Apple posts record revenue, earnings for Q1 2011
In a display of perfect timing, Apple blew past analyst expectations in reporting the best financial performance in its history today.Apple reported revenue of $26.74 billion and profits of $6 billion, or $6.43 per share. Revenue was up 71 percent from a year ago, and earnings were up 78 percent. Analysts were expecting revenue of $24.38 billion and earnings per share of $5.38.The company's gross margins dipped slightly to 38.5 percent compared with 40.9 percent a year ago, as Apple had forecast during the company's last earnings call.The report followed news yesterday that CEO Steve Jobs will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the company to focus on his ongoing health problems. He retains CEO duties, while COO Tim Cook will handle the day-to-day operations of the company. Apple included a quote from Jobs in the press release accompanying the earnings report today. "We had a phenomenal holiday quarter with record Mac, iPhone, and iPad sales," Jobs said. "We are firing on all cylinders and we've got some exciting things in the pipeline for this year including iPhone 4 on Verizon which customers can't wait to get their hands on." Apple shares opened down more than $20 this morning in the aftermath of Monday's revelation that Jobs would be taking a medical leave of absence. They rebounded to close down $7.83 at $340.65, and Wall Street responded warmly to the blow-out earnings report, sending shares up almost 2 percent to $342.07 in after-hours trading.Apple said it sold 4.13 million Macs during the quarter, 23 percent more than the holiday quarter a year ago; 16.24 million iPhones, 86 percent better than a year ago; 19.45 million iPods during the quarter, down 7 percent from a year ago; and 7.33 million iPads.Apple continued to put away cash, adding $9.8 billion during the quarter, putting its bank account balance at more than $60 billion. Sales of the iPhone more than doubled from last year. CFO Peter Oppenheimer said on an earnings call with analysts that the company recorded $10.47 billion in revenue alone from the sale of iPhones and related accessories.In its first holiday quarter, Apple was able to increase its supply of iPads, which had been problematic for the company since its debut in stores in April. "We increased dramatically last quarter," Cook said. "That did get us into supply/demand balance and allowed us to expand to a total of 46 countires during the quarter and we're confident enough to add another 15 countries during January."Oppenheimer said the company made $4.61 billion in revenue alone from the sale of iPad and iPad accessories. Continuing close to where Jobs left off during the previous quarter's earnings call, Cook said he foresees little competition from Android tablets, especially the current crop that's shipping with versions of Android not optimized for tablets.In that case, "You wind up with a scaled-up smartphone, which is a bizarre product in our view.It's hard for me to understand if somebody does a side-by-side (comparison) with an iPad, I think an enormous percentage of people are going to select an iPad. Those are not tablets we have any concern on," he said.Cook is similarly unimpressed with the forthcoming Android 3.0 Honeycomb-based tablets announced earlier this month at CES."There's nothing shipping yet, so I don't know. Generally they lack performance specs, price, (shipping) timing. Today, they're vapor," said Cook. "We'll assess them as they come out. However, we're not sitting still. And we have a huge first mover advantage. We have an incredible user experience from iTunes to the App Store and enormous number of apps and a huge ecosystem, so we're very, very confident in entering in a fight with anyone." When asked about whether the iPad is cannibalizing Mac sales, Cook said he assumes it is somewhat. But he added that he's confident that the "halo effect" that brought new Mac users to Apple once the iPod went mainstream would be repeated with the iPad."If the iPad or tablets do cannibalize the PC market, keep in mind we have low share in the PC market. The other guys will lose a lot more (share), and we have a lot more to win because of that," he said. "Cannibalization is not something we're spending one minute on here." Apple's retail stores had their best quarter yet during the holiday shopping season, with revenue of $3.9 billion. Collectively, Apple Stores in China are the highest trafficked stores and have the highest average revenue of any of the company's retail outlets, according to Oppenheimer.Though not asked directly, Cook subtly tried to quell any unspoken concerns analysts had over a possible future of Apple without Jobs during the call. His message was essentially "business as usual.""We're very heavy with product pipeline. The team here has an unparalleled depth and breadth with talent and a culture of innovation that Steve has driven in the company," said Cook. "Excellence has become a habit. We feel very confident in the future of the company."Updatd at 3:08 p.m. PT with details from the earnings call.
