Ed Sutherland - page 36

We start off the day with two deals from the iPhone App Store. First is a number of free applications, including “Taxi Check,” a new way to check prices on taxi rides. Next is a new crop of price cuts on iPhone apps, including “I Just Forgot,” a Little Critter children’s book. We round out today’s spotlight with a deal on Apple’s Remote Desktop 2 software – just $70.

Along the way, we’ll also check out some Xserve servers and some Adobe Photoshop software utilities for your Mac. As usual, you can find details at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Although much of Apple’s public exposure is in the U.S. and Western Europe, Asia – particularly China – has recently grown in prominence. Indeed, Tuesday, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said the tech giant earned $2.6 billion in China during the last financial quarter.

The figure encompassing mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan is a four-times increase from just a year ago and almost what the tech giant earned in the area for the entire fiscal 2010.

In the early days of the browser wars, Microsoft CEO and co-founder Bill Gates infamously is credited with instructing executives to ‘cut-off the breathing’ of upstart Netscape. Could long-time rival Apple be following Microsoft’s advice when it comes to another nascent computing technology, tablets? After slamming Android-based tablets as “bizarre” and their second-generation as vaporware, Apple quietly signed a $3.9 billion deal to ensure a smooth flow of components to its products.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, filling in for CEO Steve Jobs while on medical leave, described a 2005 $1 billion deal to ensure flash memory for its iPods, iPhones and other memory-intensive devices, as “an absolutely fantastic use” of its growing cash bankroll. The Cupertino, Calif. company has been criticized for letting $59.7 billion in cash accumulate without either making investments or rewarding investors with stock dividends. Tuesday, Cook said Apple had made another deal with suppliers of unspecified strategic components.

We start the day with a new batch of free applications from the iPhone App Store. The new crop includes “Cockpit Recorder.” Also on tap is a pack of five screen protectors for your iPad, as well as a deal on the OEM version of Mac OSX 10.6.

Along the way, we’ll also check out some deals on iPhone 4 cases, iPad accessories and gadgets for your iPod. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

With many expecting Apple to unveil gangbuster numbers for its first quarter of 2011, analysts early today were busy raising earlier predictions. One observer increased both Apple’s expected earnings to above $24 billion, with 16 million iPhone and 7 million iPads sold.

JP Morgan’s Mark Moskowitz writes Apple could “beat our above-consensus revenue and earnings-per-share estimates of $24.778 billion and $5.38.” Many Wall Street experts had predicted the Cupertino, Calif. company would earn $24.226 billion for the first financial quarter of 2011.

If there was a financial cable show about hoarders, Apple could be the subject. Or, at least that’s how a growing number of large investors view the Cupertino, Calif. company’s decision to amass a mountain of cash without issuing dividends. One portfolio manager likens the inaction to getting a cash advance on your 11 percent credit card and squirreling it away in a savings account earning 0.75 percent annually.

“Who would ever do this in their personal lives?” a Delaware portfolio manager asked the Wall Street Journal. With a pile of cash surpassing the GDP of two-thirds of the world’s nations, Apple’s decision to not issue investor dividends “has been beyond the point of being rational for a while now,” one analyst says,

We start another week of deals with some bargains for your iPhone, your Mac and your iPod. First up is the latest batch of price cuts on select applications from the iTunes App Store, including “SpinArt.” Next is a number of unibody MacBook Pro laptops from the Apple Store, starting at $1,019 for a 2.4GHz model. We wrap up the deal spotlight with a heavy discount on some iPod touch cases.

Along the way, we’ll also check out some cases for your iPad, a charger for your iPhone and a 27-inch LED Cinema Display for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook is becoming accustom to the role of understudy for CEO Steve Jobs. First in 2004, while Jobs recovered from pancreatic cancer surgery, then in 2009 for six months while Jobs had a liver transplant, and now while his boss takes a medical leave for unspecified reasons.

