According to a new research note from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, Apple’s manufacturing partners are now pushing out two million iPads per month, with Apple urging them to boost production to three million per month for the fourth quarter of this year.
Says Huberty, “Apple recently indicated to its suppliers a desire to move to 3 million per month in C4Q10. This implies a run rate of 36 million in CY11, close to the current 40 million supply chain forecast.”
Huberty’s comments suggest that the 2-million production rate is a new milestone, although a report from early July claimed that Apple was planning for about 2.3 million units that month. A few weeks earlier than that, Apple was claimed to have been shooting for production rates of 2.5 million per month by the end of the year, and today’s report suggests that Apple has continued to increase its targets in order to meet strong demand for the tablet device.
Apple’s increased iPad production has apparently finally helped the company to close the supply-demand gap, with shipping date estimates for orders placed through its online store dropping rapidly over the last several weeks before reaching the minimum “within 24 hours” level just last weekend.
The rapid decrease of shipping estimates had led to questions about whether increased production or sagging demand was driving the supply-demand ratio into balance, but it appears that Apple’s continued increases in production are at least a major factor in achieving equilibrium.
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A new rumor says that the Deutsche Telekom is loosing its iPhone exclusivity deal still this year opening the door for O2 and Vodafone to officially sell the iPhone.
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iPhone Exclusivity for Deutsche Telekom ends in Germany this Year according to new Rumor
Patently Apple reports on an Apple patent application published earlier this year that discloses how Apple might choose to implement systems for transitioning a single Mac computer between mouse-driven input for Mac OS X and touch-based input for iOS.
The method utilizes sensors such as a rotation hinge located in a stand for an iMac-like computer or accelerometer-based orientation sensors that could allow the device to function as a traditional desktop computer when the screen is positioned vertically or as a large tablet-style device when positioned horizontally.
The change in the orientation of the display can be detected by one or more sensors. For example, an accelerometer in the display can sense the force of gravity along an axis, and the measured force can be used to determine an angle of the display with respect to the ground (i.e., the plane perpendicular to the direction of the force of gravity). A transition between input modes can be performed when the orientation of the display crosses a predetermined threshold, such as when the vertical angle (tilt) of the display crosses a predetermined angle.
As another option, Apple proposes touch sensors located in the frame of the device’s display that, when grabbed in the manner of a tablet and combined with a change in orientation detected by accelerometer-based sensors, could initiate a transition between input modes. In any of the described methods, the mode transition could involve a user interface transition between high-resolution mouse-driven actions and low-resolution touch-driven actions.
Not limited to desktop computers, Apple’s patent application also depicts a notebook-style computer that could transition to a tablet device, with the operating mode adjusting automatically depending on orientation.
Apple has been expressing interest in touch-enabled Macs recently, with a multiple rumors on such an iMac making an appearance sometime this year. And while converting Mac OS X to a touch-specific interface would be a significant undertaking, one former Apple engineer suggested that adding an iOS layer on top of Mac OS X would be a reasonable undertaking.
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IDG News translates a new Economic Daily News report that claims a 7″ iPad will indeed be launched by Christmas of this year.
The Economic Daily reports that Taiwanese companies have won a number of component contracts for the iPad 2. Chimei Innolux will supply 7-inch LCD screens, which use the same IPS (in-plane switching) technology found in the original iPad, which improves viewing angles and color on LCD screens. Touchscreen technology for the screens will come from Cando Corporation, the report says.
While talk of a 7″ iPad has been circulating for some time, it has recently regained the spotlight with a report from iLounge earlier this month. iLounge offered the above mock-up and suggested the 7″ iPad would launch later this year or early next. Meanwhile, Digitimes also reported on the likelihood a 7″ iPad just last week.
The currently shipping 9.7″ iPad has been seen as a huge success selling 3.27 million units during the first quarter of sales.
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Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales in 2Q10 in Thousands of Units (Source: Gartner)
Noting constraint supplies and of course reduced customer demand ahead of the iPhone 4 launch at the very end of the quarter, Gartner reports that Apple seems well-positioned to ride the iPhone 4 momentum through the remainder of the year.
Apple’s sales would have been higher if it had not had to face tight inventory management in preparation for the arrival of the iPhone 4 at the end of the second quarter of 2010. Apple also suffered from some supply constraint on the new device. We expect that a wider global rollout of iPhone 4 will sustain Apple’s sales momentum throughout the second half of 2010.
In looking specifically at smartphones, which now make up 19% of total mobile phone sales (a figure that is up 50% year-over-year), Apple captured 14.2% of the market, up slightly from 13.0% in the year-ago quarter but down from 15.3% sequentially.
Worldwide Smartphone Sales in 2Q10 in Thousands of Units (Source: Gartner)
The big winner, however, was Google’s Android platform, which surged past iOS into third place among smartphone platforms with 17.2% of the market, up from just 1.8% in the year-ago quarter and 9.6% in the first quarter of this year. Long-time market leader Symbian is continuing its slide as it has been unable to keep up with overall industry growth, down to 41.2% but still more than double its closest competitor, Research in Motion. Research in Motion is, however, also slipping a bit, with its 18.2% of the market just barely holding off Android.
Observers will of course be interested in Apple’s performance during the third quarter, as it offers the company an opportunity for a full quarter’s worth of sales with the new iPhone 4, although continuing supply constraints could hold the company back somewhat from its potential top-end performance.
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All Things D reports that Apple’s traditional iPod-focused media event may be scheduled for a mid-September date this year, slightly later than in recent years. Apple’s iPod media events are traditionally held on either Tuesday or Wednesday, suggesting September 14th or 15th as possible dates.
According to several sources and as has been widely expected, Apple will once again be holding its annual special event, possibly closer to mid-September this time.
