News from category ‘Official’

Ten years ago, on October 23rd, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod. This music player seems to be partly responsible for Apple’s comeback and success. It also paved Apple the way to the consumer electronics market. Macworld provides a nice story detailing how the iPod came to be:

Behind every successful product lies a problem in search of a solution. The inspirational problem, in the iPod’s case, involved the pitiful state of the young MP3 player market in the late 1990s.

Portable MP3 players had been around since the mid 1990s, but Apple found that every one on the market offered a lackluster user experience. Steve Jobs had a strong term for gadgets like that: “crap”. Everyone at Apple agreed.

Initial reaction to the iPod wasn’t favorable. Customers complained against lack of wireless and space. They called it “lame” and thought that the iPod would never start taking off. But time tells that all those critics were wrong. Now iPod line of  portable music players is one of the most popular worldwide. Ten years after the launch, the iPod has sold over 304 million units.

Investment bank UBS issued a note to investors where it suggested that Apple would sell about 42.5 million iPhones worldwide in this quarter. But they expect that international adoption of Apple's newest handset could be slow when compared to the U.S. This might be caused the fact that Siri, the 4S-exclusive voice-recognition feature, only supports English, French and German. So in the United States sales of iPhone 4S is likely to top 11.7 million in the upcoming quarter.

"If Apple is able to manufacture and sell the estimated 42.5 million units, earnings per share of the company's stock would drive an incremental $3.09 to the estimated $9.47 for the December quarter.”

Both AT&T and Verizon confirm that the iPhone 4S release slowed sales, causing the company to miss analysts' expectations for the last quarter of the 2011 fiscal year. But despite that fact the bank gives Apple a 12 month buy rating with a price target of $510.

We have already seen some teardowns and estimates of the cost of the new iPhone 4S by iFixit and Chipworks. Now iSuppli offers its teardown and some new facts.

In the case of the iPhone 4S, [IHS iSuppli analyst Andrew] Rassweiler estimates that the BOM cost ranges from $188 for the 16 gigabyte version of the iPhone 4S to $207 for the 32GB version and $245 for the 64GB version. Apple and its carrier partners sell the phones for $199, $299 and $399 respectively, typically with a two-year contract for wireless service that carriers use to subsidize the cost they pay Apple.

iSuppli didn’t find in the iPhone 4S a noise cancellation chip from Audience that was found in the iPhone 4. Such function may be implemented directly into A5 cheap that costs about $15. While iFixit found Toshiba flash memory in its iPhone 4S unit, IHS iSuppli expressed some surprise at finding Hynix memory in its unit. But as far as we know, Apple sources flash memory chips from different manufactures. They didn’t managed to find the manufacturer of the camera sensor, but estimated the cost of the camera module at $17.60.

Expecting the release of the Steve Jobs’ authorized biography that is set for release next Monday, its author Walter Isaacson was interview by a correspondent of CBS show 60 Minutes  where he revealed that Steve Jobs had regretted an early decision to delay surgery for his pancreatic cancer back in 2004.

"I've asked [Jobs why he didn't get an operation then] and he said, 'I didn't want my body to be opened...I didn't want to be violated in that way,'" Isaacson recalls. So he waited nine months, while his wife and others urged him to do it, before getting the operation, reveals Isaacson. Asked by [60 Minutes correspondent Steve] Kroft how such an intelligent man could make such a seemingly stupid decision, Isaacson replies, "I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking...we talked about this a lot," he tells Kroft. "He wanted to talk about it, how he regretted it....I think he felt he should have been operated on sooner."

Isaacson noted that Jobs receive cancer treatment after the surgery, telling people that he had been cured. As far as Isaacson knows, an earlier surgery would give Steve Jobs much better change or at least more time.

In October 2008, long before the iPad made its debut, then Apple CEO Steve Jobs said this:

There are some customers which we chose not to serve. We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that. But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve. And there’s a lot of them. We’ve seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody. So I think you can expect us to stick with that winning strategy and continue to try to add more and more value to those products in those customer bases we choose to serve.

But Apple finally launched a $500 computer - the iPad.  The least expensive model costs $499. But the iPad average selling price for the three calendar quarters of 2011 was $628 that is more than the average price of Windows PC. For the same period the iPhone ASP was $653.

