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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/technology/as-new-ipad-debut-nears-some-see-de- - - - cline-of-pcs.html?_r=1&ref=business
Took some gains, then repurchased those back at $519. I think it was a good move.
TM
You naughty boy
Btw, I briefly caught a bit of Cramer talking about the new iPad. He was saying that it would be called the iPad HD instead of iPad 3. Is that true? There is also talk that it may not have the quad core processor as I posted above.
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/apple-tv-dream-revealed-embarrass-ha- - - - rdware-makers-stiff-140040754.html
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-30/tech/30457809_1_apple-s-tv-apple-- - - - analyst-apple-products
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-03-01/tech/31112494_1_apple-s-tv-apple-- - - - analyst-channel-surfing
Personally I think the biggest things coming in TV are the OLED technology and the ultra HD technology I posted a few days ago. If Apple is going into the TV business it needs to go to those sets instead of current generation. A lot of bells and whistles like voice control aren't going to cut it against a much better resolution technology. Resolution/picture clarity is the no. 1 priority for consuers IMO. It's why the old plasma sets once sold for $10k. Also from what I understand the new technologies are able to imbed the set top box within the TV and have signal controls similar to current boxes that allow you to view the content in the packages that cable and satelite currently tier. The lack of clutter and wires from set top boxes is something that consumers will also love.
These Apple TV articles sound very exciting for the future. I'm sure that Apple has a plan in motion and it will be executed to perfection.
I have been trying to buy 25 shares this morning, but the wire transfer is taking "forever". I may wait until tomorrow now unless the stock takes another big hit today.
As an aside, are you folks having as much trouble as I have been having refreshing/posting on this site lately? Unless something is wrong with my computer, the process is agonizingly slow at times. I don't have this problem with other sites so I don't think it's my computer. What is going on? Maybe the moderator can chime in.
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We still have the wild card tomorrow with the introduction of the iPad3/iPad HD (whatever it will be called). As Len so smartly stated above, it could be a blockbuster announcement since it is Tim Cook's debut product. Or, there could be some disappointment if it does not contain the quad core processor for example. If so, it could take a real plunge tomorrow. However, I have a feeling that Len is right and it will be a very positive type of announcement.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46641431?__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cquote%7Ctext%7C&par=- yahoo
OF COURSE the products will be successful. Heck, the iPhone 4s wasn't the iPhone 5, and it didn't include a bunch of features that were expected, and it went on to sell like wildfire. The iPad HD that will be announced tomorrow will be a smash success. Count on it. And Apple TV WILL eventually make a solid dent, but TV is a very different market situation and it will take a little more time.
And, later in the year, there are more good things in store.
As I posted earlier, I bought Apple shares back today at $519, and then at the end of the session, I bought a little more at $527 and flipped some more. Terrific action on Apple today.
No matter what happens with the share price tomorrow, it is all good. If the share price goes up, that's great, of course. If it goes down significantly, I consider it a discount and buy more and either hold them or flip some later depending upon the price action. It's awesome!
TM
Charlie...
It's not you. We are all in the same boat. The performance of this site lately is absolutely HORRIBLE at times. Soooooooo slow... painful. :sick:
TM
Probably a small percentage of Apple's sales are through WalMart. WalMart is just another sales channel for Apple in order to reach the broadest market possible.
The unique thing is that Apple dictates to WalMart - typically WM is in the driver's seat with their suppliers. WalMart can't discount Apple products much - if at all.
Well, you heard what happened to me from my earlier posts. I did not have any extra cash on the E-Trade accounts and by the time the wire transfer went in, AAPL had rallied to $529. I did not feel like buying it at that level. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I will be fine if it takes off from here. If it were to take a nice dip I will buy 25 additional shares.
So TM, do you think it will be indeed called the iPad HD? I have a feeling, as Len already suggested, that it will be a "blockbuster" announcement tomorrow.
