch iPhone 4 demand (25%)
With the iPhone 4 nearly 15 months old, 66% of existing iPhone users are very/somewhat likely to buy the iPhone 5, pointing to a large pending upgrade cycle.
54% of surveyed Sprint subscribers and 53% of surveyed T-Mobile subscribers say they are significantly/somewhat more likely to buy the iPhone, if available.
Survey data also shows strong iPad 2 back-to-school buying indications, with 26% very/somewhat likely to buy the iPad 2. ChangeWave survey data shows 85% of all tablet buyers plan to buy the iPad, up from 82% in February.
Based on these results, Abramsky has raised his fourth quarter iPad estimate to 12.5 million units (from 10.5 million) and his first quarter 2012 iPhone estimate to 27 million units (from 24.4 million). His Q4 2011 iPhone estimate remains unchanged at 19.5 million.
Below: A ChangeWave chart of tablet-buying intentions that should strike fear in the hearts of Apple's (AAPL) competitors.
Sprint Said to Plan Unlimited Data With IPhone
By Olga Kharif - Sep 9, 2011 3:39 PM CT
Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) will offer Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone next month with unlimited data service plans to distinguish itself from rivals AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Wireless, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sprint, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, plans to begin selling the device in mid-October under a deal with Apple for the next model, the iPhone 5, said the people, who wouldn’t be identified because the plans aren’t public. Becoming the country’s only operator to offer the device with unlimited data service for a flat fee may help Sprint draw customers from AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which already carry the phone, they said.
Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, is struggling to compete against larger rivals and has lost money for 15 consecutive quarters. The addition of the iPhone to Sprint’s lineup will help it win customers, said Matthew Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities LLC.
“It’s a competitive disadvantage if your two larger competitors have the iPhone and you don’t,” Thornton said in an interview. “Getting the iPhone closes that gap.”
Michelle Leff Mermelstein, a spokeswoman for Sprint, said the company doesn’t comment on products or services it hasn’t announced. Natalie Harrison, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment on rumors or speculation.
Sprint already offers unlimited data plans for smartphones such as Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM)’s BlackBerry and HTC Corp. (2498)’s Evo, which runs on Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android operating system. Sprint’s unlimited voice and data service costs $99.99 a month.
AT&T and Verizon
AT&T and Verizon charge for data service on top of voice- service plans. AT&T, which has unlimited voice service for $69.99 a month, offers 200 megabytes of data for $15 a month, 2 gigabytes of data for $25 a month, or 4 gigabytes of data for $45 a month. Verizon’s data plans for the iPhone start at $30 a month for 2 gigabytes and rise to $80 for 10 gigabytes, in addition to unlimited voice service for $69.99 a month.
Unlimited data plans are a draw because they allow customers to surf the Web, share photos or watch videos as much as they want. They’re particularly valuable for people who use mobile devices for applications such as Netflix Inc. (NFLX)’s movie service or Pandora Media Inc.’s streaming music.
“The advantage of unlimited is, it’s cheaper for the big users,” Peter Rhamey, an analyst at Bank of Montreal, said in an interview. The plans may draw other customers because “people don’t like bill shock,” he said. “Consumers will pay a premium for unlimited.”
IPhone vs. Android
The iPhone may not lead to more data use per customer than Sprint already sees from customers who have Android phones. In the first quarter, Android smartphone owners in the U.S. consumed an average of 582 megabytes of data each month, compared with 492 megabytes for iPhone owners, according to Nielsen Co.’s analysis of nearly 65,000 cell-phone bills.
Apple’s iPhone has proved to be a valuable recruitment tool for rivals: Of the 5.6 million smartphones AT&T sold in the second quarter, the device accounted for 3.6 million. A quarter of the subscribers who bought the iPhone were new to AT&T, the company said.
Sprint has been using the iPhone’s launch as retention tool with its executives, as it expects the addition of the device to boost its stock price, said one person familiar with the situation.
Sprint was unchanged at $3.45 at 4 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange, and has declined 18 percent this year. Apple dropped $6.66, or 1.7 percent, to $377.48 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and has climbed 17 percent this year.
