Ed Sutherland

iPad Inc: Apple tablet earns more than McDonalds on Fortune 500

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Has all the gloom-and-doom talk about the iPhone and iPad gotten you down? Are you worried Apple's three-year-old tablet is a bit long in the tooth - especially against Samsung and other Android devices? Well, turn that frown upside down. The iPad isn't going away. Indeed, one analyst says iPad sales are bigger than McDonald's, Nike and many other Fortune 500 companies. In 2012, iPad sales reaped $32 billion, amounting to 60 percent of tablets sold. If the iPad was a company, it would be eleventh largest tech firm in the United States, says Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi.

We won't see a repeat of that in 2013, however. No, the iPad is expected to rake in an astounding $46 billion and grow 75 percent...

Tablets to crush notebooks in 2013 as PCs become trucks

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 9, 2013

The argument over whether tablets should be classified as PCs could soon be moot. Shipments of devices such as Apple's iPad are expected to overtake notebook PCs in 2013. The cause: tablet (iPad) shipments are growing by double-digit percentages while PC demand is falling off a cliff - even in emerging markets...

Verizon activates 9.8M smartphones in Q4 amid a ‘higher mix’ of iPhones

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Verizon announced it activated 9.8 million smartphones during the holiday 2012 fourth quarter. In a statement to federal regulators, the nation's largest carrier said there was a "higher mix of smartphones", causing some observers to believe the wireless provider sold more than 5.3 million iPhones during the three-month period.

Rival AT&T yesterday told the Securities and Exchange Commission it sold 10 million smartphones during the fourth quarter, prompting one analyst to suggest the Dallas-based carrier sold at least eight million Apple handsets...

AT&T’s ‘best-ever’ smartphone sales hint at 8M iPhones in Q4 2012

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 9, 2013

What can be divined from AT&T's announcement of record smartphone sales during the holiday quarter? According to one Apple watcher, the fact that the Dallas-based carrier sold ten million Apple, Android and Windows smartphones likely means the bulk - more than eight million - were iPhones. According to Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, during the holiday quarter of 2011, the wireless company sold 9.4 million smartphones, 7.6 million of which were Apple's handset. Because of that trend, Munster is forecasting 8.1 million iPhones were sold during the fourth quarter of 2012...

Disney brings augmented reality to toys via iDevices

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 8, 2013

It's a familiar story. You buy your children the hottest toy, which soon loses its magic and ends up in a pile of the other overly-priced and unused items. Disney is hoping its found the solution via your iPhone or iPad camera, an iOS app and augmented reality. The goal: extending the life of toys - especially those with the Disney logo.

Instead of just playing with a Disney piano or a licensed Little Mermaid doll, children can point the camera of their Apple or Android device at a specially-designed toy and watch as cartoon characters interact with the item. The media firm's DreamPlay technology was unveiled Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas...

Amid swirling iPhone mini rumors, Tim Cook meets China’s high-level officials

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

Apple CEO Tim Cook is fast becoming a frequent visitor to China. Cook's meeting with that country's Industry and IT Ministry to discuss the near doubling of Apple Stores follows an early visit to quiet critics of Foxconn and rumors of iPhone sweatshops. China's Ministry of Industry and Information announced Cook met with the agency's Miao Wei.

The subject of talk: Apple's business goals for China, as well as global communications. Since a trip to China in March 2012, the number of Apple Stores there have increased to 11 from 6...

Beware, thieves want your ID to buy iPhones

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 7, 2013

Apple's iPhone for thieves is like a bar of gold with earbuds. The smartphone has been blamed for a rise in urban crime, been the target of mafia heists - even fostered one iPhone owner to launch an online sting operation. Now comes word thieves have found a more direct route to your iPhone - your identity.

Identity theft is now the hottest way to buy an iPhone and stick you with the bill. The key is instant credit used by Apple to provide online financing to purchase an iPhone, Mac or other iDevice. The typical bill from ID theft of Apple products averages between $1,500 to $2,000, according to a fraud investigator who talked with Reuters...

Kantar: the iPhone is America’s top smartphone as Android falters

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 7, 2013

Apple's iOS is now the top-selling smartphone operating system in the United States, capturing for the first time more than 50 percent of sales, a new survey finds.

The improvement is the result of repeat iPhone buyers and new smartphone owners purchasing the discounted iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, researchers say.

Android sales fell to 41.9 percent of the US market, a 10.9 percent drop during the same three-month period ended November 25. Meanwhile, Microsoft landed in third place, registering just 2.7 percent of smartphones sold domestically...

Netflix inks exclusive Warner Bros. TV deal

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 7, 2013

With just a few days into 2013 we're already seeing the latest skirmish between Netflix and pay-TV veterans. After a weekend deal where HBO gloated it was keeping Universal content out of the hands of the online streaming service, Netflix answered Monday by inking a U.S. deal for television episodes from Warner Bros. The deal gives Netflix exclusive online rights for such Warner Bros Television Group shows as Revolution, Fringe and Kevin Bacon's upcoming FBI potboiler The Following. Perhaps most intriguing was language offering Netflix exclusive online rights to "potential future shows"...

Best Buy accuses Walmart of hurting holiday iPhone 5 sales

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 4, 2013

Get ready to rumble! Best Buy, a gadget retailer that sells more iPhones than anyone but Apple, is charging the world's biggest retailer Walmart with unfairly pricing the iPhone 5 during holiday.

A number of states' attorney generals are looking into the allegation. Best Buy says it lost $65,000 a day trying to match the $150 price (later cut to $127) Walmart promoted in December.

The electronics retailer charges Walmart didn't have sufficient supplies to fulfill its holiday promotion of the regularly-priced $199 smartphone...

Can mini iPhone boost Apple past Samsung?

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 4, 2013

It's a new year, but talk of Apple's need to produce an inexpensive smartphone is back. This time there is a name for the device: the iPhone mini. Friday, an analyst forecast the company could unveil a cheap iPhone in 2014 to combat Samsung's handset lead in the face of the high-end smartphone market "nearing saturation". To break out of its #2 position, Apple must follow Samsung's success of marketing to many different groups of consumers.

That's at least the main line of reasoning by analyst Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics. To date, Apple has only subsidized iPhones that sell with a contract, in addition to the expensive contract-free offering and the somewhat discounted previous versions of the smartphone. Sooner than later, the company will need to recognize the untapped segment of inexpensive prepaid handsets, an area that could boost it beyond its chief rival...

Patent gives a peek into Apple’s retail prowess

Ed Sutherland ∙ January 3, 2013

No matter if you are in Syracuse, NY or Singapore, when you step into an Apple Store, you're likely to be greeted in a singular manner. That's no mistake. In fact, the 'brain' of Apple's retailing success is part of a patent filing for a centralized floor plan management. It's entitled "System and method for planning layout of a retail store" and details, well, everything.

Starting from how the tech giant uses the iPad and centrally-controlled in-store displays to offer customers a unified appearance, no matter which Apple Store around the globe you happen to waltz in. Indeed, if tech retailing were part of the Star Trek universe, Apple locations would be manned by the Borg - seeming to operate with one mind...