Apple (AAPL), which has had a fall hello-there confab every year since 2005, waited until August 31 last year to announce its “Let’s Rock” event on September 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.
Just last week, a rumor surfaced that Apple might be holding its iPod event in mid-August this year, several weeks earlier than usual. With less than six days to go before the end of that rumored timeframe and no invitations yet issued by Apple, it is appearing unlikely that the rumor is correct.
As for Apple’s product release plans for the media event, whenever it might take place, there is strong evidence for a refreshed iPod touch, with claims of a high-resolution Retina display and both front- and rear- facing cameras. A refreshed iPod nano is also expected, with some sources wondering if an tiny Apple-branded touch screen that surfaced last month might make its way into an iPod product of some sort.
Apple may also be offer some music-related announcements such as a cloud-based streaming iTunes, although recent rumors suggest that the company is scaling back on its plans in that area and may still not be ready to make any announcements.
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Claimed next-generation iPod touch LCD and front bezel showing apparent camera hole
MacMagazine reports (Google translation) that it has received information from a “reliable source within Apple” that the company is planning to hold its traditional September iPod-focused media event a bit early this year, with the middle of this month appearing to be the targeted date.
The MacMagazine today received information from a reliable source within Apple about a new event to the press that the company was planning to soon. Although the schedule cite the source as somewhere around 14 and 16, we bet our chips on a Monday or Tuesday – that is, 16 or August 17.
According to the source, the event will include a focus on the company’s next-generation iPod touch, as well as information on an iOS 4 release for iPad. Revisions to other iPod models would also appear to be a reasonable expectation, although the report does not have confirmation as to whether they would be launched at the August event or held until the following month.
Rumors about the next-generation iPod touch have been circulating in recent weeks, with continuing evidence in both software betas and parts leaks suggesting that we can expect a front-facing FaceTime camera in the new iPod touch.
The rumored timeframe for Apple’s media event also corresponds to a claimed August 17th release date for iLife ’11. It is not immediately clear how an iLife update would directly relate to Apple’s typically tightly-focused iPod events held around this time of the year, but rumors have also claimed that Apple will be introducing a new mystery application in the suite, and it is possible that the addition could be tied into iPod/iOS enhancements.
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CNET reports that Apple may be scaling back its initial plans for cloud-based iTunes offerings as it continues to struggle to reach agreements with record labels to allow users to stream their iTunes content from Apple’s servers to a variety of Internet-connected devices. Apple has been thought to be placing a priority on developing the service since its acquisition of streaming music firm Lala Media last December.
But eight months after the acquisition, Apple is telling executives at the four top labels that if Apple offers any cloud-music features within the next few months, they will likely be “modest in scope” and not include the kind of functionality that Apple outlined in meetings with the labels, such as storing users’ music on its servers, sources told CNET. They added that Apple still hasn’t negotiated the kind of licensing deals it would need to distribute music from the cloud.
The report notes that while it is not clear exactly why Apple has been unable to make substantial progress on the cloud streaming initiative beyond ongoing struggles to bring music labels onboard, there does appear to be some uneasiness within the Lala Media team. One of Lala’s founders who moved to Apple with the acquisition has reportedly left the company, while the Lala team has been said to be working on an undisclosed video feature rather than the music-related technology it was noted for prior to the acquisition.
Of course, a focus on video for the Lala team could mean that the company is concentrating its efforts more on cloud-based streaming of TV and movie content, an aspect of the initiative that had been hinted at earlier this year. The move would also align with Apple’s rumored Apple TV revamp, which will reportedly see limited on-board storage in favor of a cloud-based streaming model.
Apple may also be waiting for its massive North Carolina data center to come online at the end of the year, as it seems likely to require the center’s capabilities in order to deploy its cloud-based initiative.
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Nielsen today released data on smartphone usage in the U.S., revealing that Google’s Android platform has outpaced the iPhone among new smartphone customers for the first half of 2010. The news comes as a marked reversal from the second half of 2009, when the iPhone topped Android 34% to 6% market share among new smartphone customers.
While the iPhone has been the headline grabber over the last few years in the smartphone market, Google’s Android OS has shown the most significant expansion in market share among current subscribers. Android’s rise is even more noticeable among new smartphone subscribers in the last six months where Android has nosed past Apple’s iOS in the last quarter to grab a 27% share of those recent smartphone subscribers.
Taking into account total U.S. user base, however, Apple still leads Android, 28% to 13%. Both trail Research in Motion, which holds a 35% overall market share and 33% share of those customers new to smartphones in the first half of the year.
Earlier this year, NPD released somewhat similar data for the first quarter of 2010, claiming that Android handsets had outsold the iPhone in the U.S. Apple CEO Steve Jobs took exception to that and similar claims from others, pointing to Nielsen data at WWDC in early June showing Apple still holding a firm advantage over Android. The data shown by Jobs, however, was Nielsen’s overall market share calculation for existing users, while NPD had been referring specifically referring to new sales of new smartphones. With today’s release, Jobs’ favored source Nielsen now agrees that Android has surpassed the iPhone in new purchases, at least among those who have not owned a smartphone before.
It is also important to note that the first half of 2010 primarily represented the back side of the iPhone’s product cycle, with the iPhone 4 only making its appearance in the last few days of the period. The diversified Android platform, in contrast, saw several high-profile device launches in early 2010.
Today’s survey from Nielsen also reveals that Research in Motion’s lead may not hold up for long, however, as more than half of current BlackBerry owners surveyed are planning to defect from the platform with their next smartphone purchase, with 29% planning to move to the iPhone while 21% plan to pick up an Android-based handset. In contrast, 89% of iPhone owners plan to stick with the iPhone, while 71% of Android owners plan to stay on that platform.
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