News from category ‘Financial’
US Retailers Begin To Reduce iPhone 4 Prices
As reported various retailers reducing the price of iPhone 4 expecting the release of the iPhone 5. Rumors suggest that the next-generation smartphone vary quite substantially from an August release to a September release, and AllThingsD expects a late October launch. So the US retailers Radio Shack and Target have both cut the price on the iPhone 4 models. Radio Shack is currently offering the 16GB model for $169.99 and the 32GB for $269.99. Meanwhile Target is now offering the 16GB iPhone 4 for $149.99 and the 32GB model for $249.99. These discounted iPhone 4’s still come with a two-year contract. The standard prices for the iPhone 4 in Radio Shack were $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model.
Apple Became Absolute Leader In Profits From Mobile Phone Sales In Q2
According to Asymco's Horace Dedie , Apple is a king of the hill in smartphone sales and is on LG heels for the third place in cell phone sales worldwide.
Samsung that revealed its profits for the second quarter is the second-largest smartphone manufacture globally in terms of units, however the company refuses to reveal its sales data explaining that by fierce competition with Apple.
35% of U.S. Consumers Planning to Purchase Next-Generation iPhone

Site PriceGrabber released the results of a survey of nearly 3,000 U.S. online consumers, revealing that 35% of respondents intend to purchase the next-generation iPhone.
Anticipation in the consumer electronics world is soaring for the launch of Apple's iPhone 5, which is rumored to be hitting store shelves this fall. PriceGrabber, a part of Experian, just released the results of its iPhone 5 survey, revealing that 35 percent of consumers plan to purchase the latest iPhone upon its release. Of these respondents, 51 percent indicated that they will buy the smartphone within the first year of release, 30 percent will purchase it before the end of 2011, 14 percent will buy it within the first month, and 7 percent will buy it within the first week. Conducted from July 1-11, 2011, the survey includes responses from 2,852 U.S. online consumers.
Respondents expect to seen in the next-generation iPhone improved battery life; 59% of respondents selected this option in the survey. 56% was a lower price point. 46% indicated that "4G" compatibility is an important feature.
Apple Is Willing To Adopt Cheaper IC Solutions For iPad 3
Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes yesterday an interesting report. The publication names possible suppliers of integrated circuits for iPad 3. They are Capella Microsystems (ambient light sensors), Richtek Technology (integrated power management), Novatek Microelectronics (LCD driver) and Integrated Memory Logic (programmable gamma/Vcom buffer solutions).
Apple Became The US Fastest-Growing Retailer
Basing on estimations from retail sales expert David Berman, USA Today that Apple is taking “a massive bite” of retail sales in the USA. Ever-growing sales of iOS devices and Mac computers that continue to outrun sales of other computer makers along with company’s margins cannot pass unnoticed. The publication reads:
Smart Covers For iPad 2 Earn High Profits For Apple
Sales of $40 magnetic smart covers designed to protect the iPad 2 amounted to collective $300 million for Apple in recent quarter, as BMO Capital's analyst Keith Bachman on Monday in his note to investors. Half of that figure makes up pure profit for the company.
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iPhone May Become Available To China Telecom Subscribers This November
Reuters report, Apple and China Telecom have come to agreement on the iPhone and decided that the handset will be offered by the end of the year. Until now iPhone was available on 1.4 billion people market through the China Unicom network.
Abramsky Believes RIM Needs To Spin-off BlackBerry
According to analyst Mike Abramsky with RBC Capital, BlackBerry-manufacturer Research in Motion should change itself and alter its outdated way of thinking by spinning-off its network and handset departments.
Apple users buying 61% more apps, paying 14% more per app