To prepare for the introduction, Sprint has postponed the September debut of a rival smartphone that uses fourth- generation, or 4G, wireless technology, said one person familiar with the situation.
Google gets its hands dirty
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt September 8, 2011: 10:58 AM ET
Android's purveyor crossed a line when it sold arms to be used against Apple
Photo: thegreencycler.com
U.S. patent No. 6,473,006, "a method and apparatus for zoomed display of characters entered from a telephone keypad," has a long and tangled history.
It was originally filed, according to FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, by a company called Phone-com, which assigned it to Openwave, which sold it to Purple Labs, which sold it to Myriad, which sold it to Google, which sold it to HTC last week for a price Google has declined to disclose.
On Wednesday, 6,473,006 turned up in a pair of lawsuits -- one filed at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, the other in a federal court in Delaware -- filed by HTC against Apple (AAPL).
The iPhone, HTC claims, has violated this patent that came to HTC by way of Google, Myriad, Purple Labs, Openwave and Phone-com.
HTC, of course, is suing Apple because it was sued last year by Apple -- the first of many complaints Apple would bring against the manufacturers of devices running Google's (GOOG) Android operating system. Apple claimed at the time that HTC had violated 20 of its patents.
Tit for tat, right? Not quite.
The difference is that Apple actually invented the technology it accused HTC -- and by proxy, Google -- of "stealing" (to use Steve Jobs' verb). One of the patents Apple cited in its 2010 suit -- Patent No. No. 7479949 -- is a 358-page document signed by Jobs himself that covers everything from the way a finger touches the screen of a smartphone to the heuristics that turn those touches into commands.
HTC and Google, by contrast, are accusing Apple (whose smartphone designs they have plainly copied) of violating patents they bought fourth or fifth hand.
"Patents were meant to encourage innovation," Google's chief legal counsel David Drummond wrote last month in his famous open letter "When patents attack Android." Google's enemies, he complained, were using "bogus" patents to try to "strangle" Android.
"Fortunately," he added, "the law frowns on the accumulation of dubious patents for anti-competitive means."
Indeed.
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/08/google-gets-its-hands-dirty/
sinclap, powered by or backed up by?
Curious minds would like to know,
Craig, didn't see your earlier post. Didn't have anything to do with its removal.
Have a nice day.
ace, what are you afraid of? I hadn't seen your earlier post on the AAPL board and had nothing to do with its removal.
You see, unlike you, I'm not as obsessed with Apple and you as you are with Apple and me.
Now have a nice day.
If I knew I'd tell you.
Late September, early October?
As Jobs Departs, Apple Moves to Dismantle the Mobile Market
Will the iPhone 5 be available to anyone? It sure seems so.
By Tim Beyers
updated 8/26/2011 3:00:00 AM ET
By now you know the news: Steve Jobs is stepping down as Apple chief executive. What you might have missed in all the hubbub is yet another rumor of the iPhone 5 finding its way to a new carrier. This time? T-Mobile.
Several sources are reporting the story. TIME's Tech Land blog has a good rundown of the varying innuendo. All suggest some form of deal between Apple and T-Mobile is in the works, following earlier reports thatSprint Nextel will also sell the iPhone 5 when it ships in the fall.
Combine these rumors with reports that Apple will include radios for both the major cell network technologies(i.e., CDMA and GSM) and you've got what looks like a major disruption in the making. Apple could be planning a smartphone that works equally well on any carrier network. I can only imagine how nervousAT&T and Verizon must be.
Historically, carriers have worked out limited exclusivity of certain premium handsets in order to preserve profits or even attract users lusting after upgrades or features. AT&T did it with the original iPhone while Verizon took heat for years for securing early access to Research In Motion's BlackBerry handsets. Congress threatened to investigate the practice at one point.
Now it appears those days are gone, and with them any hope of carriers using artificial lures to lock in customers. They'll be forced to compete not only on price, but also on call quality, data delivery, and (gasp!) customer service. You know what? It's about freaking time.
