Posts tagged with "apple"

Forbes: Rapid Retail Sales Growth In China Could Propel Apple Shares Skyward

According to Eric Jackson at Forbes, an expected boom in Apple’s business in China could be a driving force that propels Apple’s shares (AAPL) to $547 per share by next January. That’s an expectation of shares increasing by around $200 on yesterdays close of trade price of $348.51 and in just nine months.

Jackson bases his expectations on the expansion of Apple’s retail stores, which currently bring in US$1.3 billion per year per store in China, with four currently in existence. Numbers floating around suggest that up to 25 stores could be opened up by Apple in China, where Jackson says consumers are going “gaga for Apple”, and rake in an extra US$32 billion. Such projected figures don’t even take into account third-party sales of Apple products from carrier stores or Cybermart – which is the largest third-party retailer of Apple products in the world.

Jackson and others thus consequently believe that it is well within possibility that Apple could see 50% sales growth in 2011, driven by the growth in China, and reach revenue of around $114 billion and “assuming the same trailing 20x P/E” Apple shares would be reach a value of $547 per share.

MacStories.net does not provide investment advice; consult an expert before buying or selling equities.

[Via Forbes]

 

Happy 35th Birthday Apple!

Today, 35 years ago on April 1st 1976, Apple Computer was established by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne so that they could later sell their Apple I computer kit. Interestingly Wozniak, who hand built the Apple I decided to permanently leave  the company in 1987 – but is still technically an employee and receives a paycheck.

The other, more unfamiliar founder, Ronald Wayne, assisted Jobs and Wozniak in drawing the first Apple logo (seen above), writing the manual for the Apple I and writing the original partnership agreement. He however decided to leave the partnership just two weeks later and declined Jobs’ attempts to recruit him back years later.

It’s been a truly fascinating 35 years for the company and over the past decade in particular it has transformed the technology industry with the iPod, OS X, exceptional design in all its hardware and of course the iPhone and iPad. Here at MacStories we can’t wait to see what the next year will see Apple bring, let alone the next 35 years. As always Wikipedia provides some great reading about the early years about Apple that I thoroughly recommend if you’re curious and what to read more about those early days of Apple.

[Via MacJournals]

 

Viber 2.0 Brings Free Text Messaging Between Users

Viber, the iPhone app that lets you make free calls to other Viber users was today updated to version 2.0 and brings with it free text messaging. Admittedly there are a lot of free messaging apps in the App Store but the advantage of Viber is that it now offers both texting and calling in the same app and already has a user base of 10 million people.

The messaging service becomes one of the bottom tabs and will store all your messages in a very similar manner to that of the iPhone’s ‘Messages’ app and can effectively replace the need for SMS messages between any other friend or colleague - if you can convince them to download Viber.  There has also been some redesign of various screens in the app including the contacts interface which can now refine your contacts list to just display those who have Viber or those which you have “favorited”.

Finally the basic calling mechanism has been tweaked to give the user more information about the state of a call. When you first place a call the app enters a “Calling” state, once contact is made with the other person’s Viber app it will enter a “Ringing” state to let the user know that there is a connection.

[Via TechCrunch]

Apple Investigates Possibility Of Dual Camera System For 3D Photos

Patent applications from Apple made public this week show that they have considered adding an additional camera to a device such as the iPhone to enable users to shoot 3D photographs. AppleInsider discovered the patent, called “Systems and Methods for an Imaging System Using Multiple Image Sensors” which details how they would implement the dual-camera system for the capture of 3D images.

In particular it differentiates itself from current offerings, claiming that it is a “paradigm shift from the known software-based approaches” that “guess” at how to combine the two images into a single 3D photograph. Apple says that their approach would avoid creating images with artefacts by implementing a hardware-based approach for more accurate processing. Such a system would involve multiple sensors that determine the luma, chroma and depth of the two images to unify them into one.

Furthermore the patent describes how the system could also record video in 3D and only require a simple, one-time, calibration by the user. The Nintendo 3DS which has just recently been released resembles the aims of this patent with its feature of dual rear cameras to let users to take 3D photographs and play augmented reality games that render in 3D on the fly.

