iMacs expected to boost desktop market growth in 2010
Mobile computing has taken over as the main driver of growth in PC sales for the past year, with notebooks overtaking desktops in late 2008 and sales of desktops declining for the last two years. However, Caris & Company analyst Robert Cihra is expecting desktops to show a small positive growth this year, due in large part to brisk sales of Apple's iMac. Cihra still expects notebooks and netbooks to account for 90 percent of overall growth in the market for the current year. But the increased demand driven by emerging markets, a slight increase in corporate IT spending, and "power gamers" should result in a 3 percent uptick in desktop sales over last year. "[B]elieve it or not," Cihra wrote in a note to investors, "we estimate Apple's iMac accounting for a full one quarter of ALL desktop market growth in calendar year 2010." The number isn't so surprising when you consider that the iMac pushed an impressive 70 percent year-over-year growth in desktop Mac sales for 2009. Contrast that with a 12 percent drop in overall sales of desktops for the same time frame. Apple's second fiscal quarter sales are already looking healthy, with sales up 36 and 43 percent year over year for January and February respectively. Those figures led Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster to peg Mac sales at about 2.9 million for the quarter. That's less than the recent record quarters of late, but would still mark a 31 percent year-over-year growth compared to the second quarter last year. Sales of iMacs resumed in earnest recently after manufacturing problems with the large 27" LCD panels caused some delays. Cihra also praised Apple in his note for its ability to drive growth without sacrificing average selling prices or margins. ASPs for desktop and portable Macs have decreased slightly over the last year, while ASPs for HP and Dell have dropped more dramatically. Meanwhile, Apple's tight control on costs have driven increased operating margins that exceed even the gross margins of HP, Dell, and Acer. It's worth noting that while Acer has seen explosive sales growth over the last year—in particular due to low-cost netbooks—the company's operating margins hover around 3 percent while Apple's are just over 25 percent. Read the comments on this post
published today, 39 minutes ago
iWork.com improves public URLs, adds iPad compatibility
Apple's iWork.com document sharing and collaboration service still carries the beta tag that it has worn since it was introduced with iWork '09 last January. (Perhaps it's just another hobby, like Apple TV?) Still, with the iPad ready to launch in a few weeks, Apple has added a few improvements to iWork.com. One improvement is an update to the way documents can be shared publicly. A simple toggle turns public sharing on or off as needed, and a "Show URL" button rolls down a drop-down sheet with the URL selected for easy cutting and pasting. The new public URLs don't show comments or notes, according to Apple. The company also noted that it makes sharing documents via social networks easy, though adding buttons to "Tweet this!" or "Post to Facebook" would more likely get users to post documents to such sites. The other improvement is that Apple has created interfaces that are optimized for iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches. Functionality on Apple's mobile devices is quite limited, but you can access documents that you have shared via iWork.com and view them within Safai. On the iPad, documents can be edited using the new iPad versions of Pages, Numbers, or Keynote if they are installed. Both new views have interfaces optimized for touch input, but the iPad's screen makes viewing documents much more pleasurable. Read the comments on this post
published today, 3 hours 25 minutes ago
etc: Ever wanted to archive the SMSs on your computer without just keeping them around forever on your iPhone? Macworld has a few suggestions.
Ever wanted to archive the SMSs on your computer without just keeping them around forever on your iPhone? Macworld has a few suggestions. Read More: Macworld Read the comments on this post
published today, 4 hours 33 minutes ago
Ars Premier now available in $5 month-to-month subscriptions
Last week was an important waypoint here at Ars. It has been just over six months since we launched version 2.0 of our Ars Premier Subscriptions. There's been a steady stream of new subscribers each day, and the program is outperforming our wildest expectations. Two weeks ago the staff had an opportunity to talk with a wide spectrum of readers about a number of topics. One of the things we took away from those conversations was that many Ars readers wanted to join and support the site directly, but weren't able or willing to put down $50 all at once. Read the comments on this post
published today, 6 hours ago
etc: iPhone developers can now schedule a release date for their apps through the App Store, as well as a time limit for certain price tiers. More control for devs is a good thing.
iPhone developers can now schedule a release date for their apps through the App Store, as well as a time limit for certain price tiers. More control for devs is a good thing. Read More: Amro Mousa's Twitter update Read the comments on this post
published today, 8 hours 30 minutes ago
etc: RunKeeper, our favorite GPS running app for iPhone, has introduced a new live tracking feature. Friends and family can now keep track of your progress online as it's happening.
