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Apple has Record Quarter, iPhones, iPad Sales Soar

January 25, 2012 by

Apple continues to see strong sales for its mobile products as iPhones and iPads witnessed record sales, as did its Macintosh computers, in its fiscal first quarter that ended December 31, 2011. The company had quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and a quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion.

It is interesting to note that in its product lineup Apple’s computers come in a far third place in terms of unit sales with only its iPod platform showing a decline, most likely because its iPhones, with their large storage capacity can easily double as a dedicated music player.

The company sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Those figures are all time highs for the company. It only sold 15.4 million iPods, a 21 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

Another fact that stands out from the results is that Apple admitted that its tablets are cannibalizing sales of its Macintosh computers, even when it has a record setting quarter for the computer.

It will be interesting to see how this phenomenon carries over to the Intel-based PC space. Will the ultrabooks stave off declining sales? If not Intel had better ramp up its push to establish its Atom processor in the tablet and smartphone space.

Apple also reported that it did not believe that the Kindle Fire, and other smaller form factor ebook readers that also had very strong holiday sales, had any material impact on its iPad sales.

While analysts had expected a strong quarter from the company some admitted that they were staggered by the results and predict that the company will be able to maintain its momentum going forward, at least in the near term, as it has just started to expand into the Chinese market. It is also expected to release at least one new generation of iPads as well as a new iPhone later this year, moves that should also help see a surge in demand for its products.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Barnes & Noble, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Restructuring Management at RIM, Corporate Restructure Next?

January 24, 2012 by


Co-CEOs step down, New CEO Named

The top management picture of wireless developer Research in Motion (RIM) has been completely redrawn this week with its cofounders surrendering the position of CEO and the board implementing a new top executive.

Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, the co-chief executives and co-chairmen of the company announced that they were stepping down and submitted a succession plan to the company’s Board of Directors that included promoting one of the company’s two Chief Operating Officers, Thorston Heins, as the new CEO and president.

Lazaridis was the company’s founder and he has worked very closely with Balsillie as it grew to a $20 bn player and developer of the first popular smartphone, the BlackBerry.

However both Balsillie and Lazaridis will remain with the company in prominent roles. Lazaridis was named vice chairman of the board while Balsillie will remain as a director. Barbara Stymiest, who formerly served as a member of Royal Bank of Canada’s Group Executive and has been a member of RIM’s Board since 2007, has been named the independent Board Chair. John Richardson, formerly Lead Director, will remain on the Board. Prem Watsa, Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings, also was named to the Board, expanding it to 11 members.

Declining Market Cap, Revenue and Market Share

The move comes as the once high flying developer of the BlackBerry is facing losses that are expected to extend across the current fiscal year and possibly beyond as demand for its technology continues to wane and the current generation of smartphones and tablets siphon away business.

It suffered a very bad 2011. Its market share has been plummeting in the smartphone segment, dropping from an estimated 30.4% to 16.6% as Android and to a lesser extent Apple iPhones have both expanded the overall market and at the same time eroded RIMs position in it.

The decline in market share has been accompanies by an even greater stock price decline, with a 75% decline in its stock value over the course of the year. It reported a 71% decline in earnings in its 3rd Quarter, it’s most recent. It has been hurt also by a delay in its next generation phones, the BlackBerry 10, now due late this year, and the fact that its tablet, the Playbook, has been a non-starter.

There have been increasingly growing demand from shareholders for vigorous action by the company, up to and including breaking it up or selling it in the last months. The promotion of Heins has not been met with universal approval by shareholders and analysts and is likely to fuel even more negative comments as Heins tries to turn around the company.

Fortune called Heins the wrong choice for CEO. Investopedia wonders if his appointment is simply ‘old wine in a new bottle’ and The New York Times led off with the headline ‘Markets Are Not Convinced by a New Leader at RIM’.

Yet he does have a number of assets in his favor- the company has new generation phones and tablets in the pipeline, it has $1.5bn in cash in the bank and a loyal core of customers that still claim it has the best tools for business. So while Heins has a tough road ahead of him, he has some props to help him along the way.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, BlackBerry, iPhone, The New York Times Tagged With: , ,

Nike Expands Presence in Fitness Tracking Space with Nike + FuelBand

January 23, 2012 by

Nike has entered the fitness tracking and measurement space with a user wearable wristband that tracks a user’s daily activity and uses a Nike-developed metric called NikeFuel to analyze your overall activity and oxygen burned.

There is a growing market for connected activity tracking product, including Motorola Mobility’s MotoActv and Jawbone Up as the most direct competition for this, but also varied other products including those using Ant Wireless’ Ant + such as the range of tools from Garmin and products that are platform specific like iBike.

