Apple

Nokia deposed in revenues from world’s biggest phone maker by Samsung and Apple

Nokia didn’t get the chance to score a 15th year as the world’s biggest phone maker due to Samsung’s outstanding Q1 of 2012, according to a report from the research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics. Alex Spektor, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics said:

“Global smartphone shipments grew 41 percent annually to reach 145.3 million units in Q1 2012. Samsung overtook Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume with a record 31 percent market share. Samsung’s global smartphone shipments rose 253 percent annually to 44.5 million units, as demand surged for its popular Galaxy models such as the Note, S2 and Y.”

Samsung is estimated to have made nearly $40 billion in sales this Q1 2012 especially from shipments of panels and of Galaxy note and Galaxy S II. Apple managed to closely reach Samsung’s record revenues only in its Q2 2012 with $39.2B. Tom Kang, Director at Strategy Analytics remarked:

“Apple shipped 35.1 million smartphones worldwide and captured 24 percent market share, as volumes strengthened in key countries such as China, United States and Japan. Samsung and Apple combined now account for more than half of global smartphone shipments for the first time ever. Samsung and Apple are outcompeting most of their major rivals and the smartphone market is at risk of becoming a two-horse race.”

Source: TNW via Business Wire

Apple, iPad

Review: Apple’s non-financial costs for improving sharpness and color saturation on the new iPad

People rushed in lines to buy their own brand-new and most rumored iPad and during the weekend the company dealt with selling as never before, but only after almost a week since its release, issues of the tablet started to come into the open.

People are charmed by the Retina Display; everybody agrees that it is indeed “the best display ever on a mobile device.” The powerful A5X chip and the 10 hours life battery gained the trust of the Apple fans and assured them of the new iPad’s performances. Anyway, it seems that some things are not as “razor-sharp” as expected and Apple might have some dues to pay.

Dr. Raymond Soneira, display expert and president of DisplayMate, unveiled after an in-depth analysis two weak points of the Retina Display. Judging after how Apple defined the screen of the new iPad, the “Retina Display” designation is justified, but according to Dr. Soneira, the retina would require 458 pixels minimum per inch to gain the distinctive “true acuity.”

Also, the display of the new iPad “uses 2.5 times the Backlight power of the iPad 2 for the same screen Brightness,” due to the doubled number of LEDs, loosing points also for efficiency.

Credits: DisplayMate

Reports that people are having trouble charging their new iPad appeared on Apple’s forums. The cause might be the 10W charger that is not able to cope with the power needs of the battery. And folks might be right; the Mac Book Air has a battery almost similar to that of the iPad but a 4 times bigger charger.

Gizmodo tests unveiled that the new iPad accepted neither a charge from a high-powered USB 2.0 port/cable.

Customers and infrared tests proved that Apple’s new tablet is hotter that the iPad 2 from all points of view. While running, the A5X chip over- heats with 10 degrees (Fahrenheit) more than its predecessor. Anyway, this should not be of great importance because the degrees integrate within Apple’s specified operating temperature of 32 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

Secondly, customers reported that the new iPad reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit while playing “Infinity Blade II” and this does not integrate with the specified temperature. When plugged, the tablet heated to 116 degrees and wasn’t even charging.

Credits: Tweakers.net

There are also customers that claimed they did not notice a heat difference in the new iPad.

All in all, it seems that heavy use might not be the new iPad’s cornerstone, though Apple says that the new iPad operates “well within our thermal specifications.”

Source: AppleInsider, Gizmodo, AppleInsider

Apple

Apple takes the lead after Monday trading stock

In the summer of 2011 Apple managed to break both its own limits and Exxon’s according to an elder article from AppleInsider:

“Apple’s market cap valuation, which ended the day at $337.2 billion, edged into the lead despite the stock falling down 2.8 percent today. Exxon was valued at $330.8 billion after its shares closed down 4.4 percent for the day.”

This situation was kept almost unchanged until last Thursday when Apple’s market capitalization reached $456 billion, beating both Google and Microsoft market values altogether.

“As of Thursday morning, Microsoft’s market cap was around $256.7 billion, while Google was valued at around $198.9 billion.”

And the circumstances are getting better. This Monday the stock closed at $502.60 and Apple turned into the world’s most wealthy company, followed by the Cupertino, Calif., who capitalized at $456 billion and by Exxon’s $400 billion.

Google Analysis real time data

Since the holiday gifting season the iPhone 4S, iPad2 and other hard drive selling went surprisingly well. Not even competition’s selling, such as Samsung smartphones and tablets and Amazon’s Kindle, influenced Apple’s success. Apple booked outstanding earnings which led to great profit at the end of its quarters, thus, the Monday trading results should not be a surprise.

Source: AppleInsider

Apple, iPad, News/Rumors

Kindle Fire, a new adversary for iPad?

This year’s first quarter earnings announcement proved that the release of Kindle Fire did not influenced the iPad selling. Though the Amazon Kindle Fire was categorized as a tablet it still has its limitations, reason for which it should not be compared with Apple’s tablet thus, it does not represent a competitor for iPad.

The question whether Apple’s selling of iPad was or was not influenced by the release of Amazon’s tablet came from an analyst during the Q1 announcement conference. CEO Tim Cook answered really confident that Apple

“strongly believes in optimizing applications from day one to take advantage of the larger canvas. There are only a few hundred apps designed for the competition, versus more than 170,000 apps designed specifically for iPad. People who want an iPad won’t settle for a limited function tablet.”

There are other tablets on the market which might represent a challenge for iPad but even so Apple is not afraid because they will “continue to innovate like crazy” said Cook and lots of other new devices are on their way to the market.

Source: MacRumors