John Gruber responded to yesterday’s piece about an alternate reality where Android didn’t exist and Apple gained 70% market share with piece called If Not for Android, Where Would the iPhone Be?: But with today’s piece, we have a first: one where I disagree with Thompson’s conclusions. I don’t think the iPhone’s market share or […]
April 2013
Apple Rejects Google Now; EU to Investigate
Google today announced via their blog that they are filing a complaint with the Justice Department and EU regarding Apple’s recent rejection of Google Now for iOS. “It’s clear that Apple is leveraging its OS monopoly to ensure Siri is the leading personal assistant software,” said Kent Walker, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at […]
The Week in Review – April 21-27, 2013
It was AAPL earnings week, and analysis of the company dominated both the tech scene and stratechery. What has struck me in the analysis is the almost total disconnect between Wall Street and the blogosphere, to the detriment of everyone trying to understand the company and its prospects. Bloggers and industry observers are deeply familiar […]
Two Bears
There are two Apple bear cases; only one applies to Apple, though, and the other applies to Samsung.
Credit Agencies Deem Apple Less Safe than Subprime Mortgages
Bloomberg: Apple, which has $145 billion of cash, said yesterday it plans to use debt to help finance a $100 billion capital reward for shareholders after a 42 percent stock plunge. Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s responded by ranking the company a level below their top grades, with Gerald Granovsky of Moody’s citing […]
China Mobile May Need the iPhone
Tech In Asia (emphasis mine): China Mobile announced a minuscule 0.3 percent profit growth over the first quarter of this year and a rather terrifying 2.98 percent drop in monthly average calling compared to the same period last year. China Mobile is China’s biggest telecom and has been one of the country’s fastest-growing state-owned enterprises. […]
The S4 Design Stinks; Does It Matter?
David Pierce at The Verge (all emphasis is mine): I don’t like holding this phone, and I can’t overstate how much that informs the experience of using it. It makes an awful first impression, slippery and slimy and simply unpleasant in your hand. My white review unit is completely smooth and glossy, with a subtle […]
Apple had record sales and awesome growth. Here’s why its stock is being hammered anyway.
Neil Irwin: Apple has shown less public interest in plowing money into projects far outside of their core expertise than some tech giants, in particular Google with its efforts to create driverless cars.1 So Apple’s stock price is essentially a minute-by-minute referendum on the ability of the company to find some big new thing that […]
Why Do Carriers Subsidize the iPhone?
Horace Dediu at Asymco used the data I compiled1 in “The Case for the Low-Cost iPhone” to further elucidate why carriers tolerate the iPhone’s industry-leading subsidies. The presumption behind smartphone usage is that it leads to more browsing which leads to more network usage which in turn, leads to more network revenues and, finally, more […]
The Visual Case for a Low-Cost iPhone
Yesterday Horace Dediu posted this very interesting chart showing the average revenue per mobile-cellular subscription in 2010 by country: Average revenue per mobile-cellular subscription in 2010 by country. Would love to have more than 60 countries. twitpic.com/ckybnl — Horace Dediu (@asymco) April 21, 2013 I combined this data with browser share data from StatCounter. Countries […]