Archives

Once again, Apple has smashed analyst predictions and has released Q1 2012 revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion. What does that mean? Apple is still essentially printing mountains of money and their cash/short term/long term assets amount to almost $100 billion. Here is the break down:

So where did all that cash come from, well Apple and its massive retail presence was super busy over the holiday quarter, selling: 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter – 128 percent unit growth Yr/Yr, 15.43 million iPads during the quarter – 111 percent unit increase Yr/Yr, 5.2 million Macs during the quarter – 26 percent unit increase Yr/Yr and 15.4 million iPods – 21 percent unit decline Yr/Yr. Tim Cook, Apple’s C.E.O. had this to say at the earnings call:

…We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline…

Not surprisingly, Apple iPhone 4S is the big story here – generating 53% of the quarters revenue. Weirdly, the 4S was widely written off, both by the press and tech journalists but it seems the public had no issue with its non-upgraded exterior look. Additionally, 58% of revenue is now taken in by international sales, China quickly becoming Apple’s new cash cow.

Besides hardware, Apple also generated cash from its services, like the iTunes store, App Store, retail stores and iCloud services, here is some interesting numbers for those revenue streams: 85 million iCloud users - 140 million App Store downloads on Christmas Day alone - 110 million visitors to Apple Stores. If you want more technical details about Apple’s Q1 2012 results – here is a recording of their live stream – Click here. So, where do we go from here and what does Q2 2012 look like?

We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50…

Source: Apple – Source: MacRumors – Source: New York Times

Seems like someone at Virgin America Airlines was a big fan of the late Steve Jobs or at least admired him for his accomplishments because Virgin just named a new Airbus A320 “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”. That phrase was made famous in Steve’s remarkable Stanford commencement speech in 2005, where he ended by saying to the graduating class, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”. Dara Kerr (Cnet), broke the story and in an interview with Virgin America spokesperson Abby Lunardini, revealed:

…The ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ aircraft name was actually submitted as a tribute to Mr. Jobs by one of our employees in an internal plane naming competition…

It’s hard to say what Steve might have thought about the tribute but Richard Branson does run the whole Virgin empire on similar guidelines to Apple, “innovation” and “progressive thinking”.

Source: Cnet

The axe has finally fallen on Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, with them not only resigning from their “Co-CEO” positions but also getting axed from their “Co-Chairmen of the Board” positions. Research In Motion has fallen on hard times, especially over the last two years and it seems the pressure of RIM’s almost imminent implosion was the last straw but isn’t it too late? People and shareholders were calling for this move years ago but the co-founders, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, would not move and as it looks now, their stubbornness will end up destroying the company. As if to make things worse, RIM has projected below street numbers for this quarter and the stock is being hammered even more.

Source: Apple Insider - Image Source: CDN3

The Chronic Dev Team has just released an officially working jailbreak for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, which up until now have been crack proof mostly due to their A5 processor architecture. So what does Green PoisOn get you? Well, besides voiding your warranty, it allows you to essentially load non-sanctioned apps onto your i-device. So, this can include apps you’ve made, downloaded from Cydia or gotten by other means… Jailbreaking also allows additional access to your i-device’s OS (SSH) and deep customization, something the boys in Cupertino aren’t to happy about. If you wanna join the fun, click here.

Source: Chronic Dev Team

While the US economy might not be recovering the way everyone would like, Americans still ended up buying record numbers of tablets and e-readers over the holidays season. A new study from Pew Internet claims that tablet/e-reader ownership nearly doubled from November 2011 (10%)  to December 2011 (19%). Additionally:

…The number of Americans owning at least one of these digital reading devices jumped from 18% in December to 29% in January….

While lower priced e-reader and tablets have pushed down Apple’s iPad dominance, it’ll be interesting to see how the iPad 3 will effect marketshare, especially if Apple continues to produce the ipad 2 and sell it as a lower price point ($399). Also, Apple’s continues to make inroads into the education sector, which has been completely abandoned by most of the other big time players – Amazon, Google, HTC, Motorola, etc.

Source: MacRumors – Pew Internet

Apple’s NYC educational event just finished and while there was no new hardware in sight, the event was actually surprisingly interesting. When I had heard that Apple was going to re-invent the textbook, I didn’t exactly jump out of my seat but what I saw today, kind of made me wish I was back in high school. The event revolved around two main points: The release of iBooks 2 & iBooks Author – both available today.

iBooks 2: “…is an amazing way to download and read books. iBooks includes the iBookstore, where you can download the latest bestselling books or your favorite classics – day or night. Browse your library on a beautiful bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a tap, and bookmark or add notes to your favorite passages….” Check it out….