These numbers prove that the average selling price for all three Apple’s most profitable categories – the Mac, the iPhone and the iPad – is higher than average selling price of Windows PC that sold at U.S. retail (for the first three quarters of 2011) for $491.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Chief Operating Officer Lee Jae-yong are said to have discussed their long-term component supply relationships during a two-hour meeting that took place earlier this week.

Lee Jae-yong, chief operating officer (COO) of Samsung Electronics said Wednesday he had discussed long-term parts cooperation arrangements with Apple Inc.'s chief Tim Cook.

The meeting took place Monday after Lee attended a memorial service for Steve Jobs, Apple's late co-founder, and as Samsung and Apple remain locked in fierce legal disputes to control the global smartphone and tablet computer markets.

Lee noted that the companies made agreement for 2012 and would like to prolong their cooperation for 2013-2014. Apple has been keen to make long-term supply agreements with component suppliers, sometimes prepaying billions of dollars in advance to secure massive supplies looking over several years and overcoming or better to say excelling its competitors.

On Tuesday Apple announced that it has $81.57 billion. As usual different Apple analysts and watchers try to guess and suggest what the company should do with its huge cash reserves. Now Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer oversees $9.815 billion in cash and cash equivalents, $16.137 billion in short-term marketable securities, and $55.618 billion in long-term marketable securities. Despite Apple huge cash reserve, the company invests its money very carefully.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook noted that “the cash wasn’t burning a hole in our pocket” and that the company “didn't want to do silly things”. In recent months Apple acquired several companies, intellectual property, invested in the supply chain and in new stores. Moreover, the two-thirds of Apple’s cash reserve are offshore.

“The U.S. government taxes U.S. businesses on income earned worldwide, but allows them to defer taxes on the money until it is brought back to the United States. As a result, American corporations like to keep the money abroad, particularly as they increase investment overseas,” Reuters explained.

Yesterday Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook reported that iPhone sales fell short of expectations at 17.07 million units in the fourth fiscal quarter. iPhone sales dropped by 2.4 million. Record iPhone sales for the current quarter would come in above the 20.34 million units set in the third fiscal quarter (second calendar quarter) of this year.

Decline in iPhone sales, as Cook noted, caused by various rumors related to the Apple’s smartphone, especially, when Apple missed its usual June introduction of new hardware. Most of the rumors were about a dramatically redesigned "iPhone 5" offering a larger but thinner design than the current iPhone. Such rumors were incorrect and Apple might still be working on the iPhone 5.

Yesterday Apple posted financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011 and the full fiscal year. The company posted record-breaking revenue of $28.27 billion and net quarterly profit of $6.62 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share. Gross margin was 40.3 percent. Apple now has $81.57 billion in cash and marketable securities.

For the 2011 fiscal year, Apple reported revenue of $108.25 billion and net profit of $25.92 billion, or $27.68 per diluted share. Gross margin for the year was 40.5 percent and Apple's yearly profit and revenue were company records with Apple reporting more than $100 billion in yearly revenue for the first time ever.

Apple shipped 4.89 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, sold 17.07 million iPhone, up 21 percent from the year-ago quarter, and the company also sold 6.62 million iPods during the quarter, representing 27 percent unit decline over the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 11.12 million iPads during the quarter, up 166 percent over the year-ago quarter. Apple also announced over 6 million copies of Lion had been downloaded through the Mac App Store since July 20th (when the operating system went on sale), with Mac users approaching 60 million worldwide.

In the first fiscal quarter of  2012 (the third calendar quarter) Apple expects to gain revenue of $37 billion.

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This weekend a memorial service for Steve Jobs was held at Stanford University's Memorial Church. A number of famous personalities attended the service as well as close friends and family members.

Steve Jobs’s widow Laurene Powell Jobs, sister Mona Simpson and three of his children spoke at the memorial service held for the Apple co-founder on Sunday, according to two people who attended…

Both people who attended described the service as incredibly moving and a fitting tribute to Mr. Jobs, who was known as a tech visionary, demanding boss and a fanatic for design. One person mentioned that many speakers cracked jokes about Mr. Jobs, who died on Oct. 5 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Jobs' private funeral was held two days after his death and an event for Apple employees will be held this Wednesday and will include temporary closure of Apple’s retail stores.

iLounge has tested the iPhone 4S battery life, comparing it with the iPhone 4, and found out several interesting facts. As Apple claims in the iPhone 4S official specifications, the new smartphone has improved talk time but worse standby time as compared to the iPhone 4.

