Grant Robertson
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Happy Birthday iPod, Congratulations Apple

Posted Oct 23rd 2006 5:45PM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Apple Inc (AAPL)

October 23rd, 2001 the iPod began shipping and its associated iTunes Music Store went live, today we mark the iPod's 5th birthday. When announced Steve Jobs said, "With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again." What most failed to realize at the time was, we'd never look at Apple the same way again, either.

Things were looking relatively bleak for Apple in 2001. The iMac was the first major success Apple had seen in ages. It was pretty, it sold well for a mac but, as computers go it didn't break any sales records. The iPod revitalized the company, first in morale and image, later in sales figures.

Apple is up over 800% from it's 10/23/2001 closing price, a split adjusted $9.07 (just 11% of it's current close). Five years on it's not the same old Apple, and one wonders how the picture will look five years hence. With Apple poised to invade the living room in early 2007, with its iTV set top box for iTunes video offerings, it's much harder to find someone who will bet against Apple than it was at the launch of the iPod.

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Are Macs on the cusp of storming the business world?

Posted Oct 20th 2006 2:52PM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Internet, Apple Inc (AAPL)

Macs may be stylish but, for the most part, in business it's all PC. Creative professionals have known the magic of the Mac for over a decade but the suit and tie guys have never been willing to give up the utilitarian Windows network.

That may be changing. During the fourth fiscal quarter, Apple sold 1.61 million macs. That's 30% more than the same period a year ago, and only 5% less than the growth rate of the unstoppable iPod.

Several recent Apple moves have helped to change the playing field substantially. The switch to Intel chips, Apple's new Boot Camp software which allows Macs to run Windows XP in a pinch, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt's decision to join Apple's board, are all contributing to the Cupertino kids gains in corporate America.

[via TechWeb]

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Second generation iPod Nano cuts Apple manufacturing costs

Posted Sep 21st 2006 2:18PM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Industry, Apple Inc (AAPL)

Aside from increased battery life, slimmer form factor and a bigger screen the new Apple iPod Nano offers a relevant but much less obvious benefit; It's cheaper to make.

Research company iSuppli disassembled one of Apple's new toys and performed a cost analysis on the inner workings of the popular new portable player. What they found suggests that the 4GB model of second generation Nano costs $17 less than it's predecessor.

The materials cost for the new model are approximately $72 and the new device retails for $199. iSuppli added that the only additional costs associated with the new model lie in the much loved and anticipated aluminum case, which costs roughly $2 more than the plastic skins of the original Nano.

Given the rate at which Apple is able to move the Nano out the door, reduced costs associated with producing the popular model portend great things for Apple's bottom line. The large margin also leaves Apple an exceptional amount of room to compete on price against other similar products as companies like SanDisk prepare to make a run at Apple's overwhelmingly successful iPod.

[via News Factor]

Grant Robertson is a regular contributor to The Digital Music Weblog and follows the portable music and video gadget market with an obsessive compulsion

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Steve Jobs: Man of mystery

Posted Sep 7th 2006 9:55PM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Rumors, Products and Services, Conventions and Conferences, Internet, Blogs, Apple Inc (AAPL)

Tuesday the 12th, Steve Jobs will step into the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and deliver what has come to be the most over-hyped and over-speculated announcement in history and bloggers from Atlanta to Zimbabwe have weighed in on what Apple's consummate pitchman has up his sleeve.

I've been following the rumor patrol pretty closely for The Digital Music Weblog. Even with the curve-ball Apple tossed out this week, releasing a 24" iMac and updating the Mac Mini line with little fanfare, there is still some high-profile back-fence-talk to speculate on before Tuesday.

Movies: Amazon unveiled Unboxed yesterday, and it's widely believed that Apple's iTunes Music Store will get a Hollywood makeover as well. Another Weblogs Inc. site, DVguru, has the big skinny on what may be on offer come Tuesday at the iTMS. Gossip has it that Disney, Touchstone, Lion's Gate and Disney/Pixar will all be on tap but, the only solid data is on Lion's Gate. The Vancouver based company let it slip in some financials, and the CEO as much as confirmed that they will be a part of any iTunes movie store launch.

Macs:

Continue reading Steve Jobs: Man of mystery

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Apple product rumors run hot, remember to keep a cool head

Posted Aug 3rd 2006 3:57PM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Rumors, Rants and Raves, Apple Inc (AAPL)

New Apple products are almost always launched with massive fanfare. With Steve Jobs, the consummate pitch-man, dressed sharp and on top of his game pulling back the curtain on the future as Apple sees it. The Apple product launch cycle has become more of a tradition than an event, with speculation running wild right up to the wire and bloggers everywhere digging up every little scrap of evidence, then spinning out product visions of their own.

The gadget obsessed gurus at Engadget (sister blog to Blogging Stocks) are no exception, and they've been diligently rounding up all the rumor and conjecture about new Apple products in the lead up to WWDC. All that rumor can be hard to keep track of, so today Ryan Block put it all in perspective.

