AllThingsD » iPads

As iPhone Growth Slows, Apple's iPad Sales Surge

Mike Isaac — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:14:21 +0000

After weeks of negative speculation on the Street, Apple hit its numbers in its second-quarter earnings released on Tuesday.

The stand-out product this time around, however, wasn’t the iPhone — usually the darling of consumer tech sales estimates. It was the iPad.

Apple sold 19.5 million iPads during the second quarter, 7.7 million more devices compared to the same period a year ago.

That’s a healthy boost, especially when contrasted against the relatively modest gains in iPhone sales; Apple sold 37.4 million iPhones in Q2, just 2.3 million more devices than the company sold in the year-ago quarter.

My guess is, Apple’s lower cost iPad mini likely bolstered those numbers from last year — though there’s no concrete way to tell, as the company doesn’t break those numbers down for us. It’s all iPads. (CFO Peter Oppenheimer said much of that growth, however, was seen in China and Japan, where sales more than doubled over the year.)

And analysts have lots of reasons why they think iPhone sales are in trouble — namely, rumors of cheaper iPhones to come in the future, and cannibalization of new iPhone model sales due to price cuts on previous generations of the device.

Shares of Apple were trading up about 5.5 percent in after hours, at $428.87.

Google Preps Maps App for Apple Devices

Amir Efrati and Jessica E. Lessin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:02:29 +0000

The head-to-head battle between Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in mobile maps is drawing nearer.

Google has distributed a test version of its new mapping app that will work on Apple’s iPhones and iPads to some individuals outside the company, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Google has been putting the finishing touches on the app before submitting it for approval to the Apple iTunes store, this person said, though it is unclear exactly when that will happen.

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Google Aware of Gmail IMAP Problems, Working on Fix (Update)

Bonnie Cha — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:28:25 +0000

If you’ve been having problems receiving your Google email on devices, such as your iPhone or Android tablet, you’re not the only one. A number of users have reported receiving a “mail service imap.gmail.com is not responding” error message when trying to access their accounts via IMAP and not just Apple devices as originally reported. Google said in an email to AllThingsD that it’s aware of the problem and working on implementing a fix. In the meantime, Google has posted more details and some workaround advice on its support page under the “Pop, IMAP and Sync” section.

Martha Stewart on Her Changing Media Empire

Ina Fried — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:30:36 +0000

Martha Stewart said her company is transitioning to a digital media company just as fast as it can.

“We are relentless in serving our customers where they need us, where they want us,” Stewart said, appearing alongside Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia CEO Lisa Gersh at the D: Dive Into Media conference.

Stewart noted that Martha Stewart Living was an early mover into the apps world, and now both it and Everyday Food are digital, with Martha Stewart Weddings and Whole Living adding digital editions this spring.

“I’m very proud of our efforts in that arena,” Stewart said.

Her company, though older than Facebook and Twitter, is still fairly young at 20 years.

“We’re not old-fashioned,” Stewart said. She rejected the idea put forward by Bob Pittman earlier in the day that consumer habits change slowly, noting how quickly the iPad took off.

Stewart, a longtime D: All Things Digital attendee, was an early adopter of computers, getting her first IBM in 1982.

On the TV side, the company has a deal with Hallmark that ends at the end of the year and is evaluating what to do next, whether it is cable or broadcast.

“We’re looking at a number of different formats,” Stewart said.

In addition to traditional formats, Stewart said technologies like bar codes and tablets and phones create even deeper needs for the kinds of how-to content her company produces.

Some things have gone away, such as its “Martha By Mail” catalog business, though the company now has a new online store.

11:34 am: Gersh said that the company is trying to find new ways to make its monthly food magazine more relevant.

“We know our reader is making dinner every night and they want to hear from us,” Gersh said.

The magazine has a daily email newsletter that will be upgraded with video so subscribers can see someone making the recipe.

11:37 am: On the future of her doing a daily TV show:

It’s been a wonderful vehicle for a lot of things, Stewart said. There are a lot of products we have focused on in the show.

“Would you want to sit in make-up and hair for another 10 years?” Stewart said.

Walt: Me? No.