As a guy with a college degree in advertising,, I see big benefits to changing to the name iPad HD, but that doesn't mean it will happen. It's certainly a great idea, and better opens the door to iPad as a product line, beyond a single product... which would further suggest the possibility of an additional smaller iPad in the near future, IMO. The name iPad HD also distinguishes the iPad3 as a premium model, and inherently makes a point about it's ultra high-end display (expected). So, I like the name iPad HD... whether they use it or not.
Len is certainly not alone in his expectation for a blockbuster announcement. Apple has a strong and long proven history of such... an amazing track record. So, it's a common expectation that I and most others also share. That's why the risk of disappointment exists... A lot is expected from this company. Yet they seldom disappoint.
I am more excited about FUTURE announcements, and that's why I own AAPL shares, even though I am otherwise not currently interested in investing in the stock market. Apple has an even more amazing future ahead.
TM
Here is a quote from an article I just read...
"A series of last-minute rumors and speculation are suggesting that the iPad 3 might include haptic technology that would give on-screen objects texture. The rumors have linked Finnish company Senseg with Apple and have been fueled by Apple's media event invitations carrying the tagline "We have something you really have to see. And touch."
Holy Smokes. Gotta wonder. What an exciting day.
I am so glad I took advantage of the large two-day dip in AAPL share price yesterday. I will continue to do so when opportunities like that present themselves. Charlie... I suggest you always leave adequate cash in position to pull the trigger, so you do not find yourself missing the moments, like yesterday. There will be more.
Enjoy this special day!
TM
You might be in luck. The next iPad sibling could be 7.85"... either late this year or next Spring.
I think the possibility of a touchscreen MacBook Air is even more exciting to me.
TM
Regards,
OW
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/science/higgs-boson-may-be-indicated-in-new-da- ta.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=elusive%20particle&st=cse
Intel recently exhibited a well-featured "non-branded" Hybrid netbook. It boasted a well-engineered slide out mechanism that allows the tablet's display to tilt up and away, revealing a terrific keyboard... the best of both worlds... touchscreen and keyboard... and I believe THAT's the next step that makes sense.
I am confident that a device like that will be available with Windows 8 in the near future. Apple would greatly benefit to offer something along that line.
That said, there are numerous third party products that offer an iPad case with a physical keyboard built in... and there is one in particular that I posted here months ago that is top-notch, state-of-the-art, unlike the many cheaper ones.
When I buy the iPad HD later in the Spring (I expect to do so, unless some other announcement grabs my attention), I will very likely get a high-end keyboard/case, but I will use the iPad without one first to see how it goes.
Regardless, the iPad HD will likely represent a "good enough" product to finally stop waiting for the next evolution. There are always improvements in technology (goodness, that's for sure), and at some point, the products are good enough to buy. For so many years, I used to be a technology junkie... I bought everything in sight. It was insane (and fun). So, now I have learned to be more patient when it comes to technology... because I prefer to make sure I make my purchases at "key" points, so they are more likely to be current technology for a while, instead of becoming old technology too soon.
That's why I am waiting for the iPhone5, and have waited for this iPad HD (or iPad3, whatever they call it.) I am also on the fence with the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, because a significant change is coming in the next version, and it will very likely be the one to get.
TM
My main point is to be prepared.
TM
Personally, I think it has a gorgeous display, and it's an amazing device... but, I'm not quite as impressed as I had hoped I would be... I will definitely check it out, and might buy one. Not as sure as I was before seeing the event.
EDIT: Just-announced improvements to Garage Band, iMovie, and especially the new iPhoto application make the new iPad more compelling.
EDIT 2: The demonstration of iPhoto was nothing short of awesome. I am almost certainly sold on the device now.
TM
"It is amazing," Apple CEO Tim Cook said at a San Francisco unveiling. "We've taken it to a whole new level, and we are redefining the category that Apple created with the original iPad."
The new 9.7-inch display screen will feature a "retina display" of 2047 by 1536 pixels, compared with the current model's 1024 by 768 pixels.
To break it down, that's a total of 3.1 million pixels on the display screen.
"Your retina in your eye cannot discern those individual pixels," said Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller. "The images on it look stunning."