Do you agree? Disagree? Use the comments box below to let us know whether you're planning on buying the iPhone 5, and if so, which carrier you'd go with. You can also add Apple to your watchlist for up-to-date analysis as soon as it's published.
http://www.investorvillage.com/groups.asp?mb=13977&mn=282917&pt=msg&mid=10889961
Bad news for Microsoft -- Apple claims iPad cuts into sales of Windows PCs
If Apple is to be believed, when it comes to the iPad, Microsoft has more to worry about than not fielding a strong tablet competitor. Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook claims that the iPad is stealing sales from Windows PCs.
Apple reported record earning for the fiscal third quarter today, and the iPad was a big contributor to profit and revenue. The company sold 9.25 million iPads in the quarter, which was an increase of 183% over the third quarter last year.
Cook said the iPad cannibalized some Mac sales, but the effect on PC sales was more serious. According to a live Forbes blog of the earnings call, here's what he had to say:
"First as I said before I think there was some cannibalization of new Macs by iPads...it's clear that some customers chose to purchase an iPad instead of a new Mac, but what really excites us is more customers chose to buy an iPad than a Windows PC."
Cook didn't provide any numbers to back that up, but he's likely right. Few people would buy an iPad rather than a primary Windows PC, but plenty would consider buying an iPad instead of a secondary PC, such as an inexpensive laptop or a netbook.
That's all the more reason that Microsoft needs to get a tablet competitor on the market, and fast. Microsoft has decided that Windows 8 will be its primary tablet operating system, but by the time that ships, Android tablets and the iPad will likely have the market sewn up. Microsoft would do well to consider allowing tablets to be based on Windows Phone 7. That way, they'll get out the door faster.
That's not likely to happen. And so the iPad, and Android tablets, will continue to eat into Windows' market share.
Add it to the list:
http://www.wikio.com/video/444821
You're joking, right? It's well known that Jobs is seriously ill. That's what his resignation yesterday was all about, not to mention his third medical leave, which began back in January.
You saw the reaction last night when AAPL dropped 20 pts on the news.
The fact that it closed as good as it did today -- on a serious down day overall -- indicates that it's already factored into the share price.
Yeah, same here. em
What Steve Jobs’ Resignation Means
Carl Howe
Posted 0n August 24, 2011 ¬ 9:39 pm
I won’t repeat what’s in the press release. What I will do is repeat some points I’ve made in interviews about Steve Jobs over the past 15 years that I’ve been covering Apple. Those are:
* One person doesn’t run a $100 billion company. Despite the fact that Steve Jobs was the best-known founder and visionary of Apple, Inc., he doesn’t make every decision in the company. In fact, Apple has been run by a team of very accomplished visionaries that includes Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, Jonathan Ive, Scott Forestal, Ron Johnson, and a host of others. Steve was public face of the company, but we shouldn’t think that he was the only one making all the decisions.
* Jobs left a strong succession plan. Today’s announcement wasn’t a surprise to anyone who had been paying attention to Apple. Jobs had worked with Apple’s board for years to create a succession plan to ensure that the company would continue after he left the company. Any of the members of the executive team had the ability to take on the CEO role, but Tim Cook had been executing on the company vision nearly since Jobs rejoined the company. It’s only natural that he will have the title to go with the responsibilities he has accepted for many of those years.
* Apple’s strength comes from its culture, not its spokesman. Too many analysts have focused on Steve Jobs as the ultimate showman for Apple, but don’t recognize the processes and teams that he built that now define the company. The lasting legacy Steve Jobs leaves from his CEO role is the fact that he created a $100 billion enterprise that “thinks different.” and isn’t afraid to bet the company on that idea.
* Apple’s future will be just as amazing as the last decade’s. Over the past decade, Apple has both defined and dominated three new product categories: music players with the iPod, smartphones with the iPhone, and tablets with the iPad. What isn’t widely known is that many other amazing products have been similarly well-though out and developed but haven’t been brought to market yet. That pipeline, combined with Apple’s more than $70 billion cash horde, will continue to delight consumers for years, if not decades to come.