Stewart talked about a lot of other things she is doing, including her new relationship with J.C. Penney and its CEO, former Apple Store head Ron Johnson.

Beyond Tablets: The Next Five Computing Form Factors

Sarah Rotman Epps — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:34:17 +0000

With the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 a few short weeks away, it’s a good time to look ahead at what’s next for consumer technology. All eyes have been on tablets: Apple sold 40 million iPads in just 18 months, with 11 million sold in this past quarter alone — phenomenal growth for a new form factor. With the Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet finding their own successful markets, it’s easy to see why tablets attract so much attention and excitement. But computing evolution doesn’t end here — tablets, while still growing rapidly as a category, are not the final form factor.

Product strategists in the PC industry are gearing up for 2012 to be the year of the “ultrabook” — very thin, very light laptops, usually with solid-state drives (SSD), that compete with Apple’s MacBook Air — such as the Asus Zenbook and Lenovo U300s. We agree that ultrabooks’ lighter, thinner form will appeal to many consumers. Already, 21 percent of U.S. online consumers say they’re interested in owning one, according to a Forrester Research survey fielded in September. But we see the ultrabook as an evolution of the laptop rather than an entirely new form factor. So what is the next big thing in consumer computing?

The “next big thing” is likely to be many things — we anticipate accelerating form factor diversification beyond the desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets and smartphones we have today, as we advance deeper into the Post-PC Era. Based on what we see in research and development labs, new products beginning to come to market and gaps in consumer computing experiences, we’ve identified these five form factors as the best candidates for what comes next:

Wearables: Wearable devices, or “wearables” for short, are devices worn on or near the body that sense and relay information. Many wearables, like the heads-up display (HUD) contact lenses in development at the University of Washington, are years from marketability. But other wearables are already available as consumer products, for uses such as communication and health and fitness. An increasing number of wearables in the health-and-fitness space interact with Apple iOS devices, such as the Lark Technologies vibrating wristband that doubles as an alarm clock and a sleep sensor; and BodyMedia FIT Armbands, which have four sensors to track activity, sleep and calorie intake. WIMM Labs, a Foxconn-funded start-up in Los Altos, Calif., has designed multifunctional wearables, based on Google’s Android software, that it will license to other companies.
Embedded devices: We define embedded devices as physical objects that incorporate computing processors and sensors, excluding those worn on the body, which we classify as wearables. Like wearables, embedded devices are diverse in form, ranging from devices such as Livescribe smartpens that fit into your pocket, to LG Thinq refrigerators that sit in your kitchen. Embedded devices may or may not have a display — Livescribe pens don’t; the LG Thinq appliances do. Today, embedded devices are widely used in industrial automation and automotives, and they have emerging consumer uses in home automation, entertainment and productivity.
Surfaces: Surfaces are large interactive displays, which may incorporate multitouch, voice and gesture control, facial recognition, near field communication (NFC), quick response (QR) codes or other input/output mechanisms. Today, surfaces are found mostly in public places such as hotels (Microsoft Surface tables in Sheraton bars) and conferences and events (Obscura Digital’s custom multitouch video installations), as well as in education (interactive whiteboards) and news media (red state/blue state maps), but we see potential for additional uses, especially in retail and marketing. For example, retailers such as Victoria’s Secret have commissioned the design firm frog design to create interactive displays for their retail stores. In Seoul, South Korea, retailers use surfaces to extend their reach beyond their stores: Tesco Homeplus, the No. 2 grocery retailer in South Korea, built “virtual malls” in subway stations to reach more customers without building more stores. Commuters take pictures of QR codes under the groceries they want to buy, and the groceries are delivered to their homes.
Flexible displays: Flexible displays are computing screens that can be rolled, folded or flexed. Flexible devices can take the form of personal devices, such as an e-reader, or larger surface displays, such as furniture or wallpaper. Flexible displays are likely the farthest from becoming commercialized products because of the lack of a defined use case or customer: Polymer Vision, a spinoff of Philips Electronics, promoted its flexible eBook Reader for years, but declared bankruptcy before bringing the device to market. HP has been developing printable Mylar displays that it imagines could be used for candy wrappers, armband computers for the military or living room wallpaper, but the displays are still several years from commercialization.
Miniprojectors: Miniprojectors are small devices that project a larger image onto another surface or, in the case of holographic projection, into 3-D space. Miniprojectors can be combined with cameras that recognize gesture to become interactive, similar to the Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360. Today, miniprojectors such as the Brookstone Pocket Projector are gaining in popularity as iPhone accessories. But they’re still niche products, as consumers must purchase them separately. Apple has already filed a patent to embed interactive projectors into its iPhones, iPads and Macs. Embedded miniprojectors would appeal primarily to information workers, but there could be broader consumer uses as well, such as impromptu photo slide shows or YouTube viewing in a group.