And the new iPad will be the first to run on 4G wireless networks, a source familiar with the device's specifications told CNNMoney on Wednesday.
Regards,
OW
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/07/meet-the-new-ipad/?source=yahoo_quote
I did very well yesterday by buying at $519/share. Earlier today I sold the shares at $535, and I just bought some shares back at $525/share.
Not sure what I will do with the rest of the trading day... depends upon the price action I guess.
EDIT: I just sold those shares for a gain, and am buying them back for less once again, and then selling them again for yet another quick gain. This is a great day to trade these shares back and forth. I don't think there will be all that many days like this, because the stock will eventually settle back in, and it will be better to "hold" the shares, and not trade them.
TM
I have been very busy with stuff the past few hours. I have been following the Apple news on my iPhone. I just got home a few minutes ago and I bought a total of 40 more shares (12 with the broker) and 28 on one of the E-Trade accounts at about $526.
From what I have read, it does not appear that the new iPad has anything that is considered disappointing. Yes, there seems to be a bit of sell the fact, but these bozos will be sorry very shortly. I don't think there is anything stopping AAPL from reaching the $700 level in the next 6 months or so and possibly $1000 within a year or two.
As soon as it is available at my local Apple store, I am definitely buying the new iPad. However, I doubt I will go with a data plan. Wi-Fi is good enough for me. Btw, is it officially called the iPad 3?
I have been trading the stock recently, and it is perfect for that right now. I still think there is one more pullback in price ahead. Could be wrong, of course, but that's just my guess. Regardless, it will hit great new highs later this year.
TM
Surely, they have to give it a name other than just plain iPad. That would not fly, would it?
Regardless, it is still a terrific product by any name.
EDIT: BTW, for better or worse, I am selling most of my shares at this level, and taking the gains. I think there is one more pullback in store, and I will buy to hold at that time. Otherwise, I will simply buy again in the near-term. Worst case, scenario, I would return some of the nice extra gains I made by successfully trading in the last couple days. Best case scenario, I am right, and get one more nice gain to add.
TM
excerp fro the NY Times:
The new tablet, called simply the new iPad with no numbers or letters following the name, is an effort to keep growth chugging along in a two-year-old business that has turned into a major technology franchise for the company. Apple’s $9.15 billion in iPad sales over the holiday quarter were almost double the amount of revenue Microsoft brought in from its Windows software and not far from Google’s total revenue as a company during the same period.
Len
When are you going to buy one? I am going to pick one up at my local Apple Store when it is available. However, I will not be standing in lines. I can wait a few weeks.
TM
I am very familiar with buying jewelry for my wife, and I also buy her expensive perfume that shows up every year without fail in her Christmas stocking. One of the other things she likes is nice sunglasses. Two weeks ago, I bought her the most beautiful (and it turned out the most expensive) pair of Gucci sunglasses I could find.
I did these things to celebrate that she was up and about after so much torture from her neck injury.
So, I am aware that she had already wanted an iPad or MacBook for Mother's Day anyway, and since the new iPad is out, I think it would be perfect... and it could then turn out that I just happen to want one for Father's Day.
So, now you understand. And, all that said, let me say in all fairness to her, that her appetite for jewelry and some of the finer things is reasonable and I really appreciate that she doesn't expect them as some sort of condition for our marriage. She genuinely appreciates them, and she has her priorities in the right place. In fact, her priorities are soooo good, that it is one of the primary reasons I married her... aside from the fact that she is a gorgeous gal... and she REALLY is. Heck, a sexy, good-looking woman with priorities in the right place is enough to motivate me to get her those nice things now and then, wouldn't you agree?
TM
I think it is best from a sales perspective. If you have iPad 2s sitting out and everybody wants an iPad 3 or 4 or 5, you will not be able to sell the iPad 2. By making small changes and not changing the name it is easier to sell to people that just want an iPad. They may not care less that the resolution was just doubled. So I think it was a smart marketing move. Does it have the Quad Core processor? I think the resolution tops the pack for right now. I don't see much practicality in going beyond 2047x1536. Now getting them to use less power will be the next step. Sadly the 4G ability will be wasted in so many parts of the USA, where the demand far exceeds the supply. Look for much higher cost for data transfer on 4G LTE in the future.
