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Monday, January 27, 2014
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2:39 PM

With one of Androids’ few shortcomings being the uncertainty that any given device might get the next big update, Apple just loves to menti...

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Apple’s iPhone sales for Q1 2014 have broken the company’s previous record, and they also mark the company’s ability to ship as many smartphones as Samsung, which was previously the only company in the world to move over 50 million units in a single quarter back in 2012. But the number represents only 3 million more devices sold than in the same quarter last year, or around 7 percent growth. That’s a far cry from previous years, and it’s already caught the attention of those watching the company.



This suspicion that the iPhone 5c is not selling quite as well as Apple might have expected is backed up by the average selling price (ASP) of devices. The ASP dropping would suggest that the more expensive iPhone 5s is far and away the stronger seller, which is also supported by the Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer’s assertion on the earnings call that the iPhone 5s faced supply constraints, while no mention was made of the iPhone 5c. They sold more iPhone 5s devices than expected in North America, CEO Tim Cook explained, which made it difficult for them to get the right “mix” and caused the North American market to actually contract year over year.


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There are a couple potential takeaways from that which could suggest changes to Apple’s iPhone strategy in the future: First, it could indicate that Apple needs to really deliver on the idea of a cheaper iPhone – the iPhone 5c was anticipated to be that, but in the end it was the same price as older devices being bumped down the line in previous quarters. Second, it could provide the reasoning behind the recent report from the Wall Street Journal that Apple will ditch the plastic case for any upcoming iPhone devices to be released this year.


Refocusing on the top end and premium metal finishes is one way to address the iPhone 5c, but it’s unclear what effect that might have on growth plans. Emerging markets are still the prime target when it comes to driving continued smartphone growth, and that’s where cheaper devices are going to stand out. Apple may discuss iPhone 5c specifically during the conference call, so stay tuned to find out more.


Apple Q1 2014





2:39 PM

Apple’s iPhone sales for Q1 2014 have broken the company’s previous record , and they also mark the company’s ability to ship as many smartp...

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Analysts had predicted that Apple would have a strong day with hardware this quarter, anticipating between 54 and 56 million iPhones shipped according to Fortune, as well as around 25 million iPads and 4.6 million Macs. The real results showed Apple missing on iPhones with 51 million moved, but beating expectations for the rest slightly with 26 million iPads and 4.8 million Macs.


Remember that this is the quarter that holds the bulk of Apple’s holiday sales, spanning as it does October through December, 2013. iPod sales, which continued their downward trend, selling only 6 million units, vs. 12.7 million in the year ago period. That’s not surprising, though, and nothing Apple is likely very concerned about as people continue to move to multi-use devices like iPhones and iPads. The iPhone number is the one everyone will be watching and talking about.


iPhone and iPad sales were both up year over year, however. In fiscal Q1 2013, Apple sold 47.8 million iPhones, 22.9 million iPads and 4.1 million Macs. That makes this a record quarter for Cupertino on all counts, spurred by the introduction of the new iPhone 5c, 5s, iPad air and iPad mini, as well as new MacBook Pro models introduced in October. It was an incomparable year in terms of new hardware leading into the holiday quarter, and the numbers reflect that.


iPhone sales showed a 29.5 percent increase between Q1 2012 and Q1 2013, while iPads had just over 48 percent growth in shipments during the same period. This time around (between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014), the iPhone showed just 6.7 percent growth, while the iPad had only 4 percent increase in shipments. Those numbers likely won’t do much to curtail the impression that Apple is starting to struggle with how much room it has to grow those businesses, but they still represent record quarters.


Apple Q1 2014





1:39 PM

Analysts had predicted that Apple would have a strong day with hardware this quarter, anticipating between 54 and 56 million iPhones shipped...

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Apple has just released its fiscal Q3 2013 earnings, reporting $57.6 billion in revenue, $13.1 billion in net profit representing $14.50 per share. Compared to the year-ago quarter, it corresponds to a growth of 5.7 percent in revenu, and 5 percent in EPS, with net profit flat year over year.


According to Fortune, the consensus among analysts was for Apple to report earnings of $14.36 per share on $58.1 billion in revenue, with both revenue and EPS growing. The WSJ expected $57.46 billion in revenue and $12.68 billion in profit, this time with profit down 3 percent year over year.


Despite an all-time high in sales, revenue is below the street’s expectations. On the other hand, EPS is above expectations with flat profit.


As a reminder, Apple reported $37.5 billion in revenue, $7.5 billion in profit representing earnings of $8.26 per share.


Guidance from its last earnings release forecasted between $55 billion and $58 billion in revenue, with gross margin between 36.5 percent and 37.5 percent. Over the past three quarters, Apple’s own guidance has been much more accurate, with the upper end of the forecast very close to what it actually reported.


Developing…


Apple Q1 2014





1:39 PM

Apple has just released its fiscal Q3 2013 earnings, reporting $57.6 billion in revenue, $13.1 billion in net profit representing $14.50 per...

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The National Security Agency reportedly has a love affair with mobile app data, collecting personal information from Google Maps and Angry Birds, referring to the program as a “Golden Nugget”.


