As expected, Apple issued an announcement today that over 1 million of the new iPhone 3Gs smart phones have been sold since it hit the market on Friday in the US and 7 other countries, making it the most successful iPhone model yet. The previous iPhone model, the 3G, also sold 1 million units in its first three days, but that model was released in 22 countries simultaneously.
The reason for the smaller geographic release has not been publicized, but I am sure the problems that surrounded the 3G release last year were no small factor. It is also possible that, with the global economic woes, Apple simply focused on the 7 most profitable markets.
Apple was grossly unprepared for the throngs of users that tried to activate their new phones last year. The same problems occurred this time, only to a much, much smaller extent. Some customers received messages stating it would take up to 48 hours to complete activation. Reportedly, some customers received emails promising a $30 iTunes credit for the hassle, but that is, as of yet, unconfirmed.
Apple also did not breakdown the sales by region. AT&T, the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone, stated that they had sold "hundreds of thousands" of iPhones on pre-order, but didn't get more specific than that yet.
One rather unexpected aspect to the announcement was a comment from Steve Jobs himself. "Customers have spoken and the iPhone is winning, " he said in his typical flare. It was Jobs' first quoted statement since he took a leave of absence in January for unspecified "medical reasons". The company stated that Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer, will be returning to work at the end of the month. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday the Jobs had a liver transplant 2 months ago, and will begin working part-time, initially. Neither Apple, nor Jobs himself, have either confirmed or denied the WSJ report.
Of course, as I pointed out before, the Blackberry is actually the king of the smart phones in the US and continues to be...by almost 3-1. And internationally, it still beats the iPhone in the Smart Phone market, although Nokia is the #1 outside the US.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Palm Pre off to a respectable start...
The new Palm Pre hit stores last week and it is off to a solid start. According to numbers released by Palm, their wireless carriers sold about 100,000 Pres in the first week of availability in the market. They also report they are on track to sell over half a million in the current quarter. About 35% of those sales were to new Sprint customers (currently the exclusive carrier for the Pre).
With all the excitement around the Pre, and the news last week about the upcoming new iPhone, it might surprise you that neither are dominating the Smart Phone market...in fact neither are all that close. The iPhone has actually lost market share since Q3 of 2008 from 30% down to just under 20% currently, according to reports. No, by far the dominant force in the Smart Phone market is actually RIM's Blackberry, with over 55% market share and that is up dramatically from already impressive 40%+ market share they enjoyed in Q3 of '08. Blackberry is up...iPhone is down...you think that made it onto a slide at the Apple presentation last week??? Me neither.
Another interesting aspect to this is how quiet RIM is being about their success. They just announced a new device, called the "Tour" (which most haven't heard of...I just heard about it today, and actually thought it was a literal "Blackberry Tour" where they were going to go around the country showing off their devices...not the name of a device itself). The fact is that you can get a Blackberry, in some flavor or another, with virtually any domestic wireless carrier, unlike the iPhone which is exclusive to AT&T. In fact, even AT&T themselves has as many Blackberry users as iPhone users (again, missed in all the big giant numbers Apple threw around last week).
Worldwide, the story is different, although not better for Apple...or Palm. Nokia is the largest player in the Smart Phone market internationally with a 41% control, compared to only 20% for Blackberry. Apple is even worse though, with roughly half of RIM's control and even sits behind Windows Mobile.
It's all good for us though, regardless. More choices...more advanced technology. As long as the various formats continue to duke it out for ultimate supremacy, we the consumer continue to reap the benefits. Technology improves, prices drop, and choices expand, regardless of which Smart Phone you are partial to.
With all the excitement around the Pre, and the news last week about the upcoming new iPhone, it might surprise you that neither are dominating the Smart Phone market...in fact neither are all that close. The iPhone has actually lost market share since Q3 of 2008 from 30% down to just under 20% currently, according to reports. No, by far the dominant force in the Smart Phone market is actually RIM's Blackberry, with over 55% market share and that is up dramatically from already impressive 40%+ market share they enjoyed in Q3 of '08. Blackberry is up...iPhone is down...you think that made it onto a slide at the Apple presentation last week??? Me neither.