But despite the fact that Apple’s future is secure in the hands of Tim Cook, I would like to pay some tribute to Steve Jobs’ leadership. Apple’s founding as the first commercial personal computer company, it’s subsequent struggles, and its comeback from its 1990s decline have all been well-documented. What’s often forgotten, though, is that for many of the years when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and rebuilt it to pass its former glory, he also was CEO of Pixar, the motion picture company that is now part of Disney.
For the time that Jobs was head of Pixar, that company never made a single movie that wasn’t an unqualified and money-making success, a track record unequalled by any other movie studio. Pixar’s animated movies may have been rated G, but they were anything but children’s stories. They were creations where technology was the vehicle whereby writers and directors could tell stories to all ages of viewers, and they continue to do so.
We will easily remember Steve Jobs as the man who built Apple to become the most valuable technology company in the world. What we should also remember is that while he was doing that, we was also helping to build a business around some of the most successful story-tellers and artists of our time as well. The fact that he did both at once, when most people would not have been able to do either will truly be his lasting legacy.
http://carlhowe.com/blog/?p=1243
stock, well, we all knew this coming at some point. I expect a pretty significant hit at the open in the morning.
That said, it's been a huge cloud of uncertainty hanging over the stock and now it's finally withdrawn.
Meanwhile -- on a happier note -- welcome aboard as Assistant Moderator!
To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple''s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple''s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
BMO Ups Target To $465 On Higher iPhone Estimates
by Tiernan Ray
BMO Capital Markets’s Keith Bachman this morning reiterates an Outperform rating on Apple’s (AAPL) shares, while raising his price target to $465 from $450, on higher estimates for Apple’s sales of the iPhone.
Bachman expects “continued strength” for Apple in smartphones, with more carrier relationships and share gains in CDMA phones, in particular with Verizon Communications (VZ) this fall, once the next version comes out of the iPhone, which he dubs the “iPhone 4S.”
Citing the work of his colleague, handset analyst Tim Long, Bachman notes that Apple should increase its iPhone sales this year by 1.5 times the rate of growth of the smartphone market because it is still signing up new carrier partners.
However, Apple’s iPhone’s growth may trail the smartphone market’s growth next year as some sales may slow in advance of what he expects to be the introduction of an “LTE” iPhone in the latter part of the year.
Bachman raised his iPhone unit forecast for this quarter to 19.5 million from 18 million, a 4% decline from last quarter’s 20.3 million units.
He also cut his Mac and iPod assumptions, as he now sees a slower-than-expected back-to-school selling season. Bachman left intact his forecast for 10.5 million iPads to be sold.
That brings Bachman’s financial estimate for the quarter to $28.9 billion in revenue from a prior $27.5 billion, and to $7.07 per share in profit from a prior $6.45.
For fiscal 2012, he sees Apple selling 98.9 million iPhone units, up from a prior 92.5 million forecast. He also raised his iPad estimate to 54.5 million from 52.2 million.
Hence, he now models Apple making $136 billion in revenue next year and $32.90 per share in profit, up from $131.6 billion and $31.15 per share.
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2011/08/02/apple-bmo-ups-target-to-365-on-higher-iphone-estimates/?mod=yahoobarrons
Apple has 46,600 full time employees, the overwhelming majority of whom are employed in the US.
Moreover, automation (resulting in fewer jobs overall) is the trend overseas as well:
Foxconn to Automate: Be Careful What You Wish For
Aug. 1 2011 - 7:21 am | 699 views
I think we’re all familiar with the regular cries that Foxconn, over in China, should pay its workers more? It is, after all, a fairly regular cry, that these people really ought to be paid more than the $200, $300 a month that they are.
Those with decent memories might remember this:
Foxconn, the world’s largest maker of computer components which assembles products for Apple, Sony and Nokia, is in the spotlight after a string of suicides of workers at its massive Chinese plants, which some blamed on tough working conditions.
That the suicide rate among those who work at the Foxconn factories was lower than the suicide rate in the general Chinese population did seem to pass many by at the time.