• Experience gorgeous Multi-Touch textbooks designed for iPad
• iBooks textbooks are filled with interactive features, diagrams, photos, and videos
• Tap to dive into images with interactive captions, rotate 3D objects, swipe through image galleries, watch videos in full screen, and more
• Use a finger as a highlighter when swiping over text in a textbook
• Take advantage of Study Cards to help you memorize important highlights, notes, and glossary terms
• Tap glossary terms to see definitions of key topics and concepts without leaving the page

The iBookstore offers textbooks on Algebra, Biology, Chemistry, Geometry, and Physics from McGraw-Hill and Pearson. These textbooks are currently available to customers in the United States. Textbooks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are coming soon.

iBooks Author: ”…Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Start with one of the Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. Add your own text and images with drag-and-drop ease. Use Multi-Touch widgets to include interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations, 3D objects, and more. Preview your book on your iPad at any time. Then submit your finished work to the iBookstore with a few simple steps. And before you know it, you’re a published author….” Check it out….

 

So what does this mean for us? Essentially, iBooks 2 takes advantage of Apple interactive iBooks Author framework, allowing classic textbooks to be converted to amazing iPad based interactive books. Educational curriculums and teaching styles can be built around these new interactive books but the real question is: Will school districts adopt Apple’s new tools? Apple already gives educational discounts to schools, teachers and students but what will Apple have to do to get mass adoption?

How effective will Apple’s inroads into the educational system and how well iBooks 2 + iBooks Author will be depends on how well publishing houses get on track with converting/creating these interactive textbooks. It isn’t enough to have schools adopt iPads and it isn’t enough for publishing houses to create amazing textbooks that no one will use – there has to be inroads from both parties. Here is a walkthrough from Engadget:

Learn more about Apple’s iBooks 2 and iBooks Author by clicking here or visit iTunes. Now, let the iPad 3 rumors start!!!

Source: Apple

Starting March 23rd, Virgin Mobile USA will start to throttle “Beyond Talk” plans for users that have downloaded more than 2.5GB worth of data. Once users cross that magical 2.5GB limit, they’ll see their download speed drop to 256Kpbs – so good luck with that. As this is a pay as you go plan, users can drop more cash on their account and they’ll see their speeds return to normal.

Source: The Verge

As we had covered earlier this month, Kodak today filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but vowed that it would still stay in business. While the company was quick to point out that the bankruptcy filing was a first step in restructuring and securing cash/investments - the stock market didn’t seem to share their enthusiasm for the future of Kodak.

So what’s next for Kodak? One option would be for it to sell its large imaging patent portfolio, which has been rumored to be worth more than $1 billion. Apple, Google, HTC and Amazon have been rumored to be interested in Kodak’s patents, especially imaging patents that would cover their smartphones. Regardless of the moves Kodak makes from here on, this is the death rattle of a once great/innovative company. From Kodak’s Blog:

On January 19, 2012, Eastman Kodak Company and its U.S. subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 business reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The business reorganization will enable Kodak to bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the Company to focus on its most valuable business lines…

Source: Kodak

Yahoo! is free of Jerry Yang or is Jerry Yang free of the albatros that has been Yahoo? Regardless, co-founder Jerry Yang has resigned his board position and all responsibilities he has with the company – this does not include stock owned by Yang.

My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future…

The move is effective immediately and mere days after Scott Thomson took over the C.E.O. position at Yahoo – so what is left for the former “web portal”? While the situation is still developing, talk has involved an overall sale of yahoo to the dumping of Yahoo’s Asian properties, like Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Group. Whatever the future holds for Yahoo, it stands as an example of an internet pioneer that didn’t evolve with the overall course of the net and also didn’t have an understanding of what kind of company it had become.

Source: Yahoo

Source: TheVerge – Image Source: SFExaminer

The black dots represent less than one resident per square mile.

Source: DataPointed

DO YOUR PART! The internet is under attack – the open and free internet that we’ve all grown-up with, is now the target of powerful lobbyists and ignorant/bought government officials. This is no conspiracy theory – this isn’t fiction: This is a very real : very serious problem facing everyone. There are two bills of Legislation in Washington right now: SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act). Both bills were written by lobbyists and sold to congressmen/senators, whom know very little about the ramifications of these bills.

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act):

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.[4] - Read More…..

