Ed Sutherland - page 62

We reach midweek with another round of Mac-related deals. First up is a number of bargains on Apple iPods, starting with a fourth-gen 8GB iPod nano for $99. We also check into a new batch of App Store freebies, including “BaseBrawl,” touted as a violent baseball game. The iTunes store has released another freebie: Juliet Venegas’ “Bien o Mal.”

Along the way, we check out some new apps for the iPad and iPhone, as well as some interesting hardware. Details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Current iPhone users will likely stay iPhone users, indicates new research released Wednesday. More than 9 in 10 iPhone owners stay Apple fans, an analyst said.

“While we believe that this retention can change rapidly, anecdotally during our survey we even received emails from three respondents asking when the next iPhone will be available,” wrote UBS analyst Maynard Um. Um expects Apple will announce 7.5 million of the iconic handsets were sold during the first three months of 2010.

A curious report emerged Tuesday surrounding the seeming never-ending attempt by Verizon Wireless to break into the exclusive U.S. iPhone market. While previous reports have used anonymous sources in the will they, won’t they soap opera, the latest voice heard came from Verizon’s CEO.

Ivan Seidenberg, speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, said his company has told Apple it would like to sell the iPhone, according to the AP. Although Seidenberg provided no details, such as when Verizon made the request or Apple’s response, the CEO did use a recent Wall Street Journal article to peg his hopes. The WSJ reported that Apple was developing two new iPhones – including one compatible with the CDMA technology used by Verizon.

The second-generation iPad may include a camera, an analyst told investors Wednesday. Omnivision, which makes sensors for digital cameras is “well-positioned” to be a supplier to Apple’s iPad, as well as the iPhone, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Coster.

In a related note, RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky said Tuesday most consumers interested in buying an iPad are waiting until the second-generation tablet device is released before pulling the trigger and purchasing the gadget. Abramsky speculates 60 percent of interested consumers held back from the April 3 launch, perhaps explaining why analyst forecasts were far higher than the 300,000 sales Apple reported Monday. A second-generation iPad would likely address items such as a camera, Flash and USB ports missing from the first iPads released.

We kick off today’s round of daily deals with a trio of Apple hardware. First up is a 160GB Apple TV unit for $189. Next is a deal on a no-contract 8GB iPhone 3G for $360. We round out the top trio of deals with a 500GB Apple Time Capsule for $179.

Along the way, we check out a DLO hard shell case for the 3G or 3GS, along with a new batch of App Store price drops (SimCity is priced at $2.99 — a $2 savings.) As always, details on these and many other bargains are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

If you ordered an iPad after Apple moved delivery dates to April 12 from April 3, your gadget may be winging its way from China, according to a Tuesday report.

The Apple news site 9to5Mac is reporting customers are receiving shipping notification. Electronics retail giant Best Buy will also receive another batch of iPads in time for an April 11 sales event, the site also reports.

We’ve all been where Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster was on Monday. Always go with your first answer. After last week predicting Apple would sell 200,000 to 300,000 iPads on Saturday, Munster doubled that original figure to between 600,000 to 700,000. Then came Apple’s official sales count: 300,000.

In a mea culpa of sorts, the analyst told investors his enhanced estimate was based on a faulty belief that 75 percent of sales would come from online pre-orders. The actual percentage was more like 50 percent online.

Apple is notorious about low-balling its revenue guidance, setting up Wall Street for numbers that blow the doors off resulting expectations; has it done something similar about its iPad sales figures for the opening day? While some analysts had egg on their face over exuberant sales predictions, one voice Monday raised some interesting questions about Apple’s announcement of 300,000 iPads sold April 3.

Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair told investors Apple’s figure does not include any orders for 3G iPads ordered. Although orders are being accepted, the 3G units won’t be landing on consumers’ doorsteps until later this month.

Another curious omission: A week of pre-sales which happened after Apple announced online orders would be delivered April 12, rather than April 3.

Finally, Apple’s 300,000 number counts only Saturday. Although the Easter weekend closed some retailers, not every store was shuttered. Plus, what about Monday, when the U.S. retail engine returned to full power, Blair asked. The real figure for iPad sales to date is more like 600,000, the analyst said.