It’s easy to read about computing wallpaper, or contact lenses with embedded heads-up displays, and think that these form factors have no bearing on what product strategists are doing today. But product strategists who see what’s coming can anticipate disruption — or even innovate and become disruptors themselves. As you think about what’s coming in 2012 and beyond, know that none of these devices will operate in isolation. The most successful products will work with other products — for example, wearables that talk to smartphones and TVs; surfaces that are activated by the presence of your smartphone. We’re living in a multidevice, multiconnection world, and the best experiences will be those that work across devices and platforms. In that sense, the next phase of the Post-PC Era doesn’t look so different from today.

Sarah Rotman Epps is a senior analyst at Forrester Research, serving consumer product strategy professionals. Follow her on Twitter at @srepps

VeriFone Acquires Company That Helps Retailers Swap Registers for iPads

Tricia Duryee — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:09:59 +0000

VeriFone, the largest maker of cash registers and other payment processing devices, has acquired Global Bay, which develops software that helps retailers use alternate devices, such as iPads, as payment options.

I recently wrote about how Global Bay was assisting Pacific Sunwear in rolling out iPads to 600-plus stores over the next year.

At the time, Global Bay’s CEO Sandeep Bhanote called it “an Apple world in retail” and said that virtually no retailers were currently “looking at Android, or at the older generation of devices.”

Of course, VeriFone is the incumbent provider that has prospered greatly based on those older devices, but it’s now exploring new digital options.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Bhanote has been appointed general manager of VeriFone’s Mobile Retail Systems business.

In a release, VeriFone said the acquisition is part of the company’s strategy to leverage mobile devices more going forward, including smartphones and tablets.

While this likely represents a fairly small acquisition, VeriFone has said it may acquire one company a year at roughly $500 million to $700 million apiece, along with several smaller transactions. In all, its purchases could add up to as much as $1 billion annually.

Time for a Sequel to AOL-Time Warner?

Dennis K. Berman — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:21:49 +0000

This isn’t a joke. The buzz from California is that it just may be time to try another AOL-Time Warner.

That $164 billion merger disaster defined a decade of thoughtless deal making, reckless ego and vaporous “synergy.”

But for Hollywood executives and bankers now toting their iPads like baby blankets, the new technology has brought them back to an old conversation about “content” and its distribution.

Just as cable-television upended the distribution of films and television, so too are increasingly mature digital platforms like 20 million-customer Netflix or even Google Inc.’s YouTube. As these platforms spar with cable-operators and media conglomerates for consumer attention, they are finding it increasingly necessary to differentiate themselves.

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Apple: King of All Mobile PCs

John Paczkowski — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:31:52 +0000

If the iPad truly is a PC and not the “media tablet” that some claim, then Apple is the largest mobile PC vendor in the world.

According to DisplaySearch, Apple shipped 10.2 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2010–iPads, MacBooks and MacBook Pros–to claim a 17.2 percent share of the mobile PC market. That makes it the new global leader, a title it wrests from Hewlett-Packard, which shipped 9.3 million units during the same period for a 15.6 share and a second-place ranking. Acer ranked third, with 14 percent of the market and 8.4 million units shipped. Dell ranked fourth, with 5.9 million units shipped and a 9.9 percent market share.

