Digital Daily » launch date

$800 Apple Tablet Coming in October?

John Paczkowski — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:09:55 +0000

So that mysterious touch tablet Apple’s rumored to be developing? It’s about to go into production in advance of an October launch date. This according to a report in the Information Times, which claims that three of Apple’s manufacturing partners–Foxconn, Wintek and Dynapack–have received orders from Apple (AAPL) that suggest the company is building a “netbook” with a 9.7-inch touchscreen. From the report:

“According to reliable information, Apple will not follow the current market trend (by producing netbooks with screens about 10.2 or 10.1 inches in diagonal length.) Instead, Apple will produce screens with about 9.7 inches in diagonal length. Touch screen will be installed. Wintek will be the main manufacturer of the touch screen.”

Beyond screen size, there are no other specifications mentioned in the report. But it does include a price: $800. Which is $300 more than the $500-piece-of-junk price point Apple CEO Steve Jobs cited when he dismissed netbooks last October. “There are some customers which we chose not to serve,” Jobs said at the time. “We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that.”

But will it allow Apple to ship an $800 one? Perhaps something with a P.A. Semi chip? Something that runs App Store apps and offers a sort of middle ground between the iPod touch and the MacBook?

UPDATE: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster just weighed on these rumors in a research note. His thoughts, below:

On 7/13 Asian media reports suggested Apple is planning a tablet/netbook in Oct-09. Last week we spoke with a Taiwanese component supplier and continue to believe that Apple will launch a tablet, not a netbook, by early CY10. … We expect [it] to be a touchscreen device in the $500-$700 range (between the iPod Touch and MacBook).

[Image Credit: Adam Benton]

Mike Abramsky and the Holy Pre

John Paczkowski — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:57:03 +0000

Palm hasn’t yet set its price or launch date, but it already has a winner on its hands in the Pre. That’s the word from RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky, who gave the device one hell of a write-up this morning. Seems Abramsky, who had previously been neutral on Palm (PALM) because of “low visibility to sustainable recovery,” now sees better things ahead for the company. “Palm (like RIM and Apple) is unique in developing end-to-end Smartphone software and hardware, providing a superior user experience, which we believe can offer a compelling alternative to iPhone,” he wrote in a research note. “Rather than a ‘one product Hail Mary’, we see webOS as a platform, spawning a family of devices addressing a broader market opportunity….We now believe webOS has raised Palm’s chances for Smartphone leadership, through: 1) competitive advantages; 2) multiple devices; 3) global distribution.”

It’s also apparently raised Palm’s profile as an acquisition target. Says Abramsky, “Given Pre’s and webOS’s competitive advantages and the rising importance of the Smartphone market, we foresee Palm’s rising attractiveness as an acquisition candidate.” The companies most likely to consider it as such: RIM (RIMM), Microsoft (MSFT), Nokia (NOK), Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL).

Quite an endorsement–especially for a company that hasn’t yet launched the product capable of working the restorative magic Abramsky describes.

Palm shares are up well over two percent this morning at $8.07.

Pre-diculous

John Paczkowski — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:00:57 +0000

According to Palm (PALM), Pre was chosen as a name for its new smartphone because “it’s anticipatory.” If that’s the case, then it couldn’t be more well-suited to the device which has left observers waiting in frustrated anticipation for official word of its price and launch date. During a joint Palm/Sprint Webcast Thursday to discuss the Pre’s upcoming launch, the companies had little of note to say. The big takeaways from the event: Palm and Sprint are sticking to their first-half-of-this-year schedule for launch, they are not giving any updates on pricing, and the Pre will be offered with the standard Sprint service plans. Beyond that, we’re to understand that the Pre “feels great in the hand” and that the two companies are very excited to be working together.

Fascinating.

Android: Take Me to Your Market Leader

John Paczkowski — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:58:54 +0000

The T-Mobile G1 won’t arrive at market until later this month and already the carrier is rumored to have presold 1.5 million of them (Neither T-Mobile, Google or handset manufacturer HTC has confirmed this report which first appeared on Motley Fool). “Given the great anticipation and the heavy presale demand for the T-Mobile G1 with Google (GOOG), we nearly tripled the number of phones initially available for delivery on our Oct. 22 launch date and have sold through them all,” T-Mobile (DT) said in a statement.

Clearly, demand for the handset, the first based on Google’s Android operating system, is far greater than anyone had expected. Earlier this month G1 manufacturer HTC estimated that T-Mobile would sell between 400,000 and 500,000 G1 handsets before the end of 2008. That the company may have already sold three times that amount to customers willing to buy the device without any real hands-on experience suggests the G1 may manage to hold its own against Apple’s iPhone. Apple (AAPL), as you may recall, sold one million iPhone 3Gs during the first weekend the device was on sale.