[Via AppleInsider]

Global Marketing VP Allison Johnson Is Leaving Apple→

Global Marketing VP Allison Johnson Is Leaving Apple

John Paczkowski at All Things Digital reports this morning Apple’s Global Marketing VP Allison Johnson is leaving the company after 6 years for a new marketing firm she has co-founded with a former Facebook PR executive.

At Apple, Johnson has managed global advertising for some of the company’s most revolutionary products and the iconic ads for them. Those ads have been created by TBWA\Chiat\Day, which plays a powerful role at Apple.

Of course, this key part of Apple’s business is watched over closely by CEO Steve Jobs, to whom Johnson has reported directly.

Johnson, former senior vice president of marketing at HP, came to Apple in 2005 to “take a top marketing post” during the sales explosion of the iPod line. Johnson lead several of Apple’s marketing campaigns since then, and it’s surely a big loss for Apple. In January, Apple’s Design Director Sarah Brody left the company as well for Paypal.

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Woman Tragically Dies After Senseless iPhone Theft

A very sad story today comes from Chicago Breaking News in which the theft of an iPhone has led to the tragic death of an innocent bystander. Sally Katona-King, a 68 year old Church Receptionist, was pushed down a flight of stairs at Fullerton Station after a thief stole a nearby commuter’s iPhone and was hastily running off. Sally was hospitalised after her fall and unfortunately died on Tuesday from what is presumed to be a cerebral haemorrhage.

Her son told reporters on Tuesday that Sally was a known in the community as a generous and altruistic woman helping those that were disadvantaged. “To die over an iPhone? It’s senseless,” her son said. Detective Cmdr. Garyu Yamashiroya said on Tuesday that the increased incidence of smart phone theft is “something that police departments across the country are trying to find solutions to.” The thief is still at large but police are hoping to identify them through local surveillance video.

[Via TUAW]

 

Apple Releases 10.6.7 Supplemental Update For the 13” MacBook Air

MacBooks have been getting their fair share of updates recently, and today Apple is providing a supplemental 10.6.7 update for the 13” MacBook Air (Late 2010) to resolve unresponsiveness when using iTunes. The previous 10.6.7 v1.0 (build 10J869) update must be installed in order to apply the supplemental update. If you have a 13” MacBook Air, check Software Update or download the 461 KB file from the posted support page below.

Supplemental 13” MacBook Air Update: DL1370

2011: $100 Billion Revenue Year for Apple?→

2011: $100 Billion Revenue Year for Apple?

With the success of iOS devices and Macs, and the release of the iPad 2 that saw huge lines across the world, analysts are now revising their estimates for Apple’s revenue in 2011 and are predicting Apple might be on track for a $100 billion revenue year:

This morning, Needham analyst Charlie Wolf raised his FY 2011 revenue forecast for the company to $103.9 billion from $98.9 billion; his EPS forecast goes to $23.25 a share from $22.25. For FY 2012, he now sees $125 billion in revenue and profits of $27.35 a share, up from $118 billion and $25.50. The higher estimates, he writes, reflect a revised forecast for iPad sales: he now sees the company selling 30 million units this year and 40 million next, up from 20 million and 30 million previously.

Last night we reported Apple will announce its Q2 2011 financial results on April 20th. The company is expected to provide sales numbers for the iPad 2 and the Verizon iPhone, which was initially rumored to have sales “below Apple’s expectations”. There is no doubt the release of the iPad 2 will play an important role in Apple’s 2011 strategy; the iPhone 5, in the meantime, is generating different reports about a possible “delay” that is making Wall Street Analyst update their estimates again.

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Justin.tv iPhone App Adds AirPlay Support

Today an update to the Justin.tv iPhone app brings AirPlay functionality to the app, letting you stream one of the thousands live-streaming Justin.tv channels straight onto your big screen television via an Apple TV.If you aren’t familiar with Justin.tv, it is a similar service to Ustream, which gives users the power to create a live video stream and broadcast themselves to the world live.

The app update also fixes a couple of bugs that were causing some users to experience the app crashing on them. Also remember that some third-party apps let you use AirPlay to stream to other devices, helpful if you don’t have an Apple TV but want to stream it somewhere else.