An interesting rebalancing of market power and one that DisplaySearch believes is the result not just of first-mover advantage from the iPad, but notebook shipment growth that exceeds the industry average. Said Richard Shim, senior analyst at DisplaySearch, “Apple is currently benefiting from significant and comprehensive growth from both sectors of the mobile PC spectrum, notebooks and tablet PCs.”

[Image credit: Gizmodo commenter Ahubbuch]

It's Hard to Cut the Charging Cords

Katherine Boehret — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:24:07 +0000

What if there was a product that made it easy to charge all your household mobile devices and it used just a single cord to do it?

Charging pads are designed to do just that. The WildCharge Pad from PureEnergy Solutions Inc., one of the first charging pads, seemed revolutionary when it came out three years ago. It’s a small, thin pad covered in panels that conduct electricity. It plugs into the wall, and devices can be casually dropped onto it so they can start juicing up.

[ See post to watch video ]

Yet, here we are still fumbling around to find the right charging cord to plug into our phones, iPads, digital cameras and portable music players. This week, I decided to investigate why charging pads haven’t caught on with consumers.

One reason is that people may not want to buy a charging accessory when gadgets come with their own cords. Also, for devices to work with these charging surfaces, they must have special backs or cases that correspond with the pad. These can change the look of a device, making them bulky.

However, manufacturers of smart phones and other gadgets are starting to incorporate the technology behind charging pads at the design level so they aren’t so obtuse. Palm Inc., now a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard, designed a $20 (after instant rebate) accessory called the Touchstone that works as a magnetic charging dock for its Pre smart phones. A special backing still must be swapped out for the Pre’s regular back, but this looks just like the phone’s regular backing. And last week, when H-P unveiled its TouchPad tablet, due out this summer, the company confirmed this device would also work with a Touchstone charger.

Energizer’s Inductive Charger

But why isn’t there one charging pad that works with several different gadgets and doesn’t require an unattractive sleeve? Of the different charging technologies, there isn’t one that has gained a toehold.

A group called the Wireless Power Consortium—which includes a host of different companies like smart-phone makers, wireless carriers and TV makers—created what it intends to be an international standard for interoperable wireless charging, called Qi (pronounced “chee”). The WPC hopes manufacturers will eventually make devices that are Qi compliant so they all work with the same charging pad and don’t require a sleeve, since the technology would be built in. Products using this charging standard would have a Qi logo on their packaging. Compared with the current situation of using different chargers for each device, Qi sounds heavenly.

Though the WPC includes members like Samsung, LG Electronics, Verizon Wireless and Motorola, none of the companies has introduced a Qi-compliant product. When I asked a Motorola spokeswoman if it had plans to use the Qi standard in its products, she would only say that the company is evaluating the technology for future devices. Likewise for BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd., a WPC member. A spokeswoman said she couldn’t comment on future product plans.

In September, another trade group, the Consumer Electronics Association, created a panel to sort through various opinions on wireless power technical standards. The sole aim of the group is to collect and share information with manufacturers. This group is examining five issues that include: nomenclature; safety; radio-frequency emissions and efficiency; and standby measurement. A CEA spokeswoman said the panel and the WPC share many of the same members and that the panel plans to share information on a charging standard.

Duracell’s myGrid charging pad, which uses the conductive charging technology.

There are two types of charging technology and it isn’t clear yet which one will become the standard. The Qi standard involves a technology called inductive charging, while other companies, like PureEnergy Solutions, use a conductive charging technology.

One big difference is that inductive chargers don’t require metal-on-metal connections to charge a device like conductive chargers do. This means inductive charging will work through lots of different materials, including wood, plastic or leather. This could allow pads to be built into different surfaces, such as airplane trays and office furniture. Late last year, the first Qi-enabled wireless charging station was installed at Windsor International Airport in Ontario.

One product that is Qi compliant is Energizer’s $89 Inductive Charger (http://energizer.com/inductive), but this still requires sleeves for devices. The sleeves cost $35 each and are available for BlackBerrys, the iPhone 3G or 3GS and iPhone 4. Late this summer, Energizer will introduce a universal adapter with micro- and mini-USB compatibility.

Powermat USA’s $60 Wireless Charging System for the iPhone 4 (powermat.com) uses a slightly different technology that requires devices to rest on charging pads in specific positions.

