Replies to post #5197 on Alphabet Inc (GOOG)

[SeriousMoney]

Jobs is spreading it around...

The phone supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology and can detect its location from Global Positioning System satellites. It has Apple's Safari browser for Internet surfing. Apple is partnering with Yahoo Inc. on Web-based e-mail and Google Inc. on maps.

The product gives Apple access to the huge cellphone market, with nearly a billion handsets shipped every year. That dwarfs the nearly 70 million iPods Apple has sold over the past five years.

Apple will likely have to pay Cisco Systems Inc. for the right use "iPhone" as the name for its new cellphone. Cisco, which owns the rights to the name and unveiled a line of Internet-based phone devices using the brand last month, said it has been in talks with Apple about the trademark and expects to sign an agreement later today.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116836172312771508.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo

[SeriousMoney]

Apple Gets It. Got It?
By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist
1/10/2007 11:14 AM EST

Thank heavens I have teens! Without them on this Web stuff, you don't have a clue.

You believe that when the newspapers get together for Web initiatives -- as Gannett (GCI) , McClatchy (MNI) and Tribune (TRB) are, according to The Wall Street Journal -- it will save them, even though my kids wouldn't know a newspaper from a black-and-white television.

You think that when a major network such as CBS (CBS) offers some sort of unoriginal programming on the Web that people will watch it, until you get the word from those execs that they'd prefer watching reruns of Matlock to coming up with something that would cause them to throw up.

You believe that the initiatives we see from the online divisions of Disney (DIS) or from NBC's hapless iVillage will have some traction until the teens tell you that you have no idea what you're talking about. (Only Fox has penetrated that group, and that's because the network is represented on iTunes with episodes of 24. Then there's fellow News Corp. (NWS) business unit MySpace.com, which teens love.)

And then there is Apple (AAPL) . I gave my eldest daughter her fourth iPod for the holidays, this time one with expanded battery. I gave my youngest the video iPod 'cause she wants to re-watch episodes of 24 on the small screen.

Now I am praying that they don't see any video about the iPhone. Because if they do, I will have to spend the next five months getting this product before other kids get it.

When we think Web, we're still approaching it as if it was something that's a dumping ground for content developed for television, or where you can link to old programming in order to further monetize it. "We" is frankly anyone not in their teens or 20s.

Painful.

We aren't used to businesses that are related to the teen demographic (with the exception, again, of Fox, which always amazes because Murdoch seems to know what this group wants). We look at a Sony (SNE) gadget that is superior to Apple on the face of it and we think, That's the end of Apple. Or we look at Microsoft's (MSFT) vast cash hoard and its success with Xbox and we presume, Apple wipe-out.

Doesn't Creative (CREAF) have a "better" MP3 player? Isn't iTunes more expensive than what Universal's doing?

Oh, give me a break.

Cachet is something that trumps all of that. You can't pin it down. You can't measure it or graph it or put it in a metric.

And then you take the kids to a game or you do the carpool or you pick your kids up from a sleepover or you have a slumber party for them -- and all the kids put their cell phones and their iPods down next to them wherever they are. It's always the cell phone and the iPod.

Now, suddenly, the iPod is going to be the iPhone. One cool device instead of one OK utility and one cool device. They won't be able to resist it.

And I'll pay for it.

"OK," you say, "People can't afford it."

I say, "You go tell your kid that when everyone else has one."

Apple gets it. That's not in the numbers. It can't be. The guys who make the numbers are usually too young to have kids.

I am old. I have the edge.

http://www.thestreet.com/p/_peprmjc/markets/activetraderupdate/10331723.html

[SeriousMoney]

Jobs does it again... I want one!

And I'm not even a teenager!

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/01/09/the-apple-iphone-runs-os-x/

[SeriousMoney]

Brace Yourself for the iPhone Effect
By Michael Comeau
Research Analyst
1/10/2007 9:40 AM EST

The mobile-phone supply chain is a highly complex machine with countless moving parts, including phone makers, component suppliers, telecom carriers, government agencies and infinitely fickle consumers. Well, Apple (AAPL) just blew the whole damn thing up with its new iPhone.

