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KenC's Comments Stream Stats
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iPhone at Wal-Mart? Steve, Say it Aint So!
RIM's Storm is a Washout
And, to the fellow who thinks having a 3.2Mp camera is a big woop, well, I can assure you that camera doesn't hold a candle to my $100 Fuji F20. Good images require a large chip, just like film used to. The bigger the film, the better the underlying image quality.
A large imaging sensor, aka chip, requires depth between the sensor and the lens, so that the light from the lens can cover the whole sensor. Because the cellphone has a limited depth, (you don't want a superfat cellphone do you), there's a physical limitation on how big that chip can be, and ultimately a limit on actual image quality. As pixels get smaller, in the same size chip, they get hotter. Heat creates noise in an image and blurs pixels. The fact is more pixels IS NOT necessarily better for your image. That's a physical truth.
The ideal pixel size for a minimum of noise is about 6 microns. That's what you'll find in DSLRs. Given the typical chip size in a cellphone, the optimum chip is for the best pixel quality is 1 megapixel. Got that? The optimum chip size based upon optimum pixel size of 6 microns is 1 megapixel for a cellphone.
Apple vs. Microsoft Vista: The Ad Budget Wars
It's only hypocritical if Apple spends that money on advertising while not spending that money on fixing any OS bugs.
Apple's Greatest Idea Yet
With the iPhone, I think they are going to exceed what they accomplished with the iPod. No, not 70% marketshare. Just look at Jason's article, he's effusing like a little boy. It's just like the movie, Field of Dreams, when the brother-in-law looks up and asks "when did they get here?" referring to the ballplayers. All of a sudden, they are the biggest cheerleaders around, as if they discovered gold.
Look at the iPhone, it already generates more in non-GAAP revenues than the iPod, ever did. The iPod had iTunes to drive follow-up sales. You loved your iPod when it shuffled to a song you hadn't heard since highschool. The iPhone is better. It has Apps to drive follow-up sales. Anytime you want to fall in love with your iPhone, just download a new App, a free one or a 99 cent one like Ocarina. Pure joy, that's what it is.
And, what's great, is it builds on top of the existing iPod ecosystem. The 3rd-party mfrs are already making iPod cases and speakers have very little retooling to make iPhone and Touch cases and speakers. How many iconic devices have a Billion-dollar ecosystem, a virtuous cycle?
@Dividends, margins are not declining. The more iPhone revenue that hits the bottom line lifts gross margins, as the GM on the iPhone is 47.8%, far above Apple's normal GM of between 30 and 33%. Now, GMs have been guided lower, as the cost of mfring the unibody Macs is expensive, but Apple CHOSE to spend more on mfring. That's a key difference.
Buy, Sell or Hold: Apple's Cohesive Strategy to Survive and Thrive
Question, your Chart 1, is that the installed base market share figure or is it the one year sales figures? Cause you state that Apple sold more than Rimm, and yet, Rimm is at 12% and Apple at 7%. A little disconnect between the chart and what you are talking about.
Data security - unless Apple is doing something different than what they announced in March at their press conference, I'm quite sure there is a "remote wipe" feature for IT departments. And, Apple announced a special program for corporations to allow custom app solutions. How is the cost, "lower"? You don't say. Is it because Apple's email server is more expensive than Blackberries? Oops, Apple doesn't sell a email server.
WalMart? You do know that WalMart has tried to sell music before, at 88 cents, and failed. What makes you think they'll succeed now?
Nokia's Ovi? It only comes on a couple of their handsets.
Google's G1 comes thru T-Mobile. They are #4 in a 3 carrier market. They have 3G service in how many cities? 20? AT&T has 3G in something like 280 cities. No matter how good the G1 is, the sellable market is virtually nil. How is the G1, "revolutionary&qu... Because it mimics the iPhone? You do realize that Android is built around a browser that uses WebKit. Who developed WebKit? Apple. As for "location services", you do realize that the iPhone has it, and many more apps that use it.
Open source means nothing to the consumer. If it did, Linux would sell better. It is just as easy for anyone to develop for the iPhone and the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The iPhone has over 5500 apps already. The G1? 50? More?