The thing is though, higher wages are not something that happen in a vacuum. Or if you prefer, there are no answers in economics, only trade offs. Foxconn wages have gone up and here’s the trade off coming:
Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn will replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency, said Terry Gou, founder and chairman of the company, late Friday.
The robots will be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers, said Gou at a workers’ dance party Friday night.
Higher wages means that automation becomes, relatively, more profitable. And it is to automation that most jobs go to die, not trade or international competition.
These robots are being used at Foxconn for the same reason that self-service checkout counters are being used in supermarkets, for the same reason that self-service yoghurt shops proliferate. The change in relative prices between labour and machines means the machines are being used in place of the people.
Those who have been agitating for higher wages can pat themselves on the back for those who keep their jobs will indeed be getting higher wages. But there will be fewer of them as a result.
Manufacturing jobs, minimum wage jobs, service jobs, whatever, the result is always the same: raise the price of labour and more automation will happen.
http://blogs.forbes.com/timworstall/2011/08/01/foxconn-to-automate-be-careful-what-you-wish-for/
Phone Profits
JUL 30, ’11 1:11 PM
AUTHOR
Horace Dediu
CATEGORIES
Industry
The following chart shows the current profit distribution between phone vendors with an eye toward identifying volume dependencies. The vertical axis represents operating profit per phone and the horizontal axis the number of phones sold.
The area of each vendor bar is therefore the total operating profit that vendor captured. A vertical (portrait) orientation implies high profitability with relative low volume while a horizontal (landscape) orientation implies a high volume/low profitability focus.
The other important observation is that bars can also be negative. Those vendors’ names are listed below the bars rather than within them.
http://www.asymco.com/2011/07/30/the-profitphone-x-phones-sold-chart/
Apple Made Twice As Much Profit On Phones As Everybody Else COMBINED
Matt Rosoff | Jul. 29, 2011, 2:37 PM
Apple is now the leading phone manufacturer by market share. It passed Nokia for the first time last quarter.
But more impressive: it captured two-thirds of all profits in the mobile phone business last quarter, according to statistics from Asymco.
Another way of looking at it: Apple made about twice as much profit on mobile phones as Samsung, RIM, and HTC did -- combined. Nokia, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, and LG all saw losses.
Sino the Times
Very positive NYT article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/technology/apple-sales-in-china-zoom-ahead-of-competitors.html
"...For the first three quarters of Apple’s fiscal year, revenue in greater China was $8.8 billion — six times that of a year earlier. Last quarter, Apple may have even generated more revenue in China than Lenovo — the Chinese PC maker that seven years ago acquired I.B.M.’s personal computer business, according to a survey by Bloomberg News.
China has become the second-largest market after the United States for apps that run on the smartphone and tablet, according to Distimo, a Dutch company that tracks the popularity of apps. Strong sales of the iPhone and iPad are also helping drive up sales of Apple’s other major products, including desktop computers and laptops..."
My daughter is not a power user though, and she probably won't even care about all this. Oh well, she's got a shiny, cool computer to take to school that will get the job done for her.
And probably get her asked out for a lot of dates, too.
LOL
Are you sure you want to do this?
Where were you? AAPL just had a pullback.
That's what everyone says. But yet the quarters keep getting better every quarter.
iPhone5 (and iPad3) is definitely in the works, Lion just released, back to school and Holidays quarters coming up.
Thanks for your input, but I think I'll keep holding.
WSJ declares Apple a threat to the entire tech sector
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904233404576460331010146562.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Why Apple's Success Isn't Spreading to Others
Apple Inc. is crushing it, but its success is disrupting the technology sector in ways that could hurt the stocks of many other players—friend and foe alike.
Last week, Apple's quarterly results stunned even the optimistic watchers on Wall Street. Eschewing the usual kabuki dance where a company magically beats the analysts' consensus estimate by a penny or three, Apple reported second-quarter earnings of $7.79 a share, oceans past the $5.85 estimate.
