Mobile: Nokia Trips Up, Blbackberry Users Ashamed

Not great news for Nokia or RIM fans.

First, Nokia's Lumia sales has dropped off the cliff.  Now, we can attribute that to pinned up Windows Phone 8 demand.  I'll buy that but I cannot think that there is much room in the market that Nokia can pick up from the iPhone and Android.

Then there's Blackberry users who are reportedly being shamed by iPhone and Android users.  I don't get why.  Sure, RIM sales are dismal and may never recover even with the release of Blackberry OS 10.  However, who else on the market still market and sell devices with physical keyboards en mass?  I think it's an unique experience in a mobile market dominated by full-touch screened devices like the iPhone.

Back to Nokia.  It's continuing fall isn't a bad thing unless you're a Nokia fan.  If you're a Windows Phone fan, it could be that good days are coming.  Yes, above, I said Nokia may not have much room to move above but it doesn't mean that Windows Phone cannot.  Other device makers like HTC ans Samsung will be coming out with WP devices that has specs to rival Android devices.

And this is a multi-year and multi-front fight for Microsoft so Windows Phone will have an impact on the market.

So, maybe the thing here for all concerned is that RIM should consider embracing Windows Phone instead of its next gen Blackberry OS?

How Apple Can Price the Low-End iPad Mini At $200

I like to see Apple price the iPad mini at $200.  Of course, it doesn’t mean that Apple will do it.  If it has cause and it can do so without sacrificing the margin (which seems rather unlikely), then I am sure Tim Cook will do it.  But that’s not why I’m writing this post.

I want to get into see how Apple “can” find a way to price the iPad mini with 8 GB storage at $200 and really make Christmas for Amazon, Google, or anyone else in the tablet realm a really, really bad one to remember.

First, there is the massive supply chain that Apple has built up over the years.  And it’s not just parts that Apple has sourced and hogged so that others have to wait until it has had its fill before they get their own turn.  It’s also about how Apple has depressed the cost of components that allow it to price the iPad at $500 when it was introduced in 2010 and not at $1,000.  And it’s been a couple years since the original iPad debut.  So costs has come down quite a bit.

On top of that, Apple has generously financed some manufacturing equipments and factories for partners that would enable it to get what it needs and at much better prices than its competitors.  Do you see or hear this happen for Microsoft, Google, or HTC?  Maybe only Samsung can match Apple to some extent.

Now, let’s move onto the media revenue that Apple is likely to generate from this.  Last year, when Apple put on the iBooks event with textbooks as an emphasis, the main issue was which would come first – digital textbooks sales or iPads.  You know, the chicken or the eggs?  You can’t have digital textbook sales if there are not enough iPads in the hands of students.  And you cannot have enough iPads if each costs $500 at the time.  You can get an iPad 2 at $400 now but there’s nothing like trying to get them in the hands of students at $200.

And if the low-end iPad mini does sell for $200, look for an explosion in iTunes media sales where Apple has an ecosystem that is unmatched.  eBooks, music, video, and apps will give Apple an even bigger stream of revenue than ever before.  Of course, this is all before Apple’s own television plan comes to fruition.  There could be another stream of revenue that could allow Apple to make up for selling the iPad mini at a lower price.

Are we done?  Absolutely not.  Other iOS hardware sales continue to break records.  iPhone 5 demand is supposedly double that of the iPhone 4S but don’t think the iPhone 4 and the 4S aren’t going to pad some of Apple’s margins.

The updated iPod touch and iPod lines should continue to bring in a few billion dollars in cash from both hardware and media sales.

Then there’s the iPad.  I’m sure by now, Apple has managed to lower the per cost of each iPad built and may also reflect that at the iPad mini event with some redesigns.  It’s likely Apple has managed to bring down the costs of the Retina Display.  Obviously, that means better margins on the new iPads as well.

But I’m not done.  Mac sales are continue forward with Asia, particularly the Greater China zone (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan), showing no slowdown in their appetites for Apple’s computers.  And the premium that the high-end Macbook Pro with Retina Displays are bring in, it just pads everything for Apple.

Then there’s the new cables and adapters that Apple is making everyone buy when they switched over from the 30-pin adapters to the newer Lightning adapters.  Don’t think that Apple is making and selling them at reasonable price. No way.

So, when you add all that together, we can see just Apple can price the low-end iPad mini at $200.  There isn’t much history with Tim Cook as Apple’s CEO with respect to pricing so we don’t know if he’ll go for the kill or show off some of that Apple swagger and price the mini at $250.  After all, this is an Apple product and it demands some sort of a premium over competing devices on the market.

I’m thinking it’ll be the latter.  Perhaps, Apple might go with $220 just to make a statement to the market.

Kickstarter: A Robot You Can Fall In Love With Now

Source:  Venturebeat.

Here's an adorable robot that you can fall in love with just as you do with your pets.  As soon as you support the Kickstarter program and it goes into production.

Check it out. It's like a little rover with an iOS device as its brain, your iPhone or iPod touch.  I'm sure you've got plenty just sitting around from your recent iPhone 5 upgrade.  Stick that into Romo, that's the name of the robot, and off you go.

You can control it with your iOS devices including the iPad or the Mac.

This is the second coming of the Romo and its 10x smarter and better.  Well, that's what the company Romotive, folks behind Romo, promises.  Also, it'll have telepresence (which I'm sure means vid chat), navigates on its own, and facial recognition.

Check out the video and then click over to pledge.  I've done it already!  Woohoo!

iPad Mini: iSlate or Mini. And $250 or $300? How about $200

It seems that everyone has taken for granted that Apple will introduce the iPad mini, a name that should not be itched in stone since Apple has their own creative way of naming things (remember, Apple owns iSlate right?), on October 23rd.  So, it’s no longer a rumor.  It’s a fact now.

