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Technology Stocks : Mobile Computing - OSs & Manufacturers UNMODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sylvester80 who wrote (2190)	2/7/2011 10:42:12 PM
From: iggyl	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3170

Apple blames iPhone 4 shortages on DRAM, NAND Flash, LCDs Alex Scroxton, Microscope Wednesday 19 January 2011 14:58 Apple has underestimated demand for the iPhone 4 and is facing shortages of its iconic device, but has refused to commit to saying when its supply chain issues will be resolved. In a question and answer session with financial analysts following its Q1 earnings announcement, Apple COO Tim Cook - currently running the firm as Steve Jobs prepares to take a medical leave of absence - said that Apple had not done enough to address demand for the iPhone 4. "We do still have a significant backlog," he admitted. "We are working around the clock to build more. I feel great that the demand is so high but at this point I'm not going to predict when supply and demand will meet." "We could not make enough in the quarter and we would've loved to have ended with more channel inventory than we did," added CFO Peter Oppenheimer. Apple's issues are thought to have arisen from supply constraints around DRAM, NAND Flash, high def displays and LCDs, said Cook, where pricing for raw materials is currently increasing due to growing economic strength. Cook went on to add that Apple had identified areas where it could sign agreements with components builders to secure adequate supplies, as it did in 2005 when it paid out $1bn to secure Flash memory stock. However he declined to disclose exactly where Apple was considering making a move. Never a problem with Android. Clown boy will never be able to comprehend that you can only sell what you can make. sylly keeps saying iPhone price will fall and iPhone keeps kicking Android's butt in profits. Poor clown boy.

To: sylvester80 who wrote (2190)	2/7/2011 11:33:45 PM
From: puborectalis	1 Recommendation Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3170

Why Apple’s iPad Competitors are Hopelessly Lost Columns and Opinions by John Martellaro \| 12:45 PM, Feb. 7th, 2011 If Apple’s competitors weren’t smart enough to figure out what their customers needed before the iPad came along, why should we believe they know now — even after Apple has shown them the way? Plus, important technical factors weigh against them. There’s no winning. Apple’s iPad competitors have (and are using) four options. They are not attractive. The first is to realize that Apple nailed it with the iPad and engage in a “Me too” advertising campaign. Their tablet could be a crude imitation, within the constraints of patents to keep costs down. That will will make their tablet hard to use. Or, to make it easier to use, they could license many of Apple’s patented multi-touch gestures. That’ll drive their costs up. Picking the right consumer OS for a tablet is tricky. Using Android Honeycomb, which is for geeks, could make it too hard to for beginners. Anything less, and there’s no opportunity to grow with the industry. Finally no competitor has Apple’s buying power with suppliers, so they end up making compromised tablets based on the parts they can get at the higher cost they must pay. The end product, if it duplicates the iPad specs, is more expensive than the iPad and too hard to use. Lose-lose. The second option is to say, hey, Apple beat us to the punch. Our only answer is to position ourselves as the new renegade, the new maverick. Position Apple as mainstream and appeal to the anti-establishment crowd. Try to out-tech Apple with, say, USB and HDMI ports, higher resolution camera. Make it independent of a PC or Mac and let the customer figure out back-ups. Motorola is trying this strategy with the Xoom. The problem there is that Apple’s run as the ultimate anti-establishment company, under Steve Jobs, has a long way to go before it runs its course. A maverick ad campaign just cements Apple in the minds of the customer as the leader, therefore the best. Worse, a strategy like this means that the competitors are limiting themselves to a smaller production run, like the RIM PlayBook, and that just raises costs. Screwed again. The third recourse is to build cheap, knock-off tablets with poor production quality and try to appeal to masses of people who can’t afford an iPad. The Japanese tried that technique in the middle of last century and had a good run, but that was before credit cards. Nowadays, customers have learned that buying crap, critical for business and education, doesn’t pay off. Everyone wants the best, and a piece of plastic in the wallet gets them that. Plus Internet word of mouth and peer pressure kills a product like that in 2011. Selecting this option means a future of inventory clearance at Wal-Mart. Courtesy: Scott Adams (03 Feb 2011) The fourth option is to be from another planet. Try to leap beyond what Apple has done. Envision the next great tablet (or beyond) technology. To do that, you have to have executives with a rare sense of adventure, taste, self-confidence, vision, empowerment and deep wallets. Those guys are rare. Plus, building a next generation tablet OS is expensive and risky. Better to exploit what you have and build on it to buy time, as Steve Jobs did with the original iMac. Hewlett Packard seems to be eyeing that approach, and, imho, only a company like H-P could possibly pull it off. It’s hard. Conclusion: Apple’s iPad competitors are screwed. Good luck. macobserver.com