Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Was the iPhone’s Launch in China Really a Bust?
Apple’s internationally coveted iPhone finally arrived at market in China last week and by most accounts its debut was uncharacteristically muted. There is “no sign of the sort of sellout reception that greeted the smart phone at its introduction in other countries,” The Wall Street Journal reported. Clearly, the device’s Chinese launch wasn’t the rousing success to which we’ve become accustomed. That said, it probably wasn’t quite the bust it’s been made out to be, either.
If the teen demographic is a critical indicator of a company’s long-term growth prospects in the consumer electronics and online music markets, Apple has nothing to worry about. Because according to the results of Piper Jaffray’s 18th biannual Teen Survey, Apple devices continue to do well with American teenagers.
Snow Leopard’s under-the-hood improvements and low price point are evidently making up for the operating system’s lack of new bells and whistles. Market research outfit NPD reports that the latest iteration of Apple’s Mac OS X is selling twice as fast as Leopard and almost four times faster than Tiger.
Apple has $29 billion in cash, no debt, a 36 percent gross margin, and it’s on the cusp of another iPhone ugrade cycle. Little wonder, then, that analysts are raising their target prices on the company’s stock. Among those doing so today: Morgan Stanley’s Kathryn Huberty, who says “Apple is emerging as the clear leader in the battle over the mobile Internet.”
Palm’s Michael Abbott delivered more than just the keyonote at Web 2.0 Expo. But not that much more. Absent from his remarks Wednesday evening was any news about the price of Palm’s forthcoming Pre handset or a hard-and-fast release date–two bits of information the industry has been pining for since the device was first announced in January.
According to 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. 
Looks like today’s keynote will include a “One More Thing” moment after all, even without Steve Jobs to deliver it. And it will focus on iTunes. Three big updates to the iconic software, today. Plus, Tony Bennett to close out the keynote with two of his most familiar–and given the venue, appropriate–songs.
With the econalypse still playing havoc with global finances, holiday shoppers are behaving pretty much as you’d imagine. They’re spending less–presumably, saving up for that awful rainy day when discretionary income is better spent holding onto their homes than on another Wii game under the Christmas tree. 
AT&T does intend to offer a no-contract-required option for Apple’s new iPhone 3G. It just doesn’t know when–yet. In an announcement reaffirming the device’s pricing (from $199 for 8GB to $299 for 16GB to eligible customers), the company said it will sell the iPhone 3G without a contract for $599 (8GB) or $699 (16GB). When? “In the future.”
China’s state-run newspaper, the Shanghai Securities News, has got it all wrong. Beijing isn’t investigating whether Microsoft engaged in discriminatory pricing. Nor does it plan to file an antitrust lawsuit against it once the country’s anti-monopoly laws are enacted in August. At least that’s what China’s State Intellectual Property Office is claiming, anyway. 
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is so intent on extending his company’s lead in online music sales to the mobile market that he may finally be willing to give up the one-price-fits-all model that’s long been a cornerstone of Apple’s iTunes Music Store’s business model.
Steve Jobs has apparently accepted the unacceptable: Things don’t always go Steve’s way. The mercurial Apple CEO has been notoriously intransigent when it comes to matters of variable pricing on iTunes, arguing that charging higher prices for more popular content might backfire, sending customers off to the file-sharing networks.