In terms of style, the iPhone is the most impressive consumer electronics product I've seen in some time. With its big touch screen, innovative keyless interface, decent storage capabilities and OS X operating system, there is simply nothing like it on the market. I mean, just take a look at this thing.

Plus, like many of Apple's products, it is a marvel of design dictated by common sense. It has a two-megapixel camera so users can take decent pictures, WiFi capabilities, four or eight gigabytes of storage and, unlike other phones with audio/video capabilities, a standard 3.5-millimeter headphone jack so you don't have to buy some ridiculously expensive proprietary adapter.

Plus, it features the ability to deactivate the screen when you bring the phone to your ear, to save on battery life and prevent you from unintentionally activating anything that may be on it at that time. I expected the phone to be something simpler, but from what I've seen, it handles its complexity fairly well and should in no way be overwhelming to the average user. If there is anything to complain about, it appears that the phone does not have 3G Internet capabilities.

It isn't cheap at $499 or more for a two-year contract with Cingular, but that doesn't matter now because of the huge pent-up demand. Let's not forget, Palm (PALM) has introduced past Treo smartphone models in the same price range, so it's not a stretch for Apple to do so, especially considering the rich feature set.

The iPhone is a fantastic strategic move by Apple. When everyone targeted the original iPod and the iPod Mini, Apple killed them and put out the Nano and the video iPod. Then everyone targeted the Nano and the video iPod, and phonemakers such as Sony-Ericcson and LG cranked out music-enabled phones to benefit from the digital-music boom driven by Apple. So Apple drops the iPhone on them.

And let's not forget that Microsoft (MSFT) , which tried to kill the iPod with the ill-fated Zune, now has a new mark in the iPhone. Apple is a moving target of the deadliest kind.

And now Apple has catapulted itself into the roughly one-billion-units-per-year mobile-phone market, which is a heck of a lot bigger than the MP3-player market the iPod dominated. Plus, one would think that Apple likely secured favorable pricing terms with Cingular for the iPhone, and that is certainly going to draw subscribers. Plus, this phone will stand out in any phone store, and there is now yet another reason for countless consumers to wander into an Apple store, where they just might also walk out with a Mac.

The timing also looks great, with the iPhone being available in June. Like it did with the Nano and iPod Mini, Apple isn't sitting around waiting for people to get tired of their products. It is proactively changing the game on its own terms on a regular basis, while competitors such as Microsoft focus on playing catch-up rather than actually innovating.

As I implied above, the major phone makers are now in even more serious trouble. Motorola's recent guidance cut was the result of weak pricing, as unit growth is being driven by low-cost models favored by emerging markets. However, now Motorola and the other phone makers have a major new competitor in the higher-priced developing markets, one that is poised to take market share as quickly as it can produce its models.

The smartphone market is not very big, and Apple expects to sell 10 million units in 2008, a conservative estimate (in my view anyway) that will certainly affect the pricing power of competing models that simply don't stand out next to it. And since Cingular has a multiyear exclusive on the iPhone, that carrier is likely to see an acceleration in subscriber growth as consumers defect for the iPhone, reducing phone demand at other carriers. Additionally, other phone providers on Cingular's network are likely to feel some pain as subscribers wait for the iPhone to come in stock.

Another factor is that Apple almost definitely has another phone up its sleeve, possibly something simpler in a lower price range that can appeal to those who are not willing to pony up big bucks for a phone, as it eventually did with the iPod Shuffle.

The phone maker best positioned to withstand the iPhone assault is Research In Motion (RIMM) because of its entrenched position with BlackBerry-wielding corporate soldiers across the universe. But I would definitely think twice about holding the stock of any other mobile-phone company.

As for Apple's stock, expect 2007 to be a roller coaster, even more so than 2006 was. The effect of the iPhone on the current iPod models is unclear as of now, and the news and rumor flow will be cranked up to an extreme level, turning Apple into the ultimate "buy the dips" stock. But over the long term, I believe that the success of Apple's phone initiatives has the potential to dwarf that of the iPod and represents an annual revenue opportunity literally in the tens of billions of dollars.

http://www.thestreet.com/p/_htmlrmm/rmoney/telecom/10331680.html