Shares of Apple surged after the report, briefly clawing above $400 before falling back. Apple now trades around $390. After the earnings announcement, several gobsmacked analysts rapidly upped their 12-month price targets above $500 a share.
Often a hot company helps drive its sector. For instance, Apple's 1980s success with the Macintosh sparked a personal-computing revolution that spawned many successful companies.
But Apple has become so dominant that is becoming more a threat—rather than a sentiment booster—to the rest of the technology sector. That isn't to say investors should ignore other tech players—they just aren't as likely to see the same kind of upside that Apple enjoys.
To be sure, plenty of companies, such as Qualcomm and Arm Holdings, ride the Apple coattails. But that can be a dangerous game. Apple has become a sort of Wal-Mart of techland, able to drive tough bargains with suppliers as it builds dominant positions in key device markets. One of its advantages is delivering sexy products at price points that don't break the bank. And gadgets tend to get cheaper over time, which means Apple will have to squeeze suppliers more if it wants to retain its profits.
Apple, now second only to Exxon Mobil in terms of market value, wields its power with companies big and small. Adobe Systems, a software giant and maker of Flash, has found it challenging and expensive to penetrate Apple's world.
Apple, of course, does face challenges. Analysts fret that mobile carriers won't keep pace with the demand Apple's devices are creating. Component shortages could slow manufacturing. And Apple has gotten so huge that maintaining its torrid growth rate won't be easy. The stock isn't terribly expensive, trading at about 15 times trailing earnings, which is less than the S&P 500's 16 times trailing earnings. But one profit blip could change that in a hurry.
Research In Motion, which essentially invented the smartphone market, has taken a beating. Trading at near $70 in February, the BlackBerry maker is now in the mid-$20s. Nokia's shares have been halved since February, and the former handset king has reached out to Microsoft in a bid to leapfrog into a stronger smartphone position. Apple faces stiff competition in the phone market, primarily from Google Android phones made inexpensively out of Asia by companies like Samsung Electronics and HTC. But Apple is countering with cheaper versions of its iPhone.
Tablet makers aren't faring much better. CLSA, a research shop, estimates that Apple sold about 9.25 iPads for every Google Android tablet in the most recent quarter. This, despite a proliferation of new tablets coming from Research In Motion, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and Motorola Mobility. As Apple has romped to record highs, Motorola Mobility shares have slid to $23 from $34 in January and Hewlett-Packard shares have dropped to $35 from $49.
Perhaps the most disruptive aspect of Apple's strategy is the way it is reshaping the personal computer space. Apple's various Mac products are selling decently, but the emergence of the iPad has changed the PC calculus.
Intel, which reported strong earnings on Wednesday, remains upbeat about PCs (which use its chips). It pointed to 70% sales gains in Turkey and Indonesia during the quarter. At the same time, it trimmed back its overall forecast for PC sales. Mobile devices, chiefly the iPad, are rapidly eating into the segment.
And that will likely continue, perhaps faster than expected. The company said after its earnings release that 86% of Fortune 500 companies are "testing or deploying" the iPad. PC backers had counted on the notoriously conservative corporate IT gate keepers to move slowly on the iPad. Of course, "testing" could mean a few iPads in the executive suite, but Apple is clearly signaling that it is making headway with the biggest companies, the stronghold of PCs.
Not surprisingly, PC-centric stocks have not done as well as Apple. Intel's shares eased after its strong earnings, but they have risen nearly 10% this year, and are down modestly from May highs. Microsoft's shares are down 2% this year, but they have bounced 15% since June 10.
Both companies continue to be massive cash generators. But unlike Apple, they have had to deploy more of their cash in the form of dividends and buybacks to attract investors. Intel pays a solid 3.7% yield and bought back more than $1 billion in shares in the most recent quarter. Microsoft pays a dividend of 2.4%.
As Apple races to become the biggest stock in the land, it is swiftly becoming a sector unto itself. The non-Apple tech world is on its own.
KCMW, that seems to be the most common complaint. Here's a link to how to make a bootable DVD or flash drive for future reference:
http://www.macworld.com/article/161069/2011/07/make_a_bootable_lion_installer.html
Personally, I'm holding off until the early bugs get sorted out.
