I can barely keep up with all the news about the Apple Tablet. So I gathered as much information as I could and instead of making separate posts I’ve made two summaries. This is the first summary reporting about the fact that the tablet computer shows up in statistics, AT&T’s exclusivity, the invitation explained and Apple financial results from yesterday.
Mobile app analytics company Flurry, keeps track of mobile applications used by people. They found 50 devices being used by people from Cupertino with characteristics of an Apple Tablet. Most of the applications running on the devices are games, which comes as no surprise. Apple has been focussing on the gaming industry since the launch of the iPod touch and admitted it last year. Other applications used by the Apple’s employees belong to the entertainment, news, lifestyle, and utilities categories.
The thing that catches my eyes is that the devices are using iPhone applications that are available in iTunes already. This seems to prove that the tablet can run iPhone games and other applications as well. Another thing that catches my attention is the fact the devices seem to run iPhone OS 3.2. That firmware version has not been launched yet, but a tablet running iPhone OS is not exactly what I hoped for.
The next subject I want to discuss is the fact that this Wednesday, AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity might end. This opens the possibilities for other mobile carriers to start selling the iPhone as well.
“According to an inside source close to the going-ons involved in all of this, a new tablet of some sort may not be the only thing on deck for next Wednesday though. We have been led to believe by an inside source that AT&T will lose their iPhone exclusivity on the same day, though it’s not yet clear what other carrier (or carriers) will be stepping in to also carry the phone”
Another piece of information regarding mobile carriers explains the colors on the invitations for Apple’s media event. Each color seems to be a hint to a mobile carrier. Pink means T-Mobile, blue means AT&T, green means Clear etc. Take a look at the picture below.
This is what an analyst says about a possible interpretation of the colors:
“T-Mobile USA Inc. will get the phone this summer, followed by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. in the fall, and Clearwire Corp. in 2011, Horan wrote in a note yesterday. AT&T Inc. has been the exclusive carrier since the iPhone debuted in June 2007.”
Back to the Flurry statistic. The New York Times seems to confirm the fact that 50 tablet devices were running iPhone games:
“It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print.”
And last but not least the financial results Apple announced yesterday. Last quarter of Apple’s fiscal year of 2010 that started in October 2009, has been the most successful quarter ever. The first quarter ended on December 26, 2009 and has been the most profitable so far.
The company posted revenue of $15,68 billion with a net quarterly profit of $3,38 billion. The same quarter last year brought a net quarterly profit of $2,26 billion to Apple’s bank account. Apple sold 3,36 million Macs. That’s 33% more than last year. They also sold 21 million iPods and 8,7 million iPhones. Steve Jobs said the following:
“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company,” said Steve Jobs. “The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”
Source: Flurry (tablet statistics) / AT&T iPhone exclusivity / Invitations explained / Financial results
