Instead of killing off the iPhone 3GS when a sixth-generation model arrives later this year, Apple is allegedly in the process of repricing the handset in order to better attend to its customers in emerging markets, where phones are often sold contract-free and used with pay-as-you-go plans.
According to Jefferies analys Peter Misek, Apple wants to sell its three-year old handset contract-free in developing markets for between $250 and $300 versus its current $375 no-contract asking price...
Pacific Crest's Andy Hargreaves wins the coveted title for this week's Most Idiotic Analysis concerning a rumored HD TV television set from Apple, aptly dubbed by the press the iTV.
In a note issued to clients on Tuesday, Hargreaves provided two arguments against an Apple-branded telly.
First, such a device would be of little value to couch potatoes unless it came with a bucket load of premium Hollywood entertainment. Up to a point, he argued Apple thus far has failed to get content owners in line to stream movies and television shows to the TV.
Bear with me for a sec.
Secondly, he wrote a 46-inch HD TV set "would be a terrible use of retail space relative to iPhone, iPad or the Apple TV set-top box".
Has this guy heard of warehouses? What about jumbo-sized walls of Apple's retail stores? And whoever said Apple would need to stock hundreds of big-screen iTVs in retail outlets, especially if they'll fetch a cool $2,000 a pop, as rumored...
Color me skeptical, but I'm still scratching my head over over a surprising report by Macquarie analyst Ben Schacter which has it that Google's Chrome browser is coming to iOS some time during the June quarter of this year or, if not, then "definitely this year".
If true, this would be a big news as Chrome ended 2011 within spitting distance of market-leading Internet Explorer. Heck, it even overtook Microsoft’s product to become the world’s most popular browser for a day and is certainly expected to become the top browser this year.
The big question is, will Apple allow Chrome into the App Store and let Google own all the searches? Bear in mind that the search giant currently pays Apple an estimated 60 percent revenue share for the searches done through Safari's search box...
According to one analyst, Apple has begun reducing iPhone orders, another indication that a sixth-generation model is looming on the horizon.
Based on checks with suppliers, Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday that Apple has drawn build plans for the current-gen iPhone models by up to 25 percent compared to the 35.1 million iPhones sold during the first quarter of this year.
As a result, Apple may ship no more than 28 million iPhones during the June quarter...
Remember when Apple announced sales of 17.07 million iPhones during the September quarter of last year? The company was dealing with a rare loss at the time for it had failed to meet analysts' audacious expectations.
In fact, Tim Cook had gone on the record in a conference call with investor to blame the slowdown on those crazy summertime rumors that had been repeatedly calling for a completely redesigned iPhone for the summer of 2011.
"iPhone sales slowed toward the end of the quarter amid speculation over the debut of a new model", the CEO said. Well, looks like history could repeat itself.
Some analysts are now concerned that Apple is due for a big come down because swirling iPhone 5 rumors could negatively impact sales of the current-generation iPhone 4S/4 as would-be buyers withhold their planned purchases in anticipation of a new model.
Yeah, I know analysts promised us flying cars many times before, but bear with me for a second. In addition to opining that the time is not right for an Apple-branded television set until 2014 due to dire economic conditions, the same credible analyst also advised clients that a mobile payment platform from Apple is to be expected.
He calls it iPay and guesstimates it'll work with NFC technology believed to be in the cards for an upcoming iPad and iPhone hardware refresh…
Despite the fact that Apple hasn't given any indication that it's working on a TV set, and a glaring lack of any concrete evidence, the Apple-branded television is one of the most highly anticipated products of 2012. It seems like everyone thinks it's coming.
Everyone except JP Morgan's Mark Moskowitz, that is. In a note to investors this morning, the analyst said that he doesn't believe that economic conditions are right for Apple to release a TV set this year. And he doesn't think we'll see one until at least 2014...
In the midst of all of the talk regarding Apple releasing a smaller iPad to reach out to budget shoppers, one analyst has another idea on how the company could lower the slate's cost to infiltrate the budget tablet market. Carrier subsidies.
Analyst A.I. Houriani, of Seeking Alpha, believes that Apple could sell a lot more iPads if it could convince carriers to absorb some of the tablet's up front costs in exchange for multi-year contracts — similar to what they do with iPhones...
9to5Mac points to an interesting presentation given at the recent Barcelona Informa MVNO Industry Summit by Whitey Bluestein. The wireless industry analyst believes that Apple is about to launch its own wireless service courtesy of MVNO.
This isn't the first time we've heard rumors regarding the iPhone-makers becoming a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, but Bluestein believes this is set to happen in the "near future." And he makes a pretty convincing argument too...
Apple and Samsung have pwnd the entire cell phone market, which includes smartphones, feature phones and dumb phones, one analyst noted. Together, the two frenemies have managed to gulp literally all of the cell phone industry's profits during the first quarter of this year, leaving rival device makers with inadequate revenues to fund research and development and justify costs associated with carpet-bombing the market with numerous handsets...
Specifically, Apple accounted for a whopping 80 percent of all mobile industry profits while rival Samsung clung onto the remaining 20 percent. Together, Apple and Samsung accounted for more than an astounding three-quarters of the cell phone industry revenues...
The first quarter of 2012 saw Apple sell more than 50 million iOS devices, 11.8 million of which were iPads. But even at a high-price of an estimated $2,000, a rumored full-blown television set from Apple is projected to sell faster than the popular iPad, which begins at $499 for the third-gen model, or $399 in the case of the discounted WiFi-only iPad 2.
But what if Apple flexes its muscles with iTV, tapping the $110 billion cash hoard, its frightening buying power and efficient supply chain management to deliver a $1,000 TV set for the masses? If it comes to be, expect nothing if not "a big seismic shift", one analyst opines...
In a note to investors today, Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said that it was a "question of when, not if" Apple would release the rumored 7.85-inch iPad. He believes it would make strategic sense for it to expand its tablet family.
"A smaller iPad would be the competition's worst nightmare," he explained. Apple's competitors are already having trouble beating the company on price at $399 and $499. They wouldn't stand a chance against a $299 tablet...