Industry
Apple shares have fallen 10% in out of hours trading following weaker-than- expected guidance for its current fiscal quarter. Apple said it now expects second quarter revenue of $6.8 billion on a profit of 94 cents a share, below the average analyst estimates of $1.09 a share on revenue of $6.98 billion.
I have just sat in on the US analyst conference call where several analysts claimed that the whole consumer electronic sector was set to crash in light of a pending US recession.
Apple has posted record revenue and profits only a week after announcing new products at Macworld San Francisco. Apple posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share.
Apple posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $1 billion, or $1.14 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 31.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 45 percent of the quarter's revenue.
Demands by Apple that OEM manufacturers include new authentication chips in iPod attach products could lead to problems for consumers as well as retailers and distributors selling the products, Apple has admitted.
Apple have confirmed that consumers with an iPod introduced in September 2007 might encounter some difficulties if they dock it with an speaker or docking system that was purchased in 2007 or earlier.
The culprit is an authentication chip embedded in the latest generation of iPods and required by Apple to be installed in new iPod speaker systems and in other new iPod accessories with video outputs. The chip isn't required for speaker systems or docks that lack video outputs.
According to Apple Insider, Apple has filed a patent for a new generation input device that will allow iPod or iPhone users to play interactive gaming titles on their device's touch-screen while at the same time maintaining control of a secondary application from the touch-screen.
According to Apple Insider the 29-page filing, originally made September 11th of last year, is credited to five Apple engineers and is title "Techniques for interactive input to portable electronic devices." More specifically, it pertains to touch-pads or touch-screens on a mobile device that can determine which application should receive input based on the manner in which the user entered the input.
While handheld devices will increasingly offer hard disk drive solutions, by 2012, flash memory will remain king, predicts research company Parks Associates.
According to Parks Associates' latest report on storage opportunities for handheld devices, 99 percent of mobile phones will have a Flash memory solution through 2007, dipping to 96 percent by the end of 2012. This slight shift is due to a small but emerging market for hard disk drive (HDD) solutions in handheld devices.
Are Apple's days numbered as an iconic IT company and are the technology media that was responsible for building the image of Apple about to turn on it like they did with Microsoft?
This week, the USA technology magazine PC World wrote, "Ten years ago, Microsoft was the company everyone loved to hate. The most vociferous Microsoft haters slammed the company for being a greedy industry bully that used its monopolistic, clunky, copycat operating system to force software on users and coerce partners into unfair licensing deals.
The portable media player market that has seen new iPods from Apple and several new competitors from Sony, Samsung and Toshiba, is forecasting to be a big revenue earner this Xmas with flash based players set to drive sales.
Worldwide shipments of portable media players (PMPs) will grow at a 30 percent annualised rate over the next five years, predicts Parks Associates.
PMPs, which play back video as well as audio, will reach shipments of 132 million units in 2011, driven by consumers upgrading from MP3 players and the popularity of new Web sites that offer downloading of free short video clips, said senior analyst Harry Wang.
Samsung has used the IFA trade show in Berlin to roll out a pair of new MP3 players that include its first model with iPhone-like "motion user interface."
The Korean company which already has an excellent reputation for high quality portable music players is set to make a grab for the lions share of the portable music market not held by Apple.
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The motion-UI model, the flash-memory YP-P2 in 4GB and 8GB variations, is also the company's first video-playing MP3 player with widescreen display and its first with the ability to reorient video for horizontal or vertical viewing.
Despite new iPods due this year and an abundance of portable attachment devices, the Consumer Electronics Association is claiming that the portable audio market has peaked.
After years of stunning growth, sales of portable audio products will decline in dollars this year, although unit sales will continue to increase, according to new estimates from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
Creative Labs, which manufactures MP3 players, webcams, headphones and other products, has launched an online shopping facility on its site.
"With over 70 per cent of Australians online, there is a huge demand for access to services and shopping online," said Creative Labs' Vaiju Deb.
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