PIPA (Protect IP Act):

The bill defines infringement as distribution of illegal copies, counterfeit goods, or anti-digital rights management technology. Infringement exists if “facts or circumstances suggest [the site] is used, primarily as a means for engaging in, enabling, or facilitating the activities described.”^[8] The bill says that it does not alter existing substantive trademark or copyright law.^[9]

The bill provides for “enhancing enforcement against rogue websites operated and registered overseas” and authorizes the United States Department of Justice to seek a court order in rem against websites dedicated to infringing activities, if through due diligence, an individual owner or operator cannot be located.^[10] The bill requires the Attorney General to serve notice to the defendant.^[11] Once the court issues an order, it could be served on financial transaction providers, Internet advertising services, Internet service providers, and information location tools to require them to stop financial transactions with the rogue site and remove links to it.^[12] The term “information location tool” is borrowed from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and is understood to refer to search engines but could cover other sites that link to content…. - Read More…….

Hidden inside both pieces of legislation are powerful clauses, wording that will strip civil liberties, freedom of speech, safe harbor protections, business/online commerce and the physical back-bone of the internet – DNS. Action needs to be taken to stop these bills from become laws and everyone needs to participate, this will effect everyone. In a cohesive stance against SOPA & PIPA, hundreds of major companies from all over the world have decided to strike: Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, LinkedIn, eBay, Mozilla Corporation, Roblox, Reddit, the Wikimedia Foundation and human rights organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the ACLU, and Human Rights Watch. For more information regarding the  issues, please visit the SopaStrike website here and please pass the word about this very important issue. January 18th, 2012 has been declared a global WEB STRIKE DAY – Join In.

Source: SopaStrike

Apple’s iTunes Music Match is rolling out to 19 more countries as of today, bringing the grand total to 37. Music Match is Apple’s cloud music service, which essentially scans your computer/device and makes any song you have there available in the cloud – songs it can’t find or apple doesn’t have, you can upload yourself – all for $24.99/Yr. The new countries include:

Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Honduras, Latvia, Lithuania, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela

For more on Apple’s Music match – Click here and if you’re curious about music match where you live, here is Apple’s page providing information on which countries have it available.

Source: MacRumors

Apple’s Thursday (January 19th) scheduled NYC event didn’t garner much enthusiasm, mainly because we had heard that there wouldn’t be any new hardware shown at the event. Rumors were pointing to a media event based on Apple’s desire to get into the textbook business, with the majority of people invited being in the publishing business.

Now the chatter we’re hearing is that Apple will unveil a framework for publishers, helping them build interactive e-books for schools – something like “Garage band for e-books”. Up until now, publishers have been frustrated by the lack of support and inovation in the industry – furthermore, schools have also been frustrated at having such great hardware (ipad) but nothing of relevance to teach kids with.

If Apple was to release, either an app or framework tools for publishers, we could see the textbook industry go through a complete revolution – all of which would be great news for Apple and its iPad business. Two days away….

Source: AppleInsider

Research In Motion (RIM), everyone’s favorite Blackberry maker has some serious takeover talk circling around itself. RIM famously laughed when Apple first released the iPhone back in 2007 but since then, RIM has struggled to be even a mediocre player in the smartphone industry – seeing its once dominent phone business go down the drain. Yet, it looks like Samsung might come to its rescue, that is if the rumors are true.

Shares of Research In Motion Ltd. RIMM +9.03% jumped nearly 7% to $17.25 early Tuesday afternoon after a technology blog reported that the company is considering a sale to Korean electronics giant Samsung. A report on the Boy Genius Report, citing unnamed sources, called a sale to Samsung a “front-runner” among several options currently being evaluated by RIM’s management…

Why would Sammy want a dead in the water phone maker? RIM doesn’t own some large patent portfolio – it doesn’t have amazing designers or stunning smartphones in the pipeline and it seriously doesn’t have a state of the art OS running on its handsets. Chances are, Samsung would just fold them into its already dominent phone division – taking with it market share. Developing story….

Source: MarketWatch

 

Source: Imgur

News out of Bloomberg has them saying the iPad 3 is very real and it’s coming this spring with a quad core CPU, a stunning hi-res display (2048 x 1536) and LTE connectivity.

Apple’s next iPad, expected to go on sale in March, will sport a high-definition screen, run a faster processor and work with next-generation wireless networks, according to three people familiar with the product…

Add Bloomberg to the list of sources on this developing story – the rumors are getting so loud, for Apple’s sake, it better be true.

Source: Bloomberg

Facebook announced that they would be holding an event on the 18th of January in San Francisco, specifically at Twenty-Five Lust (Restaurant). Other than the invitation above, nothing else is known or rumored about the event……seriously, nothing else is known.

