The iPad mini cost concerns are overblown, analysts say

By Ed Sutherland on Oct 29, 2012

Stop your worrying. That’s the message from one Wall Street analyst trying to calm investors’ concerns over Apple announcing smaller margins. A wave of worrying erupted last week when company executives announced the iPad mini comes with an unwanted add-on: tighter profit margins. Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore called such concern “overblown,” saying the lower-than-expected margins are “nearly entirely cyclical and not structural” as Apple ramps up production and perfects the manufacturing process. After all, we’ve seen this before… Read More

 

Supplier issues could lead to limited availability of initial iPad mini stock

By Cody Lee on Oct 24, 2012

Folks interested in purchasing Apple’s new iPad mini may want to make sure and order one as soon as possible when pre-orders go live this Friday. Word is, one of Apple’s suppliers for the tablet is having problems meeting its yield rates, and this could lead to a shortage of iPad mini stock… Read More

 

IHS iSuppli predicts off the sales for the iPad mini in 2013

By Ed Sutherland on Oct 23, 2012

Just as Apple revived a dormant tablet industry, the iPad maker is expected to double the market for seven-inch tablets. Thanks to its incoming smaller iPad, demand for tablets in the seven-inch range will grow to a third of the overall market by 2013, a market research firm announced Tuesday.

“Just as Apple has dominated the market for 9.7-inch tablets with its iPad, iPad 2 and new iPad models, the company is poised to rule the market for 7.x-inch products”, said Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and monitor research for IHS iSuppli. Indeed, the market for such tablets will increase 100 percent this year and next, according to the research firm… Read More

 

Analyst claims to have already played with an iPad mini

By Cody Lee on Oct 23, 2012

With Apple’s media event now just hours away, anticipation is mounting for what is expected to be a major announcement. For the first time in two years, the company will be unveiling a new product line: the iPad mini.

While we think we know a lot about the smaller tablet, we won’t know anything for sure until Apple hoists it up on stage tomorrow. But according to one analyst, who claims to have already played with the slate, it’s awesome… Read More

 

Analyst thinks the iPad mini will be the priciest seven-incher

By Ed Sutherland on Oct 22, 2012

Is Apple’s upcoming iPad mini aimed at consumers looking for an inexpensive tablet or folks seeking an Apple tablet that can be popped into a jacket pocket?

That’s the real question facing observers as the Cupertino, California company prepares to introduce its 7.8-inch product tomorrow. The answer, of course, will tell us just who Apple thinks its rivals are in this space… Read More

 

Apple to pony up for stricter iPhone 5 quality control

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 22, 2012

Apple will reportedly pay up to “partially absorb costs” related to stricter quality control in iPhone 5 manufacturing, according to Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. Faced with numerous complaints from early adopters who noticed their handset is far more prone to scratches and nicks which Apple initially attempted to dismiss as “normal” wear and tear, the company is now ready to take a hit on its near-term gross margins to improve production quality of the iPhone 5. Specifically, the analyst projects the iPhone maker’s gross margins to be between 40.5 percent and 41.5 percent versus Wall Street’s consensus between 42 percent and 43 percent… Read More

 

Smaller iPad may be competition’s worst nightmare, analysts agree

By Ed Sutherland on Oct 19, 2012

Analysts are almost busting their buttons to tell investors just how big a deal they expect is a smaller iPad, widely thought to be up for an introduction next Tuesday. One well-known Apple watcher foresees huge headaches from rival seven-inch tablet makers, describing the so-called iPad mini as “competition’s worst nightmare.”

Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee writes the iPad mini will come on the scene as Apple’s competitors are already running hard just to keep up with the larger iPad 2.

The Cupertino, Caliornia gadget designer may even phase-out the $399 iPad 2 in order to focus attention even more strongly on the leading brand. Add a 7.85-inch iPad mini expected to sell for under $300 – and rival tablet manufacturers lose both the size advantage as well as the lower price tag… Read More

 

Apple could phase out the iPad 2 for the iPad mini

By Ed Sutherland on Oct 19, 2012

Apple will discontinue the iPad 2 in order to simplify product choices ahead of next Tuesday’s introduction of a smaller tablet, one analyst predicts. Friday, Rob Cihra, analyst with Evercore Partners, told investors the move would be part of Apple’s goal of providing “clearer product tiers.”

The Cupertino, California-based company uses its engineering prowess in both hardware and software to overcome an otherwise soft technology market. The iPhone maker has increased its revenue by thirty percent this year at a time when demand for PCs has dropped by four percent… Read More

 

Analyst says T-Mobile could finally land the iPhone in 2013

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 16, 2012

Here we go again. T-Mobile USA, the nation’s fourth-largest carrier and the only major U.S. telco without Apple’s iconic smartphone, should finally land the latest iPhone early next year, if an analyst with Morgan Stanley is to be trusted.

This isn’t the first time analysts made such an estimate and the carrier on its part has been appeasing to its iPhone-totting customers with free support to unlockers, Nano SIMs for the iPhone 5 and a broad marketing push to sell Apple users to its unlimited data plans… Read More

 

New study shows 40% of US teens own an iPhone

By Cody Lee on Oct 9, 2012

Despite Samsung’s efforts to portray the iPhone as a device for older consumers, the iPhone is still extremely popular among teenagers. Piper Jaffray says that 40% of US teens now own the handset.

Gene Munster, an analyst with the firm, released a report today on his survey of US teenagers regarding what gadgets they’re using. And judging from the results, Apple’s iPhone and iPad are still on top… Read More

 

Apple’s next big thing is an intelligent remote? I should have been an analyst.