The classified documents, which were leaked to a handful of news agencies — originate partly from a leak by whistleblower Edward Snowden. They reveal a long-standing project to collect personal data from “leaky” mobile applications. Mobile apps collect a staggering amount of personal data, on everything from product preferences to location.


According to Propublica,



“The two agencies displayed a particular interest in Google Maps, which is accurate to within a few yards or better in some locations. Intelligence agencies collect so much data from the app that “you’ll be able to clone Google’s database” of global searches for directions, according to a top-secret N.S.A. report from 2007.”



Some apps collect quite personal information, from martial status to sexual preference. Think Grindr, the wildly popular geolocation hookup app.


According to The Guardian,



“Some apps, the documents state, can share users’ most sensitive information such as sexual orientation – and one app recorded in the material even sends specific sexual preferences such as whether or not the user may be a swinger.”



From a national security perspective, if agents can find a terrorist with a secret Grindr account, that’d be a strategic goldmine.


So, of all the reported spying thus far, mobile app data could be the most ripe for abuse. Most of the leaked document slides are from a few years back, so it’s unclear whether international agencies ever actually built the technology, or were allowed to collect such data.


Rovio, makers of Angry Birds, vigorously denied cooperating with the NSA.


“Rovio doesn’t have any previous knowledge of this matter, and have not been aware of such activity in 3rd party advertising networks,” spokesperson Saara Bergström told The Guardian. “Nor do we have any involvement with the organizations you mentioned [NSA and GCHQ].”


The future of the NSA is now in congress’ hands, as the 2014 session will deliberate whether to end the legal programs that allowed the digital spying of Americans and foreign nationals.





12:54 PM

The National Security Agency reportedly has a love affair with mobile app data , collecting personal information from Google Maps and Angry ...

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cambly

There’s no better way to learn a language than by talking with a native speaker. But let’s face it — it’s not always easy to find or connect with those speakers. Cambly solves that problem by creating an on-demand marketplace of native English and Spanish tutors that students can instantly connect with online or through their mobile phones or tablets.


Cambly provides a two-sided platform through which those interested in learning a new language can do so through conversational video chat with a native speaker. Thanks to the beauty of its mobile and tablet apps, students can access personal tutors wherever and whenever, with just one click.


Users can sign in with Facebook connect, or with an email address. Once that’s done, the company provides a single button for instantly connecting with a native spearker. Or, students can look through the list of tutors that are available at a given time.


Not only does Cambly provide the benefit of providing on-demand access to tutors, but it is also fairly affordable, charging students just $20 an hour to speak with them.


Cambly appOn the tutor side of things, Cambly offers up the flexibility to let native speakers make some extra money in their spare time by chatting with students. The company pre-vets all tutors who end up on the platform, but it’s not necessarily looking for professional teachers — instead, it believes that connecting students with friendly native speakers in an informal environment is much more effective for learning a language.


And since no formal training is required, it’s turning the ability to speak a language natively into a marketable skill, by providing the connective layer between students and teachers. It pays more than half the money it collects to tutors, and the more money they spend on the platform, the more money they can make.


Cambly has tutors all over the world, which means it can support on-demand connections whenever and wherever students might want to connect, 24 hours a day. Thanks to that flexibility, it’s seen demand from students in 90 different countries, with its largest markets being Brazil, Turkey, and Russia.


The startup was founded by Kevin Law and Sameer Sharif, two ex-Googlers who had also worked at messaging platform blip.me. The founders decided to launch the company after realizing that their own language skills massively improved after traveling and talking with native speakers. So they set out to create a way where those speakers could become instantly available.





12:39 PM

There’s no better way to learn a language than by talking with a native speaker. But let’s face it — it’s not always easy to find or connect...

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AdColony says its mobile video ad platform has reached a $100 million gross revenue run rate.


That’s a number ad-tech startups seem to enjoy bragging about — RadiumOne, AdRoll, and TellApart all made similar announcements over the past few months.


In AdColony’s case, the company also says that its 2013 revenue was quadruple its revenue from 2012, and that the fourth quarter of last year was its tenth consecutive quarter of growth. eCPMs (the price advertisers pay for a thousand impressions) are up 30 percent and overall publisher earnings are up 418 percent.


(And just to be clear, that $100 million run rate refers to gross revenue — after publishers and partners take their cut, net revenue is likely to be significantly less.)


In my past meetings with the AdColony team, the company has emphasized its technology for delivering high-quality video ads, with no delays or choppiness. Those ads include “cards” at the end with customized calls to action, such as “click to buy” buttons or requests to Like the advertiser on Facebook. AdColony says its network reaches more than 150 million unique users globally, with publishers including A&E, ABC News, Flixster, and Supercell.


I spoke to CEO Will Kassoy about AdColony’s growth and he pointed to a few of big trends that the company is focused on. First, he said there’s growing interest in synchronizing TV and mobile ads, both by using data showing the overlap between the two audiences and through co-viewing/social TV apps. Second, he said that attribution is becoming more important to brand advertisers, so AdColony is offering data to help them “take advantage of all the streams in media.” Finally, he said AdColony is helping social app developers introduce video ads to their news feeds.





12:09 PM

AdColony says its mobile video ad platform has reached a $100 million gross revenue run rate. That’s a number ad-tech startups seem to enjo...

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