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Apple Became The World's Top Semiconductor Consumer In 2011
Given the increasing popularity of Apple’s mobile devices and growing demand for smartphones, it is no surprise that Apple is raising its expenses on chips. The research firm Gartner that Apple is now the largest buyer of semiconductors in the world as measured on the basis of Design TAM, or total silicon content in all devices designed by Apple and its rivals. In 2011, Apple spent $17 billion on silicon parts, which accounts for 5.7% of total silicon buying.
Leave a commentNYTimes: Why Apple builds its products in China
The NY published an absolutely fascinating article, explaining why Apple builds almost all of its stuff in China. The short of it is that companies like Apple simply cannot manufacture products in the United States. The cost is not the reason, however. Years ago, the Chinese government subsidized building cities of factories that can hire 3,000 workers to live in a dorm in a day —or 8,700 Industrial Engineers in two weeks (it would take 9 months in the U.S.).
The most interesting tale might have been the last minute decision to make the iPhones display glass:
In 2007, a little over a month before the iPhone was scheduled to appear in stores, Mr. Jobs beckoned a handful of lieutenants into an office. For weeks, he had been carrying a prototype of the device in his pocket.
Mr. Jobs angrily held up his iPhone, angling it so everyone could see the dozens of tiny scratches marring its plastic screen, according to someone who attended the meeting. He then pulled his keys from his jeans.
New Apple suit claims Galaxy Nexus infringes on 'slide-to-unlock' feature
Mere hours after serving up a ruling on Friday for a failed Samsung lawsuit against Apple, the Mannheim Regional Court held a hearing about Apple’s complaint against Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus. It is the first time when Apple has named the South Korean electronics manufacturer's flagship Android handset in a lawsuit, claiming the device infringes the iPhone maker's "slide-to-unlock" utility model that was first introduced with the original iPhone in 2007 and subsequently patented with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in October 2011
Examinations of utility model registrations are not as stringent as patent filings and don't carry a presumption of validity which is necessary for a court ruling. Thus the Mannheim court does not foresee an immediate decision in the "slide-to-unlock" suit as it believes the validity or invalidity of the invention is too close to call.
Mac sales growing faster for Apple in China than US
Analyst Ben A. Reitzes with Barclays Capital said in a note to investors on Wednesday that Apple's growth in China now extends beyond the iPhone and iPad, with Mac sales there also continuing to outpace the U.S. Reitzes believes that Apple's total global sales will be up 22 percent year over year, thanks largely to rapid expansion in China.
"We believe Mac sales remain relatively strong even as the economy weakens, benefitting from new stores in China and strong sales of the MacBook Air," he said. "Even though the economy and HDD shortages are concerns that could limit upside, we remain comfortable with our estimate for 22% (year over year) Mac unit growth for (the fourth quarter of calendar 2011) given overseas momentum -- especially in China where growth is much higher."
A Closer Look at iBooks Author
Yesterday Apple released an easy to use tool called iBooks Author, which allows anyone (publishers and users) to create interactive iBooks with text, video, images and more. iBook Author can export projects in a number of different formats, including iBook format, PDF and text.
The iBooks (version 2) format is an improved format created by Apple based on ePub 3. At present, this iBook format will only work with Apple's iOS devices. Even so, Apple has restricted sales of any iBook formatted documents coming from iBooks Author to the App Store.
The reason probably is that Apple may simply not want to feed content to competing bookstores such as Amazon or Google.
Apple targets Galaxy S II, 9 other Samsung smartphones in new German suit
Apple has filed a new suit in the Dusseldorf Regional Court against Samsung. The suit cites multiple patented designs owned by Apple in Europe. This time the company asked a German court to ban the sale of the Galaxy S II and nine other smartphones, along with five tablet models, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and its redesigned version the Galaxy Tab 10.1N – Samsung's attempt to overcome ban on tablet sales. As far as you remember, Samsung redesigned the tablet and renamed it. Those changes were apparently enough for the court in Germany, which indicated last month that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not likely to be banned from sale. The suit also targets Samsung's Galaxy S Plus in addition to the Galaxy S II.
iWork VP Roger Rosner Taking Charge of Apple's Digital Textbook Initiative
The Wall Street Journal reports that Roger Rosner is the executive in charge of Apple's digital textbook tools. Rosner is a Vice President for Productivity Applications at Apple, such as Pages, Numbers and Keynote. He joint Apple in 2001, prior he was CEO of Bluefish Labs, a software development firm that Apple purchased.
Prior to working on the textbook service, Rosner was in charge of Pages, Numbers and Keynote -- Apple's iWork suite of office applications. Jessica Vascellaro writes for the WSJ:
Mr. Rosner's involvement is a sign of how strongly Apple intends to emphasize textbook creation, in a move to change the type of educational content that exists on the market. It also underscores how as textbooks—and all media—goes digital, it is increasingly important for tech companies to get media companies to create digital content with their software or in formats compatible with their services and devices.