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 9, 2012

With the successful iPhone 5 launch now behind us and the rumored iPad mini introduction allegedly upon us later this month, the rumor-mill is no doubt busy thinking about Apple’s next big thing. The mythical Apple television set instantly springs to mind, dubbed by the media as the iTV. Not so fast. According to one analyst, an intelligent remote rather than a standalone HD TV set is up next for the Cupertino, California designer of shiny gadgets… Read More

 

Analyst: iPad mini may even be slicker than iPad 3

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 8, 2012

The rumored mini iPad could be Apple’s sexiest tablet yet, with one analyst predicting that the aesthetics will play an important role in pushing the product into the mass market. The current iPad lineup is pretty and with Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7 looking a bit plasticky, premium design paired with Apple’s famous fit and finish could give an inexpensive, smaller iPad just the kind of attraction it needs to make average consumers drool down their black turtlenecks… Read More

 

Analysts: Mapgate not affecting insatiable demand for the iPhone 5

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 1, 2012

With last Friday’s addition of 22 new countries, the iPhone 5 is now available in 31 major markets but many would still be hard pressed to buy one due to dwindling stock both in the United States and in other countries around the world. By all accounts, the iPhone 5 demand is off the charts, Mapgate be damned.

Matter of fact, quite the opposite is happening: demand for the iPhone 5 is surging as mapping woes don’t appear to slow sales (though customer satisfaction ratings did take a hit). Looks like that CEO apology was a pre-emptive maneuver to smartly protect the brand in the long haul… Read More

 

Analyst predicts 10 million sales over the iPhone 5 opening weekend

By Christian Zibreg on Sep 17, 2012

The iPhone 5 goes on sale this Friday in the United States and eight more major markets overseas, hitting an additional 22 countries next Friday. So far, customer response completely blew Apple away as the handset became AT&T‘s and Apple‘s fastest-selling iPhone.

With a little more than four days until launch, Piper Jaffray’s resident Apple analyst Gene Munster issued a note to clients, predicting sales of at least six million units during the opening weekend, possibly up to ten million units.

Munster previously said the iPhone 5 would go down in history as the most successful consumer electronics launch and compared other smartphones to Timexes, with the iPhone 5 being the Rolex of smartphones… Read More

 

The iPhone 5 is the Rolex of smartphones

By Christian Zibreg on Sep 14, 2012

Despite lack of NFC (here’s why) and wireless charging (you still need  to plug a wireless charging device somewhere), the manufacturing precision with which the iPhone 5 is made is seen as one of its biggest selling points. Piper Jaffray analst Gene Munster previously predicted “the biggest consumer launch in history”, calling the iPhone 5 arrival “the mother of all upgrades”. He’s back at it again, likening the iPhone 5 in today’s note to clients to “a Rolex among a sea of Timexes”… Read More

 

Will the iPhone 5 outsell Samsung’s Galaxy S III?

By Christian Zibreg on Sep 4, 2012

Now that we have the official confirmation of Apple’s iPhone event taking place at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts next Wednesday, the second part of iMore’s report mentioning September 21 availability (it’s a Friday) is almost certainly a done deal as well. Which means Apple will get to sell the iPhone 5 (or whatever you think it’s going to be called) for just ten days during the September quarter.

Despite this, resident Apple analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray is convinced that the device will shatter all previous sales records, moving as much as ten million units in its first week of sale, enough to make Samsung’s lead short-lived and re-take the crown of the best-selling smartphone in the United States… Read More

 

Analyst guesstimates the Galaxy S III outsold the iPhone 4S in the US

By Christian Zibreg on Sep 4, 2012

Citing “channel checks”, one analyst estimated that Samsung’s three-month-old Galaxy S III smartphone has manage to outsell Apple’s iPhone 4S in the United States during the month of August. Take it with a grain of salt as Apple doesn’t break down iPhone numbers by model and Samsung stopped reporting phone and tablet sales for competitive reasons a year ago.

If true, this isn’t terribly surprising given that the iPhone 4S is now almost a year old and especially knowing folks have been withholding their purchases in anticipation of the next iPhone… Read More

 

LTE iPhone could be a game changer, especially for Verizon

By Ed Sutherland on Aug 30, 2012

If you’re looking to handicap which iPhone carrier is ahead in the LTE horse race, one Wall Street analyst points to Verizon and Sprint as the big winner and loser. Indeed, an LTE-enabled iPhone 5 would “change everything,” making it “the biggest consumer product launch ever.”

Jeffries & Co.’s analyst Thomas Seitz Thursday advised investors to buy Verizon shares, hold onto AT&T and sell Sprint-Nextel. Verizon now has 230 million LTE POPs — more than all other US carriers combined. As a result, Seitz sees “a share shift towards Verizon, primarily at AT&T’s expense.” Read More

 

After speaking with Apple execs, analyst says no TV anytime soon

By Cody Lee on Aug 24, 2012

Even after The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is working with cable providers on a digital set-top box, iTV rumors have continued to swirl. It’s been that way for several months now, despite the fact that there’s zero evidence.

A majority of the speculation has come from analysts, who point to supply chain channel checks and other sources as proof Apple is preparing to enter the TV industry. But after speaking with the company’s top executives, this analyst says that an ATV set is very unlikely in the near future… Read More

 

Consumers still want an Apple TV set, but only if the price is right

By Cody Lee on Aug 8, 2012

Rumors regarding Apple’s TV set have really tapered off over the past few months. That likely has a lot to do with the ramp up in speculation surrounding the list of products Apple is expected to introduce at its fall media event — which the TV set isn’t on.

But just because the Apple television chatter has subsided, doesn’t mean that folks have forgotten about it. In fact, a new survey shows that some 50% of consumers are still very interested in an Apple-marketed TV set, as long as the price is right… Read More

 
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