Little wonder Cook is seen as the top choice to lead Apple, should Jobs’ temporary leave become permanent. “I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the plans we have in place for 2011,” Jobs said earlier today. But will the transition be as smooth as Jobs’ hopes – or will Cook be snapped up by GM, HP, or others?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ Monday morning announcement he is taking a medical leave of absence couldn’t come at a worse time. As in 2009, when Jobs underwent a liver transplant just prior to CES, this episode comes just days before the tech giant announces what many presume will be another gangbuster financial report Wednesday.

As a result of both Jobs’ cryptic announcement and Apple’s legendary tight-lipped PR, investors and observers are left parsing this morning’s short statement. “I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can,” Jobs said. However, some take the words as possibly the Apple leader’s swan song.

We wrap-up another week of deals with a new crop of iPhone App freebies, as well as reduced prices on some iPhone applications. Also in today’s spotlight is several iPads on sale, some $100 below the usual price.

Along the way, we’ll also take a look at some cases for your iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G/3GS, as well as several bargains on Mac software. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Apple announced Friday it will reveal its financial report for the first fiscal quarter of 2011 Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern. The conference will likely include some gangbuster numbers, including what was behind a reported 23 percent jump in Mac yearly sales. This at a time when PC demand was off 6.6 percent.

Mac sales, boosted by the introduction of a revamped MacBook Air, is just the lead story in a series of likely wins for the Cupertino, Calif. company. Analysts also predict 2010 was a good year for the iPhone. Thursday, analyst Maynard Um of UBS Securities projected iPhone sales of 15.6 million handsets, up from previous expectations if 14.1 million units.

With dozens of possible tablets rushing to market in the wake of Apple’s iPad success, suppliers reportedly are straining under the pressure. Tablet shipments will more than triple to 57.6 million this year, with the iPad comprising 70.4 percent of that.

As a result, suppliers are “forced to gamble production capacity on the unrealistically high projections of their tablet customers,” one tablet display executive warns. The gamble means we may see either shortages or excesses in 2011.

Qualcomm, maker of most CDMA chips in cell phones, may gain $12 million annually from Apple’s recent announcement of an iPhone for the Verizon Wireless network. Earlier this week, the carrier said it will begin selling the handset Feb. 10.

The San Diego, Calif.-based chipmaker likely supplanted Intel’s Infineon chip used by iPhones available through AT&T, according to UBM TechInsights, a firm that “tears-down” handsets for analysis. For Qualcomm, its inclusion in the iconic handset is a “pretty big and important foot in the door,” a company executive told the Wall Street Journal.

Fueled by expected increase in iPad demand and expanded distribution of the iPhone, one analyst Thursday raised to $415 per share his target price for Apple stock, up from $365. UBS Securities’ Maynard Um became the latest analyst to up Apple’s target share price ahead of next week’s report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2011.

Um foresees Apple able to weather lower prices on its popular MacBook Air for $24.57 billion in quarterly revenue, higher than the $23 billion Wall Street consensus. The Cupertino, Calif. company will also be helped by the iPad and iPhone.

The era of AT&T iPhone exclusivity may be dismissed as a time full of dropped calls and dinosaur-like competitiveness, but the period marked dramatic change for the Cupertino, Calif. company. Once known for its Macs and iPods, Apple received nearly 40 percent of its 2010 revenue from iPhone sales, generating $45.6 billion, according to the company in September.

Analysts on average are predicting Apple will report next week selling 15.78 million handsets for the previous quarter, the last period Verizon iPhone sales won’t be included in the mix. And just which analysts are best at predicting iPhone sales? A new ranking of professional and amateur analysts was released, showing the am’s tend to score better than the pros.

We start the day with three deals for your iPhone. First up is a new crop of free iPhone applications from the App Store, including “Glow,” a catalog of wallpaper and backgrounds. Next is a new batch of price cuts on iPhone apps, including “Texting of the Bread,” a typing instructor. We wrap up our spotlight deals with an iPhone 4 bumper that also serves as a holster.

Along the way, we also check out some deals on the Xserve server, discounts on iPad cases, as well as deals for the iPod touch and Mac. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Much of the talk surrounding the impact of Verizon gaining the iPhone has centered on a potential loss by AT&T. However, a new theory is gaining a foothold that a Verizon iPhone could instead hurt Apple’s rival Google. Indeed, one analyst Wednesday goes so far as to predict Tuesday’s announcement will “suck the wind out of Android’s growth on Verizon.”

