Edible Apple

Barrons reports:

R.W. Baird’s William Power this morning offers his weekly roundup of sales checks at retail regarding mobile device sales, in this case, tablet computers.

Power writes that he spoke with reps at Best Buy and Staples stores about which tablet computers they’re recommending and which ones seem to be moving units.

Apple‘s iPad “was the most popular device according to reps we spoke with,” he writes, while the Amazon.com Kindle Fire and Samsung Electronics‘s “Galaxy Tab” line of tablets were also “frequently cited alternatives.”

Check out the full gallery here.

Designed for the iPhone 5, this app is magical.

Start by balancing your phone upright on a flat surface (a granite countertop or glass table). The surface has to be really smooth, so don’t expect any non-laminated wood or tiles to work.

Once you press “GO”, the app will make the phone vibrate at just the right frequencies to force to phone into a twirl. Your iPhone will continue to spin in a circle, which recording video, until you press the “STOP” button.

The Wall Street Journal notes:

A Beijing court ordered Apple Inc. to pay 1.03 million yuan, or about $165,000, to a group of local writers who said the U.S. gadget maker sold unlicensed copies of their books online, according to state media.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said Thursday that the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court ordered Apple to pay the money to eight Chinese writers and two companies for violating their copyrights.

Attorneys for the writers had argued that software available from Apple’s app store contained unlicensed digital copies of their books.

Digitimes reports:

Apple has issued requests for quotations (RFQ) to Taiwan-based supply chain makers for the revision of several notebook models including MacBook Pro and MacBook Air series in June 2013, causing ultrabook vendors to be concerned, according to supply chain makers.

The sources pointed out that the MacBook Air for 2013 will feature a new processor platform, but its industrial design will not see any major changes.

The sources noted that pressure on ultrabook vendors mainly comes from the Air’s price since Apple is likely to reduce the prices for its existing MacBook Airs before the launch of the new models which could take away demand for ultrabooks.

Perhaps Samsung’s eyes were bigger than their reach.

Samsung, he south Korean electronics giant, could face fines running to billions of pounds from the European commission over its attempts to use its “standard-essential” patents on 3G to ban sales of Apple’s iPhone and iPad in Europe.

The Google-owned smartphone company Motorola Mobility may face similar penalties over its attempts to ban sales of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 through its use of SEPs relating to Wi-Fi and the H.264 video standard.

Both companies could yet receive fines in the US as well, where the federal trade commission weighed in earlier in December in a court case between Motorola and Apple, arguing that Motorola’s use of SEPs amounted to a “hold-up”. Samsung is also being investigated by the US justice department over its use of SEPs in cases against Apple.

The European commission’s competition arm, run by Joaquin Almunia, issued a formal statement of objections last Friday.

Check out the full story over here at The Guardian.

Florian Mueller has the full scoop here.

First iMacs and now Mac Minis, this according to a recent report from Digitimes.

Apple is reportedly set to move its Mac mini production lines back to the US with Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) to be responsible of handling establishment, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Currently, Foxconn has about 15 operating bases in the US and the company reportedly plans to start recruiting workers in 2013 for new automated production lines.

Mac mini shipments are expected to reach 1.4 million units in 2012, up more than 40% on year, and with the specification upgrade in October 2012, shipments are expected to rise another 30% on year to 1.8 million units in 2013, according to the latest figures from Digitimes Research.

The Next Web reports:

Consumer electronics giant Apple today filed documents with the SEC in preparation for its annual shareholder meeting, which will be held at the company’s HQ on Wednesday, February 27, 2013.

According to the filing, Apple CEO Tim Cook’s compensation totaled a mere $4,174,992. That may seem tiny, considering Apple’s $480 billion+ market cap, but there’s a reason for it.

When Cook was appointed CEO in August 2011, Apple’s board granted him 1 million in restricted shares (RSUs) as a promotion and retention award (worth about $376 million at the time).

Fifty percent of that award is scheduled to vest on August 24, 2016, and the other fifty percent on August 24, 2021.

Mac Rumors reports:

Chinese site TGBus reports [Google translation, via Mobilegeeks.de] that Apple and Intel are currently working together on a Bluetooth-enabled smart watch. According to the report, the watch will include a 1.5-inch OLED display from RITEK subsidiary RiTdisplay and will launch in the first half of next year.

Full details on Apple’s smart watch are unknown, but the report compares Apple’s project to Sony’s SmartWatch, although it notes that Apple’s Siri voice assistant will provide for greater integration with the iPhone in allowing users to take phone calls directly through the watch.

More evidence that Apple remains in the midst of a blowout and perhaps record-setting quarter.

Apple has recently increased its iPad mini orders from eight million units to 10 million due to strong sales worldwide, and the volume may reach 12 million units in total, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Apple originally estimated shipments of 10 million iPad minis for 2012, but due to component shortages caused by weak yields, Apple later adjusted the volume to only 6-8 million units. However, with yield rates improving, iPad mini shipments for the first two months of the fourth quarter have already surpassed eight million units, and should successfully break 10 million for the quarter with a chance to reach 12 million, the sources noted.

via Digitimes

Forbes reports on a research note from analyst Toni Sacconaghi from Bernstein Research. While keeping an outperform rating on Apple stock, Sacconaghi scaled back his price target for Apple shares from $800 down to $750 while also lowering his 2013 EPS estimate from $50.57 a share to $49.41.

Here are some of his key conclusions from his review:

• Apple’s growth is slowing. He sees revenue growth of 22% for FY 2013, 15% for FY ’14 and 8% for ’15.
• Earnings, driven by iPhone and iPad, should grow 35% over the next two years to $60 a share.
• iPhone growth should remain strong for at least the next two years. “The smartphone market is in its middle innings, with the market likely to grow from 690 million units to 1.4 billion over the next 5 years,” he writes. “We forecast that Apple will likely lose overall market share if it does not bring out a lower-price device, but the combination of market penetration plus the addition of carriers (the iPhone is only available at 240 carriers globally, out of an estimated total of over 900) translates into 40% iPhone revenue growth from 2012-2014. We believe that Apple will add 25 million new subscribers over the next 3 years from carrier additions alone.”
• The tablet market is “a rocket…an absolute juggernaut.” Units are projected to more than triple over the next five years from 232 million in 2013 to 324 million in 2014.
• By 2015, Apple’s core will likely be a mid-single digit growth company, assuming no additional major product additions. “That said, it will have a pristine balance sheet, and be generating a mind- boggling $49 billion in free cash flow a year after paying its current dividend, Sacconaghi writes. “More importantly, we believe that Apple’s innovation offers significant option value, which is not in our forecast. Three years ago, the iPad did not exist. Today it generates $32 billon in annual revenues, and as a standalone business would be the 11th biggest U.S. tech company. Potential “options” for Apple investors include a lower-end iPhone, a television ‘solution,’ a larger iPad or converged device and monetizing advertising, e-commerce and search from its iOS platform (and credit card database) of 435 million users.
• A lower price iPhone make sense. “One key question among investors is whether the company might choose to offer a lower priced (i.e. < $300 going forward) iPhone in the future – something we have espoused for years,” he writes “We believe that doing so is important, as it opens up a significant, new incremental segment of the market. Our analysis suggests that a lower priced iPhone might optimistically add only 5% – 10% in incremental EPS, due to its lower price and expected lower margins and the potential for cannibalization, but that it is strategically important in being able to attract first time smartphone buyers to the iOS platform.”