Current iPad models available 2013

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iPad 2
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iPad Mini

Too many Apples a day – or on the market – cause confusion says The Notebook Company

The current infusion of Apple products being introduced onto the market is causing confusion, which, at the end of the day does not auger well for the second most valuable company in the world. Because, when consumers are confused, they are cautions when it comes to buying.

This is according to Christopher Riley, managing director of laptop and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company – one of the biggest local sellers of the Apple iPad tablet range.

“Apple is in danger of confusing the market,” said Riley. “It might be the leading seller of tablets, but the current rash of product launches – and the confusion with iPad tablet names – is not good for business at the end of the day.

“When the Apple iPad 3 came onto the market it was called the New iPad. Then, when the Apple iPad 4 was introduced it was called the New iPad with retina display. But the problem,” said Riley, “is that the iPad 3 – called the New iPad – also has retina display.

“But it doesn’t stop there. Apple, which was dethroned as the most valuable company recently by Mobil Exxon, has also introduced the iPad mini. Some consumers – certainly some of my customers – think this is actually the iPad 4.

“When consumers are confused they tend to halt, or stall, purchase decisions because they don’t want to come across as stupid. Also, the sales cycle is a lot longer because retailers, like ourselves, have to explain things to customers in more detail – or customers have more questions. This extends the sales cycle.”

Apple starts to report slowing profits

Meanwhile,  at the end of last month Apple’s share price started nosing southwards, falling to $439,88 – giving it a market capitalisation of $413 billion (R3.6 trillion), compared to oil behemoth Exxon Mobile, who clocked in with a market value of $418 billion. Apple first superseded Exxon Mobil in August 2011 as the most valuable corporation based on the value of its stock. A year later it toppled arch rival Microsoft as the most valuable firm in the world in history with its stock valued at $622 billion.

But Apple has started to see its inner core bruising after a somewhat dull forecast accompanying its record quarterly profits, which pointed to a possibly less stellar growth.  Despite a record quarterly profit investors got cagey after hearing that gross margins further down the line would be 37,5% to 39,5% lower than expectations.

To get a clearer picture of the more gloomy prognosis  one has to cast one’s mind back to when Apple’s stock price hit more than $700 a share . This was reached in  September  last year, but, since that zenith, the price has dropped by 37% . The company also shed $60 billion in market capitalisation.

The Notebook Company’s Riley said some market analysts are postulating that Apple is losing its edge due to a dip in innovation since the death of co-founder Steve Jobs. There are also tangible  signs that it is losing traction to Samsung, which now leads the smartphone market, and to others using Google’s Android operating system.

Despite Apple’s stellar performance in the past it is questionable whether it will be able to maintain the margins it is accustomed to. With the possibility of smartphone price wars Apple’s traditional market positon of holding the high ground with premium products aimed at the high end of the market may bite deeper and deeper into profits from each device sold.

“But although Apple is receiving some negative press currently, it must be remembered that the tallest trees attract the most wind velocity. Apple has reached such heights these past few years that the wind velocity they are encountering is pretty fearsome.

“But Apple is by no means rotten to its core,” Riley quipped.

Apple’s mini iPad will fly off the shelves in South Africa says The Notebook Company

There has been a lot of pre-launch hype with regards to Apple’s mini iPad – as
there was with the Apple iPhone5. Much of the excitement – when the products
were actually launched – had already dissipated due to all the pre-press hype.
Nonetheless, these two products are sure to fly off the shelves around the world,
re-affirming Apple as the number one technology company in the world.

This is according to Christopher Riley, MD of local notebook and accessories
retailer, The Notebook Company – and a big supplier of Apple products.

Riley said said his company will be selling the iPad mini at between R5000 – R8
000, with stocks accepted to arrive in early November.

“The Apple iPhone 5s have been flying off our shelves and we have been battling
to keep up with the demand – and we are expecting no less of the Apple mini
iPad,” he said.

Riley noted that there would still, however, be a sustained market for the iPad 3
and iPad2s. “Demand has muted somewhat, but they are still stalwart sellers.”

Commenting further, Riley said the 7-inch mini iPad from Apple is viewed by
many market watchers as an attempt by the technology giant to combat – and
“beat-out” – competitors in the fast-exploding 7 inch tablet market.

“It is war out there,” said Riley, “but Apple still has a keen edge. Right now the
company has the Midas Touch and although they are allowing more hype to
permeate the market prior to launches – something they did not do in the past –
their products seem to be hitting the right buttons with users. Apple is just the
product users want.

Apple iPhone 5 shortage creates concern

What appears to be an increasing shortage of the Apple iPhone 5 is spooking Apple investors according to a recent article in the New York Times, with this shortage expected to substantially affect landed prices of the new units in South Africa.

Said Christopher Riley, managing director of The Notebook Company, one of South Africa’s leading suppliers of notebooks and accessories: “We went through sustained shortages of the last two Apple iPads – which had a marked impact on prices locally – and now the iPhone 5 is facing the same obstacles.”

The iPhone 5 is causing quite a stir – perhaps more than was anticipated – and the big question is whether or not end users will pay the premiums they are now facing due to the stock shortages, or whether they will, rather, opt for other smart phones.

”If users vote with their feet, this will have a certain impact on Apple’s revenue from the iPhone 5,” said Riley.