Lynksys intros advanced NAS servers
Lynksys intros advanced NAS servers
Network-attached storage servers, in my opinion, have generally not been user-friendly enough. Even the easiest-to-use ones require some getting used to. This is looking to change with the two new Media Hub series released under the networking giant's marketing brand "Linksys by Cisco" at CES this year, the NMH400 and the NMH300. The NMH300 series is a budget solution that offers just the core features of the Media Hub, and you need to use a computer to manage the device. The NMH400 series, on the other hand, features an LCD screen that lets users view a variety of information and perform certain tasks without a PC, such as updating firmware or making instant backups. The NMH400 series also has a 6-in-1 card reader for users to transfer content of flash media onto the Media Hub without the need for a computer. Much like the HP MediaVault, both Media Hub series feature two hard-drive bays--each can take SATA hard drives of any sizes. One of the bays is occupied with a drive from Linksys. The NMH300 series come with a 500GB hard drive, while the NMH400 series also offer an option of 1TB. The second bay is left empty for users to upgrade. According to Linksys, the new NAS servers share common Media Hub features, including an easy graphical user interface, simple remote access, and easy-to-operate backup functions. They also boast a friendly design and silent operation that allows them to reside anywhere in the house.The rest of the core Media Hub feature list includes:Two USB ports for external storage and one media reader that supports CF/MD/MS/SD/XD/MMC memory cards Gigabit Ethernet connectionRAID1/JBOD configurationsSupport for SMB/CIF protocol: network users can access the NAS server the same way they access another computer in the networkPC backup with NTI Shadow software: automatic scheduled backup availableOn-demand backup via GUI or LCD Continuous backup option available User-friendly way to import media content with Linksys Media Importer DLNA 1.5 certified. Ability to stream content to Xbox 360 or UPnP DMA devices and support iTunes serverSupport for up to three simultaneous HD streams Automated "crawl" for UPnP servers to index and aggregate all digital media inthe home User-friendly, browser-based media browser to view JPEG pictures, play MP3 and WMA music, and manage system configurationMedia server support for most content formats: Audio: M4A, M4B, MP4, 3GP, WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC, MP2, AC3, MPA, MP1, AIF, ASF Photo: PNG, TIF, TIFF, BMP, GIF Video: MP1, MPG, SPTS, MP4, AVI, VOB, DivX, 3GP, VDR, MPE, DVR-MS, Xvid, M1V, M4V, MOV, MPVPlaylists: M3U, M3U8, PLS, WPLRemote access using DDNS in combination with Linksys relaying service to cover up to 100 percent of all Internet users The new Media Hub NAS servers are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2009, and cost $300 (500GB NMH300) and $350 (500GB NMH400). You can also get the 1TB version of the NMH400 series for $430.
Network-attached storage servers, in my opinion, have generally not been user-friendly enough. Even the easiest-to-use ones require some getting used to. This is looking to change with the two new Media Hub series released under the networking giant's marketing brand "Linksys by Cisco" at CES this year, the NMH400 and the NMH300. The NMH300 series is a budget solution that offers just the core features of the Media Hub, and you need to use a computer to manage the device. The NMH400 series, on the other hand, features an LCD screen that lets users view a variety of information and perform certain tasks without a PC, such as updating firmware or making instant backups. The NMH400 series also has a 6-in-1 card reader for users to transfer content of flash media onto the Media Hub without the need for a computer. Much like the HP MediaVault, both Media Hub series feature two hard-drive bays--each can take SATA hard drives of any sizes. One of the bays is occupied with a drive from Linksys. The NMH300 series come with a 500GB hard drive, while the NMH400 series also offer an option of 1TB. The second bay is left empty for users to upgrade. According to Linksys, the new NAS servers share common Media Hub features, including an easy graphical user interface, simple remote access, and easy-to-operate backup functions. They also boast a friendly design and silent operation that allows them to reside anywhere in the house.The rest of the core Media Hub feature list includes:Two USB ports for external storage and one media reader that supports CF/MD/MS/SD/XD/MMC memory cards Gigabit Ethernet connectionRAID1/JBOD configurationsSupport for SMB/CIF protocol: network users can access the NAS server the same way they access another computer in the networkPC backup with NTI Shadow software: automatic scheduled backup availableOn-demand backup via GUI or LCD Continuous backup option available User-friendly way to import media content with Linksys Media Importer DLNA 1.5 certified. Ability to stream content to Xbox 360 or UPnP DMA devices and support iTunes serverSupport for up to three simultaneous HD streams Automated "crawl" for UPnP servers to index and aggregate all digital media inthe home User-friendly, browser-based media browser to view JPEG pictures, play MP3 and WMA music, and manage system configurationMedia server support for most content formats: Audio: M4A, M4B, MP4, 3GP, WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC, MP2, AC3, MPA, MP1, AIF, ASF Photo: PNG, TIF, TIFF, BMP, GIF Video: MP1, MPG, SPTS, MP4, AVI, VOB, DivX, 3GP, VDR, MPE, DVR-MS, Xvid, M1V, M4V, MOV, MPVPlaylists: M3U, M3U8, PLS, WPLRemote access using DDNS in combination with Linksys relaying service to cover up to 100 percent of all Internet users The new Media Hub NAS servers are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2009, and cost $300 (500GB NMH300) and $350 (500GB NMH400). You can also get the 1TB version of the NMH400 series for $430.