IBM scientists have created a prototype optical chipset that they called the Holey Optochip. The chip is the first parallel optical transceiver to hit one terabit of information per second. IBM says that’s like downloading 500 high-definition movies in a single second. The Optochip is eight times faster than the parallel optical components we have today.
IBM Holey Optochip is first to 1 trillion bits of information per second
Regards,
OW
And on a similar note to illustrate the ever-improving capability to process data at increasingly faster speeds... here is another interesting piece of news. This time the credit goes to HP.
HP eyes 2015 release for 3D integrated photonic chips
By Joseph Volpe posted Mar 8th 2012 2:23AM
It's unavoidable -- mention HP and images of the TouchPad come floating to the surface. What most geek folk don't realize, however, is that the company recently famous for open sourcing webOS has been hard at work behind-the-scenes prepping for the next stage in computing: integrated photonics. The project, codenamed Corona, aims to create stackable 3D chips that communicate using inbuilt, microscopic lasers made from gallium. This new breed of CPUs is on track to combine "256 general purpose cores organized in 64 four-core clusters" created using a 16nm process for a performance boost of up to six times faster than traditional circuitry. Why do this? Well, the nature of optical communication would not only speed up the rate at which the various cores could relay data (a theoretical 20 terabytes per second), but would also drastically lower power requirements from a current 160 watts to 6.4 watts. Sounds like the future, indeed, but as with all things forward-facing, many of the necessary components are still being developed, so take that 2015 target date with a heady amount of sodium chloride.
HP eyes 2015 release for 3D integrated photonic chips
TM
Charlie,
I just ordered it in black from the Apple store - wifi only and 64GB with a black leather cover. Since whereever I go there's wi-fi i had no need to order it any other way. Now let's see how long before my kids take it over and I have to buy a second one. BTW unless I misread something it says it will arrive on March 16th.
Much higher?
Interesting thought. Initially leaves me with two considerations.
First... the technology to move massive amounts of data continues to improve. In fact, it must improve, or else there would be the equivalent of data traffic jams... and such a scenario would indeed push prices up. But I don't think prices can go up all that much, otherwise people would be forced out of the market, which is the last thing the industry wants to happen.
Second... cloud computing, which allows massive amounts of data to move back and forth between devices and server facililties. This is a growing situation, and the ability to move data is critical. Therefore, the technology MUST keep up, and it reinforces my first point.
Considering the two prior posts that reference IBM and HP... one by OW and one by myself... regarding incredible technology advancements, it seems reasonable to think that the industry will be able to keep up with the data demands.
However, there does appear to be efforts by the carriers to place higher premiums on moving data.
TM
I totally agree.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/science/higgs-boson-may-be-indicated-in-new-da- - ta.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=elusive%20particle&st=cse
Keep these articles coming Len! This is SO exciting to me.
Most of the time, an iPad is connected with Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is so readily available in so many places. And the Hotspot Wi-Fi feature that is increasingly available on smartphones makes Wi-Fi available everywhere the cellphone has a signal. Since most people keep their cellphone with them most of the time, I simply do not see the need to buy the iPad with a data plan. I realize that there are still many cellphones that are still in use that do not have a Hotspot Wi-Fi feature, but this is rapidly changing, and it makes more sense, IMO, to spend the money on the Hotspot feature in the cellphone, than to spend it as an extra cost of an iPad... particularly since the cellphone is carried almost all the time, but an iPad would be used intermittently... thus making the Wi-Fi signal more readily available through a cellphone than an iPad.
So, it therefore makes much more sense to buy the Hotspot Wi-Fi feature within the cellphone data plan... IMHO, of course.
I will definitely buy the iPad later this Spring, and I will buy it with the maximum storage capability, but without a data plan, since I already have Wi-Fi Hotspot on my smartphone.
