Munster: there will be a $200 unsubsidized Apple iPhone in 2013

Friday, August 24, 2012

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is no stranger to our loyal readers. From time to time, he has made forecasts, as analysts do, and some of them have come true while others have been off the mark. The latest prediction from the Wall Streeter is that next year, Apple will offer an unsubsidized, $200 version of the Apple iPhone. Currently, the Cupertino based firm sells an unsbsidized 8GB model of the Apple iPhone 3GS for $375. Since the Apple iPhone 3G was launched in 2008, the average selling price of the phone has been $641, a figure that Munster says would drop to $434 by 2015 with a much cheaper version offered.

The analyst characterizes offering a device at that price point as being "important" to Apple as it needs to improve its market share in emerging markets where the iPhone trails cheaper Android flavored models. Should Apple offer a $200 unsubsidized model, Munster sees the company's global smartphone market share rising sharply to 32% by 2015 from this year's expected 20%.

"We believe it is becoming increasingly possible for Apple to build the low end iPhone for $130-150, which would suggest a 25-35% gross margin. While some investors may not like the margin dilution from a cheaper iPhone, we believe that view misses the bigger market share picture."-Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray

Munster believes that a lower priced unsubsidized model of the Apple iPhone launched in September 2013 could end up representing a quarter of all iPhone sales. But it would come at a cost to Apple's financials. Documents unveiled during the current Apple v. Samsung patent trial show that Apple's iconic smartphone offers profit margin of between 49% to 58% and Munster sees a $200 off-contract model taking margins down to iPad territory which is currently 23% to 32%. That means that Apple has to decide between a higher profit margin or a higher market share.

The analyst doesn't necessarily believe that the $200 unsubsidized model will be the Apple iPhone 3GS. He believes that it will be an existing model which could include the Apple iPhone 4 or the current variant of the device, the Apple iPhone 4S. Meanwhile, the 6th generation of the Apple iPhone is expected to be introduced on September 12th.

source: AppleInsider

Continue Reading | comments

Apple v. Samsung jury asks permission to stay late; is a verdict coming tonight?

The  men and two women that make up the jury deciding the outcome of the Apple v. Samsung patent trial have requested an extra hour to deliberate on Friday. Could this mean that the jury is close to reaching a decision? Will we hear a verdict before the weekend? Although that is a possibility, some believe that the request is merely a sign that the jury is having long discussions about the case and that they need the extra time to go through the 40 page jury verdict form that even long time court veterans have described as being complicated.

Crossword puzzle? No, part of a jury verdict form that was proposed by Samsung for use in the Apple v. Samsung patent trial

Crossword puzzle? No, part of a jury verdict form that was proposed by Samsung for use in the Apple v. Samsung patent trial
Put yourself in the shoes of one of the jurors. You sat through 120 minutes of instructions read from 108 pages by Judge Lucy Koh, and now you have 700 individual questions to answer including the decision of which devices infringed upon which patents, how much in damages each side should be awarded, was the infringement intentional, which current products are affected by patent infringements and more. Some courtroom observers say that the size and scope of the jury verdict form guarantees that deliberations will be long.

Apple seeks $2.5 billion to $2.75 billion in damages from Samsung, an amount Apple's legal team said in closing arguments, that is being asked for as a warning to other companies not to infringe on patents belonging to multi-billion dollar companies. Samsung's counter-suit seeks $400 million. Legal experts believe that Samsung's case was the weaker of the two, but believe that the jury might look to split the verdict to give each company a partial victory instead of the chest thumping verdict they each seek.

Speaking of split verdicts, early Friday morning in the States, news came that a three judge panel in South Korea had announced a split verdict in another Apple-Samsung patent trial. While both sides ended up with a little cash, the main part of the verdict was the banning of the Apple iPhone 4S, Apple iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung GALAXY Tab and Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 devices in the country.

Continue Reading | comments

Apple won't be the big 2012 growth winner, despite iPhone 5, neither will Android

Digitimes has done some research and has put together some numbers for what the market share could look like by the end of the year. Surprisingly, despite the iPhone 5, Apple won't be the big growth winner of 2012, and, at least based on growth rate, neither will Android. Not surprisingly though are the big losers according to market share growth: BlackBerry and Symbian.

Apple won't be the big 2012 growth winner, despite iPhone 5, neither will Android

The numbers from Digitimes compare year-on-year shipments, and BlackBerry and Symbian are continuing their freefalls. Symbian shipments have dropped nearly 66% over last year, and BlackBerry saw a decline of 41%. There really isn't any hope for Symbian, but for RIM, BlackBerry 10 can't come fast enough if the carrier excitement is to be believed.

Android's growth rate is understandably slowing from 2010, when it's year-on-year growth rate was a mind-boggling 679%, but it is still by far the largest of all, and could end up being 70% of all smartphone shipments. This year, Android is looking at just under a 90% increase, which would mean somewhere around 425 million units shipped compared to 224 million in 2011.


Apple is expected to increase shipments by just 35%, but given the volume of iPhone shipments, that will still add up to 125 million units in 2012. The big surprise is that Windows Phone will have the biggest growth rate by more than doubling its shipments this year (up 108%). Of course, that only adds up to 21 million units, because WP has such a small share, but the growth rate is impressive.


source: Digitimes

Continue Reading | comments

Apple whips out a Nokia Lumia and Xperia arc at court and says "Not every phone needs to look like an iPhone!"

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Nokia and Sony got a little pep talk about the design of their Lumia and Xperia handsets during the closing arguments in the Apple-Samsung trial yesterday, when Apple's star lawyer Harold McElhinny whipped out an unspecified Lumia plus an Xperia arc, and exclaimed: "Not every phone has to look like an iPhone!"

The Lumia line design is in turn directly borrowed from the work on the MeeGo-powered Nokia N9. The Finns mentioned that they didn't really have time to think about other groundbreaking chassis types for their first Windows Phone batche, so they used what was exclusive in the design studio at the moment, and in advanced stage of production, like the signature policarbonate unibody in flashy colors.

For its next Windows Phone devices Nokia said it is venturing into other memorable design paradigms, so we can't wait to see what September 5 brings, because, frankly, once you've hit the multicore chipsets and HD screens stage, design is pretty much your chief means of differentiation in the tangible realm.

source: TheVerge

Continue Reading | comments

Rare iPhone 4 prototype hits eBay, yours for $10,000

While some people collect stamps, coins, badges, or baseball cards, others prefer focusing on geekier stuff like obscure electronics or even mobile phones. The latter kind of folks are the ones that might be interested in this rare specimen that was just discovered on eBay – an iPhone 4 prototype unit that, surprisingly, is still operational as it has not been deactivated by Apple. 

What runs on this iPhone 4 prototype is the Switchboard software framework, which Apple used to test software on the device. Another thing that makes the unit special is the rare "Deathstar" logo on its back. Speaking of which, the back plate of the device can be easily removed for quick access to the handset's internals. In case you are wondering, this particular device has 32GB of storage.

Needless to say, this iPhone 4 prototype cannot be used as an every-day device, but it will look well on your shelf of interesting items. As long as you don't mind spending a pile of cash on it, that is. Bids start at $4,500 and a $10,000 buy-it-now price has been set for the impatient.

source: eBay via Engadget

Continue Reading | comments