Apple's free U2 album scored fans despite complaints
Apple's free U2 album scored fans despite complaints
Apple upset a number of iTunes users last month when it pushed out a free U2 album with no easy way to get rid of it. But according to Apple the album proved popular among a healthy number of people.The U2 album, "Songs of Innocence," has snagged 26 million downloads since it was released as a free download to Apple's 500 million iTunes users, Apple's senior VP of Internet software and services, Eddy Cue, told Billboard Magazine.Released to cap off Apple's iPhone 6 launch event on September 9, "Songs of Innocence" popped up on the computers, iPhones and iPads of many users via their iCloud accounts. A number of people were perplexed and annoyed that the album magically showed up without their consent. But the album itself was stored in the cloud and not actually downloaded to their local device. If their iTunes or iOS options were set to display items from iCloud, then that meant the album appeared whether they wanted it or not.To be able to play the album without access to iCloud, you'd have to download it. So Apple's 26 million figure refers to the number of times the album was actually downloaded from iCloud to a computer or iOS device.Further, more than 81 million Apple users experienced the album, Cue said. That term "experienced" sounds vague, but Cue explained that it includes people who played or streamed songs from the album via iTunes, iTunes Radio or Beats Music."To help put this into perspective," Cue told Billboard, "prior to this, 14 million customers had purchased music from U2 since the opening of the iTunes Store in 2003."Related StoriesHow to download the free U2 albumApple's free U2 album perplexes, annoys someHow to remove the U2 album from your devicesAnalyzing Apple's numbers for the album, Time Magazine calculated that about 5 percent of all iTunes users who found the album in the cloud downloaded it. Around 16 percent of the people who accessed the album played at least a single song, Time added.Time also questioned Cue's use of the term "experienced" and said that no information was available as to whether played a song all the way to the end.The quality or appeal of the album wasn't necessarily what upset people. They were ticked off because Apple essentially forced the album on them, albeit in the cloud, with no easy return policy. Some people simply didn't want to see the album appear in their iTunes accounts or on their devices. But short of turning off all music stored in the cloud, there was no easy way to remove just the U2 album, though you could hide it.As a concession to people who didn't want the album even showing up, Apple eventually cooked up a way to remove it from one's account. Should you change your mind and decide you want to give the album another shot, you can still download it for free until October 13. After that date, it will be available only for purchase.Apple didn't immediately respond to CNET's request for comment. But U2 commented on the matter in the following statement sent to Billboard.Apple is a tech company fighting to get musicians paid. The idea that they wanted to make a gift to the very people that actually purchase music is both beautiful and poetic, and for that we are very grateful.
Apple upset a number of iTunes users last month when it pushed out a free U2 album with no easy way to get rid of it. But according to Apple the album proved popular among a healthy number of people.The U2 album, "Songs of Innocence," has snagged 26 million downloads since it was released as a free download to Apple's 500 million iTunes users, Apple's senior VP of Internet software and services, Eddy Cue, told Billboard Magazine.Released to cap off Apple's iPhone 6 launch event on September 9, "Songs of Innocence" popped up on the computers, iPhones and iPads of many users via their iCloud accounts. A number of people were perplexed and annoyed that the album magically showed up without their consent. But the album itself was stored in the cloud and not actually downloaded to their local device. If their iTunes or iOS options were set to display items from iCloud, then that meant the album appeared whether they wanted it or not.To be able to play the album without access to iCloud, you'd have to download it. So Apple's 26 million figure refers to the number of times the album was actually downloaded from iCloud to a computer or iOS device.Further, more than 81 million Apple users experienced the album, Cue said. That term "experienced" sounds vague, but Cue explained that it includes people who played or streamed songs from the album via iTunes, iTunes Radio or Beats Music."To help put this into perspective," Cue told Billboard, "prior to this, 14 million customers had purchased music from U2 since the opening of the iTunes Store in 2003."Related StoriesHow to download the free U2 albumApple's free U2 album perplexes, annoys someHow to remove the U2 album from your devicesAnalyzing Apple's numbers for the album, Time Magazine calculated that about 5 percent of all iTunes users who found the album in the cloud downloaded it. Around 16 percent of the people who accessed the album played at least a single song, Time added.Time also questioned Cue's use of the term "experienced" and said that no information was available as to whether played a song all the way to the end.The quality or appeal of the album wasn't necessarily what upset people. They were ticked off because Apple essentially forced the album on them, albeit in the cloud, with no easy return policy. Some people simply didn't want to see the album appear in their iTunes accounts or on their devices. But short of turning off all music stored in the cloud, there was no easy way to remove just the U2 album, though you could hide it.As a concession to people who didn't want the album even showing up, Apple eventually cooked up a way to remove it from one's account. Should you change your mind and decide you want to give the album another shot, you can still download it for free until October 13. After that date, it will be available only for purchase.Apple didn't immediately respond to CNET's request for comment. But U2 commented on the matter in the following statement sent to Billboard.Apple is a tech company fighting to get musicians paid. The idea that they wanted to make a gift to the very people that actually purchase music is both beautiful and poetic, and for that we are very grateful.
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