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An iPad mini with Retina display could cost $12 more to build
Hardware market research firm iSuppli has released a new report that claims the cost-per-device of an iPad mini sporting a Retina display screen could be fairly high: as much as $12 or more. Even if all of the other parts stay the same price, just adding a Retina display in the iPad mini's size, iSuppli's report suggests, would bring Apple's cost above $200, which would likely mean higher costs for consumers as well. Which doesn't seem all that impossible -- the current iPad mini is selling quite well at $329, and you have to think that potential purchasers would be happy to spend a bit more for a full Retina display. Plus, if Apple really needed to shave some of that margin off just to boost sales, it probably could (though that would be a very un-Apple move, and it seems like it'll be a while before the iPad mini needs any extra help). For any other company, $12 per device might be a real problem, but Apple has still has quite a few options to deal with such a high increase in cost. Not to mention that Apple is always working on its supply costs, so while that may be the price now, the company may be working hard on figuring out a new way to supply and develop smaller Retina displays, or to work out a deal to make them cheaper in general. It's true, putting the Retina display in the iPad mini won't be cheap at the moment, but if anyone can figure out a way to do so without attacking their very high margin, it'll be Apple. [via App Advice]
New Acer will be more like Apple, less like HP
The details behind the rift that saw Acer's CEO Gianfranco Lanci (pictured) suddenly resign yesterday are now starting to emerge. Simply put, Acer's board wants the Taiwanese company to be more like Apple and HTC, according to Bloomberg, raking in big profits on fat margins. Lanci's approach, however, was to aggressively increase volumes and use its scale to negotiate cheaper prices from suppliers in a race to steal market share from Dell and HP. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Acer's profit margin in the last fiscal year was just 2.3 percent compared to Apple's 21.5 percent. Daunting, to say the least. With Lanci gone, JT Wang, Acer's chairman and temporary CEO, plans to put more effort into expanding its smartphone and tablet business while broadening efforts around enterprise sales. For Wang, Lanci's departure marks a break with the past, saying, "Recently the iPad [tablet computer] and other new form factors have had a very big impact on the PC market. We have to change our business strategy." While PCs will still be core to the business, Wang said "we won't be in a hurry to change to become the world number one." Unfortunately for Acer, its brand is more closely associated with low-cost laptops than with the premium devices required to significantly expand its profit margins. We'd wish 'em luck but we think Acer will be better served by an innovative CEO and focused R&D.
Nokia tells investors that 2011 and 2012 will be 'transition years'
Wondering how long it will take for Nokia to fully execute on its new strategy? Here's a clue in a press release targeting investors and financial analysts: "Nokia expects 2011 and 2012 to be transition years, as the company invests to build the planned winning ecosystem with Microsoft. After the transition, Nokia targets longer-term: (1) Devices & Services net sales to grow faster than the market. (2) Devices & Services non-IFRS operating margin to be 10% or more." There are many ways to interpret this, naturally. But the one we can't get our minds around is that the Symbian and MeeGo houses were such a mess that they couldn't be repaired by 2012, even after years of effort and huge investments directed towards that goal. And here we thought that MeeGo "inspired both confidence and excitement" while Symbian's only issue was UI related. Update: Stephen Elop says that he expects Nokia to ramp up the transition this year and be ready to ship Windows Phone 7 devices in significant volume in 2012.
Analyst: Flash memory makes MacBook Air more profitable than bigger laptops
We already know the MacBook Air is thinner than most laptops, but it turns out that the stack of money it makes Apple isn't. An analyst named Brian Marshall of Gleacher & Co. says that the flash memory in the MacBook Air is one of the big places that Apple makes its money on the machine, reportedly costing Apple just $80. According to Marshall, this means the profit margin on the Air is between 28 and 37 percent; that's almost 10 percent higher than Apple's traditional MacBook lines. According to Andrew Rassweiler of iSuppli, also quoted in the story, Apple is now one of the world's biggest (if not the biggest) consumers of hardware flash memory, and its deals on memory are so good that the more memory in a device it makes, the better profit it will eventually see. Which, of course, is why the latest MacBook Air is so big on flash memory. Of course, Marshall's analysis doesn't take into consideration marketing or advertising costs, and Apple certainly has a sizeable advertising budget going into its devices. But when you consider pure hardware costs, Apple's positioned its "satellite laptop" to be a very strong product indeed.