Here’s how the theory goes: although smartphones comprise a small segment of the overall cell phone market, they are a growing portion. Until now, feature phone owners looking to move to smartphones could either switch from Verizon to AT&T and get an iPhone, or stick with their carrier and buy one of the many Android phones flooding the airwaves. Now, yesterday’s announcement means Verizon customers can have their cake and eat it too – they can stay with their network and have an iPhone.

Following Tuesday’s long-predicted announcement of a Verizon CDMA iPhone, one analyst sees Apple stock rising to $450 per share, up from a previous target price of $365. Peter Misek of Jeffreries & Co. seems to base his Wednesday note to investors on a belief the Cupertino, Calif. is not done surprising consumers.

Misek predicts Apple will unveil an iPhone for Long Term Evolution networks (sometimes known as 4G) by October, a GSM-based iPhone 5 in June and a 4G-based iPad in late 2011. Also, the analyst describes “multiple products to assault the living room” and cloud-based services also appearing this year.

We start the day with deal for nearly the entire Apple family of products. First up is the latest batch of bargains from the iPhone App Store with a number of freebies, like the aerial combat game “Mortal Skies.” Next is one of two leather (or faux-leather) cases for the iPad. We wrap up the spotlight deals with a number of accessories for the sixth-generation iPod nano, including wristbands, screen-protectors and cases.

Along the way, we’ll also check out a solar charger for your iPhone, a two-year warranty for your iPad and software for your Mac. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Tuesday’s announcement Verizon will begin accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 4 only increases the pressure on Android, Apple’s biggest smartphone rival.

“This will put considerable pressure on Android which cannot be underestimated,” Shaw Wu, analyst at Kaufman Bros., wrote by e-mail. Although the announcement held little not already known, today’s announcement is “nonetheless big news as this doubles AAPL’s market opportunity here in the U.S.,” We added.

As people await details of a deal allowing Verizon to sell the iPhone, analysts are predicting whatever the announcement, it will all be bad news for AT&T. The current exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier, AT&T “is going to get demolished,” one Wall Street onlooker warns.

Gleacher and Co. analyst Brian Marshall, who expressed the dire warning to Reuters, is not a lone voice. Indeed, the move bringing the iPhone to Verizon could see AT&T lose more than 3 million contract customers – a loss not seen since AT&T Wireless merged with Cingular Wireless in 2004. Why the losses? Another analyst says it’s simple: iPhone envy.

We start off the week with three spotlight deals for the iPhone. First up is a new crop of discounted iPhone applications, including “Core,” an Apple-related news tracker. Next is an 8GB iPhone 3GS AT&T is offering for just $49. We wrap things up with a 93 percent discount on select iPhone 4 cases.

Along the way, we’ll also check out a deal on unibody MacBook Pros, starting at $1,019. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

How much could an iPhone sold through Verizon hurt the iPhone’s current exclusive U.S. carrier? AT&T could lose 6.5 million iPhone sales, one analyst told investors Monday. The Verizon announcement will likely mean AT&T will sell 11 million iPhones this year, instead of 17.5 million of Apple’s smartphone if the Verizon deal didn’t come to fruition.

Those figures, while dire, were deemed “conservative” by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

Apple is now matching AT&T’s $49 price for the iPhone 3GS, a move taken quietly ahead of Tuesday’s widely-expected announcement that the carrier’s rival, Verizon, will sell the a CDMA version of the iPhone.

When AT&T made the announcement it was cutting $50 off the 3GS (however, still requiring a two-year contract), it pointedly said Apple online and retail stores would continue to set its own price for the device.

If a Verizon iPhone is announced Tuesday, as a weekend Wall Street Journal report suggests, the move could mean 9 million to 12 million more customers for Apple. However, if the carrier is able to do more than attract existing iPhone owners to switch from AT&T, the Cupertino, Calif. company could gain twice that figure, analysts predict.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said AT&T sold 14.5 million iPhones in 2010, comprising 30 percent of iPhone sales. Verizon should add 5 percent to that figure, Munster said.