Another interesting aspect to this is how quiet RIM is being about their success. They just announced a new device, called the "Tour" (which most haven't heard of...I just heard about it today, and actually thought it was a literal "Blackberry Tour" where they were going to go around the country showing off their devices...not the name of a device itself). The fact is that you can get a Blackberry, in some flavor or another, with virtually any domestic wireless carrier, unlike the iPhone which is exclusive to AT&T. In fact, even AT&T themselves has as many Blackberry users as iPhone users (again, missed in all the big giant numbers Apple threw around last week).
Worldwide, the story is different, although not better for Apple...or Palm. Nokia is the largest player in the Smart Phone market internationally with a 41% control, compared to only 20% for Blackberry. Apple is even worse though, with roughly half of RIM's control and even sits behind Windows Mobile.
It's all good for us though, regardless. More choices...more advanced technology. As long as the various formats continue to duke it out for ultimate supremacy, we the consumer continue to reap the benefits. Technology improves, prices drop, and choices expand, regardless of which Smart Phone you are partial to.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Apple Announces new iPhone
Apple had its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) yesterday. Its first in sometime without Steve Jobs running the show. It was as pretentious as ever, however, and would have made their maestro proud. As usual with Apple announcements, they were of no particular consequence but were presented in typical Apply fashion with plenty of flare, inflated statistics, and general hyperbole.
The big announcement was a new iPhone, the "3G S", which will ship later this month. It has the same form factor as the previous iPhone but stated as being "twice as fast"...whatever that means. It will also support a new faster network, a better camera (w/ Video), and some other software features that won't be available to current iPhone owners. A rather nice improvement overall given the confines of the form factor.
You can see the Apple official release here with pricing. Keep in mind that the $199/$299 pricing models they offer are for new customers only. For those of you existing iPhone 3G users??? Well, much like the original iPhone owners when the 3G was released, you get the shorter (and much more expensive) end of the stick. You an expect to pay $500-600 for the upgrade, thanks to the subsidization model used by wireless carriers.
One caveat on the faster network...AT&T (the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone) will not begin rolling out this new faster network until late this year.
Also, they announced a software upgrade for the iPhone, called appropriately iPhone Software Update 3.0. This update is free to all iPhone owners, but will cost $10 for owners of the iPod Touch. This is a minor release with some improvements on some core apps, cut/paste support, and new full support for MMS messaging (which has been a long time coming honestly). Once again, however, AT&T is there to pee on the parade because it doesn't support two of the key features: US Customers cannot tether their phones to their PC and cannot use MMS Messaging. That isn't to say it won't be added later...but I am sure, as is the AT&T way, there will be an up-charge for it.
On the OS front, Apple now claims there are 35 million active Mac users. This is the first time in years that they have claimed more than 25 million Mac users. That's a big number...until you look at the number of Windows users...currently at roughly 1 billion (yep...with a "b"). That puts Mac at about a 3% market share. And that isn't even including Linux/Unix...which honestly isn't even really worth including, so I didn't.
Apple is planning to release a minor upgrade to Leopard, dubbed Snow Leopard (how cute), in September. By all accounts it looks, acts, and feels a lot like Windows 7, which is scheduled for release in late October. However, Windows 7 has often been compared to being "Mac-like", and so therefore this is really making it look more like, well, itself. Sounds more like a "Service Pack" type upgrade to me. Oh, and they're charging $29 for the "upgrade".
That last bit of "significant" news from the company was a new version of the Safari browser for both Mac and Windows. In a move somewhat Microsoft-like, the version that will be bundled with the upcoming "Snow Leopard" will have special features not available anywhere else (like crash protection). Hmm...ponderous. I would imagine the irony here is lost on most Apple folks.
In all, it was Apple simply being Apple. Condescending, self-congratulatory, with a few snippets of actual tech excitement. Nobody says more, without actually saying anything, than Apple.
...with yours truly possibly being the lone exception...and maybe the Federal Government.