You mention the Tube, Bold and Instinct. The Tube is a joke, it doesn't use a capacitance touchscreen. The Bold's screen is too small. Did you see Sprint's latest numbers? I don't think people are buying the Instinct.
The Nuvifone was "launched" where? In a vacuum? I love Garmin, but the last I heard the Nuvifone was delayed until next year. And, turn-by-turn directions, apparently, TomTom and Garmin have developed apps for the iPhone, but are waiting for Apple to lift their restrictions on it.
In other words, you don't really know your products very well, otherwise, you wouldn't have cited a whole slew of criticisms that just don't hold very much water.
For an analysis that recommends buying, your conclusion is rather negative. Read some of Andy Zaky's analysis on SA for comparison. Also, read Roughlydrafted.com for some insight into the actual product side.
Apple's FY09 Gross Margin Expectations Are Too Low
Apple's FY09 Gross Margin Expectations Are Too Low
However, the canadian dollar has weakened against the USD. I plan on going to Quebec for Xmas!
And, Apple's international revs are a good fraction of Apple's total earnings:
Of the $7.9B of GAAP revs reported last quarter, here's a breakdown:
US = $3.6B
Europe = $1.7B
Japan = $320M
Retail Stores all over = $1.7B
Other = Mostly Asia, not including Japan = $562M
So, if you could break out Retail Store earnings by country, you'd pretty much know Apple's international sales, but even without that, you can see they equal about $2.6B compared to US sales of $3.6B.
Apple Skips Zinc in New Notebook Batteries
Apple: Press Needs to 'Get Over' Steve's Secrecy
The Downside to iPhone Success
Uhm, wasn't your original thesis that "The most widespread iPhone application in 2009 will be a virus." The question is HOW?
Your second stab at that seems to point to "unlocked phones". A 3G iPhone ver2.2 only JUST came out, and how many people will unlock? There's no financial advantage as 99% of iPhones sold must come with a contract. The only unlockers are people who need a different carrier.
Did you actually mean jailbreakers? That's a different group of people you know, and hurts your credibility if you don't know the difference between them. Jailbroken iPhones is also a tiny fraction of iPhones, and still doesn't explain how that could be the vector for the "most widespread iPhone application in 2009 [being] a virus".
If people are thin-skinned, you have to know the context. There have been tons of critical stories saying this or that, which have all been pretty much rubbish. Your commentary is coming after all of that.
Rewriting your story by saying there will be viruses, goes without saying, and is NOT what you wrote initially. Some responses have already pointed out why viruses won't get too far in the official App Store, as that is the largest population of users, your most widespread app being a virus seems highly suspect.
Microsoft: Losing Market Share in a Non-Existent Browser Market?
Microsoft: Losing Market Share in a Non-Existent Browser Market?
Microsoft is exiting browsers as others enter? This is a Microsoft habit? Why did MS follow Apple into the music player market, when the MP3 market was maturing? When will Microsoft follow Apple into the cellphone market?
Don't you realize that most people's only contact with MS is thru the browser? If it gives people a lousy experience, guess how people view MS? If it exits the browser market, guess how people perceive MS?
By the way, Net Applications has more than 2 years of data on their website. There's a little "left arrow" that allows you to go back further. I believe they go back to 2004. In October 2004, MSIE had 92.18%, and now they have 68.15%, a drop of 24%. While rationalizing that it's just Netscape's share that Firefox and others have gained, they seem to have fought alot harder to gain Netscape's share than given it up.
Rate of Consumer Spending Decline Stabilizes - Overall Outlook Remains Grim
Just look at your first chart, I mean without October, you might have seen the leveling off in November, right? What if October said 58% expect to spend less? You could have totally missed it, but we'll never know since you either didn't do a monthly survey, or are choosing to ignore showing it.
Paul, trying getting with the new Millenium and use a modern charting app. The 80s are calling back for their copy of MS Excel.
Amazing how such a HUGE change in consumer sentiment, results in only a tiny percentage change in actual spending.
Rate of Consumer Spending Decline Stabilizes - Overall Outlook Remains Grim
Rate of Consumer Spending Decline Stabilizes - Overall Outlook Remains Grim