On the conductive front, PureEnergy Solutions has licensed its WildCharge Technology to other companies. All licensees feature a WildCharge Mark of Interoperability on their products so consumers know which products are compatible with the WildCharge charging pad.

Duracell uses this technology in its MyGrid line of products (http://3.ly/A7Yh), including the $85 iPhone Starter Kit and a $90 cellphone starter kit. RadioShack will use WildCharge Technology in its $50 Enercell Charging Pad (http://3.ly/6gcY), which will be available in June, and skins for devices that charge on these pads will cost about $30 each.

In the future, hopefully, one of these committees will figure out which technology is best to establish one standard that saves people from using a rat’s nest of power cords.

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com

51 Percent of CIOs Planning Tablet Deployments in 2011

John Paczkowski — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:00:36 +0000

Company-subsidized tablets may outnumber their employee-owned counterparts sooner than expected.

Morgan Stanley recently surveyed 50 enterprise CIOs about current and future tablet deployments and came back with some pretty astonishing findings: 21 percent of them are already purchasing tablets for employees and 51 percent expect to begin doing so in the coming year. In total, 67 percent of the CIOs surveyed said they’re either planning to deploy tablets or provide support for employee-owned ones this year. Now the scope of these deployments remains to be seen, but the fact that so many are being budgeted suggests the tablet is gaining meaningful traction in enterprise.

And if you’re dubious of that claim, consider this: Pads accounted for 29 percent of new enterprise activations of Good Technology software in December 2010, up from 25 percent the month prior. Clearly, there’s growing corporate interest in the tablet, which means there are growing opportunities for companies that provide enterprise software solutions for it–mobile security vendors like Check Point, desktop virtualization companies like VMware and cloud-based applications outfits like Salesforce.com.

Apple and Samsung Hammering Out $7.8 Billion Display Deal

John Paczkowski — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:32:46 +0000

With demand for its iOS devices growing, Apple is once again moving to secure vast storehouses of parts with which to build them. Cupertino is said to be finalizing a massive component contract with Samsung, one that would make it the company’s single largest customer.

Worth about $7.8 billion, the deal is believed to include liquid-crystal display panels for the next iteration of the iPad, as well as mobile application processors and NAND flash memory chips used for the U.S. company’s iPhones and iPads.

One unknown: Whether the displays reportedly included in this deal are the rumored Super PLS panels that offer not just a wider viewing angle, but superior visibility outdoors. Another: Whether this deal is somehow related to the $3.9 billion component supplies and capacity contract Apple COO Tim Cook mentioned during Apple’s first-quarter earnings call.

“In the past several quarters we’ve identified another area and come to some recent agreements that [CFO Peter Oppenheimer] talked about in his opening comments, in that these payments consist of prepayments and capital for process equipment and tooling,” Cook said back in January. “And similar to the flash agreements, they’re focused in that area we feel is very strategic. And so I’d prefer not to go into more detail about what specific area it’s in, but it’s the same kind of thinking that led us to those deals that led us to the flash deal.”

PREVIOUSLY: Apple Using Cash to Secure Cache of Components

Counting Tablets, Apple Is Third in Global PC Sales

John Paczkowski — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:44:47 +0000

Apple is now the third-largest PC maker in the world, according to research firm Canalys, which has decided to include tablets like the iPad in its definition of a PC. Cupertino shipped 11.5 million Macs and iPads in the fourth quarter of 2010, vaulting it into third place in global shipments, ahead of Dell and Lenovo and behind Acer and HP. While the industry’s PC sales grew 19.2 percent from the same period in 2009, Apple’s PC sales grew a jaw-dropping 241 percent. The catalyst for that growth: The iPad.

“Each new product category typically causes a significant shift in market shares,” said Canalys senior analyst Daryl Chiam. “Apple is benefiting from pads, just as Acer, Samsung and Asus previously did with netbooks. The PC industry has always evolved this way, starting when Toshiba and Compaq rode high on the original notebook wave.”

And to those who contend that the iPad and similar devices shouldn’t be tallied in the same category as laptops and desktops?
“Any argument that a pad is not a PC is simply out of sync,” said Chiam.

