davesmall

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

On Jul 28 12:28 PM brewer wrote:

> No way the iPod Touch was an afterthought I think you have that backwards.
> The original iPod was great, but very limited in it's capabilities.
> I think the iPod touch is the solution they chose to evolve the iPod
> and it has worked perfectly. It was then fairly easy to add the
> cell phone function. But it doesn't matter much which came first, so long as we have both chickens and eggs.

You are correct about the chicken and eggs thing. But I'm pretty sure the iPhone was in development long before they came up with the iPod Touch idea as a companion product.

Here is a link to an iPhone Timeline
www.iphonegold.org/iph...

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

When Apple developed the iPhone I'm pretty sure the iPod Touch was an afterthought. They'd already paid the costs of development for the iPhone so it was really easy and inexpensive for them to add the iPod Touch. This turned out to be a grand slam home run for them. In fact, they got two grand slam home runs for the price (in development cost) of one. That's something they're going to want to repeat with the iTablet.

You can bet that there will be both a subsidized 3G/4G version sold through carriers and a WiFi only version sold through regular channels. Both will be able to run Apps from the App Store.

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

On Jul 26 04:08 AM macrelated wrote:
> Apple no longer receives a monthly revenue stream from AT&T.
> That was changed over a year ago. Apple gets an upfront one time
> payment on each phone.

Here is the latest on Apple's iPhone revenue recognition for iPhone sales. They receive payment up front but they recognize the revenue with non GAAP accounting over a period of 24 months. This smooths out and postpones revenue recognition. I believe it would also defer taxes.

brainstormtech.blogs.f.../

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

If you really are looking for a stock to short I would suggest that you focus on MSFT. Here is an article that tells why and goes into great depth.

www.tinyurl.com/ox6prj


On Jul 24 01:07 PM vloscomp wrote:

> Time to short APPL

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

On Jul 25 01:31 PM max12345 wrote:

> Could someone please put forward some good arguments for buying Apple
> stock right now that might be able to convince me and also include
> some future expected target prices a couple of years out?

I think we're at a historical turning point where cell phone providers worldwide are transitioning from being "phone companies" to being "Internet Service Providers." The little gadgets we're calling "smart phones" are really small computers with multiple functions one of which is the telephone. Over the next few years these cell phone service providers will be upgrading to 4th Generation networks with much higher speeds and much greater data capacities. This in turn will further drive adoption of smart phones.

Bottom line is that I believe we're entering a period of rapid and wide adoption of smart phones. Almost everyone will be getting rid of their cell phone and replacing it with a smart phone. This is a huge worldwide market. Much bigger than personal computers.

It's easier for a computer company like Apple to enter the cell phone arena than it is for a cell phone company like Motorola or Nokia to enter the computer busoness. Operating systems like Symbian and Windows Mobile were designed with telephones in mind and they've since tried to add-on computer features. Apple has a significant advatage in terms of software architecture. They also have a key advantage in that they control both the hardware and the software. And they're up to speed now with great products and huge momentum in the marketplace. The incredible success of the App Store caught competitors by surprise. It's now Apple's game to lose.

Smartphones will change the public's perception of these devices away from that of a "cell phone." I use my iPhone constantly but very much for phone calls. I'm not a big telephone talker. Took my wife to the airport last week during rush hour and used it to check a realtime traffic map before choosing my route. Checked stock quotes several times. Checked to see that her flight was on time. Checked email several times and answered a few messages. Used the iPhone's iPod feature to play music on my car stereo to and from the airport. Made note of my cars location in the parking lot in iPhone voice notes. Had breakfast with her at the airport coffee shop and read several NY Times articles on my iPhone. Used AOLs AIM chat app on my iPhone to stay in touch with my office. Round trip two hours. Zero outgoing or incoming phone calls.

Unless the stock market craters again, I see Apple's stock going above $200 again within the next year. I think it has the potential for a really big run-up as happened with Google.

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

You are correct about one thing. You don't get it. You really don't.

We often hear such whining from people who don't own an iPhone and can only imagine what the user experience is really like. Get an iPhone and prepare to have your eyes opened wide. Very wide. The typical reaction of a person who gets an iPhone for the first time is, "Wow! I didn't fully realize what I was missing."

My iPhone can have up to 132 apps installed at one time. I currently have about 100 installed. Out of the 50,000 or so available I suspect you too might be able to find 100 that you'd find useful. But you'll never know, will you?

You remind me of my son. When he was sixteen years old I put a note on the refrigerator door that read, "Why don't you leave home now while you still know everything?"


On Jul 24 04:49 PM vloscomp wrote:

> I don't get the significant of the apps store: there are 50,000 crappy
> apps that i do not want, and as far as 1.5 billions download, how
> many of those are profitable or useful?

