The Apple tablet runaway rumor train continues, with word from Barron’s that an unnamed “veteran” analyst has seen first-hand the upcoming touchscreen slate. In keeping with earlier speculation and leaks, the device is tipped to arrive in November after a September announcement, and is potentially being positioned as a home media and gaming platform. According to the analyst, “it’s better than the average movie experience, when you hold this thing in your hands.”
We’ve already seen what’s going on inside the iPhone 3GS, now courtesy of iSuppli we know roughly how much it all costs. The analysts have been picking through the iPhone 3GS’ components and have deemed that Apple’s handset costs $178.96 to produce in its 16GB form.
Full breakdown after the cut
Two Gartner analysts have lent their weight to ARM processors and the Google Android platform as potential players in netbooks and smartbooks, tipping the pairing as possibly headed for prime time. While they recognized that Android still needs fettling for the larger displays and broader usage patterns of a netbook-style device, Christian Heidarson and Ben Lee, analysts at Gartner, nonetheless praised its “snappy” performance on ARM-based sub-notebooks.
Over 50,000 people may have taken home a box just like this at some time over the weekend, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Cooster. While Palm and Sprint are yet to comment regarding first-weekend Pre sales, analysts have tentatively pegged the figures as ranging from 35,000 to 60,000, with shortages of the smartphone having a significant impact on numbers.
Apple’s rumored Media Pad touchscreen tablet is coming, but not as fast as many are expecting. That’s the latest opinion from perennial Apple commentator, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. Munster has published a note today stating his opinion that development a touchscreen tablet is underway, but that since it’ll require a third-generation of mobile OS X “more robust” than that on the iPhone, it won’t hit the market until 2010.
An cellphone industry pricing strategist has tipped Apple and AT&T for an upcoming service plan cut, bringing their current entry-level price of $69 down to $59. Cote Collaborative analyst Michael Cote expects the announcement to come on June 8th at the WWDC, slicing $240 off of the overall cost of a two-year iPhone 3G contract in the US.
Collins Steward analyst Ashok Kumar has launched a highly critical and pessimistic attack on Palm and their upcoming Pre smartphone, describing the company’s sales goals as “highly unrealistic” and their partnership with Sprint unwise. Kumar claims that production of the Palm Pre has been beset with “multiple hardware and software issues”; these problems will, he claims, lead to supply shortages, as the number of handsets are “drastically reduced”.
After the cut, why Sprint’s support for Pre just isn’t enough for Kumar
Tech industry analysts iSuppli have performed a virtual break-down of the Palm Pre, and decided that the unreleased smartphone will cost the company $138 in hardware. Working from both known suppliers and extrapolating the rest from Palm’s confirmed specifications, iSuppli deemed that Palm will see a 44-percent return on each device it sells to Sprint, after taking into account software licensing and royalty costs.
Apple’s record financial performance for 2008 was held up by many as a shining example of quality products blazing through the financial downturn. That celebration may have been premature, however; the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Apple’s sales of computers dropped by 6-percent in January 2009, compared to the same month last year, the company’s first monthly loss in three years.
From one NVIDIA rumor to another; now it’s the turn of the company’s Tegra platform to make headlines, with at least one analyst suggesting [via] that HTC have chosen the applications processor for models in its upcoming range. Tegra combines an ARM-based processing core, running at either 700MHz or 800MHz, with a 1080p HD-capable GeForce graphics core and direct support for WiFi and input peripherals onto a single chip, and could enable HTC to create a high-power smartphone with low energy demands.
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