Ed Sutherland - page 44

Add India to the list of countries Apple possibly is targeting with a much-discussed, often-predicted, but as-yet under-wraps CDMA iPhone. Two Indian mobile carriers reportedly are in talks with the Cupertino, Calif. company to bring the popular handset to the fastest-growing wireless market.

The two carriers – Reliance Communications Ltd. and Tata Teleservices Ltd. – would join the two mobile providers currently selling the iPhone in India: Bharti AirTel Ltd. and Vodafone Essar Ltd. The Wall Street Journal mentioned no timetable for Apple introducing a CDMA iPhone into the market.

We start off another week with three deals in out daily spotlight: PopCap Games is discounting their App Store games to $1. Titles include “Peggle,” “Bookworm,” and “Chuzzle.” Also on tap is Chain Link Pro for the iPhone or iPod touch. This touch-and-drag game usually costs $2 at the App Store, but is marked down to free for just today. Finally, if you have a boatload of files that need to be organized, you may have wished for some big mean folder machine to do the job. Well, as it happens, someone created such a tool – “The Big Mean Folder Machine 2” is just $8 from MacUpdate.com – a $12 discount.

Along the way, we also look at other gadgets that caught our eye. As always, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

We close out another week with three highlighted deals. The first up is Yahtzee HD for the iPad. This classic board game comes to Apple’s best-selling tablet for just $1.99 – a $3 price drop. Next up is a leather case for your iPad from Zoogue. The item includes a suede interior, adjustable stand and an elastic car headrest attachment. We end the features with the latest crop of price drops from the App Store, including “Wheel of Fortune” for just $1.

Along the way, we also check out other apps for your iPhone or iPod, hardware such as a hands-free headset and other items. As usual, details on everything is available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

It’s becoming a familiar storyline: exclusive agreements to sell Apple’s popular iPhone are being threatened as more carriers want in on a good thing. In the U.S., the question has been who will join AT&T to offer the iPhone. In Asia, China Telecom is the latest name mentioned to join Apple’s current exclusive carrier, China Unicom. A report now cites a Deutsche Bank analyst claiming China Unicom’s exclusive iPhone arrangement could “likely come to an end early next year.”

Although China Telecom execs refused to confirm they’d begin selling a CDMA iPhone, “our own channel checks suggest that the company has been in intensive talks with chipset supplier Qualcomm and Apple,” according to the analyst’s report. China is often mentioned as a potential recipient of any CDMA iPhone. Additionally, China Telecom and Verizon both use the CDMA and EV-DO standard.

When you think of Apple’s string of successful product launches, the word “underperform” doesn’t immediately enter your vocabulary. However, one Wall Street analyst believes the Cupertino, Calif. company has plenty of room for growth. The iPhone maker’s stock has risen 37 percent in 2010, but is a far cry from the 75 percent earnings consensus from consumers. In fact, the Oppenheimer analyst expects Apple will report Oct. 18 a “blowout” quarter and sales of at least 12 million iPhones.

“The prime factor behind the underperformance of the stock relative to the fundamentals seem to be investor concern about Apple’s size,” Yair Reiner told investors Friday. “Bottom line, as big as Apple is today, it seems destined to get much bigger,” he adds. On that note, Oppenheimer raised its 12-to-18-month price target for Apple stock to $345 on expectations of $19.9 billion in revenue – up from previously forecast $18.5 billion.

Mention Nokia and the discussion turns to courtroom battles and two-way animosity between the Finnish cell phone giant and Apple. However, in a bit of refreshing candor, a French Nokia executive recently told an audience: “Apple is a must-have in US and EU.”

Nokia’s Cedric Thomas told the gathering of media content developers at MIPCOM that while Nokia is still a key player in Asia and Europe, Apple dominates the app landscape in the United States and the EU. Indeed, a recent survey found the share of iOS-based devices in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain grew 5.3 percent compared to a year ago, while Nokia’s Symbian platform dropped 14.4 percent over the same period. While Thomas, who heads Nokia’s Ovi marketplace in France, touted news that the company’s store now has 2.5 million downloads per day, the number pales in comparison to the 16.6 million apps downloaded each day from Apple’s App Store.

Today’s your day if you are looking for a jacket or case for your mobile Mac. We have deals on real (and fake) leather jackets for your iPad and iPhone, as well as a transparent stand for your iPhone 4. Along the way, we also have chargers, cables and screen protectors.

As always, details on these and many more items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

If you thought the original iPad had legs, wait until a much-discussed mini iPad appears. A 7-inch version of the popular tablet device could sell 45 million copies, according to Asian component sources talking to one analyst. That is far higher than other forecasts of around 4.5 million to 4.7 million of the original 9.7-inch units.

That message from Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White was largely lost in the whirlwind of commentary surrounding Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal report that Apple was indeed preparing a CDMA iPhone for Verizon. White, touring China, talked with his component sources there about the iPad’s future. One Asian source tells the analyst it plans to ship 13 million iPad components during the second half of 2010.