The big announcement was a new iPhone, the "3G S", which will ship later this month. It has the same form factor as the previous iPhone but stated as being "twice as fast"...whatever that means. It will also support a new faster network, a better camera (w/ Video), and some other software features that won't be available to current iPhone owners. A rather nice improvement overall given the confines of the form factor.
You can see the Apple official release here with pricing. Keep in mind that the $199/$299 pricing models they offer are for new customers only. For those of you existing iPhone 3G users??? Well, much like the original iPhone owners when the 3G was released, you get the shorter (and much more expensive) end of the stick. You an expect to pay $500-600 for the upgrade, thanks to the subsidization model used by wireless carriers.
One caveat on the faster network...AT&T (the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone) will not begin rolling out this new faster network until late this year.
Also, they announced a software upgrade for the iPhone, called appropriately iPhone Software Update 3.0. This update is free to all iPhone owners, but will cost $10 for owners of the iPod Touch. This is a minor release with some improvements on some core apps, cut/paste support, and new full support for MMS messaging (which has been a long time coming honestly). Once again, however, AT&T is there to pee on the parade because it doesn't support two of the key features: US Customers cannot tether their phones to their PC and cannot use MMS Messaging. That isn't to say it won't be added later...but I am sure, as is the AT&T way, there will be an up-charge for it.
On the OS front, Apple now claims there are 35 million active Mac users. This is the first time in years that they have claimed more than 25 million Mac users. That's a big number...until you look at the number of Windows users...currently at roughly 1 billion (yep...with a "b"). That puts Mac at about a 3% market share. And that isn't even including Linux/Unix...which honestly isn't even really worth including, so I didn't.
Apple is planning to release a minor upgrade to Leopard, dubbed Snow Leopard (how cute), in September. By all accounts it looks, acts, and feels a lot like Windows 7, which is scheduled for release in late October. However, Windows 7 has often been compared to being "Mac-like", and so therefore this is really making it look more like, well, itself. Sounds more like a "Service Pack" type upgrade to me. Oh, and they're charging $29 for the "upgrade".
That last bit of "significant" news from the company was a new version of the Safari browser for both Mac and Windows. In a move somewhat Microsoft-like, the version that will be bundled with the upcoming "Snow Leopard" will have special features not available anywhere else (like crash protection). Hmm...ponderous. I would imagine the irony here is lost on most Apple folks.
In all, it was Apple simply being Apple. Condescending, self-congratulatory, with a few snippets of actual tech excitement. Nobody says more, without actually saying anything, than Apple.
...with yours truly possibly being the lone exception...and maybe the Federal Government.
Hello Blogosphere!
Well, I've been Facebook'ing for some time now and have started Tweeting recently. Now I am blogging? As if I don't have enough things to spend my time on already? Cleary I need a hobby...wait...maybe this is that hobby...hmm.
Anyway, this will basically be my periodic, often irreverant, ramblings about mostly Geeky stuff. I'm a self-proclaimed tech geek, so my postings will most often revolve around that. However, I am an avid sports nut, car nut, and home improvement..uh..nut (As evidenced by my overuse of the word "nut" here, I am clearly not much of a wordsmith, however).
So, welcome to my Geeky little world. Don't be afraid...the worst that can happen is you'll fall asleep at your job and get fired, and frankly if your reading MY blog at your office, then I would say your job is lacking something for you anyway, and you probably would be better for it. No need to thank me...
On to the Geekyness...
Anyway, this will basically be my periodic, often irreverant, ramblings about mostly Geeky stuff. I'm a self-proclaimed tech geek, so my postings will most often revolve around that. However, I am an avid sports nut, car nut, and home improvement..uh..nut (As evidenced by my overuse of the word "nut" here, I am clearly not much of a wordsmith, however).
So, welcome to my Geeky little world. Don't be afraid...the worst that can happen is you'll fall asleep at your job and get fired, and frankly if your reading MY blog at your office, then I would say your job is lacking something for you anyway, and you probably would be better for it. No need to thank me...
On to the Geekyness...
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