World's Most Valuable Company? Apple Has $50 Billion to Go
Symbol Price Change
AAPL 389.42 +2.52
VERNE G. KOPYTOFF, On Wednesday July 20, 2011, 3:59 pm EDT
Look out Exxon. Here comes Apple.
The race for the world's most valuable company is tightening. Exxon, the energy colossus, currently wears the crown of the most valuable company in terms of market capitalization. But Apple, with its rapidly growing empire of iPhones, iPads and Macs, is quickly closing the gap.
Exxon's market capitalization, the combined value of all its shares, was $411.6 billion as of midday Wednesday. Apple's was $360.7 billion, up more than $10 billion from a day earlier after reporting yet another stellar quarter of record sales.
Apple's shares happen to be on a tear. Over the last year, they've risen 50 percent to $389.93. Exxon's have done pretty well too. They are up around 40 percent during the same period, to $83.59.
Whether Apple will eventually surpass Exxon depends on a number of factors like its growth and oil prices. But clearly, Apple has the momentum.
Apple already dwarfs its fellow technology companies like Microsoft, which has a market capitalization of $228.9 billion. Google trails at $192.9 billion.
Others in the technology industry trail even further behind. In some cases, the gap is more like a canyon. Apple's market capitalization is nearly five times greater than Hewlett-Packard's, for example, and 11 times greater than Dell's.
Granted, rankings by market capitalization are fickle. An investor darling one day can quickly flop and tumble down the list another.
Microsoft held the top position until it was passed by Cisco Systems near the end of the Internet bubble. Cisco soon lost its crown (it is again in revamp mode) with more job cuts and management shuffling.
LaMonica: Running Out of Words to Describe How ‘Awesome’ Apple Is
By Aaron Task | Daily Ticker
Apple shares rallied Wednesday after reported third-quarter results that defied expectations — and explanation. The stock rose 3% to $388 Wednesday after trading above $396 intraday.
"We running out of words in English language to describe how awesome Apple has been," says Paul LaMonica, assistant managing editor at CNN Money. "No matter what obstacles seem to be in their way…it doesn't really matter."
As has been exhaustively reported, Apple reported fiscal third-quarter profits of $7.31 billion, more than double year-ago levels, as revenue soared 82% to $28.57 billion.
Here's how Breakout's Jeff Macke broke down the results:
Apple's Cash on Hand grew by 16% to $76.2 billion. The number works out to roughly $81 per share. Were they so inclined, Apple could write checks for Netflix (NFLX) and Ebay (EBAY) combined and still remain liquid.
Apple's revenue growth is actually accelerating.
The company beat EPS estimates by over 30% and revenue forecasts by 15%. These numbers speak ill of the people analyzing Apple but are jaw-dropping nonetheless.
The stock continues to perform yet somehow gets cheaper; trading at over 18x earnings yesterday and in the vicinity of a 15 P/E today.
As with most observes, LaMonica agrees wholeheartedly with that last point.
"As long as you look past the sticker shock of a near $400 [stock] price… Apple does look cheap before you subtract the cash," he says. "When you subtract the cash, it looks dirt cheap on a pure valuation basis."
After Tuesday's report, Apple kept the pressure on its competition Wednesday by releasing a new OS and upgrades to the Mini Mac and MacAir lines. Meanwhile, excitement is already building over the release of iPhone 5 this fall.
Like most observers, LaMonica doesn't see anything that's going to stop Apple's near-term momentum, other than the still niggling issue of Steve Jobs' health, as we discuss in the accompanying video.
Aaron Task is the host of The Daily Ticker. You can follow him on Twitter at @atask or email him at altask@yahoo.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/lamonica-running-words-describe-awesome-apple-203124516.html;_ylt=AhJkwFAZaMPfB7hic9Ftnm67YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTFjMWFnaWtkBHBvcwMzBHNlYwNGUERhaWx5VGlja2VyQmxvZwRzbGsDbGFtb25pY2FydW5u