Apple received more good news from Wall Street, ahead of its expected Oct. 18 quarterly financial report. J.P. Morgan Thursday raised its revenue estimate for the fourth quarter to $18.71 billion, up from $18.13 billion. Despite Apple’s overwhelming success with the iPhone and iPad, the Cupertino, Calif. company has”plenty of growth” left, analyst Mark Moskowitz assured investors.

Indeed, Apple could earn $81.53 billion for fiscal 2011, up from Moskowitz’ previously estimated $78.84 billion. The increasing talk of a CDMA iPhone could add up to $2 per share next year, he estimated. The analyst expects Apple will introduce a CDMA iPhone for Verizon in early 2011 with a version aimed at China by mid-2011.

We start the day with a deal on an 8-Core Mac Pro Xeon Workstation. The model is powered by 2.4GHz processors and includes 16GB of memory for $3,879. Also, there is a deal on an iPhone 4Superleggera case from Acase with two screen protectors. The final deal in today’s spotlight is an iP9 Clock radio for the iPhone or iPod.

Along the way, we’ll also check out other hardware and software deals for the iPhone, iPod or Mac. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Apple is known for its tight control of the message, so the announcement that Apple will release its fourth-quarter financial results has the media in high anticipation. With a company threatening to knock energy giant Exxon off the S&P 500 leaderboard, potential questions are not hard to find.

The iPad is heralded as the “fastest selling electronic device in history” and the Cupertino, Calif. company sold 100,000 iPhone 4s in the first four days in China. Little wonder then that analysts like BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman keeps raising forecasts for the September quarter. Wednesday, Bachman forecast 11.5 million handsets were sold in September, up from his previously-expected 10.4 million. However, that increase may be too tepid. Apple could sell more than 12 million iPhones in the three-month period, the analyst suggests.

Although Apple had little to say in the midst of the so-called ‘Antennagate‘ hoopla, the frenzy of reports of signal trouble and the company’s response will likely be a subject when the firm’s executives face the media. How much did the problem hurt Apple?

For some time we’ve heard talk that T-Mobile in Germany would get the iPhone 3GS, ending that nation’s exclusivity for Apple’s popular handset. Now comes word that Vodafone will launch the iPhone 4 in Germany on October 28. The report from a German Mac site said the carrier will begin airing ads for the iPhone 4 on Oct. 18.

We have also independently confirmed the report with a T-Mobile employee in Germany. Although the Vodafone iPhone 4 is expected to be locked to the second-place carrier, O2 is also believed to be preparing to sell an unlocked version in Germany soon, according to the report. Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent, has 37 million German customers. Vodafone has 34.9 million subscribers and O2 has 16.3 million members.

Readers should rightly file the following tidbit under “highly-speculative”: a rumor site suggests this morning Apple is looking to hire a blogger. The Cupertino, Calif. company supposedly met publicly with a mobile editor for Tech Crunch, now owned by AOL. A tipster thought he saw the usually-secretive Apple PR team hand the blogger what was described as “an offer packet.”

Before someone takes the report hook, line and sinker, there are caution flags waving and warning sirens blaring. For starters, there was the Keystone Cops incident over the lost (or stolen?) iPhone 4 prototype. Remember how Gizmodo’s possession and eventual return of the device triggered a police investigation amid Apple’s claims the handset was stolen? Remember how Apple sued (then settled) with the blogger behind thinksecret.com over unauthorized leaks?

Still, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has almost become a regular contributor to some blogs, firing off short missives on products and services. Other mobile companies, such as Nokia and Orange, have also hired professional bloggers to tout their brands. However, doesn’t Apple already have a wide array of bloggers commenting on every major (as well as minor) announcements impacting the company and its millions of customers?

[via: Gawker, 9to5]

We start off with a faux-leather case for your iPad. Features a screen protector, access to all functions, magnetic closure and more for $13.50. Next is a refurbished 16GB iPhone 4 for $149. We wrap up our featured deals with a two-year warranty on the iPad. This extended warranty covers drops and spills.

Along the way, we check out a number of cases for your iPhone, as well as other add-ons for your iPod. As always, details on these and many other items can be found on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Computer component supplier SinTek Photronics wants no part of a rumor it is involved in building a touchscreen iMac. The denial follows a recent report the company was sampling capacitive touch panels for the supposed Apple device. The denial follows a report by a Taiwanese industry publication claiming the new desktop unit would offer touchscreens of 20 inches and more.

Earlier this month, the publication said SinTek had “a good chance” of supplying the new iMac.

Here’s a land deal almost anyone would envy: swap your one-acre North Carolina homestead for $1.7 million. That’s the price Apple reportedly paid to relocate Donnie and Kathy Fulbright’s home away from the Cupertino, Calif. company’s $1 billion data center. The real estate transaction was like the proverbial blank check. “They told us to put a price on it and we did,” Kathy Fulbright said.

To put the numbers in perspective, the Fulbright’s paid just $6,000 for the one acre 30 years ago and Apple likely paid as little as $35,000 per acre for other land needed for the data center. Apple says it plans to begin using the center by year’s end. However, as Apple’s iEmpire stretches its present resources, the arrangement may have purchased more peace-of-mind.