So, in effect, Apple’s 300,000 iPad sales figure marks a day when people are more interested in chocolate bunnies and travelling than standing in lines; the figure doesn’t include a week of online sales nor sales of 3G iPads. Did Apple’s publicity machine work too well and drive the hype so high that Cupertino had to find a way to lower expectations?

We kick off the first week of the iPad with a number of free iPad apps, including “Dictionary! for iPad.” We also check out a new batch of freebies from the App Store, including “Arcade Hoops Basketball.” We wrap up the top trio of deals with a number of iPod touch devices, starting at $169 for an 8GB model.

Along the way, we check out other Apple software and gear for the Mac fan. As always, details on these and many other bargains are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page which starts right after the jump.

Although analyst predictions of how many iPads would sell on the first day varied widely from Apple’s own 300,000 figure, we are getting some intriguing insights into why consumers are buying the new tablet device. For Apple, maybe the most comforting bit of data is that the iPad is not a cannibal.

“We believe that Apple has successfully carved out a new category of mobile devices between the smartphone and the laptop,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told investors Monday. That feat was accomplished “apparently without cannibalizing its own iPhone and Mac sales,” he added.

Okay, maybe Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster should have stuck with his original estimate of 200,000 to 300,000 iPads sold over the weekend. Still, his interviews of iPad buyers revealed some interesting points – such as the number of Kindle owners in line to buy Apple’s new gadget.

Indeed, 58 percent of iPad owners who also have a Kindle, said they’d drop the Amazon e-reader in favor of the new tablet device. Another interesting tidbit from Munster’s survey: 10 percent of those in line Saturday to buy an iPad had considered purchasing a Kindle.

Apple announced official iPad sales numbers for Saturday, the first day the much-ballyhooed tablet device was available in stores. More than 300,000 iPads were sold by midnight, April 3, the Cupertino, Calif. company said Monday morning.

“It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world — it’s going to be a game changer,” CEO Steve Jobs declared via a press statement. The number reflect pre-orders, shipments to partners and retail sales. More than 1 million apps were downloaded and 250,000 e-books from the iBookstore were downloaded Saturday, according to the company.

The iPad may not ship until Saturday, but here on the deal desk we celebrate with the first price drop on an iPad app: Touch Hockey Extreme FS5. Also on tap today is a new batch of App Store freebies, including Batter Up Baseball. Finally, you can get your server’s up-to-date with a deal on the server version of Mac OS X 10.6.

As always, details on these and many other items are available from CoM’s “Daily Deals” page, starting right after the jump.

A day before Apple officially launches sales of the iPad, a new report predicts the Cupertino, Calif. company could sell 7 million of the tablet devices in 2010 and see demand double and triple over the next two years. Although the 7 million figure is just the latest to surpass Wall Street expectations, researchers Friday termed the number “conservative.”

The researchers at iSuppli expect 14.4 million iPads will sell in 2011 and 20.1 million in 2012. Although initial sales will again be driven by first-adopters, researchers see future demand propelled by a growing base of applications, greater features and potentially lower prices.

Apple has released its iBooks application for download, ahead of Saturday’s official launch of the Cupertino, Calif. company’s iPad tablet device. The application, which allows iPad users to read e-books as well as purchase titles from the iBookstore, can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store.

To get iPad owners started, Apple will include the children’s favorite Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne.

Could the iPad be the best thing to happen to Amazon? Although a debate has raged over what impact Apple’s tablet device could have on the Seattle-based e-book leader, Amazon could actually benefit from the iPad, a Friday report suggests. Despite a wide-held opinion that the iPad is a more flexible platform, Amazon could sell more e-books to iPad owners than Apple.

“If you’re an iPad buyer, chances are about 90 percent that you’re also a book buyer on Amazon,” Forrester analyst James McQuivey told the Wall Street Journal. Unlike Apple’s launch of the iPod or iPhone, where the Cupertino, Calif. company started with iTunes and the App Store pre-installed, iPad buyers can choose whether to install Apple’s iBooks or another e-book app, such as Amazon’s Kindle app.