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

Reply to vloscomp who said, "The key point of this story is the infrastructure that will allow mobile devices (not just APPL devices) to connect to the internet. I am so happy that you chumps had been cheering APPL for the last 24 months, but it is time (by Oct) for me to bid adew to APPL. Device technology have been competitive market (ie US Robotics 56K modems, HP Calculators ...) and the shelf life of a device is probably about 12 months or less. iTouch has no barrier to a competitive "me too", therefore, APPL will see erosion in profit."

You obviously don't get the significance of the app store (50,000 apps and 1.5 Billion downloads in just one year); integration with iTunes including wireless downloads, and the elegance of Apple's user friendly designs. Sure they're going to be copied. Microsoft built their business on copying. But betting against Apple is high risk investing to say the least. Read BurkPhoto's second post (above). He says it very well.

Why Apple's iTouch Tablet Will Become Its Flagship Product

This is a great article Jason. I think you have made some very good points.

You should give some additional thought to where Apple might be able to go with a tablet, or perhaps a family of tablet computers. A tablet could become one piece of a more robust system.

Start with a 13" MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air to visualize the kind of overall quality I have in mind. Now make the lid detachable. When detached the lid becomes a tablet computer running the iPhone version of OS X with touch Keypad. When attached the computer runs the regular version of OS X with physical keyboard and ability to run all applications such as Photoshop, etc. Both versions of the OS can coexist and run simultaneously using virtualization. In other words, the detached lid works like a giant iPod Touch but morfs into a full-featured computer with the complete OS X when attached to the bottom unit and keyboard.

Connect the base to the lid with Bluetooth. Put some semiconductor storage in the lid and a big hard disk in the base. You'll need one of those non-user changeable long-life Apple batteries in each unit.

When riding in an airplane put the base in overhead storage and use the lid as a tablet on your tray table. Save files to disk wirelessly using Bluetooth.

Incorporate a pull-out bluetooth headset in the design for phone calls via Mi-Fi (or use an iPhone and access the internet with tethering).

So you're in a restaurant making a sales presentation to a client. The base (computer bottom) is in your briefcase alongside your chair. Your presentation is stored there on the hard disk. The presentation is to be displayed on the bright high res LED 1280 X1024 display on your tablet and sent from disk via Bluetooth. You are connected to the internet via tethering to your iPhone or MiFi. You will also use your iPhone as a remote control for the slide presentation.

A product like this could be sold in pieces. Buy the lid as a huge iPod Touch. Buy the base later with keyboard, hard disk, and SuperDrive to convert to a full fledged laptop. Buy an iPhone to get Internet tethering via 3G (or a Mi-Fi modem as your article suggests).

It is important that it be able to run iPhone Apps so it can piggy-back on the amazing App Store. But it wouldn't have to run that version of OS X exclusively thanks to virtualization.

Four Suggestions To Save Sprint

I'd love to be playing Sprint's hand right now. Verizon and AT&T each have a much bigger pile of chips but they're both extremely vulnerable.

All the cell phone carriers, both in the USA and internationally, have their heads planted deeply in the sand. None of them are offering what consumers really want. There is a major vacuum. Sprint could step up and fill that vacuum.

So what is it that consumers want? It's unlimited everything for a flat monthly charge that's reasonable and affordable. No contracts. No minutes. No roaming charges. No KB data download charges. Just one monthly flat charge of maybe $29.95 would do it.

The telephone is rapidly becoming the tail and the computer functions are becoming the dog (email, web browsing, maps, video, etc.). The telephone itself is a pedestrian feature.

The $29.95 monthly charge needs to include unlimited data and laptop tethering at no additional charge. A phone like the Nokia N70 Series which supports Bluetooth laptop computer tethering should be featured. No additional contract or PC card for computer data access. The consumer is already paying for that with the phone charges.

Add $10 per additional phone (per month) in the same household.

Add $20 per month for unlimited International phone and data roaming with never a kilobyte charge.

Include WiFi connectivity as an added feature on phones. Sell only unlocked phones. Sell the phones at full price (no subsidy built into monthly charges).

This will fix Sprint's major problem of departing customers. Their new biggest problem will be how to service the horde of new customers leaving AT&T and Verizon for Sprint.

WiMax is an emerging technology with lots of potential. Intel is building WiMax connectivity into their next generation microprocessors. Sprint's best move in recent years was to make a committment to WiMax. They just need to be sure they don't screw it up by attempting to price the service like a traditional cell phone company rather than an ISP.

They're sort of stuck with the Nextel albatross and too bad they're on CDMA rather than GSM. Oh well. Not much they can do about those problems at this juncture. Also too bad they didn't get the iPhone from Apple. Too late for that one as well.

So their best shot is to try and fix the badly broken pricing model that the cell phone industry is wedded to. Consumers hate it.

Everyone should read Walt Mossberg's recent article in the Wall Street Journal titled, "Free My Phone." He makes some great points. Here is a link mossblog.allthingsd.co.../

As a matter of disclosure I dropped my Sprint account last year and switched to a T-Mobile prepaid because the economics were much better. Then, a few months ago, I bought an iPhone and reluctantly signed on with AT&T. Love the iPhone. Hate AT&T's deal.