RunKeeper, our favorite GPS running app for iPhone, has introduced a new live tracking feature. Friends and family can now keep track of your progress online as it's happening. Read More: RunKeeper blog Read the comments on this post
published today, 10 hours 13 minutes ago
Survey: Macs cost notably less to support than Windows PCs
Macs are often the black sheep in the many enterprise environments which have been dominated by Windows for nearly two decades, but the growing consumerization of IT is slowly changing that perception. Though Macs often have a higher up-front price than many business-class PCs, Macs are usually believed to have a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) due to lower support costs. A recent survey of IT professionals in large enterprise environments that have a mix of Macs and PCs overwhelmingly agree that Macs cost less than PCs to support. The Enterprise Desktop Alliance, which seeks to make it easier to integrate Macs in Windows-centric IT deployments, surveyed IT admins from companies that made large deployments, including universities and government agencies. Responses included in EDA's analysis include those from environments with a mix of Macs and PCs that had a total of 50 servers or over 100 Macs. A majority of respondents said that Macs cost less in terms of time spent troubleshooting, user training, help desk calls, and system configuration. Admins generally agreed that costs related to software licensing and supporting infrastructure were the same between the two platforms. Two-thirds of those managing mixed environments plan to increase the number of Macs deployed in 2010. Twenty-nine percent cited lower TCO as a "key reason" for deploying Macs. Almost half cited lower TCO, ease of support, or a combination of the two as leading factors in Mac adoption. User preference and increased productivity were considered important factors as well. "As a greater percentage of enterprise applications become OS-neutral, the cost to support a more diverse hardware and OS mix will decrease, making Macs a more viable choice for a greater number of users who continue to demand them," noted Michael Silver, vice president and research director at Gartner, in a recent report on PC trends. Macs tend to be popular among C-level execs, as well as with those in creative departments and developers (especially cross-platform developers). Apple has historically done little to actively develop a traditional strategy to target enterprise deployment. Instead, the company tends to focus on consumers first, and lets individuals drive enterprise demand for its computers and mobile devices. It does, though, make continual small improvements that make it easier to integrate Macs, iPhones, and soon iPads into many corporate environments. Read the comments on this post
published yesterday, 1 day 2 hours 50 minutes ago
etc: Droid sales were a hair faster than the original iPhone in its first 74 days, but the Nexus One far slower. Analytics firm Flurry credits this largely to consumer perception and demand.
Droid sales were a hair faster than the original iPhone in its first 74 days, but the Nexus One far slower. Analytics firm Flurry credits this largely to consumer perception and demand. Read More: Flurry Read the comments on this post
published yesterday, 1 day 6 hours 35 minutes ago
etc: Droid sales were a hair faster than the original iPhone in its first 74 days, but the Nexus One was far slower. Analytics firm Flurry credits this largely to consumer perception and demand.
Droid sales were a hair faster than the original iPhone in its first 74 days, but the Nexus One was far slower. Analytics firm Flurry credits this largely to consumer perception and demand. Read More: Flurry Read the comments on this post
published yesterday, 1 day 6 hours 35 minutes ago
Keyboard dock, other iPad accessories will be MIA on April 3
National iPad Day is just over two weeks away, but when April 3 rolls around, iPad owners won't be able to get most of the accessories that were touted to go along with the device. As noted by Electronista, the iPad keyboard dock and USB power adapter have both been pushed back until May, after even the 3G model of the iPad is set to be released. During the introduction of the iPad on January 27, the keyboard dock was the accessory that got some major attention from Apple-watchers. After all, it's the "cheapest" and simplest way to do text entry on the iPad without typing on the touchscreen itself. However, the delay doesn't mean WiFi iPad owners will be prevented from entering mass amounts of text until May—the regular (non-keyboard) dock is still set to ship on April 3, and iPad users can pair their devices with a bluetooth keyboard for text input if they so desire. (The dock connector to VGA adapter is also still on schedule for early April.) The only other accessory that is currently MIA is the Camera Connection Kit. Announced at the iPad event, the kit is meant to allow users to read SD cards and other USB devices through the 30-pin connector. The kit remains on Apple's spec page for the iPad but is nowhere to be found in the online store. The inability to buy certain accessories to go along with their shiny new toy will undoubtedly disappoint some iPad buyers. Some have tried to analyze what these accessory delays could mean, but we're going to chalk it up to poor coordination among manufacturers. Read the comments on this post
published yesterday, 1 day 8 hours 12 minutes ago