I already own some expensive studio music equipment, and I look forward to seeing how well the iPad can be integrated into that. I understand that it is amazing in that capacity. I have used my son's MacBook Pro recently in the past, and it connects perfectly via a special MIDI interface with all the studio equipment.
On a seperate note, I had a couple days of VERY successful day-trading AAPL shares, and I made some serious extra green as a result... it was a nice bonus!... however, and fortunately, I did manage to come to my senses and maintain ownership of my original moderate investment of AAPL shares, which I intend to continue to hold. Moving forward, I will buy on significant dips, as before, and possibly flip a few here and there, if it is obvious to me, as it was earlier this week.
I can't wait for the NEXT amazing announcements from Apple. They are going to be awesome. And, there will be no doubt that this is a $1000/share stock!
TM
So, it therefore makes much more sense to buy the Hotspot Wi-Fi feature within the cellphone data plan... IMHO, of course.
Tag,
As I stated on an earlier post from yesterday or the past couple days, I do not intend to buy a data plan with the new iPad I am purchasing in a few weeks. I agree that Wi-Fi is so readily available that most folks do not need to spend extra money for a data plan. If I am in a location that has no Wi-FI and I desperately need to access the Internet, I can always buy a data plan for a month only from AT & T for example.
Now, please fill me in on this hotspot Wi-Fi feature on the cell phone. I am totally unfamiliar with this. Does one need to pay extra for this feature or is it automatically available as long as one buys a data plan for the smart phone? As you know, I own the iPhone 4S and I have a data plan (4 gigs a month) from AT & T. Do I need to buy this hotspot feature for the iPhone separately in order to connect the iPad to the iPhone Wi-Fi?
Hi Charlie...
Firstly, you need to confirm that your smartphone has the feature capability already built into the cellphone. If it does, it would need to be activated. The carriers have different rate plans, and optional features available... but typically, the Hotspot feature is an extra monthly charge... and the charge varies, depending upon your plan and carrier. I am on a commercial business plan with numerous phones, and I pay $29/month for the feature. I think that is on the high side, however, the plan itself is very competitive because it covers numerous phones and offers totally unlimited data... so, even though the Hotspot feature by itself might seem a bit pricey, overall it is a bargain when considering the rate on the ENTIRE plan package altogether.
Best thing for you to do is first see if your phone has the feature. The latest iPhones DO have the feature, so compare the rate plans with your carrier, and see if it is worth it for you to have Wi-Fi everywhere you go.
The way it works is that the cellphone converts the normal cellular signal into a Wi-Fi signal, and it allows for numerous devices to sign in with a password, just like at your home or like any typical public place or establishment that offers a Wi-Fi signal. It is not advisable to keep the Hotspot turned on at all times, because it increases the use of the cellphone's battery, and it is therefore advisable to turn it on only when needed. As a result, you would develop an awareness to keep your phone charged a little more often when it is convenient (just to be prepared for using the Hotspot), such as when you are in your car, or home near your phone's charger.
By the way, once you enable the feature, it is VERY simple to toggle it on and off (on the cellphone), and then the sign in can be set to automatic, so it can be a very simple procedure to use it when you want to. Essentially, you would just turn it on, and then your iPad would automatically be signed in to the Wi-Fi.
If you need/want your iPad to be instantly on the internet at any time and anywhere there is a simple cell signal, then this feature is a MUST. If, however, you believe that you have adequate capability to connect to the internet when necessary, then you do not need to spend the extra money. Also, consider that your cellphone already has internet access, so the question is whether or not ADDITIONAL devices, such as your iPad, would need internet access at any time you want. Otherwise, again, you would not need the feature.
From my own experience, the feature is fantastic. And, because it allows numerous users to access the Wi-Fi signal, it can be very helpful when there are others around that need to sign in with their devices. My son often asks me to turn it on when we are in the car when he wants to use his MacBook Pro, sometimes to do homework, and other times to just surf the web. It's very cool.
Hope that helps.
TM