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As Apple Shares Slide, What About Sales?
Apple Inc. tends to prove unstoppable even when other computer makers falter. In the most recent quarter, shipments of Macs surged 41%. That's nearly three times the 15% global growth rate for PCs in general.But in the current quarter, as markets slide, banks go belly-up, and consumer confidence plunges, even the Apple (AAPL) growth engine may hit speed bumps, say some analysts who are revisiting their estimates just a month before Apple is due to report quarterly earnings for the period that ends Sept. 30. Concerns, including slumping demand for laptops and a strengthening dollar, helped drive down Apple's shares more than 29%, to 126.84, on Sept. 23 from 179.32 on Aug. 14.One of the bright spots of Apple's last several quarters has been its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines of notebooks, which in the quarter ended June 28 accounted for more than $2.2 billion, or almost 30% of sales. In a Sept. 22 research note, Samuel Wilson of JMP Securities in San Francisco pointed to potential weakness in notebook sales.Stealth SurveyWilson called 20 Apple stores and 10 Best Buy (BBY) stores and concluded that demand might soon weaken for the higher-priced MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,999, vs. the less expensive MacBook, which starts at $1,099. "When asked whether we should consider a MacBook or a MacBook Pro, we were repeatedly told that the Pro is designed for the design community, with a high-end video card and a large screen, and that we would be better off with a MacBook for the cost," he wrote. Employees at Apple stores proved 40% more likely to push the MacBook Pro than their counterparts at Best Buy, he found.Chip suppliers in Asia report that Apple has been canceling orders for computer memory chips, according to Wilson. "The reasons for the cancellations might...
T-Mobile’s Android Phone Has Limits Outside Google (NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - Now that analysts are getting their hands on the T-Mobile G1, talk is beginning about what the first Android-powered phone doesn't offer. T-Mobile launched the HTC-made device Tuesday, complete with full touchscreen functionality and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for a mobile Web experience largely driven by Google products, including Search, Google Street View, Gmail and YouTube.
Animating slide shows in OpenOffice.org Impress (Linux Journal)
Bruce Byfielddiscusses animation in OpenOffice.org Impress in a Linux Journalarticle."Animation is one of the less-known features in OpenOffice.org Impress. Its most obvious uses are for transitions for individual objects on a slide (rather than for the entire slide), or for dramatic emphasis and calling attention to objects. But it can also be used for more serious purposes, such as illustrating a procedure that is clearer if you can see it in motion -- for instance, one of the most effective animations I saw showed was on a Society for Creative Anachronism site that explained how the links in chain mail fitted together."
Fearing a Holiday Letdown, Retailers Shifting Strategies
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at some of the nation's stores, as retailers struggle to find ways to make shoppers forget about their battered 401(k) plans.Neiman Marcus' trees have been sparkling since mid-September, and Wal-Mart began opening its Christmas shops last week. But that hardly means many are in a holiday spirit: It's all part of an effort to extend a holiday shopping season that some analysts say could have the slowest sales growth since the 1991 recession.Consumer confidence -- a measure of people's attitudes about the current and future state of the economy and their own financial situations -- had its biggest single-month drop in September since RBC Capital Markets began calculating its index in 2002. And this season, which brings stores most if not all of their annual profits, is likely to be a make-or-break one for many small retailers and those that were struggling before the economy's dramatic slide.So stores are doing all the cost cutting they can to preserve profit margins. For shoppers, that will mean fewer choices of merchandise as retailers trim what they have in stock. It also will mean fewer salespeople available to help shoppers. Meanwhile, many retailers are likely to have more and earlier promotions to try to lure people into stores. Wal-Mart beat its own early start last year when it started holiday price cutting on toys Oct.1."Things will appear to be similar," says Richard Hastings, a consumer strategist at Global Hunter Securities. "Yet underlying those appearances will be a lot of caution regarding inventory, promotions, displays and advertising. Retailers know the consumer is not reliable right now."Jen Valliere, an Ashburn, Va., mother of three boys, is one of those cautious consumers."I do plan to spend less, because I have less to spend," says Valliere, whose husband is...
EA Turns to Online Games To Boost Asian Presence
Electronic Arts Inc. is turning to online games to boost its limited presence in Asia, the Asia president of the U.S. video game maker said Tuesday.EA's main business in the West comes from packaged games software for consoles and personal computers, but online games are more popular in Asia, EA President for Asia Jon Niermann told The Associated Press in an interview."It's night and day," Niermann.Niermann was attending the launch of "Need for Speed Undercover," which features a character played by actress Maggie Q.The executive says EA hopes to increase its market share in Asia by launching more online games, with 12 editions of different games expected to roll out this year.The company has already launched online versions of "FIFA,""NBA Street,""Warhammer Online" in the region, with "Battlefield Heroes" to follow. The online version of "Need for Speed," which was developed in Singapore, will launch next year.The executive said Asia revenues account for only about 6 percent of EA's total revenue. The Redwood City, California-based company reported US$3.67 billion in revenue for its 2008 fiscal year."It's nowhere where it needs to be. We need to get that growth significantly higher," Niermann said.In the coveted China market, EA's market share is in the single digits, but the company hopes to change by that by launching online versions of "FIFA" and "NBA Street" with local partners, he said.EA is launching "FIFA" with The9 Ltd., which operates "World of Warcraft" in China, and "NBA Street" with game operators Tencent Inc. and T2CN.The company is also developing games in Asia for the Asian market, Niermann said.EA has offices in 16 Asian cities, with game developing sites in Singapore, Hyderabad, India, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo.
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