The Nike+ FuelBand, slated to be released by the end of next month with a $150 price tag, includes a bracelet that the user wears. It features a three axis accelerometer that measures activity, primarily information such as the number of steps a user has taken, the time and distance.

The band has an option of four different metrics to chart: Time, Calories, Steps and NikeFuel. NikeFuel is a newly developed fitness metric from the company that is designed to convert the results based on the motion and the estimated oxygen burned a user can see what their daily activity totals and instead of giving a calorie count that might have large variables according to the persons’ size, sex and shape NikeFuel is a normalized score that awards equal points for the same activity regardless of physical makeup.

The wrist band has a set of 20 built-in LEDs that range from red to green and provide a user with an instant update as to where they are in relationship to their daily goal. This goal is set by the user and they can set it for either total activity of how much NikeFuel they wish to achieve. Each day’s activity is reset at midnight back to zero.

The company has been developing feedback products for some time in the runner category with Nike Plus but this time it is expanding out from that field with a platform that is designed for any type of activity. In addition the NikeFuel feature is a step up for the data that athletes had been able to gather in the past with Nike products. The company will provide NikeFuel feedback for its existing Nike Plus products at some point n the future.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Cycling, iBike, iPhone, Nike, Wahoo Fitness Tagged With: , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Apple to Own iBook Rights?

January 23, 2012 by

Has Google lost control of Android? A piece in the Guardian is suggesting that the OS has gotten beyond the company’s control and that fragmentation will continue to loosen its grip — but it is not going so far as to say that this will harm its widespread adoption due to an uneven user experience.

The post makes some interesting observations about the difference between the Android space and Apple’s iOS market, noting that since Apple has always been fanatical about control it has a relatively minor problem in this space.

It claims that Android is suffering fragmentation in 5 specific areas: user interface, device, operating system, market place and service, and that the fragmentation is severe. However Google, not surprisingly, takes a very different view.


Does Apple own book rights to iBook creations?

That is the position that Ed Bott over at ZDNet, among others, is taking after doing what almost everyone fails to do on a regular basis — read the license agreement that appears at the bottom of the page that you must click prior to using the software.

According to his post Apple’s iBooks Author program’s End User License Agreement (EULA) gives Apple not only the usual rights to the software, but also to the output that has been created by the software, in other words all of the text books that are created using the program!

The document says that you can give a work created with the software for free but that Apple has the right to accept a book or reject any book for sale and that the author must enter an agreement with the company prior to publishing. If you go look at the blog entry, and I recommend that you do, read the responses as well.

Mobile Apps vs. Web Usage — Times are changing

Web analytic company Flurry Analytics’ latest blog post shows some very interesting changes in how people access the Internet, how much time they spend, on average, browsing, and how this relates to mobile app usage.

Using data from the last 18 months there is a growing trend to using mobile apps and away from browsing on both mobile and desktop devices. At the start of the period the average user spent an average of 64 minutes a day browsing and 43 minutes a day using apps on their devices.

Both activities have seen a strong increase, with browsing growing to 72 minutes a day, although that is down from 74 minutes just six months ago. Use of smartphones and tablet mobile apps has jumped to 94 minutes a day, with the six month ago numbers logging in at 81 minutes. I want to know how people keep their average numbers so low!

Are Windows Phones poised for huge growth?

Despite a market share that is currently miniscule at the moment, a market research firm is claiming that phones based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS will see huge growth and over take Apple’s iPhones by 2015.

Computerworld has a good piece using research from iSuppli that shows the analyst firm expects Microsoft’s share to grow from 1.9% of the market in 2011 to 16.7% in 2015, a share that will be good enough to bump iOS to third while both will trail the huge Android market that will encompass 58.1% of the market.

The growth will be primarily driven by new devices such as the Nokia Lumina 900, Nokia’s first 4G device and one that will sold by both AT&T and possibly more importantly, by Microsoft’s extensive sales channel.

Apple vs Motorola Patent update

A judge has narrowed the number of patents that are in dispute between Motorola and Apple. He invalidated two and said that a third was not infringed upon. He did say that five patents had issues the required a trial.

Apple has already lost a US ruling where it had accused Motorola of infringing on three of Apple’s patents and the company has suits against Motorola and others ongoing elsewhere around the globe.

Chevrolet wants you to use a tablet during the Super Bowl

General Motor’s Chevrolet division is one of many advertisers that has purchased multimillion dollar spots that will air during the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast on Feb. 5th, but plans a more interactive effort than any have done in the past.

The division is releasing an app for use with Android and iOS devices and available at their respective stores as well as at chevy.com/gametime it will have a wide range of activities including trivia contests that will enable users to win prizes.

