Archive for October, 2006
Oct 26
25 things to do to grow rich
Follow these 25 guidelines and feel confident that you’ll be making the right financial decisions.
Steve Jobs declares 2007 to be “one of the most exciting” in Apples history
During last week’s conference call in which Apple announced preliminary 4th Q earnings, Mr. J apparently also declared 2007 to be “one of the most exciting new product years in Apple’s history.
Apple’s Big Mac
Record-breaking quarterly sales of the Mac are putting Apple into the running for a top computer-maker spot!
Sure, Apple Computer (AAPL) sold a lot of iPods in the September quarter. But unlike in past periods, when surging sales of the iconic digital-music player grabbed headlines, this time around, the Mac was the belle of the earnings ball.
In fact, Apple sold more of its Macintosh computers—1.61 million—than in any other quarter. Mac sales were clearly the high point of the quarter and the year, accounting for $2.2 billion, or 45%, of revenue. Apple had made a point to emphasize the Mac following the transition to using chips from Intel (INTC) from using chips made by IBM (IBM) and Freescale Semiconductor (FSL). Apple completed the switch when it released the MacPro earlier this month.
NICHE PLAYER NO MORE
“They delivered in spades,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says of Apple’s Mac sales. “It’s a sign that Apple has turned the corner from being a niche player to being a player that is starting to make a run at bigger players.”
Indeed, Apple came within spitting distance of overtaking Gateway (GTW) as the third-biggest U.S. computer maker, according to Gartner figures released on Oct. 18, the same day as Apple’s results. Last quarter, Apple sold a mere 38,000 fewer units than Gateway, which trails Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL).
And within Mac sales, portables were far and away the favored product of Mac buyers. Apple sold 986,000 of its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook computers, which accounted for $1.3 billion, or 27%, of revenue at an average price of $1,363 per unit during the period. Desktop sales, at 624,000 units, were slower, in part because the Mac Pro was the last Mac in Apple’s lineup to include an Intel chip, accounting for $869 million, or just less than 18%, of revenue. Desktop prices sold for an average price of $1,392.
Siemens Tops Microsoft In IPTV Market
According to the most recent report from ABI Research, Siemens leads Microsoft in the worldwide market for IPTV right now, but the race has just begun. ABI just finished up a recent analysis of middleware vendors and found that Siemens was ahead of Microsoft in terms of bundling a broader set of technologies.
Siemens has been ranked at the top of the latest ABI Research Vendor Matrix.
Microsoft Corporation and Alcatel claimed the second and third spots in the company’s most recent evaluation of worldwide IPTV network middleware vendors.
The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets.
Vendors are assessed by ABI Research on the important parameters of “innovation” and “implementation” across several criteria.
For this particular matrix, under “innovation,” ABI Research examined breadth of services/functions supported by the company’s solution, its interoperability with other solutions, the company’s technology partners, and the scalability of the solution.
Under “implementation,” ABI Research scrutinized the following criteria: the strength of the company’s customer base, brand identification, sales channels, regional/key market diversity, and its ability to package the solution in a broader end-to-end offering.
To view a list of the “top ten” firms in this Vendor Matrix, please visit IPTV Network Middleware Vendor Matrix. Registration on the ABI Research website (free) is required.
Access to the rankings of all companies surveyed is available to clients of ABI Research.
This Vendor Matrix forms part of ABI Research’s Multi-Channel Video Research Service. For a list of all ABI Research Vendor Matrices, please visit The ABI Research Vendor Matrix.
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations supporting annual research programs, intelligence services and market reports in broadband and multimedia, RFID and M2M, wireless connectivity, mobile wireless, transportation, and emerging technologies. For information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.