The next couple of questions on everyone’s mind is how much and what can it do as in what specs will it have. Will it be at $250 or at a more Apple-esque $300?  And how about the screen?  Retina Display or will a smaller screen featuring 1024x728 be enough?

There are a whole host of articles from bloggers to “professional” or “mainstream” media about this.  Each claiming to know what Apple is going to do.  I think it’s more important to focus on what Apple did not do in the past and what it ain’t gonna do.

First, we can forget the $200 price.  $250?  That’s a bit hard to swallow because of where Apple is in terms of trying to protect and maintain its profit margin.  I can see $250 largely because Apple has so many other profitable devices, namely the iPhone, high-end iPads, and Retina Macbooks.  In fact, Apple could reach the golden $250 price point by trying to offset it with higher margin iPad mini.  Remember, Apple will increase each 8 GB of memory storage with a $100 premium and/or a $130 premium for LTE models.

If Apple wants to kill off its 7” tablet competitors, it could reach deep, sacrifice a couple of points of profit market and really hit the $200 sweet spot, still making a few bucks on the low-end iPad Mini, and try to make up for other lost margins with textbooks/apps/media sales.  If Amazon’s Jeff Bezos could do it, why not Tim Cook.

After all, today’s Apple is Tim Cook’s, no longer Steve Jobs.  Tim is going to try to maintain the lead in the tablet market that Apple has and it is not so willing to give that up.  And it has an ecosystem second to none that not even Amazon or Microsoft can hope to duplicate.  Nor do they have the tens of dedicated fans who are willing to buy anything Apple.

We’ll know a week from tomorrow just what Apple release and how it’ll position it for us mobile warriors.  It’ll be an interesting and possibly pivotal day in mobile computing.

Sharp Shows Off Displays for Potential Uses In Apple Products, Just Not the iPad Mini

Source:  Computer World via MacDailyNews.

Here’s a post about how Sharp, the maker of Apple’s iPhone 5 screens, showing off displays using the new IZGO technology.  They come in 7”, 10”, and 13”.

What isn’t shown, obviously, is the often associated 7.85” screen that Apple is supposedly going to be using in their iPad mini units that will debut in a matter of weeks.

And obviously, if there was such a size, Sharp would have been prevented by Apple from displaying and demoing them.  After all, despite so many leaks about the iPhone 5 and iPad mini parts, showing off the screen that Apple would use would be a little too obviously.

Having said that, wouldn’t the 10” and 13” display be brilliant for the next iPad and Macbook Air respectively?  Just writing out loud here.

Maps Issue For iPhone Overbown But Apple Needs To Appreciate The Uproar

Source:  wired.

Any time one of your features on your service or device doesn’t work as advertised, you as the company or employee should worry.  You have told folks that it works but it doesn’t in reality.  Here, a Wired post argues that RIM’s Blackberry missteps should worry Apple.  Definitely.  It is going to keep Tim Cook up at night?

Let’s take a look at this.  Wired argue that today’s iPhone crowd is nothing like the Mac loyalists who stuck with Apple in the 90s even as it faltered through years of walking in the woods that only Steve Jobs himself (who did his own wondering through the forest) came and put Apple back on track.

That is a valid argument.  Still, the iEcosystem has garnered enough goodwill that users could look beyond the Maps debacle and focus on the larger picture.  The sleek lightweight design along with many new just-works features in iOS 6.  And Siri has improved with new features and the ability to understand and speak other languages.

For those who will abandon Applethe platform just because Maps does not feature StreetView from Google or that there are a lot of errors and blemishes on the app, there is nothing Apple can do.  As promised, Apple can only try to improve the app over time.  After all, Maps is only one of many dozens of new features in iPhone 5 and iOS 6.

And because of that, most iOS users are willing to stick it out with Apple until that happens.

But yes, Apple needs to understand that it can only do this ever so often.  This cannot be a Google-like perpetual beta behavior.  Apple fans have come to appreciate the second-to-none products and services coming out of Cupertino and be subject to being its beta testers.

Having said that, like Siri, Maps is an unique product where it could take years to get better.  And like Siri, it would get better as more and more users use the app and send feedbacks to Apple.

To avoid being all over the place on this issue, Apple has a lot more ropes from users than RIM can hope to have.  You can bet that if RIM doesn’t deliver on the next generation Blackberry devices, it’s over for the Waterloo company.

However, a beta-like Maps app is not going to tarnish Apple’s shine too much.  You can bet that Apple is far from done with innovating its Maps app.  The 3D view is pretty awesome and I can’t wait to see just what else Apple has up its sleeve once this current bump in the road is behind it.

Apple And Yahoo Should Grow Partnership

Source:  Wired.

I like this idea a lot:  Apple and Yahoo should definitely hook up.  Maybe not an outright buyout because it simply is not in Apple’s DNA.  It was not in Steve Jobs’ DNA or it is something that Tim Cook and company would go for.

However, Yahoo’s services and global reach is top notch and it has presence in places like China that its competitor Google does not.  And it would definitely bring a new dynamic into the whole mobile war thing.  On top of that, some Yahoo services could be rebranded to serve iCloud in ways that Apple has been unable to do.

Obviously, Siri and voice is the future of search but there are still plenty that Yahoo can offer.  Perhaps, Apple is taking its targeted baby-steps in getting more services from Yahoo.  That’s fine but I definitely hope more is in stored.

Yahoo definitely has a lot of content and can use the prestige of working with Apple to solidify place in mobile and rally its troops.  Keep in mind that Steve Jobs was once at Yahoo to give them a pep talk.