The company said that there will be thousands of prizes, from both Chevy but also from as Bridgestone, Motorola, the NFL and NFLShop.com, Papa John’s Pizza and Sirius XM Radio. This is certainly an interesting method designed to maximize the millions the company will have spent to advertise during the game.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, Google, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, Motorola, Tablets

Australian Open 2012 Embraces Social Media

January 18, 2012 by

Do you miss the days of Evonne Goolagong and wooden rackets? Do you have no idea what the first sentence meant but like watching tennis and regret that the Australian Open is half a world away and so difficult to catch much of the action live?

Well the 2012 edition of the famed tournament has stepped up in the digital and social media space and presents a number of methods in which a fan can either catch live action or at least get a steady stream of comments and updates, easily and from a desktop or a mobile device.

As noted in Mashable this could be the most advanced use of social media in a tournament and that there is a wide variety of tournament sponsored avenues in which fans can follow the action, as well as comment on the action as it occurs. This has been a growing tradition at the tournament and one that others sports events can learn from as a tool to heighten fan engagement.

The official site has a range of tools that can meet fans needs on a variety of levels. Want to see video replays of highlights, player interviews or of the most popular players in action? They have that. Want to listen on the radio; there is a feature for that when the matches are being broadcast live.

There is a core feature called Fan Central that brings input from fans into the game. It contains what is called a ‘Social Leaderboard’ that contains a pool of 40 players that were selected due to their popularity. Fans can tweet about one of them using a hashtag that relates to their name, or ‘like’ content on australianopen.com that includes them and with every tweet or like they get points to rise in a leaderboard. You are not limited to just following these 40 as the site enables you to follow any player, popular or not.

The most active tweeters will have the opportunity to become ‘Fanbassadors’ that will be recognized on the tournaments official web site.

But it is not just fan twitters that are available. The tournament has staffed @AustralianOpen, a 24 Twitter feed. For the less serious, or more I guess, there is a feature for predicting outcomes as well as one that enables you to put captions onto photos. You can even submit a short film about the ‘Tennis Essence’ with the winner being played at the tournament.

Of course you can follow on Facebook, but if that is too static there are mobile apps for both Apple iPhones and Android based smartphones. There will also be the more traditional information you would expect-draws, schedules, how to get tickets and an overall event guide.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, Mashable, Smartphone, Twitter Tagged With: , , ,

Garmin Connects Athletes with Ant +

January 17, 2012 by

Looking at the growing number of fitness devices available there is a thread that is increasingly running through all of them, they feature a low powered wireless technology called Ant + from Ant Wireless, that enables the athletes and others to get real time feedback from sensors such as heart rate monitors.

It is no real surprise that the technology has caught on in the market; it was designed specifically for this use by Dynastream Innovations to provide feedback from its power meters. When Garmin purchased the company in 2006 it took Ant + to a much wider market.

A look at Garmin products shows a strong presence of the technology, but it has also become firmly entrenched as a standard technology in a wide range of products from other developers in the sports market with support from an estimated 25 million devices.

The growing importance of the technology can be seen in one of its most recent partners, Sony Ericsson, which has a family of Ant + enabled phones including two that were announced earlier this month. Both the Xperia S and the Xperia ion will have native support for the wireless technology when they are released later in the first half of 2012.

Using one of these phones, which include a feature that enables the user to be always connected to the Internet a serious athlete can not only check their vital signs but have a remote trainer also get the data and so be in a position to provide important feedback. You can use Ant + with other phones but need a dongle.

At the recent CES show there was a range of fitness developers showing technology in the Ant + booth aside from Garmin. 4iiii, a developer of audio and display feedback systems incorporates it, no real surprise since 4iiii CEO Kip Fyfe was CEO of Dynastream when it developed the technology and sold it to Garmin.

Others in the fitness space that use the technology include Wahoo Fitness, Pioneer, Garmin, Nordic,CardioSport, and Fatigue Science to name a few partners.

Not just for sports
ANT+ has gained widespread adoption as the interoperable standard in ultra low power wireless communication in sports but also as a technology that is gaining ground in medical applications. It was recently adopted by Qualcomm Life’s 2net hub technology that is designed to provide wireless communications between medical devices.

There are other medical users such as Dexcom, a company that develops glucose monitoring systems and A&D Medical which develops wireless blood pressure monitors and other equipment. There are also companies developing games, bridges and hubs and other mobile applications that use the technology.

The technology is a 2.4GHz wireless network protocol and is used in wireless sensor networks that require low cost, low power, small form factor and flexibility such as being able to form ad hoc mesh networks. The devices that feature the technology have a small battery that can provide years of operational life.

It is interesting how well this, a privately developed technology has found acceptance while rival technologies such as ZigBee seemed to have struggle to find a niche, while offering much the same features.

Filed Under: Android, Apps, Cycling, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Smartphone, Sony Ericsson Tagged With: , , ,
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