Ed Sutherland - page 29

Estimated growth of PC sales in 2011 were cut in half while demand for tablets increase, prompting one Wall Street analyst to tell investors Tuesday Apple’s iPad has ‘usurped’ a portion of PC sales.

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore trimmed his PC sales forecast to 4 percent growth, down from the 9 percent growth previously expected. Meanwhile, he expects 2011 tablet sales to increase to 45 million units, up from his previously expected 40 million. The analyst believes Apple will sell 35 million of the 45 million tablets.

We start another week of deals with an assortment of bargains, ranging from accessories for your iPad, software for your Mac and add-ons for whatever device you use. First up is the PadShell, a polycarbonate case with a matt-finish screen protector. Next is a Powerline USB adapter from Belkin that uses your home’s internal wiring as a network via the Powerline protocol.

Along the way, we’ll also check out a number of other items, details of which are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

The new MacBook Air is set to come a reliable $2.2 billion revenue stream for Apple as strong demand for the lightweight laptop continues. The Cupertino, Calif. company shipped 420,000 of the laptops in the fourth quarter of 2010, amounting to a 333 percent year-over-year growth – three times the MacBook Air’s previous quarter high-mark.

After borrowing many features from the iPad – such as its light weight and instant-on capability – one analyst Monday termed the MacBook Air a “quasi-tablet.”

The iPad is Apple’s strongest answer to the Android platform. That’s the word from a firm looking over the web analytics results of some 4 million online users. Although the Google platform has a sharp lead over the iPhone 4, “iPad is outgrowing the entire Android ecosystem so significantly [that] it more than makes up for the iPhone deficiency plus some,” a search engine expert reports.

As for Android’s lead over the iPhone, it is slight and requires the full resources of the Google mobile operating system – both smartphones and tablets – to pull ahead of just one Apple iOS product. “Android has never come close to passing iOS as a whole,” according to Jeff Trimble of ROI365.

We close out another week with three hardware deals in the spotlight. First up is a number of unibody MacBook Pro machines from the Apple Store, starting at $929 for a 2.4GHz 13.3-inch model. Next is a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with 13.3-inch screen for just $500. Finally, another round of Mac minis, starting at $599 for a 2.4GHz version. All are April Fool’s-free deals.

Along the way, we check out an eMac G4 PowerPC desktop for $100, a 2GB iPod shuffle for $34 and a leather case for your iPad. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Soon, Little Rock, Ark. may be known for more than being the site of former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s library. Reportedly, Apple may open its first store in the city of 190,000 this October. Before you get your bags packed for the ribbon-cutting, be aware there’s been similar chatter since 2007.

However, a blog that tracks Apple’s retail moves reports the Cupertino, Calif. company has signed a lease in the Chenal Mall. If the report bears out, the addition could remove a gaping hole in what is described as a ‘black-out zone’ for Apple retail locations. The zone stretches from the Gulf to southern Missouri.

How successful might an iPhone 5 be on Verizon’s LTE, or 4G, network? Although the new handset with support for the faster technology isn’t expected until late this year, we can get a glimpse via Verizon’s recently-introduced Android-based Thunderbolt from HTC. Nearly a third of Verizon stores report the Thunderbolt is outselling the iPhone.

While 61 percent of the 150 Verizon stores polled by BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said both the iPhone and the two-week-old Thunderbolt are selling equally well, 28 percent of the locations report more customers are asking for the Android-based smartphone. Just 11 percent said the iPhone is preferred.

Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci becomes the latest head of a PC company to exit after fighting a losing battle to topple Apple’s domination of the tablet market. Apple’s successful iPad and other products is seen as the “key reason” why Lanci left.

Executives at Motorola, Toshiba, Sony, Lenova and Asustek Computer reportedly could also be dethroned, according to an industry publication, citing unnamed sources. “First-tier smartphone and PC brands are still unable to find an effective strategy to counter Apple’s advance,” the Taiwan-based DigiTimes writes.

We start off the day with two iPad-related deals. First is a 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad for just $529. Next is a 2.4GHz MacBook with for $919. We wrap-up the spotlight with a Luxury iPad convertible flip case for just $7.

