All Things Technology and Green – with views on the metaverse, environment, and privacy
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My computer recently crashed and I feared that I wasn’t going to be able to port over my iPod songs back into my iTunes on my restored computer. I came across the TouchCopy software from Wide Angle Software on the web. For about $30, I was able to restore all my songs back on my computer. Certainly saved me hours of time reload my songs. thanks.
Incredibly, but not surprisingly, Apple is now the third-best selling smartphone provider in the world, according to Canalys.
From 0% of the market this time last year, Apple achieved 6.5% of the global smartphone market during the 4Q 2007, only behind Nokia (with 53% share) and RIM (with 11.4% share).
With 35.5 million smartphones sold in the 4Q 07, Apple has sold approximately 2.3 million iPhones globally. In addition to the meteoric rise globally, Apple is now the 2nd smartphone provider in the US, only behind RIM. Truly remarkable figures given that the first iPhone didn’t sell until the 2nd half of 2007.
According the Reuters today, Apple plans to double its iPhone production for the 4Q 2007. They are planning to make 2.7 million for the 4Q versus 1.54 million that was originally targeted. The year end numbers for the iPhone now calls for about 4.8 million phones to be produced in 2007. It was already widely reported early in September that Apple has already sold 1 million iPhone for the year. With its current iPod and Mac base of 100 million worldwide, Apple is certainly well positioned to take additional market share in the mobile phone market.
According to a Greenpeace report released yesterday, Apple ranked last in the recycling and toxic content policies of key electronic manufacturers. This is disturbing as Apple has always been branded as a provider of simple and elegant products. As an Apple customers myself, I was quite surprised with this, particularly with its superior customer service and outstanding product. Certainly as an important stakeholder for Apple, a customer, we need to push them to look at the entire lifecycle of its products, not just selected parts – they should be held at a higher standard. According to the report, “Apple fails to embrace the precautionary principle, withholds its full list of regulated substances and provides no timelines for eliminated toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and no committment to phasing out all uses of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Apple performs poorly on product take back and recycling, but it does report on the amounts of its electronic waste recycled.”
Interestingly, Greenpeace has put together a “Green my Apple” website – http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/
On a positive note, the report sited that Dell has done extraordinary work for pushing its worldwide takeback policy on its products. Sony Ericsson eliminated many key chemicals such as beryllium, phthalates, polyvinyl chloride and brominated fire retardants.
Below is the rankings of key electronic manufacturers:
Came across this article on news.com about the margin and cost breakout of the iPhone by Apple. In summary, it states that based on the 4GB iPhone (priced at $499), the component costs are approximately $229.85 (46% of price), with assembly cost at about $15.90, raising the total manufacturing price at $245.83, giving it approximately a 50% margin.
With 8GB iPhone (priced at $599), component costs are $264.85 (44% of price), with assembly costs of $15.98, giving it a total manufacturing price of $280.83, with approximately 53% margin. According to iSupply, the WiFi chip would be about $15.35, with the 8GB flash memory at about $70 (at current costs).
Certainly the price of the phone will come down sometime after it is released on the US market in the summer of 2007, with most high end phones getting a 20% gross margin – pricing the 8GB iPhone at about $350.
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I’ve been getting some questions on the iTuneU service so I did a little digging.
For those of you that don’t know, it is a free hosted service provided by Apple that allows instructors to manage and distribute information to audio/video content files for students within a college setting. Anyone can do it (provided that you are at a college or university) – just go to http://www.apple.com/support/itunes_u/ and the Apple site provides all the details on setting up the service.
iTuneU has been successfully implemented at a number of universities including Stanford, UC Berkeley, Duke, U of Wisconsin, U of Michigan to name a few.
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At the Macworld Conference & Expo today, Apple finally revealed its new mobile handset, the iPhone. It has a number of core features includind the iPod, digital camera, smartphone and widescreen display.
The new input technology is called “MultiTouch” – thus the phone contains only a single home button, according to MacWorld. The device is expected to come to the US market in June of 2007.
Source: Apple.com
It will be interesting to see how the public responses to a mobile device without any physical buttons. While the cost for Apple will be less (no keyboard), the response by the public on touching the screen will be interesting – I for one am bothered by the fingermarks I leave on my iPod. The one big advantage is the size of the screen, coupled with the OSX software – this will be a compelling device for anything visual, particularly for browsing the Internet and watching videos. The web companies (Google, Yahoo) must be drooling at this…
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With the recent influx of marketing by Apple on its products (actually enjoy seeing those Apple v. PC commercials on TV – quite amusing), it has me looking at purchasing a MacBook. Being such a PC user for so long, I have gotten so accustom to all the quirks of the PC. These Apple commercials, while quite funny, are cleverly design to hit all the issues that really bother me about the PC, with the latest one actually dealing with translation to foreign languages (depicted through the use of a Japanese lady).
As I talk with colleagues recently, many have actually made the migration over from the PC world – with the standard reasons – less headaches, easier, less fuze, etc.
The recent reviews on the Intel-based MacBook have also been quite positive: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060706/D8IMLM2G0.html good feedback on the speed, battery life and look/feel of the product.
So, with the few key tradeoffs (for me) in the lack of integration with other media products I have (many being Sony products) and the weight of the MacBook, its likely the next product I buy. why not – the best of both worlds with less the headaches…
For those looking to convert their DVDs onto their video iPod, try the following site:
http://www.pqdvd.com/dvd-to-ipod-video-converter.html
The trial version allows one to convert up to 10 minutes worth of video for free.
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Sony’s annoucement today that it’s music software will be compatible with Apple’s audio format, AAC is another signal of Apple’s continued dominance in the music field.
Sony has for many years kept to a strategy of holding on to its Atrac system. Yet a question arises in the industry, like many other industries: the long term success of proprietary platforms such as Apple’s vs. industry open solutions. Maybe Sony’s strategy might be more appealing to consumers in the long run as the proliferation of devices continues (both with types of devices and various brands)