Source: AllFaceBook

Apple’s iPhone 4S global launch has been going very very well…..until yesterday and as of now, all 5 of Apple’s Chinese stores have been closed. Essentially, mad chaos broke out at Apple’s Beijing location, while the store was opening for the release of the iPhone 4S – reports have pegged the problems with scalpers outside the store but Apple has released this statement:

…The demand for iPhone 4S has been incredible and our stores in China have already sold out. Unfortunately, we were unable to open our store at Sanlitun due to the large crowd. And to ensure the safety of our customers and our employees, iPhones will not be available in our retails stores in Beijing and Shanghai for the time being..

Eventually, a S.W.A.T. police unit had to be called in to get the crowd under control – this was after people started throwing eggs due to the closure of the store. While the iPhone 4S can still be ordered online, it looks like in-store purchases will be a no go for some time to come.

Source: Reuters

America’s Bio-Mass Map

Source: NASA

As we had heard and reported earlier, Apple has released a statement and invitations to their NYC “Educational Event” scheduled for the 19th of January. The event will take place at the Guggenheim Museum and while we don’t know tons of details, we’ve heard that Apple will make some kind of major play into the textbook industry – specifically relating to ebooks on the iPad. This could be a major inroad, taking over the educational marketshare and getting iPads to millions of college/university student in the US.

This is not a new offensive tactic for Apple, as they used the same approach when they convinced millions of school districts to adopt Macs for their kids  - thus building life long customers from a very young age. It’ll be interesting to see what Apple releases, specifically since this was one of the projects that Steve Jobs worked on up until his untimely death. People close to the matter have mentioned how importnat this specific project was to him and how he wanted to revolutionize the textbook business as well.

Source: The Verge

LoveFilm, you’ve been put on call! Today, Netflix has launched in the UK and Ireland – offering everyone one free month of their services at no cost. If you like what Netflix has to offer and want to stay with their services, it’ll cost you £5.99/€6.99 per additional month – not bad.

Today we’re bringing Netflix to the UK and Ireland. I am Neil Hunt, chief product officer at Netflix. I’m proud to have led the product team that brings Netflix to the country where I grew up, after spending most of my career in California.

In terms of media or catalog of shows/movies – that we’ll have to browse through but I’m sure they’ll have popular American and Uk series, with more to come on the way. Also, you’ll be able to watch Netflix on multiple devices: Computers (mac/pc) – Tablets – Smart TVs – Smartphones - Blue-ray Players and Game Consoles. Enjoy.

Source: The Verge / Netflix

Your favorite smartphone touch screens and mine are about to get a lot tougher……gorilla tough. Corning Inc, the makers of Gorilla Glass (found on countless consumer electronics, especially smartphones) is about to release Gorilla Glass 2 at CES 2012 on January 13th. So what can we expect from Corning:

Corning Gorilla Glass 2 enables up to a 20 percent reduction in glass thickness, while maintaining the industry-leading damage resistance, toughness, and scratch resistance customers have come to expect from the world’s most widely deployed cover glass. The thinner Gorilla Glass 2 enables slimmer and sleeker devices, brighter images, and greater touch sensitivity. These benefits can provide electronics manufacturers with superior design flexibility as they address consumer demand for increasingly high-performing, touch-sensitive, and durable mobile devices.

So essentially, we’ll be able to get thinner pieces of glass with much stronger breaking points but also have the ability to manipulate (curve) Corning’s Gorilla Glass into new shapes – I hear rumors starting to heat up again about a tear drop shaped iPhone 5. Stay Tuned.

Source: Corning Inc

Click Me.

Source: Daring Fireball

It’s that time of year again. The holidays are over and it’s 2012, so that can only mean two things: 1)We are getting close to the end of the world – 2) CES 2012 is here again. For those that don’t know about CES, it’s essentially the largest consumer products convention in the world (maybe) and it takes place every year in Las Vegas. This year, the show runs from January 10-13th and all the big players will be there: Microsoft, Samsung, LG, Sony, Intel, Google and on and on.

TechedOn will be bringing you news and new product details as they roll out – but only the god stuff. Keep checking back for goodies…

Source: CES

The WSJ is reporting that Eastman Kodak Company is on the Verge of filing for bankruptcy and may already be in talks to file the necessary paperwork. Wall Street punished the stock, sending it down almost 30% upon hearing the rumors.

…The 131-year-old company is still making last-ditch efforts to sell off some of its patent portfolio and could avoid Chapter 11 if it succeeds, one of the people said. But the company has started making preparations for a filing in case those efforts fail, including talking to banks about some $1 billion in financing to keep it afloat during bankruptcy proceedings…

Sadly, the only real solution to saving the iconic company would be the sale of its massive patent portfolio – one that Google, Apple and Amazon will be waiting in the shadows to bid on. Ironically, the company that brought us the first digital camera in 1975, was never able to really capitalize on the breakthrough of such a technology.

Source: WSJ