Whether Mr. Rosner, whose LinkedIn profile pegs him at Apple for more than a decade, will take the stage on Thursday remains unclear. If so, audiences may remember him from Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference this past June, where he demonstrated features of iCloud, the company's online syncing and storing service.
Apple's iPad sales in Dec. quarter stands at 13.5 million units
42 Wall Street and independent analysts polled by Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt have found that all of them expect Apple to report record iPad sales when it releases its December quarter financial results on January 24. The estimates are ranging from 11.73 million to 19.47 million iPad units sold during the most recent quarter. According to Wall Street, the concensus has been reached on 13.5 million units. The previous record numbers of iPad sales were reached by Apple in the September 2011 quarter with 11.2 million units.
Smartphone makers plan to mirror Apple's approach with fewer models each year
DigiTimes reported on Friday that HTC, Research in Motion, Sony and Motorola Mobility are planning to change their strategies by reducing the number of new handsets that they produce in an attempt to repeat success of Apple’s products. As far as we know, the company releases just one iPhone model each year, while other mobile manufactures produce plethora of smartphones, which often differ from each other with minor changes.
Such strategy will allow increasing sales and saving money on development and marketing costs. The companies also expect to be more efficient in obtaining components and shipping products.
Sculley: If anyone is going to change television, it’s going to be Apple
John Sculley, former vice-president and president of PepsiCo and CEO of Apple between 1983 and 1993, and a Silicon Valley investor nowadays, believes that Apple is the only company that would be able to change the first principles of the television experience. In an interview with BBC Sculley confessed that has not read Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of Apple’s late cofounder and CEO, but admitted that the television industry is about to experience Apple’s magic touch:
I think that Apple has revolutionized every other consumer industry, why not television? I think that televisions are unnecessarily complex. The irony is that as the pictures get better and the choice of content gets broader, that the complexity of the experience of using the television gets more and more complicated. So it seems exactly the sort of problem that if anyone is going to change the experience of what the first principles are, it is going to be Apple.
Rupert Murdoch confirms Sculley’s words about Apple television, writing on Twitter this morning: “All talk is about coming Apple TV. Plenty of apprehension, no firm facts but eyes on their enormous cash pile”.
Apple is first technology company to join Fair Labor Association
Bloomberg reports that Apple has joint to the Fair Labor Association (FLA). By joining the FLA, Apple agrees to have the association independently assess facilities in its supply chain and report detailed findings on the association's website. Apple is the first technology business to sign up to the FLA as a participating company currently.
The FLA already worked with Apple last year on the company's training programs regarding labor rights and worker standards, and that Apple will bring all of its workplace compliance standards in line with the FLA's guidelines over the next two years.
"We found that Apple takes supplier responsibility seriously and we look forward to their participation in the Fair Labor Association," Auret van Heerden, FLA's President and CEO, said in a press release. "We welcome Apple's commitment to greater transparency and independent oversight, and we hope its participation will set a new standard for the electronics industry."
ITC rules Motorola did not violate Apple patents
The U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled a couple of days ago that Motorola's Droid line of smartphones does not violate Apple's patents.
"We are pleased with today's favorable outcome for Motorola Mobility," Scott Offer, senior vice president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility, said in a statement. "Motorola Mobility has worked hard over the years to develop technology and build an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio. We are proud to leverage this broad and deep portfolio to create differentiated innovations that enhance the user experience."
Apple Releases 2012 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report and Supplier List
Yesterday Apple released its annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Report for 2012, where the company details efforts to oversee working conditions and environmental responsibility at its suppliers around the world. Apple specially noted that it conducted 229 audits during 2011.
In 2011, we conducted 229 audits throughout our supply chain — an 80 percent increase over 2010 — including more than 100 first-time audits. We continue to expand our program to reach deeper into our supply base, and this year we added more detailed and specialized audits that focus on safety and the environment.
Target confirms it will open 25 Apple store-within-a-store outlets this year
Last week AppleInsider exclusively reported that Apple would plan to open 25 specialty stores inside Target's largest stores this year. The retailer confirmed those exact details in a presentation in New York on Thursday, according to The New York Times.
The concept is called "The Shops at Target," and the dedicated Apple ministores coming to 25 Target locations will not be alone. The Minneapolis-based retailer has also partnered with Boston's Polka Dog Bakery and Miami's The Webster, among others, for its specialty shops.
Apple awarded 676 patents in 2011
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple was awarded a total of 676 patents in 2011. Now Apple is No. 39 among companies awarded inventions in the U.S., comparing with the last year result, when Apple won 563 patents and was ranked the No. 46 global company in terms of inventions.
The No. 1 inventor in America was IBM, which was awarded 6,180 patents in 2011. The second place belongs to Samsung, which won 4,894 inventions outside of its home country of Korea. The third place took Canon with 2,821 patents. Panasonic came in the fourth place with 2,559, while Toshiba took fifth with 2,483 inventions. Microsoft is in the sixth place, with 2,311 patents, Hewlett-Packard with 1,308 patents in 14th place, Intel with 1,244 patents in 16th place, and AT&T, whose 721 patents put it in 35th.