[Image credit: Gizmodo commenter Ahubbuch]

Facebook's Mobile Strategy: It's All About Global Growth

Liz Gannes — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 23:40:24 +0000

While many tiny companies devote all their resources to building cutting-edge apps only accessible to the relatively well-off tier of users with smartphones, the huge-by-comparison Facebook puts its effort into mobile as a growth opportunity.

Facebook today released a feature-phone app that is designed to be kind of a gateway drug for both Facebook participation and mobile data usage. The company has arranged deals with 13 carriers to give users of the app free Facebook-related data access for 90 days.

If you look at the countries where the launch partner carriers are from, you can see where Facebook thinks it can grow: Romania, India, Mexico and elsewhere.

Facebook designed the app with partner Snaptu and says it is compatible with more than 2,500 phone models.

Though Facebook started on the Web, mobile is no small part of its usage. Facebook says it has more than 200 million active mobile users, who are twice as active on Facebook as non-mobile users.

The feature-phone app follows similar carrier arrangements for Facebook’s speed-optimized mobile Web site, 0.facebook.com.

Meanwhile, those of us in the U.S. with smartphones and iPads reap the attention of start-ups like Instagram and Flipboard, while Facebook leaves us relatively ignored. Facebook’s is the most-downloaded free app of all time from Apple’s App Store (though it’s overdue for a refresh), and the company has no app for the iPad.

Much of Facebook’s effort on the mobile front has been business development rather than technical; it has partnerships with more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries. The company’s head of mobile business development, Ali Rosenthal, left the company last week, saying she would likely pursue a start-up.

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.

Comcast Unit Finds New Use for the iPhone: Getting Work Done

Ina Fried — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 20:45:08 +0000

While plenty of people are using their iPhones and iPads to watch video, Comcast also thinks Apple’s mobile devices can play a role in helping professional video get onto the Internet.

ThePlatform, a subsidiary of the cable giant, plans this week to launch a program that will allow workers whose job it is to post video content to use their iPhone to manage certain functions.

Workers will still have to use a PC or Mac to do the main work, but the iPhone app will allow basic tasks such as publishing a previously hidden piece of content (or taking down a piece that got published inadvertently).

“With the iPhone being a fairly ubiquitous device for media consumption, we felt it was also the perfect platform for media management,” said Ian Blaine, the CEO of thePlatform, which Comcast acquired in 2006. “It’s usually along with people wherever they are.”

Though clearly a niche product, it is the kind of application that many expect to see more of as businesses find ways of incorporating mobile devices into their office worfklow.

“I think what we are doing is a harbinger for others if they are not doing it already,” Blaine said.

Mpx, the main program developed by thePlatform, is used by Comcast itself and also sold to other cable providers such as Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and Cox, as well as by individual content producers such as NBC, PBS and Canada’s CBC. Mpx is used to edit and prepare video for sending to various devices, including phones, computers and set-top boxes.

“We’ve always been in the game of publishing to mobile devices, but being able to take advantage of the platform for actually publishing is pretty great and we are excited about it,” Blaine said.

The company has been testing the product with a few of its customers. Among those excited about the new mobile version of mpx are the folks at Time Warner Cable who use thePlatform to publish their content.

“We have been working with thePlatform to create a solution that supports our producers or editors responsible for ensuring that shows or clips are ready for publication, 24 hours a day,” said Eric Manchester, a member of Time Warner Cable’s technical staff. “Having a solution we can carry on us at all times allows us to solve many time sensitive issues without being tied to our desks.”

For now, those using the iPhone app will see only thumbnails of the videos in question, but Blaine said adding full-video previews is tops on the company’s list of features to add. It will also see if there is a way to achieve similar capabilities on the BlackBerry, given that many companies also use those devices.

With Android, Blaine said the company may not even need to do a separate app because the desktop version of mpx runs using Flash, which Android supports.

More Tech Firms in Festive Mood

Pui-Wing Tam — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:15:44 +0000

Silicon Valley’s improving outlook is beginning to manifest itself through local companies’ holiday gifts and parties.

