Have Cash? Must Spend!

/

 

Poornima Gupta for Reuters:

[T]o paraphrase rapper P. Diddy, with more money comes more problems. Apple's runaway success presents Cook with his first real public test as chief executive officer - figuring out what to do with the money.

There's two things wrong with this. Firstly Peter Oppenheimer said during Apple Q1 earnings call:

We are actively discussing uses of our cash balance and don't have anything specific to announce today. In the meantime, we continue to be very disciplined with the cash and are not letting it burn a hole in our pockets.

So… that doesn't sound like a problem to me. And secondly (and perhaps more importantly) P.Diddy (at the time Puff Daddy) was not the rapper who said 'more money more problems (in fact, NO rapper said that – it was Mo' Money Mo' Problems), it was the Notorious B.I.G.

Sell-in vs Sell-out

/

Strategy Analytics is trying really hard to make it appear as though Android tablets are hot on Apple's heels with their latest reality-twisting numbers. Neil Mawston conjures:

Android captured a record 39 percent share of global tablet shipments in Q4 2011, rising from 29 percent a year earlier. Global Android tablet shipments tripled annually to 10.5 million units. Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes. Android is so far proving relatively popular with tablet manufacturers

Are you kidding me? Android-powered tablets (note Amazon and it's barely-Android fourth cousin listed among them) shipped 10.5M units in Q4'11? Apple SOLD, to customers, 15+M units this quarter! Robin Wauters of TechCruch adds:

[These Android tablet shipment numbers] refer to ‘sell-in’ and not over-the-counter sales—an important difference, those Android tabs could sit on the shelves forever at Best Buy and never be bought.

An all-important difference indeed!

(via BusinessWire)


Nintendo Posts Loss

/

 

Reuters reports that Nintendo has posted it's first annual operating loss – ¥45B ($580M CAD). Wii is long in the tooth and 3D, as I have discussed before, is a useless gimmick. Wii-U doesn't strike me as very compelling at all… Nintendo was a big part of my childhood and I hope this is a blip and not a trend. Still… 61% is a long way to fall.

(via TheNextWeb)

Larger Screen

/

John Gruber:

I can see Apple putting a bigger display on a device of the same size.

I agree with John the vast majority of the time. But I doubt the screen gets any bigger. Not unless Apple is also planning on shipping finger extenders. The diagonal width of the screen is just enough to comfortably use with one hand as it is. Any bigger and that task would become much harder.

eWeek Nails the iPad 3

/

I'll give eWeek 3/10. I know I agree with them on 4 counts, but Longer Battery Life was SO terrible a suggestion as to lower the overall score.

  1.  Siri - Would it be awesome? Yes. Will it happen? I'd like that.
  2. Different Screen Sizes - No.
  3. 3D Support - Are you kidding? Cause 3D adoption rates have been so strong in the TV industry. No.
  4. Glare Issues - This is the #1 reason iPad is having such a hard time gaining traction. No.
  5. Wireless Charging - Some of the stuff I've seen from WiTricity looks really outstanding. But if I have to have some wireless induction pad I have to put my iPad on I'm not interested. And even if they introduce wireless charging (in any method) they'll still have to ship a standard dock-connector charger for times when your induction source isn't handy. Put me down for a no on this one.
  6. Longer Battery Life - Are you serious!? iPad's battery puts the other to SHAME. Also, I'm sure Apple is delivering "as long a battery life as possible". Wow. No. Fail.
  7. Gorilla Glass 2 - I'm sure Jony Ive knew about it before you. Will it be in iPad 3? I'd go with 'yes'.
  8. Retina Display - I'm not totally sure where I stand on this. I know Apple will NOT do this if it make iPad thicker, heavier, or more expensive. I'm all for it, and my guess (with that monster cash hoard) is yes, it'll be in iPad 3.
  9. Vibration - I could take or leave this. I don't really feel like it adds that much to my iPhone gaming experience - or my PS3 gaming experience for that matter. I'll go with 'no'.
  10. NFC - On the iPad? No.

(via The Macalope)

Apple Overtakes Android

/

According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech (site built entirely in Flash†, kudos):

"Apple has continued its strong sales run in the U.S., UK and Australia over the Christmas period," Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at the research firm said.

"Overall, Apple sales are now growing at a faster rate than Android across the nine countries we cover," Sunnebo added.

This is probably partially fueled by the introduction of the iPhone 4S in October and the holidays. Though; the 4S was a well-publicized disappointment, and Android phones were also sold during the holidays. In any case, I'll be interested to see where these growth numbers head moving forward. I've long believed the iPhone is the superior platform, and now that Android's experienced some explosive growth we'll see if it's sustained or if it begins to taper off as consumers who bought a smartphone are now more platform-aware and might choose a specific vendor or platform for their next purchase.

94% of iPhone owners will buy another iPhone, and at least 24% of Android owners will buy an iPhone next time around.

(via MacRumors, Reuters)

† The 90's called. They want their technology back.

Apple Sold 1.4M Apple TV's in 2011

/

As John Gruber said, "[I]t used to be that 1.4 million was a great number for Mac sales in a quarter." But I'm not surprised that Apple TV is gaining momentum. I got one for Christmas 2010. And I loved it so much that I got another one for Christmas 2011 to put in my bedroom. I have an external hard drive attached to my iMac that acts as a media server and I can watch whatever I want. On demand. With no ads. I have converted all my DVDs to iTunes and I could not be more pleased.

I even found a torrent of The Wonder Years.

Now I can watch TV on my schedule. I don't have to plan to be home or worry about PVRing anything. Missed an episode? You can find it online.

I've recommended this device to everyone I know. If the rumoured Apple Television is better than this I can only imagine how awesome it will be. I know I'm a fanboy, but it's not hard when everything Apple makes is so awesome.