Fortune has published a report by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster related to the performance of the App Store. Munster claims that iOS device owners have downloaded more applications in 2011; moreover such applications are more expensive comparing with the average price for an application in 2010.
- More apps: The average iOS device owner will download 83 apps in 2011 vs. 51 in 2010, a 61% increase year over year. "Smartphone users are showing an increasing appetite to use apps to add features to their phones," Munster writes, "and iOS has the leading app ecosystem."
- More expensive apps: The ASP (average selling price) per app is rebounding. ASPs are up 14% y/y in 2011 vs. an 18% decline in 2010. "After the initial race to the bottom in App Store pricing," says Munster, "we are seeing users pay up to add features and games to their iOS devices."
82% of downloads from the App Store are free applications, the rest 18% are paid ones with an average selling price of $1.44. For 2010 and 2011 the average price of application was increasing that could be caused by the iPad launch. iPad applications in general have higher prices than applications for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Apple To Pay $8M For Violating iPod Playlist Patent
According to Bloomberg , based on the information from the lawyer for plaintiff Personal Audio, a jury found that Apple had indeed violated two patents relating to downloadable playlists for iPods. Coby Electronics, Sirius XM Radio and Archos were also included in the suit, but they resolve the dispute out of the court last year.
Apple Keeps On Lowering Prices For Its iAd Packages
According to Bloomberg’s , Apple has kept on lowering the buy-in fee for its iAd mobile advertising by reducing package prices for main advertising companies from the original buy of $1 million down to $300.000 in some deals.
Analysts Forecast 17 Million iPhones, 8 Million iPads Sold in Q3
Apple is expected to post its official financial results for the third quarter 2011 on July 19, but now we may hear different prediction. One of them has been made by the non-Wall Street Apple analysts at the Apple Finance Board. They believe that Apple has sold more than 8 million iPads and 17 million iPhones in the third fiscal quarter of 2011. Wall Street’s analytics claim “the company earned $5.69 per share on sales of $24.67 billion”. The Finance Board predicts that Apple will post revenue of $26.5 billion.
The June quarter represents the first fiscal quarter in which Apple iPad sales are a factor in the prior-year performance. This factor alone will have an impact on year-over-year revenue growth. iPad unit sales and the resulting revenue were not a factor in the prior-year financial performance comparisons in the December (FQ1) and March (FQ2) quarters.
In Q2 2011 Apple’s revenue was $24.67 billion. The company sold 4.69 million iPads, 18.65 million iPhones and 3.76 million Macs.
MacBook Supplies Tightening at Third-Party Retailers Ahead of Potential Refresh
MacBooks have been running out of supply at resellers such as Amazon, J&R, and MacConnection. European distributors have also run out of MacBook supply and are not expecting future shipments. Apple’s MacBook Air supply is also decreasing, giving birth to rumours that their update may coincide with the release of Mac OS X Lion.
Apple’s white MacBooks are quite expensive and their hardware is outdated. So they may receive newer processors and Thunderbolt technologies, or Apple could simply reduce price. Some analysts suggest that the second variant is more preferable for Apple. Cutting price Apple will make MacBooks more valuable for students. So, the new MacBook could be priced closer to Apple’s entry-level Mac Mini.
Apple will offer free iPhone 3GS with 2-year mobile contract
Mike Abramsky, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets, expects that Apple might offer the iPhone 3GS for free with 2-year contract after the iPhone 5 launch; that step will obviously attract mid-market buyers.
"While a $49 iPhone is already available (AT&T), psychologically a $0 iPhone provides a compelling offer," Abramsky wrote in a note to investors. "Proprietary survey data... suggests 14% are very/somewhat likely to buy the iPhone 3GS for free with 2-year contract, exceeding buying interest for the iPad (13%) and original iPhone (9%)."
Abramsky suggest that free iPhone 3GS will increase iPhone numbers to more than 150 million smartphones. That will be unusual for Apple, because the company always discontinues its two-year-old smartphones. For example, after launch of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, first released in 2009, was dropped to $99, and the iPhone 3G was discontinued. Noteworthy to say that despite the fact that the iPhone 3GS was first released in 2009, it will be compatible with the iOS 5.
Apple Reportedly Planning Significant Boost in iPad 2 Shipments for 3Q 2011

DigiTimes reports that Apple is planning to increase significantly the iPad 2 shipments for the third quarter of this year. The company is going to ship about 12-14 million devices over that period. These numbers are obviously larger than the 7-9 million units reportedly shipped during the previous quarter.
In order to significantly increase its shipments in the third quarter, Apple has been piling up its inventory of iPad 2 components such as panels in the second quarter to minimize the risk of facing component shortages.
Now it is quite difficult to forecast the iPad’s shipments due to production constraints and the transition from the original iPad to the iPad 2. Moreover, Apple didn’t come up with forecasts of some analysts suggesting that Apple's total 2011 iPad could reach 40 million units and sold in the first quarter only 4.69 million units, though, these numbers include a few initial weeks of official iPad 2 sales.

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