Take Equilar Inc. Last year, the Redwood City-based compensation-research firm handed out pullover fleeces with the company’s logo as an end-of-year gift to its work force. This year, the firm held a Thanksgiving lunch and went one better: It gave out Apple Inc. iPads, which start at $499, to all 74 employees.

“We wanted to thank everyone for a great year,” says David Chun, Equilar’s chief executive. He adds that the 10-year-old company is up 30 to 40 percent in revenue this year.

Equilar is one of dozens of Silicon Valley start-ups ramping up their rewards to employees in a reflection of improving business. While many companies were still recovering from the recession last year, this year has been marked by revenue improvements across much of the technology industry, along with stepped-up hiring and increased venture-capital funding of start-ups.

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Best Buy Joins Free Shipping Fray

Matt Jarzemsky — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:33:00 +0000

Best Buy Co. said it plans to offer free online shipping on certain items through Dec. 21, following a similar move by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. earlier this month.
The electronics retailer said Wednesday its offer is valid on “hundreds of thousands” of items, including all CDs, Blu-Ray and DVD movies and gaming software and accessories. Some items, such as Apple Inc.’s iPads, laptop computers and major appliances are not included.
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, plans to provide free shipping on more than 60,000 online items during the holidays without the need for a minimum purchase or subscription plan.
The strategy was seen as an attempt to counter a similar but broader deal from rival Target Inc. and grab sales from e-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc. From Nov. 21 to Dec. 11, Target plans to offer free shipping on more than 800,000 items, on orders of at least $50. Amazon already includes free shipping on many orders over $25.

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H-P Releases Its $800 Slate, the Latest iPad Rival

Nathan Becker — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:58:41 +0000

Hewlett-Packard Co. released a touchscreen tablet computer Friday that runs Windows, becoming the latest computer maker to jump into the fray following Apple Inc.’s debut of the iPad earlier this year.

H-P’s Slate 500 tablet can be bought on the company’s website for $799—above the price of most iPads, which range in price from $499 to $829, depending on storage space and wireless connectivity.

The Slate 500, which has an 8.9-inch screen, will run Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 7 operating system, and is targeted at business customers. IPads have a 9.7-inch screen.

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Apple Beats Earnings Estimates, but Low on Guidance, iPad Sales

Peter Kafka — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:37:11 +0000

First hit from Apple earnings: EPS of $4.64 and revenues of $20.34 billion. The consensus was $4.05 and $18.8 billion.

The Street won’t like guidance, though: Apple is predicting Q1 EPS of $4.80, below the $5.04 analysts were looking for. They will also sputter a bit on this number: Apple sold 4.19 million iPads, and the consensus was 4.7 million.

And then on the other hand, Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones last quarter, well above both the official 11 million consensus and the 13 million “what we’re really looking for” number.

Ominous/hopeful Steve Jobs quote: “We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year.”

UPDATE: Live earnings call coverage here.

Other numbers you care about:

Macs sold: 3.89 million.

iPods sold: 9.05 million.

Press release text:

Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results
Record Mac, iPhone and iPad Sales
Highest Revenue and Earnings Ever

CUPERTINO, California—October 18, 2010—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 fourth quarter ended September 25, 2010. The Company posted record revenue of $20.34 billion and net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $12.21 billion and net quarterly profit of $2.53 billion, or $2.77 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.9 percent compared to 41.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 57 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Apple sold 3.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 27 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 91 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.05 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 11 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.19 million iPads during the quarter.
“We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 percent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter. We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year.”
“We’re thrilled with the performance and strength of our business, generating almost $5.7 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $4.80.”

Businesses Add iPads to Their Briefcases

Ben Worthen — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:07:15 +0000

When Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) first iPhone came out in 2007, many companies told their employees that the device wasn’t appropriate for the workplace. The iPad is a different story.

The company’s tablet-style device seems to be sidestepping the resistance that the iPhone and other consumer-oriented devices have faced in the corporate environment. Indeed, many businesses have raced to snap up iPads.

One example is the Chicago law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, which banned the iPhone when it first came out yet preordered 10 iPads in the run up to the tablet’s release in April.