Notable speculation includes the iPhone (iCall?), a hybrid iPod/Cell phone to compete with scores of mp3 enabled phones hitting the market. Also among the wide-flung rumors, things like Intel Xeon based Xserves, 1:1000 contrast ratio Studio Displays, Core 2 Duo mobile MacBook Pros, and loads of new stuff for Leopard.

Remember to keep it all in perspective. Rumor usually contains a grain of truthiness at its core, but that truth is often obscured so that the end result looks very different, or never materializes at all.

[via Engadget]

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Apple up sharply on strong earnings report

Posted Jul 20th 2006 10:21AM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Earnings Reports, Good news, Apple Inc (AAPL)

A very healthy quarterly report has Apple shares soaring. Q3 results show a 48% increase in profit, well ahead of expectations.

The numbers in a nutshell, 1.3 million Mac's and 8.1 million iPods shipped in Q3. Notebook sales were brisk, with Apple's switch to Intel processors fueling a 61 percent jump in unit sales and revenue. Desktop Macs slipped though, off 23 percent year-over year at 529,000 units.

The iPod shows no signs of losing its post as the number one portable music player, with sales up 32% this quarter for the venerable device.

The "iPod continued to earn a U.S. market share of over 75 percent and we are extremely excited about future iPod products in our pipeline," CEO Steve Jobs said.

Total profit for the quarter ending July 1 came in at $472 million, a whopping 54 cents a share. Year over year that's an increase of $152 million, and 10 cents better than the average analyst forecast.

[Photo credit: hrotgers]

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SIRIUS strikes wide-ranging deal with Ford Canada

Posted Jul 14th 2006 11:03AM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals, Press Releases, Products and Services, Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Marketing and Advertising

Mark down another victory for SIRIUS in the Canadian market. Ford of Canada and SIRIUS Canada announced yesterday an exclusive long term agreement that will make SIRIUS Satellite Radio receivers factory-installed equipment in virtually all Ford vehicles sold in Canada by 2008.

It's not only Ford branded vehicles that will be equipped, but the majority of the Ford umbrella from Aston Martin to Volvo and everything in between (to include Land Rover, Mercury, Volvo and Jaguar)

"We are thrilled to start Ford of Canada's factory program for SIRIUS and excited about establishing a long term agreement," said Mark Redmond, President and CEO, SIRIUS Canada Inc.

Earlier announced deals for SIRIUS in Canada include Volkswagen and Subaru. SIRIUS is starting to win "the war of the dashboard" in new cars against XM, who took an early lead in factory pre-installs in the US market.

Read the full press release at SIRIUS' Canadian website.

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Analyst: AAPL could come up short

Posted Jul 12th 2006 12:55PM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Forecasts, Apple Inc (AAPL)

Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Robert Semple predicts Apple quarterly profit at 50 cents a share, short of the 52 cents projected by other analysts.

"We expect Apple will once again use the September quarter to reduce iPod inventories as the company prepares for a refresh of its product lineup, which we continue to believe will occur in the Sept/Oct time frame," said Semple in a note to clients.

Apple has slipped to its lowest levels since 2005 in mid-day trading, dropping below $54 a share.

Added to Apple's issues is increased media coverage of Microsoft's "Project Argo", a portable media player set to rival the iPod in stores this fall. With rumored wi-fi capabilities, Microsoft's DAP could best the iPod in high-tech gadgetry, but it remains to be seen if it will be able to capture significant market share.

[Photo credit: hrotgers]

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XMSR downgraded, slips, may find landing zone

Posted Jul 12th 2006 12:27PM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades,

Downgraded from "Buy" to "Market-Perform" by Janco Partners today, XMSR slips further to 13.74 in mid-day trading, off a little more than 2% on the day.

The tide has been turning on XM for months, and the stock has seemingly been looking for a quiet place to land since May. It remains to be seen if that "quiet place" has been located in the neighborhood of $14/share but, tightening Bollinger Bands do lean towards a lessening delta and lower volatility.

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XMSR gains 398k subscribers in Q2 '06

Posted Jul 10th 2006 3:21PM by Grant Robertson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Press Releases,

XMSR announced at the end of last week that close to 400k new subscribers came aboard during the second quarter, bringing XM's total subscriber count to 6.89 million.

"As we previously indicated, subscriber growth in the second quarter was limited by product availability and overall softness in the retail channel," said Hugh Panero, President and CEO, XM Satellite Radio. "As we approach seven million subscribers, however, satellite radio continues to be one of the fastest growing consumer entertainment products."

The company has scheduled a conference call on July 27, 2006, at 10:00 AM ET to announce and discuss its financial results for the second quarter of 2006.

XM has been busy adding name-brand personalities to its already star-speckled line up, a continuing effort to draw new listeners to XM's side of the satellite radio market. The much anticipated arrival of Oprah Winfrey in September, and the recent addition of Willie Nelson, are hoped to buoy soft sales heading into the last half of the year.

It remains to be seen how effective the Harpo machine will be in drawing subscribers to XM. Oprah seems to turn everything she touches into gold but, I'm just hoping, for the sake of my own santiy and that of the other 6.89 million XM subscribers, that she doesn't decide to bring Dr. Phil with her.

[Photo by miramb]

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