Speaking of iPad cases, there are a number today. We also check out some iPhone accessories. As always, details on these and many more items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

If you are wondering just how briskly the iPad 2 is selling, you don’t have to wait until Apple announces official sales figures – just ask the online auction site eBay. Thursday morning, the service announced just under 12,000 of the new generation tablets were sold in the two weeks between the start of U.S. sales and the recent launch in 25 additional countries.

Among the interesting figures, a majority (65 percent) of iPad 2s sold through eBay went to domestic customers, nearly double the 35 percent for the original iPad in 2010. Canada and Russia topped the list of international destinations for the iPad 2. Intriguingly, Russian demand for the iPad 2 is much higher than for the first tablet, according to eBay.

Apple appears to be doing its part to revive the U.S. economy. Taiwan-based chipmaker Samsung reportedly will hired 300 new technicians in its Austin, Tex. plant to fill a growing number of orders for the iPad 2. Meanwhile, the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant is paying a little-known company three to four times the going price for LCD screens destined for the new tablet.

Samsung Austin Semiconductor plans to hire 300 more engineers, with most of the plant’s chip production reportedly going to Apple. The new workers follow more than 600 hired in 2010, brining the plant’s total payroll to around 1,700. Although rumor suggested Apple may have used its own A5 chip in the iPad 2, closer x-ray examination found Samsung still powering the next-generation device. Apple is expected to spend $7.8 billion with Samsung this year, purchasing processors, flash memory and LCDs.

We start out another day of dealing with an offer on a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini. The desktop unit is $599. Also in the spotlight is a deal on a Harman Kardon speaker system for the iPod – just $169.95. Finally, Monkey Island returns as a free item from MacUpdate.com.

Along the way, we’ll also check into more cases for your iPod, as well as charger cases for the iPhone 4. As always, details on these and many other item can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Word that Apple may not release the iPhone 5 as early as expected prompted some observers to talk of a “delay.” Naturally, Wall Street’s sensitive rumor tripwire went into action, the result the start of analysts downgrading estimates for the iPhone.

Piper Jeffries’ Peter Misek Wednesday morning shaved four percent from his fiscal year 2011 revenue projection, telling investors he expects the Cupertino, Calif. company to rake in $103 billion, rather than his previously estimated $106.9 billion. The fiscal year ends September. More dramatic is the analyst’s double-digit refiguring of iPhone shipments.

For months we’ve been reporting that iPad sales are eroding demand for traditional PCs, such as netbooks. Little wonder then top executives have begun sniping at Apple as inflexible and only for consumers with oodles of cash. The most vocal sour grapes come from the sales and marketing heads at HP and Dell.

“I can say that it really feels like they’re [Apple] holding you hostage sometimes,” said Stephen DeWitt, senior vice president of HP’s Americas Solution Partners, talking in an interview about the difference between how the PC maker and the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant work.

We start the day with three hardware deals. First is a number of MacBook Air laptops from the Apple Store, starting at $849 for a 1.4GHz 64GB SSD unit. Next is a MacBook Pro powered by a 2.53GHz Core i5 processor. The Expercom bundle also includes three years of AppleCare – all for $2,387. Finally, we’ve offered many iPod touch devices, but this is the first in memory that includes the Insignia GPS navigation system with 4.3-inch screen.

Along the way, we’ll also check out cases for your iPad, docks for your iPhone and LED Cinema Displays for your Mac. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

First, Amazon beat Apple and Google to the punch, announcing a cloud-based music locker. Now the Internet retailer says owners of its Kindle e-reader – which competes against the iPad – can avoid the New York Times’ newly-erected Paywall.

Subscribers to the Kindle version of the NYT will get free access to the newspaper’s online articles, avoiding paying a subscription requirement that went into effect Tuesday. Web users are able to read up to 20 articles each month free, afterwards paying either $15, $25 or $35 every four weeks.

Just days after Finnish cell phone giant Nokia was rebuffed by the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Finnish company is back with another patent-infringement complaint against Apple. Tuesday Nokia filed suit charging the Cupertino, Calif.’s devices – including the iPad, iPhone and iPad – violated seven patents.

Although not offering specific patents, Nokia claims they cover technology used for multi-tasking, data synchronization, call quality, positioning and Bluetooth. “Our latest ITC filing means we now have 46 Nokia patents in suit against Apple, many filed more than 10 years before Apple made its first iPhone,” charges Nokia’s Paul Melin, vice president of intellectual property.