“We made sure that we knew as much about these devices as possible,” said Michael Barnas, the firm’s director of application services. The technology department now offers access to its internal systems for more than 50 iPad-toting attorneys, and anticipates issuing iPads as an alternative to laptops as soon as next year.

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Tech Sector Defies Gravity as Web Drives Upgrades

Don Clark and Pui-Wing Tam — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:41:43 +0000

Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPads and iPhones are flying off store shelves. Consumers are snapping up laptops. Some companies are opening the spigot on long-delayed upgrades to computer systems.

Despite renewed worries about the global economy, the technology industry is riding a recovery that underscores the evolution of the Internet.

More proof of the industry’s improved health is likely to arrive this week in quarterly financial results. Chip giant Intel Corp. (INTC) is expected to get the ball rolling Tuesday with its fifth- straight upbeat earnings report. Solid growth is expected from other tech bellwethers, including Google Inc. (GOOG) on Thursday and Apple on July 20.

So far, the upswing doesn’t begin to match the tech booms of the late 1990s and the middle years of this decade. And the stock prices of many technology companies have been under pressure since the spring, reflecting fears that the recovery’s momentum can’t continue.

But anecdotal evidence points to continued consumer demand for smartphones, laptop computers, software and other products, while some businesses are beginning to step up spending on servers, storage systems and networking equipment.

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App Watch: Phoning From the iPad

Yukari Iwatani Kane — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:00:45 +0000

Apple’s (AAPL) iPad doesn’t technically offer the ability to make phone calls, but New York-based voice over IP phone system provider M5 Networks has figured out a way to offer clients the capability through an app.

M5 offers mid-sized businesses and organizations including Amnesty International and Etsy the ability to manage work calls through the “cloud” — the tech term for the Internet — so employees can make and receive phone calls from anywhere in the world from any Internet-connected device, including cell phones and computers, as if they were going through their office line. Clients can also start a phone call on one device and seamlessly transfer it to another device mid-call.

Late last month, it added the ability to make and take calls through iPads. The app is still in the testing phase, but M5 Chief Executive Dan Hoffman says that it gives its clients yet another option for fielding their phone calls.

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H-P on Printing From the Cloud

Yun-Hee Kim — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:57:20 +0000

IPads, smart phones and e-readers are hot in the consumer electronics industry right now, and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) wants in on the action — even with its printers.

The company unveiled Tuesday in Hong Kong its new line of web-enabled printers that allow you to print from smart phones and other mobile devices by storing documents and files in the “cloud.” H-P’s executive vice president for the company’s imaging and printing group, Vyomesh Joshi, calls the new printers a “game changer.”

Dow Jones spoke with Mr. Joshi about how printing technology is evolving and why H-P believes printing from your cellphone will be the next big thing.

Dow Jones: Printing has always been an integral part of H-P’s business for a while. There was some downturn with the recession in 2009. Are you now seeing momentum starting to pick up?

Mr. Joshi: If you look at our second-quarter results, we saw tremendous growth globally, and great growth in Asia. Our supplies grew. If you look at our imaging and printing group, there was growth in hardware and unit growth was very good. We are reinvesting into sales and R&D. We feel that imaging and printing is back and it’s going to be very, very important for H-P.

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Apple to Build Five Million iPads in First Half 2010, Analyst Says

Eric Savitz — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:25:30 +0000

Apple (AAPL) is on track to build five million iPads in the first half of 2010, according to FBR Capital chip analyst Craig Berger.

“We believe various news articles and competitor notes calling for a build delay were just false alarms,” he writes. The company, of course, has now set an April 3 launch for Wi-Fi versions of the iPad, with 3G versions to ship toward the end of April. Berger, who tracks the chip industry, thinks many iPhone component suppliers will also sell into the iPad, including Infineon (IFX), Skyworks (SKWS), Triquint (TQNT), Broadcom (BRCM) and Texas Instruments (TXN). Production in the 4-5 million unit range would “drive some material revenues” for these companies, he says, “particularly BRCM.”

Meanwhiile, Berger has revised his estimates on iPod, iPhone, notebook and desktop builds.

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