Digital Zone 193: The iPad Cometh

Posted by Patrick Wiscombe on January 26, 2010 under Tech Podcasts | Be the First to Comment

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In this edition of the Digital Zone, we talked about:

• iPhone coming to all carriers
• Historic quarterly results for Apple
• New York Times developing for Apple’s tablet
• Apple working on content relationships

BusinessWeek is reporting that Apple may release the iPhone to all U.S. wireless carriers within the next 18 months which cold double or triple the number of devices sold.  T-Mobile will get the phone this summer, followed by Verizon Wireless and Sprint in the fall.  AT&T has said subscribers who use smartphones typically spend 80 percent more a month than the average customer.  With the addition of more carriers, iPhone sales in the U.S. will increase by 15 million to 25 million units annually accord to one analyst.

Apple announced financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2010.  For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $15.68 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.38 billion.  Gross margin was 40.9 percent and international sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue. The quarter was Apple’s most profitable quarter in their history and included the highest Mac and iPhone sales.  Apple shipped 3.36 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, a unit increase of 33 percent over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 21 million iPods during the quarter, representing 8 percent unit decline over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone unit sales reached 8.7 million, up 100 percent from the year-ago quarter.  Basically, Apple has become $50 billion company is you annualize the revenue.  Here are some of the highlight they talked about during their quarterly results conference call:  – Apple opened 10 new stores during the quarter, bring the worldwide store total to 283.  – A record 50.9 million people visited Apple stores this quarter.  – Seventy percent of the Fortune 100 are piloting or deploying the iPhone

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Apple wants to save paid news media.  The New York Times says CEO Steve Jobs personally believes in the need for a free press and that the tablet is instrumental to keeping this alive in the digital era. The 10-inch touchscreen would give a reason for companies to charge for newspapers and magazines by offering large, color publications through iTunes.  Sources say the Times is developing a version of the newspaper optimized for the tablet and say there’s an ‘always on’ 3G connection for always-on Internet access as well as Wi-Fi for shorter-ranged use and that iPhone apps should still work with the device. 

MacNN.com is reporting that Apple has been working on securing e-book publishers for the tablet. The sources say Apple will probably have some sort of deal secured by launch, although one or more may be in principle only, rather than worked out in detail. Apple may be able to say it has partnerships with “all the major publishers” during this Wednesday’s press event.  A source says the tablet will cost well below $1,000, and has a “a very-readable 10-inch glass screen smaller in size than the Kindle DX with a similar weight.” Apple is also allegedly comparing the difference between the tablet and the Kindle with the leap from black-and-white TV to color.to stifle competition.  Google’s Voice service has 1.4 million users as of October according to a company disclosure to the FCC.

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PODCAST SPONSORS: Please support the companies that make the Patrick Wiscombe podcast network go and take advantage of the special offers only available to our listeners.

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