Google’s Android operating system is expected to lead a growing smartphone market, increasing its No. 1 position to just under 50 percent by 2015, according to one analysis released Tuesday. Apple is in third-place, its iOS commanding just 15.7 percent of smartphones. Potentially more troubling, the IDC report shows Apple’s growth by 2015 relatively flat, falling to 15.3 percent in four years.

As the smartphone market takes 49.2 percent of the mobile handset market, Nokia’s Symbian will suffer. The cell phone giant’s smartphone market share will fall from this year’s fourth-place 20.9 percent, to 0.2 percent by 2015, according to the researchers.

We start off another week with another deal on the MacBook Air from Apple. This offer lasts until 4:30pm ET today and includes a 1.4GHz MacBook Air with a 12-inch screen for $850. Next is a way to convert all of that vinyl sitting around into digital tunes for your iPod. The Ion ISB Vinyl Turntable is just $59. We round out our spotlight deals with a small USB hard drive with hefty storage – 1TB.

Along the way, we check out FM transmitters for your iPhone, along with storage and other gadgets of interest to the iPod, iPad or iPhone owner. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Tablet manufacturers looking to compete against Apple’s iPad see small as their biggest opportunity. That’s the upshot of a Monday report indicating 7-inch tablets have more room on shelves as the Cupertino, Calif. company dismisses such tablets as unusable.

“Korea-based Samsung Electronics’ 7-inch Galaxy Tab and ViewSonic’s 7-inch ViewPad are both generating stronger sales than their 10.1-inch models,” a Taiwan-based industry publication writes. While the 10.1-inch versions offer greater expandability for such things as keyboards, sales are described as “not as stable” as the smaller 7-inch tablets.

Hey! You! Get off of my cloud! Okay, those may not be their words, but Amazon reportedly may make some announcement about a cloud-based storage service this week. If true, the online retail giant could beat Apple and Google to the punch.

Amazon is talking about a so-called ‘digital locker’ to Hollywood and music moguls, which could store music, movies and ebooks, according to one report. Although there is no word how receptive the execs are to such a plan, it may be further than Apple. The Cupertino, Calif. company is said to have gotten an earful from music heads that don’t agree on streaming fees. The labels want fees for every stream, no matter if it comes from an iTunes purchase or an already-owned CD.

We close out another week with three hardware deals in the spotlight. First up is a 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad for $529. Next is a number of Mac mini desktop machines, starting at $599 for a 2.4GHz Core 2 model. Finally, there is a 1.4GHz 12-inch MacBook Air for $930.

Along the way, we’ll also check out more MacBook Pros, a MacBook Dual Core, as well as a Mac Pro Xeon workstation. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Google has closed its new ‘open’ Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ software to outsiders, explaining it doesn’t want the mobile OS designed for tablets on smartphones. “We have no idea if it will even work on phones,” Google’s Andy Rubin tells BusinessWeek.

While Google is often seen as the direct rival to Apple’s iPad 2, the new Android software will also compete with RIM’s PlayBook and HP’s webOS. Honeycomb is already part of Motorola’s Xoom and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. Rubin says Android 3 will be closed to outside developers for “the foreseeable future.”

Calm your fears about whether the disaster in Japan could also strike your long-awaited iPad 2. If anything, the impact on iPad 2 supplies has been only “modest,” according to one high-profile Apple analyst. Concerns expressed earlier now seem to be resolved.

“We believe the most critical suppliers are back up and running following the earthquake and the impact to supply will be modest,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told investors Friday. Deliveries of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 could be slowed by one or two weeks, he writes.

Yet more signs Apple wants to be in your TV. The Cupertino, Calif. tech giant is building a “Smart TV prototype,” an analyst told investors Friday, citing Asian suppliers. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported Apple is talking with TV manufacturers about embedding technology enabling mobile devices to stream video content to televisions.

A Smart TV would give Apple another product category worth $4 billion for each percent of the TV market the iPad-maker and its partners captured, writes Morgan Stanley analyst Kat Huberty. A Pioneer executive was quoted Thursday describing Apple’s entry into the market “a blessing for an industry trying to move the needle forward on sales.”