For tests with 3G Data, Audio Playback, Video Playback, and Video Recording, the iPhone 4S came in under the iPhone 4's battery life. For Wi-Fi and FaceTime testing it to be similar to the iPhone 4, and on Cellular Calls, the iPhone 4S is slightly better. Both media playback and recording were advantage of the iPhone 4S, comparing with the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4S is recording much higher resolution video than the iPhone 4.

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Samsung made a next step in its battle with Apple and filed for a preliminary injunction against the iPhone 4S in Australia and Japan. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Japan filing that is also attempting to halt sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2, accuses Apple of infringements in technology and user interface patents. The patents apparently relate to “the display of a flight mode icon, the utilization of homescreen space, and an app store menu structure”. Samsung claims that in Australia Apple has infringed on patents related to wireless telecommunication standards.

A Samsung spokesperson said that the company is “now counterattacking Apple again”. Though, many believe that Samsung’s attack will certainly fail. Moreover, an Australian judge will unlikely consider patents Samsung using in the filing as enough for a preliminary injunction, because they are essential for the 3G telecommunications network. As for Japan filings, the situation here is not so obvious like in Australia. This means Samsung could seek injunctions on them and it would be up to Apple to contest their validity.

A new survey conducted among customers waiting in line at Apple Store to purchase the new iPhone 4S demonstrates that nearly three-quarters are upgrading from a previous version of the iPhone. Investment firm Piper Jaffray polled 550 people at Apple retail stores and found out that 73 percent of iPhone 4S buyers are upgrading from a previous version, compared with 77 percent for the iPhone 4 launch in 2010, 56 percent in 2009, and 38 percent in 2008.

The results of the survey also demonstrate that 19 percent of the first-day buyers preferred to purchase the new high-capacity 64GB iPhone 4S model, which costs $399, while the most part of customers (49%) chose 16GB iPhone 4S for $199 and 32% purchased 32GB iPhone 4S for $299. Last year numbers for the iPhone 4 were different: 54 percent customers preferred to buy 32GB model while 46 percent – 16GB model.

Analysts expect that Apple have sold between 2 million and 2.5 million iPhone 4S units over this launch weekend. If it is true, so that is a new record for Apple that beats the company's previous record of 1.7 million iPhone 4 units sold in 2010.

Today Apple has begun selling its new iPhone 4S in seven countries: US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Japan and Australia. The device is available in two colors (black, white) and three storage sizes (16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB).  As usual, lines have begun forming near Apple Stores worldwide and Apple Store employees were pulling overnight shifts to put up new displays and promo materials for the iPhone 4S launch.

The Japanese launch was hampered by registration slowdowns from Softbank, according to the Wall Street Journal:

The launch of the iPhone 4S in Japan was interrupted when Softbank – the main service provider for Apple products in the country—suffered a server glitch that temporarily suspended sales nationwide. A company spokesman said the servers were unable to process registration information.

Apple has already received more than one million pre-orders for the iPhone 4S. Analysts are predicting that weekend sales will exceed the iPhone 4 which were sold 1.7 million units its opening weekend. Estimates range from 2 million to 4 million.

As usual, iFixit conducted their standard teardown of Apple's latest gear, this time it was Apple’s next generation iPhone 4S. The device has largely the same design as the iPhone 4, but inside it is different. The new iPhone 4S has a slightly larger battery that improves battery capacity and offers extra hours of talk time, comparing with the iPhone 4.

Other new thing implemented in the iPhone 4S is the A5 chip that improves performance up to seven times, comparing with the iPhone 4. The A5 CPU has a marking of E4E4 with 512MB of RAM.   The teardown also revealed a new Qualcomm MDM6610 baseband chipset that is the slightly modified model of the “worldwide” MDM6600 Qualcomm baseband used in the CDMA iPhone 4 that, as you remember, has both CDMA and GSM modes, but works in only CDMA networks. The iPhone 4S is the true worldwide smartphone, which will allow both GSM and CDMA customers to roam on GSM networks worldwide

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