Apple raking in the mobile profits
While taking a look at the Fortune Magazine online tech blog, I saw some comments by Canaccord Genuity about Apple profits in the mobile market. They are a head-turner. Apple mobile profits are stunning, and they're even better when compared to the rest of the industry. The really interesting item is that Nokia, Samsung, and LG combined sold about 400 million handsets worldwide for the first six months of the year, and those three firms together garnered 32% of the profits in that sector. Meanwhile, Apple sold 17 million mobile devices over the same period and snagged 39% of industry profits. Wow! Steve and friends must be doing something right. It's especially notable because Apple wasn't even in the cellphone business until 2007. Sure, Android is coming up fast and may pass Apple in smartphone sales, but in terms of profit, Apple has everyone else on the run.
EVE Evolved: Trading: Tips and tricks, part 2
If you spot a market manipulation in progress and have some of the item yourself, take advantage of it by repeatedly listing the items on the market in small amounts. When small and medium rigs came out, the first producers made an absolute killing on them too.
EVE Evolved: Trading: Tips and tricks
So far in this guide to trading in EVE Online, I've covered the jobs best suited to new players and some of the more advanced trading techniques like margin trading, market speculation and price manipulation. This is by no means the entirety of what can happen in EVE's marketplaces, but serves as a good foundation for those trying to break into the trading game. In the hyper-capitalistic world of New Eden, the markets are hugely competitive and any edge you can get will help. With that in mind, this final part of the guide will cover a few of the tips and tricks I've learned over the years that have given me an edge in the marketplace. Some are common sense rules that most traders will learn eventually and will be invaluable to newer players. Others are more closely-guarded secrets that I've gleaned from years of gameplay. What is a cyclic product and what do you do when you spot a price manipulation? In this final part of the trading guide, I dish out some of my personal top tips for budding marketeers.
EVE Evolved: Trading: Advanced trading
In the first part of this guide I covered the basics of trading in EVE Online and some of the jobs best suited to newer players. There's a lot more to trading than buying low and selling high and in this week's installment, I'll cover some of the more advanced trading and marketeering tactics that have proven themselves effective in EVE. From margin trading on the market to making a living off the contracts page, anyone with enough dedication can learn to rake in hundreds of millions of ISK per day without even leaving the station. For the gamblers and risk-takers among you, market speculation and price manipulation can produce incredible short-term profit but with significant risks attached. In this second part of my concise guide on trading, I look at margin trading on the market, playing the contract pages, market speculation around patches and the dirty art of market manipulation.
EVE Evolved: Trading: Advanced trading, part 2
A good example of market speculation is the recent issue of moon minerals and the Dominion expansion. It was predicted that the expansion would contain a revamp of the moon mineral distribution system. For those who felt the risk was worth the potential rewards, it was a no-brainer to buy up rare moon minerals now and wait for the expansion.
Forum post of the day: Using the Auction House properly
The economy in WoW has some interesting nuances. Players spend oodles of WoW gold on their crafting professions, and sometimes manage to turn a tidy profit. I'm often surprised to see some items that are strongly in-demand, like Light Feathers. Shrewd players use the auction house to build their bankrolls. Lomentari of EU-Draenor is exasperated with people who fail to use the auction house "properly." She is angry that other crafters are selling the same product she creates for several gold lower than her preferred price. The items are placed on the auction house en masse at the low low rate, which the original poster blames on Leather Workers skilling up. She feels powerless to do anything about her "massive money loss." The original poster is willing to accept small cuts in pricing, but has a hard time deal with steep declines in prices.
50-percent of your iPhone purchase to pad Apple's wallet?
Sure, LG's KE850 Prada handset will set users back a cool $778, and the Google Switch just might pop in to make things a bit more interesting, but a recent research report has unveiled that Apple's sure-to-be-sold-out iPhone is a lean, mean, profit-generating machine nonetheless. While Apple's well-known for selling its iPods (and to a lesser extent, its Macs) for much, much more than it cost to manufacture, even we're a bit taken aback at how hard those corporate buyers must be workin' those suppliers on this one. According to iSuppli (no affiliation with Apple, of course), the 4GB iPhone will yield a "49.3 percent profit margin on each unit sold at the $499 retail price," while the 8GB rendition will kick back a 46.9-percent margin. You heard right, they're supposing the $499 mobile only costs Apple $245.83 to produce, while the 8GB flavor demands just $264.85. Of course, this isn't the first time a hot-selling product has been broken down by the numbers to prove just how ripped off we're all getting (if these numbers are to be trusted, that is) -- but hey, unless you've got the means to buy capacitors and LCD touchscreens by the boatload, you're probably stuck paying exactly what they ask. Plus if all this sudden competition gets a bit too heated, don't think Apple doesn't have any room to introduce a (highly desired) price drop.