Commenting further, he said that if the stock shortage does affect orders for Apple’s iPhone 5, it is likely that the company’s revenue stream will, however, be significantly augmented with sales of its mini iPad.

“Apple’s less expensive iPad – the mini iPad – is expected to be launched in the next few weeks. Some market watchers believe this unit will hit the tarmac running with sales more than making up for any drag on revenue caused by the stock shortage for the iPhone 5,” said Riley.

But, as they say, time will tell.

And the winner is – the Apple iPad

The iPad tablet from Apple is still the most popular tablet on the market – by far – and even the iPad 1 is on the wish list of some consumers before other new releases from Apple competitors, such as Samsung, Acer, HTC and Google.

This is according to Christopher Riley, CEO of laptop and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company – which manages the Laptop.co.za and Notebook.co.za online retail sites.

Recent research shows that there is actually a low level of consumer consideration and expectation levels for a non-Apple brand, with more than 75% of ‘hot prospects’ (respondents that are keen to get a tablet) considering purchasing an iPad 2- and a further three in five people expecting to get one.

“Interestingly,” said Riley, “the next most popular tablets are actually out-of-date – and that would be the original iPad, the iPad 1, and the Samsung Galaxy tab. Both tablets scored a yes vote of just over 10% of those polled, who are  expecting to buy one”

According to research conducted by YouGov other tablet competitors – like HTC, Blackberry and Acer – do even worse.

While 77% of those ‘hot prospects’ polled appear keen to purchase an iPad 2, just 3% of these ‘hot prospects ‘expect to get a HTC, 2% a Blackberry, and only 1% an Acer.

Riley said sales of Apple iPads have accounted for 40% of his company’s total revenue so far this year. “Two years ago – before the Apple iPad arrived – Apple sales were more or less a blimp on our sales sheets.”

Steve Jobs gave pre-release iPad 2 to President Obama

iPad 2

U.S. President Barack Obama revealed recently that one of the perks of his job includes having received an advance copy of Apple’s iPad 2 directly from Steve Jobs himself.

Obama revealed the fact in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulous (via NetworkWorld).

“Steve Jobs actually gave it to me, a little bit early,” he said. “Yeah, it was cool. I got it directly from him.”

Jobs may have had an opportunity to present Obama, a self-professed fan of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry phones, with the device at a dinner in San Francisco in February, just two weeks before the unveiling of the iPad 2 in early March.

The dinner included several other prominent Silicon Valley executives, such as Google’s Eric Schmidt, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle’s Larry Ellison. A photo of the gathering shows that Jobs was seated to the president’s left.

In late March, Obama revealed in an interview that he owned an iPad and had tethered it to his BlackBerry smartphone.

Obama has indicated that he holds Jobs in high regard. Last December, the president praised him as an exemplary model of the “American dream.”

“We celebrate somebody like a Steve Jobs, who has created two or three different revolutionary products. We expect that person to be rich, and that’s a good thing. We want that incentive. That’s part of the free market.”

The two also met last year to discuss issues regarding technology, the economy and education in U.S.

After leading what some have called the greatest corporate turnaround in the history of the U.S., Jobs stepped down as Apple’s CEO in August, saying that the day had come when he could no longer meet the “duties and expectations” of the role. He remains with the company as Chairman of the Board, director, and employee.

Jobs has battled several significant health complications, including pancreatic cancer and a liver transplant, in recent years. Prior to stepping down as CEO, he had been on a medical leave of absence since January of this year.

iPad 2 dominates, as Android tablets lose ground

Apple iPad 2

Apple’s iPad 2 continues to dominate the tablet market, shipping 9.3 million units and achieving a 68.3 percent share of the worldwide market in the second quarter, IDC found. That’s up from 65.7 percent in the first quarter.

RIM managed to reach 4.9 percent market share for its PlayBook, which has been widely criticized in part for lacking key software like an email client and for having relatively few available applications.

The competition from Apple and RIM put pressure on Android tablets, which lost share in the second quarter, slipping to 26.8 percent of the market from 34.0 percent in the first quarter, according to IDC.

In the current quarter, Android will face even more competition, as people snap up fire-sale HP TouchPad’s. HP recently announced it would discontinue the TouchPad, dropping the price to $99. As a result of the subsequent frenzy that sold out the device in days, HP decided to manufacture an additional run of the devices. IDC expects nearly 1 million TouchPads to ship into the channel before the end of the year.

That means in the third quarter, TouchPads are expected to make up 4.7 percent of the market and that additional competition will further shrink Android’s share of the market to 23 percent, IDC said.

However, by the fourth quarter, without the TouchPad competition, Android should start growing again and will reach 25.9 percent, IDC said. By the first quarter next year, TouchPad market share will reduce to zero, IDC said.

Overall, tablet shipments reached 13.6 million, up by 88.9 percent in the second quarter compared to the first and 303.8 percent compared to last year, IDC said. The researchers have upped their forecast for 2011 to 62.5 million tablets, up from a previous expectation of 53.5 million units.

IDC also said that Amazon continues to lead the ereader market, with its Kindle taking 51.7 percent share, followed by the Barnes & Noble Nook with 21.2 percent of the market. IDC expects that significant holiday sales will result in a total of 27.0 million ereaders sold this year. It previously projected 16.2 million units would sell.