We start off another week of deals with a blast from the past: a 1.26GHz G4 iBook with 12-inch screen and software for $250. Next is a Kensington Battery Pack and charger for your iPhone or iPod. This unit includes a dock connector and flip-out USB tip. Finally, to help keep your private personal information secure, there is a deal on “Hands Off!”, personal information security monitoring software from MacUpdate.com for just $12.50.

We’ll also take a look at other items, along the way. As always, details on these and many other gadgets can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Could Apple displace Exxon on the top of the Standard and Poor’s 500? That’s the opinion of one analyst who believes the Cupertino, Calif. company may overtake history’s largest corporation in terms of market capitalization as soon as October 18, when it reports earnings.

Unless Exxon shares rise, Apple will likely gain 12 percent to make up the $60 billion difference, according to Brian Marshall, analyst with Gleacher & Company. The move will mark only the second time a tech company takes first place on the S&P 500. Microsoft, which briefly held the top spot in the 1990s before falling to second place on the S&P, was overtaken by Apple in May.

While Target may be the latest brick-and-mortar retailer to begin selling the iPad, now comes word giant online retailer Amazon is also stocking the popular tablet device. Amazon, which also makes the rival Kindle e-reader, until recently offered customers Apple’s latest product via third-parties.

According to the Seattle-based company’s website, Amazon directly ships and sells the 32GB and 64GB Wi-Fi versions. The move was made unannounced, except for various online news sites, such as 9 to 5 Mac, which picked-up on the change.

How much can being a control freak cost Apple’s iAd program? In the case of Adidas, the price reportedly was $10 million. That’s the figure one publication this weekend reported the Cupertino, Calif. company lost because “Apple CEO Steve Jobs was being too much of a control freak.”

According to Silicon Alley Insider, Apple rejected three advertising concepts proposed by the sporting goods maker, causing the iAds campaign to hit the showers. “Advertisers complain about the lack of control over visibility into where their ads appear, lack of third-party ad serving tools, and other issues,” the report said. Although Apple plans to open up the process in the future, “some advertisers have lost their patience.”

We close out another week of deals with bargains for about everyone. There is a used 13-inch MacBook running a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo processor for $460, a crystal jelly skin case for your iPad for just $4, and James Cameron’s “Avatar” comes to the nearest iPhone or iPod touch.

Along the way, as Apple gets set to shutter its free case program, we offer a bevy of options for your iPhone. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

At first glance, offering an open-source mobile operating system like Android, wouldn’t be a major profit center for Google. However, one analyst Friday offered multiple ways Android could even further enrich the Mountain View, Calif. firm’s coffers, including become its own ‘virtual telco’ for smartphone owners.

Google gains $500 million per year because Android offers hardware makers and carriers an attractive alternative to payments to Apple for the iPhone, according to Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell. In addition, although Apple leads the mobile apps market and is increasing its share of the mobile advertising pie, Google collects 30 percent of apps sold through its Android market and 40 percent from in-app advertising via AdMob.

Perhaps most intriguing, however, was the potential for Android to turn Google Voice combined with Google’s stake in Clearwire into what Mitchell calls a “virtual telco.”

“Google could use Android to evolve into a virtual telco, providing a single contact number and populating its Internet-based calling services,” the analyst told investors.

There is a downside for Google, however. The analyst foresees slow growth of search in Europe and Apple’s continued domination of the mobile Internet.

[Fortune]

New details emerged Friday on Apple’s apparent plans to offer a touchscreen iMac. The Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly is testing samples of capacitive touch panels for a lighter and thinner desktop model with at least a 20-inch screen. The report that Apple is still considering touch panel designs may indicate a new iMac will not appear before 2011.

“The new iMac is rumored to have a good vertical and horizontal viewing angle, and its projected capacitive touch panel will adopt a one-glass solution, which integrates the touch sensor and cover glass, to reduce thickness and weight,” according to Taiwan-based industry publication DigiTimes. Apple’s tests involve samples from Sintek Photronics, which the report suggests “has a good chance” of becoming the supplier for the new iMac models.

We start a rainy day of deals on the U.S. East Coast with a hardware bargains, some blasts from the past and the latest crop of free applications for your iPhone. First up is 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini server for $750. Next are several older Macs, including a 450MHz PowerMac G4 and monitor for $100. We wrap up the spotlight with the latest batch of iPhone app freebies, including “GalaFire 3D.”

Along the way, we’ll check out other apps for your iPhone or iPod touch and also take a look at hardware, such as a solar charger for your iPhone. As always, details on these and many more items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

Oh, what a difference a new handset and some heavy-duty subsidies make. China Unicom has sold 100,000 iPhone 4s in the first four days of availability, up drastically from the tepid 5,000 iPhone 3G customers when Apple first entered the market in 2009.

According to China’s People’s Daily, China Unicom sold 40,000 iPhone 4s on the first day with 200,000 preorders filed with Apple’s current exclusive provider in the Asian giant. The 100,000 customers who preordered Apple’s latest handset and have yet to receive iPhones will get units by the end of next month, according to the carrier.