T-Mobile USA may take away a "record high break-up fee" from AT&T's failed takeover bid, but the carrier still faces a roughly $9bn spend if it wants to compete in the US market. Despite receiving a chunk of AT&T's spectrum covering 50m people, analysts warn that owner Deutsche Telecom will have to spend three times the $3bn fee from Ma Bell on improving the network and acquiring further spectrum. That will likely mean dreary prospects for investors, Businessweek reports, facing reduced dividends after next year.
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‘Analyst’ Stories
T-Mobile USA faces $9bn bill to bring network up to scratch
Microsoft tipped to buy Nokia smartphone division in 1H 2012
Nokia sale rumors continue, with Danske Bank predicting that the company will sell its smartphone unit to Microsoft in a deal announced as early as the first half of 2012. The Finnish company's share price rose over 3-percent over the speculation, Bloomberg reports, though Nokia itself remains adamant that a deal is not in the offing. Nokia launched its first two Windows Phone handsets - the Lumia 800 and 710 - within the past two months, and has embarked on a broad promotional campaign that saw it dismiss the iPhone as unfashionable and Android as over-complicated and insecure.
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iPad 3 in February 2012 tips analyst
The Apple iPad 3 will launch in February 2012, analysts have predicted, complete with the double resolution "Retina Display" that has been well rumored over the past few months. Citi analyst Richard Gardner suggested the date in a note to investors this week, Business Insider reports, quoting "several sources" that say not only is a mid-Q1 2012 reveal on the roadmap, but that "there do not appear to be any significant technical hurdles remaining" to delay a launch.
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Apple TV-enabled iMac tipped for 2012 television attack
Apple could ease itself into the TV market by integrating Apple TV and iCloud functionality into an iMac-style all-in-one, one analyst has suggested, using a hybrid TV/computer in 2012 as a bridging step before its true Apple Televisions go on sale. The existing 27-inch iMac is a likely launch point, Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair wrote in a note this week, with the suggestion that "Apple's redesign of the iMac in the first half of 2012 will likely usher in some … TV capability into the iMac offering first," AllThingsD reports.
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AT&T iPhone 4S crushes Verizon in data testing
AT&T’s HSPA+ network is the carrier’s iPhone 4S trump card, according to data speed analysis in the US, delivering websites twice as fast as CDMA rivals like Verizon. The fifth-gen Apple smartphone bested competing carriers on page rendering, uploads and downloads, analysts Metrico Wireless found in their testing of the iPhone 4S, though Verizon proved slightly more stable when it came to connecting – and not dropping – calls.
iPad 2 price slash incoming insists analyst
Apple's iPad is on the cusp of a price cut, analysts are predicting, to counter public perception that the iOS tablet is an expensive option in the slate marketplace. Low-cost rivals such as the $250 B&N NOOK Tablet as well as deeply discounted - and considerably less successful - models like the HP TouchPad and BlackBerry PlayBook are a sign of "a more realistic pricing approach" Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope reckons, MSNBC reports, warning clients to expect "near-term demand challenges" as consumers grow wary.
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Apple: Fragmentation-feeding Kindle Fire only good for iPad
Apple execs reportedly have no fear of the Amazon Kindle Fire, according to analysts meeting with CEO Tim Cook and others at the firm, because the 7-inch slate will only highlight Android’s growing fragmentation problem. Cook and Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer supposedly told Barclays analyst Ben Reizes that the stability of the iOS could prove to be the iPad’s greatest allure, Business Insider reports, and that “the more fragmentation, the better.”
Amazon profit dip predicted over Kindle Fire loss-leading
Amazon's loss-leader strategy with the Kindle Fire ereader tablet, as well as a growing US sales tax bill, could lead to significantly reduced income this quarter analysts have predicted. The retailer is expected to announce earnings figures today, but already there are concerns that Amazon's net income may be just half of Q3 2010, according to an estimate average crunched by Businessweek. Part of the issue is the $199 Kindle Fire, hardware sales of which Amazon is believed to be taking a loss on, and instead relying on subsequent digital media sales to buoy profits.
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4m iPhone 4S weekend sales predicts analyst
Pundits are clamoring to make ambitious estimates for iPhone 4S launch demand, with some analysts pegging weekend sales in the region of 4m units: in fact, the enthusiasm for the fifth-gen smartphone is so great, the biggest surprise would not be multi-million sales but if crowds proved indifferent. That looks unlikely, however; after queues in Europe this morning, sales have kicked off the east coast of the US and Apple Stores – along with Verizon, AT&T and Sprint stores – are opening from 8am to deliver the coveted handset into shoppers’ hands.
iPhone price cuts refuel sales momentum says analyst
Apple's iPhone 4S pre-order sales success isn't the only reason the company's cash registers are ringing. Price cuts of the existing iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS have apparently reignited demand for the older handsets, AppleInsider reports, with Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley claiming his checks across US carriers showed buoyant sales of the legacy devices.
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RIM kills PlayBook and future tablet plans claims analyst [Update: RIM denies]
RIM has reportedly frozen production of the BlackBerry PlayBook and axed development of future tablets, according to one analyst, faced with lackluster sales of the QNX slate. The rumor comes from Collins Stewart analyst John Vinh, BGR reports, who cites unnamed sources at Quanta, RIM's manufacturing partner, for the intel. Although Quanta had already confirmed that PlayBook production had been scaled back, this is the first sign that RIM may be rethinking its entire tablet strategy.
Update: RIM has called Vinh's checks on the supply chain "pure fiction"; more after the cut
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Apple slashes iPad production claim analysts
Apple has reportedly cut iPad supply chain orders, slashing production by 25-percent in Q4, in a move that could suggest the company has sufficient stock of the second-gen slate to tide it over until the iPad 3 launch. The reduction was spotted by analysts JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bloomberg reports, quoting several supply chain vendors affected by Apple's decision. It's believed to be the first time Apple has made such a drastic cut.
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