As the U.S. enjoys some above-normal temps after a deluge of rain, we take a look at a variety of Mac-related deals. First up is some Mac Pro Xeon workstations, including a 2.66GHz quad-core model model starting at $2,149. Next is a new batch of App Store price drops, including the venerable “Boggle.” We wrap up our top spot with Mac Bluray Ripper Pro.

Along the way we’ll also check out a deal on the WolframAlpha “computational knowledge engine” for the iPhone and iPod touch. As always, details on these and many other bargains can be found on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page, which starts right after the jump.

The number of people planning to buy an Android-based phone in the next 90 days jumped to 30 percent in March, nine points higher than the December survey conducted by ChangeWave. First-adopters interested in buying an iPhone over the next three months hit 29 percent, inching up just a single point since December. The researchers Wednesday described the results as a “monster wave of demand for Android OS phones.”

While a 9 point increase doesn’t seem like a “monster wave of demand,” compared to six months ago, it is a five-fold jump, the researchers said.

To mark it two-year anniversary, the Apple-centered iFund doubled in size to $200 million. Highlighting the iFund’s addition of iPad investments, John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers waxed poetically: The tablet device “feels like you’re touching the future.”

Seven iFunded game developers: ng:moco (makers of Flick Fishing, Castlecraft, NBA Hotshot, Charadium, We Rule, GoldFinger and WarpGate), Pinger (Star Smash and Doodle Buddy), GOGII and Shazam will be avaailable when the iPad launches April 3.

Apple could sell 200,000 to 300,000 iPads this weekend, a sign early sales estimates were too conservative, one analyst told investors Thursday. Such volume mirrors that of the iPhone’s launch, when the Cupertino, Calif. company sold 270,000 of the first iPhones. Apple may sell every iPad on hand, the analyst suggests.

Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster now predicts 900,000 of the tablet devices will be sold during the June quarter and 2.7 million iPads for 2010. Munster also pointed to Apple’s recent announcement that new iPad orders won’t ship until April 12 indicate that “initial demand for iPads was stronger than the company expected.”

Do you have $999 burning a hole in your pocket? Well, we have some deals for you. First up is a bevy of iMacs, including a 21-inch LED back-lit model powered by a Core 2 Duo running at 3.06GHz. Your second option might be a unibody MacBook Pro running at 2.26GHz for $999. If you want some hardware with a three-year AppleCare package, how about a 2.26GHz MacBook for $1,249?

Along the way, we’ll check out bargains on an 8GB iPod nano, the latest batch of App Store freebies and a variety of software for your iPhone or iPod touch.

As always, details on these deals and many more items are at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Another analyst has piled onto the growing sentiment that Verizon will not offer a CDMA iPhone by the middle of 2010 – or not until 2011. Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner said Wednesday a 2-month manufacturing delay in a “key component” will push the CDMA handset’s launch back to the fourth quarter of 2010 or the first quarter of 2011.

The hitch is due to “a manufacturing delay of several months in a key component,” Gardner told investors Wednesday.

Remember all the talk earlier this year that Apple was developing its own search engine, possibly even picking Microsoft’s Bing to replace Google as the default iPhone search? Well, such speculation has reignited. A popular Apple analyst now believes there’s a 70 percent chance the Cupertino, Calif. company will create a mobile search engine in the next five years.

Why would Apple go to the trouble when Google reportedly is paying $100 million each year to be the iPhone’s search? Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says the main reason is all about control, a word that gets the attention of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

If you’ve heard those rumors of Verizon selling the iPhone this summer, don’t hold your breath, suggests an analyst. The talk is just the latest gamesmanship by Apple in an attempt to throw Google’s Android phones off-stride.

Although Verizon’s 90 million customers would allow Apple to directly confront the growth of Android-based phones, there remains some major sticking points before any agreement between the Cupertino, Calif. company and the carrier are signed, Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu told investors Wednesday.

Despite a report Monday suggesting Verizon Wireless could offer an iPhone this summer, some analysts see such a future as unlikely. Instead, if Apple produces a CDMA iPhone, the Cupertino, Calif. company probably has another customer in mind: China.

UBS Investment Research analyst Maynard J. Um calls a report that U.S.-based Verizon would get the CDMA iPhone as “unlikely.” Instead, Um believes the reported CDMA Apple handset could end up in China with China Telecom or Japan’s KDDI.